In 2002 Ireland passed a $.33 tax on plastic bags within a week plastic bag usage went down 94%. Plastic bags were not outlawed, but they soon became socially unacceptable.
Before that happens in America please reduce the number of bags you use and please invest in a reusable bag like this one.
The next generation is now here. Nanosolar is producing solar panels priced at $1 per watt. That is cheaper than coal. This means more homes can produce their own electricity and lower their carbon emissions. It might mean less Nuclear reactors to power our cities, which is always a plus. Thank you Nanosolar for making solar energy available cheaper…
Make at your own risk!
Creates renewable energy R&D group and supports breakthrough technologies
Mountain View, Calif. (November 27, 2007) – Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced a new strategic initiative to develop electricity from renewable energy sources that will be cheaper than electricity produced from coal. The newly created initiative, known as RE<C, will focus initially on advanced solar thermal power, wind power technologies, enhanced geothermal systems and other potential breakthrough technologies. RE<C is hiring engineers and energy experts to lead its research and development work, which will begin with a significant effort on solar thermal technology, and will also investigate enhanced geothermal systems and other areas. In 2008, Google expects to spend tens of millions on research and development and related investments in renewable energy. As part of its capital planning process, the company also anticipates investing hundreds of millions of dollars in breakthrough renewable energy projects which generate positive returns.
The MagLev Wind Turbine relies on magnets to suspend the turbine reducing friction. Its design and technology allow the wind turbine to produce more power and take up less space. Estimated cost for the strucure is $53 Million.
The Nature Conservancy and the state of Tennessee have completed the largest conservation transaction in the state since the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the 1930s — to protect nearly 130,000 acres of majestic hardwood forests, mountains and streams on the Cumberland Plateau:
Just in case Doomsday ever comes, the Norwegians have build a global “Seed Vault”. This remote location in Norway stores millions of seeds in case of global catastrophe.
In case of an electricity blackout, the permafrost ensures that the seeds would remain refrigerated in the state-of-the-art Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Recalling the opening scene of the old “Get Smart” television show, airlocks, steel-reinforced doors and a video-monitoring system operated from Sweden hundreds of miles awayare designed to protect the $6-million vault deep inside the mountain.
We generate a lot of trash as a society. The majority of the time it ends up in landfills or shipped overseas for a variety of purposes. What if that trash could somehow been harnessed for energy? That’s the idea behind Covanta, a company developing energy-from-waste solutions. The company announced it now has its first energy-from-waste unit working in the United States under the EPA’s New Source Performance Standards.
In just over a year, we transformed our 1960s tract house in southern California into a solar-powered, energy-efficient home. While the initial investment was substantial, we funded it through an affordable home-equity loan. The makeover will pay for itself in seven years, after which the energy for our home (and our electric car) will be entirely free. And with these changes, we annually offset at least 21,000 pounds of carbon dioxide—a key pollutant in global warming—that our pre-upgrade home and car would otherwise have added to the atmosphere. In this feature, let us show you in detail how we went about our zero-energy retrofit, which saves money, energy, and the global climate.—Norma and Alan Williamson
