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Archive for June, 2008

Honda has just announced that it will be releasing the FCX Clarity in the US market in 2009.  This is a major piece of automotive progress! The Clarity will get 68 MPG and be a zero-emissions vehicle.

How it works: The fuel cell combines hydrogen with oxygen to make electricity. The electricity then powers the electric motor, which in turn propels the vehicle. Water is the only byproduct the FCX Clarity leaves behind.  No carbon emissions, no reliance on foreign oil. 

To learn more about hydrogen as a fuel for cars, and about the scarcity of hydrogen fueling stations, click here.

According the reviewers at Business Week, the new Clarity is ”a futuristic jellybean, first impressions suggesting a cross between the new Honda Accord and the Prius… If we had any complaint, surprisingly, it was rear visibility, despite the sedan’s expanse of glass.”  You can read the rest of the detailed review here. 

How much does it cost?  Customers will pay $600 a month, over the course of three-year leases, including both maintenance and insurance.  The first models will be leased in the L.A. area, but Honda hopes to roll it out to other major markets as well.  The problem in those other markets will likely be that there are very few hydrogen filling stations, as compared to California where there are at least a few.

Well, we still can’t wait to see it on the road!

Solar energy currently generates .1% of the electricity used in the U.S. According to a study released today, this will change rapidly as the cost of electricity increases and the cost of solar energy drops.

The Utility Solar Assessment Study produced by Clean Edge and Co-op America finds that solar energy is already reaching cost parity with conventional sources in some areas of the U.S. where electric rates are highest. By 2015, this will be achieved in many more areas, including Boston, San Diego, and New York. By 2025, cost parity will be achieved throughout the U.S.

The implications of this are huge. The U.S. solar photovoltaic market now relies heavily on state incentives to lower the cost of solar energy. Many people utilize solar energy because it is “the right thing to do” or businesses like the positive publicity solar brings. Read the rest of this entry »

It started with a long discussion betweeen my wife and me. We each thought it’d be fun to get a scooter, but worried that, for us–a 1 car, 2 bike family–we would actually be doing more environmental damage by getting a scooter. Meaning, unlike many who get a scooter to use instead of their car (wise choice), we’d end up using our scooter instead of our bikes (un-wise choice). Being our primary mode of transport, the bikes would likely fall victim to the newer, sexier, faster scooter.

This got me on the thought process that I wished more people would first give a bike a try for their short trips, instead of viewing the scooter as their only alternative to combat gas prices. Of course it’s more work–but more work can be more rewarding. Which got me to thinking that there are plenty of tools that have traded elbow grease for electricity–yet we have benefitted little. Which turned me on to this mini-series…

Just as John Henry fought the steam hammer to show that human power cannot be undone by the industrial revolution. I am hoping to open a few eyes to the alternatives that are possible when we replace one of our everyday machines with the same machine sans motor/electricity/etc.
In the interest of full disclosure John Henry did beat the steam hammer but he also dropped dead in the process.
That said, I will be realistic with my comparisons–I don’t want anybody to drop dead of exhaustion. I’m sure I’ll find, in some cases, the modern invention to be more beneficial to the manual powered version it replaced.
Read the rest of this entry »

There was a time when commercial shipping was an emissions free transportation mode that required little or no fuel. Inventors, craftsmen, and engineers all worked to refine the hulls, sails and control systems and skilled people spent their entire careers figuring out weather patterns, determining efficient loading schemes, and recognizing opportunities for transporting goods with a long shelf life. When things went well, owning sailing ships was a lucrative investment.

Of course, there were some limitations of that technology that encouraged a number of very smart, number crunching businessmen and engineers to look for a better way. Sailing ship limitations included time consuming voyages, space and weight constraints, inability to maintain a schedule, dependence on poorly paid or forced labor, vulnerability to numerous natural hazards, and a high mortality rate caused by lack of good nutrition and clean water.

Read the rest of this entry »

We’re amazed at how many of you have taken action to make your homes green, based on what you’ve entered in our Environmental Impact Calculator. So amazed, in fact, that we’re going to reward the greenest home of them all with a $500 credit for green products and services from Low Impact Living. We’re going to identify the single family home (and its proud owners) that has the lowest Low Impact Living Index (calculated using our Environmental Impact Calculator), and we’re going to share with you what that family has done to get there. Don’t worry if you haven’t installed solar panels or a graywater system - as the calculator shows, many of the best projects aren’t that expensive. Also, we’ll be giving a second prize of $250 to a randomly-selected entrant, even if you’re at the very beginning of your green path! So, even if you’ve just started out, throw your hat in the ring and see where you stand!

What you have to do

1. If you’ve already created a LILI account, then you need to return and, at a minimum, log in again. We’ve added some new features recently, and they won’t work unless you refresh your account. If you haven’t used the LILI calculator before, then visit www.lowimpactliving.com/scores and get started.
2. Once you have entered all of your base inputs, move on to the “select projects” page of the calculator. Make sure you only check projects that you’ve finished (or will finish by July 15th) before you log out.
3. Make sure that you log out or save your profile before leaving - if you just move on to another web site without logging out, your inputs could be lost.
4. The calculator isn’t all-encompassing yet, so there may be projects that you’ve done that don’t show up. If this is true, send us an email at contest@lowimpactliving.com describing what you’ve done. LIL staffers will review your efforts and award up to a 5% additional deduction for compelling projects.

How we’ll select a winner

The contest closes on July 15th, but we won’t announce winners until the week of July 28th. This will give us time to check with the finalists to make sure that they’ve completed all of their checked projects.

If you are a finalist (in our top 10 lowest LILI scores), we may ask you to verify that your projects are actually completed, via photos or receipts / invoices for work performed. We’ll also ask for your address (not to be published!) so that we can verify entered information about your home.

If you are a winner, then you have to be willing to let us share your projects and process with everyone via our blog, and to provide us with the photos and project descriptions necessary to do that. You’ll become a green star overnight!

What You Could Win

The greenest homeowner will receive credits for $500 of products or services found on LIL’s website. If it is a product or products that can be purchased via links from our site, we’ll simply purchase your “wish list” for you and send it your way. If instead it is services (say, a few visits from a green cleaning service or a small down-payment on solar panels), then we’ll pay the vendor directly once you’ve agreed on a price and have a quote from them. The same goes for our randomly-selected $250 second prize. It’s as simple as that!

At the end, we’ll also publish the collective impacts of our calculator crew - even if you don’t win, you can feel proud once you see the tons of CO2 and tanker trucks full of water that we’ve collectively saved!

So, good luck, and get greening!