This is part of a series of episodes to let people know about the energy bill that Congress will be debating on. For the series of videos, Phin has the help of Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Biggs, Jennifer Garner, Tobin Bell, Sarah Silverman, and Joshua Jackson.
http://www.cleanmyride.org/
Add comment July 23rd, 2007 Alex
Limited Brands stores in Charleston, SC were leaving their exterior doors open to attract shoppers in with air conditioning while it was 91 degrees outside. The stores were told to do so by management and can waste up to 25% of its energy with such a stupid marketing plan. If people are sweating their a$$ off, are they really going to want to try on underwear and do you really want them to get your underwear all sweaty and gross? Why would they also want to buy lotion or put lotion on top of their sweat and make it all slimey and smelly? Instead of wasting energy and money, why don’t they try promoting free sodas or ice cream or something that will attract attention inside. There really is no need to leave the door open because if people want to come in, they will open the door to come in. Since the doors are open, the temperature of the store might not be as cold as another store that has its doors closed so this gimic could possibly hurt the stores and make people go into other stores where it is cooler inside. I don’t buy anything from Limited, Victoria’s Secret, and Bath & Body Works anyways since I am a guy but doing something stupid like this gives a bad impression of the stores. The worst part is that the company actually has an environmental program and markets itself as being green. I hope this story spreads so those executives who suggested this idea can realize how stupid they are. Thanks to Chad Norman for reporting this on GoGreenCharleston.
via Hugg and GoGreenCharleston.org
1 comment July 23rd, 2007 Alex
SFGate had a pretty good article today about San Francisco’s recycling and disposal center. The Tunnel Road complex collects all of San Francisco’s garbage bins, green for compost, blue for recyclables, and black for trash. Norcal collects 82% of San Francisco’s trash and recycles 4 out of every 10 tons that passes through. Most of the Bay Area cities have a process that the bins go through before the waste gets disposed of. All recyclables get shipped off to Recycle Central at Pier 96 where conveyor belts, machines, and people sort through more than 700 tons of paper, platic, glass, and other materials. The recyclable products get shipped all over the world to different processing plants. Paper could go to China, Indonesia, and South America but glass is shipped to a San Leandro facility that creates new wine bottles and other products. Compostable items get shipped to the Organics Annex. At Jepson Prairie Organics, 300 tons of compostable materials are processed daily. The materials take about 60 days to break down into usable compost. The workers of the recycling and disposal centers all deserve great credit because it is not an easy job. I couldn’t imagine having to sort through garbage. The sorting site had sprinklers spray mist to keep down the dust and also has a strawberry scent added to keep the smell down but for anyone else other than its regular employees, that place must smell horrible. Cheers to those guys who are helping the environment.
Add comment July 20th, 2007 Alex
This is a pretty neat design. It is a television package that becomes a TV stand. Designed by Tom Ballhatchet, it is molded from expanded polyproylene, and is meant for transporting a TV home after purchase. After you take it home, you can use the cavities for storage and DVD players, etc. Not only is this a very efficient use of the packaging and sustainable, it saves you about $200 or more for a TV stand. It also looks cool and trendy!
How it works?
1. Wheel the TV and packaging into your home.
2. Remove packaging from the TV and take wheels off their first axes.
3. Locate the four plugs of the upper stand into the four sockets of the lower stand. Slide forward until the two parts lock together.
4. Locate the TV bracket and TV into the shaped section on top of the stand. Place the wheels on their new axes on the side of the stand.
sources: Gizmodo and Yanko Design
Add comment July 20th, 2007 Alex
The AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, is also home to 590 Sharp solar panels. The solar panels are located in three separate areas of the stadium and generate 120-kilowatts of electricity back into the grid for Northern California. There is plenty of electricity that gets used during baseball games but during the off-season, the electricity that gets generated can be used by others as the size of the power generated by the park is equivalent to 40 residential solar systems. This idea would make a lot of sense for Monster/Candlestick Park as well since the 49ers only play 12 games a season and the stadium is practically unused the rest of the year.
via Engadget
Add comment July 19th, 2007 Alex