Category Archives: Awareness and Hype
Whether you like it or not, now on saving the environment is going to be a serious affair. California is taking the lead in the US by being the first to regulate highly potent greenhouse gases which are mainly used in manufacturing chips used in computers, mobile phones and other electronic items. What it says is that in semiconductor operations the stuff used, which emit a lot of poisonous gases, is to be brought under control by 2020 under the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. 28 companies dealing with semiconductor operations will have to meet the emissions standards by 2012 of which 12 have already bucked up a bit.
Continue reading 
Back in December, we reported about NASA’s venture, the Orbital Carbon Observatory (OCO), to keep a tab on the CO2 levels. Here is a small update on that topic. Keeping up with America’s green space mission, Japanese space agency JAXA will also launch satellite into orbit to measure Earth’s carbon dioxide and methane levels. Dubbed Ibuki, it will circle our planet every 100 minutes, collecting data from 56,000 points around the world at 667km above the surface. Gizmodo also reports that, akin to OCO, it will use a spectrometer to detect carbon dioxide and methane levels through the sun. Such a system can detect changes down to one part per million. The Ibuki also uses a detector which reads clouds and aerosols for radiation levels. As these two satellites shoot in space to investigate about the CO2 levels produced, they will also help to understand the effect of natural CO2 producers like forest fires and rain forests on our blue globe.
[Gizmodo]
Continue reading
While the rest of the globe is gearing up with zest to combat the rising gasoline prices along with the carbon footprints that such fossil fuels leave behind, some people in the Middle East are feeling the heat of the green wave. The one person who is not pleased with the growth of renewable fuels is Saudi Arabia Oil Minister Ali Naimi. He is more concerned about the money raked in by the oil business than the welfare of our planet and its residents. At the Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) annual conference in Houston, this anti-green minister dared to show his displeasure by quoting, “We must be mindful that efforts to rapidly promote alternatives could have a ‘chilling effect’ on investment in the oil sector.” He added on by saying that, “A nightmare scenario would be created if alternative energy supplies fail to meet overly optimistic expectations, while traditional energy suppliers scale back investment.” Since green leaders like Obama have committed to renewable energy projects, it is time for the oil-rich countries to show signs of distress.
[Greenprophet]
Continue reading
Why does anyone need to strip to show their love for our planet? Well many folks like me may think so as it wouldn’t help to prove a point even if I dare to think of such an act. But things are different when a British glamour model, Lucy Pinder, strips to raise awareness about the need to save energy. Posing for an energy saving pin-up during the Energy Saving Week, this ex-Big brother contestant bares out the message in a revealing green lingerie. To add on to this teasing poster is a naughty green message that reads “’Turn me on, turn it off”. Since many folks turn a blind eye to the boring Save-Earth drives and posters, such a move is bound to garner many people’s attention….to Pinder and of course to the green message about saving energy. Posing for several revealing photos the drive also ask Valentine celebrating couples to turn the heat up around the house (with candles) without using additional power.
Source
Continue reading
With the good comes the bad. In Japan, an alternative source of energy is under serious discussions to be shut owing to several public health complaints. People living near wind turbines in parts of Japan have started complaining that it is causing various ‘diseases’ forcing them to believe that wind turbines is bad news. Apparently one couple, who had to face the rut of it, requested experts to come test their house and find the culprit – vibrations invisible to human eyes that constantly prevail in households near these turbines.
Continue reading
What a green relief, I can now rummage around the internet without a gram of guilt! At the start of this week we reported about the Google Search’s Carbon Footprint. But before the week ended, it is reported that claimer in question, the Harvard University physicist, has denied any such claims. His words have been twisted as he asserts that he has never mentioned Google in the study. Secondly he would never refer to any sort of measurement having to do with tea. His focus was exclusively on the Web overall, and he found that it takes on average about 20 milligrams of CO2 per second to visit a Web site. However the scientist did mention that a Google search has a definite environmental impact and Google operates huge data centers around the world that consume a great deal of power. But that need not stop us eco-bloggers from going about our job to spread the awareness of a clean green earth!
[Techcrunch] Via [Greenercomputing]
Continue reading
Ouch! Didn’t realize that every time I resorted to Google search, I was harming my environment simultaneously. As a blogger I resort to search engines to dig out more information and I swear by Google Search as it is the quickest and trusted source. But recently Harvard University physicist Alex Wissner-Gross has bought Google under a not-so-green limelight. According to his study, conducting two Google searches can have as much of an impact on the environment as boiling a kettle for a cup of tea. He has sufficient statistics to prove this statement. To be precise, a typical search query generates about 7g of CO2 while boiling a kettle generates about 15g. And if you multiply this with the estimated 200 million daily internet searches all over the globe, the final figures haunt our existence on this green-blue planet.
Continue reading
In an attempt to keep up with the green trend of recycling cell phones, Nokia India gears up to enlighten 87% of ignorant Indians about the importance of recycling e-waste. A survey by Nokia bought this fact to light that the awareness quotient was the lowest in India. As a part of this project, the company will set up recycling bins set up across Nokia Priority Dealers and Nokia Care Centers where mobile phone users can dispose their used handsets and accessories such as charges and handsets, regardless of the brand. What’s alarming is the fact that in India, on an average a person owns about five phones but only 3 per cent of the users recycled their old phones. However with such take-back campaigns, the company aims to educate Indian consumers that 100 percent of the materials in the phones can be recovered and used to make new products or generate energy. Commencing from January 1st 2009, many of the Indians who intend to do their bit for the earth, including myself, can make the best of such a green campaign.
Source
Continue reading
Japan is gearing up for a green exhibition, the tenth Eco-Products 2008 scheduled from 11th-13th December. Touted to be one of the largest green events in Japan, this green fair will house all kind of eco products as well as services at the Tokyo International Exhibition Center. It is an ideal platform to showcase the green business ideas and lifestyles concepts. This year’s exhibition is based on the theme of “We Can Do it! Eco-Lifestyle with a 50% CO2 Reduction.” Now that sounds very motivating…..if only all of us can actually modify our habits and lifestyle to bring about this green change. This eco-exhibition aims to accelerate the expansion of green markets by exhibiting environmentally friendly products and services.
Continue reading
Yesterday we reported about the NASA’s move to keep a tab on the CO2 levels and today its time to cover the European Space Agency, a.k.a., ESA’s strategy to do the same. The Europeans are working on laser based technology to measure accurate atmospheric CO2 levels. Here the A-SCOPE (Advanced Space Carbon and Climate Observation of Planet Earth) space mission is the well-matched answer for the NASA’s Orbital Carbon Observatory (OCO). The scientists at ESA maintain that atmospheric column CO2 can be measured from space using two short laser pulses emitted at adjacent wavelengths. As a result of the pulses, CO2 is absorbed by one of the wavelengths. The other wavelength is used as a reference point, and the comparison between the two shows the total column concentration of CO2.
Continue reading
