Tag Archives: Green Planet
New Zealand wine set to display carbon footprint
Scrutinizing bouquet, viscosity and finish on the palate is no longer enough for the accomplished wine connoisseur but carbon footprint as well. Now they can consider a vintage’s environmental credentials — for one brand at least.
A New Zealand wine has become the first in the world to display the carbon footprint of each individual glass serving on its label — laying bare to the shopper or drinker the full environmental impact of making and transporting it. Each bottle of Mobius Marlborough sauvignon blanc — which takes its name from the highest peak of the range of hills above the town — will display its carbon footprint emissions for a typical 125 ml glass.
On the new label the relevant emissions, which are calculated to reflect the environmental impact of factors such as transportation and refrigeration, will be measured separately for every export market. So, bottles sold in New Zealand, for example, will carry a figure of 140g CO2, whereas bottles shipped to Australia will display 190g.
Significantly, the wine is the world’s first to be certified by the UK’s Carbon Trust which is leading a drive to influence consumer choice by encouraging universal carbon footprint labeling — using its own Carbon Reduction label — across all products.
This certification is a milestone for the New Zealand Wine Company (NZWC), which is based in Marlborough in the country’s South Island and which has been pursuing sustainable management within the New Zealand wine industry.
Craig Fowles, NZWC’s sustainability manager, said, “It’s a very important certification as it is a full-life cycle carbon approach. In a very recent development, the Carbon Trust in the UK announced that sales of products carrying its carbon footprint reduction label will shortly top GBP 2bn per annum.”
Definitely a great move to display carbon footprint on their products.
Solar powered Blood Pressure meter
Blood Pressure meter
There are places on Earth that are so far fetched and distant from any urban civilization, that electricity isn’t all too common as it is to many. These off-grid places do have a hard time catching up with a lot of facilities enjoyed by many today, including medical aid. A few researchers with some really great intentions in their hearts have designed a Blood Pressure meter device, powered by solar energy. This one needs no electrical outlets to plug in and is juiced up solely by the sun. With a device like solar Blood Pressure meter, doctors in areas far away can now keep tabs on cardio-vascular diseases amongst people.
Currently being tested in Uganda and Zambia in Africa, this Blood Pressure meter is not too expensive either — $32. An innovative way to keep health issues in check using green energy, this Blood Pressure meter will for sure make the work of doctors in off-grid areas a lot easier.
Do some green deeds while sleeping
Ecotypic Bed
Sleeping till late hasn’t really been too productive for any of us before but here is Ecotypic Bed. Well, sleeping and lazing around on the Ecotypic Bed could do a lot more!
Designed by Arthur Xin is a marvel of technology. Packing a battery below, this Ecotypic Bed generates electricity from the activities carried out on the bed. Basically, everything you do in bed and around the bed is turned into energy. This electricity generated is then use to power up the LED reading lamps, the speakers that play some soothing music to wake you up, and also LED lights that help the plants on this one grow.
The Ecotypic Bed has hooked on a bunch of straps and pulleys for you to exercise with, that helps generate electricity too.
“This is a green bed.” It has everything you need! A LED reading lights, speakers and a flower box.
There’s a battery below the bed which turns the activities you do on the bed and around the bed into energy.
Do everything all day long on the Ecotypic bed!
Going Green Electric Car Conversion Tips
Have you heard that the US government offers tax refunds for anyone that converts their cars from gas guzzling to electric power? It is true. The IRS will give up to a thousand dollars in refunds to those who do a conversion. Wonder why? Gasoline prices are going up constantly. they sometimes go down for a short time and increase even more after. With an DIY electric car conversion you could start saving cash in green friendly way.
Most drivers do not realize that instead of getting a super expensive hybrid, you could instead enjoy a DIY electric car conversion. You will not even have to be an expert in cars, or know all about gas to electric conversions.
The advantages of having your own ev car are obvious, but what are the advantages of doing your own ev conversion – well, that’s a entirely different matter.
You do not have to get frustrated about doing a DIY electric conversion. With the mileage by itself, you will save a ton of money each year and you’ll be able to go do so much more because of not spending so much on gassoline. In an average car, one would get about 16 miles to a gallon on fuel but with the aid of an electric conversion kit, one could get up to 200 mpg with only a single charge which only costs one dollar. You’ll also prolong the life of your vehicle as there will not be internal combustion in the car now. The engine will be quiet and smooth but will still be able to run as much as 65 mph. Doing the conversion is worth the savings and not to mention the other perks. In addition to the tax cuts that the US government will give you, you’ll also be contributing to a cleaner environment. One month of having an ev vehicle will pay for the cost of the entire electric car kit!
Much different than gas-powered automobiles, the wearing down on electric autos is minimal, so when you begin on the ev conversion, you won’t even have to stock up extra parts. The most commonly replaced part is the battery, which is easily available. 
There are many different designs of the ev conversion kit to get. But of course, some are better quallity than the rest. The optimal way to pick is to be sure that you will get all the facts without all the junk. Some give really good instructions with info as to what is needed in the electric conversion in terms of tools and parts. In only few hours of time, you can have a totally new vehicle. So quit spending 1000s each year on gasoline; now you can start saving up for the trips you have been dreaming of for years. There’s no need to worry about building it all by yourself; with the information and easy instructions these provide, you can finish it in a snap.
Maintenance is going to be simple with an ev auto. Think – no more need for any tune-ups, This is great for the car and the pocket book.
Doing an electric car conversion isn’t as simple as appears. It is not as if you can just go and buy ev parts anywhere and replace them right away. You could need guidance, and thats why the kits are the best option. Well, if you do not buy a guide then you will have to hire a mechanic.
convert car to electric, electric conversion, electric car conversion
Conventional farming limits greenhouse gas emissions
Advances in conventional agriculture have dramatically slowed the flow of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, in part by allowing farmers to grow more food to meet world demand without ploughing up vast tracts of land, a study by three Stanford University researches has found.
The study which has been embraced by many agricultural groups but criticized by some environmentalists, found that improvements in technology, plant varieties and other advances enabled farmers to grow more without a big increase in greenhouse gas releases. Much of the credit goes to eliminating the need to plough more land to plant additional crops.
The study’s authors said they aren’t claiming modern, high production agriculture is without problems, including the potential for soil degradation through intense cultivation and fertilizer runoff that can contaminate fresh water.
But some environmentalists said the study is flawed, arguing it’s based on unrealistic scenarios of what would have happened if yields hadn’t increased during the study period. The yield is the amount of a crop grown per acre. 
The other authors are Jennifer Burney, a physicist who focuses on energy and food security research at Stanford’s Program on Food Security and the Environment, and David Lobell, an assistant professor of environmental science at Stanford who has studied the effects of food and bio-fuel production on the environment.
The three decided to look at the impact of agriculture on greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Agriculture accounts for about 12 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions generated by human activity.
The researchers set up hypothetical models in which the world’s growing population was fed by cultivating even more land. Those models were then compared with actual agricultural production between 1961 and 2005.
Yields for major crops like corn and soybeans have increased dramatically over the study period. Midwestern corn farmers for instance now average well over 160 bushels an acre. That’s roughly double what they produced in the early 1960s, according to US Department of Agriculture statistics.
Without those increases, it would have taken an additional 4.35 billion acres to feed the world according to the study. The cultivation of that land including the release of carbon in the soil and burning of brush and trees that covered it would have released an additional 317 billion to 590 billion tons of greenhouse gases, the authors wrote.
Hong Kong brings plastic bags use down by 90 percent
Use of plastic bags in Hong Kong has come down drastically by nearly 90 percent in the past 12 months thanks to a “plastic bag fine” scheme launched by the government. Registered retailers in Hong Kong distributed 90 percent fewer plastic bags in the past 12 months in comparison to the situation before the scheme, a clear sign of its effectiveness, Edward Yau, Hong Kong’s environment secretary, was quoted as saying. The scheme which was put into force in July 2009, has also successfully transformed shopping habits, aside from cutting down the number of plastic bags used, he said. “Many people are putting green living into practice by using fewer plastic shopping bags and bringing their own,” Yau said. 
Noting that indiscriminate use of plastic shopping bags had always been one of Hong Kong’s major waste management problems, Yau asked citizens to continue not asking for plastic shopping bags and to think twice before disposing them off. The fine on plastic shopping bags is the first such scheme implemented under the state’s “Product Eco-responsibility Ordinance”, and covers about 3,000 chain supermarkets, convenience stores and health and beauty stores.
Cutting oil consumption by eco-driving
You can save fuel by avoiding stop-and-go traffic, closing your window, not using air conditioning or coasting toward halts — basically what is coming up as eco-driving.
Research at the University of California Riverside’s College of Engineering Centre for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT) can give you the answers. The research field is called eco-driving, which refers to providing drivers with advice to minimise fuel consumption when driving, according to a university statement.
“This is a really big deal,” said Matthew Barth, the director of CE-CERT and professor of electrical engineering. “Automobile manufacturers are doing anything possible to make cars more fuel efficient.”
In a study last year, a group of drivers in the Riverside area used the eco-driving device, known as Eco-Way, for their daily commute for two weeks. Researchers found it improved fuel economy by six per cent on city streets and one per cent on highways.
Eco-driving studies in Europe, most of them conducted in pre-planned driving courses, have found fuel economy improvements between five and 15 per cent.
A survey provided to the Riverside area drivers found that most are willing to adopt eco-driving practices in the near future. On a one to 10 scale, with 10 being the most likely to adopt, the average score from drivers was 7.4.
Know the emissions of your car and keep it efficient
The cars we use today just keep chocking the life out of our environment. And every time we rev our engines or leave our cars on at traffic signals, we blow up a load of fuel and at the same time, spout out carbon emissions.
Here’s a device to help keep a check on your current car’s emissions. The Eco-Navigator is basically a GPS navigation device with a high- speed Internet access and an Eco-Way mode. This mode plugs into your car’s diagnostic port, and keeps a check on your car’s current miles-per-gallon, throttle position (as a 0-100 per cent), and pounds of CO2 emitted per mile. The device also gives out information on the ideal stats your car should throw up, allowing you to alter the way you drive accordingly and helping increase fuel efficiency!
A smart device that helps you drive smart, the Eco-Navigator is the answer to current day efficiency woes.
Abu Dhabi gets greener
It floats on a sea of oil in a country that has the largest ecological footprint, yet Abu Dhabi aims to convince the world of its environmental credentials with Masdar initiative.
For four years it has gathered developers of clean energy to discuss and exhibit the latest innovations against climate change at its World Future Energy Summit. It will also host the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency.
This week, UN chief Ban Ki-Moon led an army of foreign guests for the summit, praising its bid to promote clean energy. The UAE, a federation of seven Gulf emirates including Abu Dhabi, has the largest per capita carbon footprint.
Masdar, a government initiative to advance renewable energy and sustainable technologies, is building the Zero-carbon Masdar City on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi eco-friendly cities. The development spreading over six square kms got its first residents in October as 175 students the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, developed in cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The city under construction features buildings topped with photovoltaic solar panels and solar power farm. “We have a 10-megawatt photovoltaic system on the site that generates too much electricity (for now) that we have to export to the grid,” Frank Wouters, the director of Masdar Power, told AFP.
UK witnesses large butterflies comeback
Large blue butterflies were driven to extinction in Britain 30 years ago, but now they’re making a comeback, thanks to some loving care from conservationists. Down a track, through beech woods so thick you must turn on your car headlights, lies a secret meadow, full of flowers. Mauve scabious and darker purple knapweed wave their heads in the aftermath of summer thunderstorm. This insect, which baffled conservationists for more than a century because of its strange and wonderful life cycle, became extinct in Britain in 1979. In the following decade, two scientists brought it back to life: Jeremy Thomas, professor of ecology at Oxford University, worked out exactly what it needed to survive; and David Simcox, a conservation consultant for the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, drove his VW Campervan to an island in Sweden, collected some eggs from the large blues that fly there, and released caterpillars in Devon and Somerset, south-west England. The large blue, which is globally endangered, now flies at sites in Somerset in greater numbers than anywhere else in the world.
After pioneering that first ever successful reintroduction of a butterfly driven to extinction in Britain, Thomas and Simcox, with assistance from everyone from the National Trust and Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust to Holland and Barrett, is this summer attempting an ambitious second phase. They want to help the large blue move north, to the Cotswolds, where it hasn’t flown for 50 years. So far, so straightforward, but establishing a new colony of these unique butterflies is an almost unimaginably delicate and labor-intensive operation. If it goes well, this secret site will next year dance with five different species of blue butterfly. It would be pointless, Simcox agrees, if these rare butterflies had nowhere else to go, but this reintroduction is the first step in a landscape-scale project. There are other suitable sites nearby and, with luck, clever land management and the funding to pay for it, this rare butterfly, and other wildlife, will spread naturally, enriching our meadows and animating our summers, without our help at all.