A race for power around the world

Posted on August 15, 2010 by quest

Zerotracer Bridge 300x186 A race for power around the world The first race for electric cars, around the world in 80 days, will start on August 16, 2010, 13:30, on the Place des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.Jules Verne’s dream to go around the world in 80 days became a reality a long time ago, but is it possible to make a tour around the world in 80 days with emission-free vehicles? Five Teams from four continents are taking up the challenge. On 16 August they will start with their electric vehicles on the longest and greenest race of all time: the ZERO Race.

In 2008, Louis Palmer became the first person ever to drive a solar powered car around the world. This project was known as the Solartaxi. It took him 534 days to complete his circumnavigation and spread his powerful message that renewable energies are reliable, affordable and ecologically responsible!

In 2010, he intends to take things even further. This time Louis Palmer is challenging the world to a race via the The Zero Emissions Race. This global event is planned to be a thrill, as well as an opportunity to harness public interest and generate new ways of thinking about mobility, cars and renewable energies. The Zero Race also aims to make zero emission energy solutions accessible to a worldwide audience.

Competitors from all corners of the globe are invited to drive their own zero emission race vehicles. Each competitor’s lean, mean, green machine will be designed to run strictly on renewable energy, such as solar, wind, wave or geothermal. Thus, when the chequered flag will finally come down at the end of the Zero Race, the ultimate winner will be Planet Earth.

READY STEADY GO !

Interview with Egyptian Eco-Fashion Designer

Nadia Nour

by Arwa Aburawa

Since her launch in 2008, Egyptian fashion designer Nadia Nour has been wowing fashionistas with her elegantly glamorous and individual fashion range which also happen to be environmentally-friendly.
Graduating with a degree in Fashion and Philosophy, it’s seems that Nadia Nour was destined to create an ethical fashion range that gracefully combines her love for fashion with concerns for the planet. With a focus on organic cotton, silks and vintage fabrics, Nadia has also shown her commitment to her home city by producing locally in New York City’s Garment District.
She insists that you can still wear high-end fashion, show off your personal style and reduce your carbon footprint. I spoke to Nadia about what inspires her work, her top tips for eco-shoppers and how her Arab heritage shapes her work.

What inspired you to create an environmentally-friendly clothing range?
As I learned about the fashion industry’s negative impact on the environment, I realized that I did not want to be part of the problem. By producing locally in NYC, I am reducing emissions caused by transportation as well as helping to sustain the local economy and maintain manufacturing jobs through my support of the NY Garment District.
My organic fabrics are dyed with all natural ingredients which helps to keep toxic dyes from being flushed into our water supply. My organic cottons are also grown without the use of pesticides which is not only healthier for people and the planet, but also makes for a softer and more durable fabric.

Although you use natural and organic materials and dyes, your range of clothing is very sophisticated and glamourous. Was this a conscious decision?
Definitely, my goal is to design clothes that are beautiful and that are also organic. Women do not have to sacrifice style to be green.
What do you think is going to be the next big thing in Eco-Fashion?
I think we will continue to see an expanding variety of organic fabrics and collections.
Does your Arab heritage influence your work?
Yes, I am inspired by the rich colors and beautiful geometric designs found throughout the Arab world. The idea of world traveling and cross-cultural influence inspires much of work.
What eco designers do you admire?
Karim Rashid is inspiring in his approach to lifestyle design and his environmentally-conscious methods.
Any advice or top tips to offer the fashion conscious eco warrior?
Read your labels and do your homework. I think the organic fashion movement should follow the example of the organic food movement. People educated themselves about the ingredients and manufacturing of their food and as awareness was raised, demand was created for organic food. Companies responded and today almost every grocery store in the US has an organic section.
Finally, what can we expect from Nadia Nour in the future?
I am developing initial plans for expanding my line to include accessories and jewellery.
Stay tuned for more on Nadia Nour’s range of eco accessories and jewellery to go with her certified organic, lovely and sustainable clothing.

Former White House Solar Panel Goes to Chinese Museum

By Alison Pruitt

The fate of some former White House solar panels could be seen as an example of how differently the U.S. and China regard solar energy.
Since 1991, Unity College in Maine has owned 32 solar panels which Jimmy Carter had installed on the White House during his administration. In an unintentionally symbolic move, Ronald Reagan had them removed. Unity College was aspiring to be known as “America’s Environmental College” and acquired the panels in 1991. Some panels were used to heat water at the college’s cafeteria, but were past their useful life by 2005.

One of the historical panels was recently given to China’s Himin Solar Energy Group, the largest manufacturer of solar hot water heaters in the world. The company will display the panel at the Solar Science and Technology Museum in Dezhou, part of Himin’s 800-acre “China Solar Valley” manufacturing complex. Unity gave another panel to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).
Huang Ming, chairman of Himin Solar Energy Group, and a representative of SEIA accepted the gifts at a ceremony on the Unity campus. However, the ceremony was not well-attended by representatives of the U.S. government. Unity invited a number of congressional representatives, senators, and the governor. All said no.
“Here is the largest solar energy company in Asia and maybe the world; their CEO is visiting Unity, Maine, and we’re not getting responses from the politicians who are charged with bringing businesses to Maine,” said Mark Tardif, of Unity College. “You would think the people involved with economic development would be flocking to this, but they’re not.”
The panels are not the photovoltaic kind used create electricity. They are flat plate solar collectors, which heat water by circulating it though a series of fins. The panels are old-fashioned, but flat plate collectors are still commonly used for some purposes.
Most of the 32 White House panels are in storage at Unity. One was taken apart for educational purposes. Three have been donated, one each to: the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, and NRG Systems – a Vermont wind-energy company. Another panel was loaned to Google and recently returned and one is being displayed on the Unity Campus.

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Ancient sky show plays the stars

Posted on August 14, 2010 by quest

Beginning in late July and running into mid-August every year, the Perseid meteor shower peaked early Friday morning.

Observers were dazzled with a fantastic light show, but those who missed it can still catch the meteors in action Friday night into early Saturday morning, especially visible to those in dark rural areas free of excess light pollution.

Top 10 Reasons to Use Organic Cosmetics

Ancient sky show plays the stars

By Ronnie Cummins
Organic Consumers Association

Non-Organic Cosmetics…

10. Fuel Oil Addiction

There’s an oil spill leaking from U.S. bathrooms that’s roughly the same size as the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s coming from the petrochemical-based cosmetics we’re rubbing into our hair and skin and rinsing down the drain.

9. Spawn Superbugs

The widespread use of products containing the antibacterial agent triclosan is promoting the growth of dangerous superbugs.
The use of nanosilver will also lead to the development of antibiotic resistance among harmful bacteria.

8. Unleash Biocides

Nanosilver is a powerful biocide that can kill beneficial bacteria in the environment, especially in soil and water, creating an unacceptable toxicity risk to human health and the environment.
Biocidal nanosilver threatens bacteria-dependent natural processes. Beneficial bacteria are of vital importance to soil, plant and animal health. Soil bacteria fix nitrogen and breakdown organic matter. Denitrification bacteria play an important role in keeping waterways clean by removing nitrates from water contaminated by excessive fertilizer use. Bacteria in our guts allow humans and animals to digest food.

7. Make Drinking Water Deadly

Triclosan can react with chlorine in the tap water to create the carcinogen chloroform.
When sunlight is added to the already toxic triclosan-chlorine mix, dioxins are formed.
Dioxins are highly toxic persistent environmental pollutants that can cause reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system, interfere with hormones and also cause cancer.
Common household products such as shampoo can interact with disinfectants at U.S. wastewater treatment plants to form cancer-causing nitrosamines, which end up in drinking water.

6. Make Us Fat

Exposure to phthalates, endocrine disrupting chemicals found in perfumes, nail polish and other cosmetics, is linked to childhood obesity.

5. Speed Up Puberty

As girls are showing signs of puberty at younger and younger ages, researchers are beginning to examine the link between cosmetics ingredients that mimic the effect of estrogen and premature puberty.
Girls younger than 10 with early onset puberty show a high rate of exposure to endocrine disruptors found in nail polishes and other cosmetics.
Phthalates, triclosan, musks and parabens are all known to alter the hormone system.

4. Increase Infertility

According to a report on the health risks of secret ingredients in fragrance, hormone-disrupting chemicals commonly found in perfumes may be a factor in infertility, which increased by 20 percent in American couples between 1995 and 2002.

3. Cause Birth Defects

Nail salon workers exposed to solvents without proper ventilation, face an increased risk for miscarriages and birth defects similar to fetal alcohol syndrome.
Endocrine disruptors have been implicated in birth defects of the male reproductive system, such as undescended testicles and a penile deformity called hypospadias. Incidence of both conditions appears to have risen in recent decades.
Pregnant women with higher levels of phthalates commonly found in fragrances, shampoos, cosmetics and nail polishes are more likely to have children who display disruptive behavior years later.

2. Give Us Cancer

The President’s Cancer Panel warns that nitrosamines found in cosmetics are implicated in brain & kidney cancer, phthalates found in cosmetics, hair conditioners, and fragrances, increase the risks of breast and testicular cancer, and nanomaterials found in cosmetics, personal care products and suncreens “can be extremely toxic.”
22% of all personal care products are contaminated with the cancer-causing impurity 1,4-dioxane, including many children’s products.

1. Aren’t Regulated or Safety Tested

The Food and Drug Administration has no authority to make cosmetics companies test products for safety or recall products that are found to be harmful.
The President’s Cancer Panel recommends research on toxins and endocrine disrupting chemicals in personal care products and cosmetics, noting that only 11 percent of the ingredients in these products have been tested for safety.

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Organic renewable energy close to nature

Posted on August 13, 2010 by quest

Organic is one of those words that gets used so much you might just forget what it really means. Wiktionary:adj – simple and healthful and close to nature, “an organic lifestyle.” At the core of the green movement is a sense of connection between seemingly unrelated and diverse parts. As the green movement continiues to go mainstreasm. The ideas of environmental, economic and social change which may have once belonged to Berkeley intellectuals are now taking root with people all of over the world.

It is difficult not to stand in awe of the massive football field sized oil rigs constructed by marine engineers, machines that have the power to navigate through the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico and then drill miles under the seabed to find oil. This is the dark depths that the worlds quest for energy has taken us. One is left in complete bewilderment to wonder… is this the most sustainable use of our worlds’ natural resources? But new things are happening… A German solar power firm has recently signed an agreement to install solar panels for a coal mining company that wants to offset its energy expenses and cut air pollution. Solar companies are looking at recycling methods to deal with photovoltaic panels that are at the end of their life cycle. A British biomass company is using human waste as fuel to power a volkswagen BIO-BUG, and a 14 year old has converted his grandfather’s volkswagen to an electric vehicle.

Yes some call it a movement, some a consciousness but however you perceive it the green renaissance is enlightening our understanding of the signicance of using non toxic organic chemicals in cosmetics and fashion; and learning how eco travel can change lives for the better.

In that regard QuestPoint launches three additional sections to provide you with information, opinion, education and entertainment. They are:

Eco Travel

Organic

Wind and Waves

We invite you to explore and discover along with us as we continue to understand and help shape a more sustainable world.

Sunpower and Luke Air force base sign huge solar deal

Posted on August 12, 2010 by quest

SunPower Corp. has announced it has signed an agreement with Arizona Public Service (APS) to design and construct a 15-megawatt (AC) solar photovoltaic power system at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, Arizona. Scheduled for completion in the summer of 2011, it is expected to be the largest solar power installation at a U.S. government facility. Approximately 550 local jobs will be created during construction.

“Installed on 101 acres of underutilized land, this system will generate the equivalent of 50 percent of the annual energy requirements for Luke Air Force Base,” said Air Force Lt. Col. John Thomas, 56th Civil Engineer Squadron commander at Luke. “Benefits of the project to the American taxpayers include no initial out-of-pocket expenses to the Air Force, significant long-term savings on electricity costs, and the increased energy independence associated with using reliable, emission-free solar power.”

“APS is committed to building a sustainable future, which includes the expansion of our renewable energy portfolio,” said Brad Albert, general manager of Renewable Energy and Resource Acquisition of APS. “This plant will not only bring more clean renewable energy to the grid, but will also create jobs during its construction.”

APS will own the system that SunPower designs, builds and maintains, and sell electricity to Luke Air Force Base under a long-term agreement. The system will use high-efficiency SunPower solar panels, the most efficient solar panels on the market, with the SunPower Tracker(R) system. The Tracker follows the sun’s movement during the day, increasing sunlight capture by up to 25 percent over conventional fixed-tilt systems, while significantly reducing land use requirements.

The system will generate the equivalent energy required for 3,750 Arizona homes, avoiding more than 19,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, according the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates.

ORGANIC COSMETICS

San Francisco approves new Bicycle Plan

San Francisco Bicycle Plan

Solar Waste Recycling: Can the industry stay green?

By Erica Gies

In recent years the electronics industry has gained notoriety for creating an endless stream of disposable products that make their way at life’s end to developing countries, where poor people without safety gear cut and burn out valuable materials, spilling contaminants into their water, air and lungs.

Solar modules contain some of the same potentially dangerous materials as electronics, including silicon tetrachloride, cadmium, selenium and sulfur hexafluoride, a potent greenhouse gas. So as solar moves from the fringe to the mainstream, insiders and watchdog groups are beginning to talk about producer responsibility and recycling in an attempt to sidestep the pitfalls of electronic waste and retain the industry’s green credibility.

Solar modules have an expected lifespan of at least 20 years so most have not yet reached the end of their useful lives. But now, before a significant number of dead panels pile up, is the perfect time to implement a responsible program, said Sheila Davis, executive director of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. Read on

Colin McCrate, urban farmer

If there’s a vanguard for the back-to-the-future, “Victory Garden” era in horticulture and landscaping, Colin McCrate is leading it. As the recession stretches out, garden-happy Seattleites are switching flowerbeds and shrubs into edible greens, fruits, and vegetables. At McCrate’s Seattle Urban Farm Company, the requests for residential farm landscaping (and chicken coops) keep increasing.

“It’s definitely true,” said McCrate, atop Ballard’s Bastille restaurant (5307 Ballard Ave. N.W.), where he’s installed a prototype rooftop garden. “More and more people are taking advantage of yard space to supplement their food needs. The sale of vegetable seeds has gone through the roof.”

Seattle’s climate, even in a cloud-shrouded summer like the one we are currently experiencing, is perfect for cultivation of greens, herbs, vegetables and fruit, particularly native apples, cherries and plums. Rain and peek-a-boo sun makes for perfect growing conditions. Some local gardeners have always made a sport of growing food products, and Seattle’s P-Patch network has been flourishing since the hippie-intensive 1970s. But now, people are farming for keeps, both residentially and commercially.

“Our customers are constantly surprised at the yield from even a small plot,” McCrate commented.

A few years ago, Bastille’s James Weimann and Demming Maclise purchased a building on the resurgent Ballard Avenue. (If you haven’t been over there recently, make plans. It’s as nice a mix of retail and restaurants in the city). Their goal was to create a restaurant that adhered to the strict demands of French cuisine, namely the use of fresh ingredients. They succeeded in spades, but not before an intensive remodel and some bold thinking. Weimann and Maclise hit on the idea of a rooftop garden. What could be fresher than the harvest from a two-flight walk-up garden?

McCrate, who designed the innovative rooftop beds for Bastille’s produce, estimates that with 800 square feet of garden, the restaurant is currently meeting about 30 to 40 percent of its needs for fresh greens and herbs, including red leaf lettuce, Miner’s lettuce, arugula and peppercress. “They are, however, getting 100 percent of their basil and rosemary needs, which both do very well in Seattle.”

Weimann and Maclise may not see a positive return on their investment for a number of years, but patrons get an immediate, positive return in every bite. And as innovators in the rooftop garden field, they’ve been raking in the media coverage. The garden is “poised to become a Seattle landmark,” said Eat, Drink and Be. Bastille is not the only restaurant or urban enterprise doing a bit of intensive farming. Venerable Canlis has a terraced garden in its North Queen Anne Hill location, and, two years ago, Maggie McKelvy, a manager of HomeStreet Bank’s Ballard branch, led an effort to turn a bed in the bank’s parking lot into a vegetable-producing space.

McCrate believes efforts like these are just the first steps of a widespread movement to reclaim food. It’s hard to argue with him. Just two years ago, separate incidents with contaminated lettuce and cilantro generated a great amount of fear about the safety of our industrial-strength food chain, and the quality of produce like greens, fruits and vegetables that should be served as fresh as possible.

“Producing your own food allows for a measure of security,” said McCrate. “Anyone can plant a vegetable bed or a fruit tree. It takes no more water or soil than a flower bed, looks almost as beautiful in the yard, and produces a tangible and edible benefits.

SANYO SOLAR MUSEUM

Sanyo’s 1,033-foot- wide solar-powered museum in central Japan is composed of thousands of factory-recalled solar cells recycled from the company’s junk piles – a rare fusion of budgetary restraint, ecological awareness, and aesthetic design.

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Solar catamaran cruising the Mediterranean

Posted on August 11, 2010 by quest

The World Wildlife Federation (WWF), in an effort to promote both greater use of renewable energy and conservation of marine ecosystems, has a 46-foot solar boat (WWF Solar) sailing around the Mediterranean.

The solar catamaran is part of WWF Spain’s new ‘Embárcate’ (Get on Board) campaign that is planned along the Mediterranean coastline for the next three summers.

“The WWF Solar is powered completely by the sun. It does not use sails, and it does not use any fossil fuels. It is a boat that causes no polltion – it does not emit any Co2 whatsoever. The Solar shows that we can easily substitute fossil fuels with renewable energy,” said José Luis García Varas, Head of the Marine Program at WWF Spain.

“The WWF Solar and its crew have already docked in the cities of Águilas, Mazarrón, and Cartagena along Spain’s southeastern coast, bringing with them an arsenal of infomation on endangered Mediterranean habitats and species, as well as tips on the sustainable use of resources in some of the last wildlife bastions along the Spanish shoreline,” WWF wrote on Friday.

The WWF Solar will visit Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) such as the Cap de Creus Canyon, home to the greatest density of submarine canyons in the Mediterranian Sea, as well as other important coastal areas in the Mediterranean in the next few years.

The WWF Solar has photovoltaic panels covering its 65m2 roof, allowing the boat to travel at an average speed of 5 knots. It can run for 90 nautical miles straight, essentially two full nights of sailing or around 18 hours, when its batteries are fully charged.

“Renewable energy is an important part of this as is raising awareness that there are many other sustainable practices, such as operating small scale fisheries, that make it possible for people and the environment to thrive,” García Varas said.

The WWF is not new to the seas. In 2007, 5 people traveled from Basel, Switzerland to New York City on this boat to set a Guinness World Record for completing the first motorized crossing of the Atlantic Ocean using only renewable energy. After completing this trip and setting the record, Swiss association Transatlantic 21 (original developers of the boat), donated it to WWF.

Bastille’s Rooftop Garden Raises Urban Farming to New Heights - By Michael van Baker

Colin McCrate, urban farmer

“Our customers are constantly surprised at the yield from even a small plot,” McCrate commented.

SANYO SOLAR MUSEUM

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OTG style off the grid solar energy pioneers

Posted on August 10, 2010 by quest

Trend setting California is again leading the nation; this time in the development of solar power. But California isn’t alone and it’s not just power companies and automobile manufactures finding religion in going green. Many of the incentive plans being put forward by companies are a result of federal stimulus dollars packaged with state and local programs. These prgrams are making going solar a viable alternative for homeowners. Modeled after German FITs (Feed in Tariffs) which even though Germany isn’t known for sunny weather, it has become a global leader in the use of and manufacturing of solar panels. PG & E recently joined forces with solar finance company SunRun to provide money for PG & E customers to go solar. This comes at an interesting time as PG & E has been dealing with some controversy about its’ Smart Meters and the loss of Proposition 16, a largely PG & E sponsored bill designed to limit consumer choice for energy.

The energy business has indeed been turned on its head. People are realizing there are options and they are not just “consumers” to be prayed upon. There really is a choice. See The Solar Bill of Rights Video. One niche within alternative energy is the world of the OTG’s as I like to call them. OTG? Sounds like a gang with whom you don’t want to mess with uh?Anyway it stands for Off the Grid. Here are some of their stories:

Green living: Off the grid families pioneer sustainable energy lifestyles

Once on the fringe, about 750,000 off the grid American households pioneer green living by tapping sustainable energy from the wind, sun, and earth.

By Kari Lydersen, / Contributor
posted August 7, 2010 at 2:34 pm EDT – Asheville, N.C. —

Living “off the grid” can conjure fantasies of Swiss Family Robinson-style ingenuity in paradise. Or, for those with less love of roughing it, it can simply remind them of the hardscrabble self-reliance throughout much of the developing world, where millions cook over fires, bathe in streams, and consider the glow of a bare light bulb a luxury.

In the United States, off-the-grid living – without relying on government entities or utility companies to provide electricity, heat, gas, and water – often is associated with gritting it out on the survivalist fringe.

But an increasing range of Americans are leading a snug, even smug, lifestyle totally or mostly unhitched from public utilities. Using nature – the sun, wind, water, and the earth itself – they cheaply warm and cool their homes and power everything from a blender to a giant flat-screen TV to a raging hot tub. And with the constant concern about global warming and messy dependence on fossil fuels, it’s natural that growing numbers of Americans – “the foot soldiers” of energy independence, as one expert calls them – would begin taking steps to untether themselves from the grid.

For Wayah Hall, going off the grid in a cabin 26 miles from downtown Asheville, N.C., was a way to live in harmony with nature and avoid reliance on electricity that comes from the region’s coal-burning power plant that pumps smog into the famous Blue Ridge Mountains haze.

Mr. Hall, an outdoor-skills instructor, and his wife, Alicia Bliss Hall, a natural healer, live in a kind of off-the-grid neighborhood with another young couple: Jason Brake, a professional muralist, and his wife, Diana Styffeler, a mountain bike excursion leader. Their two cabins, nestled in temperate rain forest, are powered with electricity that comes exclusively from solar panels mounted on a wagon that they wheel around the property to catch the best rays. Their water comes from a swiftly flowing stream; wood-burning stoves heat the cabins and even an outdoor hot tub; and indoor, waterless composting toilets built decoratively out of tree stumps mean they don’t need a sewer system. They’re installing a hydropower system in the stream that will add to the solar power.

Their existence appears quite rustic – and the “sustainable” lifestyle depends a whole lot on them to sustain it with such work as wood chopping and wagon pulling. But they say they have all the creature comforts they need, and – if February’s record snowstorm is any gauge – some their neighbors need, too. When public power outages left on-the-grid neighbors in dark and chilly homes, a dozen of them congregated in the Halls’ self-sufficient glow: a lighted cabin, where they cozied up to the wood stove, recharged their cellphones, and even enjoyed a soak in the hot tub.”We didn’t even realize the power had gone out until our friends started coming over looking for refuge,” says Ms. Hall. Read on

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Gigantic, Very Green and on Tap for Marin

Anders Swahn stays busy running a solar energy startup. In his spare time he plans his new home, a clean-technology marvel said to be carbon neutral with solar panels, geothermal heating and gray-water recycling. It would be built to last for 200 years and measure up to Marin County’s green building standards.

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