Posts from — November 2008

Time to go off-grid The world is becoming increasingly dangerous a bleak report from US spy agencies warns President-elect Obama. In the next 20 years global warming could spark biological and nuclear warfare over the dwindling supplies of water, food and energy.

It also warned that the current financial crisis on Wall Street is just the first phase of a global economic reordering.

There was a greater, but still small, risk of nuclear attack, based on spreading technologies and the weakening of international non-proliferation systems, the report said.

The risk that militant groups would use biological weapons was greater than the risk of nuclear terrorism. Survivalists will take note of that. (more…)

Wind, sun or hydro – its the future Could urban communities make their own electricity, and even sell surplus energy to their neighboring communities?

The South African Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) has been pondering this question in a R20m pilot project involving the establishment of two standalone mini-grids that generate electricity from renewable energy resources in rural areas.

The project was launched by the CSIR and Shell Solar in 2002 to build a database for the development of a business model of commercially viable mini-grids in areas which do not have access to electricity from the national grid. That normally means rural areas, but in South Africa increasingly it could be anywhere. (more…)

Universal: dirty, polluting scoundrelsWhat a load of greenwash!

Universal studios are part of the greedy and wasteful Hollywood system.

So it is monumental hypocrisy to see them launching a solar powered golf cart.

These are the buggies that whisk the rich and powerful around the vast studio lots in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Its great for their lard-assed studio execs, who can feel good about themselves as they ride about the studio lot, swilling bottled water and snorting cocaine flecked with the blood of Columbian workers, and grown in the ruins of the rainforests. (more…)

No it’s not St Patricks Day, but I do have green laundry soap. Actually I make it myself and it’s so simple, even a leprechaun* can do it. (more…)

Mayor Johnson – eco geekBuilding Services Journal reports lobby group London First saying decentralised energy generation could reduce the UK capital’s carbon emissions by 3.5 million tonnes pa.

In its latest report, researched by respected structural engineers Buro Happold, London First called for a collaboration between central government, the Mayor of London and his agencies, energy companies, developers and boroughs towards decentralising a quarter of London’s energy supplies.

Locally placed combined heat and power plants linked to housing estates, as well as surrounding local amenities and hospitals would, the report claims, make for higher levels of energy efficiency as opposed to centralised power. (more…)

Will Chester-Master – green dream An Organic Farm Shop in Gloucestershire has won Environmental retailer of the year award. And their next plan is to take the farm off-grid.

Abbey Home Farm on Burford Road just outside Cirencester, offers fresh homemade meals and food from the farm.

The farm shop and cafe has its own bore hole, solar panels and wood-chip boiler which provide heating and hot water for the whole building. They are also planning to apply for permission to install a large wind turbine on site to provide all the power the farm needs. (more…)

This land is their land – Ogles on a hikeROCKBRIDGE, Ohio — Charles and Melanie Ogle have lived happily off the power grid for 17 years in their solar-powered log home perched on a ridge in the Hocking Hills.

They don’t want or need electric lines, but it seems that a power line is about to be strung outside their house anyway.

The Ogles are fighting a plan by American Electric Power to take some of their land by eminent domain to build an overhead electric line to power a telecommunications tower that the utility is building about 1,500 feet south of their house. (more…)

A Tennessee cabin with 45 acres advertised on a couple of web sites as follows: Built in 2005 with 8 inch pine logs on bottom floor and log siding on second floor. Green metal roof. Entirely secluded with no neighbours in sight. (more…)

Butler and Dorm do late breakfast University students are best known for burger flipping, drinking, and sleeping late. But while the rest of the country is focused on its financial troubles, students are becoming increasingly vociferous in greening their campuses.
A single Dorm at Sarah Lawrence, the elite East Coast college recently named the most expensive in the USA, is a microcosm of what is happening in the student community. Formerly Warren House, it was renamed Warren Green at the start of the current Semester and the 13 student-residents adopted a set of eco-rules they are hoping will spread to the rest of the dorms on campus. The college responded with a grant of $150,000 (more…)