Green Talk™ » automobiles

The Green Audi Commercial Poll Results

Green Talk — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:29:42 +0000

Remember, the Super bowl Green Audi commercial? A week ago, I asked if this commercial upset you, made you laugh, or just chucked it up to another consumption based keeping up with the Jones type commercial. (If you want to see the video, see here.)

I decided to put a poll on the side bar of my website to see if I could elicit more responds. Only 11 of you responded. Well, 10 of you. I was the one who voted that environmentalists are nuts to see if anyone would join me. Not even the spammers joined in.

The final tally?

9 thought it was hilarious. See greenies have a great sense of humor.

1 said that environmentalists are nut. That was me trying to stir up trouble.

1 said consumption offends them. Alright! Way to go speak your mind, solo voter.

Zero voted that they did not have an opinion. Kind of figured that would be the case. Everyone has an opinion.

So, last chance. What did you really think. Don’t hold back. Bring it on.

What part of the video did you think was the funniest?Similar Posts:

Were you Offended by the Super Bowl Green Audi Commercial?

Green Talk — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 05:26:13 +0000

To be honest, I did not watch any the commercials for the Super Bowl. Yeah, I go to the party, but to talk and eat. I guess football is still king and none of my family even talked about the commercials. Someone murmured something about Betty White and a green commercial, but it just didn’t register.

I caught a glimpse of some of the commercials on the View especially of Betty White, but nothing about a green commercial. Today, I saw the You Tube version on Jennifer Chait’s article on BlissTree.

I found it hilarious. If my kids will tell you that I am the eco-police. I turn off lights, which are left on all over the house, take plastic and rotten apples out of the garbage for my composter, turn off all the surge protectors before I go to bed, and try and reuse everything I have.

The New York Times in their run down of the Super Bowl commercials stated:

“AUDI Officious “green police” punish citizens who are not sufficiently eco-conscious, but an owner of an Audi A3 TDI with clean-diesel technology drives away scot-free. This misguided spot put the “mental” in “environmental.”

So, readers were you insulted, thought it was funny, or think all environmentalists are nut jobs? Why? You can be honest. I won’t take it personally. Remember, I thought the commercial was funny.

See my poll on the side bar. Let’s see what everyone thought.

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Ford Escape Hybrid, A Big Ride with Green Ties

Green Talk — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:17:45 +0000

A year ago my lease was up and I struggled with leasing or buying a new car. I was limited to a large car since there are six in my family. I drove almost every SUV, Crossover, and regular car that I could find that fit within my parameters. I hated all of them. I felt like Goldilocks. The seats were too uncomfortable, the Prius has a spoiler in my vision, and others drove like trucks. I ended up buying my minivan after its lease expired. (Read my saga here).

One of my readers suggested that I look at the Ford Escape Hybrid . I obviously missed that car in my search. Well, my chance came when a local car dealer sponsored a fundraiser to help a high school. For every parent who test drove a car, the company would donate a certain amount of money to the school. I had already gained a new respect for Ford after I interviewed Deborah Mielewski, the Polymer Technical Leader of Research and Advanced Engineering at Ford Motor Company about Ford’s green initiatives. (Read the interview here or listen to the podcast. You will be equally impressed.) Off I went to test drive the Ford Escape!

So, what were my thoughts after driving the Ford Escape? I loved it. The seat rated an A plus in my eyes for comfort. I am used to my captain chair seat in my mini van. The Ford Escape’s driver seat was equally as comfortable.

I am not the best of drivers and it is important for me to be able to pull easily into a parking space. The tight turning radius onf the Ford allowed me to accomplish this feat. It also drove smoothly.

I even sat in the back seat to see if there was ample leg room for my growing man/child boys. Plenty of room. The middle seat in the back was comfortable as well. Many of the cars that I had tested the middle seat was unbelievely uncomfortable. A real hump.

According to the Company,

Earth-friendly cloth seat fabric is made from postindustrial materials – polyester fibers that would have ended up in landfills otherwise. And the cushions use a bio-based polyurethane foam derived from the oils of soybeans. More than simply “green,” the durable, comfortable and stylish nature of the material also makes it a perfect fit for Escape Hybrid.”

Note, the cushions are not made of 100% soybean oil as I discovered during my interview with Ms. Mielewski; however, the addition of the soy reduces the amount of petroleum based foam used. For more Ford Escape Hybrid green benefits, see here.

Ford also got high marks in my opinion on how their seats folded down for more trunk space.

Best of all this family car gets good gas milage given its size. According to the sticker on the car, you can expect on average 34 miles per gallon in the City and 31 miles per gallon on the highway.

Adding it all up: drives well, green features, good gas milage, and comfortable seats. Sounds like a green win to me.

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Humming the Electric Slide with the BG Electric Car

Green Talk — Fri, 01 May 2009 13:18:46 +0000

We have a love affair with cars. They create our identity (think emasculating big trucks or sexy mid-life crisis sport cars.) We sing about them (think “Little Red Corvette” or “Mustang Sally.”) So if I were to sing about BG Automotive Group’s C100 Electric Car, the first song that comes to mind for this 4 door-Hatchback car would absolutely be the song, “the Electric Slide.”

Just listen to a verse of the song:

“You gotta know it
[It's electric
Boogie woogie, woogie!]
Now you can’t hold it
[It's electric
Boogie woogie, woogie!]
But you know it there,
Yeah here there everywhere “

I know a little sappy but before you start to get out of your seat and start doing the Electric Slide, hear me out. Let’s look at why this song is so appropriate for this car. Listen to the first line: “You got to know it.”

That’s right. You got to know about this car. (See the video above.) Well, for starters it’s a ZEV, which is a zero emission vehicle which runs on electricity instead of gas. Good for the wallet at only 2 cents per mile based upon a 11 cents per kilowatt cost rather than the normal $2 a gallon of gasoline. ($2 this week. Who knows what gas will cost tomorrow. It is like keeping up with a the moods of a teenage girl. Do I need to explain this?)

Now, throw in four doors for all of your friends and the following creature features: six way adjustable front seats, front wheel drive, dual air bags, power steering and brakes, i Pod docking center, rear folding seats, Hackback, and AM/FM radio. (Yeah, it has air conditioning and heat. This is not a golf cart, people.)

It can travel on roads with a speed limit not to exceed 45 mph, depending on your state regulations, which is great for some of us who travel mostly around the town rather than do any serious highway travel.

How about “It’s Electric?”

We know that it is a NEV, which is a neighborhood electric vehicle, but this car has inner beauty. The car ranges from 60-120 miles on a charge based upon the driving conditions, load capacity, and battery configuration. In addition, it charges from a regular 110 or 220 volt outlet. Plug and roll, baby.

“But you know it is there.”

According to study done by the Greener Car Institute, a not for profit, who partnered with the City of Chula Vista, the Institute found that 9 out of 10 trips taken in a NEV were ones that would ordinarily be taken in a car or truck.

“The study results are important because they quantify the value of the NEV as a viable transportation and land use tool. In fact, it appears that NEVs have the potential to help shape the way cities and communities grow by increasing individual mobility while decreasing traffic congestion and air pollution.”

“Yeah here there everywhere ”

Priced at $15,995 to $17,955 for the deluxe version, this DOT approved NEV will be everywhere especially given its environmental attributes. According to another study prepared by the Greener Car Institute based upon 10,000 NEV owner assumptions :

“In summary, California NEV users account for:
· 7.98 million cold starts eliminated per year.
· 26.46 million one-way zero-emission trips taken per year.
· 12.58 million zero-emission miles traveled per year.
· 64.7% replacement of personal or company-provided internal
combustion engine vehicle trips with NEV trips.”

Talk about taking a bite out of emission elimination! So, can you buy one now? According to the website, sales for these cars are anticipated to commence Spring, 2009.

I have held off on writing this article for some time because I wanted to drive the car before I wrote about it. BG Automotive Group’s headquarters are in Philadelphia which is not far from me. In addition, I have been waiting for clarification as to the whether or not this car creates harmful electromagnetic frequencies (EMFs.) See this NY Times’ article about electric hybrids and EMFs. Unfortunately, my emails in the last couple of months have gone unanswered. Perhaps aggressive spam protection? Who knows. Only time will tell when the C100 will be available to the public.

In the meantime, keep humming that tune, “It’s Electric,” because that’s what this little car is. Even the name of the Company, “BG,” reminds me of the Bee Gees. (Don’t get all “Saturday Night Fever” on me now.) Less emissions, less mileage cost, and lots of features. Anyone would be dancing. Boogie woogie, woogie.

Update May 3, 2009

I received the following email from Barry Bernsten, CEO of the Company:

“Anna,

Good morning.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Your article was extremely supportive, and do not think for one minute, that it’s not highly appreciated. Support like yours is critical to the future success of the electric vehicle industry, not just BG.

No it’s not a spam filter holding back your unanswered emails, but it’s me being preoccupied over the past 2 months with negotiations with six states for support to build our manufacturing/assembly facilities around the USA. Needless to say, this is a very capital intensive business and since the Federal Government (DOE) is taking their time (more than 4 months) to evaluate the DOE loan guarantee applications (including BG’s), we had to go to the states for some financial support to move the process along. This is a long and tedious process, but necessary. The DOE has put us 60-90 days behind schedule for production, but we are coming with the C100 in the near future. Unfortunately, Spring has now become July, but that’s not all that bad. We waited 100 years for the resurgence of the electric car, another few months will not be all that detrimental.

I promise to keep you posted on our progress. We hope to be announcing in the next 2 weeks where the 1st assembly facility will be located.”

As for the EMF evaluation, this is on hold for the moment until assembly plant is under way.

Barry, I am going to hold you to your promise to keep Green Talk readers updated.

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Ford’s Green Intiatives. Interview with Ford’s Plastic Tech Leader

Green Talk — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 05:33:49 +0000

Ford’s soy based seat.

Editor’s note: This interview is the transcript for the above podcast. It has been slightly edited to make it more readable. The audio is 20 minutes long. Consider signing up for my podcasts. (Not to be confused with Odiogo, which is a computer generated audio podcast.)

AH: Hi everybody. Welcome to today’s Green Talk Podcast on a snowy January day. It’s frigid cold in New Jersey. My guest today is Deborah Mielewski. She is the Polymer Technical Leader of Research and Advanced Engineering at Ford Motor Company, and she’s here to speak today about Ford Motors Green Initiatives. Welcome Deborah.

DM: Thank you very much for talking with us, Anna.

AH: Give us a little background. I mean that’s a mouthful, you know the Technical Leader, Polymer Research Advanced Engineering. What does this all mean?

DM: I’m not sure I understand my title myself. [Laugh.] I have a Bachelor’s [degree], Master’s and PhD in Chemical Engineering, and I am more of a Research Scientist. I lead a group of Engineers, who develop new novel plastic materials for cars of the future. So, that’s how I see my job. [It is] much simpler than the title.

AH: And how long have you been at Ford?

DM: I’ve been at Ford for twenty-two years. I came with my Bachelor’s degree and the Company put me through school for both the Master’s and PhD.

AH: Tell us a little bit about what are these green initiatives that Ford’s sponsoring.

DM: We are working in about every area that we can find sustainable or bio material to take a look at. We have a project in soy foam, which we launched last year on the 2007 Mustang, but basically it’s incorporating functionalized soybean oil into the cushions and seat backs of our vehicles. We are looking at soy meal and soy flour, the other half of soybean, putting that into Composites or plastics to strengthen it, make it stronger or as a filler. We are looking at natural fiber as filler for plastics to replace heavy glass fiber that we traditionally use. Fibers such as hemp, coconut coir, [and] Indian grass that grows on the sides of the roads in United States [and incorporating] any of those into any of the plastic material. We are also looking at long term plastic resins made entirely from vegetable sugar such as corn, sugarcane, and sweet potatoes.

AH: When you mention the natural material, are any of these being used right now?

DM: We started the soy foam project in 2001, and we launched it in 2007. So, it’s not a really quick and easy process. We are inventing and formulating brand new materials, and in order to put them in the car, you have to pass rigorous, rigorous testing, at high temperature, low temperature and long, long term durability requirements. So the soy foam, we worked on it here in the lab for a good five years formulating it, and we finally got it onto the vehicles in 2007 in the Mustang, and now we have it in six vehicle programs.

AM: And is it something that’s going to be [added] to all of the vehicles down the road?

DM: We’ll it certainly has traveled like wildfire. I mean I haven’t seen a material that went from one vehicle in late 2007 to six Ford vehicles. Here we are at the beginning of 2009. So, I’m really proud of the fact that we now have it in six, and it certainly has the potential to be used in other applications in the vehicle as well. So there’s about 30 pounds of foam on a typical vehicle, and the objective is to get a lot of that replaced with soy-based foam.

AH: Now where did this initiative come from? Did this come from the top? Was it something that your team thought of?

DM: In 2000-2001 when we started the program, Bill Ford was the CEO of the Company, and he’s quite an environmentalist so we knew we would have his support for looking at it. I just became the technical leader of Plastics, and sort of struggling with the bad reputation that plastics have on vehicles. And this is one way to sort of tackle that problem is, to look at the sustainable plastic or plastics that tend to degrade or compose. So, I think we started the project here. We had nothing but positive feedback from our management, and so, that’s why the program was allowed to grow and prosper.

AH: Now tell me a little bit about the team that you work with. They’re all women?

DM: People ask me about that all the time. It’s an interesting coincidence, I think, being in automotive for twenty-two years. I rarely worked with one other woman, and in our case, there are six of us that are working on these materials. All women, different backgrounds, some are chemical engineers, some are chemists, and some are material scientists by training, but it’s quite a passionate group. We all have a similar philosophy about the environment and it has been working out just really well.

AH: Are all of you, moms?

DM: Practically all of us, but the youngest member of the group is yet to be a mom. But, I wouldn’t be surprised if that were to happen at some point. We are pretty much all worried about the next generation, the young people in keeping the Earth clean as we possibly can.

AH: Deborah, can you explain to us, what actually is the soy foam? What is it made of? What percentage is soy? What percentage is foam? How do you go about creating this type of foam?

DM: Okay. That’s a very good question. The current traditional seating material that people have in their vehicles is made 100% from petroleum fossil fuel and a non-renewable starting material. And what we did was try to incorporate a portion of hydrolyzed or functionalized soybean oil [into the cushions]. [sic] Even though the cushions as they stand are not a 100% soy, when we started, it was quite an accomplishment to get a drop of soy material into these foams, and still have it meet all of the stringent requirements that we have to. We worked and worked on formulation and with the Mustang, we launched with about 12% of the polyols being replaced by soy. Our objectives within the group are to continue to push the envelope and get more and more soy material into those cushions and other foam applications as well.

AH: What were the problems that you encountered in creating these cushions?

DM: Our initial problems were, the soybean oil reacts more slowly than petroleum based molecule does, and so we had to completely revamp the formulation, adjust catalyst level, adjust blowing agents, change materials to balance those chemical reactions so that the foam wouldn’t just collapse. The other major technical issue was the odor of the soybean materials. It had sort of a rancid popcorn smell, which obviously could not be in a vehicle with the windows up in higher temperatures.

AH: Deborah, one of my questions is when you are using soy as a product, how does that impact the cost of food because soy is in a lot of food products?

DM: That’s a very good question. When we started working on this project, the United Soybean Board came and visited Ford Motor Company, and they talked about the fact that there’s actually an excess of soy beans in the Midwest currently, and there are many acres that were unfarmed. They have a division that actually looked for new applications for soy materials. So, I don’t see it, especially our materials development affecting the price of food in the near future. But one thing I wanted to make sure everybody understood, these chemistries … they are very, very flexible. You can always move to another starting material. So, if you don’t want to use soybean oil, you can use Canola oil in different part of the world where that’s in excess and you wouldn’t affect food prices.

AH: One other question that I had is, I know, I’m very confused about bio-degradable versus compostable. Can you just give us a brief explanation of what that means and what you see that we need in this country to be able to make that a reality?

DM: I think the confusion is there and it should be there because right now we have our standard compost piles in our backyard and everybody understands what that does, breakdowns materials. But as far as durable plastic materials that continue to be developed and utilized, you may need a certain type of microbe to trigger your breakdown of the material, and so that’s something that we are looking at. You want the material to very, very, very durable, and all of a sudden throw it in the compost pile and have it fall apart. You’ll need special triggers probably to do this. So, facilities would have to be generated that will bio-degrade automotive plastics.

AH: Is Ford working on that at all with the state of Michigan, to get a facility like that?

DM: We haven’t made any of those hookups at this point because frankly we don’t have the ultimate key to having these materials stay durable and fall apart. That’s sort of the focus of the work right now. Once we do, then we can think about having facilities that will actually take the materials back and break them down.

AH: Hopefully that will come soon because it seems like the industry is pretty ahead of its time with making bio-degradable, compostable products. The facilities just don’t seem to exist. So, hopefully our governments will start getting aboard … [meaning our] state governments and pushing for these facilities to be open.

DM: I agree. Its brand new novel materials, brand new chemistry, and we are going to need support to make it all work and make it work for the environment.

AH: Deborah, I was reading on the web the other day that soy has played a history in Ford for awhile. Did you ever hear about that with Henry Ford?

DM: Yeah. Henry Ford was the obsessed with soybean research. He had a lab here at the Fair Lane Estate that’s still standing there. He served meals where every single course had soy in it. He wore ties that were made of soy fibers. He was totally fascinated. And I think his main objective was, he felt the partnership between the industry and agriculture, was really, really important. We are starting to think that, in fact he was right, that this partnership between farmers and industry can be a real advantage, and using farmers’ crops in our vehicles is a great idea.

(Lincoln MKR concept with soy-foam based seats wrapped in cashmere leather made with using an environmentally friendly chromium-free process.)

AH: Let’s go back to the soy seat again. Who’s actually making the soy product for you?

DM: We do not make the seats here at Ford Motor Company. We purchase them and put them in our vehicles, but we worked with Lear Corporation to develop the soy seats in the Mustang, and now all our suppliers have a soy-based foam offering. So, after it was demonstrated that it could be done, most of the suppliers now have a product that they have available.

AH: I don’t know if you know this, but has increased employment in any areas of the US because of using these soy based seats?

DM: No. I think we are pretty much replacing petroleum. I don’t know in fact that it has increased any employment within the automotive industry. Now, maybe we increased the amount of soybean grown or utilized. The soy cushions are being used in the furniture industry….the office furniture industry. So we are talking to a lot of people on how to do this in other applications as well.

AH: One of the things that my listeners are pretty worried about is toxic ingredients in their products. Are there any flame retardants, solvents or other VOC’s in the padding?

DM: No, the seat cushions’ polyurethane generally does not have flame retardants. It’s self extinguishing, and it’s not necessary in them. And in the soy-based foam that we launched, we actually had a low VOC surfactant incorporated into the formulation so it lower in volatiles than other foams are.

AH: I wanted to tell my listeners that there’s this terrific You Tube video that’s very short, and it depicts everything that we are talking about today. Tell us a little bit about that video.

DM: Well, it’s been crazy, because if you kind of look at our group, we sort of view ourselves as a bunch of nerdy women, and we’re in the labs, and we are actually mixing chemicals together and making measurements. So, when people talk about scheduling someone to come in with the camera, and do camera work at our group, we were just kind of really surprised about that. But we spent the day with some camera people, and they videoed foams rising in the cup. Just the stuff that we do every single day here in the lab and it is kind of interesting to watch.

AH: Was this done into a commercial as well?

DM: Oh yes. Last March, I was notified by email that they were do a national commercial on the bio materials work. The very next day I think someone picked myself and my family up, and we ended up in California in a limo…the celebrity thing, and we shot a commercial one day. It was just a really, really strange experience for a nerd like me, anyway.

AH: Does your team have a name, like a nickname? Are you guys the bionic women?

DM: Actually we’ve heard, it’s tossed around, and we’ve seen on the Internet, the nickname, Bio Babes, but the women in the group don’t really use that name amongst ourselves. We think it’s kind of amusing though.

AH: So there’s not a calendar in the making of Bio Babes?

DM: Oh, no. [laugh]

AH: I just probably put a thought in your head now, a good fundraiser, the Bio Babes. Now let’s go back to the video for a second. One thing that I didn’t understand, in the You Tube video it talked about how the product is bio-degradable. The seat really is not bio-degradable, because it’s not hundred percent soy. What did I misunderstand with that video?

DM: A seat cushion is a polyurethane foam material, and it’s actually cross-linked so when you take two components and you mix them together, you chemically react them together. That’s what makes it not available for composting. You can’t take apart that bond in a day. I think the confusion is that the video was reviewing all of the technologies that are being developed. Some of them are compostable like the polylactides, polymer resins made from corn. Those can be actually put into a compost heap and will degrade in ninety days versus our traditional plastics, which can take hundred of years to degrade. We’re ready to think about putting those into the lower end applications that don’t have high requirements for automotive but they’re really not durable for ten years in a very hot vehicle, a very humid environment. That’s sort of what the research right now on those materials is, to get them durable and still let them compost at the end of life.

AH: Is there a time line, like a cradle to cradle idea of what’s going happen ten years or fifteen years down the line with these products? I know you just mentioned that you want them eventually to be compostable. If somebody bought a Mustang today, has Ford thought about what’s going happen in fifteen years, to dispose of it? Or is that on the drawing board?

(Ford Escape features standard fabric seating surfaces made from 100 percent post-industrial materials.)

DH: Well you know, we like to see as many of the sustainable materials, [and] as many as the compostable material come on to our vehicles, but it really does take some technical breakthroughs for these things to become durable enough or to perform to the standards that are required for an automobile. So, we work diligently to make those technical breakthroughs here in the labs, and as soon as we are ready, like in the case of the soy foam, we are not going to wait for things to be absolutely positively perfect and we have one hundred percent soy in those cushions. We are going to implement as soon as we can and start taking advantage of those environmental benefits.

AH: The soy has got to be a lot lighter than the foam. Does that make the assembly of the car a lot easier, or lighter, or makes emissions better?

DM: No, actually the soy foam is not lighter. That’s a confusion with the natural fiber technology. Once we functionalize the soybean oil and react it with the isosynate, it’s pretty much identical to the petroleum based materials. The advantages of the soy are lower CO₂emissions because when you’re growing plants you sequester CO₂, and that goes into your life cycle analysis. So, that’s an environmental improvement, and the fact that we are using a sustainable material and conserving petroleum. That’s the advantage of the soy materials. The natural fiber materials… you’re taking glass and replacing it with the natural fiber, which is much less dense, and so you use a renewable resource but you have a lightweight component as well, which improves fuel economy. Then third, the PLA resins are compostable. So, they each have their own environmental advantages. They’re just different ones.

AH: Is there any new initiatives that are coming down the pipe, in the next couple of years that you guys are working on?

DM: We’ll we have some things that we would like to implement, and we are working with our programs and with our material people to make sure that we meet every single requirement. You know we really can’t disclose our intentions at this point, but I’m pretty sure that we’ll see some applications being implemented, and our portfolio goes from short term to long term. There are plastics all over the vehicle. It all has different requirements. So, we would like to see things utilized as soon as they possibly can.

AH: And if you had a wish list, like you could see into the future, like ten years down the road, what would you want to see these cars look like?

DM: The horrible thing about plastics is that first of all, you’re using petroleum, and I think, we all agree that it’s probably limited and so we should get away from that. The second thing is once you make a plastic component on a vehicle, it’s intended to last forever and it ends up lasting in the landfill forever. So, all of our long term goals are to eliminate that. You invent a brand new material from a renewable resource and you could compost it at the end of life. So that’s sort of my vision for our vehicle is to put that every place you can imagine on the car.

AH: Do you see any of the other car industries picking it up on what you’re doing?

DM: You know, I think every OEM has green efforts. The thing I think is unique about Ford’s effort is we seem to be interested in every one of them. Where the other OEM’s seem to be very focused on one technology, like the polylactide, compostable resins or natural fiber composites, our group is sort of looking at everything. Not to brag but…

AH: [laugh]. You know you could pat yourself on the backs. That’s fine. It was wonderful talking to you today and I’m very proud of what Ford is doing because it’s great. The Bio Babes, I do think you guys should think about a calendar for self-promotion at Ford.

DM: [laugh]

AH: Thank you so much for coming on today, Deborah, and explaining what Ford’s initiatives are, and we welcome you back on the show anytime.

DM: Thank you Anna. It was a real pleasure talking to you. But I would not hold my breath for that calendar.

AH: [laugh]. Talk to you soon, Deborah.

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You’ve Got Green Mail, January 18, 2009 Round-up

Green Talk — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 20:53:58 +0000

Photo by Henry Heatly

On this week’s You’ve Got Mail segment, I have included seven eclectic articles ranging from an amazing Solar-powered green slug to the USDA’s deregulation of an industrial genetically modified corn crop. If you would like to add a news item to this list, which can include one of your own posts, then please do in the comment section. All I ask if that you keep it green, scientific, or health related as well as provide GT readers a brief summary of the post.

Solar-powered green sea slug steals ability to photosynthesise from algae: Previously, I wrote about the study of biomimicry, which I feel is one of the up and coming science field of this decade. Basically, scientist studies how nature has perfected some of our own design challenges to create new solutions for our world. Take for example, the emerald green sea slug (Elysia chloriotica) which steals genes and photosynthetic factories form a type of algae that it eats (Vaucheria littorea), so that it can independently draw energy from the sun. Read on how we can learn from this creature.

The “Green” Cigarette? Is there such a thing as a healthy, green cigarette? Can growing tobacco without pesticides make a seemingly bad habit healthy, or is this concept simply green smoke?

Time’s 50 Best Inventions of 2008: Time details the best 2008 inventions ranging form their number one pick of the $399 Retail DNA Test that tells you what diseases you are predisposed to the sexy electric sports car, Tesla Roadsters as well as such other remarkable inventions as the Bionic Hand and the Montreal’s public bike system web and solar enabled. Read on to find out about Time’s list of the best 2008 inventions. Which invention did you like the best?

Drug from genetically engineered goats a first: The first an anti-clotting drug made from the milk of genetically engineered goats is seeking FDA approval. This drug was created to help people with a rare hereditary disorder that makes them vulnerable to life-threatening blood clots. How do you think this discovery will impact our world?

‘Air-purifying’ concrete sucks up pollution (found via GreenIdeal.com’s Air Purifying Concrete: Coming To A Road Near You? ): In a small Dutch town, a road was paved with concrete paving stones, which contain a titanium dioxide-based catalyst. “In laboratory conditions, the additive – under the influence of sunlight – binds the nitrogen oxide particles emitted by car exhausts and turns them into harmless nitrates.” Could this new discovery help with car exhaust pollution? Is this the panacea that we need to clean up our air quality?

Stop Work Impact: Responding to California’s Sudden Bond Funding Freeze Ning Forum: Laurie Schoeman, Green Building Project Manager/City Planner via a Linked-in discussion group, alerted me to the Governor of California’s freeze on all capital and infrastructure development. According to Laurie, “[t]his has stalled and halted all environmental and restoration projects backed by state funding–which is about 90% of all green projects that are not private in the state. These projects are the very backbone of greening up our cities!” California is one of the fifth largest economies in the world. Check out the above listed Ning forum, which outlines what is happening. What impact do you think this development will have on the rest of the building industry?

USDA Proposes First-Ever Industrial GE Crop: The USDA in typical business as usual fashion is poised to deregulate the world’s first genetically engineered industrial corn product to be used for ethanol production. According to the article, “[t]his unprecedented, industrial application of a GE technology poses a variety of environmental, health, and economic risks that must be carefully evaluated to determine whether the widespread use of this GE industrial corn crop should be allowed on farms across our nation.” Read on as this article further details the risks involved.

Poison Solar-How the World Works: According to the Silicon Valley Toxic Coalition, the gas, sulfur hexafluoride, which is commonly used to clean reactors in silicon production is considered by the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change to be “the most potent greenhouse gas per molecule; one ton of sulfur hexafluoride has a greenhouse effect equivalent to that of 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide.” Read on to as how this gas poses serious environmental problems.

Readers, which article was your favorite this week?

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You’ve Got Green Mail, Dec 7, 2008 Round-Up

Green Talk — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 23:13:17 +0000

Photo by Henry Heatly

Here is another I’ve Got Green Mail for the week of December 7, 2008. Just to make this concept interactive, please add any new reports or concepts that you found interesting in your own comments. You can include one of your own blog posts if you like, with a few sentences of what it is about so GT readers can decide if they want to click on the link. I will delete anything that is not green or health related.

“Change Coming to Green Building Industry“ A must read for builders, architects, engineers, designers, and attorneys. One issue that concerns me is how is the insurance industry dealing with green building especially in the professional capacity. This article warns those involved in the green building area to read the fine print of your insurance coverage as to what is covered or not.
“Health Risks of Hybrid Cars Have Been Misrepresented by the Media” via Mercola.com: What health risk, you are probably asking yourself? Recently the NY Times ran an article about the possible danger of the exposure of EMFs (electromagnetic field) eminating from hybrid vehicles. This article dispels some of the dangers but not all them. It is a must read for those who have children sitting in the back seat of a hybrid. Increased EMF exposure is a deep concern of mine.
“Jennifer Parish, Go Green: Bug off! Green pest control methods“ Some alternatives to rid pests from your home. Of particular interest is “pasteurizing” your house which is being offered by GreenTeam California which removes mold, virus, etc.
“Major Threat to Human Fertility and Very Existence of Human Life on Earth”
Yes, this a very dramatic title to the article but the title is intended to get your attention. It is about GM corn (genetically modified corn). Based upon research done at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, they found that genetically modified corn developed by the US-based Monsanto Corporation led to lower fertility and body weight compared to mice feed a non-GM corn diet. Other studies have also found that offspring of rats fed GM soy “showed a five-fold increase in mortality, lower birth weights, and the inability to reproduce.” Read the discussion about how GM corn causes health risks in our society.
“Compact fluorescent bulbs can be a significant source of exposure to high frequencies both transmitted and “dirty” power. This article was listed under the News section of the Electric Pollution Solutions.com website. Dr. Magda Havas, B.Sc. Ph.D., Environmental & Resource Studies, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada wrote that some CFLs emit radio frequency radiation and cause people who are sensitive to it to get sick (Electrohypersensitivity or Radio Wave Sickness.) Note, not all CFLs emit this radiation. She provides advice in the article on how you could find out if your CFL could be a culprit. See her detailed report . This is one issue that I will be following.
“An Idea to Green the Grave“ At first glance, I thought this article was about having a greener burial. In fact, it is about installing solar power on top of mausoleums. It is great concept for those wishing to leave a living legacy behind.
“Vegan Baking-Yes You Can!“ I love this post because substituting ingredients in a regular recipe when you are vegan is really hard. In this article, Alline provides tips for substituting eggs in baking. She outlines which substitute are good for certain baked items. This article is one that people with egg allergies, those who wish to stay away from eggs, and vegans should bookmark.

So, what is articles have you found interesting this week?

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You’ve Got Green Mail, the after Thanksgiving Gobble-up

Green Talk — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 02:35:10 +0000

Photo by permission of Shira Gal

I am hoping that you are enjoying my “you’ve got green mail” feature. It was a little quiet on the comment front on my first Green Mail article . Did you like the copper faucets and door handles article about how cooper zaps those nasty virus bugs away? I loved that one.

Today, I have a series of interesting articles for you: ”Panties for Peace Campaign,” “eBooks-A Greener Choice or Not,” “Banned Toys for Sale: What to Watch Out For and What to Buy,” and “NASCAR Goes Green with Hybrid Pace Car.”

If you have a great post to share, please do in the comments. Just give a little information about the posts so readers can decide if they would like to read it or not. You can submit one of your own posts if you like. Just keep the posts “green” in topic.

Enjoy!

Panties for Peace Campaign: Send your panties to weaken the strength of the Burma.

“The Panties for Peace campaign was launched by a group of women peace activists from a Burmese peace activist group called – Lanna Action for Burma which is based in Thailand. Since we initiated the panties for peace campaign for Burma, women’s panties (as well as male underwear) have been mailed out by activists to Burma’s foreign missions in Australia, Singapore, and European countries.

Our act of delivering our underwear to the Burmese foreign missions across the globe is of immense importance and symbolic in protest of Myanmar junta’s violent crackdown of monks-led rallies in Yangon last month, and to oust the generals ruling the country from power.

Lanna Action for Burma organized the action dubbed “Panties for Peace” and we have been sending and delivering the panties this week and will be doing so over the next few days, weeks and months. One of the main reasons for which we are encouraging people to send out their panties to Burma’s foreign missions is because the generals ruling Myanmar are superstitious and they believe that touching panties or the traditional women’s outfit sarong will eliminate their powers.”

Send your panties to the addresses listed on their website.

If your child is looking for a social injustice idea for his or her religious organization or high school activity, please consider supporting this cause. (Thanks to Lisa from RetroHousewife Goes Green via twitter comment)

“eBooks-A Greener Choice or Not” by Angela Wieck of EcoBrain with this post over at Eco-libris (green business who works with bookstore, publishers, writers, etc to balance out the paper used by planting trees.) The discussion as well as the comments are quite interesting.

“Banned Toys for Sale: What to Watch Out For and What to Buy” by Janelle Sorensen at Healthy Child, Healthy World. Feeling confused on what to buy this holiday season for our little ones? Healthy Child, Healthy World has a Healthy Toy Pocket Shopping Guide as well as a list of other green holiday guides from other green website who have already done the research.

“NASCAR Goes Green with Hybrid Pace Car” by Kristin Hall- Geisler via Riverwire. NASCAR is getting a little bit greener with the introduction of the first-ever hybrid pace car, 2010 Fusion. Read on.

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