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Mac lovers, eat this!

Microsoft has partnered with Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and built into the latest version of Microsoft Windows (Vista), innovative energy-saving solutions, that can save customers about $50 each year for every desktop computer equipped with the new software.

On the contrary, the Board of Directors for Apple Inc “unanimously� opposed proposals calling for an elimination of toxic chemicals in Apple’s products, and a comprehensive take-back and recycling program.

Still think Apple is cool? Think again.

On the same note, here’s a poll question: What is important to you in a company/consumer product? Cost or environmental responsibility?

Comment or Poll.

 

Thought this was cool, according to BBC:
Tanzania has been given permission to import rain-making technology from the king of Thailand, Thai media report.
The patented cloud-seeding technique involves aircraft releasing a chemical into clouds to induce rainfall.
How it works?

Aircraft or artillery spray chemicals (often silver iodide or dry ice) into clouds to encourage tiny vapour droplets to coalesce
Droplets of supercooled water (liquid below 0C) coalesce into snow and melt as they fall
Heat released as the droplets freeze boosts updrafts, which pull more moist air into the cloud

I am pretty sure this has been around for a while, had not see it mentioned in the news for a long while though!

In a recent study to assess power usage per shower, an Australian company determined that on average, users shower for about 7min daily. This number only goes up when other activity such as shaving is performed as part of showering.

Here’s the breakup:
Women that shave their legs: 10.5min
Men who shave: 8.5min
Those who brush while showering: 8.75min
The study also found out that the Taliban’s are the least energy consuming people as they perform none of the aforementioned activity.

Listen to the story on NPR

With that, time for the next poll. What in your opinion is the best way to save energy at home? Comment or poll.  

 

Green Day Teams With Green Group in Campaign to “Move America Beyond
Oil”â„¢
 

Watch the intro video!

[gv data="http://www.youtube.com/v/f72029iNJhY"width="450" height="370"][/gv]

 

Columbia University physics professor Brian Greene says if given the chance to build a universe, he would find it hard to resist. A very interesting interview I heard on NPR. Read or listen to the story.

 

 

 

According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the resident population of the United States, reached 300,000,000 on 10/17/06 at 11:46 GMT (EDT+4). 

In less than 40 years since the 200 million mark, the net population increased by 50 percent. With one international migrant (net) entering the US every 31 seconds and a net gain of one person every 11 seconds, it is projected that within the next 40 years the US population will exceed 400 million. Some advocacy groups claim that the rapid growth will strain natural resources and essentials, but with Exxon-Mobil and Wal-Mart around, rest assured, we are in good hands.

 

The price of gasoline has dropped over 20 percent in the last 3 months, while some might consider this a good thing, in the long run; the only real beneficiary of this scenario is the oil company themselves.

When a gallon of gas was at $3, viable alternatives was the buzz word, from Venture Capitalists to wannabe inventors, everyone wanted a piece of the fuel pie. Technologies that are long been ignored got some well-deserved attention, not anymore though. Gas it at $2 a gallon and sounds like a bargain to those painfully paid over $50 to fill their tanks.

So how does it make the oil companies winners, for one, they made record profits this past year. And by simply dropping the price of gasoline to a point where consumer feel more comfortable filling up, they have managed to curb much needed research funding to investigate alternative fuels.

If this sounds like a note from a conspiracy theory channel, here are some facts.

1) The increase in price although unreasonable can not be considered illegal as it happened in a non-emergency situation (post-Katrina)

2) Here’s the cost profile for the past year and half:

A barrel of crude was around $24 prior to Kartina, a gallon of gas cost around $1.60.
A barrel of crude post-Katrina soared up to $70, and cost per gallon shot up to $3.07. Although the big oil blamed this squarely on OPEC, it does not explain the supply-demand aspects completely. The OPEC claims that China and India are burdening the demands, which in the ideal world would result in less than normal available gasoline (supply), supply being inversely proportional to demand, which is the one of two reason why gasoline could cost more. Americans consumed the same or more gasoline this year as compared to the same period last year, meaning, there was no short supply. Alternatively, the demand was met with increased production, in which case the cost of per-barrel is explained, but not point 3 below.
Now a barrel of crude costs around $60, and gasoline costs around $2/gallon. So either the production of gasoline has gone up (in which case the cost should drop significantly, bringing the costs below pre-Katrina levels) or the demand has dropped (in spite of approaching what is to be a cold winter)

And of course,

3) Exxon Mobil recorded $340 billion with a “B� profits this past year, Chevron made $190 billion, ConocoPhillips $166 billion.

If $3 is the price we pay to pave the path for a cleaner and more sustainable energy source, we should embrace it and as you fill up realize that your money might be fattening the pockets of big oil, at the same time opening up doors for cash inflow to alternative technologies. Ah, I miss the $3 gas.

Originally posted in D.C. Watch.

And you think Wal-Mart is the evil empire trying to screw you? Explain this.
Wal-Mart announces a pilot program to sell generic prescription drugs for just $4 per prescription. If it succeeds, the plan could bring changes to consumers and the prescription-drug industry alike.

Generic drugs are a less-expensive alternative to name-brand drugs. But they still come at a cost: The average price to fill a prescription for a generic drug is $29, according to the National Association of Chain Drug Stores. That compares with an average of $102 for name-brand drugs.

Starting Friday, Wal-Mart pharmacies in the Tampa, Fla., area will offer many generic drugs for $4 per prescription. The company plans to expand the program to all of Florida by January, and to other states in the months after that. Executive Vice President Bill Simon says the reason is simple.

“We hear stories all the time from our consumers” about the difficulties brought on by high drug costs, Simon says. “We can do something about that, and today we started to, by lowering the price of 291 of our generic drugs.”

The company says the list will include generics that treat allergies, high cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes, as well as certain antibiotics, antidepressants, and antipsychotic drugs.

Simon says the plan isn’t an act of charity, as the company won’t be selling the drugs at a loss. He says the prices result from the same strategy of mass distribution that Wal-Mart uses to lower other prices in its stores.

Kathleen Jaeger, head of the Generic Pharmaceutical Association, says companies in the generic industry are ready for the change.

“These products have been on the market,” Jaeger says, “and the price competition has been very rigorous, and providing these products at a reasonable price is very good for consumers.”

The move won’t help people who need brand-name drugs when generics aren’t available. But it could offer a good way to hold some costs down, says Gail Shearer of the Consumers Union.

“Consumers are really suffering with the high cost of drugs, and this could give them a way to get access to drugs at a relatively affordable price,” Shearer says. “Of course, we’re eager to see what this precise list of drugs looks like, but this could provide affordable options for many consumers.”

News source: NPR

This is how good it gets, you have ethanol in abundance, why not drink it?

Read the story >>
Ethanol Turned Into Food-Grade Alcohol

August 29, 2006 — By Amy Lorentzen, Associated Press

AMES, Iowa — Now that ethanol has become common in gas tanks, two Iowa State University professors are working to get it into martini glasses.

The professors are researching how to easily, and cheaply, turn fuel ethanol into food-grade alcohol to be used in beverages, pharmaceuticals and personal care products.

“We will be taking relatively abundant and cheap fuel ethanol, and for a very small amount (of money) adding a lot of value to it,” said Jacek Koziel, an assistant professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering.

He said the …

Despite the blockade, the Lebanese Ministry of Environment has started the clean up of fuel that spilled into the Mediterranean Sea after Israel bombed a power plant. Some environmentalists consider this to be the biggest environmental catastrophe in Lebanon’s history. The month old spill has reached 140 km (87 miles) of Lebanese coastline and the Syrian shore threatening marine species such as Bluefin tuna and the green turtle, which is endangered in the Mediterranean.
The Nairobi-based UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Tuesday “In the worst-case scenario, and if all the oil contained in the bombed power plant at Jiyyeh leaked into the Mediterranean Sea, the Lebanese oil spill could well rival the Exxon Valdez disaster of 1989.”
An Italian environmental agency that monitors the Mediterranean said the “spill posed a heightened risk of cancer, and is a high-risk toxic cocktail made up of substances which cause cancer and damage to the endocrine system. It is not oil that has flowed but fuel for power stations. This contains substances such as benzene, categorized as a Class 1 carcinogen.”
Aside from the aforementioned, the MOE website lists numerous other environmental effects of the war that Lebanon has to deal with. For the time being, the war seems to have ended, but the battle to overcome collateral damage is just getting started. There is no doubt in my mind that the destruction brought up by the conflict will resonate for years, if not decades and will substantiation the notion that “in a war, there are no winners�.