MIT spinoff dyes glass to make solar 'windows'

From CNET News:

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology detailed a technique that can boost solar cell output and turn colored windows into solar panels.

Published in Science magazine on Friday, the researchers have developed a way to use dyes painted on glass to redirect light.

By stacking multiple concentrators, you can optimize plates for different wavelengths. Solar cells will be placed along the edges of the plates, reducing the amount of solar cell material needed, and thus the cost of a panel.

By pushing light to the edges and filtering it, they can concentrate the light and squeeze more electricity from photovoltaic solar cells.

The cells are placed on the edges of the glass, rather than across the flat surface of glass, which would allow panel manufacturers to use less costly solar cell material.

It's a technique that was pursued in the 1970s but abandoned because not enough redirected light made it to the cells on plate edges.

By borrowing laser technology, the MIT researchers said they adequately direct and concentrate light to the point where they can boost solar cell output ten-fold.

The technology, which uses off-the-shelf dyes used in car paints, promises to be cheaper than traditional solar concentrators because it eliminates the need for mirrors, lenses, and trackers, said Marc Baldo, an MIT professor of electrical engineering who led the work.

Participants in the research are starting a company, Covalent Solar, to commercialize and improve the technology. MIT said that they expect to have a product available in about three years.

SHOPPING BAGS - IT'LL COST YA!

Here in Seattle, they are trying to implement a fee for people that use disposable bags and other containers. Basically, if you bring your own you won't pay a fee.

My concern is about where exactly the money is going and are the grocery prices going to drop? Currently, I would imagine the grocery costs include all overhead, including the supplies needed for bagging. I would assume that the grocer isn't chipping those in for free to the consumer. I suspect this is just an incentive for the grocers to participate, which I think is generally good. I also applaud them for pushing forward even with these open questions that I (and surely others) have because you know what, people need to make decisions around here! This city and state seem to struggle to get things done because of wanting everyone to agree - don't get me started! 

So in an effort to keep my eye on the prize, I'm willing to pay for the greater good whether that be for the environment, mass transportation, a new bridge, etc. If we continue to say, "That doesn't affect me, I don't want to pay", I fear we will continue to be complacent, and it will soon be too late. OK, off my soap-box, and here's the article: 

At issue during the hearing before the council's Environment, Emergency Management and Utilities Committee was a total ban on polystyrene containers and a fee on disposable bags, be they plastic or paper.

The hearing served as a coming out party for the proposed regulations, which were floated by Mayor Greg Nickels in April. If enacted, the new regulations would ban not-so-green food containers -- from polystyrene to-go boxes to plastic sauce cups and forks -- and would assess a 20-cent-per-bag "green fee" on shopping bags.

Since its unveiling, the proposal has been received alternatively as a bold step toward a sustainable Seattle or an attack on Seattle's poor and middle-class residents.

Many store owners said they've already seen decreases in the number of disposable bags used. Others said a per-bag fee would create problems at the checkout line, and suggested instead that the city could mandate a flat, per-trip fee for each shopper using disposable bags.

"We should have a simple up-front fee," said Joe Gilliam of the Northwest Grocery Association. "I think this could work, and that we could get behind you."

The proposed regulations would begin to be phased in Jan. 1, when the bag fee and foam container ban would go into effect. The plastic container ban would be implemented in July 2010.

For every 20-cent bag fee collected by Seattle, most stores would be allowed to keep 5 cents to cover administrative costs and taxes. Stores pulling in annual gross revenue of less than $1 million would be able to keep the entire 20 cents.

Seattle Public Utilities estimates that the grocery bag fees would generate about $10 million a year. According to the city, that money would be used to enforce the new rules and support expanded waste-prevention programs.

Council members on the environment panel will take up the proposals at a July 22 meeting, when they may vote whether to move the regulations to the full council for a vote.

Click here for more of the article.

GO GREEN - FIRST STEPS YOU CAN TAKE

SUMMER 2008

Level 1: 
Simple Things You Can Do Today

Take these actions and save up to 33 percent of your energy use!

Turn Off Lights You're Not Using 
Take the step: Make a pact with your family to be extra mindful about shutting off lights when they leave a room. A good rule of thumb is that there should be a maximum of one light on in your household per person at any given time. You can even put little reminders around your switchplates—download our template here. Or, install motion sensors (about $20 each) that turn the lights off after a room has remained empty for a certain amount of time.

Why: lluminating rooms that aren't in use is a huge waste.

Schedule an Energy Audit 
Take the step: Get an energy audit performed on your home.

Why: Get expert advice to help you identify ways you can use less electricity and plug energy leaks in your home. You'll get the most cost-effective and useful steps that will help you reduce your energy use, lower your home's global warming footprint, and lower your energy bills, too. Your local utility will probably provide an energy audit for free, but you may get a more comprehensive audit—allowing you to save even more money in the long run—by paying for a whole-house energy audit.

The big picture: Taking all of the most cost-effective strategies for energy efficiency can cut your energy use in half, save you 50 percent or more off your energy bills, and halve your household global warming emissions, too.

Let Your Dishwasher Breathe 

Take the step: Skip the energy-intensive drying cycle on your dishwasher and choose the "air-dry" option, or open the door overnight for some zero-energy dish-drying action. 

Why: The drying cycle uses up a lot of energy and money, while just letting dishes air-dry will accomplish the task for free.

 

Shift Your Load to Off-Peak Times 
Electricity demand goes down at night and begins rising in the morning, peaking at mid-day before falling back down at nightfall again. Because power sources have to produce the electricity around the time of its use, without any capacity for long-term storage, it is our peak demand that determines the expansion of dirty coal-fired power plants and other polluting forms of energy generation. Someday, utilities may use smart meters to help us even things out, but until then, you can do your own private "load shifting" by trying, whenever possible, to wash laundry or run the dishwasher at nighttime and as far possible from mid-day. "Delay" settings on appliances sometimes make this easy to do—many dishwashers, for example, can be set after dinner to go on in four hours and wash the dishes while you sleep.

Bonus: Your utility company may shift to time-of-day metering in the future, so you'll actually pay less when you use electricity at night. 

 

Don't Heat or Cool Empty Rooms 
Take the step: If there is a room in your home that is largely unused, close the vents to save on heating and cooling costs. Always turn off room air conditioners as you leave a room. When you go on vacation, set the thermostat at least ten full degrees below (in winter) and above (in summer) where it'd be if you were home; no need to heat or cool a house when no one is home. 
Why: Heating and cooling rooms no one is in wastes energy (and money!) and generates needless emissions.

Turn Off Your Electronics 
Take the step: If you're going to be away from your computer or other appliance for more than an hour, turn it off as you leave the room. 

Why: Some people mistakenly think it takes a giant burst of energy to power up a television, computer, or game console, and so they leave these electronics on continuously. However, even on an "energy-saver" setting, a computer, game console, or television wastes much more energy when it's on all day than if you really turn it off. 

 

Eliminate "Phantom Load" 
Take the step: Many electronics use electricity even when they're turned off—so your best bet is to unplug electronic devices and appliances when they're not in use. Or, plug your TV and accessories into one power strip and switch off the whole strip to eliminate this "phantom load." 

Why: At least five percent of the average household's monthly utility bill goes towards powering devices that are turned off. TVs, DVD players, computers, printers, and cell phone chargers are just some of the devices that leak power even when they aren't on—in fact, a quarter of the energy used by your TV each year is consumed when the TV is off.

 

Eliminate Your Second Fridge, and Show the First One a Little Love 
Take the step: If you're paying to power a second refrigerator or freezer in your basement, try to make do with one fridge in the kitchen and unplug the extra one. 
You can help your first fridge function more efficiently by placing jugs of water in any empty space inside (water retains cold better than air does), and by taking some time once every six months to pull the fridge away from the wall and scrub down the grime that accumulates on the coils. (One of our editors found that her fridge was so much more efficient post-scrub that she could set the thermostat higher for the same chill!)

Why: The refrigerator is often the biggest energy-using appliance in a home. A typical refrigerator uses more than 1,300 kWh a year and costs the average American household $120 a year in electricity.

Wash Clothes in Cold Water 
Take the step: Turn the knob on your washing machine to "cold/cold" today, and leave it there. If you use a laundromat, post this flyer from the Center for a New 
American Dream to spread the word about washing in cold. 

Why: With modern washing machines and detergents, washing your clothes in cold water gets them just as clean as washing in hot water, but it uses half the energy. In situations where you 
do need hot water—for example, to kill dust mites in bedding— choose cold water for the rinse cycle.

 

Give the Dryer a Rest 
Take the step: Consider skipping the dryer and hanging your clothes to dry on a rack or a clothesline. (For support in line-drying your clothes and to help fight anti-clothesline ordinances in your neighborhood, join Project Laundry List.) You can avoid wrinkles by using your dryer for five minutes, then hanging clothes on the line. Please note that if you have pollen allergies, you'll want to skip the outdoor clothesline and use an indoor drying rack instead. 

Why: It takes a huge commitment of energy to run a dryer— all to do something that the air, given a little more time, will do for free. Many households spend more than $100 a year on the energy used by their dryer.

Go to Co-op America for steps 2 and 3 on how you can help be more green. 

NASA warming scientist: 'This is the last chance'

WASHINGTON (AP) — Exactly 20 years after warning America about global warming, a top NASA scientist said the situation has gotten so bad that the world's only hope is drastic action.

James Hansen told Congress on Monday that the world has long passed the "dangerous level" for greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and needs to get back to 1988 levels. He said Earth's atmosphere can only stay this loaded with man-made carbon dioxide for a couple more decades without changes such as mass extinction, ecosystem collapse and dramatic sea level rises.

"We're toast if we don't get on a very different path," Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute of Space Sciences who is sometimes called the godfather of global warming science, told The Associated Press. "This is the last chance."

Hansen brought global warming home to the public in June 1988 during a Washington heat wave, telling a Senate hearing that global warming was already here. To mark the anniversary, he testified before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming where he was called a prophet, and addressed a luncheon at the National Press Club where he was called a hero by former Sen. Tim Wirth, D-Colo., who headed the 1988 hearing.

To cut emissions, Hansen said coal-fired power plants that don't capture carbon dioxide emissions shouldn't be used in the United States after 2025, and should be eliminated in the rest of the world by 2030. That carbon capture technology is still being developed and not yet cost efficient for power plants.

Burning fossil fuels like coal is the chief cause of man-made greenhouse gases. Hansen said the Earth's atmosphere has got to get back to a level of 350 parts of carbon dioxide per million. Last month, it was 10 percent higher: 386.7 parts per million.

Hansen said he'll testify on behalf of British protesters against new coal-fired power plants. Protesters have chained themselves to gates and equipment at sites of several proposed coal plants in England.

"The thing that I think is most important is to block coal-fired power plants," Hansen told the luncheon. "I'm not yet at the point of chaining myself but we somehow have to draw attention to this."

Frank Maisano, a spokesman for many U.S. utilities, including those trying to build new coal plants, said while Hansen has shown foresight as a scientist, his "stop them all approach is very simplistic" and shows that he is beyond his level of expertise.

The year of Hansen's original testimony was the world's hottest year on record. Since then, 14 years have been hotter, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Two decades later, Hansen spent his time on the question of whether it's too late to do anything about it. His answer: There's still time to stop the worst, but not much time.

"We see a tipping point occurring right before our eyes," Hansen told the AP before the luncheon. "The Arctic is the first tipping point and it's occurring exactly the way we said it would."

Hansen, echoing work by other scientists, said that in five to 10 years, the Arctic will be free of sea ice in the summer.

Longtime global warming skeptic Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., citing a recent poll, said in a statement, "Hansen, (former Vice President) Gore and the media have been trumpeting man-made climate doom since the 1980s. But Americans are not buying it."

But Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., committee chairman, said, "Dr. Hansen was right. Twenty years later, we recognize him as a climate prophet."

• Hansen's speech: http://www.columbia.edu/jeh1/2008/TwentyYearsLater_20080623.pdf

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Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

URGENT: Stop Plans to Drill Our Coastlines!

June 18, 2008 You've seen the headlines today - McCain, Bush, and Gingrich are organizing a push to drill for oil along our coastlines and lift a 27 year moratorium. They seem to be taking advantage of high gas prices to help their friends in big oil make even more money. Opening up our coastline to drilling will take up to 10 years before the first drop of oil would reach your local gas stations and it would last for less than 10 years - yet the devastation it will cause is hardly worth the price.  Opening our national coastlines to oil exploration would begin with seismic testing to find where the oil is located. Seismic blasts have a decibel level of 260 - that's more than twice as loud as an ambulance siren. Whales, dolphins and other marine mammals rely on their sense of hearing to navigate, to locate food and to communicate with each other. Exposure to this level of sound underwater can cause deafening disorientation and can lead to permanent damage and brain hemorrhaging and even cause entire pods of whales and dolphins to beach. Only last week over 100 melon-head whales beached off of Madagascar close to where ExxonMobil was conducting seismic testing.  TAKE ACTION >> Tell your friends to help put a STOP to plans to drill our coastal waters! Seismic testing is not the only danger offshore drilling would cause for our oceans and wildlife. Major oil spills would threaten our beaches, fish, and marine mammals. And global warming is already a major threat to our world's oceans, and despite McCain's efforts to combat it, drilling for more oil will only cause more greenhouse gas emissions.  Instead of pushing for more drilling, we should be investing in renewable energy sources.  In order to stop this concerted effort to drill offshore, I need YOUR help to mobilize your friends, family, and coworkers. It's up to each of us to share the real impacts of drilling offshore. Please, take just a second to sign our petition to McCain and pass it along to your friends. Thank you, John Passacantando Executive Director P.S. This issue is critical, and we need all the support we can get. Once you've taken action, please, send this alert to your friends and family too. Ways to Help Take Action  Sign the petition to McCain today! Tell a Friend  Forward this message to a friend.  Last week, approximately 100 rare melon-head whales were stranded following offshore seismic surveys by Exxon-Mobil off the coast of Madagascar. Greenpeace recently released a new report on the impact of seismic and sonar testing on whales and dolphins.  Read more >>

BUS VS CARS

A car occupied by one person produces on average 2.06 grams/passenger-mile (g/pm) of nitrogen oxides for work trips. A fully occupied transit bus, on the other hand, would produce 1.54 g/pm, while a fully occupied rail transit system would produce only .47 g/pm for the same distance. Similarly, the car occupied by one person would produce 15.06 g/pm of carbon monoxide and 2.09 g/pm of hydrocarbons. The bus would produce 3.05 g/pm and .2 g/pm of the same pollutants, respectively. From an environmental point of view, trains are the best form of transportation: a full passenger train produces only .02 g/pm pf carbon monoxide and .01 g/pm of hydrocarbons.

A bus with as few as seven passengers is more fuel efficient than the average automobile used for commuting. The fuel efficiency of a fully-occupied bus is six times greater than that of the average commuter's automobile, while the fuel efficiency of a fully-occupied rail car is fifteen times greater than that of the average commuter's automobile. A single person who commutes via a transit system instead of driving alone will save 200 gallons of gasoline per year. A 10% nationwide increase in transit ridership would save 135 million gallons of gasoline per year. This fuel efficiency results in personal savings and in a cleaner environment for all.

For people who would like to help make the environment a cleaner place, mass transit is an ideal solution. It may not be free to build, but in the long run it is healthier for everyone. Less pollution will make the air cleaner, and fewer resources such as gasoline will be used. Many cities do have viable mass transportation systems, and the people who use them are, on the whole, well-satisfied.

Honda rolls out a new zero-emission car

TAKANEZAWA, Japan - Honda’s new zero-emission, hydrogen fuel cell car rolled off a Japanese production line Monday and is headed to Southern California, where Hollywood is already abuzz over the latest splash in green motoring.

The FCX Clarity, which runs on hydrogen and electricity, emits only water and none of the noxious fumes believed to induce global warming. It is also two times more energy efficient than a gas-electric hybrid and three times that of a standard gasoline-powered car, the company says.

Japan’s third biggest automaker expects to lease out a “few dozen” units this year and about 200 units within three years. In California, a three-year lease will run $600 a month, which includes maintenance and collision coverage.

Click here for the rest of the article.

WHO IS THE BIGGEST CARBON POLLUTER?

According to StopGlobalWarming.org:

Everything's big in Texas — big pickup trucks, big SUVs and the state's big carbon footprint, too.

Texans' fondness for large, manly vehicles has helped make the Lone Star State the biggest carbon polluter in the nation.

The headquarters state of America's oil industry spewed 670 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2003, enough that Texas would rank seventh in the world if it were its own country, according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The amount is more than that of California and Pennsylvania — the second- and third-ranking states — combined.

A multitude of factors contribute to the carbon output, among them: Texas' 19 coal-burning power plants; a heavy concentration of refineries and chemical plants; a lack of mass transit; and a penchant among ranchers and urban cowboys alike for brawny, gas-guzzling trucks — sometimes to haul things, but often just to look Texas tough.

Debbie Howden, an Austin real estate agent, said her family of six has two pickup trucks, three SUVs, and no apologies. "I would definitely put size and safety over the emissions thing," said Howden, 55. She calls their high fuel bills a "necessary evil."

Anthony Nguyen attended the famously liberal University of California at Berkeley but drives a black Nissan Frontier pickup handed down from his dad, a liquor store owner near Houston. Nguyen said his father hauled liquor around in the truck, but he admitted he has no practical use for its large bed.

"I think it's the idea that in Texas, everything is bigger," said Nguyen, 20. "I grew up here, and I think it's pretty cool."

While states such as like California and New York are moving quickly to address global warming, the issue has prompted only scattered calls for reforms here. GOP leaders in Texas have refused to make emissions reduction a priority, and Republican Gov. Rick Perry has expressed doubt as to whether global warming is even a manmade problem.

Texas political leaders read "environmental protection as government activism" and want no part of it, said Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.

With all the don't-mess-with-Texas swagger he can muster, Perry has called Al Gore's mouth the leading source of carbon dioxide. As for the state's greenhouse gas ranking, Perry's administration makes no apologies.

"Being that Texas is a heavily populated state, that it is the leading producer of energy, has the largest refining capacity and has the largest petrochemical industry in the nation, it would be expected that we would have the largest total of greenhouse gases in the country," Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle said.

Texas, the second most populous state, behind California, has 23.5 million people and more than 20 million registered vehicles, about one in four of them a pickup truck. California has a population of 36.5 million and 33 million registered vehicles.

Transportation accounted for 28 percent of Texas' carbon emissions in 2003.

Texas consumes more coal than any other state. And its per-capita residential use of electricity is significantly higher than the national average, because of high demand for air conditioning during the hot summers and the widespread use of electricity for heating during the winter.

There is little doubt the state's stand on pollution reflects the influence of Texas' biggest and most powerful industry: energy.

"Decisions are not just made by politicians because of a lack of foresight, but in many cases, they have big contributors encouraging them to move in that direction," said Luke Metzger, director of Environment Texas.

Texans polled last spring listed the Iraq war and immigration as the nation's most pressing issues, with fewer than 4 percent saying the environment was a top concern. Nationally, slightly less than half of Americans polled by the Pew Research Center last year rated global warming as a "very serious" problem. Of those, 55 percent say it requires immediate government action.

Click this link for the rest of the article. 

HOW BAD IS THE SUV?

Here are a few questions and answers that I found from The Globalist, written on June 5, 2008.

In the United States, how much more popular are SUVs than hybrid cars?
In October 2007, nearly 55% of U.S. car sales were accounted for by trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) — while hybrid fuel cars accounted for 2% of all car sales.
(Autodata Corp.)

Were SUVs always so popular?
Back in 1980, light trucks — SUVs, minivans and pickups — accounted for just 22% of U.S. vehicle sales.
(Wall Street Journal)

• Note: The amount of corn grain required to fill a 25-gallon SUV tank with ethanol could feed one person for a year. (World Bank)

Why is the trend so alarming?
SUVs release 43% more global warming pollution and 47% more air pollution than the average car.
(Sierra Club)

But what’s a sign that U.S. car-buying trends may be changing?
Americans bought more Toyota Prius hybrid petrol-electric hatchbacks in 2007 than Ford Explorer SUVs — the top-selling SUV for more than a decade. Toyota began selling the Prius in North America in 2000, the same year Explorer sales reached a record 445,000 units.
(Financial Times)

What accounts for the shift?
Filling the fuel tank of a Ford Explorer SUV cost about $70 as of early 2008 — compared with $30 five years ago.
(Financial Times)

How strict are U.S. fuel efficiency standards?
As of 2007, the United States has fuel efficiency standards of 27.5 miles per gallon for cars and 22.2 miles per gallon for SUVs and small trucks.
(Pew Center on Climate Change)

• Note: An SUV in Norway costs four times what it costs in the United States. This is due in part to a road tax, carbon tax and an additional energy tax. (Norwegian Environment Ministry)

Will these standards become more stringent?
In December 2007, U.S. lawmakers mandated that automakers increase their industry-wide vehicle fuel efficiency by 40% to an industry average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020.
(Associated Press)

What’s one curious measure of the energy that SUVs consume?
One tank of gas from a typical SUV has the energy equivalent of more than 60,000 man-hours of work — roughly 100 men working around the clock for nearly a month. At $70 a tank, if gasoline were a person, he would be paid about ten cents an hour for his labor.
(Vanity Fair)

How detrimental are SUVs to the environment?
The amount of carbon emissions released from sport utility vehicles in the United States has increased from less than 5% in 1975 to 30.3% (as of 2005). Meanwhile, the amount of emissions from cars has decreased from 80% over that time period, to 42.1%.
(National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)

Is ethanol the answer?
The amount of corn grain required to fill a 25-gallon SUV tank with ethanol could feed one person for a year. (World Bank)

• Note: In October 2007, nearly 55% of U.S. car sales were accounted for by trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) — while hybrid fuel cars accounted for 2% of all car sales. (Autodata Corp.)

Why were U.S. carmakers so fond of big SUVs?
Each luxury SUV earned U.S. car manufacturers as much as $11,300 — compared with $5,500 for a luxury crossover.
(University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute)

What’s the downside?
Because of the commercial success of the SUV in the 1990s, U.S. automakers were able to continue paying very generous labor contacts to the United Auto Workers union. These generous contracts became a main contributor to the current financial woes of the Big Three U.S. automakers.
(Salon.com)

Did the Bush Administration try to make reforms?
When the Bush Administration proposed a 7% increase in fuel economy for sport utility vehicles and pickups in 2002, General Motors submitted a 300-page rebuttal — an argument that dwarfed the combined filings of its competitors and that said the change would hurt the company.
(New York Times)

What’s one reason large vehicles are so popular in the United States?
Under U.S. fuel economy regulations, the heaviest SUVs and pickup trucks are exempt from mileage requirements — but they are still subject to emissions rules.
(New York Times)

• Note: SUVs release 43% more global warming pollution and 47% more air pollution than the average car. (Sierra Club)

Are SUVs safer than passenger cars?
Mid-size SUVs — among the most popular models on the U.S. market — have on higher average fatality rates than passenger cars and minivans of similar weight.
(National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)

Are SUVs big sellers in Europe?
Sales of SUVs account for roughly 6% of new sales in Europe and are projected to grow to more than 10% by the end of the decade — compared to less than 3% in 1998.
(Wall Street Journal)

Why are SUVs much less popular in Europe?
An SUV in Norway costs four times what it costs in the United States. This is due in part to a road tax, carbon tax and an additional energy tax. In addition, Norway has the highest car taxes in Europe.
(Norwegian Environment Ministry)

• Note: Sales of SUVs account for 6% of new sales in Europe and are projected to grow to more than 10% by the end of the decade — compared to less than 3% in 1998. (Wall Street Journal)

What’s another example?
The city of London will triple its daily "congestion charge" to £25 ($49) for the most-polluting cars and sport utility vehicles in a plan to cut carbon emissions by making driving into the capital more expensive.
(Bloomberg)

GO'BAMA!

Sen. Barack Obama told voters in Wayne, Pennsylvania, on Saturday that he'll cut taxes for the middle class, raise taxes for the wealthy and pour more money into what he calls green energy.

Sen. Barack Obama holds a town hall meeting with residents in Wayne, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.

Later Saturday, in Illinois, Obama helped fill sandbags near the Mississippi River in an area devastated by flooding, his campaign said. The same day, Sen. John McCain extended his sympathies to those affected by flooding in the Midwest.

According to his campaign, Obama wants to invest $150 billion over the next 10 years to establish a green energy sector; create a national low-carbon fuel standard to ensure that the fuel is more efficient, and invest in clean energies like solar, wind and biodiesel.

That, according to the campaign, would create up to 5 million new green energy jobs.

Obama also blasted McCain, the presumptive GOP presidential candidate, for his recent silence on energy reform and his support for a gas tax holiday.

"He isn't offering any solutions to help Americans pay for high gas prices. Instead, he's proposing a gas tax holiday that's nothing more than a Washington stunt," Obama said. "I was for the idea back then, but I've learned from my mistake, because I don't think it's right to say you're offering families relief when you're just boosting oil company profits."

Obama says McCain's gas tax plan would "actually do real harm" and take "$3 billion a month out of the highway trust fund and hand it over to the oil companies."

Click here for the rest of the CNN article. 

Toyota to make plug-in hybrid by 2010

Get ready for the next, and seemingly mindblowing wave of "green" cars
from Toyota! Where do I sign up?

Toyota Motor plans to produce lithium ion batteries next year for a plug-in hybrid vehicle available in 2010.

The company on Wednesday said that the plug-in hybrid will be "geared toward fleet customers in Japan, (the) United States, and Europe."

A joint venture between Toyota and Panasonic EV Energy plans to begin production of lithium ion batteries next year and move to full-scale production in 2010.

Click here to read more.

TOMORROW: TEST DRIVE OF THE SMART FOR TWO!

We'll be test driving the Smart Car at 1pm tomorrow, Sunday. I'll keep you posted!

APTERA: A CAR OR A MOTORCYCLE?

Plug it in for 2-4 hours and drive 50 miles.

Drive further and the generator turns on to recharge the batteries. At 350 miles of driving the generator will keep the batteries charged enough for unlimited driving at about 130 mpg. 75 mile trips are about 400 mpg.

At $27,000 - $30,000, Aptera is expected to be safe as any auto. Plug in for 50 mile trips for $1-$2. Want to learn more? Go to Aptera's website and have a gander.

Here's a commercial it was featured in. Could you drive one?

Source: Three Minds

(Thanks for the article Toby)

GOP blocks Senate's global warming bill - Climate Change - MSNBC.com

Senate Republicans on Friday blocked a global warming bill that would have required major reductions in greenhouse gases, after a bitter debate over its economic costs and whether it would substantially raise gasoline and other energy prices.

Democratic leaders fell a dozen votes short of getting the 60 needed to end a Republican filibuster on the measure and bring the bill up for a vote. The 48-36 vote failed to reach even a majority, a disappointment to the bill's supporters.

Majority Leader Harry Reid was expected to pull the legislation, in all likelihood pushing the congressional debate over climate change to next year with a new Congress and a new president.

Click here for the rest of the article.

Of course, of course.

LIGHT RAIL IS ALMOST HERE SEATTLE!

Sound Transit officials today made the final connections joining more than 14 miles of continuous light rail tracks.

“For the first time we have an unbroken stretch of light rail track from downtown Seattle to the Sea-Tac International Airport area,” said Sound Transit Board Chair and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels as he led Board members in fastening the final track bolts. “We’re one major step closer to testing trains in Rainer Valley later this summer and running them all the way to Tukwila.”

Today’s connection finishes the track that southbound light rail trains will travel on between Westlake Station in downtown Seattle and Sea-Tac International Airport when the line opens in 2009. Crews will continue work on the northbound track and the last portion of track leading into Airport Station.

Central Link light rail construction began in late 2003 and recently passed the 90 percent completion mark and remains on schedule to begin service between downtown Seattle and Sea-Tac International Airport in 2009.

Light rail trains began making test runs between Sound Transit’s Operations and Maintenance Facility in SODO and the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel last fall. With those rails now connected to the tracks running through Beacon Hill and into the Rainer Valley, light rail trains can stretch their test run further south through Rainier Valley all the way to Tukwila Station by the end of this summer.

More than 6.5 million work hours have gone into light rail construction since the project broke ground – work performed by union laborers, equipment operators, carpenters, ironworkers, masons, bricklayers, teamsters, electricians, plumbers and painters.

Each weekday Sound Transit carries more than 50,000 riders on ST Express regional buses, Sounder commuter rail and Tacoma Link light rail. That number will more than double by 2020 following start of Link light rail service between Downtown Seattle and the airport in 2009.

Expansion of Link light rail between downtown and the University of Washington is slated to begin this year and be completed in 2016. University Link is projected to nearly triple the regional light rail system’s ridership to more than 114,000 a day by 2030.

Voters will determine future growth of Sounder and other regional transit services through a future mass transit ballot measure. The Sound Transit Board is currently considering the priorities and timing for a future ballot measure to continue expanding the regional transit system with more Link light rail, Sounder commuter rail, and ST Express bus service. Sound Transit is seeking public input on system expansion options through a series of public meetings and web and phone questionnaires. Please see www.soundtransit.org/future for more information.

(SOURCE: Sound Transit)

TIMES ARE CHANGING

G.M. Closing 4 Truck Plants in Shift Toward Cars

Responding to a consumer shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles, General Motors said Tuesday that it would stop making pickup trucks and big S.U.V.s at four North American assembly plants and would consider selling its Hummer brand.

The moves, announced Tuesday by the company chairman, Rick Wagoner, will slash 500,000 units from the automaker’s overall production, and pave the way for increased investment in smaller cars and passenger vehicles. Within three years, he said, trucks will account for less than 40 percent of the vehicles that G.M. produces in North America, down from about half today.

Mr. Wagoner said that rising gasoline prices had forced a “structural shift” by American consumers away from truck-based vehicles built by G.M.

“These prices are changing consumer behavior and changing it rapidly,” Mr. Wagoner said in announcing the cuts before G.M.’s centennial shareholders meeting in Wilmington, Del. “We don’t believe it’s a spike or a temporary shift. We believe it is, by and large, permanent.”

In what he called “difficult” decisions, Mr. Wagoner said that G.M. would close plants in Janesville, Wisc.; Moraine, Ohio; Oshawa, Ontario; and Toluca, Mexico by or before 2010.

The cuts will affect about 8,000 workers at the four plants, although not all of those people will lose their jobs. Some will be able to fill spots created when other workers leave because of early retirement and buyout offers.

The actions follow previous moves to cut shifts at two truck plants in Michigan.

“This is tough stuff,” Mr. Wagoner said after the meeting. “It’s not about we like this plant better than that one. It’s about that the market has radically changed and we have to adapt to it.”

Mr. Wagoner said it was “unlikely” that the plants would reopen at any point with new products, but declined to provide details about relocating workers to other plants.

Both Detroit automakers have been hit hard by rising fuel costs that have dramatically curtailed demand for pickups and full-sized S.U.V.s like the Chevrolet Tahoe. The shift toward smaller and lighter vehicles with better mileage is a problem for Detroit automakers because they offer fewer such models than Asian carmakers like Toyota and Honda.

G.M. had been expected to slash its truck production after similar moves were announced by the Ford Motor Company. Ford recently eliminated a shift at each of four truck plants in Michigan, Wisconsin and Ontario and extended the summer shutdown at several truck plants to reduce inventories. The company also announced last week that it would build its new subcompact car, the Fiesta, at a Mexican factory that assembles full-size pickup trucks.

While G.M.’s production cuts were deeper than anticipated by industry analysts, the decision on the Hummer brand underscored the painful reality G.M. is facing.

Once considered an iconic brand with global market potential, the Hummer has become a symbol of the decline of the large, gas-guzzling sport utility vehicle.

Mr. Wagoner said that G.M.’s directors had approved a “strategic review” of Hummer that could include “a partial or complete sale of the brand.”

Over all, G.M. will reduce its North American production to 3.7 million vehicles from 4.2 million. The moves should add $1 billion in cost savings to an existing target of reducing costs by $5 billion by 2011.

Besides slashing truck and S.U.V. production, G.M. will place a bigger bet on its passenger cars and lighter-weight crossover vehicles.

Mr. Wagoner said G.M. will add third shifts to its plants in Lordstown, Ohio, and Orion Township, Mich., to increase their output of Chevrolet and Pontiac cars.

He said the G.M. board also approved next-generation versions of two small Chevrolet passenger cars, as well as a new fuel-efficient, 1.4-liter turbocharged engine.

The automaker also set a firm schedule for production of the extended-range, electric-powered Chevrolet Volt. Mr. Wagoner said the Volt, which is powered by batteries augmented by a small gasoline engine, will be available for sale no later than the end of 2010.

“In other words, the Chevy Volt is a go,” he said. “We believe this is the biggest step yet in our industry’s move away from our historic, virtually complete reliance on petroleum to power vehicles.”

“From the start of our North American turnaround plan in 2005, I’ve said that our goal is not just to return G.M. to profitability, but to structure G.M. globally for sustained profitability and growth,” the chief executive, Rick Wagoner, said in a statement announcing the restructuring.

“Since the first of this year, however, U.S. economic and market conditions have become significantly more difficult,” he said. “Higher gasoline prices are changing consumer behavior, and they are significantly affecting the U.S. auto industry sales mix.”

G.M. shares were up 1 percent in late afternoon trading.

CELINE DION, THE WATER GUZZLER

I love Celine Dion, not so much her music but rather, who I have seen in interviews and stuff - she's just the right amount of crazy and for me, that contrasts nicely with her schmaltzy music. But this morning I read an article from the Palm Beach Post that talks about who uses the most water in their area, and Celine and her fath...I mean husband were right at the top. Keep in mind, she doesn't even live there yet. Here's an excerpt:

While most residents use fewer than 10,000 gallons a month, utility records show that some of the Treasure Coast's most water-hungry residents use more than 15 times that amount.

The biggest users live along Martin County's coastline, including wealthy Jupiter Island, where homeowners use up to 1.6 million gallons a month - more than 250 times the average amount used by residential customers served by Martin County utilities.

For the 12 months that ended in March, the title of top water-guzzler went to Renlec Management, the Montreal-based company of Canadian singer Celine Dion, who owns 5.7 acres in the island town. In a year, the property used about 6.5 million gallons of water, or enough to fill a 50-gallon bathtub about every four minutes.

Now Celine, for the love of the children, and their parents (inside joke there), can you please use some rock gardens or something? 

APARTMENT THERAPY CLASSIFIEDS

Need some new housewares but need them on the cheap(er)? Check this out.

PRE-FAB APARTMENTS IN SEATTLE

Can someone please explain to me what this actually means? I might be dumb, but I don't really get it. All I really understand is that somehow these pre-fab homes will be made, brought in on a crane, and they'll cost less for the average city-dweller. 

Click here for the article I'm talking about and in the comments, tell me what the hell this really means. LOL!

GOING GREEN WITHOUT THE ENVY

Here are just a few things you can do to help out:

1. Turn off the water while brushing your teeth - the average person uses 2 gallons of water every time they brush and don't turn it off
2. Use energy-efficient light bulbs - If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.
3. Use less paper towels and use dish towels - If every household in the U.S. replaced just one roll of 180-sheet virgin-fiber paper towels with 100-percent recycled paper towels, we could save: 1.4 million trees, 3.7 million cubic feet of landfill space, and 526 million gallons of water, and prevent 89,400 pounds of pollution? (http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Publications/GreenTeam/)

Here are a few sites that are helpful:

➢ http://www.environmentaldefense.org/home.cfm
➢ http://www.world.org/weo/environment
➢ http://11thhouraction.com/
➢ http://www.treehugger.com

Suggestions welcome!