Everything's Greener In Texas

Everything's Greener in Texas

By: Matt Hickman/ Eco Living Expert

Green builder Don Ferrier's super sustainable, not-too-big rustic retreat, 'Zero Energy Casita', in Forth Worth, Texas.

Are you a homeowner interested in top-of-the-line green technology but not the uber-modern aesthetic that often accompanies it? Award-winning green builder Don Ferrier understands. One of Ferrier’s latest accomplishments, the Zero Energy Casita in Fort Worth, Texas, wouldn’t look too out of place on a Hollywood back lot used for western films with its reclaimed wood siding taken from deconstructed barns, generous front porch with salvaged cedar posts, and overarching rustic aesthetic.

Enlisted by clients who wanted a second residence "to look like it's been there 150 years" Ferrier says that the Zero Energy Casita “meshes cutting edge technologies with turn of the century aesthetics.” All the home needs now is a dinner bell hanging out front, a rocking chairs for the porch, and a post to tie up a horse.

Old timey charms aside, the Bundy, Young, Sims & Potter-designed Zero Energy Casita’s green features are the main event. Most notable is a sleek 3.7 kW SkyStream residential wind turbine that provides electricity to the 1,051-square foot casita (not everything is bigger in Texas). If the turbine generates an inadequate amount of juice, the home taps into the local power grid; if excess power is generated, it feeds back into the grid.

The passive solar oriented home also takes advantage of a 30-foot oak tree and 20-foot tall shrubs to provide natural shade during sweltering Texas summers. And, as mentioned, much of the home’s countrified aesthetic (and green cred) comes from the reuse of salvaged wood for the siding, flooring, and beams.

Inside, the home boasts EnergyStar appliances, a super-efficient HVAC system, dual-flush toilets, low-VOC finishes, adhesives, and countertops, water-conserving fixtures, and a programmable thermostat. Outside, there’s xeriscaping and a rain catchment system for irrigation. All scrap lumber, sheetrock, and wallboard used in construction were mulched on site and incorporated into the landscaping.

Obviously there's a whole lot of green packed into this one little house. Want to learn more? Head over to the Zero Energy Casita website for more photos and info about the home’s numerous green specs.

Promote Clean Renewable Energy/ Have A Kite Festival!

What better way to promote clean renewable energy – specifically wind energy? Have a kite festival, of course!

By: Elena Christopoulos/  'The Wind    Guru'

I know what you are thinking. A kite festival? What on earth does that have to do with spreading the message of environmentalism? Actually, from my perspective, it is an absolutely brilliant idea.
Why? To educate the children!

That’s right. Educate our children. Have an event that is fun, exciting and accessible by public transit. It will include hundreds of kites in the air, expert fliers, kite boarders on the lake, workshops for kids to make their own kites, free handout kites and more. This event is focusing on our future, our children.

Now, I don’t have kids, but many of my friends do and I have spent many days on the beaches of Toronto, Santa Monica and the Greek Isles enjoying an afternoon with kites and watching a child smile as their kite soars up into the sky. I actually feel a bit nostalgic as I write this and it brings a smile to my face and a tear to my eye. Have the children design their own kites and watch them fly. I am oh so curious as to what they will say.

Why nostalgic? Well, growing up in Europe I remember nagging my parents to bring our cloth bag as we went to the market to shop. As my parents shopped, I would have loads of fun in the daycare at the shop painting the cloth ‘shopping’ bag. There were no plastic bags — only cloth bags designed by kids. I remember how proud I was when my parents would carry ‘my’ bag to the store. I never grew up with plastic bags and to this day think how easy could it be to implement the same idea in North America. Well, it will come soon. This festival has the same look and feel of simple innovative ‘green’ ideas. And yes, I still have one cloth bag.

The location of the kite festival is in birds eye view; pardon the pun, to the first urban North American wind turbine located in downtown Toronto.

Will the children say that the turbine is an eye sore? Will they complain about the noise? Will they even hear it? Can we curtail NIMBYISM? Even for one day? Will one child, just one child, be inspired to ask what can be done next? Will they dream? Will faith be restored? I hope. I really hope so. I have been told that permits are a go and the kite festival will be right on the waterfront. This festival will showcase the pressing need for more green energy awareness. Where massive high rises and nature meet, a festival will flourish.

With so much negative news about the environment, I thought I would spread a positive word or two and I hope you pass this event on as well.

Please help make this event happen. I understand corporate sponsors are being sought out who want to support green energy and be part of a fun community event! Please contact http://meslin.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/clear_skies.pdf to find out more information about how you can get involved.

The Clear Skies Kite Festival will be held on October 2nd 2010 at Woodbine Beach in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

I look forward to seeing you there, with my kite and cloth bag.

"Roadable Aircraft" Available By 2011

Flying car should be available next year


June 30, 2010 by Lin Edwards

The Federal Aviation Administration in the US has given approval to the Transition, a two-seater flying car developed over the last four years by Massachusetts Company, Terrafugia.

The flying car, or “roadable aircraft” as the company calls it, was designed by a team of engineers trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It can drive like a car at normal highway speeds but can also unfold its wings and fly.

The vehicle runs on normal unleaded gasoline and has a cruising speed in the air of around 185 kph (115 mph). Its flying range is 740 kilometers (460 miles). When driven like a car with its wings folded the fuel consumption is around 7.85 liters per 100 km (30 mpg). The use of normal fuel instead of a reliance on aviation fuel will make the Transition the most environmentally friendly plane in the air. The vehicle will have features of regular road vehicles, such as crumple zones and airbags.

On the road, with its wings folded, the Transition is driven by a conventional front-wheel drive, and can fit in a regular sized garage. When it is ready to take to the air via an airport, airstrip, or suitable flat land, the wings are folded out and the rear-facing propeller engaged to enable the vehicle to take off. It needs a runway of just over 500 meters (one third of a mile).

Federal approval of the vehicle was delayed because its weight of 600 kg (1,430 lb) was over the limit for a light sport aircraft (LSA), but the Transition has now been granted a special exemption to allow it to fly legally. The additional 50 kg in weight allows the vehicle to include safety equipment needed to meet federal motor vehicle standards in addition to aviation standards.

The vehicle has better crash survivability than a normal light sport aircraft because of the safety features such as the safety cage and crush zones required for driving on the roads, but it is also safer because if the weather turns bad the plane can land and drive home instead of flying through unsafe conditions.

The Transition is not as fast as traditional small aircraft and does not have as great a range or cargo capacity (Transition can carry just 195 kg (430 lb), including passengers and fuel), but the less stringent requirements for flying light sport aircraft may make it attractive to people who would not normally consider training for a full pilot’s license. Training for a light sport aircraft license in the US requires only 20 logged hours in the air.

The retail price of the Transition is expected to be $194,000 and Terrafugia expects the vehicle to be available by the end of 2011. The company has already received 70 orders.

New USDA Report

New USDA Report Provides Roadmap to America's Renewable Energy Goals


June 25th, 2010

USDA should be commended for taking a big step this week that that will put the nation on the road to a clean energy future. The department issued a report Wednesday that offers a roadmap for meeting the nation’s renewable energy goals. The report outlines both the current state of renewable transportation fuels efforts in America and a plan to develop regional strategies to increase the production, marketing and distribution of biofuels. The report provides information on current production and consumption capacities, as well as projections to meet the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) mandate to use 36 billion gallons of biofuel per year in America’s fuel supply by 2022.

The report marks an opportunity for America to reaffirm a commitment to reducing our dependence on foreign oil by identifying the numerous biomass feedstocks available for developing biofuels and advocating greater investment in their research and development. In addition to feedstocks, the report also specifically looks at sustainable production and management systems; efficient conversion technologies and high-value bioproducts; and decision support and policy analysis tools.

The report provides data showing the significant impact the ethanol industry will continue to have on job creation, estimating that as many as 40 direct jobs and additional indirect jobs are created with each 100-million-gallon ethanol facility built.

A unique aspect of the report is a USDA plan for regional strategies that allow the placement of biorefineries in areas of economic distress. By leveraging of regional resources, including transportation, labor and feedstocks, the strategy provides greater potential for economic benefit for impacted rural areas. The department mapped out the regions based on the biofuel feedstock crops that will be prevalent in those areas, each based on historic planting data and weather, soil and water conditions.

The department estimates that meeting the RFS2 will require an investment of some $168 billion over the next 12 years, assuming that construction costs will run an average of $8 per gallon of capacity. However, the department acknowledges the cost estimates are high because the roadmap does not take into account any advances in technology. The roadmap rightly points out that “the RFS2 is predicated on challenging the industry to create newer, cleaner fuels,” and that “the agricultural sector as a whole is incredibly productive and has consistently outpaced productivity increases in other sectors, in part, due to its investment in technology.”

In a conference call with reporters announcing the roadmap, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the current, corn-dominated ethanol industry “provides a solid foundation” upon which to build the biofuel market expansion necessary to reach the 36-billion-gallon RFS in 2022. The document makes the case that the future of renewable energy rests on products other than corn in the manufacturing of ethanol, including wood fiber, algae, municipal waste, grasses and crop residue. The report says these renewable resources can be grown in areas with high demand for ethanol and reduce the need to transport fuel from the Midwest.

Vilsack’s    “absolute” confidence in the industry’s capabilities of meeting current and future goals reflects the kind of support stakeholder need to achieve a clean energy future that maximized the use of sustainable biofuels. It is important that USDA back strong words with strong action, including the development of of loan guarantee programs that are structured to provide the greatest benefit to next-generation biofuel companies. It is also important for the Obama administration to support legislation that sets a mandate on the sale of flexible fuel vehicles, and to expedite a twice-delayed EPA approval of E15 fuel blends in 2001-model and newer vehicles.

The USDA biofuels roadmap promotes strategies that play to the strength of farm communities and can offer a strategy for boosting our rural economy. Stakeholders and policy makers should use take the roadmap and move forward together to optimize the role of America’s croplands and forestlands in meeting our nation’s energy needs.

Wind Power In Stormy Waters

Wind Power In Stormy Waters


14 kilometres off Denmark’s West coast in the North Sea, in some of Europe’s roughest waters, the world’s first major offshore wind power plant has since December 2002 produced enough energy to run 150,000 Danish households. Eighty 2.0 MW turbines from the world’s leading wind turbine manufacturer Vestas are sited across an area of 20 sq. km.

With a water depth between 6.5 and 13.5 metres and frequently rough conditions, the Horn’s Reef project (named after the area in the North Sea) is a dream come true, as well as a challenge which has demanded a combination of experience and new thinking.

“There are other offshore wind parks in the world but everybody agrees that Horn’s Reef is the first ’real’ offshore wind park because of its size and its placement in the North Sea. So far, all other offshore parks have been placed close to land in protected waters“, says project manager Jens Bonefeldt of the engineering company Tech-wise. “The North Sea is considered to be one of the roughest stretches of water in the world.”

The Horn’s Reef project has proved innovative on several fronts. The turbine foundations, which were supplied by MT Højgaard, are mono-pile foundations that have been installed in the seabed by a huge hydraulic hammer. Vestas itself has been responsible for setting up the turbines. In cooperation with the transport company A2SEA, Vestas created a special ship which can hold steady while the turbines are being set up, and besides that has also developed a brand new on-line monitoring system.

The turbines on Horn’s Reef are serviced by specially trained technicians. If conditions are too rough for them to reach the turbines by sea, they can be flown out to them instead. This is possible because the nacelles are equipped with special platforms on the top, so that the technicians can be winched down onto the turbine. All the necessary tools are inside the nacelle, and there are bunks for an overnight stay should it be necessary. There are food rations, a radio, lifejackets and other emergency equipment.

Just as servicing offshore turbines presents an extra challenge, the same can be said of monitoring them. All the turbines at Horn’s Reef are equipped with an advanced remote monitoring system called VestasOnline™. The new system is able to process and transfer large amounts of vital data to the wind farm’s main control centre – and then operate the wind farm as a power plant.

“The new system is a great advance in wind farm management and makes it possible to manage remote sites, both onshore and offshore,” Jens Bonefeldt says.

During the installation of Horn’s Reef, Vestas has been building up further expertise in its Offshore Knowledge Center. “The great thing about Horn’s Reef is that up to now, most of our offshore knowledge has either been quite theoretical or has come from very small projects in protected waters,” says Egon Poulsen, head of Offshore at Vestas Group. “At Horn’s Reef, we have actually had a chance to test our vision and all the theories, and most of the planning was pretty much on target.”

The proof, according to Egon Poulsen, is a new contract for the first offshore wind farm in the UK. The farm will be installed during the summer of 2003, 7 kilometers off the coast of Wales near Rhyll, where the average water depth is 12 meters and the tide-water difference is 8 meters. The farm, which will comprise 30 Vestas V80-2.0 MW will be owned and operated by National Wind Power Ltd. The farm is the first of 18 projected offshore wind farms that are being planned for installation around Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

EPA To Use Mushrooms to Break Down Oil

EPA To Use Mushrooms to Break Down BP’s Oil?


Published on June 10th, 2010 by Matter Network
By: David Ferris

The EPA may experiment with using containment booms made out of mushrooms to break down oil gushing from the Gulf, according to a leading mushroom scientist.

Paul Stamets, a pioneering mycologist, said he had been contacted “at the highest levels of the EPA” to discuss using long, floating cylinders of fungi to break down hydrocarbons floating in the Gulf from the BP oil disaster.

Stamets has experimented with a species of oyster mushroom, pleurotus ostreatus, that can withstand saltwater and establish itself on straw. Applied to diesel-contaminated soil, it cut the dirt’s oil content from 10,000 parts per million to 200 parts per million within 16 weeks.

However, mushrooms have never been deployed en masse to contain oil in the ocean, and many hurdles remain. A source of mushrooms and a local source of straw or shredded wood haven’t been located, and fungi need both time and expertise to reproduce in the massive numbers that would be needed to make a dent in such a large spill.

Oyster mushrooms break down simple oil molecules immediately but take longer with more complex hydrocarbons. This means that mushrooms might need to be deployed on the same slick several times in order to break it down, Stamets said.

Early in the spill the use of “hair booms,” cylinders of hair stuffed into used nylons, showed promise, but the use of them was curtailed for a simple reason: when soaked, hair sinks!

Personal Note:  (Gosh, wouldn't you think they'd known that going in?)

Can A Coal-Carrying Railroad Be Green?

Can a coal-carrying railroad be green?
Written by: Marc Gunther


Recently, FORTUNE magazine sent me to Omaha to write this story about the Union Pacific, America’s biggest railroad. Impressive company in a fascinating industry without which our lives would be very different.

Here’s how the story begins:

The strawberries on your cereal. Your laptop, cell phone, and TV. The coal that’s burned to power them. The car you drive. The roof over your head. We may work in a knowledge economy, but Madonna had it right: 'We live in a material world.'

That’s why the Union Pacific railroad, No. 164 on the Fortune 500, has played a vital role in the U.S. economy since 1862. With $14.1 billion in revenue last year, the UP, which is based in Omaha, is America’s largest railroad. Close behind is its chief rival, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI) (2009 revenues: $14 billion), headquartered in Fort Worth, which was acquired this year by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) for $26.4 billion. The deal put a spotlight on the often troubled railroad business — in a good way. “It was a vote of confidence in the industry,” says Jim Young, the 53-year-old chairman and CEO of Union Pacific. “He sees the long-term value in the rail franchise; how unique it is in America.”

The story goes on to talk about how Young led a turnaround at the railroad, which suffered from lousy service, not once but twice, in the late 1990s after its merger with the Southern Pacific and again in 2004-2005 when the company cut back too deeply on equipment and staff and wasn’t prepared for a burst of economic growth. As Young told me: “We were the best marketing arm of our competitor.” The UP’s competitors include the Burlington Northern, which also operates in the West, and interestingly, long-haul trucks.

In its battle for market share with trucks, the railroad industry is touting its environmental advantages. They are real. While my 'FORTUNE' story didn’t get into much depth on the topic, Young and his colleagues spent a fair amount of time telling my why the UP is an environmentally-friendly way of moving goods around the country. On its website, under the headline 'A Green Railroad', the company says:

"Did you know that railroads are one of the most environmentally friendly modes of freight transportation? It’s true. Freight trains are almost four times more fuel-efficient than over-the-road trucks and have less impact on greenhouse gas emissions than trucks."

The UP has gone to great lengths to cut down on its fuel use, as I reported in the magazine:

"The Union Pacific has also become more efficient. Trains are longer. On average, 5,800 feet, or more than a mile long; and instead of just pulling the freight cars, locomotives are distributed throughout the trains so that they push as well. Information technology helps too: Locomotives with GPS track the fuel efficiency of every engineer, and those who use the least fuel get a share of the savings, between $200 and $400 a month."

That has enabled the Union Pacific, with the rest of the railroad industry, to tell a nice-sounding environmental story: The rail industry as a whole carries about 43% of all freight (as measured in ton-miles), but trains consume just 7% of the energy used to move freight. Trucks, by contrast, move 31% of the tonnage but use 66% of the energy. UPS, a big customer of Union Pacific, uses trains rather than trucks to move ground packages that travel 750 miles or more. “The economies of steel on steel are better than rubber on concrete,” says Kelley Anderson, general manager for rail at UPS.

There’s much more to UP’s greening. The locomotive in the photo at the top of this blog, known as a Genset, was designed by the railroad for use at its yards. Mike Iden, UP’s Director of Freight Car and Locomotive Engineering, who has led many of the efficiency efforts told me: “It’s an ultra low emitting yard-switching locomotive. It’s based on technology developed by the U.S. Department of Energy to improve diesel truck emissions."

So what’s wrong with this "green" story? Well, the UP carries a lot of coal, America’s dirtiest fuel! As much as 10% of the coal burned by utilities, by one estimate. You can’t really blame the railroad for this, no company can be expected to turn away its most important customer!

But the Union Pacific also has opposed legislation to cap greenhouse gas emissions and put a price on carbon. This is interesting because anything that raises the cost of fossil fuels will give the railroad a competitive advantage over less efficient trucks. "So what’s the problem with the climate change bills?", I asked Young. He told me he was worried about the effect of the legislation on coal, the economy and jobs;

"I’m concerned about what it means to coal, long-term, and what it could do to the cost of electricity in America, and moving jobs offshore."

The Midwest has some of the lowest costs of power in America. Google built a new data center right over here on the Missouri River. They did it because the cost of power is so low.

Coal’s got to be part of the energy equation, long term…The cost of the renewables? You’ve seen the math.

Well, yes, I’ve seen the math and the EPA estimates that the Senate legislation to regulate carbon emissions would cost an average family about $79 to $146 a year. This seems like a reasonable price to pay to offset the potential costs of global warming. Young obviously disagrees, as do many people in the coal-dependent heartland.

Which is why it’s so hard to get Washington to act on climate change.