green

Freecycling the freelance way: freegans

Thinking about getting green? Really green? Well, today The New York Times profiles some folks who are removing themselves from the American market whenever they can. Dumpster diving. Using wasted food and free stuff thrown off by the rapid spin of our consumer culture. They call themselves "freegans."

"After years of trying to boycott products from egregious corporations responsible for human rights violations, environmental destruction and animal abuse, many of us found that no matter what we bought we ended up supporting something deplorable. We came to realize that the problem isn't just a few bad … Read more

Green plastics coming from Brazil

Braskem, a large chemical company in Brazil, has begun to produce a version of polyethylene from sugar cane in sample quantities and plans to start exporting it in industrial quantities in late 2009.

Independent firm Beta Analytic certified that the polyethylene produced by Braskem's pilot production line, which is used to make flexible packaging, does come from 100 percent renewable raw materials.

Ultimately, Braskem could produce 200,000 tons of the stuff a year.

Green plastic is becoming big business. A few U.S. start-ups such as Cereplast have produced resins for biodegradable forks and drinking cups. More recently, … Read more

Let's find all the coal, say mining experts

American coal experts want more information. And they want the U.S. government to pay for it. Today the National Research Council issued a call for more federal money to find and assess America's coal deposits.

Currently over half of the U.S. electricity is generated by burning coal. But there is uncertainty about future use and availability of coal. And there is the issue of CO2 emissions and other pollution from coal-burning power plants. Plus the U.S. must now compete with China and other nations for use of the world's coal.

In short, says the Council'… Read more

Trivia question: How many plug-in hybrids have been made?

You've probably read quite a bit about plug-in hybrids. Plug-ins contain more battery cells than regular hybrids and thus can get between 70 to 100 miles to the gallon.

Converting your Prius to a plug-in reduces your gas costs to around $1 a gallon and results in far fewer emissions in most cases.. They can even be used to send electricity to the grid and prevent a brown-out.

So how many are there on the road? 50, according to Felix Kramer, president of Calcars, which promotes the concept and is trying to persuade lawmakers to pass tax breaks for … Read more

A handy home test for biodiesel

Biodiesel is sort of like buying cheese. Some of it is fantastic, and some isn't so hot.

Enter the pHLip, a testing system from CytoCulture, which specializes in oil spill technology. Place a few drops of the biodiesel you are thinking of buying into the vial, shake it up, and then let it stand. If the fluid on the bottom stays cherry red, you have yourself good biodiesel, says Randall von Wedel, principal researcher at the company.

If the color changes and the barrier between the different liquids in the jar gets gummy and opaque, the biodiesel contains contaminants. … Read more

Solar Stirling engine company gets $9.5 million

Solar thermal is heating up.

Infinia, which makes a Stirling engine that can generate electricity or household heat by harvesting heat from the sun, has raised $9.5 million, the company said Thursday. Investors include Idealab and Khosla Ventures. As part of the deal, Infinia bought Stirling Cycles, one of Idealab's companies.

Stirling engines were invented in the 19th century as an alternative to steam engines. A Stirling motor has a closed cylinder that houses a gas, such as hydrogen, and a piston. Applied heat expands the gas to move the piston that, in turn, pumps other mechanisms, such … Read more

How to search for a cause

Admit it, efforts at Web-based philanthropy and activism can be pretty annoying. Maybe you've signed more than your fair share of chain-letter e-mail action alerts and filled out form letters to politicians for some righteous cause or other, without ever seeing any results.

However, it is possible to make real dollar donations to a favorite charity without dropping a dime, just by surfing the Web. A handful of online services will route some of their profits from Internet advertising to the tree-saving, cancer-curing, kitten-rescuing, or other group of your choice.

This approach is more convenient than remembering to visit, … Read more

Biofuel drivers hit with fines in North Carolina

If you drive a biodiesel car in North Carolina, you might be slapped with a fine.

Although the state is trying to promote biofuel production and consumption, the state also wants to collect taxes on transportation fuel. So drivers that are filing up their cars with vegetable oil are getting nailed with fines for tax avoidance, according to a report in the Charlotte Observer.

Musician Bob Teixeira got snagged with a $1,000 fine from the state and may be hit with another $1,000 fine from the federal government, the newspaper stated. He's been filling his 1981 diesel … Read more

Solaicx spills plans for wafer factory for solar power in Oregon

Solaicx, which makes silicon ingots and wafers for solar cells, has signed a lease for a 136,000 square foot facility in Portland.

The plant will this year have a capacity to churn out enough silicon for 48 megawatts worth of solar panels. Next year, Solaicx will expand the plant to be capable of producing silicon for 142 megawatts a year. The expansion revolves around increasing the number of silicon ingot growers, the machines that make the tubes of pure silicon that ultimately gets formed into wafers, from 12 in 2007 to 36.

Although China has been sucking up much … Read more