Category Archives: Awareness and Hype
Traveling 11 days in a wheelchair does seem to be a remarkable task, and that’s exactly what this Emirati will accomplish to help spread a bit of green awareness. 47-year-old Haidar Taleb is all for renewable energy and innovation and plans to help spread the word around by traveling around the UAE with a solar powered wheelchair. To travel across seven emirates in his chair, Taleb is known for setting a Guinness World Record for the longest distance traveled in a motorized solar-powered wheelchair, all the way from Masdar City to Sharjah. The journey to kick off at Fujairah will have Taleb travel to schools, universities, police stations, social centers and help raise awareness of disability and sustainability, at the same time.
Continue reading 
LA County is sick of all that plastic chocking the environment and has set up a ban on plastic bags, the biggest in the United States. The LA County passed a ban wherein disposable, single-use plastic bags will be pulled out of the lives of roughly around 1.1 million people. These bags when thrown away show in landfills in tons and remain there, being un-degradable, for long periods of time causing substantial harm to the environment. Paper bags are a much safer option being recyclable and bio-degradable. So, for 10 cents a pop, shoppers can now buy paper bags instead. For now, the ban has been imposed only on some places in the LA County.
Continue reading
Now being the “Biggest Loser” has never been all that great before. We’d probably hide our faces in shame for that. It does depend on what you’ve lost though. For about 40 colleges across the United States and Canada, the “Biggest Loser” title is something impressive. What they’re losing out on here is water and energy use. The colleges are busy trying to cut down on all the energy and water they’ve been using, as part of the Campus Conservation Nationals. The results of their efforts are being flaunted using an online app called Building Dashboard. This helps the colleges compare their results with others around.
Continue reading
Some people go that extra mile to drive their point home. While going green is not an idea that suites everybody’s taste and a greener planet might not make it high on their list of priorities, there are people trying to make shift easy for such souls. What else could possibly explain getting an out a bikini model calendar with solar panels? Tagged as the “Renewable Girls”, the calendar features skimply clad women posing with a solar panel in some weird poses.
Continue reading
Finally a research had opened the eyes of the average American to his obese truth. Dr. David R. Bassett from the University of Tennessee headed a study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise has revealed that Australians walk an average of 9,695 steps a day; the Swiss walk 9,650 steps while tiny-tot nation Japan walks as much as 7,168 steps in a day. And Americans? A measly 5,117 steps. Not only are they unhealthy, but the reason behind this is extremely eco-hazardous as well. 34 percent of American obesity is blamed on the huge amount of cars that grace the country’s roads. Besides this, most American commuters do not prefer taking mass transit options like buses, trains or subways, adding to the pollution levels too. I guess a bit of walking will go a long way not just for a healthy lifestyle but a healthier planet. Time to get walking guys!
[Autoblog]
Continue reading
Marriott International has been keeping pace with the green revolution and is working effectively to lead it. The company has officially listed that they have reduced their energy consumption by 11% and greenhouse gas emissions by 10.7% since 2007. This progress only strengthens ambition to achieve their goal of reducing 25% energy and water consumption per available room by 2017. This is stated in a global report and Marriott has qualified as the first major U.S.-based hospitality management company in it.
[Hotelsmag]
Continue reading
Ancient Italy isn’t all about olive trees and merry-making. It isn’t all about architecture and spaghetti either. Ancient Italy has a touch of green; well at least some towns do, like the town of Tocco. This ancient Italian town is powered by four wind turbines that generate enough energy to power up 30% of the town’s needs. With a population of 2,700 people, the town of Tocco also generated a sweet $200,000 from these wind turbines just last year, saving on local taxes. The cemetery office isn’t as dingy and frightening as we though it to be, instead installed with some high-tech solar panels that save up as much as $2000 annually.
Continue reading
In the future, the way the world generates energy, stores and uses it will be a lot different from the way it does today. Smart-grids in the future will help, as it is slowly being developed with more and more technologies being put to use today. To show their support for the smart-grid concept, seven countries with the environment on their minds and a whole lot of eco-consciousness have joined hands to form the Global Smart Grid Foundation. The GridWise Alliance in the United States, India Smart Grid Forum, Japan Smart Community Alliance, Korean Smart Grid Association, Smart Grid Australia, SmartGridIreland, and SmartGrid Canada will together work towards implementing the smart-grid globally.
Continue reading
Out there in the Pacific Ocean, a great patch of disgusting garbage has been bobbing its head up and down the waves all this while. Lovingly termed as the Pacific Trash Vortex, plastic debris taking up as much mass as a whole country resides in the North Pacific Gyre! Just a while ago, we came across an initiative by Electrolux, Vac from the Sea, put into place in order to help clear out all this plastic, using it instead to make vacuum cleaners. Now, an ocean clean-up company Kaisei has joined hands with Covanta to set up an initiative that could help recycle all the plastic waste into diesel fuel! Currently, Covanta is busy sketching out plans for a system that can convert the solid waste into a diesel substitute.
Continue reading
While the world’s moving forward, turning to greener and cleaner forms of energy, India is still sticking on to its bad old habits of powering up by coal. The Indian Government, completely ignoring the need for cleaner sources of energy, is now drawing up plans to chop down forests and make way for mining land. And it seems like they really mean it! No April Fools prank here! The Indian Government currently is making a serious “effort” to meet power needs and has planned the construction of several Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPP). These will be among the largest power generation units in the country and will operate at efficiencies significantly higher than the conventional thermal power plants. That sure seems great, though the price at which the environment will suffer makes us cringe! Coal fires up around 50% of the 160 GW of installed power capacity and stamps a significantly dark carbon footprint too!
Continue reading
