Study says algae biofuel has dirty life dycle

Algae has seemed like a great biofuel candidate because it's extremely efficent at creating energy from sunlight and it could potentially form closed loops for power plants - absorbing exhaust while creating new fuel -- but a recent study has knocked algae off its pedestal.

University of Virginia researchers have found that the life cycle of algal biofuel produces high levels of greenhouse gas emissions -- much more than it sequesters.

The culprit is the large amount of fertilizer used to produce the algae.  The fertilizers come from petroleum-bases sources and emit nitrous oxide.  The researchers propose using fertilizer from sewage plants as a way around the problem.

It looks like we're still far away from an ideal biofuel, if there is one.

via Yale e360

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Energy-efficient homes: Cheaper to own, more expenive to buy. Why?

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Krista and Micah Fuerst were looking near here to buy their first place together, and had narrowed it down to two houses: One built 25 years ago, the other brand new and built to strict energy efficiency standards. The couple's choice was easy: They picked the Energy Star home, which the U.S. had certified because it will use about one-fifth to one-third less energy than a comparable home. But they're in the minority. Most homebuyers don't think about the ongoing costs of home ownership beyond the mortgage and taxes; using energy costs, too. And fewer still think about the pollution that energy use creates, but home energy use accounts for 16 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The proportion of newly built Energy Star homes is growing, but still only represents 20 percent of new homes built in 2009, according to Sam Rashkin, national director of the Home Energy Star program. Despite the slow increase in newly built efficient homes, some 99 percent of existing houses are "sick" -- damp, drafty, dusty, noisy and expensive to heat and cool. They "could be made at least 30 percent more energy-efficient with highly cost-effective, tried-and-true energy-efficiency improvements," according to Rashkin. A 30% reduction in energy use is a 30% reduction in home energy costs; newly built Energy Star homes have, since 1995, saved homeowners an estimated $1.2 billion. The Energy Star program won't fix those old houses. Energy Star designations go to the cream of the housing stock; if just one in five new homes meets these standards, far fewer renovations do. So if energy efficient homes cost homeowners less and pollute less, why aren't they more commonplace? Experts say economics and regulations are the root of the problem: Mortgages are structured in ways that fail to recognize the benefits of energy efficiency, while a patchwork of inconsistent and ill-enforced energy codes provides conflicting signals to industry. Meanwhile consumers remain largely unaware of efficiency's advantages, advocates say, thereby bypassing an easy target for considerable cuts in national carbon emissions -- and home energy bills. In this sense the Fuersts are typical of many homebuyers. Both in their late twenties, the Fuersts were aware of Energy Star-rated appliances, but didn't know the label also applied to homes, said Krista Fuerst, a childcare director. Their home, which wouldn't stand out in any new subdivision, and they mostly just wanted a place big enough to raise a family. They traded slightly longer commutes for smaller energy bills and freedom from costly renovations. "We're certainly conscious of the environment," she explained, "but we're not hyper-conscious. We're not extreme green." Of course, the ultra-efficient heating and cooling systems, high-performance windows and other features that make the homes exceptionally comfortable also make them a bit pricier. The added cost for a new Energy Star home may only be about the price of a night at the movies on each month's mortgage payment, but it's enough to scare off many potential buyers. "It's an incredibly smart choice," Rashkin said, since smaller utility bills more than offset the higher price. "But consumers are overwhelmed by first cost."

Energy-efficient mortgages

To get buyers over that hump, a handful of specialized mortgage options have for decades given buyers more cash Read more  Print This Post

Portland High-Rise To Get 250ft Vertical Garden

We’ve seen vertical gardens on the side of buildings before — but never one this, um, HUGE.

Architects and federal officials are planning a series of 250-foot-tall trellises designed to shade the west side of the remodeled Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building. The added greenery is just part of a $135 million project that will also feature elevators that generate electricity on the way down, solar arrays on the roof, smart lighting systems that adjust to the daylight available, among other advances. From the article,

Eggleston’s firm, SERA Architects, is working on some questions that weekend gardeners never have to figure out: what plants will grow readily at more than 200 feet in the air and how to water, fertilize, weed and prune at that height. The pruning might be done in much the same way windows are washed, he said, with workers hoisted and lowered on platforms. Rainwater collected on the roof, supplemented by city water, will be piped for irrigating the green wall, he said.

Construction is expected to take 30 to 40 months.

This will truly be a stunning addition to the Portland cityscape if constructed as planned — and we’re thrilled to see other buildings adopt vertical gardens, as well as sustainable features. Check out the full article for more!

Photo credit: Scott Baumberge

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If Darth Vader Built A Treehouse, It Would Looks Something Like This

A lot of people are comparing this beautiful treehouse in Portland, Oregon to a hobbit dwelling. Personally, add a little black paint and it looks like something Darth Vader would retreat to when things get a little to hectic on the Death Star. It also looks like it would double as a swanky TIE fighter. From the architect,

Located on a flag lot, a steep sloping grade provided the opportunity to bring the main level of the house into the tree canopy to evoke the feeling of being in a tree house. A lover of music, the client wanted a house that not only became part of the natural landscape but also addressed the flow of music. This house evades the mechanics of the camera; it is difficult to capture the way the interior space flows seamlessly through to the exterior. One must actually stroll through the house to grasp its complexities and its connection to the exterior. One example is a natural wood ceiling, floating on curved laminated wood beams, passing through a generous glass wall which wraps around the main living room.

Check out some more pics here.

Wilkinson House via Boing Boing

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Recycle your old phones and help Haiti quake victims

Like me, you've probably been watching the coverage of the earthquake in Haiti with a big knot in your stomach and maybe you've already donated $10 by texting HAITI to 90999, but if you want to do more (and help out the environment while you're at it), there's an easy way to do so.

ReCellular has launched a disaster relief program for the victims of the earthquake called "Phones for Haiti." All proceeds from donated phones will go straight to the American Red Cross for their work in the country.

If you're like most people you have an old cell phone lying around somewhere and this is a great way to donate to those in need and keep your electronic waste out of a landfill at the same time.  ReCellular refurbishes the donated phones and then sells them to people in developing countries.  Some phone models like Blackberries or iPhones could contribute up to $100 to the Red Cross.

ReCellular also accepts your old chargers, batteries and other accessories and the shipping is free.  Click here to get started.

via Inhabitat

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Up is down. Black is white. Night is day. GM’s Lutz advocates for increased gas tax.

From CNNMoney.com:

Lutz was asked if that means he would favor higher gasoline taxes, as in Europe where taxes drive fuel to more than $5 a gallon. He said he couldn’t speak for GM, but he said he saw a lot of value in a steady tax rise to much higher levels.

“You either continue with inexpensive motor fuels and have to find other ways to incent the customer to buy hybrids and electric vehicles, such as the government credits,” he said. “Or the other alternative is a gradual increase in the federal fuel tax of 25 cents a year, which in my estimation would have the benefit of giving automobile companies a planning base, and giving families that own vehicles a planning base.”

Lutz continued, noting that if families knew that the price of gasoline were going to steadily increase over the next few years, they would change their buying habits and lean towards more fuel efficient vehicles.

However shocking this admission may be to those that have followed “Maximum” Bob Lutz and his typically anti-global warming, pro-muscle car point of view (and magazine articles reporting that he regularly takes a helicopter to work).  He is realistic about the prospects of such a gas tax:

“Fuel taxation is the third rail of politics,” he said.

I was given the opportunity to speak with Bob Lutz after the reveal of the Chevy Volt.  He genuinely seemed to care as much about the Volt as he did any of the GM models that were produced that year – which is to say, a lot.  Whether the man believes in global warming (he doesn’t), or thinks that future vehicles will be run on alternative fuels (again no) – one can tell that the winds of change are blowing if I start agreeing with his sound bites.

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Biosphere 2, Meet the Second Law of Thermodynamics

My graduate school advisor, Charles Hall, is a very intelligent man, though he frequently defers to his doctoral advisor’s talent and knowledge.  Howard Odum explained the first and second laws of thermodynamics concisely and in a manner easy to understand:

The quantity of energy within a system is maintained (first law).  However, the quality of that energy degrades over time (second law).

Entropy is defined as

a function of thermodynamic variables, as temperature, pressure, or composition, that is a measure of the energy that is not available for work during a thermodynamic process. A closed system evolves toward a state of maximum entropy.

or, over time, a system evolves from a state of order (low entropy) towards disorder (high entropy).

Why the rudimentary physics review?  Well, I came across a series of photos of the Biosphere 2 project by Noah Sheldon (BLDGblog, via boing boing), which in my mind, embodies the concept of entropy.

Biosphere 2 was designed to test man’s ability to construct, maintain and live in a completely isolated biosphere to research and develop space colonization technology.  From b2science.org:

Two missions, between 1991 and 1994, sealed Biospherians inside the glass enclosure to measure survivability. Behind this highly public exercise was useful research that helped further ecological understanding.

A more detailed history of the site and its missions can be found here.

March 27, 1992—Six months into its two-year closure, the Biosphere 2 crew surpassed its first major milestone and set several world records—living inside closed ecological life support system longer than any predecessor…

April 24-27, 1992—Space Biospheres Ventures hosted the Third International Workshop on Closed Ecological Systems. Presentations and workshops were given by more than 30 different participants representing universities, research institutions, and government agencies from Russia, Europe, Japan and the United States. The symposium explored the dynamics and modeling of carbon dynamics in natural and engineered ecosystems underlining the potential importance of carbon research in Biosphere 2 in our understanding of issues involved in global warming.

I was a teenager in high school when Biosphere 2 was constructed and the experiments were carried out.  I remember hearing about it in science class and on the news.  At my age in the 1990s, the dream of colonizing the moon or Mars seemed entirely possible.  Unfortunately, the project suffered numerous setbacks, including declining oxygen levels, the “extinction” of many species – while others grew rampant, high nutrient levels in the water, and an unsafe build up dinitrogen oxide in the atmosphere.  Approximately 18 months into the experiment, oxygen had to be pumped into the closed system in order for the experimenters to remain for the full 2 year stay.  Politics and personal differences led to the project’s closure.

Today what remains is a picture of entropy (and a dose of humility).  From order to disorder.  A noble experiment to determine the limits of human sustainability, now a stark reminder of the human dependence on the other species on Earth, and the vast amount of energy required to maintain a “world” habitable for humans.

Image source: Univ. of Arizona

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How to get ready for Cash for Caulkers

Details for the U.S. government's Cash for Caulkers program aren't available yet, but it's not too early to start thinking about how to cash in on the proposed stimulus program. "Homeowners that educate themselves will be the first ones to take advantage of the program," says Lane Burt, at the Natural Resources Defense Council. He recommends that you get educated about your home now so you'll know what kinds of changes you'd like to make when the money becomes available. This is good point when you remember that Cash for Clunkers ran out of cash in the end. "Understand what you want to do so that you're not the one left in line when the program runs out of money," says Burt. While the details are still being hammered out, there are potentially two ways to have the government help with the costs of making your home more energy efficient:

1. One idea is that an accredited buildings professional would come in to conduct an energy audit to determine where energy efficiency improvements can be made, help you decide on a plan of action, and then execute that plan. The expectation is that homeowners could get back 50 percent of what they spend up to a maximum rebate of $12,000.
2. The other way to get government money is to buy an energy-efficient furnace, windows, or other component. There are federal rebates already available and several states also offer rebates for purchasing energy-efficient appliances and more.   

If you decide to make changes yourself and get a rebate on an individual purchase, then know that which order to make home improvements in is important. You'll want to seal leaks and tighten your building's shell so the air you pay to warm or cool doesn't leak out before you buy a new furnace, for example. While we're all waiting for the proposal to get passed, Burt suggests thinking what your home needs. Figure out where you are wasting energy. Take a look at your energy bill and compare it to others in the area. Start looking for leaks. Look at ducts and make sure they are all connected. Do the things that you can do yourself and that don't cost much money. Some suggestions:

• Install a programmable thermostat.
• Weatherstrip windows and doors.
• Caulk the obvious leaks.
• Insulate your water heater.
• Replace incandescent bulbs with CFLs or efficient halogens.

These are all baseline changes that should be made before you embark on more extensive changes so that you can maximize energy and money savings. Also, think about whether you want to hire a contractor and go for the whole-house approach or if you'd like to pick one project to focus on. Experts say that you'll most likely need to hire a professional contractor to get the most financial support from the government. If you hire a contractor, that person will tell you exactly where you can save money and in which order you should make changes so that you can maximize savings. Environmental journalist Lori Bongiorno shares green-living tips and product reviews with Yahoo! Green's users. Send Lori a question or suggestion for potential use in a future column. Her book, Green Greener Greenest: A Practical Guide to Making Eco-smart Choices a Part of Your Life is available on Yahoo! Shopping and Amazon.com. Check out Yahoo! Green on Twitter and Facebook.  Print This Post

Renewable Energy Company Creating The Biggest Green Party You’ve Ever Seen

We love raucous festivals like Burning Man and music jamborees like Bonaroo, but we’ve never heard of one that combines the spirit of these events with the mission to actually accomplish something. Like building a build a micro wind turbine farm.

Such is the idea behind “Villages in the Sky: DIY World Change” — a a family-friendly renewable energy and sustainability celebration located in the Ozarks and scheduled for June 2010. Unlike gatherings that strive to leave things the way they were before anyone arrived, Villages in the Sky is looking to take advantage of crowd sourcing to create a better place than existed before. Participants will help build a micro wind turbine farm and bio-mass systems as well as giant play structures (zip lines, tree houses, ropes courses, etc). The entire event is internally cash free event which promotes a volunteer ethic and strangers working cooperatively for a shared goal. In fact, the main goal is to leave behind the beginnings of a locally self sufficient eco-village. Perhaps even one inspired by the Ewoks. From the website,

“Villages in the Sky is about more than wind mills and climate change. It is a full celebration of the element of air. Everything from paper airplane contests, to bubble blowing, to frisbees, to zip lines, to tree house villages complete with connecting bridges are being considered and encouraged.”

The VIS site is a 40 acre portion of the over 1000 acres owned by host East Wind Community in the Ozark mountains of south western Missouri. In other words, bring your GPS.

Right now, the event organizers are looking for help with funding and currently are in the hunt a $5K grant over at Brighter Planet. You can check out more details on the proposed plans — and help vote them through here!

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Buying An Electric Car? You Might Want To Order Your Charging Station Now.

2010 will most likely go down as the year electric cars were (once again) made available to the public through Big Auto. Both Nissan and Chevy have plans to release the Leaf and Volt respectively — and both focus on getting energy from being plugged in. (Although the Volt can charge its battery utilizing its small “range-extender engine”, but then what’s the point of having an electric car?)

If you’ve got the deep pockets for one, the most conventional way of charging the vehicle will be to simply plug it into an ordinary wall socket. Charging a Nissan Leaf would take up to 16 hours, and charging a Volt would take eight. If you’re in a hurry, however, the best thing to have on-hand in the garage is a “quick charger” — which pushes a much more considerable amount of juice to your car. Instead of 8 hours, you can now have a fully charged Volt in under 2.5 hours.

Unfortunately, having a quick charger installed in your garage is not something just anyone can do. From CNN Money,

“The equipment has to be fully approved, installed by a competent professional, and in most cases, a city or state inspector will have to approve it all.”

In some instances, users had to jump through hoops that amounted to a month or more of waiting for the right installer/inspector to visit their home. “But the broader market of car buyers are likely to be turned off by any additional hassles”, said Charlie Vogelheim, executive editor of Intellichoice.com to CNN. “They all become detriments to making the sale,” he said. “That’s the type of thing that slows it down going into the mainstream.”

Companies like Nissan and Chevy are attempting to alleviate such potential issues by working with city and state governments now — so that later in 2010, when new customers attempt to order quick chargers and get them inspected, they’re not met with blank stares. As Sebastian Blanco, editor of Autobloggreen added, “Little setbacks will not be enough to hold back the tide of people who really want these cars.”

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