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after freecycling for the last year, it looks like this is the next step

pv cell stuff

Solar Panels (Photovoltaics) | Low Impact Life Onboard

The riversimple car

I really hope this catches on, I think its a really great idea.

Riversimple

I think that our salvation will come from the hackers of the world.

A Final Act

If it was possible for your final act to be one of recycling, of loving the planet, would you do it. My preference would be to be buried in a bio-degradable coffin with a tree as my headstone. If i was inclined to be cremated (which I'm not at present) I would seriously consider this as an option. A cardboard urn with a lid filled with oak seeds.

Benign Objects: Ultimate Recycling

interesting but expensive

NatureMill: Automatic Indoor Composter

RENEWABLE ENERGY UK

Renewable Energy UK

Earth Hour

Earth Hour: Vote Earth - The world’s first global election.

switch of your lights to save the earth!! between 8.30 and 9.30 for one hour... go on, do it!

Crossways - a zero carbon house

So... its not that i'm jumping on the band wagon of this particular media zeitgeist, Fact is, I will have a part in designing zero-carbon houses in the future and I wanted a bunch of links to this very interesting house.

Now I'm not an architect... but there's something about the form of this building which doesn't sit right with me. I find the timbral roof beautiful and intriguing, but the blocks on the front detract from the simplicity of the overall form. but what do I know? anyhoo here are the links

www.crossway.tumblr.com

Crossway is one of the first zero carbon houses in the UK. The building explores the uniqueness of 'place' as well as harnessing solar energy to generate all its own electricity and thermal energy.

The Architects (and clients) professional website - Hawkes

DuPont™ Energain®

The Homepage of Energain - Providing essential thermal mass in low inertia buildings

A new solution to rechargable batteries?

I don't know about you but we have a stack of rechargeable batteries that we've used two or three times and then given up because of the inherent inconvenience of waiting for 8 hours whilst the damn things charge. So i was very interested to see these things on NOTCOT. Notes from Knut: The SunCat Batteries - DIY prototypes describes his idea of wrapping a battery in a flexible photovoltaic cell.

Probably flawed in some way, but i love the simplicity of this.

Carbon Footprint Calculators

So... having attempted to figure out my carbon footprint using a couple of calculators, I find myself disappointed and frustrated. I figured it was worth which of the available calculators was the most accurate and let me take into account some of the less obvious thing that i do in my life to reduce my carbon footprint.

I have to start from a point at which I know that I need at least 2 planets to survive, but the calculators I have used to figure this out are a blunt instrument. I want a more precise measure.

DirectGov - Act On CO2 Calculator - very pretty this one but really slow (there is an html version), it was the first calculator that I used. To do it right you need to have some of your gas and electricity bills on hand... my score? my carbon footprint, which is 7.07 tonnes per annum. this is quite close to my original WWF calculator result

WWF Footprint Calculator - this is the one favoured by Dick Strawbridge of "its not easy being green" i have to say i'm not a fan of it. its too simplistic for my tastes. My result on this one is 2.52 planets Equating to an Ecological Footprint of 4.54 hectares, leaving my carbon footprint, which is 9.91 tonnes per annum. this is an increase from the last time I did this one (see my first post). This is a quick one though so if you are in a rush and want a quick idea of how much you are killing the planet... this one is for you

The UK Carbon Footprint Project - aha... google's getting in on the act. so the google calculator adds itself as a new page onto your google homepage, which is a nice touch with various eco-centric google gadgets. the calculating process is even quicker than the wwf calculator. The result, however, muddy's the waters a bit. According to Google my carbon footprint is 3.69 tonnes which I can only assume is somewhat erroneous, because that would my planetary target less than one planet!! in which case I have done enough and I need do no more!!
So I guess the google calculator is for those of us who are in a rush, but need to feel good about the planet. I have to say I don't quite trust this result though.

Carbon Footprint - Carbon Footprint Calculator - Ok this is a bit more like it. Well in a bad way anyway. This is a fairly utilitarian calculator which is pretty quick to use and seems accurate. The bad news (For me anyway) is in the results. This one says my carbon footprint is 8.57 tonnes. This then seems to hit the mean.

At the end of this process, what have I learnt? not a lot. These things are only as good as the information put in. The Google calculator stood out as the one with the most erroneous result. Despite its speed i prefferred the direct.gov calculator which, whilst slow, allowed me to be more specific in most areas.

Borderline Brilliant/Crackpot Renewable Energy

InfraNet Lab » Blog Archive » Harnessing the Energy from the Earth’s Rotation

Had to post this from InfraNet Lab

In most energy production, one form of energy is converted to another via gears, pulleys, magnets, etc. If we consider the earth’s rotation as a form of energy, to harness it, we would need to create a ring of resistance that would covert this to electricity. Gyroscopes are privileged devices in this manner because they maintain their orientation in space. According to Physicist, C Johnson, if one could build a massive ferris-wheel type gyroscope on the North Pole, there would theoretically be a potential to harness this energy. The gyroscope would initially be started with a motor and once in motion, it would spin endlessly. Further, the gyroscope would have to be fixed to the earth – the difference between the earth’s rotation and the gyroscope would create a torque, or moment force as Johnson posits, “The Earth’s rotation would externally directly drive the gear train, using the gyroscope simply as a fixed object to push against.”

Of course there maybe ramifications on the earth's rotational speed, length of an earth day, the position of our planet in the solar system and other trivial considerations like that.

Electricity from the oceans?

Plumbing the oceans could bring limitless clean energy - tech - 19 November 2008 - New Scientist

An interesting one this... generating electricity by exploiting the difference in temperature between seawater near the surface and deep down.

Whilst its not a new idea, it seems that this technology has fallen in and out of favour over 120 years. Successful pilot projects have been tried a number of occasions since the late 70's, none of which seem to get very far. With the current economic climate heading the way it is, here is yet another way in which we get clean energy from the planet.

With a company like Lockheed Martin behind it you'd think that this might actually get somewhere... watch this space.

p.s. gotta love new scientist... the comment threads are all so civil and intelligent. makes a change from the standard YouTube fare.

Recycle Books

Now I like this... I have a pile of books I won't read again... ever! so here's a place where you can sell your unwanted books and buy other peoples second hand books. What a great idea, I shall be testing it out and will report back.

Green Metropolis

Imagine if you could earn money and
help the environment at the same time… well now you can! Join a growing
community of buyers and sellers, where the more unwanted books you buy
and sell, the more trees can be saved and planted - we donate 5p from
every sale to the Woodland Trust.

Wind Turbine Efficiency

Wind turbines are a technology which gets a bad rap occasionally. I think they are beautiful things, but there are those who think they are noisy, ugly, that they affect radio and tv signals (no bad thing you might argue) but more importantly that they are inefficient.

The inefficiency argument can now be addressed somewhat more successfully with one company rethinking the mechanics of the technology.

DailyTech - New Wind Turbine Generator Ditches Mechanical Transmission, Ups Efficiency 50 Percent

Startup ExRo is not your average wind power company, though. This think-outside-the-box firm has reinvented one of the most basic components of wind turbines -- the generator. Its new design promises up to 50 percent more efficiency and lower production costs as well.

Of course there are those who will see an end to humanities use of this nefarious technology

Wind turbine destroyed after 'octopus UFO' seen in sky - Telegraph

The theory of the moisture farm

Having read sci-fi books such as dune and watched star wars to death, the concept of a moisture farm has always seemed like one of those sci-fi inventions which could plausibly be made reality in our life times, and now it seems it has. As reported by The Guardian/Observer, this is The eco machine that can magic water out of thin air

A Canadian company, Element Four, has created The WaterMill which in their words

"is an atmospheric water collection device that condenses water vapor and purifies it. In English: It's a home appliance that makes drinking water for your whole family - using only air."

With demand for water increasing, and the possibility of wars over water looming for many countries, this seems like it maybe a way for civilisation to decrease its water consumption.

The device can produce up to 12 liters of drinking quality water per day, fixed to the outside of a house and connected to the sink, refridgerator or a custom dispenser. It also contains a filtration system which ensures the water is "clean and free of toxins and bacteria - more pure than tap water or even spring water."

The possibilities of this device and the technology which may come from it in the future are quite awe inspiring. At the moment these devices are suitable for houses, I can easily imagine the potential for larger devices serving companies, or more importantly, communities. In addition, Element Four intend to have systems available that run on a solar panel or wind generator in the near future.

This looks great but I wonder what the effect millions of these devices, sucking the moisture out of the air, might have on the climate?

Vela Creations

I guess living "Off-Grid" is the dream really, a bit like the self sufficiency thing of the 1970's as typified by "The Good Life". These guys really have gone for it though. The site is well worth a rummage around as there is plenty of information available. As usual adobe buildings always look beautiful to me.

Vela Creations - HOME

Vela Creations is a documentation of our experiences and projects living off the grid. We are a young couple striving to fulfill our lifestyles through sustainable means. Our hope is that our experiences will serve as guidence to those interested in the technologies and methods illustrated on this site.

A Green perspective

In my opinion, whether or not climate change is happening is irrelevant. The Earth has survived much larger changes than the subtle shift of a few degrees. The point, is that the Human Race is not living in balance with its resources. Western civilisation is consuming the planet around it with a greed which is shocking. The emerging economies - China, India etc. are infected with a similar burgeoning avarice.

The greed which affects us is the cause of all our ills. If the oil is running out it is because we insist on driving cars, and because the car and oil companies will not let us use anything else. If the world economy is collapsing it is because a number of intensly greedy people kept acquiring more money than they could ever use in one hundred lifetimes.

So I can recycle all I can, I can put as much insulation in my house as I can afford (I would put more in... money allowing), I can cycle to work (which I don't do nearly enough). In my work in the construction industry I have a chance to influence other peoples choices regarding constuction materials and opportunities to improve their homes. But does this all really make a difference? is this blog my last attempt to convince myself that I can make a difference?

My answer is this... I don't think it really makes a difference that I will not be able to change the minds of thousands of people and companies who's greed and desire for 'Growth' will consume them. What matters to me is that I leave as light a footprint on this planet as I can. I should not consume more resources than I need. When I last checked my carbon footprint WWF Footprint Calculator, it was a vast 2.09 planets. This equates to an ecological footprint of 3.77 hectares, and a carbon footprint of 7.84 tonnes per annum. However, I have done this in the past and achieved a lower value of 1.6 planets. So carbon calculators are a blunt instrument to be frank. The only way to satisfy my conscience is to carefully inspect every area of my life and ask myself "can i do more?" Its a case of 'Physician heal thyself' If I can do that then maybe others will do the same.

This blog then is a starting point, a place for me to collect my thoughts, find new ways and new ideas. I need a green perspective.