If you’re looking for ways to be more responsible with energy usage you should definitely check out Earth Aid. Their free service allows users to track their individual energy usage, and provides them with customized tips on how to reduce it.
And, if the education isn’t incentive enough, Earth Aid also provides users who reduce their usage with cash benefits, or reward points which can be redeemed for discounts at various businesses and restaurants. Saving money and the Earth at the same time…sounds like a good idea.
If you’re looking for a way to reduce the impact of your traveling schedule the folks at iJourneyGreen may have the answer. Through a variety of travel credit programs, that can be customized based on how much you travel, iJourneyGreen offers members a chance to give back to the areas they visit by supporting carbon offset and microlending initiatives in the area.
The prices are pretty reasonable too, when you consider the positive impact they make. Find out how you can join here.
As crazy as it may sound there really is such a thing as a solar-powered trash can. The cans work by using energy generated from the solar panels to power a compacter that compresses the trash down several times allowing them to hold more than 5 times the amount of a regular recepticle, and thus saving lots of money on pick-up costs.
The city of Philadelphia recently installed 500 of the Big Belly units (plus 210 recycling units as well) and estimates it will save them around $12 million per year.
Building a biodiesel refinery sounds like a complicated task, but these seven students from Thornridge High near Chicago, IL set out to prove that anyone could do it. Their success not only landed them the top prize in this year’s Lexus Eco Challenge, but inspired their entire community to take better care of the environment as well. Check out this Chicago Tribune article for more.
The world’s smallest country may soon be the greenest as well. The Vatican recently announced plans to build a $660 million solar plant that will be the largest in Europe. The proposed plant will create enough electricity to power the entire nation, making it the first to run completely off solar energy.
Sometimes we forget how truly privileged we are to live on this planet. Today we renew our commitment to building a safer, healthier, cleaner world for all of us; now and for generations to come.
With this goal in mind, millions around the globe are celebrating and doing their part to make a difference. To find our more about events in your area click here, and here to learn more about practical things you can do everyday to bring lasting change.
Over the weekend several hundred million people in cities across the globe joined together to show a united front on the issue of climate change by shutting off their lights for Earth Hour. As you can see in the video above, many well-known landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, Sydney Opera House, and Olympic Stadiums in China joined the cause as well.
While the event was mostly symbolic, and aimed at making a statement to government officials, there actually was an immediate, practical impact. ComEd in Chicago reported that the reduction in energy use in that region alone was equivalent to removing 154,500 pounds of carbon from the atmosphere or planting 19 acres of trees; so you can imagine the global impact must have been enormous. To find out more about Earth Hour, click here.
By creating successful green enterprise programs for middle and lower class citizens in his hometown of Oakland, Jones has layed a foundation for a national model, and we look forward to seeing him be able to help carry it out.
Eco blogs have been abuzz the last week or so with news that furniture giant IKEA announced a $77 million investment into its GreenTech fund with the goal of eventually producing solar panels, and other energy-efficient products to sell in their stores. The GreenTech fund was only established 8 months ago, but IKEA hopes to begin rolling out its first wave of green tech products in the next 3-4 years.
True story. Today I was working on a project outside a friend’s office, when out of nowhere, a guy appeared and, without a word, handed me two enormous phone books then hopped into a van and drove away. Like most of you I had no idea what to do with them.
Every year over 500 million of these now obselete phone books are produced and delivered in the United States, wasting over 1.6 billion pounds of paper, as well as huge amounts of trees, energy, oil, and landfill space. An organization called Yellow Pages Goes Green is trying to change all that. YPGG is leading the campaign to reduce production and stop unwanted delivery of these directories. The goal is not to put the publishers out of business, but just to decrease the waste by encouraging them to only deliver to those who request them.
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