Green Daily

In an attempt to answer the numerous questions about biofuels and whether they are a sane way to cut greenhouse emissions, the Seattle Post Intelligencer has put together a chart that can help us see for ourselves. Because, isn't it about time that we get to see the information with our own eyes? The chart was created using the data from various research universities around the US and the Nature Conservancy.

Sadly, the chart tells us what we already know to be true. Although corn-based ethanol is by far the least efficient of the biofuels being explored -- producing roughly the same levels of greenhouse gases as regular diesel -- it's really the only one with any availability in the US. Switch grass and algae-based fuels both seem promising, but they're still years away in terms of development. In the meantime, what we're really talking about is corn. From what we've seen so far with the speculation and hoarding that is going on, it looks as if using food crops for fuel is a very volatile proposition at best. So, is it worth it? Click on the chart to see a the full version.

[via Treehugger]

Every week we pick a theme to explore in more depth, and this week that theme is eco-friendly pets. To read all our posts related to this theme, click here.

You might think that after the Michael Vick drama, celebrity pit bull owners might have realized that they were under intense scrutiny by -- pardon the pun -- watchdog groups. Apparently, some of them didn't get the memo. After having multiple run-ins with the law over alleged animal cruelty, rapper DMX is finally facing some serious consequences for his not-so-humane treatment of pit bulls.

Deputies arrested him on charges of animal cruelty and drug possession at his home in Arizona Friday, after they found 3 pit bull carcasses partially buried on his property. One of the dogs had apparently been burned. That was enough of a reason for animal control to seize the rapper's 5 pit bull mixes. And get this, authorities seized 12 underfed pit bulls from DMX's property around the time of the Michael Vick case last year -- only they didn't find evidence of dog-fighting. This time, it looks like they've already got a much stronger case against him.

[via Ecorazzi]

Every week we pick a theme to explore in more depth, and this week that theme is eco-friendly pets. To read all our posts related to this theme, click here.

We all love our pets, but sometimes we can be a bit of a bad influence -- especially when we encourage them to adopt our high-consumption lifestyles. Hamster cars, dog jacuzzis, and pet's-eye view cameras all look cute in the pictures, but their environmental footprint is not so lovable -- or necessary. In fact, if you buy lots of these gadgets, your friends and family will probably think that you're crazy (if they don't already). Click through the gallery below to see the 5 wasteful gadgets that green pet owners should avoid.

If you're into electric car news, than you'll be excited to hear that Renault is throwing some major financial resources -- $1 Billion -- into an ambitious electric car project. Teaming up with a California company called Project Better Place, Renault plans to roll out a swappable-battery electric car and hundreds of thousands of charging stations in Israel and Denmark. Renault -- which owns a 51% stake in Nissan -- will provide the actual cars while Nissan will be installing its Li-ion battery packs.

The goal for Better Place is to have these vehicles charge off of completely renewable energy sources. In Denmark, that's not too unrealistic -- since 20% of Denmark's energy comes from wind turbines and 7% goes unused, enough to power all of the country vehicles. Israel's a different story. Their power is mostly generated by coal and other fossil fuels, so Better Place hopes to charge the cars from solar panels in the Negev Desert.

I'll start out by saying that this post isn't meant to pick on our friends in the UK. I'm sure that most developed nations waste a similar amount of food per person each year. Still, it's important to note that $20 billion dollars worth is a helluva lot of food to chunk in the trash. At a time when food prices are skyrocketing and rice is being rationed at stores like Sam's and Costco, it seems pretty unbelievable that people are wasting this much food.

Though it's often overlooked, the environmental impact of food waste is pretty staggering -- not to mention the vast sums of wasted money. When you consider the CO2 created by the cultivation, transport and preparation of the food wasted in Britain, it equals one fifth of the pollution released by motorists. Oh yeah, and don't forget the fact that this food is eventually carted off to the landfill. Do you think the UK's new carbon-labels will guilt people into wasting less?

[via Treehugger]

At a time when so many people are enthusiastic about the possibility of renewable energy, it's almost hard to believe that developers are pushing coal power plants in almost every state in the US. An astounding 150 coal-burning power plants have been planned since 2002, and it seems like there's some kind of a race going on to get these plants built before the green movement can shut them down. The Sierra Club has reportedly put a halt to 63 of the projects already, and Tuesday they set their sights on 8 more.

In February, a D.C. federal appeals court ruled that the EPA had violated the Clean Air Act, and should have required mandatory cuts on mercury emissions for all new power plants -- thus giving the Sierra Club more ammunition to attack the mercury and carbon-spewing power plants. The leaders of 8 coal projects across 5 states got letters this week from the Sierra Club, saying that their plans should be resubmitted to their state agencies to get approved under the newer emissions standards -- or else get sued. Nice.

Good news, a huge chunk of California is now protected from becoming suburban sprawl. Conservationists and developers finally came to an agreement this week after a long running standoff over what to do with 265,000 acre ranch north of Los Angeles. As the largest contiguous stretch of privately owned-land in California, the ranch has been highly sought after by developers and conservationists alike for its rich biodiversity and its proximity to LA.

Thursday, the Tejon Ranch Co. agreed to protect 90% -- or about 240,000 acres -- of its ranch land from future development. In return, developers get to build their precious condo high-rises and strip malls on the remaining 10% without facing opposition from the Sierra Club or the Natural Resources Defense Council -- and you know that no developer wants to mess with those guys. The 165 year-old ranch covers a lot of prime habitat for the endangered California Condor.

They should be pulling in to Puerto Rico sometime this weekend, so they can do some repairs and clean out their stinky boat. According to reports, they lost the comfort of their $10,000 toilet somewhere near the Azores and their sleeping quarters have been flooded with 2 inches of biodiesel for weeks. For the crew's sake, let's just hope that they're not using 'biodiesel' as a pseudonym for 'sewage.'

A giant sinkhole opened up in Daisetta, Texas Wednesday, swallowing up oil tankers, oilfield equipment, cars, and a few telephone poles. Officials aren't quite sure what caused the huge, 600-ft. across piece of earth to give way, but I'm pretty sure I know why it happened: the Earth is really pissed off. All of that abuse to our environment has really come home to roost and now Mother Earth is fighting back.

Think that you might want to tap into wind energy for your home, but you're worried about subjecting your family to the unwanted noise of a conventional turbine? Starting in July, a quieter and, in my opinion, more aesthetically pleasing option will be come onto the micro-wind scene. The Swift rooftop turbine is a small-scale wind system that has a cool updated windmill design and -- under good wind conditions -- it's expected to provide at least 20% of your home's energy needs.


The Swift is designed to run at under 35 decibels at any wind speed, keeping it quiet enough to meet the zoning requirements of most fussy communities. For a point of reference, whispering is measured at 40dB. The Swift system only needs 2 ft. of clearance from the top of your roof, so it also eliminates some of the need for giant poles. Still, as with most turbines -- the higher the better.

At the end of last year, Fiji announced it's plans to offset its carbon emissions by 120%, so that -- according to their website -- drinking Fiji will "result in a net reduction of carbon in the atmosphere." While that sounds great and all, I'm finding Fiji's claims a little hard to swallow. How about you?

The truth is that Fiji has done more than most bottled water companies to lessen its impact on the environment, but still: bottled water is bottled water. Despite their buying huge carbon offsets and shipping their water on container ships that are already destined for US ports -- bottled water is simply not as green as drinking from the tap. According to estimates from Triple Pundit, it takes almost 6 times more water to produce and transport a bottle of Fiji than the bottle actually holds. No matter how they offset it, that is not a very green equation.

I've got to hand it to them, they've come up with a pretty good marketing tool -- but seriously. If Exxon bought 120% offsets for it's operations, would we believe that filling up with Exxon results in a net reduction of greenhouse gases?

2008 is on pace to be the windiest year ever for the US. That is, in terms of energy production. It's not a huge surprise to learn that wind turbines are selling like hotcakes compared to other years on record, especially with oil going for over $120 a barrel. In the first 3 months of this year, 1,400 MW of wind generating capacity had already already been installed -- that's enough to power 400,000 homes.


In total, 5,600MW worth of wind turbines will be cranking by the end of 2008, edging out the current record of 5,300MW set in 2007. One of the forces driving the wind boom -- aside from a public outcry for renewable energy like we've never seen -- is that developers are in a race to finish their projects by the 4th quarter this year -- just in case congress doesn't extend production tax credits that are now in place. It's hard to imagine lawmakers pulling the tax credits though, when there's $11.5B of wind energy investment capital at stake.

When it comes to boosting your car's fuel efficiency, you can find all sorts of miracle products that claim to boost your mileage by as much as 50% -- but don't waste your time, they're pipe dreams. When comes down to it, there are no shortcuts -- but there are plenty of small steps automakers can take. One of those is more efficient transmissions, like the one that Ford is introducing into its fleet in 2009.

Ford's new 6-speed high-efficiency transmissions increases mileage by 4% to 6%. It may not sound like much, but every little bit helps. Most automatic transmissions these days have only 4 gears. Adding 2 gears not only allows your car to accelerate more efficiently -- which saves gas -- but it also keeps your RPMs lower at highway speeds. Basically, it's like having a second overdrive.

According to the research of Sydney University's Ian Hume, rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere can turn eucalyptus leaves -- the Koala's favorite food -- into a toxic salad of death. Apparently, the heightened level of carbon dioxide not only saps the nutrients from the leaves that Koalas need to survive, but it also increases production of toxic "anti-nutrients" in the eucalyptus plant. Bummer.

The Koala's eucalyptus diet is notoriously low in nutritional value as it is, and they've adapted to it by sleeping nearly 20 hours a day. Now with strange anti-nutrients blocking the digestion of the few proteins in the leaves, the Koala is faced with any even greater uphill battle. With the current level of CO2 in the atmosphere, Hume expects a steady decline in Koala population over the next 50 years due to a lack of edible eucalyptus leaves. This is obviously bad news for one of Australia's national symbols. At least the kangaroos are mating like rabbits.

Long before Scientology, Katie Holmes shopping sprees, or his civil union with Al Gore -- oh wait, that didn't really happen -- Tom Cruise was staking out a much different career path for himself.

Few people know that Tom was actually supposed to be the original voice of ecological superhero Captain Planet. At about the time he was inking the contract for the instant bomb, Days of Thunder, he was studying the script for Ted Turner's zany new show about a pollution-fighting superhero. Apparently, Tom was set to begin recording dialog when he all of the sudden backed out -- and turned to the dark side.