Coffee Beans Growing

The Car Addiction

United States Helps China Harness Methane Gas

Dr. Jonathan Harrington is an associate professor of international relations at Troy University. An experienced teacher and expert on environmental politics and policy, Jonathan has been educating students and the public about environmental issues for more than 15 years. He has published numerous articles and book chapters on environment and development related topics. Fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Dr. Harrington has spent many years living and working in East Asia and has travelled to more than 35 countries. He has hosted, organized and spoken at international conferences in Japan, New Zealand, Hong Kong and the United States.

His most recent book, The Climate Diet (Earthscan 2008), presents a compelling case for the proposition that global warming is in our back yard, is a clear and present danger and will bring even greater suffering to our families, communities and world if we do not take action now. Drawing from his own personal experiences, both at home and overseas, he directly confronts tough questions about how this problem came about and what we can do to overcome it. He offers an optimistic, easy to understand and engaging message; that individuals, organizations and communities can empower themselves to decrease their impact on the climate (and save money). His love for nature and overriding concern about the future of all the “backyards” that he has lived in over the years; Shanghai, London, Hyderabad, Taipei, Tokyo, Honolulu, and Utah among others, are vividly expressed in his book.

Is Your Plastic Really Being Recycled?

In recent years, recycling has become all the rage. Plastic water bottles, excessive packaging, and the horrors of Styrofoam cups have become regular topics of conversation at cocktail parties and around dinner tables. As a matter of course, we dutifully separate aluminum, paper and plastic containers from the 4.5 pounds of solid waste each of us generates daily and assure ourselves that our local neighborhood garbage collector will cleanly and efficiently sort our trash so it can be turned into shiny new products. Unfortunately, much of what we think gets recycled actually ends up in landfills, especially plastics.

Not All Plastics Are Created Equal

Most of us are probably aware that there are many different types of plastics. Most containers are marked with a number that identifies the plastic type. Here is a brief summary of each type and its associated uses:

#1 Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET, PETE): food jars, beverage bottles, microwaveable food trays.

#2 High Density Polyethylene (HDPE): grocery bags, shampoo, detergents, household cleaners, beverage bottles.

#3 Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC, VINYL): deli meat wrap, flexible packaging, clamshells, blister packs, and other rigid packaging.

#4 Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE): shrink wrap, milk carton and beverage cup coatings, container lids, squeezable condiment bottles and bags for newspapers, produce, and garbage.

#5 Polypropylene (PP): margarine and yogurt containers, takeout meals, bottle caps, medicine bottles.

#6 Polystyrene (PS): CD cases, yogurt containers, meat trays, clamshell takeout containers.

#7 Other: juice boxes, oven baking items, reusable water bottles.

‘Recyclable’ vs. Recycled

Most plastic types are technically recyclable. Marketers often add the phrase ‘recyclable’ to their products to ease our concerns about potential environmental hazards. But ‘recyclable’ does not equal recycled. A variety of factors affect recycling rates including government regulation, market demand, variable processing costs, shipping fees etc.. In general, products make entirely out of #1 and #2 plastics are most likely to be recycled while recycling rates for other plastics are much lower. Check with your waste disposal company to find out which plastics they commonly recycle.

Another problem that keeps plastics from being recycled is inadequate or improper sorting by consumers. Many communities have added curbside mixed recycling services to their menu of waste disposal choices. So, what do we do? We throw everything that may be recyclable into the same container with the expectation that our local disposal company will sort out the mess for us. Do you think that the hard working souls that take it upon themselves to sift through the millions of pounds of trash we dump on their doorsteps daily have the time or energy to unscrew every bottle cap (not normally recycled) from their respective #2 bottles or fish through the pile for every wayward plastic bag? We can give them a helping hand by taking our plastic bags and tying them together in one bundle or separating different types of plastics (ex. separate shrink wrap coverings from meat trays) for products that are made of more than one plastic type.

Take Responsibility for Your Own Plastic---or Go Reusable

The only way you can really know that all of your stuff is being processed properly is to do the sorting yourself, take the items to your local recycling center and deposit them into the proper bins. You might even be able to convert some of that plastic into cold, hard cash. Or, better yet, you might want to reduce your need to recycle in the first place by buying fewer packaged or processed products and using reusable bags and containers. While recycling plastic is better than throwing it into landfills, it still takes nonrenewable resources and energy to both produce and dispose of it. Save money and the environment by taking your own bags or containers with you when you go shopping.

Copyright by Dr. Jonathan Harrington, 2008 

More Living Green Tips From Jonathan Harrington:

Why Buy Locally Grown Produce?

Shawn Messonnier--

Most people who suffer from allergies are allergic to a number of foreign proteins (allergens.) These allergens exist in the environment, and often are worse during different seasons of the year. Unfortunately, many people are also allergic to their own pets. Having a pet in a household can actually exacerbate a person's allergies. Rather than simply get rid of the pet as is often recommended by the family doctor, there are several natural approaches you can take that will reduce your allergies to your pet.  

There are two reasons why having a pet in the house can make a person's allergies worse. The first is simply that the person may be allergic to the pet. While the pet’s dander (dead skin cells) and hair can act as allergens, the pet’s saliva can also be highly allergenic. This is especially true if the person shares a house with one or more cats. Because cats constantly groom themselves, they are always transferring their saliva to their skin and hair. Therefore, people are more likely to be allergic to their cats than their dogs. 

A second reason why having a pet can worsen your allergies deals with the physical nature of the pet’s hair and skin. Your pet’s hair acts like a sponge, trapping dirt, bacteria, fungi, dander, house dust mites, pet saliva, bug droppings (especially roach droppings,) molds, and tree and grass pollens. These allergens stay on your pet's skin and hair until they are washed away. The longer they stay on your pet’s skin and hair, the more likely they are to cause your pet to itch. And if you or any family members suffer from allergies or asthma, your pet’s skin and hair serve as an important source of your discomfort until these allergens are washed away.

Knowing how a pet can serve as a constant source of allergens, there are several steps you can take to make your pet less allergenic to you.

First, because your pet’s hair acts like a sponge transferring allergens from the environment to you and your family members, bathing your pet frequently is necessary to keep your family healthy. How often should you bathe your pet? In general, I recommend bathing your pet two to three times per week with a quality certified organic shampoo that is designed for frequent bathing (many shampoos are not designed for frequent bathing and contain harsh chemicals and additives that can actually dry out your pets hair and skin, which will worsen the problem.) While it's not easy for every owner, especially cat owners, to bathe this often, frequent bathing of the family pets is critical for people who suffer from severe allergies.

Second, many integrative veterinarians have had success administering homeopathic acepromazine to the pet. Acepromazine is commonly used as a tranquilizer in veterinary practice. When used as a homeopathic dilution given to the pet each day, many pet owners find that the pet is less allergenic to them. Using these two natural approaches can help reduce allergies in many people, and can often mean the difference between keeping the family pet or having to find it a new home.

More From Shawn Messonnier--

Get The Fat Out!

Prevent Cancer In Your Pet

Blood Transfusions For Pets?

Cut Costs On Expensive Unnecessary Pet Care

Croston’s commitment to a more sustainable planet starts at home, in San Diego, where he lives with his wife and two daughters. Their lifestyle includes a hybrid car, solar panels, compact fluorescent light bulbs, and composting.

Croston is a member of Union of Concerned Scientists, NRDC, Sustainable Conservation and Environment California. He is also the founder of Starting Up Green.

Before 75 Green Businesses , Croston wrote and published several books in the biochemistry field.

The news is full of financial chaos. Every day we enter frightening new territory we thought impossible a few days earlier. Last Thursday WAMU failed. Now a $700 billion bailout is needed we’re told. What will tomorrow bring?

And yet there is more going on the world than just this, and the news is not all bad.

I was at the 2008 West Coast Green conference in San Jose, California last week. Inside the show there was a whole different story happening than what was happening outside in the news. The Convention Center was full of thousands of people focused on every aspect of green building and broader issues of the green business movement. Outside, the news is scary, dominated by fear of this crisis and where it might lead. Inside the convention hall the mood was hopeful, forward-looking, with people busy building businesses and working on solutions for the environment and the economy. The difference is striking, extraordinary really – what’s going on here?

Are the green folks delusional? Wide-eyed dreamers? Don’t they see what’s happening?

I think they do. We all know the story. There is fear in the air and serious problems to be dealt with, but beyond the financial crisis of today there are pressing long-term issues to be addressed in the environment and economy, and massive opportunities for entrepreneurs who can solve them. Greening our buildings is a great place to start. Some will say that green buildings are an expensive luxury we cannot afford right now, but now more than ever we cannot afford to waste energy. Energy is expensive and money is tight – we need to be smart with money and energy, getting greener than ever. Greening our buildings is a smart business move and provides huge opportunities for businesses in many fields.

One problem with our buildings is that they waste energy and waste money. We have over 110 million homes in the US, and we throw away billions of dollars on wasted energy every year in our homes. The rising price of energy is driving more homeowners to do something about it, and entrepreneurs to help them. The majority of these homes could be better insulated, and our leaky air ducts can be easily sealed. We don’t see our air ducts or think about them hidden away in the crawl space, but the average air duct leaks 30-40% of the air it carries, and wastes 30-40% of your heating bill in the process. By putting solar panels on top of our buildings we can fight climate change, reduce pollution, build the economy, and keep energy costs stable. Even while we worry about the economy, we are blowing money out the door by not taking simple steps like these.

Another impact of greening our buildings is on productivity. Acclaimed co-author of Natural Capitalism and founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions, Hunter Lovins described at West Coast Green the business case for greening our buildings, including a potential $258 billion increase in productivity due to reduced sick time and other factors.

Sustainable Spaces in San Francisco has grown steadily by helping people waste less power while having healthier more comfortable places to live. Sustainable Spaces home performance retrofitters audit the performance of homes for their efficiency, looking at their insulation, windows, appliances, air ducts, lighting, weatherstripping, and all of the other factors that affect how well homes perform. They work closely with the homeowner to fashion the plan that makes the most sense for them, finding the most energy efficient and cost effective solution while maintaining comfort. Pratap Mukherjee, the CEO at Sustainable Spaces, reports that “business is better than ever.” Developing a set of best practices, they are working to take this solution nationwide.

Our energy goes down the shower drain in the hot water that briefly hits our body before heading for the sewer. Ecodrain of Montreal, Canada has developed plumbing hardware to change this, capturing the heat from water as it goes down the drain. The Ecodrain heat exchanger is installed beneath the shower, taking the hot water and using it to heat cold water headed for the shower head. Looking to scale up production and partner with builders, they may soon be bringing their product to the US as another way to make our homes more efficient.

Agilewaves has developed the Resource Monitor to measure how much gas, water, and electricity our buildings use, how much this costs us and what kind of impact it’s having on the environment. Founded by three NASA scientists, they place sensors on each of these systems in a building and feed constant data from these sensors to a centralized real-time display of how the building is doing. The display can be on a computer screen at home, a smart phone, or other device. The information in a monthly bill does not do much to help consumers use energy or water more efficiently, but AgileWave already has feedback from customers that real-time information can change the decisions they make throughout the day, helping them use resources more wisely and save money in the process.

The energy efficiency solution is as simple as turning off the lights when nobody is in a room, but bad habits like leaving lights on can be hard to change. An easy answer is to install sensors connected to light switches, making the lights turn off automatically. Wattstopper makes a variety of occupancy sensors that turn off lights when nobody is in a room, working with sensors detecting heat or motion that are selected for each unique circumstance in a home or business. They have been building their business for years with these products, supported in part by expanding green building standards encourage the installation of efficiency measures.

Green Key Real Estate in San Francisco is working with home owners, green or not, to help more of our buildings to go green. Their business is not just about buying and selling green homes, but about working with homeowners to let them know about the opportunity that greening their homes offers.

There’s a connection between the financial crisis and the environmental crisis - the ceaseless focus on the short term, and a denial of the long term consequences. At West Coast Green Al Gore described how ignoring the risks in the subprime mortgage market was similar to how we continue ignoring the risk created by pumping billions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere every day.

But we are not just faced with problems, but with opportunities to take action now and change the world. A growing number of consumers and entrepreneurs are doing just that. They see what lies ahead, and the opportunity that lies before us to take a different track. They question the assumption that nothing can be done or that taking action will be too costly, a drag on the economy. Building businesses that green our buildings is a great way to do well even in a down economy, making money, growing our economy, and helping the environment at the same time. “Those who make it first to the future,” by leading the way in green economy, “Will be the billionaires of tomorrow,” said Hunter Lovins at the meeting. Not a bad deal. Greening our buildings requires thinking of the long term, investing in our homes, our futures and the planet. But when the current financial crisis fades, and our lives continue the planet will still be here and we’ll still be living on it, hopefully in a green and prosperous world. 

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Green Opportunities in The Food Industry

by Kelly Jad'on

Book Review: Green Goes With Everything: Simple Steps To a Healthier Life and a Cleaner Planet by Sloan Barnett (Atria Books, 2008)

Sloan Barnett is a mom on a mission. Because her son was diagnosed with asthma, now at epidemic numbers, she  began to research the disease. Ms. Barnett, the Green Editor of KNTV, and a contributor to NBC’s Today Show, is also a television and print journalist. She found that asthma has skyrocketed 160% since 1980 to 9 million children under age 18 diagnosed. Asthma is the most chronic disease affecting 1 of every 13 school-aged children in the United States.

While researching and interviewing doctors, toxicologists, and scientists, Ms. Barnett discovered six epidemiological studies which have found a link between certain cleaning products and asthma. Unapologetically, Ms. Barnett switched all cleaners in her home to the Shaklee brand and never again needed to take her son to the emergency room with an asthma attack.

Green Goes With Everything covers all aspects of a chemically-free home:

• Household Cleaners: focuses on which products to avoid and which to use for less chemical exposure
• The body: perfumes, makeup, deodorant, hair care products, etc.
• Water: addresses bottled versus tap issues
• Air: pollution occurs in the home from chemical-laden products
• Energy: develops thoughts around recycling and conservation
• Food: special notice given to the organic industry
• Baby: this is where it all begins and ends—“My two oldest children are both allergic to nuts. My third child, who was raised in a nontoxic home, eating only organic formula and food, recently tested allergy free. Look, I can’t be certain that our new lifestyle is the reason this baby is allergy free, but it sure does make you think.”—Sloan Barnett

Further Highlights:

• The European Union bans more chemicals than the U.S. “The levels of PBDEs in American mothers were anywhere from 10-100% higher than in mothers in Europe.” (PBDEs—common flame retardants found in household goods—mattresses, furniture, carpet padding, etc..)
• The author had her own bloodwork done at Harvard School of Public Health to show the level of toxins in her body compared with the U. S. Average Level.
• The book is backed by several pages of researched notes.
• It includes a substantial resource guide of companies that create chemical-free products.
• Each chapter begins with five green tips and some plain green truths.

If you’re unsure about what’s safe to use or put into your home, your children have allergies and/or asthma, or you’re planning to have a baby, this book is your manual. Green Goes With Everything can help you make a difference in the quality of your home and the lives of your children. Take it from me, the mother of a son who was once diagnosed with allergies to almost all foods and pollens. I too created a clean home for my family.

A BestSeller Review

5 Stars

For the first effort, funded by the Defense Sciences Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), RTI has received $1 million for the initial 12 months of work. The total value, if all phases of the development program are completed, could be up to $5.8 million. As part of this project, the RTI-led team will develop new materials and devices that operate across a broad temperature range – from 0^o C to about 700^o C, to achieve the goal of near 30 percent energy conversion efficiencies.

Achieving such efficiencies would lead to dramatic applications in DoD Army, Navy, and Air Force systems as well as in the commercial arena. For example, such a technology can pave the way for improving the fuel-efficiency of automobiles by almost 20 percent and can also lead to efficient energy harvesting for electronics.

"Since about 60 percent of the world’s energy from fossil fuels is wasted as heat, there is a considerable interest in converting even a fraction of this heat into useful electric power for significant savings in overall fuel-efficiency," said Rama Venkatasubramanian, Ph.D., principal investigator for the project at RTI and director of RTI’s Center for Solid State Energetics. "We are excited about the opportunity to collaborate with several outstanding research universities in this new DARPA program to make further advancements in nanoscale thermoelectric materials."

RTI’s research partners include California Institute of Technology, North Carolina State University, Purdue University, Ames Lab of Iowa State, University of California Riverside and University of Delaware as well as United Technologies Research Corporation.

This effort builds on a previously DARPA-funded initiative called Direct Thermal Energy Conversion (DTEC) in which RTI scientists achieved major improvements in device efficiencies and power densities for thermoelectric power conversion as well as demonstrated several early-stage applications of the technology.

The developments from this DTEC program already offer opportunities in wide-ranging applications from sensor power to increased fuel-efficiency in diesel generators to replacing heavy auxiliary power in many aerospace systems.

The second project worth $1.3 million over three years, seeks to improve the fuel-efficiency of the U.S. Army’s portable diesel generators using thermoelectric technologies. It is sponsored by the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP).  SERDP is the Department of Defense’s environmental science and technology program, which is planned and executed in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy.

"We are targeting a fuel-efficiency improvement of as much as 10 percent in diesel generators in this SERDP program, leveraging some of the DTEC-developed thermoelectric materials and device technologies," said Chris Caylor, Ph.D., of RTI, the principal investigator of this SERDP project.

RTI’s previous research in nanoscale superlattice materials, developed with DARPA support, resulted in a spin-off of the thermoelectric technology company, Nextreme Thermal Solutions, in December 2004. As part of the transaction, Nextreme acquired certain intellectual property rights in thin film thermoelectric from RTI. Since 2004, Nextreme has developed manufacturing methods and begun sampling thin-film thermoelectric modules with a variety of commercial customers in optoelectronics, electronics cooling and power generation applications.

Meanwhile, scientists at RTI have continued to advance the nanoscale materials as well as other materials and device technologies to develop power generation technologies for a wide range of temperatures and heat sources.

Related Energy Posts--

The Need For Regional Energy Policy

Author, journalist and public speaker Nancy S. Grant’s newest book, The Pocket Idiot’s™ Guide to Your Carbon Footprint, offers clear explanations of the science and technology behind today’s energy headlines, concise definitions of energy terms, plus practical tips for using energy more wisely in all activities, whether at home, school, work, or play.

A freelance journalist since 1986, Nancy S. Grant researches, writes and speaks about a full range of energy issues, from electricity generation, distribution and reliability, to emerging energy technology, environmental impacts and the carbon cycle, as well as global access to energy supplies and changes in demand for all forms of energy.

Since 2002, Grant’s written the monthly “Future of Electricity” column for Kentucky Living magazine, a publication of the Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives. Her energy columns recently received 2^nd place honors at the 2008 Cooperative Communicators Association Institute in Portland, Maine.

As I travel to energy conferences and seminars this autumn I’ve been playing a make-believe game in my mind. On my way to an event, I try to guess how many times I’ll hear the same three phrases that bounce around with mind-numbing regularity.

I call it “Green Buzzword Baseball.”

Here’s how it works.

When I pick up my packet at the registration table I scan the printed program. Any person whose speech title contains one of the dreaded phrases is automatically out, before he or she even steps up to the podium.

The first panelist during a break-out session who answers a question from the moderator or audience member with one of these over-used slogans is out, too – it’s the equivalent of a pop-up fly ball right into the shortstop’s glove.

If the keynote speaker manages to say all three overworked phrases into his or her talk in the first ten minutes, he or she strikes out. Whoosh. That’s it. The inning’s over.

Today, far too much of our conversation about energy issues consists of tossing bumper sticker phrases back and forth, instead of delving into the details.

What I’d like to do right now is trade in my clip-on nametag and the list of tomorrow’s session schedules for a bag of peanuts and a blank scorecard, then watch as many innings as I can find on tv.

But I’m won’t. Instead, I’m going to spend the rest of this evening studying my notes from last week, marking up the handouts with highlighters, and getting ready for the next conference that starts tomorrow.

Lean in here and watch over my shoulder – together we can take a quick look to check out how much real progress is being made behind the buzzwords and bumper sticker phrases.

The “perfect storm” metaphor

Sebastian Junger’s book about a true disaster in the North Atlantic Ocean was published in 1997, the movie came out in 2000, and I started hearing this devastating scenario comparison used for our energy problems eighteen months ago.

Within the electric utility industry, for example, a combination of narrowing reserves, an aging infrastructure of power plants, transmission lines and distribution systems, plus pressures to accommodate non-fossil fuels into the way electricity is  generated, are all overlapping. These are just three of the serious problems that need to be fixed, they’re converging to make real trouble that’s going to be here pretty quickly, and trying to pick a priority is tough. What can we do to avoid  disaster?

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), a non-profit group with about 800 members from all segments of the electric utility business, began asking the tough questions in 2006. EPRI asked the people who do the daily work to keep our power system running smoothly for their answers. Just exactly how could technology help us solve the greenhouse gas emissions problems that everybody’s talking about?

In early 2007 EPRI released its report. The answers are eye-openers. The PRISM report (in reference to the colorful illustration on the report’s cover) explores seven areas with real potential to move us forward to solve the energy problems we have today, and head away from the swirling storms that are just over the horizon.

I’ve spent most of the last year researching and reporting on the PRISM report – you can read my preliminary overview here,  my concluding summary here (which includes links to the individual articles about the advances in each kind of technology), or a multi-page FAQ of the PRISM report here.

In the United States we do have a lot of energy problems --- and most of them are getting worse while we’re talking about them. All around the globe people in different countries are struggling with their own sets of energy problems. While we’re worrying about which kind of light bulb or ice-making refrigerator is the most energy efficient, there are thousands of villages with no electricity and no clean drinking water at all.

In The Perfect Storm, everybody on the boat dies. A lot of different circumstances converged to make being on that boat in that place on that day into a deadly combination with no escape possible.

Yes, there are a lot of different problems and pressures in various energy sectors that are going to make our lives even more difficult in the near future than they already are.

But, no, what happens to us is not inevitable.

What’s coming is not a perfect storm. I think it’s the perfect opportunity to prove that good things can happen when no idea is discarded because at first glance it looks too expensive or too enormous or too time-consuming to start on it now and see it through to the end.

Let’s leave “perfect storm” out of our conversations and move on.

Enough already with the “low hanging fruit”

I don’t know when this way of picturing the easiest answers to tough problems entered the discussion, but I’m sure tired of wandering around in the orchard.

Just the other day yet another speaker placed his hands firmly on each side of the podium top, leaned forward ever so slightly to better connect with the audience, and said ever so earnestly, “Energy efficiency is the low hanging fruit in the struggle to lower greenhouse gas emissions. It’s right in front of us, and as simple as reaching out to turn off the lights when you leave the room.” Yup, he did take his hand off the podium and pretend to pick an apple.

If I save a watt here and you save a watt there, and everybody in our town joins us we might save one kilowatt today, maybe one megawatt this month. We might save several megawatts during the whole year.

But the total electric energy consumption in the United States is measured in gigawatts – one gigawatt is one billion watts. If you want to talk about global electricity usage, you’ll have to take things up a notch to terawatts – each one of those is one trillion watts.

Energy efficiency is very important. Most speakers couple the “low hanging fruit” imagery with the idea that immediate steps toward increased energy efficiency will help buy us time while we work on the solutions to the larger problems. And it will – for a short while.

If we want to keep with this metaphor, does that mean the other solutions are the fruits at the top of the tree? Are they out of reach? Where we can get a stepstool? Should we start building some bigger and better ladders?

The truth is that we’ve been working on the other solutions for quite some time. Each idea goes through a predictable growing season, if you want to stay in the orchard a bit longer. First there’s the research –call it planting the seed. Then there’s the development – call it adding water and sunshine and fertilizer to grow the idea into something useful. Then there’s deployment – when the idea is ripe and ready, pluck it and figure out how to get it into the market where people can use it.

Quickly, I can think of three places where this kind of nurturing of energy ideas is a well-established routine, places that are producing all kinds of energy ideas that are ripening quickly. Some are already moving out of the orchard to tests in the real world.

At the University of Kentucky’s Center for Applied Energy Research detailed programs are underway investigating the geology required for the underground storage of carbon dioxide, better and cleaner ways to use coal, and many other innovations. At North Carolina State University faculty and students are working on everything from solar power to sweet potatoes (might be useful as part of a biofuel] to better batteries. Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, one of ten facilities in the US Department of Energy’s network, are investigating improvements for fuel cells and a form of energy-efficient lighting known as OLEDs – organic light-emitting diodes.

When you visit these websites and go exploring, sign up for news bulletins about their latest research projects and findings. If you or your company wants to help fund research or suggest something new to investigate, send them an e-mail. Maybe you could help build the ladders to the goodies at the top of the energy tree.

Our patriotic duty?

Next time I hear that “green is the new red, white and blue” I plan to start humming Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” You know, the march where everybody stands up for the last repeat and claps along in time with the band. It’ll be a lot more fun than listening to whatever oratorical flourishes the speaker has to add about “energy independence” and “keeping our American dollars right here for American jobs.”

Of course we want to have as much energy as possible that can come from American sources – it’s the logical conclusion to the “shop locally” mantra for greener living.

But curiously, this bit about our need to work together as a nation for the good of the nation is often coupled with something about how we ought to be more like some other country.

Last week it was Denmark, a world leader in wind technology. Denmark is a country of 16.6 thousand square miles. My home state, Kentucky, covers 39.7 thousand square miles. My medium-sized state out of the 50 is two and half times bigger than the entire country of Denmark. The land area of the whole United States is three and a half million square miles.

We can learn a lot from Denmark where wind power is important, and we can learn a lot from France (211 thousand square miles) where nuclear power plays a big role. But we can’t be exactly like Denmark or France or any other country you care to suggest.

A national American energy policy would be nice – we’ve had them before as a sort of roadmap of wishful thinking with a few bits of nuts and bolts and practical details and the authorization to spend dollars thrown in. But these political documents tend to have a short life span. They’re subject to amendment and revision, and often don’t take regional differences into account.

And do we really need the federal government reaching in to our wallets again to take tax money out then give it away to somebody else with a pet energy project? Would we have a better chance for success if we tackle local and regional problems first?

When I return from the next energy event, I’ll give you the box scores for that week’s Energy Buzzword Baseball game. And then we can talk about recognizing the regional energy differences I just mentioned and putting them to good use.

Liked the post?  Read more from Nancy Grant--

How Will We Pay For Energy Improvements?

Who Will Write Our New Energy Laws?

I just watched NY Times columnist Tom Friedman, author of Hot, Flat and Crowded.

Call me paranoid, call me too conspiracy/Oliver Stone minded, but…

Do you believe that in order to compete successfully, oil companies, auto companies, etc. have suppressed or bought up competing intellectual property that might have threatened their market dominance and control? If you do believe it, then isn’t it possible that these companies already possess the rudimentary, if not further developed technologies to use alternative sources of energy?

For instance, at the risk of being naive and ill informed, I cannot imagine that there haven’t been already developed theories/technologies to utilize two forces necessary to life and to this planet’s existence, namely solar energy and gravitational pull (look how we depend on the latter to whip explorer missions past planets toward other planets).

In order to compete effectively in the future, if not survive through the present, we might want to have energy companies, auto companies and any other companies that may have suppressed competition (to increase barriers to entry) open their vaults or memories to what they have shredded.

If the above is true, the energy crisis has already been solved, but the solution is being withheld. All that remains is to implement the solution.

Louis Brandeis wrote: “Sunlight is the greatest disinfectant.”

It may turn out to also be the road to our survival and salvation.

I think survival trumps profit. I think calming the fear of the many trumps feeding the greed of the few. Don’t you agree? What do you think? 

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Newt Gingrich: Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less

Ralph Nader Protests Big Oil

On the Eve of a New Election, Former Vice President Al Gore Leads the Way

by Kelly Jad'on

Book Review: Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less—A Handbook For Slashing Gas Prices And Solving Our Energy Crisis (Regnery Pub., 2008) by Newt Gingrich

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich follows up his American Solutions project, founded 2007, with a hot new book, Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less. He hopes to stem the tide of partisan politics and create a unified country stance on energy solutions.

Gingrich begins with main points:

• We have more energy sources than any other country in the world. Out shale resources in the Rocky Mountains alone are three times the size of Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves (world’s largest).
• We have 27% of the world’s coal.
• We have huge potential in harnessing wind power.
• We have enormous opportunities in solar power.
• We have the largest number of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs of any country in the world.

His premise, “If we adopt the right strategies and implement sound policies, we can ignore the dictators of the world and never again have to beg another country to help us get energy.” Gingrich blames left-wing politicians for their anti-coal, --oil, --nuclear policies.

Our policies and their relation to energy costs in the United States effect all Americans. Around the globe, high energy costs raise the price of fertilizer and food transportation, actually leaving the poor in developing countries hungrier.

Our national security Gingrich writes, is also affected negatively. Back in July 2006, Hezbollah (almost certainly backed by Iran) attacked Israel, a United States ally. On July 7^th the cost of a barrel of crude oil was $74.16, by July 14^th, it had risen to $77.03. This Gingrich says was a $2.87 increase, which amounted to almost $3 billion more a year for the Iranian dictatorship to spend on rockets for arming Hezbollah. Oil spikes bring in more revenue for the Iranians, allowing them to build nuclear weapons. 

In the United States 249 million cars and trucks rely on gas and diesel fuel, and our airlines require aviation fuel.  Gingrich has outlined steps to move the United States out of the energy crisis and lead the world in new clean energy sources.  First, drill for oil here, utilizing the resources already available and enabling our country to be economically viable.  Though that oil won't be available immediately, just the fact that we'll be drilling at home will begin to reduce costs.  Then we must develop alternative energy solutions which will lower costs and keep the environment clean.

Dr. Shawn Messonnier, DVM the host of the weekly award-winning radio show, "Dr. Shawn-The Natural Vet" on Martha Stewart Radio (Sirius 112 Tues 8-10 PM EST and Sat 9-11AM EST) sits on the advisory board of the Journal Veterinary Forum, and is a holistic pet columnist for Animal Wellness, Body + Soul, and Veterinary Forum. In addition to serving clients in his Paws & Claws Animal Hospital, he has written several books on the natural care of pets, including The Natural Health Bible for Dogs & Cats, The Allergy Solution for Dogs, 8 Weeks to a Healthy Dog, and most recently Preventing and Treating Cancer In Dogs.  He is also the creator of a new line of organic pet products, Dr. Shawn's Pet Organics (www.Dr.Shawnspetorganics.com)

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) is predicting the possibility of a national shortage of veterinarians in the next few years, especially in rural areas. While demand for veterinarians is increasing, supply is decreasing. There is stiff competition for entrance into the 28 veterinary colleges in the US, but only a few students (often 100 students or less) are accepted each year into the professional curriculum. More than half of the students are now female students, whereas in the past the majority of students entering the veterinary colleges were male. Many of these female students will only work part time hours upon graduation or only work for a years until they leave the profession and become full-time housewives and mothers. As a result, there will be fewer full-time veterinarians entering into and staying in the profession.

In the past, many veterinarians worked until their 70s or 80s, often working until they passed away, forgoing retirement. Now however, as more veterinarians want quality family time, they seek to retire at a more reasonable age similar to those in other professions. This will also add to the expected shortage of veterinarians.

The number of companion animal pets (especially dogs and cats) continues to grow each year. Additionally, pet owners are spending more money on pet care each year. These owners expect to find veterinarians conveniently located close to their homes and able to offer the same types of medical services available in the human health market.

Finally, the fastest-growing segment of the pet care and human health care markets is integrative medicine, often called alternative medicine. More people are turning away from conventional therapies and turning towards alternative therapies for their health care as well as their pets’ health care. Sadly, few veterinary schools are teaching their students integrative medicine, which means graduates of veterinary colleges will not be properly equipped to meet the demands of their clients.

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