Amazing what a little ingenuity can come up with… imagine what would happen if a whole lot of ingenuity, like a few hundred billion dollars worth, were applied to the problem of getting renewable, clean, and cheap energy to power our transportation.

On the other hand, here is an example of a somewhat questionable use of ingenuity - despite it looking like it would be a pretty cool ride. The people at armchaircruisers.com who have built and are selling gas-powered, motorized, arm-chair recliner mobiles, some come with built in coolers for beer and chips… I wonder if they make an extra-wide model? I am having a hard time with the question if these were solar powered, would it make them any better? They have videos that show their chairs in action.

Color changing LED light SmartHom e.com
$34.99

The incandescent light bulb and its inefficient use of electricity will soon be a thing of the past. Incandescent lights are essentially little electric heaters that just happen to emit light. They’re extremely inefficient, wasting most of the power they consume as heat. Lights are a significant part of the power usage in your home so by replacing all of them with modern efficient Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs)or LED lights you will not only save some serious money but will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Energystar.gov says on their website that “if every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR, we would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 800,000 cars.”

Many new types of energy efficient lighting solutions are now on the market. While they tend to be more expensive to buy up front they will save you money in the long haul in that they last so much longer. They are also less expensive than they used to be and have more attractive shapes, capabilities and other aspects than older models.

CFLs are four times more efficient and last up to 10 times longer than incandescents. A 22 watt CFL has about the same light output as a 100 watt incandescent. CFLs use 50 - 80% less energy than incandescents.

An excellent article on the environmentaldefense.org site discusses all you need to know about choosing the right bulb for your needs. They also have a page with a form to determine the right energy efficient bulb for a given fixture and shape of bulb. Another good read is Popular Mechanics’s, article in their current issue titled “The Best Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs: PM Lab Test, Can the new breed of energy-saving fluorescents hold their own against incandescents? We ran seven bulbs through our optical course to find out.” that can be read online.

To buy energy efficient lights online you might try smarthome.com who have a wide selection of interesting CFL, LED light bulbs and many other types including the cool color changing one shown in the photo. Another very good online source, with a very wide selection of all kinds of energy efficient lighting is the Conservastore.com.

Diva Cup $28.99 at the Grist Amazon Store

Each year billions of tampons and sanitary pads and their packaging made their way into landfills and sewage systems in the USA alone! One solution many are turning to is the Diva Cup.

in the 1930’s a menstrual cup was invented as a form of internal feminine protection. The DivaCup is a modern version that has been redesigned with the latest technology.

The Diva Cup is a small soft rubber cup that collects menstrual flow and is inserted more or less like a tampon. It’s reusable indefinitely — the idea is that you take it out, empty it, wash it with hot water and put it back in. You can wear it up to twelve hours, and comes in two sizes for pre-childbirth and post-childbirth.

Here is a good link for lots of information on menstrual cups.

THE END OF SUBURBIA: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of The American Dream
DVD (various prices) - DVD-lite: $17.95US + $3.80 shipping from EndofSuburbia.com

How confident do you feel that our politicians will enact policies that will not only slow down global warming but also solve the peak oil crisis looming over us? Suburbia was built on the premise that we will always have cheap gas, what happens when this is no longer the case? Check the trailer below - or go to their website where they have other trailers special offers and much more information.

Are Cell Phones Really Killing the Bees?

Over the past several months there has been a rapid decline of significant percentages of world wide bee colonies. Colony Collapse Disorder is the new name for what has been destroying bee hives. The alarm was first sounded last autumn, but has now hit half of all American states. The West Coast is reported to have lost 60 percent of its commercial bee population, with 70 percent gone on the East Coast. Scientists are don’t know the exact cause, but researchers at Landau University suggest that radiation from mobile phones may be at least partially to blame. Some suggest that the proliferation of cell towers in rural areas may play a role.

Don’t be too quick to believe that cell phones will cause our doom. Spiegel Online looks critically at the research on cellphones and bees death in detail. This article also looks at the many other, more convincing reasons for the Colony Collapse Disorder such as GM crops or global warming.

Bill Maher asked on his HBO show last week if people would give up using the cellphone in order to save the bees - and help prevent the massive ecological collapse and wide spread hunger. He repeated the now famous but quote by Albert Einstein “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years left to live.’ But is it accurate? Snopes.com suggests its very doubtful Einstein ever said that.
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Solar Powered Bikini

Almost everyone these days are trying to find a green angle to promote their product, company or persona. Many businesses who are using green marketing are clearly more concerned about how they can profit from this green angle than promoting serious environmentalist issues. However, if it starts getting more people thinking about ecological concerns and less about American Idol or some such thing, then perhaps some will evolve to a more serious commitment than just being fashionably green for a few months. Real change to slow global warming can happen only when the politicians feel the political pressure. That pressure can only come if the majority of people starts to get involved and informed.

If we really want to halt Global Warming and reduce our carbon output by 50% or even 80% over the next 30 years or so people will have to undergo a mind boggling radical transformation in the way we all live. What we eat, how we drive, where we work, how we live, virtually nothing will be immune from needing a radical reconsidering. The profit motive is just one way among many we can start to get people thinking about how we might change our lifestyles. A solar bikini seems vacuous at first glance but what if the hot babe wearing this inspires some guy to start thinking “maybe I better bone up on this solar energy thing if I ever wanna stand a chance?” (pun intended!)

I strongly recommend you check out worldchanging.com’s thoughtful article “Make This Earth Day Your Last” that speaks to this more comprehensively.

Great Green Gadgets wishes you the best on Earth Day none the less.

RSVP Stainless Steel Compost Pail $39.99
from the Grist Store at Amazon

Food and paper make up the largest percentage of items in most landfills, food waste is considered the #1 least recycled material. The nature of today’s landfills are such that food waste often doesn’t break down properly and contributes to landfills producing methane - a harmful greenhouse gas.

Large urban areas often have to ship the garbage to distant, rural landfills, using fleets of trucks spewing tons of greenhouse gases into the air on a daily basis. At the same time farms use chemical fertilizers to grow their crops that contributes to pollution and soil degradation. Finding ways to reduce landfill waste and generate sources of rich, organic fertilizer is clearly the way to go.

I read Elizabeth Royte awesome book, Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash recently, who gives an excellent account of her investigations into all things pertaining to garbage and has much useful information on composting. The wonderful and ever fascinating everydaytrash blog has a terrific interview with Ms. Royte well worth the read.
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Switching to energy efficient light-bulbs is great but tubular skylights go even further in that not only do you save electricity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions but you get free natural lighting. This natural light is not only brighter but also shows true color, unlike incandescent bulbs. It can also help reduce seasonal affective disorders. Green builders are often incorporating this type of lighting in their projects and works particularly well in commercial workplaces where most activity takes place during the day.
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Aerorider Velomobile

Next to walking, the Velomobile may be the greenest form of personal transportation available. This bicycle car is designed with a sleek, aerodynamic style not only will help keep the planet cooler but will add cool cache to the driver as well. Combining the brawn of Flintstone’s car with the brains of Jetson’s this bike is just what the world needs now.

If commuting with human powered vehicles becomes popular it could offer a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and also address the obesity epidemic. It is amazing that many people drive their car to the gym so they could workout on an exercise machine. Think of the money saved in gas and gym fees by just driving your Velomobile to work.

Many new models have a small battery electric assist as well as being human powered. If you live anywhere other than a very flat terrain then you could certainly use the assistance getting up hills and the like. As some of these vehicles weigh up to 70 lbs. going uphill without the assist could prove extremely difficult. You would need to research to see what the rules of the road are in your area and figure out if your terrain would be Velomobile friendly or not. One place to get this information is Velomobiling.net perhaps the ultimate place to go for all things Velomobile.
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Excel AC Composting Toilet $1549 from The Natural Home.com

Greater attention is increasingly being given to drought and water shortages around the world. As global warming worsens this is predicted to become a much more serious problem for millions of people around the world. Here in the US the Southwest already has serious problems with a lack of water.

As water shortages worsen, people’s attitudes on water use will hopefully change. One attitude needing change is the reluctance to consider green alternatives to the typical flush toilet in specific and about our relation to human waste in general. The low-flow toilets were initially met with skepticism by many but now has become commonplace. In time people may grow to accept the composting toilets as well.

Composting toilets use little or no water and processes toilet waste for reuse as valuable compost. They work with the same natural composting principles as when bears poop in the woods…
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