Naturemill Automatic Composter Plus Edition $299 from naturemill.com also has a Pro Edition for $399

Food waste makes up some 12 percentage of waste in our landfills, According to the US EPA, food waste is the #1 least recycled material.

Modern landfills are sealed to prevent toxins from getting into the water supply and don’t allow for oxygen to penetrate the many layers which means food waste won’t biodegrade properly. However the food waste in landfills do break down to produce methane, Methane is estimated to have more than 20-times the climate change effect of carbon dioxide. This methane can eventually be released into the atmosphere to form yet another means of speeding up global warming. An article on MSNBC says “landfills are the largest source of methane emissions in the U.S.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25215428/

Garbage disposals aren’t a green solution as untreated food scraps often could end up in various waterways. This causes nutrient build ups and ruins aquatic ecosystems.

So the best solution for food waste is to compost. There are many ways to go about it, Check out our previous Great Green Gadgets article here on kitchen composting.
The Naturemill Automatic Composter is one of better indoor composters that can start to change our dismal statistics with food waste in the landfill.

The Naturemill’s Automatic Composter is a simple, odor-free, indoor automatic composter, all you have to do is toss in your waste, and then sit back at let it do its thing. About two weeks later you will start to get a limitless supply of organic compost. An upper section turns, heats, and aerates. Compost is then transferred to the lower chamber where you remove the compost so it can continuously work to make your compost. More than seventy percent of the initial waste disappears into thin air — literally — as compost cultures convert it into water vapor. What’s left is a very concentrated compost fertilizer.

They designed it to be odor, bug and hassle free. You can use it for almost all vegetables, coffee grounds, paper, dairy, and meat waste - I am not sure if coconuts compost readily but pretty much anything else should work. It only uses 10 watts of power - about 50 cents a month for the average family.

Even you you don’t have much of a garden or yard there are lots of ways you can make use of this rich source of nutrients for plants, from becoming an urban guerrilla gardener or just giving it to your friends, family and neighbors.

I don’t get carbon offsetting. It’s like pouring oil down the sewer grate after an oil-change and then donating 20 bucks to Greenpeace so you don’t feel guilty about your toxic oil heading for the harbor. I don’t see how that’s much different than the idea of paying someone to plant a treefarm so you won’t feel bad about that cross-country airline ticket.

My suspicious nature wonders about how verifiable some of these carbon credit outfits are. Like the plant-a-tree-today.org or Dell Computer’s plant a tree for me campaign. I worry it’s a half-measure at best, giving people an excuse to postpone the difficult politics needed for significant changes to halt global warming. It will do more to create a lucrative market of pollution trading then it will to help us change from a fossil fuel based economy to renewable sustainable one. It also helps to paint a happy face on the corporations that are often some of the biggest polluters.

That said, planting a tree can still be a good thing. Trees can help remove significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere. But a healthy forest with a thriving total ecosystem is better for people and other living things not just a monoculture of thousands of perfect rows of pine trees in a sterile tree farm. I’m sure many of the carbon trading organizations earnestly attempt to solve our global warming problems but, for me, I would rather directly give money to people fighting for healthy forests. Or even get a shovel and go out in my backyard plant my own tree. If you feel particually daring there is a group of guerrilla gardeners who plant who use direct planting to help make the world a better place. Guerrilla Gardeners is a group worth checking out.

As individuals there is only so much we can do. Planting a tree won’t absolve you of your need to get involved in the bigger political arena or better find earth friendly solutions in your life but it’s nice to do something constructive however small. If you don’t have the space or the green thumb to plant your own then consider donating to Save America’s Forests nationwide campaign to end clearcutting and protect and restore our nation’s wild and natural forests. They also work to help protect the rain-forest in Ecuador. Of course there are other groups doing similar work and equally deserving of your attention.

Just saw this wonderful animation created by Molly Schwartz in a VideoNation/Hidden Driver production where she artfully displays the green advantages of eating locally.

seen on GroovyGreen
and eatlocalchallenge.com

Also check out our previous post on eating locally here.

Venture Vehicles has in development what appears to be a fantastically green and cool new mode of transport. You can now pre-register for the VentureOne’s e50 and Q100 hybrids or the Venture EV (all electric)
The hybrids have a 300+ mile range and can get up to 100 miles per gallon with a top speed of over 100mph. It is a 3 wheeled vehicle that is fully enclosed with state of the art steel safety features and includes airbags and side impact beams, making it much safer than a motorcycle.

This mini-cooper sized vehicle seats two with sleek wrap around windows. The videos on their flytheroad.com website make this trike looks a blast to drive, the front “cab” driving area is able to lean up to 45 degrees on turns while leaving the engine area horizontal. The videos on the VentureOne website shows this very well.

The planned price tag of $23,000 for the EV model and 18K for the hybrid might be a bit steep for such a small “car” but your savings on gas and the good karma you’ll have by not adding to greenhouse gas pollution makes it a serious temptation. They plan to release this in late 2008.

Where are the Green Early Warning Systems?

I was a kid in the 50’s when air raid drills and “duck and cover” were the norm. There was something about air raid sirens that continues to invade my nightmares. This isn’t just a test of the early warning system, we need ear piercing air raid sirens to blast suburbia awake over the coming global warming disasters.

Victor Mobilae

There are a few artists and designers who put out their global warming early warning devices, like this one by Designer Rene van Corven from the Netherlands. Called the “Victor Mobilae” which is a mobile garden that moves 65 inches north each day, apparently representing the speed to which global warming might cause vegetation to adapt northwards as the climate shifts. No doubt this art piece is well intentioned but it seems a bit benign, almost celebrating the happy gardens the frozen north will soon be blessed with. Those chilly Eskimos will be soon able to add some peas and carrots with their walrus blubber.
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BigBelly Solar Trash Compactor from seahorsepower.com

Readers who regularly follow my posts here at Great Green Gadgets might wonder what’s up with no posts in the past several days. The reason is that my wife and I have been moving from our place in Boston to San Diego (where we will get to in a few weeks, right now we are starting a very slow journey across the country) Now that all the packing is done and the movers have taken away all our stuff we can turn our attention back to Great Green Gadgets.

Speaking of Boston - we lived in Jamaica Plain where a great green inventor,James Poss, also lives. He invented the BigBelly made by Seahorse Power Company which is a solar powered trash compactor bin that is becoming more popular in urban areas. Here is a good article from our Boston Globe on the BigBelly. and another more recent article from the BBC.

The BigBelly is becoming a welcome visitor to busy urban settings, popular beaches, and other areas that generate large volumes of trash from pedestrians that necessitate the garbage cans be emptied frequently so it doesn’t wind up looking like this picture.

The solar powered trash compactor might be emptied only once or twice a day, not the 15 or more visits by greenhouse gas emitting sanitation trucks seen in some downtown trash cans. Some as in this Treehugger post might object to the fact that all this trash is just being put in the landfill but realistically, that trash would have never made been recycled anyway in our current level of mass eco-consciousness. Perhaps someone could find a means to separate and then recycle the components of BigBelly’s compacted trash to make it even more eco-friendly. As a person commented on the Treehugger post, Perhaps a way could be found to convert the compacted garbage into fuel pellets for plasma arc gasification systems.

While its great to reduce trash and greenhouse gases with the BigBelly, bigger solutions to our cities’ trash woes will be needed, like ways to reduce the paper and plastic trash from convenience stores and fast-food restaurants as well as figuring out a way to educate and encourage people to take great pride and responsibility for our communities.

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.

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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