Eating Planet Squeezing The Environment

Posted on April 21, 2012 by quest

A new book published in collaboration with the Worldwatch Institute, the book will be available for free on Earth Day, Sunday April 22nd. at the Barilla think tank. Worldwide, 30 percent of food is wasted, 1 billion people go to bed hungry each night while another 1 billion suffer from health problems related to obesity. Meanwhile, young people are increasingly disconnected from how their food is grown, making solutions to the global agricultural system – which contributes one third of global greenhouse gas emissions – seem even further out of reach.

In response to these problems, the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition (BCFN) is releasing a book, Eating Planet, highlighting the challenges facing today’s food and agricultural system, as well as the myriad of benefits that reform could bring. As Earth Day approaches, it is important to appreciate the links between technology, culture, and agriculture, and how they can help alleviate hunger and poverty. Eating Planet will be downloadable for free on Earth Day, April 22, 2012 from the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition’s website.

“Access to food is one of the first and most fundamental of all human rights,” says Guido Barilla, Chairman of the Barilla Group. “Where food is lacking, it becomes impossible to live with dignity, and the rights to a healthy life and peaceful coexistence are undermined.”The Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet project, an evaluation of environmentally sustainable solutions to alleviate hunger and poverty, collaborated with the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition to produce the report. “The study’s conclusions represent a major step toward ensuring that agriculture contributes to health, environmental sustainability, income generation, and food security,” said Nourishing the Planet project director Danielle Nierenberg. “The ingredients will vary by country and region, but there are some key components that will lead to healthier food systems everywhere.” Read the article.

Solar Roof Juice From Sungevity Goes Down Under

Hi Tech Rooftop Mapping For Solar Power Potential

Posted on April 20, 2012 by quest

GeoEye, a leading provider of geospatial information and insight, today announced a strategic relationship with Geostellar, an innovative technology company that is transforming the solar energy industry. Under the terms of the agreement, GeoEye will supply high-quality Earth imagery, digital surface models and other mapping data to help Geostellar dramatically expand its service. GeoEye also intends to take a small equity position in the company.

Geostellar has built a breakthrough analytics platform that automatically determines how quickly a given property owner can recoup an investment in solar energy. The company’s platform models roof slope, shadows, weather patterns, local utility rates and solar energy subsidies to automate what has historically been a highly manual process. Geostellar has built solar maps in Washington D.C., Boston, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and New Jersey, where government agencies have made aerial imagery freely available. Geostellar needed a strategic partner to help collect and process massive amounts of Earth imagery data to catalog the solar power potential of every commercial and residential property in the United States. GeoEye will become Geostellar’s Earth imagery vendor of choice and apply image processing capabilities developed by GeoEye Analytics to provide the data required to develop solar maps for every key metropolitan market in the United States.

“High quality, digital surface models and mapping data provide critical fuel to our engine,” said David Levine, founder and CEO of Geostellar. “Our strategic relationship with GeoEye will help millions of residential and commercial property owners understand how quickly they can generate a return on investment by going solar.”

Solar Eclipse Live From Mt. Fuji Using Solar Power

Mike Biddle: We can recycle plastic

What Green Jobs? These Green Jobs

Posted on April 19, 2012 by quest

Earlier this year Kellé McMahon is the CEO of The Green Science Academy wrote,”American companies, small companies, large companies, startups and mid-size companies all of which contribute to the growth and development of a new established emergent industry coined “the green economy.” The green economy encompasses many different aspects of the energy market sector. The United States has seen the largest growth in the solar market sector over the past two years. The industry has seen growth over 120% since 2006 (Engineering Magazine July 2010) and is experiencing a explosion of growth in the commercial residential sectors.”

Carol McClelland, PhD author and Founder of Green Career Central recently wrote -
Debunking Myths About Careers in the Green Economy, she says,” As we talk with people at networking meetings and our group calls, we hear them make assumptions about the Green Economy that aren’t true. They may have been true at one point, but times have changed. Are you holding yourself back from entering the Green Economy due to any of these assumptions?”

Now a new study from Environmental Entrepreneurs‘ report shows clean energy sector growing across country, industries could lead to 46,000 jobs in 42 states. Among other things the report says,”Manufacturing companies making everything from electric vehicles to solar panels and wind turbine parts announced 35 projects in the quarter that would create more than 10,000 jobs.” Read the article…

Solar Panels “Photosynthesis” Art In Milan Exhibit

Solar Roof Juice From Sungevity Goes Down Under

Posted on April 19, 2012 by quest

Oakland, California-based Sungevity and Australian solar company, Nickel Energy, today announced a joint venture partnership called Sungevity Australia that will provide Australian homeowners with the first ever pay-as-you-go solar option and introduce Sungevity’s innovative brand of online sunshine to the “land down under.” The new pay-as-you-go service, dubbed “RoofJuice,” broadens options for the burgeoning Australian solar market that until now, has been limited to an upfront, cash purchase model. The average cost of a five-kilowatt system (the average system size in Australia) is 12,000 Australian dollars ($12,400). Now, with the introduction of Sungevity Australia’s “RoofJuice” option, homeowners can purchase solar-generated electricity with no upfront cost, giving them instant savings on their utility bills. Sungevity Australia’s “RoofJuice” option will be available starting in late May 2012 and will incorporate the company’s brand assets and proprietary software tools, including the company’s remote solar design services.

Sungevity’s expansion to Australia marks the second global move by the company in less than six months, following an expansion to Europe in November 2011 through a partnership with Dutch Solar firm, Zonline. The company’s highly scalable model, rooted in the use of satellite and Internet technology to design rooftop solar arrays remotely, also enabled the company to simultaneously launch in five Northeast states in July 2011. Sungevity now has a presence in eight U.S. states – Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York – as well as the Netherlands and Australia internationally.

“We share a common vision with Nick Lake and his team, and we are excited to partner with them to introduce easy and affordable solar power to Australian homeowners,” said Andrew Birch, Chief Executive Officer, Sungevity, Inc. “Our move in to the Australian market is further proof that our business model is exceptionally scalable and that customers all over the globe are demonstrating the desire to get easy access to clean energy.””Sungevity’s innovative iQuote technology, coupled with a ground-breaking and disruptive pay-as-you-go model, will enable a new class of Australian customer to go solar,” said Nick Lake, Managing Director, Nickel Energy. “The introduction of Sungevity ‘RoofJuice’ will undoubtedly transform the Australian solar market, and we are excited about leading the way.”

Virgin Gets Its Green On In San Francisco

Solar Eclipse Live From Mt. Fuji Using Solar Power

Posted on April 18, 2012 by quest

Panasonic has launched “ECLIPSE LIVE FROM FUJIYAMA by SOLAR POWER” broadcast and will the annular solar eclipse on May 20, 2012 live to the world from the summit of Mt. Fuji, an important symbol of nature in Japan, using only green power.“ECLIPSE LIVE FROM FUJIYAMA by SOLAR POWER” This project seeks to highlight to the world Panasonic’s devotion to its “Energy Solution” business and the dynamic technologies and products behind it. All electricity required for the devices used for broadcasting, such as video cameras, filming equipment, and computers, will be drawn from “HIT Solar Cells,” with industry-leading power output, and be supplied through rechargeable batteries made by Panasonic. On the day of the eclipse, Mt. Fuji will be ideally located within the “central eclipse path” that allows for optimum viewing, and the view is especially spectacular in the clear air of the mountain peak. However, the summit of Mt. Fuji in May is covered in snow with freezing temperatures, and there is no electricity available for daily activities. Therefore, the project staff will charge up portable power supplies for domestic use with power generated from the HIT solar cells and carry them up the frozen face of the mountain.

Along with the staff’s work to overcome such an inhospitable environment, the project will broadcast live the annular eclipse to the world from the closest point to the sun in Japan.The project’s progress will be documented on a special website and Facebook page to be launched on April 17 (April 18 JST) until May 20 (May 21 JST), the day of the annular solar eclipse. We plan to report on the filming equipment, introduce the staff members, and conduct trial tests in advance of the eclipse. We are looking forward to bring the mystical phenomenon of the annular eclipse to as wide a global audience as possible.

Panasonic recently sponsored “Photosynthesis”at Milano Salone del Mobile 2012 exhibition, being held in Milan. It was designed by noted young architect Akihisa Hirata, whose organic vision of a living, breathing architecture reflects the open yet interdependent symbiotic cycles in nature. At this year’s exhibition, Panasonic will present an energy cycle, comparing it to an ecological cycle that begins with photosynthesis, starting with energy creation (through solar panels), and continuing to energy storage (through storage batteries) and energy saving (through LED and organic LED lights), with each stage of the cycle being controlled by an energy management system.

One Day On Earth To Screen Worldwide On Earth Day

Posted on April 13, 2012 by quest

A new feature-length documentary film — the first to include footage filmed in every country on earth captured all on the same day, and created with the help of the United Nations and an international community of filmmakers –is to debut on Earth Day, April 22, 2012 at screenings in more than 160 countries worldwide.

Four years in the making, “One Day on Earth” is a video time capsule of one day – 10 October 2010. More than 19,000 filmmakers, both professional and novice, contributed 3,000 hours of footage. The project, headed by Founder/Director Kyle Ruddick and Co-founder/Executive Producer Brandon Litman, donated video cameras to more than 95 UN country offices, which resulted in unusually intimate access to remote places including Papua New Guinea and South Sudan.

Featuring music by Paul Simon, Fela Kuti, Sigur Ros, and others, the film captures a dazzling array of human experiences, from the birth of a newborn in Mongolia to a clock collector in Rio De Janeiro’s favelas. The film fluidly shows how crises confronting the world – from water shortage to poverty – connects us all, and offers rarely seen images from life in North Korea, Iran, and Kosovo.

ODOE has utilized Tugg, a web-platform that enables individuals to choose the films that play in their local theaters. The film has been financed by sources including significant support from the Ford Foundation‘s JustFilms initiative.