June 4th, 2009 by Jess

A few weeks ago I decided that every Thursday I would write a post dedicated to some new technological innovation.  Why?  Because Thursday and technology both start with “t”.  Technology Thursday.  Alliteration is neat.

Then I got distracted by my animals, local eating, my bed of weeds, organic food, composting, the new climate change bill and, just maybe, laundry.  So no Technology Thursday.

But the great thing about blogging is that you always get another chance to get it right.  Because the internet is all about letting anyone talk about anything they want, whenever they want.  So today I decided to give it another try.

Each morning I check out the latest updates on a very cool, geeky site called EcoGeek.  Today they had a post on a neat little thing called the nPower PEG, which allows you to harness your own kinetic energy to power gadgets such as cell phones, iPods, and any other portable electronic item you absolutely cannot live without.  Supposedly, if we all used the PEG daily, we could save enough electricity to power 21,000 households for an entire year.

Besides noting that, as far as Americans are concerned, the utility of this device is going to be dramatically limited by the fact that none of us ever moves, this got me thinking about a Big Question.  How green are our new eco-gadgets?

Green Gadgetry?

Anyone who has spent time reading up on recent developments in greentech knows that there is much to see in the world of green innovation.  From recent competitions to create the best new eco-gadget to Ikea releasing a line of solar powered lights, green gadgetry is everywhere.  Hey, I even have a solar-powered watch. Pretty neat.  But can eco-gadgets really change the world?

Electricity for 21,000 households is no small thing.  Many of the new and upcoming eco-gadgets have the potential to make a dramatic difference, if they are adopted on a wide scale.  A wide scale. That power for 21,000 households comes from over 23 million Americans using portable electronic devices.  23 million Americans who are going to spend $150 to buy a PEG?  23 million Americans who are going to remember to bring it with them every day they leave the house?  Who are going to commit to not forgetting about it and leaving it in a drawer?

Also, it takes energy and resources to produce these things.  Production will require energy.  And PEGs will come in some type of packaging.  Fortunately, PEG components are made out of recycled materials and are recyclable.  And hopefully nPower will strive to source their production power as sustainably as possible, as well as use recycled and recyclable packaging.  Still, even the most sustainable of eco-gadgets are still rooted in consumption.

But then we have this. For those who don’t feel like clicking on the link, it is a link to a blog post about a project undertaken jointly by a Dutch company and a Ghanaian non-profit to bring light to families in rural Africa.  This project is literally powered by three LED eco-gadgets: a solar-powered lantern, a reading light, and a wind-up flashlight.  For most families, these clean, renewable light sources would replace kerosene lanterns, which are dirty, inefficient and present a fire hazard.  For families that live without access to any electricity, these eco-gadgets could be life-changing.  At $50 per light, they are still not within reach of most families.  But with possible government subsidies and microfinance programs, hopefully they will soon be more easily available.

These two gadgets – the nPower PEG and renewably-powered LED lights – are both based on renewable energy.  Similar gadgets, completely different stories.

Will the PEG really be able to power 21,000 households?  I would like to think so, but I’m doubtful.  Even if it does, will the environmental benefit outweigh the energy consumed in the production and distribution process?  Hard to say.  The concept could be world-changing, but on this scale, it seems like one more geeky toy.

I’d rather spend my $150 to provide clean, safe lighting for three families in Africa, so that their children can study and do homework after their daytime chores are done.  With the environmental benefit here also comes a human benefit.  And a political benefit, as children educated through renewable energy grow become the continent’s next generation of leaders.

In the end, the innovation is inherently valuable.  But we need to measure the innovation and the real world benefit.  We are running out of time.  And today, the green isn’t in the gadget, but in how we use it.

eco-gadget, gadget, green technology, greentech, nPower PEG, renewable energy, solar lighting

May 20th, 2009 by Jess

Ok, so maybe this isn’t the great ethanol debate.  But it was a tiny ethanol debate that consumed some spare brain space across several states on Road Trip 2 (so named by my dad, who came along for the ride).

The U.S. ethanol subsidy policy is once of the great ironically humorous tragedies of the last decade.  A poetic instance of the congressional machine reaching peak momentum and the inability to slam on the brakes once the process was in motion.  It was a big mistake.

I was reminded of all this when, upon pulling into a gas station in Iowa, I discovered that mid-grade fuel blended with ethanol was almost ten cents cheaper per gallon than the low-grade fuel I usually put in my car.  Excited to be burning more cleanly, I almost filled up with the E10.  Fortunately, I had my dad along for the ride to complicate this seemingly easy decision.

“You know,” he said.  “Your gas mileage is going to be lower with the ethanol.”

Great dad. Great.

I am not good at math.  I never have been and, at this point, I doubt I ever will be.  Even if I had at my fingers all the numbers necessary to figure out whether this cheaper fuel would be a) cheaper and b) better for the environment, I still probably wouldn’t have been able to do it.  And I was almost positive that this question was very car specific.  And boy, was I right on that one.

I have a 2008 Honda Fit.  Honda guarantees that the Fit will work with E10.

A rest stop somewhere in Oregon.

Usually, my Fit gets around 35mpg, and I was anticipating getting closer to 40mpg on the trip.  But then I realized I had to stick two people, two greyhounds, a cat, and the crew’s luggage in the car.  So we outfitted it with this thing.

The box.  Otherwise known as –8mpg.

Even with the box, we were packed in like sardines.

“The dogs are touching me!”

However, we did manage to get around 30mpg (sometimes slightly above) for the majority of the trip.  Not bad considering how heavily we were loaded up and how square and wind resistant the box was.

I hate to admit that I was not monitoring mileage closely enough on this trip to notice a significant decrease when using E10.  Additionally, while almost all of our miles were highway miles, the geography varied greatly through the trip.  My little Fit hauled us across plains, across snow covered mountains, and through wind and rain storms.  All of this would have had an effect on the mileage.

However, the general consensus is that using E10 reduces mpg by about 2-3% on the low end, 10% on the high end.  That would reduce my average mpg from just over 30 to just under 30.  Around 29mpg.  At ten cents per gallon cheaper, overall I don’t think I would see a huge difference in my gas bill either way.  (I might be able to do the math on that, but it would take me forever.)

So now emissions – what does it do as far as emissions?  I’m using 2-3% more gasoline to drive the same amount of miles.

The internet has so many answers to this question.  According to this blurb, carbon monoxide (CO) reduction can be 20-30% over regular gasoline.  Yay!  But for CO2 and other GHGs, we’re looking at 2%, which breaks even if I’m getting 2% less out of E10, but is a total fail at 10%.  And for some pollutants, it’s an increase – no good.  But other studies have other numbers, all of which I’m sure are to some extent dependent on the vehicle and the conditions of the test.

Conclusion?  I put E10 in my tank on the road.

However, after reading up, I probably won’t next time.  Financially, it is more or less a break even.  For emissions, it’s up in the air.  But even if it was slightly better on the emissions front, the environmental and economic ramifications of increased corn production for use in ethanol outweigh the benefits.  Ethanol is not a viable solution for our energy issues and is not what I want to be supporting with my hard earned dollars.

e10, ethanol, ethanol subsidy, honda fit, mileage, mpg, road trip

March 9th, 2009 by Tom

Tesla has made a even cooler version of their roadster.  If you are not familiar with the Tesla Roadster it is an available to the public, all electric car  capable of going 0-60 in just under 4 seconds.

The new version called the Roadster Sport is faster due to its upgraded hand wound electric motor and has a sports tuned suspension for better handling.  The Roadster sport will accelerate from 0-60 in 3.7 seconds.  That makes it faster than the $440,000 Porsche Carrera GT and just behind the $670,000 Farrari Enzo which will go from zero to sixty in 3.4 seconds.  No bad when you consider that the Roadster sport will cost just $128,500.

Tesla plans to begin production on less expensive vehicles that will use some of the same technology as the Roadster.  Currently they are selling the base model Roadster for just under $100,000.  The next Tesla vehicle will be a sedan that will be closer to $50,000.  Eventually, when the technology has been proven and manufacturing costs go down, they plan to produce cars everyone can afford.

Check the Roadster Sport out here.

January 5th, 2009 by Tom

I was sitting here one my lunch break at work trying to think of a groundbreaking subject for my first blog.  It is a surprisingly high pressure moment for me.  My first thought was to write a blog comparing coal and nuclear power plants.  Then I thought I could find out how much coal you burn by leaving something like a light bulb or computer on for a year.  That is when it hit me; I’ll write about solar grasshoppers.

I am sure you are wondering what I am talking about.  One of my favorite websites, Think Geek, has a solar powered “frightened grasshopper” toy for sale.

I think it would make a great educational toy for a child.  What a great way to get someone [of any age] interested in solar energy!  I am buying two of them today, one for my niece and one for my nephew.  I will be out of town for the next month so I may not be able to give them their solar grasshoppers until April but when I do I will update you on their reactions.