August 2010

There’s no question that the entertainment industry generates a lot of waste from printing scripts or even shooting on location. After Conan O’Brien walked away from the Tonight Show, NBC gutted his $50 million dollar set that he used for just seven months. Others in Hollywood are actually getting the message about being green which has changed a lot of productions like film Inception as well as tonight’s Emmy Awards.

When you think of the Emmy Awards, you think of the ceremony but not the work done behind the scenes. Blurbs have to be written for the presenters, the venue needs to scrubbed clean, and workers need to grab some lunch. All of that adds up to waste in the form of paper, disposable plates, plastic water bottles, and much more.

The word "pollution" usually evokes images of clogged rivers, smoggy skies and toxic metals leeching through the soil. Many sources of pollution today are invisible to the eye and impossible to detect without special equipment, as people have become increasingly conscious of the environment and less tolerant of harmful practices. Yet one of the most visible forms of pollution is often overlooked.

It’s hard to tell exactly where the hybrid car industry is going to go. Just a few years ago, hybrid cars were on the rise to offset the steadily increasing gas prices. Then, murmurs of electric cars generated overwhelming enthusiasm for the prospect of never spending another dollar at the gas pump. Now, electric cars are hitting the streets and hybrids feel a bit in no man’s land between the common gasoline engine and the idealistic electric car.

Statistics show that hybrids peaked in 2007 before the gas price explosion in 2008 and before the worst periods of the longest recession since WWII. Last year, hybrids had fallen 17% since that time to around 289,000 cars.

So why is the industry so hard to understand when the hybrid trend is clearly downward?

An abundance of solar energy bombards the Earth every day and that’s a very good thing because it drives the basic functions of life that sustain our existence. Harnessing solar energy for our electrical needs is a natural fit because the process essentially only requires a capture device, which right now typically means solar panels. The problem? Those solar panels can’t continue to collect solar energy if a layer of dust is barricading sunlight from the photovoltaic cells.

It turns out that dust is a pretty universal problem, at least in the Milky Way galaxy, because NASA ran into a similar challenge with trying to use solar panels on Mars for powering rovers and other vehicles. In that instance no human intervention is possible and so scientists developed a self-cleaning technology that repelled dust with a small burst of electric current.

Sure, those little French bulldogs look cute, but purebred breeds frequently face crippling joint disorders, breathing difficulties, skin problems and other hereditary diseases. Most French bulldogs require caesarean section simply to give birth due to their disproportionate body structure. One of the most humane and environmentally-friendly decisions you can make as a prospective pet owner is to adopt from a shelter rather than encourage breeding for fad or profit's sake.

Adopting from a shelter reduces feral populations, discourages puppy mills and prevents the deaths of unwanted animals who either cannot find a home or do not meet health or breed standards. Spaying and neutering also reduces overpopulation and lowers the risk of testicular, ovarian or uterine cancer in many animals.

At best, flooding is a hassle. Roadways close, basements become pools and shoes get wet. More severe runoff can destroy crops, displace entire populations and open the door to disease, starvation and war. Pakistan has already seen more than one thousand deaths following its recent flooding. By planning ahead and maintaining soil integrity, the threat of serious flooding and its side effects can be greatly reduced. A new study out of Purdue University has found that the most effective way to reduce water runoff is to reduce urban sprawl.

The recession continues to put many Americans in a difficult situation where demand for their specialized skills is mediocre at best. That hurts everybody because there’s less productivity which eventually translates into less spending and less demand for goods and services. Obama claims the solution to that problem is not only re-training people, but creating renewed demand for existing skills in the form of green jobs.

What kind of green jobs? One major example Obama cited was advanced battery manufacturing. Think of the batteries that power the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, or the Nissan LEAF. China is focused on being a major player in battery manufacturing too, so healthy competition between the two countries is sure to continue.

Compact florescent light (CFL) bulbs have been popular with homeowners because of their lower energy costs and wide availability. CFLs can provide years of light but they also contain mercury which can make cleanup difficult if the bulb shatters. Many ignore the cleanup standards issued by the EPA and simply toss the bulb in the trash. In addition, incandescent bulbs will be phased out starting in 2012 and many people are looking for alternatives like mercury-free LEDs to light their homes. Home Depot is making a major push online and in-store for consumers to buy their low-wattage LED light bulbs.

Government officials in the US and UK are facing a similar problem; they’ve got to find a way to trim their budgets. Many have singled out the cost of printing documents as an expense that can be replaced by new technology. If they relied on gadgets like the iPad they could do away with the cost of paper, copy machine maintenance, and the distribution of documents. While some in the US have found success with the iPad, some spots in the UK are facing an uphill battle.

The iPad was an instant hit in Congress due to its ability to store a lot of paperwork, edit legislation on the fly, and catch up on the latest news. Other lawmakers thought that the same ideas could be applied to areas such as the city of Williamsburg, Virginia.

Take the world’s current situation which right now places most of its energy needs squarely on the shoulders of fossil fuels, and mesh that with the renewable energy efforts taking place and what do you get?. Looking forward a couple of decades, venture capitalist Vinod Khosla predicts that the U.S. will be producing too much energy and that demand won’t keep up. He thinks that boost in output will arrive from renewable sources and wants to see more focus on technology innovation which in his words has “infinite” potential.

If nothing else, Khosla is a smart (or lucky) marketer because his idea has just enough appeal and strangeness to create buzz. If the U.S. is successful in its continuing efforts to generate lots of renewable energy, and population growth remains similar to what it is today, then feasibly energy generation would catch up to demand at some point.

GM recently announced official pricing and production of the 2011 Chevy Volt and most of its dealers are scrambling to get as many as they can while consumer demand is so intense. Other dealers see an opportunity to price gouge, in one case about 1.5x the original price! This sort of behavior certainly creates negative buzz for GM, and the company isn’t happy with dealers who are considering such tactics.

Americans citizens and GM have an intimate relationship right now, whether everyone likes it or not, because loans financed with tax dollars saved the company from going under. That means price gouging at dealers almost becomes a slap in the face because consumers are paying a ridiculous price for a vehicle that was made possible because of community (government) funding.

If you frequently find yourself smiling and nodding in crowded bars because you can't hear what your friends are saying, you might want to consider becoming a musician. No, not because musicians get lucky, but because musical training has been shown to prime the ear and make it easier to pick out speech against a noisy background. Music gives us a universal language, and an opportunity to harmonize with nature.

Nobody likes a liar, but sometimes you don't recognize one until it's too late. You might look to the eyes for honesty. People tend to look toward the right when exercising the creative, story-telling part of their brains, or they try to hide a shifty gaze by staring intensely at your face. Unfortunately, companies don't have tell-tale mannerisms and it takes more sleuthing to uncover deceitful business practices. Greenwashing isn't often as blatant as dumping oil into rivers and calling it progress. Instead, inaccurate labels and unsubstantiated claims about products and services lead consumers astray.

A 2009 survey conducted by Opinion Research Corporation found that more than two thirds of Americans expect companies to tell the truth when advertising their environmental practices. Truth, however, can be obscured. The word "natural" is one of the most common descriptions used on product labels. It gives a feeling of safety and earthy goodness. Vegetables are natural. Many items are perfectly natural. Like arsenic, cyanide and lead, all of which also happen to be lethal.

The old GM was a huge company with diverse product offerings but it struggled to cohesively direct all of its parts toward a central goal; and it also had incurred an overwhelming amount of debt in the form of retirement commitments. With the government’s help, GM has shed a lot of weight and obligations, and now it’s focused on innovating at an accelerated pace. A new deal with startup Bright Automotive is one example, and it further develops GM’s plug-in hybrid portfolio.

Until now most of the new GM’s focus in the plug-in hybrid space has circled around the Chevy Volt, which has a lot of potential to serve the average driver without ever requiring gas during a typical work week. In its contract with Bright Automotive, GM has agreed to invest in return for a minority stake in the startup. Bright Automotive also gains access to much of GM’s technology which it hopes to use while developing a new plug-in hybrid commercial vehicle called IDEA.

When a new coalition government took power last May, Prime Minister David Cameron made it clear that cuts were needed to control Britain’s budget. Traditional areas like police and emergency services have been trimmed and the entire UK Film Council was shut down. A decision to scrap a subsidy program to encourage the purchase of electric and “low-carbon” cars was saved with a little help from Nissan and Mitsubishi.

The subsidy program was created by the Labour government in 2009, and promised a 25% subsidy up to £5,000 (about $7,800) for people that purchase electric, plug-in hybrid or hydrogen fuel cell cars. It was thought that the plan could not only help the country hit their carbon targets, but also generate green jobs in the manufacturing sector.