Urban Farmers Grow New Green Acres

Posted on November 9, 2011 by quest

“Green Acres is the place for me. Farm living is the life for me. Land spreading out so far and wide. Keep Manhattan just give me that countryside.” With that Mr. Douglas (Eddie Albert) and wife Lisa Douglas(Eva Gabor) left New York City for Hooterville. Well it turns start out things have changed since the 1965 TV sitcom hit the airwaves. As new solar solutions are being implemented to address how we heat, electricfy our homes – and transport ourselves; so too are some very basic assumptions about how and where we get our food.

Global population analyst have just announced the world population is now 7 billion people. How can we know for sure what the real current world population is?That’s a whole lot of mouths to feed in world that’s already struggling with stone age energy, political, transportation and economic systems. Urban farming is taking on unique characteristics such as what we’re seeing in Chicago and Atlanta.

Urban farms provide healthy food

In his recent Ted Talk Urban Farmer Roman Gaus frames out some of the big issues we face as a world society and how urban farming can provide solutions to challenges we’ll have no choice in facing.

But while the idea of community gardens, rooftop farming and vertical farming may seem new: Victory Farms was in full effect in America over 70 years ago.

Urban Farming: Past Present Future

Green Tech Companies in Growth Mode

Trina Solar Opens Headquarters in Singapore

Posted on November 2, 2011 by quest

Trina Solar, a leading integrated manufacturer of solar photovoltaic (PV) products announced today the establishment of its Asia Pacific operating headquarters in Singapore.The new Asia Pacific headquarters are expected to provide management functions covering administration, sales, project development, R&D, logistics and purchasing operations to further strengthen Trina Solar’s growing presence and customer base in the region. The new administrative region is expected to include Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, India, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, as well as Korea and will extend to the Middle East and South Africa.

Jifan Gao, Chairman and CEO of Trina Solar, commented, “Singapore’s excellent investment environment, combined with its skilled talent base and strong logistics infrastructure, makes it a strategically advantageous location for Trina Solar to establish our regional headquarters. Our new Singapore headquarters complements our recent Asia Pacific expansion into Japan, Australia and Korea, while opening up emerging PV markets such as Thailand and India. We are confident that these headquarters will serve as an ideal gateway to markets throughout the region for Trina Solar.” Gao has also recently responded to US solar panel makers claims that Chinese solar companies were dumping solar panels in the US. Reporting in Bloomberg Gao said,

“Chinese solar-panel makers borrow”

Dr. Haiyan Sun, Head of the Asia Pacific Headquarters added, “We believe that Trina Solar can help Singapore become more integrated with the emerging PV markets such as Japan, Thailand and India, which will help boost regional development. Trina Solar is highly optimistic about the Asia Pacific market and we believe that our new Singapore headquarters is expected to generate a growing portion of the company’s global sales over the next several years.”Dr. Sun added, “We are delighted by the opportunity to elevate our regional R&D strengths through Singapore’s strong local talent pool, and to develop strategic cooperative alliances with local research institutes and universities.”

U.S. families large buyers of organic foods

Eco Fashion…Where Does It Come From?

Posted on October 31, 2011 by quest

How we dress says lot about who we are. “How’s the weather where I work? “ “Am I feeling blue or bright?” “Am I retro or edgy, sassy or sexy, professional or bohemian…”Fashion is the business of selling dreams and fashion brand campaigns with all their glamour and imagery compete to capture our imagination. If the dream this season is “those boots”, then every girl must have the “it” pair of boots till of course the next “it” pair comes along.

But amidst all the glitz and glamour, we as consumers are rarely exposed to what goes on behind the scenes and the price we as customers pay for buying into the dream. As more and more horror stories about the negative human and environmental impact of the fashion industry emerge, the new trend that’s hopefully here to stay is one of ethical fashion. But what do “ethics” in fashion mean anyways and as a consumer why should I care? Even industry professionals often disagree on this stuff, making it a lot harder for the end consumer to navigate all the options out there. Here are a few terms you’ll hear often and an attempt at explaining what they mean, so that you as a consumer can decide if it’s something you want to get behind.

Fair trade

Fair trade put simply means that people who made your clothes were paid a fair living wage for making the clothes, instead of being made in a sweat shop that uses child labor. Most of us at one point or another in our lives have done minimum wage jobs, been through a lay off or been treated unfairly at work. The problem is a lot more severe in developing countries, where it often constitutes human rights violations, why would we want to contribute to that? Read the full article

Sonica Sarna is head of design and product development at “Raasta”, an ethically made hi-fashion clothing line made in partnership with rural artisan communities in India. The clothing and accessories use handloom fabrics and natural dyes while maintaining a boho-chic sensibility ( www.raastaonline.com) . Join Raasta at their exclusive launch party on Nov 2nd at 6.30 pm at BellaPelle, 9 Maiden Lane, San Francisco.

Upsolar Sponsors “Dancing Flowers”

Organic Solar Cells Sparking Consumer Electronics

Posted on October 30, 2011 by quest

Molecular Solar Ltd, a spinout company from the University of Warwick, has achieved a significant breakthrough in the performance of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells. They have achieved and demonstrated a record voltage for organic photovoltaic cells that means these highly flexible, low cost solar cells can now be devolved for commercial uses in a wide range of consumer electronics. The Company’s most recent advance in the development of its organic photovoltaic (OPV) cell technology is the realisation of cells with open-circuit voltages in excess of 4 volts for the first time. Molecular Solar’s research team believe this is a record for an OPV device. Dr Ross Hatton, Research Director of the company commented:
“This is an important advance. We are now very close to having highly flexible organic photovoltaic cells that will be capable of delivering electrical energy at a voltage suitable for recharging lithium ion batteries that are widely used in portable consumer electronics. Remarkably, this high voltage is achieved using a cell with only 4 junctions (sub-cells)’’.University of Warwick researcher Professor Tim Jones, who is Chief Technology Officer of Molecular Solar, added:

“The first generation of organic photovoltaics will be exceptionally well matched to consumer electronics applications. The advantage of Molecular Solar’s high voltage cells is that a single cell can be used with no requirement to connect multiple cells in series for these applications, saving manufacturing cost. ’’Andrew Oldfield, Head of Cleantech at Mercia Fund Management said, “We were attracted to Molecular Solar’s unique approach to realizing truly flexible, environmentally sustainable photovoltaics that are well matched to the burgeoning portable consumer electronics market.”

Bob Beaumont, Popularized Electric Cars

LED Streetlights Saving Stamford Green

Aquamantra On Greenwashing Environmental Lawsuit

Posted on October 29, 2011 by quest

In response to California’s greenwashing lawsuit against its Balance and Aquamantra brands, Danny Clark, President of ENSO, states, “Our industry is young, and we are still improving standards and dispelling false beliefs. Our products perform as we claim, and we have the data to prove it. The situation in California is a lack of education and misunderstanding new technologies; this is not an issue of false claims. We will take this opportunity to bring legislators up to speed with ENSO technologies and the value they bring to the environment.”
“The citizens of California and the environment deserve better,” stated Del Andrus, VP of ENSO. “History is full of examples where science has provided the facts to overcome false beliefs, a principle that ENSO will continue through the pioneering of new information, technology and education.”

At ENSO, we stand behind our claims and our mission to solve the world’s plastic pollution. Every one of us has contributed to this global problem, and it will take each of us, working together, to solve it. Companies like Aquamantra and Balance should be recognized for rising above status quo and implementing environmentally sound solutions.We do not claim that biodegradability is a silver bullet, but it is a huge step in the right direction. Consumers should be educated on the true impact of the products they are buying and have the opportunity to take that step. The lawsuit filed by Attorney General Kamala D. Harris was a first-of-its-kind “greenwashing” lawsuit against three companies that allegedly made false and misleading claims by marketing plastic water bottles as “100 percent biodegradable and recyclable.” Under California law, it is illegal to label a plastic food or beverage container as biodegradable. Plastic takes thousands of years to biodegrade and may never do so in a landfill.

California Leading America In Solar Technology

Surround the White House to Stop Keystone XL

CA Attorney General Sues Balance For GreenWashing

Posted on October 26, 2011 by quest

Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today filed a first-of-its-kind “greenwashing” lawsuit against three companies that allegedly made false and misleading claims by marketing plastic water bottles as “100 percent biodegradable and recyclable.” Under California law, it is illegal to label a plastic food or beverage container as biodegradable. Plastic takes thousands of years to biodegrade and may never do so in a landfill. Today’s lawsuit is the first government action to enforce the state’s landmark environmental marketing law. “These companies’ actions violate state law and mislead consumers,” Attorney General Harris said. “Californians are committed to recycling and protecting the environment, but these efforts are undermined by the false and misleading claims these companies make when they wrongly advertise their products as ‘biodegradable.’”

Balance and AquaMantra sell their products in plastic water bottles marketed by ENSO Plastics LLC; according to the label, ENSO claims that a microbial additive created the “first truly biodegradable and recyclable” plastic bottle. The bottles’ labeling states that the bottles will break down in less than five years in a typical landfill or compost environment, but that claim is false because the additive does not speed up the centuries-long process required to break down plastic. The claim of recycling is also deceptive. The microbial additive put into the bottle is considered by the Association of Post Consumer Plastic Recyclers to be a “destructive contaminant” that can compromise the strength of the products they make. Consumers may buy these defendants’ bottles and either dispose of them incorrectly, on the assumption that they will biodegrade quickly, when in fact they will simply take up space in landfills, or they will try to recycle them, creating problems and costs for recyclers.

A recent Gallup poll found that 76 percent of Americans buy products specifically because of their perception the product is better for the environment. In 2008, the California Legislature banned the use of words like “biodegradable,” “degradable,” or “decomposable” in the labeling of plastic food or beverage containers. Senate Bill 567, signed into law by the Governor this year, will expand that law to all plastic products beginning in 2013. Deputy Attorney General Raissa S. Lerner and Deputy Attorney General Laura J. Zuckerman are handling the case for Attorney General Harris’ Environment section. A copy of the complaint filed today in the Orange County Superior Court is attached to the online version of this release at www.oag.ca.gov.