Blue is the new Green?

Interesting NYTimes article on ways to conserve water

http://arieff.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/blue-is-the-new-green/

The energy cost of play

The NRDC (US Natural Resources Defense Council) has just released a new issue paper on the amount of energy used if you leave your game console on all the time. We've known for a while that zombie devices can drink your energy even when they're off, but if you leave something on it can cost you even more $. It looks like the Wii is the best (not surprising, since it's less powerful).




http://www.nrdc.org/energy/consoles/contents.asp

Tesco Carbon Footprint Program

Tesco, a British grocery chain, is putting carbon footprint labels on some of its products. This will allow customers to make informed decisions about how products affect the environment.


Tesco Carbon FootPrint

as reported by ABC News

The labeling is based on the Carbon Trust's Carbon reduction label using the draft standard PAS 2050. There has been some argument from the Organic community that the label does not properly reflect the advantage of organic produce because it does not include soil carbon.

Cost to Drive

Cost to Drive http://www.costtodrive.com/

A driving cost calculator which uses google maps to get a distance, Opis to get the cheapest gas prices on the route, and fueleconomy.gov to find out out your car's gas mileage. It looked to me like it underestimated gas prices (and ignored wear and tear), but it would be a useful system as compared to other methods of transit.

Gas Prices: http://www.opisnet.com/
Fuel Economy http://www.fueleconomy.gov/

Ecorio

http://www.ecorio.org/index.htm

Ecorio is an application for Android phones that tracks your travel (car and bus) and calculates your carbon footprint. It also proactively suggests carpools, based on a related carpool site.

Trees reduce childhood obesity?

A study at the University of Washington showed that for kids in urban environments, higher greenness was significantly associated with lower body mass index changes in those children. Previous studies of adults have shown that neighbourhood walkability was a factor, but that was not found for the children in this study.

MicroEnergy Credits

http://microenergycredits.com/

Many households in poverty burn carbon emitting fuels such as dung or wood, which have been linked to infant mortality. In the more affluent world, people have the inclination to offset some of their fuel burning by buying carbon credits. This site hopes to assist in green energy use in 3rd world countries (such as distributing solar home systems) by using carbon credits.

Drain Water Heat Recovery

How much of your heat is going down the drain? Aside from heating your house, one of the major energy draws is heating water. However, a lot of that heat dissipates down the drain.

RenweABILITY is a company that seeks to bring commercial energy reclamation to the home environment. Estimated savings 25-40%

Amazon Packaging Change

New Amazon Frustration-Free packaging takes the pain out of opening those gifts. There's no need for all the display and loss prevention plastic. Amazon has realized that they don't have a large problem with shoplifting.
New Packaging!

International Energy Agency

The International Energy Agency has detailed energy statistics on member countries.

For example, Canada produces 31773 thousand tonnes of oil equivalent (ktoe) in coal, and the US 564204 ktoe in coal.

Intel Open House

http://www.xconomy.com/seattle/2008/10/02/personal-robots-home-sensing-private-networks-and-more-from-intel-research-seattles-open-house/

Intel Research has a yearly open house where they describe their research projects. The RFID on everyday projects for home monitoring for elder care is mentioned.

LED light bulb

http://www.gadgetvenue.com/led-light-bulb-network-the-new-wi-fi-10075126"