Green Daily

On Wednesday, a controversial "Buy American" clause was diluted by the Senate, after being under consideration for inclusion in President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package. This clause would require public works projects to use only American-made materials in order to receive funds from this stimulus package. As "stimulating" as that may sound to the US economy, the fact is that it would be a pipe dream to assume that many things could be made with only American-made materials.

One perfect example of this is the alternative-fuel choices that use imported batteries, photovoltaics and other components manufactured outside of the country. While it may not put a halt to the production of these products, it would certainly slow down the process. On top of that, it could incite a trade war of sorts, diminishing the international trade reputation of the United States. However, we may just be in the situation now to use this stimulus funding to rebuild the country into a green technology giant.

"There are widespread expectations that Mr. Obama's stimulus plan will transform the United States into the world's largest growth market for green technologies." The New York Times states. "It promises $150 billion over a decade to create five million jobs and update energy infrastructure. But few believe the United States can reach those goals alone."

In addition to the backing of an energy efficiency effort that has already saved the state $60 million, she announced a goal of weatherizing more than 100,000 homes and placing renewable energy technology in another 1,000 buildings. A new program, entitled Michigan Saves, will work together with utility companies to cover the costs of these improvements. The reasons for this attention to energy efficiency has a deeper purpose than simple money savings; Granholm states that all of these changes will contribute to a better alternative of coal-fired power plants in Michigan.

Last week's news of another salmonella outbreak in peanut products has us all on edge a bit about the popular food, but now we get word that inspectors actually knew about the contamination beforehand. According to a report in the Washington Post, the Georgia plant from which the contaminated peanut butter originated has knowingly shipped tainted product 12 times in the last two years.

How can something like this happen? It's obviously not carelessness, since the Peanut Corporation of America tests their products before they're distributed, but the kicker here is the fact that they aren't mandated to share those test results with state or federal regulators. I smell a costly cover-up.

[Via SuperEco]

After hearing news of former US president G.W. Bush's midnight mayhem before leaving office, many of us became a bit worried about how his last-minute regulations would affect environmental policy. Some of these include Uranium mining permits near the Grand Canyon, more logging opened in Oregon and new rules for genetically engineered plants, milk and meat.

Well fret no more, as it turns out newly-appointed president Barack Obama has come to the rescue by halting all new and pending regulations thrown in at the last minute by Bush. In Obama's own words, he insisted that "no proposed or final regulation should be sent to the Office of Federal Register for publication unless and until it has been reviewed and approved by a department or agency head appointed or designated by the President after noon on Jan. 20, 2009." The worrisome part comes when we'll discover which of these rules made it in just before the inauguration.

For anyone thinking about raising chickens for the first time this year, now is the time to start your orders and look for deals. For the largest mail-order companies like McMurray Hatchery, their hatching season starts in January and February, and they begin their first shipments of day-old chicks around the second or third week of January. Depending on your climate and the set-up you have for your chickens, this the best time to start raising them for the best productivity throughout the year.

Wait, they ship live baby chicks in the mail?! Yes, and its been working for them for 94 years so far. You can head on over to their website or sign up for their free catalog for complete information on the ordering process. Also, be sure to check out Green Daily's Suburban Farmer series on raising chickens in a suburban setting.

To help kick off the brand new Supereco.com, their writers have been posting some great articles on making a greener difference. Two such articles refer to the three best ways to green up your man, or your woman.

In the 'man' article, we're told that the best way to rid men of their eco-nightmare chemicals, cleaners and paints is through positive reinforcement. Translation: don't nag him. In the 'woman' article, the focus is on what not to give, in regards to material items. Services are the key here, as simply giving her your time, adoration or devoted hard work could go much further. Check out both articles and help welcome Supereco.com to the green flock!

The Bush administration has just announced that Gray Wolves in Idaho, Michigan, Wisconsin, Montana and Minnesota will be removed from the endangered species list. This is great news, right? Well, notsomuch, depending on how you look at it.

In 2007, the Gray Wolf was removed from the endangered list as well, only to re-appear in July of last year. This is an ongoing yo-yo effect which has lasted for decades and is causing concern in the animal rights and nature conservation community. The removal of 'protected' status means bad news for any species on the brink of extinction, and some environmentalists expect Obama to reinstate the endagered status once he takes office. If not, they promise to sue, claiming a wolf population that can easily be proven too small to be considered safe.

NASA has just announced that a 2003 discovery of gas being released from Mars is definitively methane gas. Luckily for the Martians, the atmosphere of Mars prevents a build-up of the gas, otherwise they could quickly face their own global warming problems. Yet, what's interesting is the fact that there are essentially two sources for methane: biological or geological means.

This means that it is still very possible for life to exist on the red planet, even in a microscopic capacity, miles beneath the permafrost layers. This also gives hope to scientists for the research of not only the creation and destruction of methane gas on Mars, but also how it could potentially be applied to our own uses here on Earth. Methane gas is the main component of natural gas, which is used for fuel. Alternatively, it is also a greenhouse gas that is 25 times more powerful than CO2, and blamed for much of our planet's global warming problems. Let's hope this discovery on Mars can only mean good things for us and our planet.

Announced Sunday during the Detroit Auto Show, electric car manufacturer Tesla will be offering a high-performance version of their current luxury Roadster model. The Roadster Sport boasts higher peak torque which makes for a faster ride, but is it worth the $128,500 price tag?

Curiously enough, Tesla's cheaper Model S was recently put on the back burner. Was it for this faster, more luxurious model? It seems that way, but when will Tesla make their projected 'electric cars for the masses' they've envisioned? Tesla's CEO Elon Musk insists that the way into the electric vehicle market is through luxury car sales, which will eventually lead to financing for the lower-priced models. Whether this business plan will be successful or not, we have yet to see.

Becoming a Freegan, or Dumpster Diver, can be daunting at first. Rifling though another's trash for perfectly usable items - including food - goes against most of our developed standards. Yet Alex Barnard is aiming to change all of that.

As a Princeton University senior, Bernard has focused his academic research on Dumpster Diving, which has awarded him the 2009 Daniel M. Sachs Class of 1960 Graduating Scholarship. He plans to use this award to pursue a Master's Degree at the University of Oxford. Does he do it for the free stuff? Is he literally just another starving student? That's not really his point. Bernard believes that Freeganism is a movement to boycott the greed and profit of our Western economic system. "If you have a problem with consumer culture in American society, do all you can to stop participating in the system," he says.

While this topic of Freeganism has been discussed here at Green Daily before, I'm curious of your take on Bernard's research. Let us know in the comments below.

Last year's CES saw the introduction of a new "green" awareness for the consumer electronics convention, showcasing more energy-efficient and off-grid gadgets for the environmentally aware. This year, they're taking it a few steps further.

The newly-dubbed Greener Gadgets Tech Zone area of the Las Vegas convention has grown from a 520 square feet section to more than 3,000 square feet this year. This is in addition to a new program where they aim to reduce the creation of carbon emissions, rather than simply purchase carbon offset points as they did last year. Big-name consumer electronics manufacturers like Toshiba, Sony, Samsung, Panasonic and HP are all expected to announce exciting environmental news this year, from now through Sunday. Check out the CES main website for more details.

If you or your children are gamers, you may already be familiar with Fable 2 from Microsoft's Lionhead Studios. The game is set in an open-ended, consequence-based fantasy universe and is available only on the Xbox 360. According to PETA, it is also a vegetarian's dream come true.

In their 2008 year-end awards, PETA awarded Fable 2 their prestigious Game of the Year honors, citing pro-vegetarian themes that teach gamers the real-life benefit of a vegetarian diet. Apparently, in the game your character can eat a plant-based diet to rack up "purity points", whereas eating meat will make your character fat and evil. PETA is certainly no stranger to gaming as they've recently caused a stir with their Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals Flash game, poking fun at the Nintendo game Cooking Mama which uses predominantly meat-based recipes.

There's no doubt that 2008 has been a significant year for clean fuel technologies. The positive progress being made is very promising, but actually sitting down to figure out the best of the Cleantech victories for 2008 is where things get tricky.

Luckily, Earth2Tech has done the dirty work for us. Their 10 Biggest Cleantech Victories of 2008 article highlights everything from the most obvious to the stories we may have forgotten over the year. Without offering too many spoilers, you can probably guess the importance solar power's popularity plays on this list. Check out the entire top ten article and let us know what you think of your own top ten list in the comments below.

While they may not have the best track record when it comes to environmental issues, ExxonMobil is looking to change that with a $170 million investment in carbon storage technology.

The first $70 million of that will go towards a capture and storage project for 6 million metric tons of carbon emissions annually from its natural gas plant in La Barge, WY. The other $100 million will be invested in a technology that will strip carbon out of natural gas; a goal they hope to achieve by 2010. While $170 million is a drop in the bucket for an oil company that has reported record profits for 2008, it's certainly a step in the right direction, especially considering their recent environmental stances.