Cool Stuff

I was reading an article in this months Popular Science magazine about a company called Solix Biofuels which grows algae and then separates the fat from the algae, and then produces biodiesel. The company is stationed in Ft. Collins, CO and actually works closely with the New Belgium Brewing Company! Solix imagines fields of algae growing in tubs and then, when the algae has been fattened up, they break it apart and make biodiesel. One of the most fascinating facts they present is that for the U.S. to be self sufficient in producing enough biodiesel to replace its petroleum needs we would need to produce 140 billion gallons of fuel. It would take 3 BILLION acres of fertile land to produce that much soybeans, or 1 BILLION acres to produce that amount in canola. The U.S. only has 434 million acres of cropland, not nearly enough for soybeans or canola. However, to produce 140 billion gallons of biodiesel from algae we would only need 95 million acres. And since the basic ingredients are water, air, and sunlight an algae farm can be sustained in environments where a traditional farm would fail, such as the Arizona desert. It's a cool technology, and one that I hope takes off. Completely renewable, and possibly a great intermediary step between fossil fuels and some other fuel like nitrogen or electric power.

Hippie Stuff

Watch this video clip from CNN about a carbon neutral house in England. It is pretty cool, and has some interesting points. I think the notion of having all new construction being carbon neutral by 2016 is a great target, but I don't know how feasible that is (especially when going green adds 40% to the cost of a house). Don't get me wrong, I'm all for it and I'd like to incorporate some of these advances into my next house. Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool.

Tree Hugger Stuff

My sister sent me an e-mail today that has a great article describing an new wind farm being built by my Alma Mater, Colorado State University. The project should be completed in 8 years and will fully support the entire university in it's energy needs. CSU currently uses 16 MH at peak demand, and the new wind farm will produce 65 MH. I think this is a great program and I would hope that larger institutions, businesses, even cities and towns see that this is a great source of environmentally friendly power and adapt it to their particular situations. Read the article my sister sent me that got me all fired up....here!

Also as a side note, did you see the CFL counter in the lower right of my blog? It has gone over 33 million CFL bulbs sold! Do you have yours??

One other side note, I am not a big fan of Wal-Mart for countless reasons....to many to list in this post....but I have been pleasantly surprised by a few of their commercials recently. There is one with a lady talking about a bottle of concentrated laundry soap, another talking about CFL bulbs, and one more about natural fiber clothing. I think the idea of spreading the word on these things is awesome, and really send a powerful message that big business can promote environmentally friendly products and still earn a profit.

Plastic grocery bags

I hope that most of you have at least thought about the problem of plastic grocery bags and the environment, if not taken some action already. This weeks issue of Time magazine says that it takes 1000 years for a plastic bag to breakdown in a landfill and 100 BILLION plastic grocery bags enter the market every year. Recently San Francisco became the first major city to ban all plastic bags from grocery stores. I have been reluctant to make the switch to reusable canvas bags because I thought it would be embarrassing to take my own bags in, but last week I just grew so disgusted at the sight of another 13 plastic bags joining the 100's I already have under the kitchen sink. I did a little shopping and found a great deal that I wanted to pass on to each of you. I found grocery size canvas bags for .99 cents each! What a deal, check out cheaptotes.com they have a large selection of various size bags....but these .99 centers can't be beat! I bought 15 of them, and with shipping I spent a little more than $20. And now each time I use the canvas bags I get 5 cents taken off per bag used. In a few months these bags will be free, and then even start to save me money!

If you are keeping track, that is CFL light bulbs, wind power, and now canvas grocery bags! All in the last month or so, I'd say I am taking big steps to reducing my footprint.....how about you?

Finally, wind power that doesn't come from my BUTT!

Today I joined nearly 52,000 other customers of Rocky Mountain Power (my current power utility company) who purchase renewable energy credits. The Blue Sky program works like this - Rocky Mountain Power buys renewable energy on your behalf in the amount that you specify. Your purchase increases the demand for electricity generated through renewable resources rather than traditional forms - such as coal and natural gas. You can purchase the renewable energy in 100-kilowatt-hours (kwh) blocks to offset your monthly energy uses. Last month we used 400 kwh, so I decided to start there by purchasing 4 blocks. Here are some cool clips about the Blue Sky program and wind energy. In 2006 the program sold over 300,000 megawatt hours of renewable energy, which was enough power to offset the power used by 25,000 homes for a year! That also offsets some 300,000 TONS of carbon dioxide from coal plants, which is equivalent to removing 51,368 cars from the roads for a year. Awesome stuff!

The main reason I put stuff like this up on my blog is to show you how easy it is to make small changes that have big impacts. It took less than 5 minutes and $7.80 a month out of my pocket to help save the planet. Next up is plastic grocery bags......but that is another post for another day.