A typical kitchen in North America has several appliances to make our lives easier and more efficient, or so it seems. Here are few thoughts about some kitchen appliances and how you can save energy in your kitchen.

Dishwasher
Dishwashers use a lot of water and a lot of energy to heat the water. To get the most out of your washer make sure you have filled it up as much as possible before running. A dishwasher should be able to handle most small food remains so you shouldn’t have to pre-scrub the dishes before loading. Use the regular or normal setting and you should be good.

Microwave
The only reason to keep your microwave plugged in when you aren’t using it is to read the time and most of us have a wristwatch or other clock near the kitchen anyways. Most mics have converters in them that are constantly draining a bit of electricity so go ahead and unplug your microwave and your going to saving a bunch of useless standby energy.

Stove
No one likes burnt cookies so make sure you cook at suggested temperatures and set a timer so you don’t overcook your food. Another simple trick to save energy is set your timer about five minutes shorter and turn off the stove when it rings. Your food will continue to cook as long as you don’t open the door.
 
Fridge
Keep the temperatures set properly and the coils cleaned regularly and you should be good here.

Ditch landline Phone
I still have a landline but I’m seriously thinking of discarding it. They suck up more energy than a cell phone especially with an answering machine included or separate. It seems that the cell phone technology is pretty solid and if you want to be reached or reach someone else the cell phone makes much more sense.

» CWAC.net

Unless all of your gadgets and appliances have wind-up capabilities to recharge (doubtful), there's a good chance you get a fair amount of use from batteries. While they're certainly convenient, they're also hard on the environment. In Canada alone, it is estimated that approximately 500 million batteries will be disposed of by 2010, an increase of over 150 million since 2004. Even though battery waste accounts for a very small portion of all waste, ore often than not, these batteries end up in landfills and expose the earth to toxic substances such as lead and mercury.

While you may find it impossible to give up the battery habit entirely (those television channels aren't goign to change themselves after all), you can reduce the impact of the batteries you use around your home and office by using the rechargeable variety. Yes, they still contain the same harmful chemicals as regular disposable batteries, however their life span is much longer providing you take proper care of them, and can help minimize the number of batteries that end up in the trash can at the end of their short lives.

You can pick up rechargeable batteries in most conventional sizes (AA and AAA being the most common) at nearly any retail location. Check the various options available to see the approximate time your batteries will give you before needing a recharge. Also be sure to look at several packages since some come with more batteries than others.

To prolong the life of your rechargeable batteries, Energizer offers the following dos and dont's:

Do:

☆ Use the directions enclosed for proper storage and care procedures.

☆ To get the most out of your batteries, charge them at room temperature. It's normal for batteries to heat up while charging and in use, however most are designed to protect from overheating.

☆ Rechargeable batties lose some of their charge for every day they are left off of the charger, so give yourself some time to recharge before you want to use them.

☆ Battery contact points can reduce the efficiency of charging your batteries. To clean these surfaces of your batteries, use a clean pencil eraser, cloth or rubbing alcohol and gently rub the surface.

☆ Only use chargers specifically made for the type of battery your are recharging. If you don't know, do your research and find out from the product manufacturer.

Don't:

☆ Overcharge your batteries

☆ Leave your batteries for long periods of time. They should be charged every six to nine months minimum.

☆ Unless a battery is specifically marked rechargeable, don't attempt to recharge at the risk of leakage or rupture.

☆ Put batteries in a charger that isn't designed for that battery type.

When all is said and done and even your rechargeable batteries have reached the end of their run, never toss them in the garbage. Check out programs such as the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (learn more after the jump) to find search more than 50,000 locations that collect old rechargeable batteries and cell phones for recycling.

» RBRC (Official Site)

The scientists at LS9 Laboratories in California are taking a new approach in the search for sustainable fuels. Current sources of biofuels involve the growing of crops such as corn, canola or soybeans, which challenges us to choose between food and fuel. Rising demand for biofuels have caused some staple food prices to soar as land is turned over to fuel crop production and more land is cleared to increase supply. So while we are reducing our carbon footprint by increasing the use and availability of these products, we are forced to make compromises in other areas, meaning that these current alternatives are not truly sustainable options.

Using genetic modification the researchers at LS9 have altered the common Escherichia coli (E.coli) bacterium and encouraged it to eat wood chips, straw and other biomass waste. The result of this fermentation type process is that the bacterium secretes an oil product that burns just like diesel fuel. There are two significant benefits to this new approach. The first is that these altered E.coli will be eating waste products not food stocks that were destined to feed the human population. By using the biomass waste, wood chips and straw, they are eliminating products that would normally go into the waste stream.

And as all geographic regions have some sort of biomass by-product, whether it’s from logging or farming, no resources will have to be shipped large distances to produce the new diesel. This will not only save a tremendous amount of money but will reduce hundreds of thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide from the vehicles which currently transport canola, corn or soybeans to biofuel processing plants.

The second benefit is that the E.coli diesel-producing bacteria create a product that is practically pump-ready. The ethanol biofuels that are currently being produced require a significant amount of processing and distillation, while the process for making E.coli fuel requires 65% less energy. Between the ploughing, fertilizing, harvesting and processing, activities which use fossil fuels to complete, many scientists doubt that traditional biofuel production results in a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Consumers stand to benefit as well, since the majority of the cost of traditional fossil fuels is attributed to transportation and processing, both of which have been significantly reduced as a result of this new technology.

The new production method developed by LS9 would put us one step closer to developing a truly sustainable fuel source. The next challenge for the lab is to be able to develop enough fuel to supply our growing needs. More than 7.6 billion litres of biofuels were consumed in 2009, which doesn’t really put a dent in the astronomical amount of fossil fuels used each year.

In addition to the creation of a new fuel source, scientists have found that with just a few genetic manipulations, the bacteria can produce other chemicals including those that can make detergents, cosmetic additives, scents and flavouring compounds. Truly innovative science is taking our way of life in new directions we never thought possible and leading us down the path toward a more sustainable future.

Having grown up with a dad who works in the agriculture industry, I have spent countless hours listening to (and sometimes trying to block out... sorry Dad!) the agricultural science-themed conversations that were often held around the dinner table. Since childhood I have had a particular interest in all things environmental and find myself fortunate enough to be working in that field today. My father and I would occasionally have heated discussions about what we saw as two different worlds, the traditional agricultural way of food production and my worldview on the environment.

Recently I have been spending a lot of time surfing the Internet, in search of information and new ideas for future Ecollo articles. Many of the articles I find myself attracted to these days blend agriculture with the environment and I am growing increasingly interested in how the work of scientists, producers and growers is supporting the work that is benefitting our environment. This type of partnership is certainly a change from two groups that were traditionally opposed to one another. What’s also exciting is that the people in these two camps are also changing. My dad and I now have discussions about what farmers are doing to increase sustainable practices in their operations and how environmental NGO’s are developing programs that support farmers in making these great changes. A terrific example of this is the partnership between winter wheat growers and Duck’s Unlimited. Farmers are encouraged to grow winter wheat, which helps to reduce soil erosion, requires less weed control and has larger yields, but also provides critical spring nesting habitat for waterfowl.

It is innovative science such as the creation of biofuels from biomass waste using E.coli bacteria and partnerships between the different industries that bring about a truly sustainable future. 

» LS9 Labratories

Pragmatism - The philosophy of accepting ideas with practical results as true and rejecting impractical ideas.  In other words: “What works best?”

When it comes to green, Stewart Brand is certifiably as green as it gets.  We’re talking old school true-blue earth lovin’ hippie and counterculture thought leader in the 1960’s type of green.  Today he lives on a boat in California, but back in the days of peace and love Stewart Brand was the editor of a little publication called the Whole Earth Catalog.  The Whole Earth Catalog was originally an American counterculture magazine that was first published in the late 1960’s and advocated everything you would associate with the hippie lifestyle.   As a young man Stuart was all about communal living and rural back-to-the-earth concepts.  

Today, he is still eco-conscious but has focused his energies on solutions instead of ideals.  In Stuart Brand’s latest book Whole Earth Discipline - An Ecopragmatist Manifesto, this member of the old school green generation shifts from the do-it-yourself attitude of traditional eco-thought to a new concept: how can we “do it” together?

Stewart’s new conclusion: “Cities are Green. Nuclear energy is Green. Genetic engineering is Green.”

Bold statements, and certainly out of sync with the typical thoughts of eco-idealists.  After all, treehuggers typically have dreams of self-sustaining organic rural communities off the grid. Nuclear powered cities and genetically engineered food are the opposite of that ideal, aren’t they?

Atomic Ideas

If you’re reading this on a computer screen anywhere on the continent of North America then chances are the electricity that powers the servers, infrastructure and your home or office computer were all generated using the most primal, basic and dirty technologies available: by burning coal.  Three decades ago the U.S. was poised to move into a new energy economy based on nuclear technology with 100 new nuclear power plants on the drawing board.  But eco-conscious Greens demonized nuclear power to the point that most of us think of nuclear power as a punch line on the Simpsons cartoon show.  The result was that the new plants were scrapped and coal consumption in the U.S. skyrocketed by 400,000,000 tons a year!

Brand asserts that most of our fears over nuclear power are due to misinformation and ignorance over new nuclear power technologies.  In comparing nuclear power that produces containable waste to other energy solutions nuclear power seems like an obvious and green solution that is certainly more sustainable than burning millions of tons of coal each day.

Communes and Cities

Back in the 1960’s and 70’s Stewart brand was a huge advocate of living in commune-style villages and experimented in commune living himself.  But today he says “Cities are Green.”, so what changed?

Well, few would argue that the formation of high-density residential and working systems result in logistical efficiencies in concerns such as land use, the shipment and delivery of goods and the centralisation of services.  Further to that Brand believes that the social implications of living in cities have a green take to the as well: less energy use, fewer children, and the liberation of women to name a few.  Brand believes in greening our cities by design and that we need to invest in making our high density living spaces sustainable. Sounds sensible to me.

Engineered Food and an Engineered World

There is a great quote from Stewart Brand from an interview in City Journal: “I daresay the environmental movement has done more harm with its opposition to genetic engineering than with any other thing we’ve been wrong about. We’ve starved people, hindered science, hurt the natural environment, and denied our own practitioners a crucial tool.”

The bottom line is genetically engineered crops - commonly referred to as GMOs – and the modern agriculture practices that often accompany them produce more food on fewer acres of land than non-engineered crops.  And the less land used the less deforestation that’s required to offset the requirements for farmland, not to mention less water and energy required to produce the crops season after season.

If an old school Green like Stewart Brand can break outside his box and think in terms of “what works” and “what’s practical” instead of adhering to Green Dogma, can you? 

Here are three questions for you:
1. Is there a better alternative out there to nuclear energy?
2. Can the Earth’s population sustain a massive drop in food supply if we switch back to 100% traditional agriculture?
3. Is it realistic or feasible for the entire population of the planet to redistribute into semi-rural communal eco-hamlets?

Did you answer “no” to all three questions as well?  Isn’t it funny how so many of us worry that there are no answers to global warming, the energy crisis or the population bomb when really the answers are simple and have been here all along.

» Penguin Books

On April 20, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico something cataclysmic happened, an unimaginable environmental and economic disaster that took 11 peoples lives and injured 17 others. Transocean Ltd's drilling rig, Deepwater Horizon, licensed to BP, the British Oil Giant experienced two critical failures, an explosion and an automatic switch-off device that did not activate. The result, a conservative estimate of over 5,000 barrels of oil being spewed into the Gulf of Mexico daily, which has created a 5,700 sq km oil slick on the surface of the water that is clearly visible from space. The Deepwater Horizon leak that continues to disgorge oil everyday has proven to be much larger than the catastrophic Exxon Valdez tanker spill off the coast of Alaska in 1989, which released 11 million gallons. And unfortunately, it appears that for at least the near future, the rig will continue to discharge oil into the Gulf as all repair and remediation efforts to date have been futile. So what does this mean for the environment and the world in general? The implications are large and definitely widespread.

Obviously we can all see that environmentally there’s going to be some long-lasting horrific effects. Marine life in the Gulf of Mexico is suffering and will continue to suffer for quite some time; but what about the global perspective? Due to wind, waves and currents, the spill is likely to affect more than just the Gulf, bringing about issues for other areas of the world that rely on the marine environment to survive. What about those in the Gulf of Mexico who depend on fishing or other marine activities for their livelihood? It has already been reported that global shrimp and fish markets have been affected, as they have been devastated by the spill and fishing has been closed from Louisiana to Florida. This oil spill is affecting global markets much beyond the oil and gas industries. So what does it mean for the future? Maybe hope.

It’s always difficult to see the good in a bad situation, and this is definitely one of the worst. But with any incident, accident or issue, we as humans tend to open our eyes a little wider. We start to realize our problems and try to create solutions, widening our perspective on the whole. You might be asking where this is going, so let me offer some light. When scientists noticed that climate change was happening and that we as humans might be a large contributing factor, we started to ponder how we were contributing and more particularly, how we might stop contributing. This led to the global green movement, a strong push for lower energy use, water conservation and waste reduction. We then had the Exxon Valdez tanker spill, which lead to more rigorous safety protocols in many different sectors. It even helped push the green movement, driving the desire for more sustainable energy sources that have less potential to impact the environment negatively. Now we have the Deepwater Horizon leak that is devastating the Gulf of Mexico and the earth as a whole. Of course the ramifications of the spill are horrid and I’m not saying that it’s good in anyway, but the truth is, on a global scale this spill might be a blessing in disguise, that is once the clean up is complete and the environment returns to a more pristine state.

Large-scale environmental issues that reach global media can actually help us progress by leaps and bounds; when faced with disaster, we tend to open our eyes and widen our perspective. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill will undoubtedly bring about change in the manner in which we view oil as a source of energy. Renewable resource and environmental corporations such as Nalco Holdings, a water treatment corporation have already seen a rise in stock value while BP has experienced a decline in their stocks due to the spill. Our society is becoming less complacent with ruling giants who pillage the earth and upset the unspoiled environments that we enjoy so much. If anything, this calamity will help continue the push towards more sustainable energy sources. Therefore, as much as the spill is a global disaster that will have environmental impacts for years to come, it will hopefully help accelerate a much needed change in the way our society thinks and behaves.

Gone are the days of over consumption and gluttony as we enter a new era of enlightenment where selflessness, humanity and mutual respect are the norm.

» Huffington Post

In recent years there has been much conversation and effort put into reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. Research has resulted in the development of biofuels and ethanol blends that reduce the amount of oil needed, while shrinking the amount of carbon emitted per litre of fuel we use. Currently, the biotechnology industry has focused its efforts on corn, sugar cane, soybeans and canola as the main sources for these fuel blends. This has sparked a huge debate. While we certainly need to change our current energy practices, farmers are also challenged with providing food for the growing human population. So, the question is: Food or Fuel? How do we choose?

Luckily, there is a group of researchers, farmers and agronomists who may have the solution we are looking for. Enter camelina. This ancient crop is a member of the mustard family and a distant relative of canola. Growing from one to three feet tall, it is heavily branched and produces pods that contain tiny, oily seeds. It’s a tough crop that can grow in drought conditions and takes less fertilizer than many other products. A quick growing plant, it is seeded in the fall and harvested in early summer. This life cycle not only distributes the annual workload for farmers but, like winter wheat, can also provide a safe and attractive habitat for waterfowl who are looking to nest in the spring.  In addition, camelina helps condition the soil for the other crops that can follow it in rotation, such as wheat. According to some growers in Saskatchewan, this hardy little plant has a natural resistance to moths, grasshoppers, and worms and even deer lack interest in the crop.

There are many advantages to using this crop as a substitute for other crops in the biofuel industry. Camelina, long considered a weed by modern famers, has a high oil composition;  40% oil compared to soybeans 20%. Beyond producing a high percentage of oil, the seeds are also high in Omega-3 fatty acids and once the oil has been extracted, the remaining meal can be turned into a high protein food for cattle and swine. It also contains a significant amount of Vitamin E, which helps prevent rancidity. Other uses that have been identified by Terramax include replacing petroleum in cosmetics and pesticides and as an industrial lubricant.

The opportunities for camelina biodiesel are being explored by the Sustainable Oils organization. Their camelina field testing program has been successfully growing the crop in a variety of environments including Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Pacific Northwest, the High Plains and the Southern United States. Sustainable Oils was recently rewarded a contract from the U.S. Government that should solidify camelina as a major player in the burgeoning biofuels industry.

The U.S. Air Force recently tested the product in their A10-C Thunderbird II. An historic 90 minute flight took place on March 25th, 2010 using a 50-50 mix of camelina biodiesel and traditional jet fuel. While the use of biofuels is not only extremely beneficial for our environment in the most obvious way – a reduction in carbon emissions from the vehicles or planes that use it – but because it is domestically grown it creates jobs and reduces dependence on foreign fuel sources. Camelina was actually selected by the military for initial testing because it does not compete with food crops and has been proven to reduce carbon emissions by at least 80%. Camelina has also been successfully used in a commercial test flight.

I think the potential for camelina as a fossil fuel substitute represents a tremendous opportunity to change what we burn for fuel and our ability to reduce the impact our travel has on this planet. It’s also an example of how we can combine the natural world and scientific research in a way that brings incredible benefit to the economy, individuals and our environment in pretty significant ways. The work that is being done with camelina will hopefully inspire more interest in the flora of our beautiful planet and the untapped potential in the positive discoveries that can be found on our plains, rainforests and mountain hillsides.

» Camelina Company