Green Daily

T. Boone Pickens -- who we previously reported is building the world's largest wind farm -- placed his order Thursday for phase 1 of the unprecedentedly huge renewables project. The $2 billion order for 667 GE turbines was the largest order ever for a single site, and it's only phase 1 of 4 -- no kidding. When the oil tycoon completes the Pampa Wind Project in the Texas panhandle, there will be 2,500 turbines cranking.

Because of the sheer size of the order -- and I'm assuming the backlog of turbine orders that GE has piling up -- the deliveries to the Pampa site won't begin until 2010, the whole thing should be up and running by 2014. The farm will pump out enough juice to power 1.3 million homes, the hard part is getting it to the homes. As the wind-boom continues to surge, energy companies are scrambling to beef up energy infrastructure. According to Pickens, of the $10 billion project, $2 billion is going to transmission lines alone.

Nevermind that dorky presidential campaign gear is disposable and irrelevant after only a few months -- which makes it pretty much the antithesis of sustainable -- John McCain's campaign says: to hell with it, let's sell green campaign junk anyway! In an attempt to score him some points with environmentally-conscious voters, the McCain campaign's website now features a 'Go Green' section where supporters can buy eco-friendly shirts, tote-bags, and coffee mugs.


You've got to hand it to those campaign-planners though, they are kings of the meaningless political gesture -- the move is a pretty obvious attempt to re-brand McCain as a Al Gore II. I guess there's some argument to be made that, since useless campaign trinkets will be sold one way or the other, bamboo polo-shirts actually do reduce the campaign's footprint. Still, If they wanted to make a sincere statement, wouldn't all of the campaign's signs and stickers be printed on earth-friendly materials? I notice that none of this stuff is made of hemp.

In the world of green gadgets, there are innovations, and then there is just really cool junk -- it's hard to say exactly which category the SOLo Lounge Table falls into. It certainly isn't the first solar-powered workstation we've seen, or even the first solar table, but it does have wheels, built-in speakers, and an LED light show to keep those creative juices flowing as you stare blankly at your desk.

All sorts of tech companies (like Microsoft, ahem) seem to be trying to squeeze more functionality out of the simple and timeless table. How about this for sustainability: make a simple table out of sustainable materials that won't become obsolete in 5 years? Although I do like the SOLo table's design -- wheels and all -- I'm not sure I see the logic in putting solar panels on a surface that's usually covered with stacks of paper and junk. Hope you have the corner office with the giant window, or you'll be SOL (that's probably not what the name stands for, btw).

[via Inhabitat]

Aside from this week being Green Daily's 'Green Pets Week,' it also happens to be the League of American Bicyclists' Bike to Work Week. While honoring the super fun, yet tragically under-celebrated week of biking to work, it occurred to me that there are two kinds of bikers: the intimidated biker, and the adrenaline junky. For the former group, I recommend investing in all the dorky safety gear that you need to feel comfortable commuting on your bike.


For the adrenaline junkies, who want to commute to work: why limit yourself to the traditional 2-wheler, when there's a greenhouse-reducing ride that allows you to talk on your cell phone, drink a cup of coffee, and get an adrenaline buzz on the way to work? I was a little skeptical about it myself -- then I watched the video. Now, I'm a believer. It's now available online, but it's a little pricey.

Alright, some people might call you a dork for being an urban wheeling pioneer, but I think that the Magic Wheel video makes sitting in traffic look lamer than ever. The rockin' soundtrack helps it look cool, no doubt. The wheel is small and easy to store, making it easy to take on the bus or train, and you don't have to worry about locking it up.

[via Treehugger]

With GM, Toyota, RTEV all promising to have a mass-produced electric cars on the market, 2010 was already shaping up to be the year of the electric car. Now, Nissan is throwing its hat in the ring, not only promising an electric car in the US market in 2010, but 60 electric models worldwide by 2012. Those are pretty ambitious plans for a company that has very little street cred when it comes to alternative fuel vehicles.

I guess high oil prices and rising demand for green rides have caused Nissan to change their tune when it comes to alternative fuel vehicles. Back in 2005, CEO Chris Ghosn was slamming the hybrid as a "niche product" that's only useful in places with strict mileage standards like California. Now, the same guy is saying that Nissan will produce electric light-duty commercial vehicles and crossovers in the not too distant future.

There's no shortage of innovation when it comes to dying in an ecologically conscious way. Just looking back through our posts on eco-friendly burials, tombstones, caskets, and urns -- one might think we were totally obsessed with death. Well, maybe we are, and that makes us even more qualified to say that the Coffin Table -- designed by Pratt grad student Charles Constantine -- is probably the most morbidly kick-butt green burial contraption yet.


The non-toxic, untreated pine box is called "Momento," and what makes it so uniquely eco-friendly is that it's designed for use in life as well as death. Why not combine the furniture on both sides of your mortal existence into one? It's the 3 R's in action. Conventional caskets are generally made of old-growth hardwoods and covered in toxic sealants. What a waste. Charles's coffin/table has an open bottom for quicker decomposition -- now that's efficiency.

[via Inhabitat]

For ages, man has pondered over the question: who will watch the watchers? Well, in terms of their energy consumption, now we know. It's Wal-Mart, of course! Last week, the National Governors Association announced that they are teaming up with Wal-Mart to help transform their state capitols into lean, green, pork-barreling machines.

For the next 2 years, Wal-Mart will send engineering experts to 20 state capitol complexes in order to assess how their energy consumption can be reduced. Honestly, it's a good thing that state governments are working for lower energy consumption -- and who better to help them out. Wal-Mart has certainly done a good job revamping their image from the ultimate evil corporation to one of the largest green retailers around.

Honestly, I never found mounting the actual panels on the roof to be the intimidating part of installing a solar setup. Connecting the panels to the inverter and the grid always seemed like the more technical part of the process to me. Still, Lumeta's light-weight, adhesive photovoltaics make it easier than ever to slap solar panels up on your roof -- and that's good for all kinds of reasons.

Over the last few months, solar companies have seen a declining interest due to the high costs associated with equipment and installation. By cutting down on the time and costs of solar installation, Lumeta's parent company, DRI, is hoping to switch on a larger section of public. The Power-Ply 380 panels can be installed in a matter of minutes and DRI estimates that their peel-and-stick system reduces hardware costs by 70%.

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.