Energy Archives - Page 3 of 9

This Bus is Powered by Your Waste. Holy Sh*t!

New York City was first with it’s No-Idling laws, but the UK, it seems, won’t settle for #2. Unless of course it’s the #2 (Human waste) that just happens to be fueling the first-of-its-kind city bus. The 40-seater Bio-Bus runs on fuel generated from treated sewage and food waste and helps improve urban air quality as it produces fewer emissions than traditional diesel engines. The bus can travel up to 200 miles on a full tank of gas generated at Bristol sewage treatment works – a plant run by GENeco, a subsidiary of Wessex Water. Up to 10,000 passengers are expected to travel on the Bio-Bus each month. It’s not petrol, bio-diesel or natural gas. It’s Biomethane, and can even be used to power up to 8,500 homes, and although the bus's graphics seem to imply it’s a moving shitter, the fuel is actually a product of Bristol sewage treatment, which treats around 75 million cubic meters of sewage waste and 35,000 tons of food waste through a process known as anaerobic digestio…

U.S. Allows Fracking in George Washington National Forest

By Amanda Crater - Just as George Washington once swung an ax into his own father's beloved cherry tree, the United States federal government just drove a drill into the heart of its national park system by approving a federal management plan that will allow fracking to occur in parts of the George Washington National Forest - the nation's largest national forest on the East Coast. The controversial practice is vehemently opposed by both environmentalists and Virginia's governor Terry McAuliffe, but fracking will be allowed thanks to the new plan passed Tuesday November 14, 2014 over their objections. It seems fitting that this symbolic move applies to a national park named after a president whose legacy includes taking an ax to his own garden in a masochist act of self sabotage - good fracking job America on this one too. Just as elementary school text books commend dear George for fessing up to his father, politicians and lobbyists are applauding themselves for coming up …

Find Anything on Google, Except Maybe Their Large Carbon Footprint

Google has been a carbon neutral company for seven years, and every year around this time they calculate and publish their carbon footprint so they can make sure to offset it completely. Today Google updated the Google Green website with their 2013 carbon footprint so we can see it for ourselves. They also made another announcement relevant to green businesses, communities and our environment. In ironic contradiction to the old song, "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot," the search giant announced that it will put a 82MW solar power plant on top of an old oil and gas field in Kern County, Calif.

"There's something a little poetic about creating a renewable resource on land that once creaked with oil wells," said Google. "Over the years, this particular site in California has gone from 30 oil wells to five as it was exhausted of profitable fossil fuel reserves. The land sat for some time and today we’re ready to spiff things up."

The new deal wi…

What’s Good for the Environment can be Great for Business

I enjoy learning about how I can help the environment and staying up to date on which green businesses are playing a role in this revolution. My understanding of why everyone needs to contribute to this solution continues to branch out in many new directions as well. From reducing to reusing to recycling, this century's eco-friendly innovators have helped pave the way for a growing awareness about environmental concerns that is sweeping the globe. Here are some examples of how green businesses are helping create a cleaner and safer environment. Plastic Reduction

The most basic way people can start helping clean up the environment is bringing their own bags to the grocery store. Instead of choosing between paper and plastic bags, both of which create a strain on the environment, bringing your own cloth bag is reusable, reducing the need to cut down trees and drill for oil, which is where plastic products come from. Several U.S. cities such as San…

20 Universities That Encourage Green Living

1) Nanyang Technical University – School of Art, Design and Media - The architectural structure of this building maximizes interior daylight, makes smart use of lack of space and land in the local area, minimizes materials, and uses lower water and electricity uses. 2) Yale University – Kroon Hall - Kroon Hall at Yale University is made from 80% certified timber, 16% recycled content. Also, 34% of the purchased materials came from regional sources. As a result, there is an 81% reduction in annual potable water use, which saves an average 500k gallons of city water a year. They are also seeing a 61% reduction in energy use compared to a similar building and program. It features rooftop photovoltaic panel providing 25% of the building’s electricity. Half of the red oak paneling came from a forest in northern Connecticut that’s managed by the school itself. 3) Carnegie Mellon University – Gates and Hillman…

A Tesla in Norway? King of the Road for 1/2 Price.

In the United States, a @TeslaMotors will run you $70,000 or so. But Norway is an ideal market for Tesla because of the country’s embrace of electric vehicles, the fact that it’s a wealthy country and because the government heavily taxes gasoline-burning luxury cars. Because the Model S is electric, Tesla can take advantage of a Norwegian tax regime that makes the Model S the least expensive luxury sedan in the market. At half the total price of comparable luxury cars like the Porsche Panamera S or the Audi S6, a Model S bought in Norway is a bargain. No tax for EVs Free Charging Free Parking No Tolls World traveler Rick Steves explains in this video from Norway this week.

As a percentage of total market share, electric cars are more popular in Norway than anywhere else in the world. So it’s no wonder Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) made the country the focus of its global expansion plans early on.

It’…