Crisp Green

Looking Shady: Could Tinted Windows Reduce Your Energy Costs?

LiveOAK Staff — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:54:09 +0000

Looking for a way to reduce your energy consumption as well as your carbon footprint? It might be time to think about tinting your windows.

Guest Post by Jared Diamond

When window tinting is applied to a home or building, it provides UV protection as well as absorbing thermal heat.

When interior thermal heat is reduced, the amount of energy needed to cool a home or building is reduced in kind. Less air conditioning usage requires less energy, and less energy consumption translates to reduced emissions and air pollution.

While most environmental incentives require self-sacrifice (an important characteristic in itself), window tinting is an almost no-effort lifestyle alteration that accomplishes that results in drastic and almost instant cost reductions.

By urging environmental action that is duly financially enticing, it may be possible to encourage eco-friendly action by those who may never previously considered doing so.

Many world governments have taken note of the double benefits of window tinting.. In fact, the IRS calls for a 10 percent tax deduction (up to $500) on window tint product costs. Many international, state and local jurisdictions also provide tax incentives for tinting home (and commercial) windows.

It may be true that window tinting in itself may not be enough to save our planet on its own. But what is absolutely certain is this: Our planet is in need of environmental restoration in every facet imaginable. If tinting were to be universally adopted, consider the environmental benefit that would impart? What if we could promote 2-3 more similar activities that could be taken up to promote environmental stability?

It goes without saying that effective emission reduction can only be satisfied in the form of collective action. By pressing the incentive buttons of human behavior (such as promoting activities that entail both environmental and financial benefits), it may be possible to catch up with our goals of environmental restoration sooner than we may have thought.

Jared Diamond is a content contributor at Detail Wiz. On top of being a car aficionado, he also enjoys promoting environmental awareness. Jared also writes on topics such as window tinting prices as well as automotive technology.

A Small New York Landfill Hits The Big Screen

Karen MacKay — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:23:14 +0000

Renowned documentarians Gary Hustwit and Jessica Edwards have created a short-film starring a sustainably run Upstate New York landfill.

Gary Hustwit is best known for his film trilogy centered around design which includes the films Helvetica, Objectified and Urbanized. As a designer, I have seen the full trilogy and keep a close eye on Hustwit's projects. Collaborating with Jessica Edwards, who is gaining recognition for her recent film, Seltzer Works, this duo created a 3-minute short showcasing a landfill that is breaking the mold when it comes to waste disposal.

As part of the Focus Forward Film Challenge, "The Landfill" is a short film that gives viewers a quick glimpse behind the scenes at a unique and innovative landfill. Using a special system of composting, recycling and methane capture, the landfill is able to provide energy for 5,000 local homes. The film reminds viewers, that we have to begin seeing solid waste as not just trash but a resource. Watch the full film below.

Check out more films from the Focus Forward Challenge here, including another waste treatment plant powering homes and one man's fight for safe sanitation.

Project Noah: A Mobile App That Documents Local Wildlife

Krystal Persaud — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:24:33 +0000

Project Noah harnesses the power of smart phones to collect ecological data and help preserve global biodiversity one photo at a time.

How does it work? You can download the Project Noah app for free on any iPhone or Android phone. Then, all you have to do is create an account and start snapping photos of local wildlife.

If you're a city dweller like me, I know what you're thinking -- "Who wants to see a bunch of photos of squirrels and caterpillars?" I downloaded the app to give it a test run and was pleasantly surprised at the wide variety of animals documented. You could spend hours exploring the map and scrolling through photo submissions. Check out the map below – people from all over the world are using Project Noah!

Project Noah was developed in NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP). The project began as an experiment to build a fun, location-based mobile app that encouraged people to reconnect with nature. The name “Noah” was cleverly inspired by Noah’s Ark. The over-arching goal is to create a powerful database that can be used as an educational tool for wildlife awareness and preservation.

The app has certainly garnered a lot of attention since its official launch back in February 2010. It earned a spot in the first Startl Mobile Design Boost and won a $50,000 prize from the “Breakthrough in Mobile Learning” competition by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center. Project Noah even boasts National Geographic as an investor.

The founding members of Project Noah are Yasser Ansari, Martin Ceperley, Peter Horvath, and Bruno Kruse. Collectively, their backgrounds cover a wide range of subjects including molecular biology, photography, software development, and software hacking.

The next time you go on a walk or hike in your neighborhood, use Project Noah to share the creatures you encounter!

Source: Project Noah

Two Unique Cities Earn Sustainable Transport Award

Karen MacKay — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:13:04 +0000

San Francisco, CA and Medellin, Colombia are among the top urban innovators that have been recognized by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP).

As an international nonprofit, the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), collaborates with cities across the world to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve urban life.

Although similar in their hilly terrain and use of cable cars, San Francisco and Medellin's transport systems are quite different. In contrast to San Francisco's dated and somewhat expensive cable cars, Medellin's aerial cable car system is electric powered, affordable and has been integrated into existing public transportation systems. These efficient gondolas move 3,000 people per hour (in one direction) and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by nearly eliminating the need for old and badly maintained buses. Medellin has also recently launch a three-month pilot program for bike-sharing, making it the first city in Colombia to launch a public bike-sharing system.

San Francisco's commitment to bicycling has been seen by a long-term commitment to have 20 percent of all trips completed by bicycle by 2020. In 2011, San Franciscans saw the beginning of a city-wide expansion and improvement of bike lanes. But the ITDP feels that the greatest urban achievement for San Francisco in 2011 was the introduction of new pricing schemes based on time of day and availability for parking as well as the replacement of street parking spots with "parklets" as part of the "Pavement to Parks" program. The parklets serve as mini-parks, often in front of coffee houses or shops that are open public space for anyone to enjoy.

The ITDP stated that what made these two cities stand out among others was the successful use of social media and the web to provide accessible and helpful information for their urban transit riders.

What is your city or town doing to make transportation cleaner and more enjoyable? Tell us about it in a comment!

Source: National Geographic

Belkin Conserve Insight: Understand Your Energy Consumption

Karen MacKay — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:10:08 +0000

The Conserve Insight lets users learn about the economic and environmental cost of their home appliances.

Similar to many new devices on the market such as the Nest Thermostat or EnergyHub , the Belkin Conserve Insight helps users to understand more about their energy consumption choices. Whether you want to know more about what you are spending on monthly bills for your TV or how much CO2 is produced to power your computer, this device gives you a variety of information for any product you can plug into a conventional outlet.

The Conserve Insight lets you enter your local electricity rates and carbon dioxide emission rates for your region to give you a more accurate reading. Belkin also offers a family of energy saving products, from outlet timers to USB charging stations.

Hermit Crabs Adopt Makerbot’s Project Shellter Homes

Krystal Persaud — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:07:04 +0000

Hermit crabs occupy new homes in 3D shells printed by MakerBot Industries and TeamTeamUSA.

Project Shellter’s goal is to create a solution to the housing shortage faced by hermit crabs. Recently, two hermit crabs in the “crabitat” at Shellter West in Los Angeles have adopted plastic shells that were created on a MakerBot Thing-O-Matic 3D printer.

Back in October, we covered Project Shellter on Crisp Green and we’re so happy that crabs are adopting their swanky new shells! Since hermit crabs don’t make their own shells, they must scavenge for homes. As the natural shell supply is decreasing, crabs have been forced to stick their butts into anything they can find like bottles or shotgun shells. With Project Shellter’s breakthrough, this no longer has to be the sad reality.

The Project Shellter team began by testing printed shells of all colors, sizes, and materials to learn what the crabs preferred. Both shell adoptions have been in shells printed in ABS plastic, which is the standard material used by MakerBot to print objects. Shell designs from the MakerBot community, like the black Ammonite shell pictured above, are posted on Thingiverse.com, and tagged with “SHELLTER.” Thingiverse is MakerBot’s online community where users can post digital designs and collaborate on open source hardware.

MakerBot Industries, the creator of the Thing-O-Matic 3D printer, and TeamTeamUSA, an art and technology collective, joined forces for this crowd-sourced science experiment. Cameras have been set up for constant viewing of both crabitats. To watch the crabs live visit Project Shellter’s YouTube page. For more info, visit MakerBot’s blog, Project Shellter’s FaceBook, and Twitter page.

Sources: MakerBot & Thingiverse

Turning Recycled Coffee Grounds into Gourmet Mushrooms

Karen MacKay — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:12:54 +0000

Two young college grads turned the waste of baristas into a booming, sustainable business.

I first spotted the Back to the Roots Mushroom Garden while exhibiting at the Bay Area Maker Faire last May. And then again just a few weeks ago at a local Whole Foods in Silver Spring, MD. In less than three years, founders Alejandro Velez and Nikhil Arora have created a sustainable business that is providing grow at home mushroom kits in stores from coast to coast.

The Mushroom Garden product started as an experiment in a fraternity kitchen, but with a little seed money from the UC Berkeley Chancellor, the company is now on it's way to diverting and reusing 1 million pounds of coffee grounds in 2012. Partnering with Peet's Coffee and Tea for the waste coffee grounds, Back to the Roots is helping families grow over 250,000 pounds of fresh food at home.

Keeping in-line with their sustainability goals, Back to the Roots even uses recycled wood pallets for their in-store displays. If you are interested in learning more about Back to the Roots or purchasing one of their Mushroom Gardens click here.

Image Credits: Karen MacKay (taken at the 2011 Bay Area Maker Faire)