THIN FILM SOLAR PANELS

Archive for November, 2008

If you’re not freaked out by the idea of a robot roaming around outside your house, you might be interested in Louisiana State University’s AgBot. The solar-powered multi-function robot can do everything from taking care of your garden to guarding your house at night.

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Overwhelmed by all the wide-ranging eco-advice for greening your holidays? Then keep it simple by focusing on this: The No Plastic Holiday Challenge.

Organized by Amy Gates, a.k.a. the Crunchy Domestic Goddess, The No Plastic Holiday Challenge is simple: Try to de-plastick your holidays. After all, every bit of plastic ever produced — minus the tiny bit that’s been incinerated — is still with us today, whether buried in landfills, floating in the oceans, or littering our streets.

Holidays come and go but plastic is forever, so challenge yourself this season to find non-plasticky gifts — in non-plasticky packaging. We at Low Impact Living have endless tips to help you on your de-plasticking way:

* First, start simple with our basic tips for getting plastics out of your life. Reach for the low hanging fruit first — like taking your own bag to the grocery store or opting for a reusable water bottle instead of a disposable one.

* Then challenge yourself further by helping others help you. Ask your drycleaner not to plastic bag your clothes, or your favorite restaurant not to give you plastic flatware.

* For those plastics you just can’t avoid, find out what plastics are most recyclable so you can make the best choices. To get you started, Here is some city-specific recycling information.

If all this de-plasticking information’s new to you and you need some help getting started — or want to help a newbie eco-friend get going — The 2008 Pollution Solutions gift bag could be the holiday package you’ve been looking for. This gift bag comes free with a $135 donation to Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit that provides important information about health and the environment to consumers while pushing for national policy change.

EWG’s done illuminating research work about plastic hazards and pollution, among other issues, so your money would not only go towards a de-plasticking cause, but help you de-plastic yourself! The gift bag includes a Jumbo Enviro-Tote made of recycled plastic, a 6-piece Pyrex glass container set, and a Klean Kanteen stainless steel bottle — all three of which will help you embrace the reusable and ditch the disposable lifestyle. You’ll also get a EWG cosmetics guide, pesticide magnet, notepad and bookmark, a copy of Green Goes With Everything (limited to first 500 donors), $25 in free product coupons from eco-companies, as well as some holiday treats — a box of 6 Crummy Brothers organic chocolate chip cookies!

Ready to sign up for the The No Plastic Holiday Challenge? Head over to Crunchy Domestic Goddess and write a comment about your commitment to get started.

Top image via CDG; bottom image via EWG

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This week at Zaproot: It’s coming to a street corner near you. The localization of nuclear power may become a reality. Decorate your pad with the latest in sustainable art.

Lithium ion batteries have been getting lots of attention recently, but zinc-air batteries have been largely ignored–until now. A California start-up called Power Air plans on introducing a PDA-sized zinc fuel cell box that can be used to charge electronics.

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Cities around the US are starting to embrace solar power in some pretty interesting ways.  Last week Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa unveiled an ambitious long-range plan for producing enough solar power to meet one-tenth of the city’s energy needs by 2020.  Villaraigosa is launching this initiative to help wean the city’s Department of Water and Power off of fossil fuels that contribute to global warming.

In the plan, the largest share of solar power, 500 megawatts, would come from generating facilities built by private-sector companies in the Mojave Desert.  An additional 380 megawatts would be achieved through smaller programs, including one that would help low-income residents add solar panels to their homes and another that would allow DWP customers to purchase shares of city-owned solar plants.

Read the full Los Angeles Times feature on the Mayor’s solar plan.

Further North in California the hyper-progressive City of San Francisco launched a strong solar incentive program this summer. The realized that fewer than 1000 rooftops in the city had solar panels and they needed to drive positive action to embrace solar power.  The city’s Solar Energy Incentive Program provides rebates to home- and business owners who install solar panels on their buildings. Individuals can receive up to $6,000; businesses can be granted $10,000. They also launched a one-year pilot program to provide funding for solar installations at low-income housing and buildings owned by nonprofits. According to Grist.org, San Francisco currently generates less than 5 megawatts of power from 770 solar-powered rooftops, but hopes to boost that to 55 mw from 15,000 rooftops within the next decade.  Learn more about the San Francisco program here.

Right across the Bay, The City of Berkeley is offering innovative loans to citizens to fund home solar installations. The program gives city-backed loans to property owners who install rooftop solar-power systems. The loans, which are likely to total up to $22,000 apiece, would be paid off over 20 years as part of the owners’ property-tax bills.  Learn more about the Berkeley program here.

And just to prove that solar isn’t only a “West Coast Thing” the City of Chicago has created a very impressive program called the Chicago Solar Partnership. The Chicago Solar Partnership (CSP) is a public-private consortium managed by the Illinois Solar Energy Association (ISEA), to advance the development of the solar energy industry in the Chicago metropolitan area. The website is excellent and provides great information on different solar system options, costs, and rebates. The State of Illinois provides rebates for up to 30% of the solar installation with a maximum rebate of $10,000. Not too shabby!

My only criticism of the Chicago program is that they don’t provide links to actual solar installers— you can click here to find a solar installer in your area anywhere across the United States.

And an excellent resource for learning about state and local solar incentives in your area is GreenMadeSimple.com. Check it out!