THIN FILM SOLAR PANELS

Archive for June, 2008

I don’t go into Starbucks very much any more because I pretty much break out in eco-hives seeing all of that plastic and paper waste being shuttled across the counter and out into the unsuspecting, inundated world. But occasionally I have to break down and get an ice coffee with a shot of hazelnut.

And so I did last week, and tho’ it was refreshing and delicious, I had the same nagging thought I have every time I go there–”Why oh why are there no recycling bins at Starbucks???”

Wistfully I looked at the display of Ethos Water bottles and realized if I bought and drank one, I would be in the position to put my bottle into the trash. Now where is the Ethos in that?

Then I saw the business card of the store’s District Manager! Right there on the barista bar, there was a stack of her cards. Brilliant! I will contact this woman and she will illuminate the Starbucks recycling mystery for me. And she did respond to my email and she was great. She said she was personally concerned about this issue and that when she managed a store herself, she worked on getting recycling in place. Then she informed me that “The long and the short of it is that every store is a little different, depending on the landlord and the recycling capacity.” And here is the official word from Starbucks:

“Starbucks is committed to protecting and improving the environment, and is continually pursuing opportunities to reduce, reuse, and recycle our waste products where commercial facilities exist. Most of our retail store recycling is conducted “behind the scenes” in the back room (boxes, milk jugs, etc.). If you are not certain that recycling is taking place in a store, please ask a store manager; he/she can explain what we are doing, what is recyclable in the local area, and what the landlord will allow for waste disposal. One of our challenges is that some parts of the country can process more recyclable materials than others. We are working with a recycling subcontractor to locate local recycling facilities to process materials generated from each store.”

Well that’s sort of okay…but only sort of. I don’t think out-sourcing the process to the local stores is really going to get the job done. Starbucks may need a National Recycling Czar. (Or do they have one already?) And here’s another notion– why not give a discount to people who bring in their own re-usable cups and mugs? That would really help educate folks about the importance of moving beyond disposables.

To be fair, I also decided to kick the tires at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. I went to two stores in Los Angeles and again, no blue bins. Now I was really sad. Where in this town can a girl recycle her plastic cup? Her water bottle? Do we have to take everything home?

Here’s where you come in: we can let our coffee chain friends know where we stand on recycling. Starbucks can be reached by clicking here or you can call 1-800-235-2883. (I did and I spoke with a charming guy who shared my concern.) For Coffee Bean you can click here to register your thoughts, or you can call them at 1-800-TEA-LEAF (1-800-832-5323).

Thanks and I’ll see you on line at the counter! Don’t take the last maple scone.

It comes as no surprise to me to see time and time again examples of human stupidity. I’m not the sunniest of people on my best day, and when all around me the world is going to hell in a handbasket for a veritable multitude of reasons, one can only get depressed, or rise above it and become as arrogant as me.

This most recent spate of reviling the human race was sparked by an opinion piece by Elizabeth R. Sawin from the Sustainability Institute. Her title was enough to make me smile: “$4.00 per Gallon Gasoline and Climate Change Both Call for the Same Solution: Collective Investment in Clean Energy.” I smiled again when she opened with a question she was recently asked: “What do you have to say about global warming to the whole segment of Americans who are just waking up to energy issues with $4.00 per gallon gasoline?”

Needless to say, my revulsion of the human species, or at least a vast majority of them (I have a variety of revulsions, this one is environmentally based), seem to have only just realized that maybe, just maybe, it might be a good idea to have a look for something other than fossil fuels to power our transportation.

And the terms “climate change” or “global warming” do not even register.

Read the rest of this entry »

Not exactly washing without water, but with less than 2% of a normal washing machine. That’s only 1 cup of water for those sweaty gym clothes, grubby kid-wear, and foul socks.

Washing with soap and water has been THE WAY to clean most clothes for so long, it’s hard to imagine reducing H2O by 98%. What this technology lacks in sexy bells and whistles, it gains in implications. Billions of gallons of clean water could be conserved every year simply by adopting this dry cleaning technology. Less water also means less drying, which can add energy savings to those with energy-hungry clothes dryers. Read the rest of this entry »

Though many states and localities are waking up to their water shortages and taking steps to plan for “peak water”, people generally continue to waste water and to ignore the energy-water link. In 2004 the Natural Resources Defense Council did a study in conjunction with the Pacific Institute called “Energy Down the Drain” on how saving water saves energy. We need to do more to spread the word. Here are seven ways to save energy by saving water:

1. Use local water.

Transporting water uses energy, so rainwater harvesting is a serious water-and-energy saver. According to the NRDC/Pacific Institute study “California’s State Water Project (SWP), which transports water from Northern California to Southern California is the state’s largest single energy user, consuming 2 to 3 percent of all electricity. It takes tremendous amounts of energy to pump the water 2,000 feet over the Tehachapi Mountains — the highest water lift of any water system in the world

2. Use less heated water in homes and businesses.

Heating water uses a great deal of energy. Small things magnified a million times over — like washing clothes with cold water or taking shorter showers — saves large amounts of energy.

3. Use energy-saving appliances.

Energy Star appliances will decrease water and energy use.

4. Learn from Australia.

Why reinvent the wheel? Since 2006, when the BBC reported Australia’s biggest drought in 1,000 years, the situation has not improved. In an island nation, this has a tendency to focus the mind, and water-and energy-saving inventions have been pouring forth from that country, while the government introduces policies that save energy and water almost daily.

5. Rethink your bathroom.

Toto, an innovative company from Japan (another island nation concerned about water use) offers an EcoPower hands-free faucet that recharges itself each time it is used.

6. Rip out that lawn and replace it with a rain garden.

Watering grass, fertilizing it with petroleum-based fertilizers, and mowing it with a gas or electric mower…..need I say more?

7. Eat more vegetables and grains; cut down on the beef.

Animal farming takes more energy and water. “Beef production requires large volumes of water–as much as 100 times that required to produce equivalent amounts of protein energy from grains.” (Environmental Health Perspectives, 2002 And the cows are fed from corn that is farmed using energy-hogging fertilizers, insecticides, and fossil fuels.

If you think about it, it’s impossible to separate our energy use from our water use. If we can start thinking holistically about the systems we use in our daily lives — and get our governments to create policies that promote wise use of energy and water, we’ll be more ready for the limits to resources that are only going to increase.

Posts Related to Saving Energy and Water:

All You Need to Know About Water Saving Technology Around the House
Could Wind help Save Water?
Low-Energy Water Desalination From Seawater Greenhouse
Water Crisis: Clean Tech to the Rescue?

The San Francisco board of supervisors has approved the country’s largest municipal solar program. The program is designed to reduce the cost of solar for city residents and leverage private dollars to get more solar on San Franciscans’ roofs (earth2tech).

GM is backing a hydrogen refueling station near Los Angeles. The station will be located at Clean Energy’s compressed natural gas (CNG) facility and should be operational by the fall (gas 2.0).

U.S. Representative Jay Inslee (D-WA) will introduce a national renewable energy feed-in tariff. Under the bill, utilities would be required to pay a set price to anyone supplying less than 20MW of renewable electricity to the grid. Inslee plans to introduce the bill in the next week or two. But requiring utilities to pay a mandated amount for renewable energy is “a new idea to D.C., and like a fine wine it’ll need time” (ecopolitology).

Read the rest of this entry »