Daily Archives: December 20, 2008

Image from ditzy girl

2009 may be the year when geothermal energy finally comes into its own in developing countries in Asia and Africa. After meeting with some initial success in Kenya, where, over the past 3 years, sites have been drilled to identify local hotspots, the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), along with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), will fund a new entity—the African Rift Geothermal Development Facility (ARGeo)—to tap into the Rift Valley’s vast, unexplored geothermal potential, <a href=”http://www.scidev.net/en/news/east-african-g

Photo courtesy of Monocle

Seems green’s a tough sell on the newsstands these days—maybe it’s the general decline of print advertising, the massive economic downturn, or an over saturation of eco-friendliness in the media. Whatever it is, “green” issues have been left on the shelves at an increasingly high rates, according to Media Week. Discover Magazine’s green issue this year sold around 20,000 less copies than its average—93,000 compared to its us

The Dragon Millipede is one of the recently discovered specimens found in the area of the Mekong River in Southeast Asia. This area had been kept under wraps with political turmoil for many decades. It was not until the 90’s when scientists were welcomed into these relatively uncharted territories for research.

So far researchers have been adding more new specimens to the list at the incredible rate of 2 per week since beginning this project in 1997. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has reported

You don’t have to live in Taos, NM to listen to KTAO (aka K-TAOS) , the largest solar powered radio station in the USA. You can stream it online, guilt-free from anywhere in the world, because K-TAOS magically turns sunbeams into audio streams.

How? Read further

Image courtesy of Ruined Age

Okay, so calling anything a “Togetherizer” might be a tad on the grandiose side. It sounds like some flashing light-laden device just waiting to malfunction in a bad 1950s black and white sci-fi movie. But if the Climate Group’s initiative Together needs to drum up some PR, then by all means, “izer” away. Its efforts have after all spared the air an impressive 1.37 million tons of carbon dioxide and other harmful greenhouse gases, according t

GM’s After-Volt, “OW” Prototype, Flint MI R&D Center. Image credit:Tuning Fever, Flintstones Car

Gasoline consumption associated with moving the extra weight carried by US citizen drivers and passengers was estimated with a fairly sophisticated-looking math model, making comparison to population characteristics of the 1960’s.

In 2006, Jacobson and McLay found cars and light trucks consumed up to 938 million additional gallons of fuel each year as a result of average weight gain that had occurred since the 1960s. In

Photo courtesy of Pearl Ave Library

For the first time ever, glass art, technology, and solar power have been combined into one unified, pioneering work—it’s called “Solar Illumination I: The Evolution of Language” and it’s a vibrant, electric, head-turning piece. And what does it all do? It powers a single LED lamp inside the adjacent San Jose Library. Okay, so that part’s not quite as grand as the rest of the spectacle. But it’s still a really cool concept nonetheless. And it really is the first such public art piece to incorporate solar technology into glass ar

Clean Slate, Image credit:Ritual & Repetition, M. Sherwin.

Around here at the Sierra Club, we are very excited for Obama’s Inauguration. We know he has great plans for our country’s economic and energy futures and we’re ready to help him repower, refuel and rebuild America.

During these troubled economic times, we have identified four key actions the President-elect can make on day one of his administration– independently of Congress– that will enable America to start 2009 with a ‘clean slate’ of energy policies

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Photo courtesy of Wheels 4 Life

Here’s a fantastic charity idea: give folks in developing nations who are in dire need of transportation access to just about the greenest way to get around there is. We’re talking bicycles, of course.

Wheels 4 Life works to find people in poor countries who have the greatest need for transit, like students, teachers, and health care workers, and provides them with quality, durable bikes to make getting around easier—and sometimes simply possible in the first pl

Image source: Metaefficient

While virtually sitting by the fire, and sipping hot, organic apple cider, our very own Meaghan O’Neill chatted with Sean Daily, of Green Living Ideas, about going green this holiday season and what tops her green wish list this year. The two talked about the history and growth of Treehugger.com, the influence of An Inconvenient Truth and how to <a href=”http://w