New Address

This blog has now been moved to the home website:

http://www.genexe.com



Please continue to read the latest updates there!

This blog has now been moved to the home website: http://www.genexe.com

Please continue to read the latest updates there!

Star Wars Theme Program

The South Carolina Office of Solid Waste Reduction and Recycling has its latest poster to encourage recycling using a Star Wars theme. It is one of many posters in a collection of supplemental material for education programs. They also have other posters with themes such as Batman, Elvis, and Flintstones that you can find on their website here. The posters look pretty cool and I assume they work in promoting recycling to kids.

http://www.gogreencharleston.org/2007/05/05/the-recycling-force-is-strong-in-south-carolina/

New York Taxis Going Green

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced that New York’s yellow taxi fleet will go entirely hybrid in the next five years. There are currently 400 fuel-efficient hybrids currently being tested and will increase to 1000 by October 2008 and eventually all 13,000 yellow cab will be a hybrid. The original yellow cab vehicle, the Ford Crown Victoria gets about 14 mpg while a Ford Escape gets 36 mpg. Although Hybrid vehicles cost more than regular cars, the fuel efficiency will save the taxi operators more than $10,000 a year. Yahoo also donated 10 hybrid Ford Escapes to the city. Bloomberg has a plan of reducing 30 percent of the city’s carbon emissions by 2030. The interesting part is that the government actually doesn’t own any of the yellow cabs and just sells licenses to drivers. Those individuals have to purchase their own vehicles that meet the specifications of the Taxi and Limousine Commission. It would be interesting to hear about the reactions of the current taxi drivers because I am not sure how they would react to this news. Although there is a slightly higher up-front cost in purchasing the cars, because of the extensive amount of driving on a daily basis, the cost savings from the fuel efficiency will be seen a lot faster than a regular commuter car. I think that the cost benefits will surely be appreciated by the drivers once they see how much money they save on gas especially since gas prices don’t seem to go down. Other cities will surely follow in this footstep.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=ak8sz_C1lGiY&refer=us

Vectrix Electric Scooter

The Vectrix is an all electric scooter that can go up to 62 mph, and has a range of 68 miles. It runs completely on electric power and takes 2.5 hours for a full charge. It can go 0-50 in 6.8 seconds. There are no clutches or gears and runs on a single regenerative throttle with a regenerative braking system. It is completely silent and has zero emissions but it also costs $11,000. With that price tag, it wont exactly be the most popular item of the year but if you are rich, it would be a great toy to have. It has been released in the UK and will be available here in the US around the second quarter of 2007.
http://myvectrix.com

Gartner encourages IT Organizations to go green

Gartner suggests that customer service and field service organizations can help reduce carbon emissions, through field service and call center agent optimization, parts optimization, intelligent device management and collaboration. By using technology such as Web collaboration tools, e-learning and problem resolution systems. A problem resolution system involves having remote agents walk through problems as opposed to going onsite to troubleshoot the problem. Here are some tips that Gartner has for IT organizations that can help conserve energy and reduce waste.

· Start measuring power consumption
· Consume fewer servers and printers by increasing utilization – virtualize servers
· Stop over-provisioning; improve capacity planning
· Improve the efficiency of cooling
· Turn power management on, use a low power state or turn equipment off
· Extend the life of assets by reusing within the enterprise and externally
· Ensure and validate the correct disposition of all electronic equipment
· Analyze all waste

Organizations were never really concerned about power costs and CO2 emissions until recently and with the increased awareness in the media, IT organizations will be making significant changes in becoming more “Green”.

http://www.itmanagement.com/blog/20070501/gartner-encourages-ict-organizations-to-go-green/

Receipts by Email

In another effort to becoming more green, Apple Stores now offers the option of emailing your receipt to you instead of printing it out. This will save the company a ton of money by reducing paper costs. The only concern I would have is that when I give them my email, they will only use it for the receipt purposes only. It could also be another great strategy to collect email addresses and send you a bunch of spam but hopefully that is not the case.

http://blogs.business2.com/greenwombat/2007/05/apple_trashes_p.html#more

A Green Virgin

Sir Richard Branson, the king of the Virgin Group is making an effort to turn his empire green. The billionaire is planning on investing $400 million into building the world's largest bioethanol refinieries in the US. His plan is to run his trains and planes on more cleaner and efficient biodiesel. He will be one of the first of many successful businessmen who will make an effort in making their companies and corporations go green. Branson says that going green makes smart business sense and feels that these investments will yield a great return. He also points out that Virgin does not go into any business unless it makes a minimum of 40% on capital invested.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_33/b3997079.htm

Yahoo goes Green

Yahoo has just launched a new section of its website dedicated to promoting green causes and fighting global warming. The company promoted the new website by presenting New York City's cab association with 10 hybrid vehicles. The website is meant to be a source that has everything that you will need to fight global warming. There is an interative Green House on the website where you can walk through the house and see how you can save energy and resources. There are different tips in each room of the house that will point out what you can do and change. It does a nice and thorough job of promoting many ideas that people may not be aware of that can be done in an everyday home. By making these simple changes, you can make an impact on our environment. There is also an interactive plan that allows Yahoo users to make a list of things that can cut down on CO2 emissions. It is definitely a great site for anyone looking to get involved in making a difference.
http://green.yahoo.com

Eco-Tech Boom

The C40 Climate Summit is currently being held in Manhattan from May 14-17, 2007. In attendance are municipal government leaders and international businesses from all over the world. There are a lot of big names in attendance and the whole Green theme is definitely drawing a lot of attention from CEOs of tech companies as there has recently been initiatives from Apple, Sun, Dell, News Corp, etc. In an article from GigaOM, they give 5 reasons for the eco-tech boom and reasons why green tech is going to continue to expand and create a huge buzz. The reasons Katie Fehrenbacher gives are that 1) clean technology can be a great business opportunity 2) Web 2.0 is a great tool to expand the ideas and in attracting attention, hence my whole idea of Green 2.0. 3) IT and technology rely significantly on energy and will need to be a key contributer to become earth-friendly. 4) Gore is leading the pack in promoting it. 5) Decentralization of energy.
http://gigaom.com/2007/05/16/5-reasons-for-the-eco-tech-boom/#more-8996

U.C Berkeley going green

Recently at U.C.Berkeley on the ASUC election ballot, The Green Initiative Fund (TGIF) passed with 69% of votes. A fee of $5 per student per semester will be contributed to a student funded and student majority controlled fund. TGIF will provide money for projects that include initiatives on renewable energy, energy efficiency, resource conservation, "green" student internships, and more. It is good to see that students want to be involved and want to make a difference in college. Over 20 universities across the country have been involved in initiating green fees. This program will help raise over $200,000 annually which can help make significant efforts in making Cal a more sustainable University and cut down on the 200,000 metric tons of CO2 produced at Cal each year. Even though the administration should be paying for the campus sustainability initiatives, this is a big step for students to actually drive the effort in putting pressure on the administration to do more.
http://votetgif.com/

Climate Change Revolution

Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems recently spoke at the Cleantech investor conference in Franfurt and said that "A global response to climate change will spur a business revolution bigger than the internet." There are definitely problems right now with the climate change being caused by emissions from greenhouse gases and using energy more carefully can create profits for potential companies. Joy gave an example of how the car industry can be improved by using smaller more efficient cars, adopting emerging technologies such as hybrids, and researching breakthroughs in biofuel technology. He believes that Silicon Valley would be a place for advancements to break through and the global race is now on. I definitely agree with his thoughts on how future breakthroughs are going to happen in the Silicon Valley. This is the place with tons of smart people, money, and research facilities. Along with all the biotech and tech companies in the bay area, greentech may be the next big thing.

http://www.reuters.com/article/email/idUSL1563539220070515

Updated Hybrid Cars Mileage Ratings

Here is a chart of the new mileage ratings this year compared to the previous ratings. There is a significant decrease in the Hybrid cars and this might effect sales since it will take longer to recoup the additional costs of the Hybrid versions compared to the regular versions. I am sure it will not make too much of an impact in the long run on the purchases of Hybrids however as they continue to develop better and more efficient Hybrid vehicles. Hopefully the prices of the Hybrid versions will go down as they continue to develop more.
http://www.wired.com/cars/futuretransport/news/2007/05/hybrid_mpg

Impressive "Living Roof" at New Academy of Sciences Museum

An “integrated regenerative architecture” is what the new roof garden is referred to. The new California Academy of Sciences Museum in Golden Gate Park will be a scientific showcase of urban sustainability. There will be a 2.5 acre “living roof” with 1.7 million native plants and nine species. A design to enhance water and energy conservation is a multilayered roof surface that protects the building as well as serves as a substrate for the plants. There are rounded hills on the rooftop to draw cool air and collect rainwater. This will be a very impressive design that takes many green building techniques to maximize natural energy and water efficiency. The new Academy of Sciences Museum in San Francisco is scheduled to open in October 2008 and will definitely be worth checking out.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?o=3&f=/c/a/2007/05/12/MNGGTPPKM01.DTL

Hamma Desalination Plant

GE’s newest Desalination plant will be able to supply clean drinking water for more than 1 million people in Algiers, Algeria. Together with the Algerian Energy Company(AEC), the General Electric Company(GE) will fund most of this project, which will be one of the largest desalination plants in the world. The reverse osmosis process removes salt from seawater and is more efficient and cost effective than any other technology that exists today for delivering clean drinking water. Currently, portable water is only available for two to three hours each day for most of the population of Algiers. The project is currently under construction and is scheduled to open in November 2007. This is a great technology considering that two thirds of the planet is covered in water.
http://www.ge.com/stories/en/20367.html?category=Product_Business

Solar Power Class

PG&E has started to offer free Solar Power Classes for Residential Customers so that they can learn more about the fundamentals of solar power. There will be 2 hour sessions held about once a month on a Saturday and there is a limited number of seats. They will cover the basic questions related to costs, incentives, installation, etc.
http://www.pge.com/education_training/classes/energy_efficiency/index.jsp?reqType=detail&ID=2649&db=PEC2649.csv&pageTitle=Class%20Details%20and%20Registration&postback=yes

Water in China

This is a picture of water samples collected from urban rivers and lakes in China. A very pretty and colorful photograph yet very gross and sad.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/

Green Drinks SF

Tonight I attended the San Francisco Green Business Green Drink event. Green Drinks is an international organization organized by individuals at different locations where people go to discuss green businesses or anything else they want to talk about. The group meets twice a month at Elixir, a certified green business that servers organic beer and wine. It was a good gathering of people as the bar was packed with interesting people who mainly went to mingle with new people as well as network and see how everyone is involved in the green industry. There is another Green Drinks group in San Francisco as well as one in Berkeley that I will hope to check out soon.
http://greendrinks.org/

The Meatrix

This is a pretty funny website that has Flash cartoon movies based on “The Matrix” movies. It has animal cartoon characters showing the problems with factory farming and what we can do to help.
http://www.themeatrix.com

News Corporation making emission changes

Another huge corporation is making efforts to cut emissions down. Rupert Murdoch, the CEO of News Corporation, the world’s top media company, has plans to cut its global carbon footprint down to zero by 2010. Some of the ways this will be accomplished is by cutting down energy use, switching to renewable power sources and as a last resort, offsetting unavoidable emissions. Murdoch grew up in Melbourne, and has realized how the climate change is making an impact in Australia’s 10th consecutive year of below average rainfalls. News Corporation has offered its 50,000 employees incentives for purchasing Hybrid cars. We are starting to hear a lot more about big corporations making an effort to make a change and that is very important because the corporate world is where the biggest impact can be made. News Corporation runs everything from newspapers and television stations to magazines and books. They also own the social networking site MySpace.
http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/sgw_read.asp?id=12801592007

As the Green trend is continually growing, there are now online communities based on being green. There are social networking sites, carpooling sites, and even the well established social networking sites have many groups and events for saving the environment. Singles can also meet other singles in green dating sites. Shoppers for green products and green restaurants also have sites that they can go to for local suggestions. All these new sites are definitely what I refer to as Green 2.0, the new trend of using Web 2.0 services to promote sustainability and green ideas to people around the world. For the links to all the websites, look in this article.
http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9717241-2.html?tag=blogFeed

President Bush on Global Warming

I just found this funny video of Will Ferrell doing George Bush talking about Global Warming for a TV special on TBS called "Earth to America" that aired in 2005.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=b1wogkDmLlQ

Effects of Global Warming

A recent study of the Australian Great Barrier Reef has shown that warmer sea temperatures have created a coral disease called White Syndrome. White Syndrome turns the coral white and the effect of the temperature is highly dependent on the density of the coral cover. Outbreaks of White Syndrome occurred on reefs that had warmer temperatures that had greater than 50% coral cover. Interestingly, the healthiest reefs suffered the most because of the dense concentration of coral polyps. Scientists estimate that 25% of the world’s coral reefs have been lost and another 30% can disappear in the next 30 years.
http://abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1917116.htm

Toyota will be producing the FT-HS hybrid sports car and it will debut in 2009. This was a concept car that will be the next Supra with a 3.5 liter V6 engine that goes 0-60 in 4 seconds. All this with a price of mid $30,000 and be fuel efficient? This sounds too good to be true.
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/05/09/toyota-ft-hs-coming-in-2009/

Jardiniere

A French-California cuisine restaurant called Jardinière promotes itself as a very environmentally friendly restaurant. I have not eaten there so I have no idea how the food tastes but they say they recycle and compost 85% of all its waste and in 2001, it was awarded the Commercial Recycler of the Year Award. They have an interesting business theme and they are committed to being a socially responsible business that operates by having 3 bottom lines, Profit, People, and the Planet. They are committed to local farmers, fishers, and ranchers and use earth friendly cleaning products. They also pay all of their non-tipped employees the San Francisco Living Wage.

Energy Star

Hopefully, everyone should be familiar with the Energy Star program. It was established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1992 and has grown to manage more than 35 products for the home and workplace from computers to washers and dryers. Using Energy Star products can save you money on electric bills and help conserve energy. A home fully equipped with Energy Star products can use about 30 percent less energy than a house equipped with regular products. Many Energy Star products do not cost more than regular products so make sure you look for that sticker next time you purchase any home products and appliances!
http://www.energystar.gov/

eco friendly hotels

Many hotels are starting to promote themselves as being green and eco-friendly hotels because it is attracting businesses but also because it can save the company money. A new hotel called Orchard Garden Hotel in San Francisco uses a natural brisk air cooling system, key-card devices that turn off the electricity to the room, natural paints and carpets, and minimal energy usage fluorescent and LED bulbs. In the SFGate article, the key card system costs the hotel $36,000 to install but it will save the hotel's electricity expenses $12,000-$18,000 a year. The worst part is that the key card technology has been used in hotels in Asia for years. I have been to hotels in Thailand, Japan, and Hong Kong and most of the 3 star and above hotels that I have stayed at use it. How it works is when you enter the hotel room, you put the key card into a slot by the door, and it will turn on all the electricity outlets in the room. When you leave the room, you take the key with you, and all the electricity outlets will turn off. All of the new and fancy hotels in Las Vegas dont even have this and I dont think I have ever been to a hotel in the US that has this yet.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/20/BAgreentravel.DTL

New MPG Ratings

Buyers of new 2008 vehicles will notice that the posted MPG ratings for cars will be a lot lower due to new MPG Ratings. The EPA recently revised the methods for estimating vehicle fuel economy to better match the driving styles and conditions. Due to tests based on different speed limits, A/C usage, and temperatures, the new MPG estimates can be anywhere from 8-20% lower than previous estimates. The same applies to Hybrid Cars and those may have more of a difference based on the high estimates that they stated before. This will definitely make people more conscious of what kind of car people will buy.

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/ratings2008.shtml

How Wierd 2007

I went to the How Wierd Street Faire 2007 on sunday, May 6th on Howard St. and had a pretty good time. There was music, deejays, food vendors, art, decor, booths, and more. One of the main theme's this year was sustainable technology. All seven dance stages were run on bio-diesel. Recycling and composting were definitely promoted as there was big blue and green bins everywhere right next to the garbage bins. The food vendors definitely promoted sustainability as all supplies and services were biodegradable by several vendors. It was also a great day to be out because the weather was awesome. Some of the pictures that I took are postd here: http://sanfrancisco.going.com/event-125136?type=album

Sleep Deprevation no more!

Scientists have invented a machine that can give you a full nights sleep in just 2-3 hours. It works by magnetically stimulating the brain using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to induce slow waves. In english, it makes your brain think you are in a deep sleep the whole time which is how your body can get the most rest and recovery. This doesnt really have anything to do with green technology but if we have more time to do things, then we have more time to help the planet!! The picture of the cat also has nothing to do with anything, except for the fact that he/she is sleeping.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1264358,00.html

Tesla

The Tesla is a pretty awesome car. It is a $92,000 two seater sports car that can go 0-60 mph in four seconds. It is completely powered by electricity so fully charged, it can go up to 250 miles. It plans to ship end of this year and there are already 125 owners that have already fully paid up front. I am sure that this will be worth checking out out they get all the kinks out and the second or third releases will be well worth it. I would love to have one of these, just nee to start saving up I guess..

http://news.com.com/Silicon+Valley+engineers+peek+at+the+Tesla/2100-11389_3-6181574.html?tag=nefd.pop

Apple is taking an initiative to promoting how the company is making an effort in going green. They are removing toxic chemicals in all their products, recycling their wastes, and showing how they will be making a difference and impact for the future. They should make their new ibooks in candy apple green to promote this, that would be cool.

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/agreenerapple/

Eco Live 2007

Today I went to KGO's Eco Live 2007 event at the Concourse Convention Center in San Francisco. They had a bunch of vendors there that promoted different products and services that were all environmental. I talked to almost all the vendors to learn more about what they do and there were also speakers that spoke about different topics from building houses that were "green" by the "Build it Green" panel to Kristina Skierka, Director of Cleantech, speaking more about protecting the climate. Some pictures from the event are posted here: http://sanfrancisco.going.com/event-129652?type=album

Ways to save money on gas

Since gas prices are so expensive, here are some great tips on trying to save some money.

http://finance.yahoo.com/college-education/article/102967/fifteen-ways-to-save-money-on-gas

Even China is going green!

China has definitely been one of the eky contributors to pollution but looks like they are definitely trying to make a difference. The government is realizing that they need to do something about it. Read more about it here.

http://biz.yahoo.com/hftn/070504/043007_100024847.html?.v=3&.pf=personal-finance