The Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, already on the forefront of many ecological efforts such as fuel cell power plants and solar panels on top of its new parking lot, has found a new way to help mother Earth: make ethanol out of beer by-products!

The company is testing coke-machine sized portable refineries (see above) made by a company called E-Fuel, which can take the leftover yeast from the beermaking process (currently sold as feed for livestock) and turn it into ethanol.   Sierra Nevada can then use this fuel to power, at least partially, its fleet of vehicles!  The company even expects, if all goes well, to end up with a surplus of ethanol that can be provided to employees.

So, if you ever think you smell beer coming out of a passing car or truck, you’re not crazy.  And if you want to support this kind of effort, head for your local adult beverage store and pick up a six-pack of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.  I plan to!

(from cnet)

I’ve been writing a few articles about MacBook laptops and now I can finally say that I’m a real Mac person. I went to best buy this Sunday and I bought a 13in MacBook. It’s totally awesome. I just love the fact that it’s almost completely recyclable and made from aluminum.

What truly amazed me was the packaging. Apple was telling us that it was environmentally friendly. I use to like this fact but now that I’ve seen it for my self I can say that it’s true. They used the strict minimum to package this little wonder.

Now all there is to do is to explore every aspect of my MacBook. As I do this I’ll keep you posted on how it goes. 

If any of you want to ad something about this feel free to comment.

But a British company has embarked on a government-sponsored, 1.5 million pound experiment to construct a plant to produce what is supposedly carbon-negative cement.  Carbon-negative, you say?  You read me right.  We’ve all been conditioned, myself included, to think of “carbon-neutral” as the apotheosis of ecological manufacture.  But now we have a new goal — carbon negative!

Standard cement, also known as Portland Cement, uses limestone as its basic element.  As part of the production process, it is heated to 1500 degrees centigrade (which of course uses lots of carbon-producing energy).  Then, once water is added for its use in buildings, it absorbs some carbon as it dries and hardens — but not nearly enough to compensate for the energy used in its manufacture.

The new carbon-hungry cement, which uses magnesium silicates instead of limestone, need only be heated to 650 degrees centigrade — consuming less than half the energy of regular cement.  Then, when drying and hardening, it absorbs more than twice the amount of carbon dioxide.  Making it significantly carbon-negative!  Jackpot!

Many questions remain, of course.  Are there enough raw materials for lots of this new type of cement to be manufactured?  (Advocates say yes.)  Can a new type of cement prove itself just as reliable and strong as the old standby, Portland?  (Hard to say.)  Will this potentially paradigm-shifting product ever see the light of day, unlike so many other good environmental ideas.  (Experience says no, but let’s hope for the best.)

–from the Guardian UK

The above is not a still from an X-rated remake of “The Sound of Music.”  It’s actually a promotional pic for a wood-fired hot tub.  Of course your backyard scenery may not be as spectacular, but the darned thing supposedly will get the water up to 100 degrees in two short hours, depending on the outside temperature.  And all without using anything but renewable energy.  And it’s lightweight and portable too!

Still — a few questions.  I wonder what the carbon footprint of this thing is?  And, does it come in any colors besides nuclear orange?

But today I started feeling guilty about my absence from the talkgreen community.  So I decided simply to post about something that’s been on my mind, something that hits me where I live.

The laziness factor.  I’ve got it bad, and it often makes me a poor environmentalist.

For instance: this plagues me when I go to the supermarket.  I keep old shopping bags in the hatchback of my Prius, the old paper-inside-plastic-with-handles deal, with the intent to re-use them until they literally fall apart.  I have proudly pointed them out to the odd automotive passenger as evidence of my holier-than-thou love of the Earth.

The problem is, at least 50% of the time I go food shopping, I arrive at the check-out counter and it hits me – I have left them in the car.  I’m an idiot, I think to myself.  I of course have the option of getting out of line and going to the car to get them — it would only take a minute or two.  But I’d have to give up my place in line, and often I’d have to put a few items back in my cart, the ones I had already loaded onto the unforgiving black conveyer belt.  Or I would have to make everyone behind me wait while I run out to the car, which I would find mortifying.  So although I usually berate myself for being lazy, I guess it is a combination of forgetfulness, embarrassment, and laziness, to be exact.  But, inevitably, I just slouch my shoulders, answer “plastic” and skulk out of the store, loading the groceries into my car on top of the saved bags, which silently mock me.

Now, reader, please understand, when I get home and put away my purchased items, I recycle the plastic bags.  I’m not a barbarian.

But neither am I the conscientious earth-first tree-hugger that I’d like to think I am.

I promise to work on it, and perhaps I’ll keep you posted.

Editor’s Note: This article was reposted here in hopes that today’s CNN video (see bottom of article) will spark more interest in this issue. The video states that “sweet tooth Britain” will have no honey of its own to sell after Christmas. Can we change that this Halloween?

The honey bees are dying off around the world, and yet still many people have never heard of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). [Last month] the Italian government banned several pesticides that are thought to be linked to the honey bee decline. More research (funding) is required to find out exactly what is causing the disappearance.

 During Honey Week, Meridith Melnick wrote:

“One-third of the food we consume comes from pollinators. Bees are responsible for pollinating almonds, apples, soft fruit, and berries among other crops. Without them, we will lose more than honey (a tragedy in its own right!), we will lose a large portion of the biodiversity we now enjoy on our plates.”

I shared my own honey bee concerns with my preschooler a few months back, and I was amazed how quickly and easily she accepted the need to protect this species. Sunflowers have taken off all over our yard, and while I’m no bee expert there are definitely some pollinators in our presence. My children do their own waggle dance whenever they see a flower visitor. (Planting bee friendly flowers is one of the easiest things you can do as a family to support honey bees.)

Since our governments aren’t acting fast enough, perhaps we need to send our children off buzzing with this CCD news. Have you thought of a Halloween costume idea for your youngest tot? If not consider turning your little honey into a bee. You know your friends and family are going to ask what your precious bundle is going to be on his first Halloween. With your baby on board, spreading the word about CCD will be easy. (And people will be less likely to judge you as a greenie in front of little buzz.)

You don’t need to run out and buy your baby a new costume.  You don’t even need to be  all that creative. Yellow pajamas (or snow suit) and some black tape may be all you need to get your neighbours going goo goo for your little stinger. Parents who like to join in on the dress up fun might consider pairing a yellow shirt with black pants to form a bee colony.

Here’s another idea for young families who rarely make it down a whole street on Halloween night before little ones tire and are ready to buzz home. Instead of accepting candy that your baby won’t eat, offer pouches of sunflower seeds to your neighbours, with a link to the Hagen Daaz website (www.helpthehoneybee.com).

Eco Challenge: Please use the comment section to send your ideas for crafting homemade (earth friendly) bee antennae that don’t fall off. (My own kids are old enough to decide what they want to bee for Halloween. The Hungry Caterpillar and Monarch Butterfly are going to need antennae too!)

Related Posts on Bees

• Honey Bee Rescue. What you can do to help.
• What’s the Buzz with Honey Bees?
• None of Your Beeswax

Image: flickr user Tommie and Georgie under a Creative Commons License

Anyway, several years ago I travelled to Sydney Australia, a lovely trip full of delightful restaurant meals and beautiful garden tours.  But one thing always stuck in my mind — their toilets.  Down under, each toilet has two buttons — half-flush, for exclusively liquid flushes, and full-flush for more substiantial matters. Or, to put it another way, one for number one, one for number two.  Even that many years ago, I loved this idea and the resulting water savings.  It only added to my enjoyment of Oz.

And now, for quite awhile, these toilets have been available in the good ol’ USA.  For instance, the Toto Aquia Dual-Flush:

At only .9 gallons per 1/2 flush (as opposed to 1.6 gallons for normal, man-sized flush), apparently this baby can save one household up to 7000 gallons of (otherwise clean drinkable) water a year.  How great is that!

If I ever remodel my bathrooms, this will be my commode of choice.

Is this the look of an embarrassed Argentinian Cow?  Perhaps we’ll never know.

This is a snapshot of a cow that, willingly or not, participated in a recent experiment funded by the government of Argentina to measure the methane “output” of our bovine friends.  A tube is inserted into the cow’s, ahem, gas-producing orifice, and linked to a big, pink balloon on its back. “Oh this?  Why, it’s nothing.  Don’t open that valve!”

Apparently, the cow’s didn’t mind.  Perhaps after getting a numbered tag crudely stapled to your ear, carrying around a lightweight gas tank is calf’s play.  Still, if I was at a party with a deflated plastic bladder attached to my rear end, and it suddenly, in the middle of some great witty banter, inflated, I’d head for the door pronto.  Maybe cows don’t have parties.

Some good did come out of this ridiculousness.  The Argentine government established that fully 30% of its total national greenhouse gas emissions come from their more than 55 million cows.  And methane is more than 20 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than the much-more-demonized CO2.  So the Argentines are now experimenting with different types of feed for their livestock to try and reduce the methane emissions.

Probably, we should all give up beef, which as a food source is among the most inefficient in terms of land and feed use.

But until that time, perhaps more cows will have to suffer the embarrassment of the pink balloon.

The owner of LITTLE BODHI makes the above statement on her new e-boutique website, which features an assortment of eco-friendly basics for babies including toys, clothing, and music. At LITTLE BODHI, online shoppers can choose between shopping green, organic, or non-toxic. Brands include Kate Quinn Organics, Speesees, Sckoon, Rockabye Baby, and Anamalz.

While the prices for organic baby wear may be slightly steep for some new parents, we all know there are plenty of aunties out there who see nothing wrong with paying 25 bucks for a unique onesie (especially if it means plugging sustainable options at the baby shower and having a gift that won’t likely be a duplicate). If the parents-to-be are responsible consumers determined to bring baby up green, the thoughtful gift will mean that much more.

Though I choose to clothe my own busy children in mainly hand-me downs or thrift shop bargains, I must admit that my newborns were clad in 99% brand new gift wear like most of their peach fuzzed peers. But one thing I never got around to doing as a new mom was sending out cute birth announcements. LITTLE BODHI offers a free, eco-friendly solution for expecting parents who may never get around to circulating that first photo in a formal way. New moms who choose LITTLE BODHI as their gift registry can sign up for the adorable electronic baby announcement that can be effortlessly e-mailed to friends and family after the baby arrives. Visit LITTLE BODHI for more details.