Brave New Leaf

801 U.S. mayors pledge to fight climate change

801 mayors of cities across the United States have signed the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ (USCM) Climate Protection Agreement.

The Agreement came to pass in 2005 when the United States failed to sign the Kyoto Treaty. Several cities, citing the importance of actively fighting climate change, decided to agree to the Kyoto guidelines independent of federal adoption.

Since then, adoption of the agreement has been staggering. Still, the USCM represents all cities in the US with populations over 30,000. There are 1,139 such cities in the US today, so some hold-outs remain. Notable cities who haven't signed include Houston, Texas and Charlotte, North Carolina.

Under the agreement, the mayors commit to taking the following actions:

• "Strive to meet or beat the Kyoto Protocol targets in their own communities, through actions ranging from anti-sprawl land-use policies to urban forest restoration projects to public information campaigns;
• Urge their state governments, and the federal government, to enact policies and programs to meet or beat the greenhouse gas emission reduction target suggested for the United States in the Kyoto Protocol -- 7% reduction from 1990 levels by 2012; and
• Urge the U.S. Congress to pass the bipartisan greenhouse gas reduction legislation, which would establish a national emission trading system."

View a map of committed cities, or learn more about the agreement at usmayors.org.

AQUS greywater kit makes heaps of sense, saves water & money

Over half of the water that a household uses everyday gets flushed down the toilet. A company called Watersaver Technologies has figured out one straightforward way to recycle water throughout the house.

All you need is your existing sink, your existing toilet, and their kit. Essentially, you install a tank under your sink that collects the water that you send down the drain. The tank cleanses the water (so yes, Spot  can still drink out of the toilet reasonably safely), and then sends the water to your toilet to supplement new water from the tap.

Tests in households show that the kit can save about 7 gallons/person/day, adding up to 5000 gallons per year in a household like mine.

I love innovations like this where you look at the design and just think "Duh! That makes perfect sense! Why aren't all homes designed like that?"

It looks like the kit is available for $289, which is a little steep for the money it saves you. That's an 8 year payback for a 2 person household. But, it's an excellent idea that hopefully will come more into the mainstream as green housing design and development enter more into the mainstream.

http://www.watersavertech.com/

Happy Leap Day! Remember to make it Green!

Happy Leap Day! Don't forget to make like the Brits and try to celebrate by doing something green today. Something out of your comfort zone that you wouldn't ordinarily do.

Check out my post for a list of ideas.

Fighting for the "right to dry"

Connecticut residents are fighting for their rights. They are not fighting for free speech, nor the inexorable right to party. Instead, they fight for the right to dry their clothes outside on clotheslines.

Many homeowner's associations in private communities have banned the practice, citing clotheslines as eyesores, or markers of an impoverished area.

Connecticut residents see it differently. 6% of our nation's residential electricity use comes from drying laundry electrically. Air drying could reduce signficantly reduce carbon footprints across the state.

Since Connecticut power is significantly coal-fed, this could lead to a reduction of greenhouse emissions.

Similar legislation has already passed in several other states, and most existing bills allow homeowner's associations to specify where clotheslines can be hung. So it may be a while yet before our streets begin to look like the streets of Italy, dotted with colorful clotheslines.

Have you tired air drying your clothes yet?

All of the water in the world. All of the air in the atmosphere.

Making it's way around the nets today, it's a unique perspective on what we're fighting for.

How does recycling translate into energy?

One of the lessons we try to teach regularly at Brave New Leaf is that recycling is important for more reasons than full landfills. One of the big reasons to recycle is that it saves energy.

"Meh," you say. "How much energy could it possibly save? Go on. Impress me."

Okay, we're up to the challenge. Here's the facts:

• Put one aluminum can in the recycling bin, and save enough energy to power your television for three hours.

• Need to run a 100-watt light bulb for four hours? Recycling one glass container will do it.

• Recycling one pound of #1 plastic saves enough energy to power a 13-watt CFL bulb left on continuously for a month and a half.

• For each pound of paper you recycle, you save enough energy to run your insanely power-hungry Xbox360 for nearly a full day. Note the average household goes through about 7 pounds of paper a week (largely via their snail mail).

Facts courtesy of the EPA website.

Genetic Engineering becoming pivotal weapon in war on emissions

Two recent breakthroughs in agricultural genetics demonstrate how genetic engineering is becoming an increasingly important tool in the struggle to reduce emissions.

In California, Arcadia Biosciences announces a new genetically-modified form of rice. The rice thrives on soil imbued with only half of the typical dose of greenhouse-guilty nitrogen fertilizer. As such, less needs to be used, resulting in nearly one ton of CO2 saved per acre.

Farmers living in areas with emissions cap-and-trade systems would be incented to use this rice to reduce their footprint and make money selling their certificates, now selling for $22/ton in European markets.

Across the country in St. Louis, researchers at Washington University announced that they have finished decoding the corn genome. The work was unveiled yesterday in the hopes that scientific researchers will be able to create super-corn that is either more nutritious, or more efficient for ethanol production.

The World's First Wave Powered Boat (hic!)

Sailor Kenichi Horie loves to build boats that run on alternative energy and then pilot them across the Pacific Ocean. Why? "Because the mountain was there," he replies enigmatically on his website.

He also has an odd penchant for building them out of recycled alcoholic beverage containers.

Case in point:

-His first Pacific Ocean expedition was on a solely solar-powered vessel made from recycled beer cans.
-Then he upped the ante and went from San Francisco to Japan in a boat made from recycled beer kegs.
-Shortly after, he did it again on a boat made from recycled whiskey barrels.

But it's his latest endeavor that really has people buzzing. Made from recycled aluminum, the Suntory Mermaid II is propelled by the most natural form of energy found on the sea: waves.

Wave powered boats have fins at the front of the craft, which generate thrust force by moving up and down like dolphin tails and absorb the energy of the waves. Also present on board is a solar system to power his lights, phones, and computers.

And should Horie get into trouble, he can call on the most ancient of renewable energy harvesters: his sail.

The total trip will take him 3700 miles, and take about 2.5 months. Best of luck, Mr. Horie!

Seattle ahead of the curve on water planning

Free toilets! In case you haven't heard yet, if you live in Seattle and make less than 60k a year, you should swing by Seattle Public Utilities and get a free water-efficient toilet. If you make under 36k, they'll install it for free too, while those in the 36-60k range will have to pay a bit for installation. Still, the toilet should save you $100/year on water and sewage bills, so it's probably worth it.

Water supply secure until 2060.  The City of Seattle has announced that despite the threat of impending climate change, Seattle residents have a secure water supply until 2060. This doesn't guarantee that there won't be drought situations and rationing, since the water sources still primarily come from snow pack, but barring unforeseen circumstances, there should be enough water to avert crisis for all Seattle Residents for the next 50 years.

Seattle joins the Water Climate Alliance. In the wake of the good news about our water, Seattle joins the seven biggest U.S. cities to help them determine their future water strategy.

Is it recyclable: Cell Phones

I have a cell phone which I no longer use. In a classically klutzy move, I dropped it one day. It still works (sort of), but the LED screen on the top and the main one are cracked, so I doubt anybody would really want to use it.

I want to avoid it going to a cell phone landfill like the one pictured above. I have also heard some negative things about certain recycling companies that ship cell phones overseas to be harvested for their parts.

Readers - what do you recommend I do with an old, cracked mobile phone?