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GM Volt Versus Toyota Prius: Which Design Type Will Be More Effective At Reducing Stack & Tailpipe Emissions, And Energy Consumption?

Posted Sat, 02/28/2009 - 19:05 by muenda

220 Volt Heavy Duty Receptacle. Image credit:Angiogram

This is one of those comparison posts that that could draw many angry comments: like Could Hype Sell An Inferior Hybrid? - Ford Fusion versus Toyota Camry did. Please carefully read the caveats.

Quote Of The Day: “put down those handguns and pick up those caulking guns.”

Posted Sat, 02/28/2009 - 12:17 by muenda

Van Jones, the founding president of Green For All. Image credit:Theo Rigby for The New York Times

That's what Van Jones, Oakland CA-based author and quotable-guy, had to say at a Friday event MC'd by Vice President Joseph R.

EPA Holds The Key To Clean Cars

Posted Fri, 02/27/2009 - 15:27 by muenda

Hold up your car key, photo montage. Image credit:Sierra Club Flickr upload site.

I'm a 40-something who doesn't own a car.

Hidden Reservoir: Why Water Efficiency Is The Best Solution For The Southeast

Posted Wed, 10/22/2008 - 21:28 by muenda

Imagine, if you will, that a brand new source of water is suddenly discovered in the Southeast. A big aquifer, perhaps, or a giant lake.

Falling Gas Prices: Don't Get Too Comfortable

Posted Wed, 10/22/2008 - 17:13 by muenda

I was riding my bike to the store last weekend when I saw a long line of cars waiting to fill up at the corner gas station. 87 Octane was going for $2.89, and it looked liked no one wanted to risk missing out on this “bargain” before prices shot back up. Though the reality is, gas prices will likely remain below $3.00 for just a little longer.

The fact is, a weakening economy has created fertile ground for falling gas prices.

Wood Heat Rises Again

Posted Wed, 10/22/2008 - 14:24 by muenda

TreeHugger Laumer preparing for winter

It is interesting how even though the price of natural gas is about half of what it was six months ago, my gas company doesn't seem to have noticed yet. Perhaps it is better to rely on one's own resources, as TreeHugger John does with his four tons of firewood.

Searching For A (Bipartisan) Solution

Posted Tue, 10/21/2008 - 12:22 by muenda

At Business Roundtable, our member CEOs are deeply concerned about the effects of high energy prices on our competiveness in the international economy and the home economies of the millions of individuals that drive U.S. prosperity. In fact, energy costs were recently ranked among the top cost pressures facing our members. We believe America’s citizens, communities and companies need – and deserve – an energy policy that is bipartisan, immediate and long-term in order to enhance our energy security and ensure economic prosperity.

Why Do Speedometers Go To 160MPH?

Posted Mon, 10/20/2008 - 13:59 by muenda

A great way to get all the testosterone soaked hard core engineers who hate whining environmentalists wound up is to say something nice about Jimmy Carter, but here is another eminently sensible thing he did: He capped the maximum speed on speedometers in cars at 85 MPH.

Tom Vanderbilt thinks it affects the way we drive. "even knowing that these numbers bear little relationship to reality, we’re affected by the visual display.

Financial And Environmental De-Regulation: Two Crashes In The Making

Posted Sun, 10/19/2008 - 17:16 by muenda

This post points out the parallel risk of under-regulating the financial industry and undercutting established environment protections. You may not like it; but the analogy is apt. Both strategies have us headed over a cliff.

Twenty-plus years of aggressively deregulating the financial industry and the culture of consumerism, together, have led the world into an economic crisis that harms innocents and guilty alike.

Minnesota Piloting "Productive Conservation on Working Lands" Program: Making BioFuels Compatible With Wildlilfe Conservation

Posted Sat, 10/18/2008 - 21:27 by muenda

Wise people in the US State of Minnesota are working on an program for rural landowners and/or farmers who would like a way to maintain bio-diversity without fully "idling" present, or prospective, cropland. It's called the Productive Conservation on Working Lands or "PCWL" program.

Greenpeace says "Break The Oil Addiction"

Posted Sat, 10/18/2008 - 20:12 by muenda

Let's face it, our country is addicted to oil. Even George W. Bush, a former oil peddler, has admitted this addiction. And like any sickness, our addiction to oil has serious consequences: higher temperatures, melting glaciers, more violent storms and $4 a gallon gasoline to name just a few.
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Clorox Green Works Reaches 40 Million Dollar Market Share In First Year

Posted Fri, 10/17/2008 - 17:36 by muenda

Although, sadly, kitchens everywhere rapidly become gross (as pictured), products for cleaning are rapidly greening. Case in point: the Clorox Green Works line has had remarkable sales growth, since introduced in early 2008. Forty million dollars worth of sales is an amazing market gain in such a short time: especially for a company with a brand name built on the root word "chlorine," a term that has long represented chemical anathema to a faction of traditional environmentalists. What a parable of brand power.