Here is another Colorado company who has adopted solar – the panels will provide 39% of the power needed to power Odell’s brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado. Pretty expensive system, though – they received a grant for $50,000, but the project cost total came to $410,000! I’m not sure how big their electric bill is, so I’m curious how long it will take to pay it off?

Source: www.denverpost.com
By David Young, Coloradoan
Posted: 01/17/2010

I am proud to announce the launch of the Girl Scouts Forever Green website, complete with a dynamic animated Flash tree that shows the overall progress of the Girl Scouts of Colorado  Forever Green projects.

The website encourages girls to implement take-action community projects. The goal is to bring sustainable, environmental change to their communities or schools. Projects examples include school compost bin creation, neighborhood recycling programs, reducing car idling and car use, creation of green space in communities and more. Check out this great project – businesses can also volunteer to help support participant projects, so let’s join together to make Colorado a greener place in partnership with the Girl Scouts of Colorado!

I designed the website and worked with my great development partners, Planet Media, who did all the backend development for a customized Content Management System (CMS), project management, blog, metrics database, and more.

Check it out: www.gsforevergreen.org

Recycle your old sponges in your potted plants. Especially good for keeping outdoor soil pots moist, old cellulose sponges make the perfect bottom component of planted pots.

1. Rinse the old sponge throughly to remove any soap residue.

2. Cut sponge to fit into plant pot, place in pot, then cover with potting soil, and add plant(s) and top off with soil. Compress soil gently with hands.

3. Water in!

The great thing about sponges is that they will absorb and hold excess water and slowly release it to the soil – so it essentially create a home made self-watering pot. The sponges also hold dirt in (for those pots with larger drainage holes).  Plus, now you finally have something to do with your old sponges!

The Flash developers over at Barkley did a great job on this charming interactive flash snowflake generator, called, “Make-a-Flake”. It’s an incredibly simple yet incredibly complex — everyone can in seconds create their own snowflake, then choose to save it for the gallery, and you can even email your flake to friends or save it out as an EPS file.

What individuality it captures – make sure to look at the gallery of over 2 million unique snowflakes!

I love it – Flash at it’s finest:

snowflakes.barkleyus.com

Here is a positive article written by By Gregg Easterbrook from rd.com:

So here’s the good news: Our air is cleaner, our lakes are purer, our forests are healthier, endangered species are recovering, toxic emissions are down, and acid rain has diminished dramatically. And yet, if you’ve looked at a newspaper or watched the evening news lately, you — like most Americans — might think our environment is under siege. Media coverage of the environment is heavy on doomsday, but the truth is not at all bleak: Nearly all environmental trends in the United States are positive and have been for years — if not decades.

Eco-legislation, green organizations, corporate cooperation and new inventions have all quietly steered our environment in a positive direction. We can’t afford to be complacent, though — especially when it comes to greenhouse gases, since global warming is the one huge problem we haven’t really tackled. But almost every measure taken by government agencies and grass-roots efforts to improve the environment has shown encouraging results — usually faster than expected and at a lower cost. Now that’s good news.

Scientists and environmentalists think that even the worrisome fact of global warming can be ameliorated. There is a strong scientific consensus that the global warming threat requires action, but if current environmental trends persist and the reduction of most pollutants continues to be accomplished faster and more cheaply than expected, we may be able to control and reduce greenhouse gases in both affordable and practical ways.

Consider some of the environmental improvements the United States has witnessed over the last three decades. (Most environmental trends in Europe are positive too; the developing world, however, is a different story.)

Improved Air Quality
Take a nice, big cleansing breath: According to the Environmental Protection Agency, emissions of the primary smog-causing chemicals from cars and trucks have declined 54 percent since 1970, even though the number of registered cars and trucks has more than doubled, from 108,407,000 to 230,428,000, and they are now driven one and a half times as far annually.

Keep breathing, because the fine particulates linked to respiratory disease, including those sometimes seen as soot, are down by about one-third since 1979 (though fewer cities were surveyed back then). The level of carbon monoxide, a dangerous odorless gas, is down 53 percent since 1970. And emissions of sulfur di-oxide, often the major culprit behind acid rain, are down 49 percent since 1970, despite the fact that the United States now burns far more coal, the main source of this pollutant.

These improvements have translated into better air quality for millions of Americans. Between 1976 and 1990, the Los Angeles area averaged some 150 days per year in violation of federal smog standards; in 2004, that figure dropped to just 27 violation days, the fewest ever for that city.

And, in case you are wondering, federal standards have become stricter, not weaker, during this period. Of course, there is more to be done — 27 smog days in Los Angeles are still 27 too many, and Atlanta, Houston and other cities continue to experience air-pollution problems. But overall, air-quality trends are strongly positive. Now, exhale.

Better Water Quality
Other environmental trends are equally encouraging. Water quality has improved, too, and rates of waterborne disease are also in decline. It’s hard to believe, but just a generation ago, factories and municipal plants actually discharged untreated wastewater directly into rivers; today, though some raw sewage often makes it to waterways, almost all wastewater in the United States is treated before discharge.

Even our largest metropolises have seen dramatic changes in their waterways. Remember when the filthy condition of Boston Harbor became a contentious issue in the 1988 presidential campaign? Today, Boston Harbor is sparkling again. The Potomac River, which in the 1960s literally gave off a stench, now boasts a thriving waterfront restaurant scene. And the Chicago River, a virtual open sewer in the 1960s, now hosts charming dinner cruises.

Animals Are Back
While air and water quality have been steadily improving, life itself has been making a comeback. One reason many rates of cancer are declining today may be the ever-lower level of toxic chemicals to which people are exposed; toxic emissions by industry have diminished by a dramatic 55 percent since 1988.

But humans aren’t the only creatures benefiting from an improved environment: Only one animal species is known to have gone extinct in the United States in the last 15 years, the dusky seaside sparrow. During that same period, numerous other species once described as certain to become extinct — including the Arctic peregrine falcon, the brown pelican, the gray whale, and the bald eagle, our beloved national emblem — have recovered sufficiently enough that they are no longer classified as imperiled. In the 1960s, bald eagles were rarely seen in the United States south of Alaska; now the great birds are commonly spotted in many states. Both the banning of DDT, which weakened birds’ eggshells, and strict hunting laws have contributed to this success.

Forests Are Growing Species are recovering partly due to the fact that the forested portion of the United States continues to remain stable, despite a recent real estate boom. High-yield agriculture has enabled millions of acres of farmland to be retired from cultivation and returned to forest.

For example, early in the 19th century, the state of Connecticut was 25 percent forest; today, Connecticut is fully 59 percent forested, though its population has increased twelvefold, from 275,000 to 3.46 million, since then. And Connecticut’s wooded area is up even as its agricultural production has risen. Many other states show a similar dynamic of higher farm production coupled with stable forest acreage.

Steep reductions in acid rain have also boosted forest vitality. Twenty years ago, some people speculated that acid rain would cause a “new silent spring” in the Appalachian Mountains. These days, the health of the Appalachian forest is greatly improved, with a promising return of wild animals, including deer and black bears, and a rebound in tree cover and heartiness.

Steady environmental improvements have taken place across the board, regardless of which party is in the White House or controlling Congress. During the last four years, air pollution has continued to decline, improvements in technology have reduced emissions, the amount of protected lands is on the uptick, and deadly pollutants like dioxin are trending downward. And even more improvement is likely since the Bush Administration has imposed strict new rules that will reduce air pollution from diesel engines and diesel fuel.

Read more here: rd.com

Here’s an interesting article posted on Reuters – Japan’s Greenhouse emissions (gases that trap heat in the atmosphere) were down by 6.2% – it’s contributed to a warm winter and the recession.

By Risa Maeda
Source: Reuters.com

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s greenhouse gas pollution fell 6.2 percent in the last financial year, the government said on Wednesday, confirming market views that the worst recession in decades largely contributed to emission cuts.

Emissions in the first year of Japan’s Kyoto Protocol obligations totaled 1.286 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent, compared with a revised 1.371 billion tonnes in the previous year ended in March 2008, a record high.

The 2008/09 figure is approaching the Kyoto goal for the world’s fifth biggest emitter of 1.186 billion tonnes a year.

The government and companies have bought hundreds of millions of tonnes of emissions offsets, helping the country meet its 2008-12 Kyoto target in deals worth billions of dollars at current prices.

“The figure suggests we’re currently at levels sufficiently (low) enough to achieve the target,” said Yasuo Takahashi, who heads the environment ministry’s climate change policy division.

“But we’re not saying that we no longer need to carry out the emission-cut plans,” he said at a news conference after the data was released. “2008/2009 was an unusual year.”

With deflation expected in coming years, there seems little risk of Japan not meeting its Kyoto goals.

The Bank of Japan said in a report last month that Japan will experience three years of deflation, forecasting the economy to contract another 3.2 percent in fiscal 2009/2010 before recovering in the following two years.

Read full article at Reuters.com

Here’s a question I thought of recently: Do the planted trees of our cities and suburbia at all offset the loss of our rainforests? I’m not suggesting that the natural ecosystems of rainforests can be replaced with planted trees in yards, but does it make a difference? I welcome comments!

If you have an aquarium – don’t flush away the water when you clean! Instead, use it for your garden and plants.

As you siphon out fish waste and decaying food particles, you are also siphoning out large amounts of helpful bacteria along with all the trace nutrients all plants need to survive (Phosphorus, Nitrogen, Potassium, iron, etc.). Using this “fertilizer” water on your garden and houseplants is very beneficial, and can do wonders for your plants. Additionally, instead of flushing fish when they die, dig them into your garden soil for added fertilization.

Using fish byproducts is not a new concept, the Native Americans were adding fish to the soil when growing crops and taught us the “trick” of increased yields and food production. Today, many fish emulsion products are on the market, but if you have an aquarium, it’s the perfect, local source.

I’ve started using my dirty water from our planted aquarium in my garden, and I’m sure the plants are loving it. Plus, I’m not flushing the water down the drain anymore!

The Colorado Renewable Energy Society’s Denver Tour of Solar Homes is Saturday, October 3rd from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The cost is $20 per car for the self-guided auto tour. Carpooling is encouraged.

To register online, visit this site before 5 p.m. tomorrow.

Registration on Saturday will be at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory Visitors Center, 15013 Denver West Parkway in Golden, or at the First Universalist Church of Denver, 4101 East Hampden Ave.

For more information, visit www.cres-energy.org/tour.

In conjunction with the tour, the first Green Jobs and Career Resources Fair is from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at the First Universalist Church.

The Denver tour is part of the American Solar Energy Society’s annual observance. Boulder, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Estes Park, Grand Junction, Glenwood Springs, Alamosa, Delta, Durango, Walden and Westcliffe also have tours or events planned.

Photo from: Gogreenelectricinc.com

Between 2006-2008, according to the Interstate Renewable Energy Council’s 2006-08 count, consumers added 522 megawatts to the grid. Utility companies, however, added added just 96 megawatts. This is quite a change of direction of where new power is coming from. Instead of utility driven megaprojects (acres of land covered in thousands of solar panels sending energy to the grid), solar rooftops are becoming the wave of the future. This is a good trend – instead of using up precious free space and wild places, we are looking to our existing structures for the space for solar energy. With the costs of solar panels continuing to drop, more and more homeowners and businesses may turn to solar systems to supplement their energy needs.

There is a downside to this increase: utility companies are starting to grumble about the new energy that is being produced from consumers, as they are concerned for their profits and the long term changes of consumer-fed energy. Utilities are now voicing concerns regarding the cost of distributing power and maintaining the electric grid. According to Xcel spokesman Tom Henley, many solar-powered customers don’t have a monthly bill, so they don’t pay embedded costs for things such as power plants, transmission lines, or equipment upgrades at power plants. Utilities also argue that they have to maintain the grid’s power day and night, rain or shine, and so they feel that solar powered users should have to pay a fee for their "back-up" energy they use when the sun isn’t shining.

Photo from: Solsourceinc.com

Utilities are now proposing "net-meter" tariffs to be applied solar consumers. Net metering occurs when a customer’s solar panels send extra electricity onto the grid. That energy is ‘netted’ against electricity a customer uses at night or on cloudy days, when the sun isn’t shining. Customers sending more power to the grid than they use roll the net month-to-month and get a check for the balance at the end of the year.

These utility company concerns came to the spotlight in Colorado, when Xcel Energy proposed a “net-meter” tariff to solar customers. The proposal to institute a minimum monthly fee for customers who get most or all of their electricity from solar power panels on their homes or businesses installed after April 2010. The public response was negative. Colorado Solar Industries Association (CoSEIA), along with the Governor’s Energy Office, and other renewable energy supporters mounted a grass-roots campaign to educate consumers, solar supporters and the public about the proposal. In response to the negative public reaction, Xcel Energy dropped its proposed “net-meter” tariff to solar customers. Of course, this is just the beginning of the consumer-generrated power issue. As more homeowners add solar energy to their homes, utility companies and consumers will have to find a solution to managing the costs of maintaining the grid.

Photo from: Aspensolar.com

As CoSEIA’s Beth Hart says, “Consumers are becoming more energy efficient and going down the road more and more to be renewable and to put solar systems on their home,” Hart said. “Any time these things happen, Xcel is losing money because their bills drop.

“We want the utility as backup power. That makes the most sense as an Xcel rate payer, as a Coloradoan, and as a nation. We want our utilities to stay viable. The question is how can we do that," Hart said.

"I truly believe this conservation is not rocket science,” she said. “Let’s talk about some flat fees, not convoluted calculations that don’t work.”

We will soon see how utility companies will work with homeowners and businesses to come to an agreement on how to handle the new influx of consumer-generated energy.

Sources: The Denver Business Journal, Pagosadailypost.com, Coloradoenergynews.com, CoSEIA

To find solar rooftop installers in Colorado, go to www.coseia.org