Archive for May, 2007

Green Homebuilding

Published
by
JB
on May 16, 2007
in housing
. 0 Comments
OK, OK, last post of the day. This is a record for me - 3 in one day! There's a new series on PBS starting next month on green homebuilding. It's called "Building Green" and follows host Kevin Contreras as he builds his green dream home. Check out the details here and get your TiVo ready.

Disturbing…

Published
by
JB
on May 16, 2007
in misc
. 1 Comment
Meant to post this a couple of weeks ago... courtesy of The Guardian. Colored Water

Top 10 U.S. Cities Ranked by Use of Renewable Energy

Published
by
JB
on May 16, 2007
in action, carbon and energy
. 0 Comments
I came across this Top 10 list the other day and thought it was interesting. Top 10 chart You'll note that there are 6 cities in California in the Top 10, likely due to the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) which requires a 20% renewable energy total for the state's utilties by 2010 and a 33% total by 2020. Here's a map of each state's RPS goals. Map It's encouraging to states committing to these goals. I have a question though:  What's going on with the other half of the country - shouldn't ALL states be held accountable to these goals?

Green housing

Published
by
JB
on May 15, 2007
in carbon, energy and housing
. 2 Comments
Hello dear readers! Long time, no post...  Paul has been doing quite a bit of business traveling and I have been crazy busy with work.  Gotta pay the bills, you know.  Anywhoo... I have a confession.  I love housing.  Not as in, "ooh, I love my house!"  But more as in, I am fascinated by residential housing; nothing pleases me more than visiting an open house and seeing what types of materials are used in a house.  One of my dreams is to build my own house from ground up (unlikely in the Bay Area unless I somehow strike it rich at an internet startup) using only green materials.  So imagine my delight when I learned of this site, Green Homes for Sale.  What qualifies as a green home, you ask?  According to their site...:
  • Made with generally non-toxic building material
  • Energy efficient (energy efficient appliances and windows, HVAC and ventilation systems)
  • Solar homes
  • Recycled content materials
  • Resource efficient materials
  • Materials from renewable resources
  • Use of locally manufactured building materials
Check out their site - their inventory isn't that large but hopefully as more people start to become more conscientious about using green materials in their homes, this won't be a problem.

Bicycle, bicycle, I want to ride my bicycle…

Published
by
Paul
on May 6, 2007
in action, carbon and transportation
. 1 Comment
The New York Times has an article today about people who are using electric bikes to ride to work. I have thought about riding my bike to work, but I've never considered using an electric one, since for me, half the benefit of doing it would be the health benefits. Also, because my commute is short, and mostly flat. But for those of you with longer commutes, maybe an electric bike might help. They start at around $1000, and according to the article, "they can generally cover 20 to 50 miles on a battery charge, well within the distance of many daily commutes. At the end of a ride, the battery can usually be taken out of its compartment and plugged into a wall with a special cord. After a few hours of charging, it is ready for use again." What do you all think? Would having electric assistance make it more likely for you to bike to work?