Why do I get the most junk mail from environmental groups??

Over the past couple years, I have been joining more environmental groups. Not a lot, just a couple. I've also been using some websites to reduce the amount of junk mail I'm receiving, and opting out of any paper copies.

However, since that time, I have been bombarded by mailings from these environmental organizations, and many other environmental groups I have never heard of.

Most of them send along free gifts as well. Usually it's return address mailing labels, or postcards, or greeting cards. Others offer incentive gifts in order to signup, such as animal plush toys, winter blankets, t-shirts, umbrellas, calendars, canvas tote bags and water bottles.

I have posted a few green actions related to these issues:

Turn down free gifts: http://www.helpsaveearth.org/view.asp?cat=Air&effect=1&effect2=1&action=188

Stop receiving unwanted junk mail: http://www.helpsaveearth.org/view.asp?cat=Air&effect=2&effect2=1&action=160

I find it a bit ironic that these groups are sending very heavy letters each month filled with paper and flyers and 4-5 page letters about their cause. I would be happy to receive their emails, but make the junk mail stop!

Environmentalist McKibben drives home urgency of climate change to Iowans

Environmentalist and author Bill McKibben spoke to a captive and energetic audience in Iowa City last night, courtesy of the Office of Sustainability at the University of Iowa. His message was both pessimistic and optimistic, but was most importantly honest.

McKibben started out with the current (and depressing) state of the environment. The earth has risen only about 1 degree in temperature, but already we are seeing the major impacts of that increase in glacier melting, increased floods, increased high temperatures, and increase in disease spread (through warmer climates). We are above the 350 parts per million limit that scientists believe is sustainable for the planet (currently at 390, see image below).

After establishing the current state of affairs, he next showed us his efforts to date with the recent 10/10/10 events, which is a part of the overall 350.org movement. I was amazed at how global this initiative has become, especially since I have not heard that much about his organization. He has made an impact on nearly every country in the world, and it continues to grow each year. He even self-admits that he is not a motivational person and knows very little about how to drive a grass-roots effort like this, but it is clearly working. It reaffirms that anyone can make a difference.
Finally, his message was that people have to make political changes to make dramatic reduction in our emissions. The technology is already here to do that (solar, geothermal, wind), but the policies and investment isn't there yet. He mentioned that 70% of your time should be spent on local actions and 30% on political action.

Video clips are available on the Daily Iowan website
Here is McKibben's latest book, Eearth: Making of Life on a Tough New Planet...






And here is the first book he wrote, which was widely popular, called "The End of Nature"

James Bond had solar, why can't we?

I haven't watched many James Bond movies in my life, but I'd like to someday. I just happened to catch one this weekend, called "The Man with the Golden Gun". It was made in 1974, almost 40 years ago, and it stars Roger Moore. What intrigued me most was this clip regarding solar energy, which is the "golden gun" the villian refers to. Watch the clip below (starts a couple minutes into the clip)...

The technology shown is available today I believe, but it wasn't that long ago that it has been around. After watching this clip, I feel a little frustrated that we haven't made more progress on solar. You have to consider the impact movies can have on society. How much easier was it to convince someone that we need to move to solar technology after watching this film? The movie practically sells it for them! If the movie hadn't been made, then you're left trying to sell solar through drawings, small prototypes and lengthy discussions. In other words, someone made the perfect sales pitch for solar, but we as a society didn't take full advantage. This isn't just a United States issue. James Bond is a British film, shown around the world. You couldn't have asked for a better film to spread the word globally.

I was actually born in 1974, and in 1979, we lived next door to a wonderful lady, who went around to the local elementary schools in Iowa City, and showed us solar-powered toys, and told us they would be used everywhere in the near future. That really made an impact on me, and I was only 5 years old. That was about the same time that the solar panels were on the White House during Jimmy Carter's presidental era.

Here's another example of movies and green technology. In the 1989 movie "Back to the Future", the time machine DeLorean vehicle uses garbage to fuel the vehicle. I've seen a few people try and replicate that, but you don't hear too much from major automotive companies about organic waste as fuel.

Are the movies so far ahead in thinking, that it just takes 40-50 years to implement these ideas? It didn't take us as long to reduce a computer from the size of a house, down to fit on a table. Other technology has seemed to pop up overnight without the aid of a movie plug. Maybe I'm just expecting a shorter time frame when there is a major motion picture that promotes the idea for free.

The only thing I can conclude from this lack of progress is that something happened in the 1980's to bring the progress of solar to a screeching halt. I don't know what it was (change in presidency, oil companies, politics, military, etc), but it would be worth it to understand what happened, so we don't make the same mistake!

Toyota Prius - Great despite recent problems

We recently moved further away from my work, which obviously increased my commute to work each day. I've been thinking about getting a more fuel-efficient vehicle for a while now. I owned a Chrysler 300, which was a good car, but got less than 20 MPG.

The recent move and subsequent increase in gas made me start looking a lot more seriously at trading in my car.

I really had my eye on the new Aptera...

But it didn't look like there would be one available in my area anytime soon.

Then I considered waiting around for the Chevy Volt (despite my confusion and anger about GM and the old EV-1 vehicle debacle).

Again, the actual production date seemed to keep slipping out.

Another concern I had was the risk of getting the "first" version of any new vehicle, especially one with new technology or features. I didn't want to be in the shop more than on the road.

Ironically, many of the recent problems with the Toyota Prius made me consider getting one, since I thought I could get a good deal on a used one (assuming all the recall upgrades have been installed and fixed the issues).

I was able to find a good deal on a 2008 Prius, with 25,000 miles for around $16,000 (less than Blue Book value). That was more affordable than I imagined, since my perception was that a used Prius would still be in the low to mid-20s.

I've had the car for one month, and I have no complaints. Except one.

I had a hard time getting it started. I didn't realize that you had to have your foot on the brake, otherwise it wouldn't start. I almost had it towed, thinking something was wrong. Since it is partly electric, the push button start and lack of running motor when stopped have taken a little getting used to.

I'll give you my numbers, to show you how affordable one might be, and hopefully you'll look into it as well.

With my trade-in and amount owed, I had to pay an extra $1000, so it cost me $17,000 total, but that was less per month (about $70) than I was paying now (due to good interest rates on late model vehicles right now).

In addition, I am saving money at the pump. I have been averaging 45 MPG, so I'm cutting my gas costs in half (about $50 per month). Most importantly, I'm cutting my carbon footprint and emissions.

So overall, I have a newer vehicle, I've reduced my footprint (compared to what I would be emitting with my new commute distance), and I'm saving over $100 per month.

Trouble with reducing water usage in our toilet

We moved to a rental house recently, and the toilet (just one bathroom) we got was put into the house in 1990. Therefore, it uses 3.5 gallons per flush. Obviously, a no-brainer to replace it with something better.

Instead of completely ripping out the toilet and replacing it, and sending the old toilet to the landfill, we looked at an alternative option.

There are now products on the market that will reduce your water amount per flush without buying a new one, and give you an option for a partial flush.

I purchased the One2flush 200 Dual Flush Retrofit Kit, and planned to reduce my usage to something similar to a 1.3 - 1.6 gallons per flush level, plus have the option to use the low flush option (for liquids).

When I went to install the product, I had problems getting the wing nuts off the back of the toilet, that connects the tank to the bowl. It must have rusted or sealed on there tight, as I spend almost 2 hours trying to get them off. I got one off finally, and tried to loosen the other by pulling and lifting on the tank.

As expected, I cracked the tank. So much for a zero waste solution!

Now I still had a bolt attached to the bowl, and a broken tank. I checked the local Restore, but they only sold toilets as one piece, not the tank or bowl separately. Since we only have one bathroom, I was in a time crunch to get it repaired. The next best option was to buy a new toilet tank.

The new tank was rated for 1.6 gallons per flush, which is better than what we had, but unfortunately, they didn't sell the 1.28 gpf model as a stand-alone option. Only in the full kit version. Which brings me to a quick rant: Why can't you buy each piece individually? There are pieces you should be able to save (lid, base bowl, plunger, water tubes, etc), so it seems wasteful to have to replace every piece of the toilet.

I finally got the retrofit dual-flush kit installed, which was pretty simple to install. There is some adjustment you'll need to make on the different flush levels, but the option to adjust it is nice to have.

Overall, I ended up with a better solution.

Toilet before, each flush = 3.5 gpf
Toilet after, each flush = 1.6 gpf for full, and approx 0.75-1.0 gpf for half flush

I wish I wouldn't have broken the tank, but this is just another example of why it can be tough to do the right thing. I hope my experiences give people some reminders to keep plugging along with your eco-friendly lifestyle, even when things go wrong, and you end up making a worse impact on the environment than you intended.

Planet Earth gets a "beat-down" this month!

This was suppose to be the 40th anniversary of Earth Day this month, however, there were three major tragedies this month related to environmental issues.

1) Coal miners killed in West Virginia explosion - tragic explosion thought to be brought about by a methane leak in a West Virginia coal mine has left 29 dead.

2) Oil rig fire and subsequent spill in Gulf of Mexico - Still ongoing, as a fire erupted on the oil rig, killing 11 workers, and is now spilling 5,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf, which is headed towards nearby coasts.

3) Coal-carrying ship damages Great Barrier Reef coral - coal-carrying ship ran aground on Douglas Shoals in the Great Barrier Reef. The ship was inside a marine protected area. It then rammed into the reef, and leaked about 4 tons of heavy fuel causing a roughly 3 km oil slick, and the damage it did to the reef will take 20 years to repair.

Forget about climate change for a minute. If you don't care about the planet, or are opposed to clean energy, the events of the last month should make you change your mind. If you can't see that these are dangerous occupations for those who work in them, cause pollution, and the risk to national security and increase in terrorism we take on while accessing these fuels, then you are a lost cause.

Maybe if we take away all the gasoline, and shut off the electricity to your house, will you start to think differently. Don't change your mind for the planet, change your mind because it's the right thing to do for humanity.

Rockwell Collins goes green with LEED buildings

I had the opportunity to tour one of the LEED certified buildings on the Rockwell Collins campus in Cedar Rapids, IA. The older building of the two is Gold certified, and the newer one is Silver.

 

At the beginning of the project, they discovered that many LEED buildings cost around $250 per square foot. They were able to complete the 120,000 square foot pre-engineered building for less than $100 per square foot. The additional investment in obtaining LEED certification, and the enhancements required to achieve a high enough score, had a payback of about one year. Therefore, in the 2nd year, they would start to see cost savings, compared to a non-LEED certified building.

 

Some of the cool features that are included in these buildings include:

• 99% of construction waste — more than 1,000 tons — was diverted from the landfill

• Building footprint covers only 2.75 acres, and nearby pond was incorporated into the design
• More than 30 dedicated parking spaces for low-emissions and fuel-efficient vehicles
• 40% (385 gallons) of water use reduction through waterless urinals, dual-flush toilets, rainfall capture on roof, etc

• Exceeds ASHRAE 90.1-2004 minimum energy performance requirements by more than 20%
• More than 15% of building material is recycled content
• Energy Star reflective roofing
• Lots of natural light to minimize need for lighting, and lights are on timers and motion sensors to reduce costs when left on
• Energy efficient windows with shades to reduce heating effects
• To reduce driving and wasted time to get to the main facility (headquarters) across the street, a shuttle vehicle was setup that runs every 5 minutes
• Chaning rooms and showers to encourage bike riding
• Optimized parking lot lighting
• Low VOC paint and coatings, and carpet contained recycled content
• Xerascaping (native plants) deployed to minimize amount of water usage
• Variable frequency drives (VFD) installed on equipment to reduce electricity costs of large equipment, part of larger energy management software system

The cafeteria is also very modern, clean and open, with access to the outside, so employees can eat with visitors, or just enjoy the weather. There is also a nice walkway near the pond, which is located between the two buildings.

 

 

 

As an employee, if you need a break from work, try hitting some putts in the break area, or put together a puzzle.

To learn more about this project, visit the Ryan Construction website.

 http://www.ryancompanies.com/projects/Rockwell-Collins/