SOLAR ENERGY NOW!

Just read this compelling, and heartening, piece on Andrew Sullivan's excellent blog. I'm seriously psyched over this one folks!

"This is the nirvana of what we've been talking about for years," said MIT's Daniel Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy at MIT and senior author of a paper describing the work in the July 31 issue of Science. "Solar power has always been a limited, far-off solution. Now we can seriously think about solar power as unlimited and soon."

Inspired by the photosynthesis performed by plants, Nocera and Matthew Kanan, a

postdoctoral fellow in Nocera's lab, have developed an unprecedented process that will allow the sun's energy to be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. Later, the oxygen and hydrogen may be recombined inside a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity to power your house or your electric car, day or night. The key component in Nocera and Kanan's new process is a new catalyst that produces oxygen gas from water; another catalyst produces valuable hydrogen gas.

The new catalyst consists of cobalt metal, phosphate and an electrode, placed in water. When electricity -- whether from a photovoltaic cell, a wind turbine or any other source -- runs through the electrode, the cobalt and phosphate form a thin film on the electrode, and oxygen gas is produced.

Combined with another catalyst, such as platinum, that can produce hydrogen gas from water, the system can duplicate the water splitting reaction that occurs during photosynthesis.

The new catalyst works at room temperature, in neutral pH water, and it's easy to set up, Nocera said. "That's why I know this is going to work. It's so easy to implement," he said.

Sponsible Challenge: TAMPA

Just returned from a weekend jaunt to the Tampa-Clearwater area of Florida and have to say that I was disappointed by a seeming lack of indifference to our environment. Be it at Tampa Int'l Airport, the Tampa Performing Arts Center, or my grandparents' community center, I saw nary a recycling bin. While I'll slap myself on the wrist later for not bringing my SIGG bottle on this trip, I winced several times as I was forced to throw plastic bottles in the trash. C'mon Tampa! Let's get with the program!!

Now, I'm sure southwestern FL is chock full of environmentally conscious types far more frustrated over the situation than I. So, I encourage any of you reading this to contact me. Let's put our heads together and come up with a gameplan for getting your city and its outlying towns on the right track. There's a lot of lush greenery in semi-tropical Florida. What say we make the state even greener, together?

GO SOLAR!

When I was a kid I was fascinated by the concept of being able to cook food with the sun. My sisters had their EZ Bake oven – I wanted to harness the power of the cosmos!

I remember seeing various solar cookers – from cigarette lighters to big-ass ovens – in the 1970 Whole Earth catalog and feeling envious of those who had the money to actually buy these things. Then I saw instructions for making your own solar cooker. All I needed was cardboard, tinfoil, and something to adhere everything together.

I never got my makeshift oven to work (although I may have inadvertently reflected radio waves to an alien society), but never gave up the thought that, in theory at least, I could cook with the sun.

Fast forward about 30 years and the do-it-yourself bug has struck me again. Wouldn't it be coo, I thought, to finally get that solar cooker cooking? Indeed. Enter instructables.com.

This site has detailed instructions on making an incredible array of cool useful things, including a solar hotdog cooker. Now, I'm not a fan of dogs, but I may have to try to build on eof these things and itch that self-sustaining scratch I've had lo the past three decades. I'll let you know if it works...

Check out the directions here.

BABY STEPS

Sometimes, in our rush to make big change, we get discouraged when we see that the sum total of our best efforts may not amount to much at all in the grand scheme. Nevertheless, it's important not to lose the faith, for we know not what grand result our tiny action may reap.

Right now I'm working on getting the company I work for (who shall remain nameless) on board with paper recycling. About a year ago I enrolled us in a bottle & can recycling program, simply by googling "recycling los angeles". As it turned out, There was a place within blocks of our office. We received a free corrugated plastic box with a lid for depositing bottles and cans.

Now, here's the cool part: Yes, we now push our plastic, glass and metal recyclables back into the system, rather than a landfill. But maybe the bigger imapact is the response of my fellow employees, many of whom were inspired by my small act, and who have since "confessed" to me about their own recycling deeds. Love it.

Today I lunched into Part II of my personal recycling campaign: Paper. I met with the owner of a recycling company who is willing to come pick up the reams of paper we toss each month, and give us money to do so. That's what I call a win-win-win situation: us-them-Earth.

Let's see what more may come of this. To be continued...

Freecycle!

Ever find yourself with a bunch of packing boxes you just used for moving and no idea what to do with them? Throwing them in the dumpster would be way wasteful. Recycling them is a hassle. You figure someone could probably use them for a move of their own, but who? And if so, would they even pay you for used boxes?

Enter freecycle.org, a brilliant networking idea that may be in a town near you. The idea behind freecycle is to keep used stuff for which you have no room out of the landfill. By simply posting it on the Yahoo! group in your area you can more than likely find it a home, freeing up space for you and filling a need for another. Usually you can just say that you're leaving a pile of _______ outside, propped up against the big sycamore tree at 6pm, and before you can say "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle," it will magically disappear.

Of course you can also score that ratty old mattress you've been searching for or the 5lb. bag of used coffee grounds for your compost worms. A little give, a little take is not just green- it's good karma.

A CHANCE FOR CHANGE

This is an amazing story that picks up on the incredible devastation caused by a huge tornado in the town of Greensburg, Kansas last year. It's proof that given the opportunity, people will opt for a greener lifestyle.


Tornado-flattened Kansas town is coming back greener
AP ONLINE

By ROXANA HEGEMAN

GREENSBURG, Kan. - A year after it was practically wiped off the map by a tornado, Greensburg is rising again - and going green, too, with solar panels, wind turbines, tinted windows, water-saving toilets and other energy-efficient technology.

Environmentalists and civic leaders have seized on the disaster as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to re-engineer the town.

"I would never say the tornado happening was a good thing. I would never wish that on anybody," said Kim Alderfer, assistant city manager. "But given the opportunity, we have to do it right - to make it better."

On May 4, 2007, a ferocious F-5 twister blasted Greensburg, killing 11 people in the town of 1,400 and flattening its turn-of-the-last-century brick buildings, Victorians and prairie-style houses. Townspeople found themselves disoriented after most of Greensburg's manmade and natural landmarks were erased or uprooted.

But now the water tower is back, the town's one traffic light has been replaced, and neighborhoods are showing signs of life.

Returning homeowners and businesses are being encouraged to think about such things as energy-saving lights and rainwater collection systems as they rebuild. And the town government has resolved to erect public buildings that meet the stringent LEED Platinum standards for energy-efficient design.

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

Far more than ever before, the world is in a mood to celebrate the day meant to honor Mother Earth and all she provides us. Tomorrow, April 22nd, 2008, is Earth Day and we here at sponsible mean to celebrate it heartily.

The history of Earth Day spans back to 1962, when then-Wisconsin senator Gaylord Nelson got the idea to set aside a day in which Americans paid heed to the need for environmental conservation. He first pitched his idea to Attorney General Robert Kennedy and then to President John Kennedy, both of whom liked the idea.

It took seven years before a decision to set aside a day for a "nationwide grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment," said Nelson in an interview years later. It was inspired by the Vietnam War and Civil Rights rallies he had seen all around him during the turbulent 60's.

Finally, on April 22nd, 1970 the first Earth Day was held. 20 millions people rallied behind the cause, at schools, at community events, in Washington – not because Nelson was able to organize a multi-million dollar campaign, but because people cared enough about the Earth to organize themselves.

Gaylord Nelson passed away in 2005 but his spirit is brighter than ever as we celebrate this, the 39th installment of Earth Day.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

EARTH DAY TIPS
We've numerated a few things we hope our readers will do this Earth Day, if no other, if for no other reason, then to honor Senator Nelson's amazing work.

1. BOTTLE YOUR TOILET – By this we mean fill a plastic water bottle with water and place it into your toilet's tank. The volume will displace the same amount of water every time you flush, saving hundreds and even thousands of gallons of water per year (depending on how many toilets and how many people you have in your home).

2. STEM THE FLOW – Next time you brush your teeth simply turn off the faucet as you do your brushing. Most of us let the water run throughout the process. You can save between a quart and a gallon of water each brushing by doing this.

3. DON'T BUY ANYTHING – We're serious! For one day, don't buy a thing. Save your money. Save the eco-cost of producing the thing you purchased to replace it on the store shelf. Even food - Make your meals tonight so you don't have to order out tomorrow. See how it feels to not have to open your wallet for a day. Feels pretty good, no? Why not make a habit of it??

4. RECYCLE (Really!) – Sure, we all know to recycle by now, but how many of us do it with everything we dispose of? How many times are you out, drinking from a plastic water bottle, and you finish it in the middle of a walk where there are no recycling containers? Do you carry the bottle to the next one you can find, or simply toss it in the nearest trash can? C'mon, an empty bottle isn't that heavy...

5. WALK IT – Need to make a trip to the post office down the street? Leave the keys in your pocket and hoof it this time. Maybe you're at work and the post office a a couple of miles too far to walk. Why not shoot an email to your co-workers asking if anyone needs stamps while you're there? You could save them a trip, which is a nice thing to do in and of itself, and it saves on auto emissions.
6. GET CREATIVE – Use that ownderful mass of grey matter in your skull to figure out new, creative ways you can help protect this home of ours. It can be fun and fulfilling to happen upon a creative solution that no one else has realized before. Just make sure to let us know about it so we can spread the word and give you the credit you're due.