Stop Junk Mail. Be Eco Friendly. Do Good. The GreenDimes Blog

Eco Tip: Green Printing

Did you know?

• In 2004 the United States used 8 million tons of office paper. That’s equivalent to 178 million trees!
• In the U.S. we have lost 95% of our old growth forests and 4281 acres of rainforest are lost every hour worldwide
• Global paper products consumption has tripled over the past 3 decades and is expected to grow by half before 2010.

If you’re like me, you know the frustration of printing a document or a Web page only to waste 1-3 pieces of paper. When I have the time, I have resorted to copying and pasting the information I need into a Word document before I print just to avoid this innocent yet harmful act. GreenPrint provides a really cool software solution and they even have a free version.  You can download it onto to your computer to help you eliminate those pesky extra pages that result from printing. It detects wasted pages (for example, a page with only one line of text on it) and deletes it from your print file.  Of course, you are in complete control over the process deciding if you want to print the page in question.  They also have an option to turn the desired page into a PDF, eliminating the need to print altogether.  Their worldwide version is free, but you can upgrade to their Premium or Enterprise versions.

It also tracks your impact from using the service, so you can see the difference you are making to help save the environment just from using this software.  They also say on their web site that if all US households with a computer used GreenPrint, we would save over $6 billion. And if all new computers sold in 2006 used GreenPrint, we would save over 36 million trees.  A Fortune 500 company using GreenPrint would save over $2 million, 4000 trees and prevent 12,623 tons of CO2 emissions every year.

It only took me a few minutes to download it and it is easy to use.  They provide an online demo and other interesting eco-facts about printing on the GreenPrint web site. To see some of their press coverage, check out CNN, CNBC, and TreeHugger.

Here’s a short video from CNN:

So, just by using GreenPrint, you help save paper, ink, money, and millions of trees – a simple way to protect the environment. 

~Melissa

Green Gadget: Carbon Hero

Have you ever wondered about the size of your own carbon footprint?  What if there was a way that you could track your generation of CO2?  Well, now there is a new gadget (still in beta) that will help you with just that question.  It’s called Carbon Hero and is the brain child of Andreas Zachariah.  Last April, Oxford graduate student, Nick Burch, joined Zachariah to help him bring his vision to reality.

The purpose of this gadget is to help you track your CO2 (carbon dioxide) contribution on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.  By monitoring your output, you will tend to alter your behavior to see a better result on your cell phone.  That’s right, this application works on cell phones and is currently being tested by Nokia and Blackberry.  They believe that companies will use the Carbon Hero to track the effect on the environment from their business travel.

The Carbon Hero focuses on the environmental impact of your travel on a daily basis.  It uses satellite navigation data, a database and an algorithm, to calculate the effect of your method of travel.  Carbon Hero has won many awards including a regional prize in the 2007 European Satellite Navigation Competition and the British Standards Institute (BSI) prize for Sustainability Design.

For more information, check out the Carbon Hero web site or read the article on Science Daily.

Pretty soon, we can ask someone, “Hey, what’s your carbon footprint?”

~Melissa

The Greenest Phone on Earth

I found this green phone on CNET.com’s NewsBlog and on UberGizmo, the Gadgets News Blog. Cell phones can now be powered by hydrogen. It works by extracting hydrogen from water, then extracting electrons from the hydrogen. When the hydrogen molecules pass through a membrane in the fuel cell, electrons are stripped away and get diverted to run the phone. In essence, it is a water-powered phone. Energy is still necessary to break the water into parts and extract the hydrogen, but they say it’s possible that this could be accomplished via solar energy, which would definitely make it the greenest phone on Earth.

This eco-baby, is the product of Angstrom Power (Fuel cell maker) and Motorola (cell phone maker). They have engineered this green gadget to be thin, light, and long-lasting.  And, the charging time for the mobile device can be as little as 10 minutes. 

This just makes me wonder, “If we drive an Air Car and talk on a Water Phone….what’s next?”

If you want a hydrogen toy, check out Horizon Fuel Cell's H2 racer, a toy hydrogen car that runs on solar-generated hydrogen.

 

(The H2 Racer receiving its Hydrogen.)

~Melissa

The Air Car: 2010

(Credit: Zero Pollution Motors)

On AutoblogGreen, I saw this cool post by Wayne Cunningham about the Air Car.  The Air Car runs on compressed air and is expected to be commercially available by 2010.  An innovation developed by an ex-Formula One engineer, Guy Nègre, one version of the car has a top speed of 96 mph and will go 848 miles on 8 gallons of fuel.  However, the car does create some emissions at high speeds, because that it when it requires some gas. 

The Air Car uses compressed air to push its engine's pistons. The Air Car was developed by The MDI Group, which received funding from Indian car maker Tata Motors to build the car for the Indian market. It is reported that up to 6000 Air Cars will be cruising the streets of India this year. Zero Pollution Motors intends to market the Air Car in the U.S.

To refuel your Air Car, you will need access to a gas station with custom air compressor units or you will need to plug into the electrical grid and use the car's built-in compressor to refill the tank.  Although this still isn’t an "emissions free" vehicle, the carbon emissions per mile of the Air Car are much less than any gasoline car on the market.

For more info about how the Air Car works (and scenes of France), check out this “Beyond Tomorrow” video about the Air Car:

I’m looking forward to this….the next invention should be air chocolate cake (with zero calories….or only some calories when eaten at high speeds.)

~Melissa

How Green is Your Machine?

Are you thinking about buying a new car?  Check out the rankings of the greenest and meanest cars on MSNBC.com.  The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy ranked the "greenest" and "meanest" 2007 cars based on fuel economy and emissions -- as well as the estimated impact of those emissions on health and global warming.  Surprisingly, the Toyota Prius did not come in first.  The Honda Civic GX came in first and the Volkswagon Touareg came in last as the meanest car on the road, even meaner than a Lamborghini Murcielago, a Maybach, and a Bentley (according to this study.)

The Civic GX NGV: looks like a Civic, drives like a Civic, and runs on clean, domestic natural gas.

I guess my Lamborghini and my Bentley are just going to have sit in my garage and look pretty.

~Melissa

Smart Solar Solution from Down Under

The problem: boats and ships are using tons of fuel and polluting our oceans.

Every day around the world, scarce fossil fuels are consumed by boats and ships for the transportation of goods and people. Unfortunately, as these aquatic vessels are playing their part in domestic and international commerce, they are creating pollution, hurting the environment and developing health hazards.

The solution: a doctor from down under.

Luckily, an Australian doctor from down under, Robert Dane, had an ingenuous idea to combine sun and wind power with computer systems, thereby, evolving shipping to the next technological level.  While pursuing his interest of sailing and rowing, Dr. Dane attended a solar-powered boat race.  Intrigued by the idea of making all boats solar, he awoke one morning with the inspiration to build a boat with solar wings based on how insects initially used their wings for solar collection.  According to evolutionary theory, this is what an insect’s wings were used for before they were used to fly. (The boat in the picture does resemble an insect I used to know.)

(The company began with an eco-tourism ferry in the Sydney Harbor, like the one in this picture.  It has been a big success among passengers who enjoyed traveling in a noiseless and fumeless boat.  Also, environmentalists like this green boat because of its significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution.)

With the idea for a flexible wing sail covered in solar panels, Dr. Dane sold his medical practice and started his company, Solar Sailor.  His innovation can be applied to almost all of the vessels you see at sea: ferries, cruise ships, humongous water transport tankers, and small unmanned military vessels.  The environmental benefits of his idea are quite simply amazing.  Solar sailing can decrease a ship's fuel costs by up to 90 percent and Solar Sailor vessels would expect to save at least 50% of fuel compared to a conventional vessel. And based on urban ferry duty cycles, it is predicted over 15 years, running the hybrid electric ferry will save the operator US $5M per boat.

For more in-depth information about this company and its Aussie founder, visit SolarSailor.com, or check out this 3 minute video with an interview with Robert Dane on CNN.

The moral to the story? 

a.       Pay attention in school, including Evolutionary Biology

b.      Act on your inspiration and innovative ideas

c.       There is a solution to every problem

d.      Sail solar

e.      All of the above

~Melissa

The Great Green Race

(Why Buzz and Woz are driving to the South Pole)

What happens when you combine a famous, award-winning documentary filmmaker, an astronaut, a millionaire and an executive director with a passion for helping the world become a better place?

…(drumroll)

You get Apollo 11 astronaut, Buzz Aldrin and Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak driving alternative-fuel vehicles to the South Pole. You get an educational exhibit for kids on the use of alternative fuel. You get the ZERO SOUTH Expedition of 2008.

Sneak Preview: Selected in response to the demands of the expedition, this vehicle will be made to be green (although in this picture, it looks white).  It has been prepared and outfitted to go to the South Pole using only alternative fuel.

“The 1024-mile journey to the South Pole will take 12 days using four different types of alternative fuel vehicles driven along a U.S. developed traverse route,” explained Nick Baggarly, executive director of the ZERO SOUTH expedition. Fans of the film, Who Killed the Electric Car?, (which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival), will be glad to know that Chris Paine, the director, will be filming the adventure. Paine said it will be a demonstration for vehicles running on bio-fuels, hydrogen fuel-cell, and on electric batteries.

During the expedition, Buzz and Woz will be available via e-mail to communicate with students (or you and me) around the world. Following the 12-day traverse to the Pole, the actual vehicles used during the expedition will be converted to (should we say recycled?) polar traverse simulators and taken to U.S. schools and museums for two years to educate youth on climate science, alternative fuels, and the importance of the earth’s Polar Regions.  During the tour, kids can climb inside an alternative-fuel vehicle that actually traveled to the South Pole and experience a virtual expedition which unfolds on LCD panels retrofitted in the windows of the vehicle.

This expedition will open the eyes and broaden the minds of school kids around the world about energy-efficiency. It will truly be a different kind of Polar Express for your kids this year. “We’re showing kids a new world,” said Baggarly. “You’ve got to earn their respect and the next generation of scientists and engineers need to be excited about taking on some of the challenges.”

In the meantime, how about enjoying a cool hydrogen-fueled toy car as recommended by Treehugger.com.

~Melissa

12 Green Cars Driving, 11 MPG Savings...

Makes a great stocking stuffer

And #1 this year is the Honda Civic GX.  Apparently beat out the Toyota Prius in CNET's 2007 Greenest Cars.  All 12 seem like pretty good deals to me.  And hey, going cruising in your ragtop Yaris may not be the coolest thing (yet), but it will get you noticed.

  I test drove the Prius today.  Kinda loved it.  Push button start, pin -drop quiet in the city, Synergy drive, (I'm starting to sound like the dealer). 

The Package 2 Prius gonna run me $25,000 (with taxes and such)  When you work out the gas savings, I think it's a wash money-wise, but huge win for the environment...Oh sorry, I forgot the quotes.  That's what the dealer told me when he found out I work at a environmental start up.

Stop Junk Mail Rubbernecking,

-Sanjiv

E-Waste: Where It Goes and Where It Should Go

Weekly Green Tech Series

This is Laura Ling’s 15 min documentary from current.tv’s top 71 shorts of 2007. (out of 1000s)  If you’re short on time, you can watch the 1^st 5 minutes and get the gist of it, but it’s really powerful stuff. I met an editor from current.tv who we plan on working with soon.

Current.tv is where you can take your Sony cam and report on any issue you like – light to heavy. They offer a tutorial on how to shoot. The top shorts migrate to their television channel. (channel 107 in N Cali)

After watching, you’re going to wonder what you can do about it.  Thank God GreenDimes is all about solutions. I found this ridiculously easy tool from earth911.org. Two empty fields to fill: One: what are you looking to recycle (cellphone, battery, etc). Two: your zip.  That’s it.

-Sanjiv

The Car That Emits Water Vapor and on Sale

Weekly GreenTech Series

Honda FCX (city landscape
sold separately)
Did anyone catch that Honda FCX commercial?  Zero emission car?  Hydrogen fuel cells?  Emits water vapor?  Available soonish? (alright, enough with the questions) I had to check it out myself...

Turns out to true.  Here's all you need to do to.  Move to Torrance, Irvine, or Santa Monica , CA because that's where the hydrogen refueling stations are.  Then, this summer, sign up for a 3-year $600 a month lease (includes maintenance and collision insurance), and pick up one of 1000 available.

Okay, so obviously, this car has a few limitations, but it makes a great commuter car if you live in Southern California.  It goes about 270 miles and can reach 100 miles per hour.  Apparently it has great pick up, and runs smoother than our current cars. 

How does it run?  The hydrogen fuel cell converts the H2 and O2 into electricity (that's hydrogen, which won most available element in the universe)

Oh, and their upholstery is made from a plant-based bio-fabric.

Kudos, Honda (someone wake up GM please)

- Sanjiv