Sun Jar Solar Light UK£ 19.99 or $39.69 at nigelsecostore.com
Perhaps you have heard of carrying moonbeams home in a jar? Almost as cool is the Sun Jar
Also available at SuckUK - with lots more info and photos.
$29.99 at Amazon
Solar Two, an “older’ concentrated solar power plant in the Mohave Desert – (replaced by newer technology)
In yesterday’s post I revealed how little I knew about concentrated solar power. In fact I had never heard of it before saw the video clip posted yesterday. Presumably there are more people out there who are like me and are curious about this technology. This wiki link is a comprehensive look at solar thermal energy.
What baffles me is why hasn’t there been more attention to this proven source of renewable, clean energy? Why when we think of solar power don’t we think of solar power plants just as much as we think of panels of photovoltaic cells on rooftops? Concentrated solar power can involve a huge array of hundreds or thousands of mirrors that concentrate the solar rays reflected by mirrors to heat molten salt to 565°C (1050°F). The salt then boils water which drives a steam turbine to generate electricity. There are other ways to do this as well.
Wired has a good article about the huge Solar Plants in the desert. Currrently, there are at least nine solar power plants in the Mojave Desert known as the Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS). It uses parabolic trough solar thermal technology along with natural gas to generate electricity. The facility has a total of 400,000 mirrors and covers 1,000 acres. These plants produce 354 MegaWatts, making the system the largest solar plant of any kind in the world.
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Solar thermal power generator tower in Seville, Spain
Europe is leading the way by putting online the first commercial solar power station which generates 11 Megawatts of electricity free of any greenhouse gas emission. It currently can power up to 6,000 homes. The video states that plans are being discussed to make an gigantic array of millions of these special mirrors in the Sahara, possibly enough to provide a significant source of power for all of Europe. More info in this BBC article.
I hope someone in the United States is paying attention! Imagine a similar arrangement in the Southwest desert.
BoGo Solar Flashlight $25.00 – (gets you one for yourself and one for donation) bogolight.com
The New York Times this morning has a good article about a company, bogolight.com that makes a solar flashlight. That isn’t very newsworthy in itself, but the interesting thing is that the acronym for their name “Bogo” means “Buy one, Give one”. What they are doing is for each solar powered flashlight you buy at $25.00 they give another one to various charities working in developing countries. This is very helpful in remote areas, refugee camps and similar place where there tends to be little light available after the sun sets. These flashlights can help children to study and read, help make women a little safer, and reduce the need for using kerosene or other fires for lighting. Regular flashlights in the developing world often tend to be crappier, don’t last long and require expensive batteries which also don’t last long.
Their website states the solar panel on the BoGo lasts up to 20 years, charges in 8 hours, and provides 4-5 hours of illumination. The solar panel provides power to 3 standard NiCad or NiMH AA rechargeable batteries. It also uses the super bright Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) – 6 super bright LEDs provide enough light to read at night. (from the bogo website)
Seventh Generation Brown Paper Towels 30 rolls $54.95 at amazon.com
I was in a BJ’s (giant box store) yesterday and stopped to consider their display of paper products. They have an enormous display of various brands of huge packs of 30 or so rolls of paper towels for ridiculously cheap prices. Needless to say it’s a popular item as busy people are lured by the convenience of using paper towels. Almost every cleaning task imaginable is now commonly used with paper products; from drying your hands, wiping the counter, floor, windows and pretty much anything else. As they are so cheap, many people mindlessly use them for everything and then just toss it.
It wasn’t that long ago you that people didn’t use paper towels, they used linens in the kitchen. They used a cloth for washing the dishes and yet another for wiping up counters. A hand towel in the kitchen for drying your freshly washed hands. Old rags could be used in a mop head. Cloth napkins. Newspapers for washing windows. All of them washed and reused time after time. It worked just fine for centuries.
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Bag-E-Wash from Bag-E-Wash.com $9.99
Plastic food baggies are both a godsend and a curse. They make storing leftovers a snap but with this convenience comes the guilt over throwing out yet another perfectly good bag as you are too busy to bother with washing and drying it.
Thankfully some creative folks came up with the Bag-E-Wash, a plastic dishwasher attachment that lets you easily wash and dry the bags. Bag-E-Wash can take a single use bag and have it work for you anywhere from 25 to 50 more times. Since you can now reuse the bags you not only save money but you are doing your part to help keep yet one more plastic bag from an early grave in the landfill – where they will sit for a thousand years or so before biodegrading.
You may think, who cares, its only a one lousy plastic bag but when you have millions of people thinking the same way it adds up quickly. There are already trillions of various kinds of plastic bags in landfills and many plastic bags fly away in the wind after they are discarded—getting caught in fences, trees, sewers, even the throats of birds, fish, and other animals. While seemingly insignificant, if we all start to change the little simple ways we live to be more eco-friendly it will inspire others around you to do likewise.
Razor Saver $12.00 at Sustainable Village
Save money on your razor blades and save a little space in the landfill while you are at it. This handy gadget sharpens your razor blades and will significantly prolong your razor blades lifespan. Their website claims you can “get 75-130 or more shaves from any regular or disposable razor blade, men’s or women’s, single or double.” Not clear if it will sharpen anything more than a double blade. They say you will use 75% less razors in a year with using this device.
As global warming matures with serious heat waves become increasingly commonplace, many of us will crank up the AC for relief, perhaps even survival, but this will worsen climate change when fossil fueled power plants spew out even more greenhouse gases. In the United States, Air-conditioning for buildings uses something like 18 percent of all electrical consumption. Most new construction all comes with central air-conditioning, most modern offices, stores and many workplaces all have the AC cranking during the hot summer months, many workers even have to bring extra sweaters to keep warm the temperatures can be so frigid. Occasionally, during really hot days the city or other agency will plea with us to be more reasonable with the temperature settings on the AC but most times any environmental concerns related to air-conditioning use are ignored. We have come to see air-conditioning as a basic need and right. We expect there to be a comfortable, air-conditioned setting in virtually all of our public spaces. It is hard to imagine that only 30 or 40 years ago air conditioning was the exception and not the rule. What will happen when we no longer have cheap energy so readily available?
Alternet has arguably the best online article discussing air-conditioning and the environment available. Written last summer in two parts, the article discusses how in little more than 50 years cheap energy has allowed air-conditioning to rapidly grow from a rare luxury to an unquestioned basic necessary utility present in virtually every aspect of our lives, especially in the southern regions. It seems unthinkable today to imagine shopping in any big store during the summer without air-conditioning. Can you imagine people in the southern states ever giving up their air-conditioning, even though I grow up in the south myself and remember what it was like to live down there without air-conditioning. What price will people be willing to pay to keep up this lifestyle?
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The reality of global warming is increasingly obvious for many people who are now looking for ways to help to put the brakes on climate change. But as an individual it can feel overwhelming and many people tend to give up; thinking the big solutions to global warming can only rest with the government or big business. However, as individuals one means we can take is perhaps the most significant way of all to slow climate change. By carefully planning their family size and considering only having one or two children. Also by putting pressure on politicians to address this concern by promoting family planning as one of the best green things to do to limit climate change.
Every year more than 70 million people join more than 6.5-billion people already using in some form or another million of tons of greenhouse gas emissions. Yet most calls to action on global warming fail to address population growth. Most politicians in the US avoid this sort of hot button issue, considering it political suicide. The Bush administration has opposed global family planning efforts by the UN. And increasing women are finding difficulty with getting birth control in some areas. But if we really want to be serious about global warming it matters tremendously whether the world’s population in 2050 is 10.8 billion people or 7.8 billion people — the high and low estimates made in 2006 by the United Nations. Fossil fuel pollution could be significantly reduced in a world with 3 billion fewer people.
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Solar Orb Light $39.95 at
Hammacher.com
Summertime barbecues are approaching fast, some cool backyard lighting that also shows your support for solar power might be something to consider. This 10″solar orbs make awesome landing strip lights for any extraterrestrials planning to drop by for veggie burgers.
These waterproof lights can be placed in a garden pond giving a meditative effect from the reflections and colors that slowly turn blue, pink, red and green. Other possibilities include placing them in trees or structures. It also comes with a stake if you want them stationary in the ground. The built in solar panel recharges the internal battery during the day and a photo-sensor automatically knows when night comes and will turn on provide about 8 hours of light.
