Parking Day

September 19th is Parking Day.

Breakthrough

Ecogeek discusses a new way to do electrolysis, courtesy of MIT.

The scientists seem to be confident that this is a game changer, and a breakthrough, though they're saying it'll be a decade before it can be fully implemented. Nonetheless, this is a big freakin' deal, especially if combined with the next wave of cheap renewables. Power storage remains a huge issue, and if this could solve that problem, it would be the second step we need toward a truly renewable future.

This could lead to every home having its own power source and fueling source for electric vehicles--with renewable energy for our kid's future.

Out on the Farm

I meant to mention this event up in Connecticut last month, but missed it.

Flamig Farm, operating for more than 100 years in my hometown of Simsbury, is an island of enlightenment in the sea of the suburbs. They make getting out on the farm fun, and they are practicing what they preach, Their event Eggstock is a big late spring festival. We'll need to check it out next year.

Read about Eggstock here.

The Times They Are a Changin'

NO gas, 2015. Mercedes takes the plunge.

Cups

Sullivan dishes up some cups. An amazing photograph.

Astounding waste of resources.

Benefits of $4 Gas

Foreign Policy has an interesting article out.

Why it’s happening: One word: exercise. Bike shops across the United States are reporting record sales, and Britain is even promoting a national “Bike Week” to encourage commuters to ride, not drive, to the office. Not only is two-wheeling a cheaper way to travel, it’s also healthier. Courtemanche’s results show that “the average person walks or bicycles an average of 0.5 times more per week if the price of gas rises by $1.” Another factor he identifies is that cost-conscious Americans are choosing to eat at restaurants less frequently. Indeed, a virtuous cycle could be at work: A study published in The Engineering Economist found that Americans today use nearly a billion additional gallons of gasoline each year, compared with 1960, solely because they weigh more.

Hummer-BUH BYE

Wasn't this really inevitable?

More from the LA Times.

Moonlight Strolls

Check out this innovative idea for saving energy.

With its concept for a new approach to outdoor lighting, the group asks: What if streetlights could respond to ambient moonlight, dimming and brightening each month as the moon cycles through its phases? On clear nights when the moon is full, streetlights might even turn off completely. The scheme, which they call “lunar-resonant streetlights,” could save as much as 80–90 percent of the energy used in streetlighting while bringing back the experience of moonlight and stargazing to urban areas.

More at Civil Twilight.

Green Developments

Vanity Fair does two articles on the future of architecture, with examples from today.

First, discussing Bill McDonough's vision of a world without waste,

Cradle to Cradle, in McDonough’s words, “does not just reduce waste, it eliminates the concept of waste,” stipulating that products be manufactured in new ways that will allow them to be reduced to their essential technical or biological elements in order to be re-used. Nature’s cycles provide the model.

and second, an introduction to the new California Academy of Sciences Building in San Francisco, the greenest museum ever.

Beneath the roof, a rectangle of transparent walls would contain the museum’s traditional exhibitions: a rain forest (enclosed in a glass dome), a theater for viewing the cosmos (in a sphere that looks like it’s made of eggshell), a coral reef, a swamp, a habitat for penguins, and an exhibition on climate change and the earth’s future. Piano envisioned a profound connection between the building and the park: a facility in a pavilion that would be visually and functionally linked to its environment. He also proposed sustainable construction, which would use innovative technology to create the greenest museum ever built.

Will the Real Biofuel Please Stand Up

Carectomy.com has a post up on the efficiencies of walking and cycling and driving. Interesting data. You can buy stickers there to taunt your neighbors on the efficiency of their H2s.

Ecogeek has analysis:

A little bit of research tells us that riding a light-weight bicycle consumes about 35 calories per mile. Walking consumes about 100 calories per mile and is, of course, considerably slower.

Driving a car ends up consuming 1,800 calories per mile. This sure makes one think twice about biofuel, doesn't it?

Park the car, take a walk.