Norway embraces Osmotic Power

Osmotic Power is when electricity is produced by utilizing pressure built up in salt water. The pressure build up happens when salt water, comes in contact with fresh water. By virtue of a higher salt content, salt water exert pressure on fresh water to move towards salt water, fresh water does so by diluting the salt water. A membrane in between the salt water and fresh water, blocks the two from directly mixing. Then, when more fresh water moves towards the salt water chamber, the pressure builds up due to the high volume of pressure in the salt water chamber. That is when the pressure is utilized through letting high pressure water on to the turbine, which in turn rotates generators.

The Norway based company Statkraft, has been doing research for 10 years on this process, to make it commercially viable. According to researchers, the global potential of Osmotic power is expected to be around 1700 Twh per annum, which is equivalent to half the European Unions electricity production. Since there are so many fresh water rivers flowing into oceans, Osmosis power is rated higher, and a viable industrial development option.

GREEN TIP:

Here is a link to where you can check your carbon footprint FREE

SunnyBag Solar Shoulder Bag

Stefan Ponsold, has created this SunnyBag, and the company is based in Australia with the same name. These bags are made from cowskin leather, and are either dark brown or black. They are designed as a shoulder bag for laptops, files and paperwork. The bag has a 3 Watt solar panel with a 1600 mAh LI-Ion battery pack. On over cast days, this internal battery can be charged.

It has a range of adaptors to charge your portable gadgets like iPhone, iPod and various kinds of mobile phones. The approximate weight of this bag is 3 lbs, and the prices start at $199. Euro (including tax).

GREEN TIP:

Next time you travel, stay at an eco friendly hotel. At Eco Friendly Hotels, they list bed and breakfasts, hotels, inns, motels, and resorts, and all the eco friendly actions they take.

Recycled Mother Boards...Going Green

Recently, at San Francisco's Green Festival, they had some really neat ideas to recycle "Mother Boards" Here are a few pictures from the event.

I really like this journal, with the unique "Mother Board" cover on it. It would probably make a unique gift for anyone that is a webdesigner, or someone that is a eco warrior.

These coasters would fit into any decore, and be a real conversation starter too.

This clock is rather unique, and will definitely appeal to the eco green people on your Christmas List. This clock will set you back $30, and all of the products can be found at Motherboard Gifts

Motherboard Gifts, started in 1991, and creates many gifts ranging from picture frames to key fobs and everything inbetween. As the company states, "These products capture the intrinsic beauty of technology while providing an environmentally friendly alternative to the circuit boards being disposed of in landfills. Each product may vary by color and pattern making every item unique - virtually one of a kind." Yes, they are unique, and I am sure there are many people that would enjoy a one of a kind gift like this.

iPetal solar charger

This is a new solar charger that opens up into the shape of a flower, with all the petals opened into a circle. Once it is complete open, it gathers the light and gets ready to charge your electronic gadgets. It folds up and turns into a stand for your iPhone. Very nice. Hopefully it will hit the market in 2010...fingers crossed.

Go Green, and Save water while washing your hands.

As the Flu is running through the general population, there are many young children that need to learn to wash their hands more often. With this bright and cheery Mons Lavabo, which is a short listed entry in Designboom's Green Life Contest, is this small version of the washroom sink. It has been designed by Teng Chuan Tey and Romualdo Faura Bernabe from Spain, and this kid sized sink is catering to teaching children good hand washing habits. It is made from biodegradable and recyclable crushed almond husks...which keeps with our green theme. It has a motion sensor which turns on/off the water to prevent waste.

Go Green and run to power your MP3 Player.

Do you like to listen to your MP3 Player, while your going for your daily jog? Many people claim it really helps to keep them going, and the right music puts that extra umph into your workout. Now, you can wear Dancepants Kinetic Music Player, which converts kinetic energy from running, hopping, jumping, and moving around, into electricity to power an iPod or other music player. According to the Dancepants designers, the product is 100% interactive way to feel the value of energy on your own.

Even the Birds are Going Green

Just when I thought I had seen or heard of everything, along comes a solar bird house. Strange as this may sound, it does make the birds life somewhat easier.

Take a look at the picture, and you can see the perch on the house, where the birds can sit, actually lights up. The solar panel on the roof of the bird house, generates enough power to light that perch, which is great for the birds, when they get hungry. You see, that light attracts bugs and insects, so the birds only need to stick their head out side the house and they can eat their food, or feed their babies.

Oooms is the maker of this bird house, and it retails for around 70 euros.

Go Green Philadelphia - Tallest Leed Certified Building in USA

Philadelpia now has the tallest LEED Certified building in the USA. The Comcast Center has been awarded the title, after earning a Gold Certification for LEED-CS (Core and Shell). This 58 story building is covered in high performance glass and sunscreens, features louvers in the atria to help optimize daylight inside the building, and many other great green design features to help reduce energy consumption.

Right now, the high performance windows block 60% of the heat from the sun, and let in 70% of the sites available daylight, which helps reduce energy consumption from lighting and cooling - both of which use huge portions of the skyscraper's energy demands. The high efficiency water fixtures help the building use upto 40% less water than a typical office building, and the shade in the plaza outside reduces the project's urban heat-island effect by 70%.

Kia - new ideas for green vehicles

Kia wants you to dream big on their website by designing your own custom (solar) car for a chance to win $1,000 US. Kia has partnered with Antenna Magazine to create the Soul Xpressions which is an exhibit that displays Kia Souls designed by icons in the world of music, technology and fashion. You could for example, expresss your individuality by designing a car using recycled products, like wood, metal, and many other materials.

If you are interested, then just visit Antenna Magazine website, download the image of the car and start designing your own Kia.

Go Green with the Fair Trade Gift Guide

The Fair Trade Gift Guide is here, and it is full of possibilities for the season. This 32 page gift guide has an array of stylish eco conscious, fair trade gift ideas, with everything ranging from kids toys, to hand made gifts of chocolate, and even Chondonnay and Vodka. The kids will love some of these great puzzles and wooden toys, that bring every adult back to their own childhood.

Take a look at this great guide, and vote with your own dollars for fairly treated and paid artisans, field workers, and farmers to be fairly paid, as they do so much to help mother earth.

For Not Going Green- The Angry Mermaid Award goes to...?

The Angry Mermaid Award goes to? Yes, that is correct, there is now an award to be presented to the company that is doing the most to sabotage effective action on climate change. Some of the TOP nominees include:

SHELL for it's promotion of carbon capture while investing in environmentally destructive oil extraction from the Canadian Tar Sands.

SASOL due to it's lobbying for carbon capture and storage to compensate for the conversion of coal into petrol.

MONSANTO for presenting Genetically Modified crops as another climate change solution

AMERICAN PETROLEUM INDUSTRY for spending millions lobbying against climate legislation.

EUROPEAN CHEMICAL lobby for attempting to undermine EU attempts to cut carbon emissions.

AMERICAN COALITION FOR CLEAN COAL ELECTRICITY for promoting "CLEAN COAL" and funding a letter writing campaign in an attempt to weaken the US climate bill.

According to Paul de Clerk at Friends of the Earth International, "All the candidates have lobbied to protect their own profits and prevent effective action to tackle climate change. This influence by major polluters and lobbyists needs to be exposed. Climate Change can not be tackled, while doing business as usual, and that is what these companies and lobbying groups want to do."

PUBLIC VOTING for the "ANGRY MERMAID AWARD" starts TODAY. Visit Angry Mermaid and cast your vote.

Be GREENER, and use whole trees

According to the Forest Products Laboraty, whole unmilled trees can support upto 50% more weight than the largest piece of lumber milled from the same tree. These trees are often considered scrap by lumber companies, as they come from thinning the forest, so that the other trees can get bigger, as well as trees that are blown down by wind, or a storm, and even some diseased trees can be used. By using these scrap trees, that are usually grown locally, you are using a sustainable resource and promoting a healthy forest, and local green jobs for your community.

Don't confuse these homes with a log house, as they are completely different. The "Whole Tree" building, uses trees that are locally grown, small in diameter (10 inches or less) and larger tree trees that are downed by wind and disease, and usually from the clients own land. There is no milling, transportation or bulk curling, which helps save the environment. Obviously, this would not work for a city, but if you live in a small community or own land with your own forest, then this could be a good alternative for you.

Go Green - M & M's Factory goes green with Solar Garden

On November 10, the Mars factory hit the switch to go green 2MW photovoltaic system. The solar garden is located on 18 acres or property that was a vacant lot before. Now, it produces 1/5 of the factories electricity needs, which translates into 1 out of every 5 M & M's is produced courtesy of the sun. There are 28,000 solar panels, which makes it one of the largest solar systems in NJ, operated by a food manufacturer. The Mars Chocolate PV system is owned by PSEG Solar Source, and it will be repaid through a 30% federal tax credit - the sale of electricity to Mars and the sale of solar renewable energy credits to other power generation companies. By switching to solar power, they expect that the emissions will be reduced by the equivalent of removing 190 cars of the road annually.

Go Green and Breath Clean Air with ANDREA Air Filter

ANDREA air filter, which was invented by French designer Mathieu Lehanneur with Harvard professor David Edward, has finally become available for purchase. This is one very unique and needed product. It transforms household plants into air cleaners, which effectively rid indoor air of toxins and pllutants to purify any room in the house.

ANDREA air filter is 40 times more efficient than HEPA or activated carbon filters. and it requires no filter changes, as it naturally purifies air by drawing it into the filter with a shisper quiet fan to propel it through the leaves and root system of a plant, then out through water and soil filtration and back into the room environment.

The plant's natural metabolic activity performs a biochemical transformation of waste which eleminates pollution. Any house plant can be used in the ANDREA Air Filter to absorb and metabolize noxious chemicals, bu the best performing carieties include Spath or Peace Lily, Red edged dragon tree, Spider plant and Aloe Vera. ANDREA Air Filter retails for $199.99 US.

Renewable Energy Experiment Kit

WOW there is now a new toy that children can learn more about how renewable energy works. This mad scientist looking device teaches kids about different types of renewable enrgy sources, and how effective each type of energy source is, as well as energy storage, and how to effectively reduce energy consumption at home. The kicker is, that it runs on batteries. One would think, that the makers Hammacher Schlemer, would continue along the lines of saving energy and use the energy made from playing with this unique toy, and use it to power the toy.

This Renewable Energy Experiement Kit, features a wind turbine, solar cell, electrolytic cells, and a hand operated dynamo generate electricity that is stored in a rechargeable battery and then is distributed through the integrated circuit board to power a motor, LED's and buzzer using wiring terminated with alligator clips.

The built in voltmeter shows the kids just how effective their energy sources are at collecting electricity. There is no more than 3 volts total. The kit's source book explains different methods for reducing energy costs at home while providing a primer about the world's enrgy sources. It retails for $49.95 US.

Go Green & Fix things instead of Replacing them

In my parents and grand parents days, things always got fixed, before they were replaced. It was in later years that society just disposed of things whether they were broken or not.

I have learned to do many things myself, including touching up a nick with a paint job, mending a blouce and sewing on a button. It is gives you a feeling of accomplishment, and your helping to save our environment.

I have found a great place to have my shoes and purse fixed and he is very reasonable too - $10 to fix a zipper in a handbag. I appreciate how much effort goes into making things run more efficiently, and treat my stuff with more respect. Many people say that if it is going to cost you more than 50% of the original cost of an item to fix it, then just replace it. I tend to take things apart and see how it works...sometimes a friend has an idea how to fix it, sometimes you do have to replace it. Here is another great link to show you how to recycle things.

I know of a person that has found several uses for duct tape, and has helped keep her car running, when she could not afford to have it fixed until pay day. This same person discovered how to barter and makes a great meal in exchange for having the vehicle worked on.

Next time you need to go shopping for an item, check to see if the original item is fixable first...do your part and help save our landfills and environment.

Going Green - Solar Powered Blanket

Going Green in Africa, is done by using a solar powered blanket. Health Care in Africa is improving, as the people in Africa are encouraged to use a Solar Powered Blanket. The blanket is hooked up to a cell phone to help charge it. In this manner, the African people can text and recieve text messages, in regards to health information for people inflicted with HIV and Tuberculosis. This go green blanket is called the "Portable Light iTEACH Blanket".

iTEACH and the Portable Light Project have collaborated to develop a comprehensive home treatment program, which is helping save lives. The local women in sewing clubs, integrated flexible solar kits into a locally produced African cloth, fastening it to an emergency blanket, making a detachable solar textile lanter.

In the day the patient uses the blanket to stay warm, while exposed to the outdoors. The sunlight then charges the unit in three hours, which creates 6 watt hours of energy stored in a rechargeable battery. During the night, Portable Light powers a cell phone and provides about 10 hours of light to facilitate the night time home care treatment. Then, the next day the solar blanket is recharged by the patient, which is helping to power the patients own treatment, as well as providing energy and light for family members. It is definitely a real Go Green Blanket.

If you wish to help with microfinancing, for this exciting Go Green Project then please visit:

http://www.netsquared.org/projects/iteach-portable-light-treatment-blanket-south-africa

Scap School Buses Reused into Bus Shelter

In Atlanta, Georgia, Christopher Fennell has created this brilliant yellow bus shelter, from old school buses. He selected school buses from 1962, 1972, and 1977, then carefully took the pieces required to to make this unique bus shelter. He got the seats from an old city line bus, and welded the pieces all together. It certainly is a creative solution.

2010 Olympic Medals made from E-waste

Yes, that is correct, the 2010 Olympic games that are going to be held in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, are going to reuse electronic waste to make the Bronz, Silver, and Gold Medals. This means that the Olympic Medals are going to be made from sustainable materials. The artist/designer is Corrine Hunt and industrial designer Orner Arbel, have collaborated on the design of the medals, which incidentally are the heaviest in Olympic history.

These Olympic Medals, have a unique wave design to them, which is suppose to resemble the gorgeous landscape of Vancouver, B.C. The absolutely beautiful laser etched art on the medals features an "Orca" for the (Olympic) and a "Raven" for the (Paralympics). The Canadian Mint will produce each medal. I am willing to bet that the athletes will really treasure these uniquely designed medals, made from circuit board scrap.

This is something new...the "Savior Bud" designed by Seol Ah Sun and Kim Hyo Jin. It is a portable device that can easily attach to tree leaves and slowly collects water. After about 4 hours, a full cup of water is ready for drinking. Just turn the handle, and the water drips down into a cup for consumption. It does not include a filter, so depending on where you use, you may need to filter the water.

The Savior Bud, is made from a silicone rubber body, which ensures it stays resistant to heat, cold and corrosion. It has many applications for use in countries like Africa, where the water supply is low, but also polluted and not fit to drink.

The process goes like this:

1. Find a broadleaf tree with lots of leaves.


2. Opening the Savior Bud like a giant clamp, surround a few leaves, and release. The Savior Bud should contain the leaves like you see in the picture, sort of like a greehouse.


3. In about four hours, the leaves will have produced about one cup of water. Turning the bottom of the bud like a faucet will release the water to be put into a glass for drinking.

There is no price listed, but word is, it will be inexpensive. It would make a great gift for those of us that enjoy camping.

Very Sleek & Sexy iPhone charger by Regen

Take a look at this, very stylish, and very useful. Regen ReNu has designed a solar panel charger that is eye appealing, and fits in with your decore. The solar panel can charge several electronic gadgets including your iPod & phone. What is new though, is that it will alert the user to how much electricity they have generated, and how much is currently stored in the battery, so that you know when you need to move the solar panel into the window to recharge.

Unfortunately, this great charger will not be available until 2010, just missing the Christmas season. It is expected to sell for around $199. US plus any additional accessories you may want.