Titebond’s Green Choice Adhesives
Titebond has a complete line of green sealant choices which they market under the name Green Choice Adhesives. From their site:
GREENchoice™ Adhesives were designed to achieve maximum performance with minimum impact to the environment. The solvent-free and low VOC formulas provide a safe and healthy living and working environment. Additionally, corrugate cartridges made from post-consumer recycled material help reduce the impact of waste on the environment.
‘Cool invention helps tired players bounce back’
SFGate.com has an article on a new device which was developed by Stanford biologists that could make steroids a thing of the past. By drawing blood to the hand and cooling it in a chilled device incredible gains were noted in athletes, all without the use of injections. The Glove is definitely a green solution to an age old problem. Now, if someone would just pass this on to those Olympic athletes that seem hell bent on doping. From the article:
Their first “aha” moment in cooling came after they talked their assistant Vinh Cao into doing his regular workouts in the lab instead of at the gym. His routine included 100 pull-ups. One day, Grahn and Heller started using an early version of the Glove to cool him for 3 minutes between rounds of pull-ups. They saw that with the cooling, his 11th round of pull-ups was as strong as his first. Within six weeks of training with the cooling breaks, Cao did 180 pull-ups a session. Six weeks later, he went from 180 to 616.
“I’ll never forget the number 616,” said Heller. “He tripled his capacity in six weeks. We were like, ‘Wait a minute, this is crazy!’ “
Solmetric’s SunEye can output data to Google Earth
Based in Bolinas, Solmetric builds the SunEye which “allows users to assess total potential solar energy given the shading of a particular site” and which can now output geo-tagged data to Google Earth. From the site:
The SunEye also outputs various data files for use in simulation and design programs. When data is taken using the GPS option, all Skylines are geo-tagged, and the locations and data can be output to Google Earth TM. Click here to see a sample file in Google Earth.
‘Cell Towers Go Green with Renewables’
Dailywireless.org has a write-up on cell towers going green. Meraki, an SF based and Google funded company, gets an honorable mention for their low power solutions.
California High-Speed Rail
The California High-Speed Rail system is now a bond measure on the November ballot. It is my understanding that it is the only measure that Governor Schwarzenegger was willing to sign. Proponents claim the rail system will dramatically improve traffic congestion in major metropolitan areas thus reducing vehicle emissions. Round trip between SF and LA will take about 2.5 hours and cost $55. The total cost of the plan is estimated at around $5 billion. In case you don’t know about the proposed system here is a short video I found on YouTube:
Ballotpedia.org has information on California ballot measures 7 and 10
Ballotpedia.org has information regarding propositions 7 and 10 that will be on the November ballot. According to the site:
California Proposition 7, would, if approved, require California utilities to procure half of their power from renewable resources by 2025. In order to make that goal, levels of production of solar, wind and other renewable energy resources will more than quadruple from their current output of 10.9%. [1] It will also require California utilities to increase their purchase of electricity generated from renewable resources by 2% annually to meet Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) [2] requirements of 40% in 2020 and 50% in 2025. Current law AB32 requires an RPS of 20% by 2010.
California Proposition 10, also known as the California Alternative Fuels Initiative, is an initiated state statute that will appear on the November 2008 ballot in California.
Proposition 10 is one of two ballot initiatives focusing on alternative fuels that will appear on the November 4 ballot in California. The other measure, Proposition 7, is sometimes referred to as Big Solar while Prop. 10 is sometimes referred to as Big Wind.
WIRED Science covers the new California Academy of Sciences building
WIRED Science has a new video podcast series with the inaugural show covering the new California Academy of Sciences building in Golden Gate Park. (Click on the image above to be taken to the video page.)
The future of green building?
Gizmodo has an absolutely wild video detailing robotic concrete contruction. With the latest developments in green cement we may soon see green concrete houses that can be built in less than a day.
Solar thieves in Bolinas
The Marin IJ is running a story about solar panels that were stolen from Star Route Farms in Bolinas. The loss totals more than $20,000. (I believe the panels are visible immediately to the right of the placemark in the map above.)
Star Route Farms owner Warren Weber thought he was doing the right thing a few years ago when he invested more than $50,000 in a solar energy system.Never did Weber imagine thieves would walk off with 26 of the 33-pound panels.
But that’s exactly what happened between Aug. 16-18 on the Bolinas organic farm when bandits hauled off about $20,000 in solar panels mounted behind the Bolinas-Stinson Elementary School.
“It was an investment, an asset, something we knew would pay for itself in about seven years,” Weber said. “We wanted to cut our energy costs and our footprint as well.” He installed the panels in October 2005.
Star Route Farms produce can be found at the Marin County Farmers’ Market on Sundays and Thursdays at the Marin Civic Center in San Rafael and at many local restaurants.
KQED’s QUEST has a new video segment covering the California Academy of Science’s new building in Golden Gate Park
I loved the California Academy of Sciences as a kid and now I am thrilled that my 3 year old son will get to enjoy a whole new adventure in the nearly complete hi-tech structure in the heart of Golden Gate Park. We covered an earlier QUEST episode about the new structure a few weeks back and now Craig Rosa, a producer at QUEST, has written to let us know that they have just posted a new episode:
Click the image above to access the video page
