10 fixes for the planet - page 1

By Anne Underwood | NEWSWEEK
From the magazine issue dated Apr 14, 2008

If Wes Jackson, founder and president of the Land Institute in Salina, Kans., has one complaint, it's what he calls "our deficit spending of the Earth's ecological capital," from oil and minerals to water and trees. NEWSWEEK asked dozens of thinkers for their solutions, from 300mpg cars to using enormous kites to help pull ships.

1. Zero waste: Recycling paper, plastic and aluminum is a start, but, oh, so 20th century.

Eric Lombardi hates waste. "Landfills are like black holes, where resources go in and never come out," says the executive director of Eco-Cycle, a nonprofit recycler in Boulder, Colo. "As the world's population explodes and its resource base shrinks, we can't afford that." Instead, Lombardi wants manufacturers to make most or all of their products fully recyclable, using materials

designed to be recaptured rather than ending up in junkyards. It's not impossible, as companies like Shaw Carpets and office-furniture maker Steelcase are showing. Both make products with stringent C2C Certification, indicating total recyclability—and 40 other other companies, tapping into the green building trend, are doing the same. "Waste is expensive and inefficient," says Lombardi. "It only appears cheap because the market doesn't send bills to industry for groundwater pollution and resource depletion."

2. LED light bulbs: Never mind the cliché, they really might be a better idea.

Now that we've all dutifully stocked up on compact fluorescents, guess what? A new generation of even better bulbs may be on its way. LED bulbs burn just half the energy, last eight times longer and contain no traces of mercury, as CFLs do. The best of the fledgling bulbs is the Pharox from Lemnis Lighting. While LEDs have long been used for colored digital readouts and traffic signals, manufacturers have had trouble making white LED bulbs that are as strong as incandescents. Truthfully, the Pharox isn't there yet. It produces only as much light as a standard 40-watt bulb, and it's hugely expensive ($39.95 per bulb). On the other hand, it consumes a meager four watts, and a more powerful 60-watt equivalent is coming soon. In November, Lemnis partnered with the Clinton Climate Initiative to help bring the bulb to 40 major cities worldwide.

3. Greener fairways: Not all golf courses are bad for the environment.

When Mark Kuhns arrives at work early in the morning, he is greeted by what he calls "my wildlife symphony"—the chirps and squawks of red-winged blackbirds, bluebirds, tree swallows, goldfinches and red-tailed hawks. That might be normal if he worked in a wildlife reserve, but he doesn't. He's director of grounds at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J. Golf courses are infamous for high use of pesticides and water. But Baltusrol is one of 516 U.S. courses (4 percent of the nation's total) that are certified by Audubon International as Audubon sanctuaries. "It takes one to three years to go through the process," says Joellen Zeh, manager of the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program. Courses convert an average of 22 acres of turf grass into wildlife habitat along out-of-play and shoreline areas. "That's 22 acres that don't need to be watered, irrigated, fertilized or mowed on a daily or weekly basis," she says. A survey a few years ago found that 82 percent of sanctuary courses reduced their pesticide use, and when they did have to spray, 92 percent used gentler chemicals. At the same time, 99 percent of managers said playing quality was maintained or improved. Now, if Kuhns hears a complaint about, say, the weedy-looking thistles near hole number seven, he points out the goldfinches clinging to the stalks and eating the seeds. He usually makes a convert.

4. Kite sails: The world's oldest form of propulsion may soon return to shipping.

Any idea how far the largest container ships can go on a gallon of fuel? Try 37 feet. That adds up to 2 billion barrels of petroleum a year. "If the shipping industry were a country, it would be No. 7 in carbon emissions," says Michael Hirshfield, chief scientist for Oceana.

That's why some major shippers are hoping to tap wind energy to help pull their vessels along. They're not talking about traditional sails, which would require rebuilding ships' hulls to withstand forces from a mast. Instead, they're thinking of giant kites—as big as 20,000 square feet in area—that could be attached to the bow of a ship. "They look like parasails," says Hirshfield. "They could be a relatively cheap add-on, without designing a whole new ship." Not that industrial-size kites are simple, either. "When you launch a kite in a park, somebody holds the string and someone else launches the kite," says Dave Culp, CEO of KiteShip in Alameda, Calif. "For a giant kite, you need a robotic arm to pick it up in the wind and let go of it. That sounds trivial until you consider the kite is the size of a football field." And if the wind dies suddenly, you can't have the kite crashing into the sea. A German company called SkySails has developed a fully automated system that appears to have solved these problems without requiring skilled sailors to manipulate the kites. SkySails recently completed a test run on a 10,000-ton ship from Germany to Venezuela and back, saving roughly 20 percent on engine power.

Green Living

April 16, 2009
Earth Day Helps Drive Green Efforts at Supermarkets
Earth Day is driving green efforts at several supermarkets around the nation, ranging from recycling paper goods and promoting the use of reusable bags to designing energy-efficient stores.

Whole Foods Market claims to be the first national retailer to produce all of its national in-store Earth Month materials using “third generation” closed-loop recycled papers thanks to the help of Mohawk Fine Papers Inc. “Closed-loop” means that Whole Foods Market has recycled and reused its own paper for zero waste.

“Third-generation” refers to using the same fibers to manufacture paper three separate times. Mohawk took the recycled fiber and manufactured it as 100-percent post-consumer waste paper, which was used by Whole Foods Market, then once again recycled and re-manufactured by Mohawk into 100-percent post-consumer waste paper, which is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

The savings are significant according to Mohawk’s Environmental Calculator:

192 trees preserved for future use
554.42 pounds of waterborne waste not created
81,557 gallons of wastewater flow saved
9,024 pounds of solid waste not generated
17,768 pounds of greenhouse gases prevented
136,000,000 BTUs energy not consumed
In addition, Mohawk manufactured the paper with wind-generated electricity for an additional savings: 9,232 pounds of air emissions were not generated.

Several supermarkets are celebrating Earth Day in other ways. For example, Texas-based H-E-B will provide customers with coupons for reusable bags in exchange for five plastic bags, reported the Community Impact Newspaper. The company plans to give away 300,000 reusable bags statewide while recycling 1.5 million plastic bags.

H-E-B customers are also encouraged to bring in other thin plastics to recycle in bins placed in front of the stores. Newspaper sleeves, dry-cleaning bags, six-pack soda-can rings and other thin plastic packaging brought in will be recycled into plastic lumber.

In California, Raley’s grand opening celebration of its green grocery store in the Petaluma Plaza shopping center will take place on Earth Day, reported Petaluma360.com. The grocery store is the second in the nation to receive the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Gold-Level Certification through the EPA’s GreenChill Partnership.

The state-of-the-art store will use 40 percent less refrigerant for its cooling systems than typical supermarkets, and also uses a high-efficiency dual-medium condenser, a device that reduces the store’s water usage by 85,000 gallons per month. Other “green” features include ceiling skylights, induction lighting and LED lights in track lighting and freezer cases.

LED lights costly

Money-Saving LED Lighting Is a Tough Sell
May 23, 2008 05:36 PM ET | David LaGesse

A tiny fan in its base helps cool the LED light.The latest wrinkle in LED lighting is a three-way bulb, much like might be used in a living room lamp. The EarthLED EvoLux R gets successively brighter as you hit the switch.

It's not cheap, though, at $100 for a version that's as bright as a 100-watt incandescent bulb.

Of course, maker Advanced Lumonics says the bulb lasts 11 years and touts the money you'd save by not replacing power-hungry incandescents. I'm all for energy savings that equate to dollar savings, but LED bulbs seem a tough sell.

For one, lighting aesthetics (color, for one) make all the difference. Consumers want to try one of these bulbs before committing to a houseful. But a $100 trial is expensive. (Advanced Lumonics does offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.)

Cheaper versions include a 100-watt equivalent that doesn't dim at $80 and 60-watt versions at $40. Even the last one is a stiff entry fee. Plus, let's face it, most of us can't think in terms of decade-long savings when the initial cost is so high.

Something like geothermal heat, which also takes years to get payback, costs only about twice as much as a conventional system. And unlike geothermal heat, light bulbs get broken. Fatally. Especially in living room lamps.