Natural Family News

You might want to check this out if you’re going to be in the D.C. area. It’s a bit far for me to go on a last minute trip, but if anyone does go, let us know what it was like.

Green Technology: Use Less Resources and Increase Profits

Imagine a world where houses are built from plant materials instead of cement and bricks. Drinking water is disinfected by solar energy, not chemicals. And homes are designed to harvest rainwater to supply hot and cold water. It’s not a far away dream – you can see it next week at the first National Sustainable Design Expo on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., May 9-10 which showcases the best new designs for sustainable products and technologies, also called “green technology.”

A highlight of the Expo is EPA’s second annual People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) Awards, a national competition involving 41 teams of college and university students who will exhibit their novel design projects. Sustainable designs prove that providing a higher quality of life and protecting the planet are compatible with economic prosperity. Businesses are taking notice – - last year, four P3 design projects became new commercial ventures. Projects included designs for green buildings, alternative fuel technologies, plans for safe drinking water in developing countries and even greening the apparel industry.

“Businesses are discovering green technology not only helps green the planet, but puts more green in their wallets. Scientific innovation has long driven the U.S. economy,” said Dr. George Gray, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Research and Development. “Now innovation is driving the movement toward environmental sustainability in the United States and making it profitable. At the Expo, you will see designs for how we will heat our homes, clean our drinking water, and design our transportation systems in the near future.”

The P3 Award was launched in 2004 to respond to the needs of the developed and developing world in moving toward sustainability. This national competition enables college students to research, develop and design scientific, technical and policy solutions to sustainability challenges.

Support for the P3 competition includes more than 45 partners in the federal government, industry and scientific and professional societies. The expo will include exhibits by companies, government and nonprofit organizations, demonstrating successful sustainable technologies and products. The expo is co-sponsored by the National Council for Science and the Environment; Environmental and Energy Study Institute and Green Chemistry Institute.

The National Sustainable Design Expo is open to the general public without charge and will take place on May 9, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and May 10, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the National Mall between 3rd and 4th streets.

Information on the expo and the P3 Award

Expo agenda

EPA’s sustainability research program

If so, you could be part of Bill Nye’s drive to collect 1000 hybrid owner testimonials by Earth Day. My son would think being part of anything Bill Nye was involved in was the coolest thing on Earth. Unfortunately, we dont have a hybrid. But if you do, you should definitely check out this program.

You would think with some of the billions of dollars in the U.S. budget that we would have developed some great alternative fuel sources by now. Biodiesel? Solar? Wind? Sure, some of these things are plugging along. But SO SLOWLY.

Maybe that’s because out of the billions of dollars that could be spent developing alternative fuels that would really work, the government, instead, is pouring money like water into subsidies for companies making synfuel, an outdated product that will most likely never benefit anyone. And yet companies continue to make it because the government pays them to do it.

If you’re in Los Angeles, you can now rent a car fueled by biodiesel (basically, filtered vegetable oil). While biodiesel costs slightly more than regular fuel, cars can go 400-800 miles on a single tank.

The 2006 Green Power Top 25 list, released late last month, includes a diverse set of U.S. companies, organizations and government institutions that have voluntarily bought the most renewable energy and are part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Green Power Partnership. EPA also announced its Green Power Partners are now purchasing more than 4 million megawatt hours of renewable energy, an increase of nearly 100 percent since the end of 2004. The 2006 Top 25 green power purchasers are buying enough energy to power more than 300,000 homes a year, which is also comparable to removing the emissions of nearly 400,000 cars from the road annually. More than half of the Top 25 EPA green power purchasers are comprised of U.S. corporations, a number that continues to increase every year.

“EPA’s partners continue to meet President Bush’s call to diversify our nation’s energy supply by promoting alternative and renewable energy sources,” said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. “These leaders in environmental stewardship are making the voluntary decisions to switch to green power – helping to decrease our nation’s overall dependence on foreign sources of power.”

The U.S. Air Force once again leads the green power Top 25 list, purchasing more than 1 million MWh annually for Air Force bases across the country. The Air Force has held the No. 1 spot since the Top 25 list started in September 2004. Whole Foods Market surpassed both Safeway, Inc., and Johnson & Johnson to lead all corporate purchasers after increasing their purchase to more than 450 thousand MWh annually of renewable energy. EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy follow the U.S. Air Force in purchase size for government institutions in the Top 25.

Green power is electricity generated from environmentally-preferable renewable resources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, and low-impact biomass and hydro resources. Green power accounts for nearly two percent of America’s electricity supply, but voluntary purchasing of renewable energy is accelerating renewable energy development.

The complete list of Top 25 EPA Green Power Partners is as follows, listed in order of purchase size:

1. U.S. Air Force
2. Whole Foods Market
3. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
4. Johnson & Johnson
5. U.S Department of Energy
6. Starbucks
7. The World Bank
8. Safeway, Inc.
9. U.S. General Services Administration (Region 2)
10. HSBC North America
11. City of Sand Diego, Calif.
12. New Jersey Consolidated Energy Savings Program
13. Advanced Micro Devices/Austin, Texas Facilities
14. WhiteWave Foods
15. Staples
16. Austin (Texas) Independent School District
17. Mohawk Fine Papers, Inc.
18. The Tower Companies
19. FedEx Kinko’s
20. U.S. Amry/Fort Carson
21. University of Pennsylvania
22. Montgomery County, Md.
23. Hyatt Regency/Reunion & DFW Airport Hotels
24. Western Washington University
25. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

The Green Power Partnership is a voluntary EPA program that seeks to increase the use of green power among leading U.S. organizations. Partners in the program switch to green power for a portion of their electricity needs in return for EPA technical assistance and recognition. The Green Power Partnership currently has more than 600 Partners, including Fortune 500 companies, states, federal agencies, trade associations and universities.

EPA updates the list of green power purchasers quarterly. For more information on green power, visit: http://www.epa.gov/greenpower. For more information on EPA’s Top 25 list, visit: http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/partners/top25.htm

Did you buy energy efficient windows this year? How about a hybrid car? If you did, not only did you help the environment, but you may well have helped your tax responsibility. Many energy saving items are eligible for a tax credit, from $200 for Energy Star-labeled windows, to $250-$3,400 for a hybrid car. For more information, visit the Alliance to Save Energy.

If you live in Washington, DC or California, you can actually drive a hydrogen car and fuel up at one of 25 Shell stations that stock they hydrogen fuel. While the Honda FCX doesn’t get much better fuel mileage than many small, fuel-efficient cars, it is pollution free. You can read more about the Honda FCX here.

This was really exciting news to me. The Green Guide, which is an excellent resource for healthy living tips, eco-friendly product advice and green home news is having an open house next week from October 24-October 30. ALL their online content is FREE to browse for any 24-hour stretch during that week. I really recommend checking it out, and if you like what you see, think about subscribing. Visit the Green Guide and check out their open house here.

Hybrid owners are experimenting with plugging their hybrids in to increase their already good gas mileage. By plugging them in and charging battery packs in the trunk, the cars can get up to 250 mpg. Read more

The Sierra Club has come out in favor of an SUV— you read that correctly. Not only are they in favor of Ford’s Mercury Mariner hybrid vehicle, but they are actively helping to promote it. In addition to being more environmentally friendly (it gets 33 mpg in town and 29 mpg on the highway), the Mariner is union-made in the United States. Although it won’t appear in showrooms until the fall, it is already available on online. (read more)

Unfortunately, for my family, this SUV falls into the “completely useless” category. We drive an SUV, but that’s because we have 5 children. An SUV that seats 4 comfortably or 5 if you squeeze them into the backseat does us absolutely no good. Our next vehicle will have better gas mileage, but that’s because we’ll buy a minivan next. Now, why don’t they make one of those as a hybrid?

A private energy company has written a proposal to put up wind turbines in a National Forest in Vermont. It may take up to a year and a half before the proposal is approved. Unlike many other attempts to extract energy from National Parks and Wildlife areas, this one has met with tentative approval from environmental groups. (read more)

Unless there is a huge problem created for the wildlife in the area, this seems like a very sensible, environmentally sound idea. A few towers in exchange for powering over 15,000 homes is a bargain.

A company called Sunlight Direct has developed a system to light your home using natural lighting. A large primary mirror concentrates the sunlight into a secondary mirror, which removes UV and infrared rays and channels the visible light into a receiver. The light is then carried inside by optical fibers. A GPS microprocessor allows the mirror to track the sun across the sky for maximum light intensity.

I give credit to my geeky husband for sending me the link on this one. He found the article and wanted to know if he could be a beta tester!

You can read the whole thing here