ECO (Earth Conscious Optics) has created a line of eyewear using high quality recycled metal and plastics. They have a program that plants a tree in Africa or Southeast Asia for every pair of frames sold. They also have a program that recycles glasses that people no longer use, and distributes these to people in need of eyewear in Africa and Southeast Asia in conjunction with One Sight.

One Sight is an organization that sends Ophthalmologists to Africa and Southeast Asia to perform eye exams on people that might not otherwise have the opportunity to have their eyes examined. 

Please visit the site here:

And article here:

Fuel cells are starting to pop up all over California. A wide variety of businesses such as breweries, food processing, waste water treatment plants, grocery stores, hotels, a casino and even a jail.

Each unit can be the size of a large SUV, saving large amounts of money and reducing the carbon footprint.

These units take oxygen from the air and combine it with fuel such as natural gas in an electrochemical process that produces electricity without using combustion.

They are expensive, but their costs can be recouped in roughly 10 years, and are much more environmentally friendly than anything we are currently using. Buyers are eligible for tens of thousands of dollars in government rebates and available tax incentives.

There are more than 40 cities in California that are producing about 35 megawatts of power. That’s enough electricity to light up about 35,000 average homes.

Some of the high profile installations include Google Inc. in the Bay area and eBay Inc. in San Jose.

Read More Here:

Weighing 60 tons, this 102 foot catamaran yacht has a 50’ beam. The top layer is covered with 5,300 square feet of solar panels, claiming a top speed of around 15 knots (they are still experimenting with speed. One journal lists 10 knots as the optimal speed for the conditions).

This boat left Monaco in late September 2010 and went to Miami in late November. From there it went to Cancun, Mexico- the site of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

They are on the way to Cartagena, Columbia (about 500 miles from it as of 12-14-10)

Their purpose: “We wish for a quality expansion of sustainable energy technologies on the water and in other mobile applications”.

Link in French:

Link in English:

High tech 3D vending machines have been introduced in Japan by the Coca Cola Company in 2009. This eco friendly equipment uses mini solar panels along with energy-saving LED lighting. Instead of using Freon, non-CFC refrigerants are used as well as heat pumps. This sustainable refrigeration program is designed in partnership with BMW Group’s DesignworksUSA.

Coca Cola’s new climate protection initiative is likely to boost the Japanese green movement. The company has set a goal to improve the energy efficiency of cooling equipment by 40 to 50% by 2010. The company announced that it would install about 1,500 solar machines around the country in 2010, which are powered almost entirely by solar energy.

The new design cuts overhead costs, allowing the company to offer products at lower prices. Coca Cola will install 75,000 new machines in 2011. The company has plans to replace all existing Coca Cola vending machines in Japan with 3D units by 2020.

It has been said that carbon emission reduction will exceed 52.5 million metric tons over the life of the vending machine with the implementation of the program.

The phase out of the inefficient incandescent light bulbs is expected to be starting in 2012. The bulbs most relevant to consumers are the 40w, 60w, 75w and 100w standard incandescent light bulbs.

The EISA (Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007) is providing a three year phase out that will start with the inefficient 100w bulbs the first year (2012). The second year will be the 75w bulbs and the third year the 60w and 40w bulbs will become unavailable.

Currently there are three  options for replacing the incandescent light bulbs: Halogen, Compact Fluorescents (CFL’s) and solid state (LED). The Halogen lights will look the most like the incandescents. CFL’s and LED use a lot less energy. They both have drawbacks of their own. CFL’s have a small amount of mercury and need to be disposed of or recycled appropriately. LED’s have no mercury, but are currently considered considerably more expensive limiting their use to commercial and business applications for now.

Levi Strauss has developed a new way of manufacturing jeans using less water. They are hoping to save 16 million gallons of water by spring 2011. Some are referring to them as ‘waterless jeans’. This new process can save from 28% up to 96% of water. The launch of these jeans is expected to be in January 2011 under the Levi 501, 511, and 514 brand.

Kelly Benander- Director of Corporate Communications at Levi Strauss- is quoted as saying “We took the idea of jeans that use fashion forward finishes that people love to wear such as the worn in look, creases around the pockets etc., but made with a lot less water. We went into laundries, talked to suppliers and asked how to create this.”

This is an interesting planter that is self watering as well as attractive. It is good for those of us that don’t have green thumbs!

The water reservoir can last up to 2 months.

It is ideal to monitor the planter to see how the water usage is for each plant in the beginning.

There is a visible indicator that shows where the water level is, so it is easy to monitor.

They come in 4 colors: Green, White, Light Blue and Light Grey.

They cost about $42 usd.

Link to manufacturer Greenamic:

Assembly Overview in Flash format:

I was recently reading ‘This Old House’ for their usual helpful winter heat saving tips when I discovered something I’ve never heard of before.

Many of us know how much heat we lose up the chimney, even if you have dampers and glass doors. I have glass doors, but I do not have a damper- it probably came out when someone put in an insert many years ago. Dampers can also become warped with age and heat, and not create a decent draft block.

I noticed an item called a Chimney Balloon™ and they come in many sizes to fit the myriad of chimney openings. They are made of PVC and are inflatable making them easy to install and remove when you want to have a nice fire.

I read somewhere that you can order one from Ace Hardware and avoid paying the shipping costs. You need to do a little research about how to best measure the opening. There may be some applications where they may not work- chimneys and dampers vary tremendously. You can do a Google search for Chimney Balloons™ and you will find there are different manufacturers that make these.

According to the Department of Energy, a lit fireplace sucks about 24,000 cubic feet of furnace-heated air up your chimney each hour.

‘Battic Door’ also makes many devices to help save energy in the home.

UPS has purchased 130 diesel hybrid electric vehicles to add to their fleet.

They will be completed and put into service in 2011, with 30 going to NY/NJ, and 100 going to California. UPS estimates a savings of 66,085 gallons of fuel and 671 metric tons of CO2 annually… a 35% improvement in fuel economy – the equivalent of removing 128 passenger cars from the road.

UPS currently has 2,022 alternative fuel vehicles in operation such as: Hybrid Electric, Compressed Natural Gas, Liquefied Natural Gas, Propane and ‘All Electric’.

I have an interesting guest posting from Jane Mcguire today:

Are you aware that a North Carolina State University team has demonstrated that water gel-based solar devices (known as: “artificial leaves”) can work like solar cells to create electricity?

The analysis has been published on-line in the Journal of Materials Chemistry by Doctor Orlin Velev, an Invista Professor of Chemical and Bio-molecular Engineering.

The studies prove the concept for making solar cells that more closely simulate nature. They also have the potential to be cheaper and more eco-friendly than the present standard silicon based solar cells.

The bendable devices are composed of water-based gel infused together with light-sensitive molecules (like plant chlorophyll) coupled with electrodes coated by carbon elements, such as carbon nanotubes or graphite.

Graphene is the simple structural element of some carbon allotropes including graphite, carbon nanotubes and fullerenes. Graphene is a 1-atom thick planar sheet of carbon atoms that are largely packed in a honeycomb crystal lattice. The title comes from graphite ene; graphite itself consists of numerous graphene sheets stacked together.

The light-sensitive molecules get “excited” by the sun’s rays to create electricity, similar to plant molecules that get excited to synthesize sugars in order to grow.

Dr. Velev states that the research team hopes to be able to “learn how to mimic the materials through which nature harnesses solar energy.” Although man made light-sensitive molecules can be used, Velev says naturally derived products, like chlorophyll, are also effortlessly integrated in these units because of their particular water-gel matrix.

Velev even imagines a future in which roofs could be covered with soft sheets of similar electrical power-generating man-made-leaf solar cells. The concept of biochemically inspired ’soft’ devices for generating electricity may in the future offer an alternative for the present-day solid-state technologies.

About the Author: Colleen Jane Mcguire is currently writing for the http://www.solarwaterfountains.org blog, her personal hobby web log is focused on guidelines to help homeowners spend a smaller amount of energy with solar energy.

Reference: Aqueous soft matter based photovoltaic or pv devices. Journal of Materials Chemistry, 2011; DOI: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2011/JM/c0jm01820a