Monitoring Pollution

How would your home or building perform on a Green test?

Buildings and homes rarely operate at peak performance. The sector of building and home efficiency audits,  a growing vocation in the San Francisco Bay Area and California, focuses on optimizing the comfort of buildings and houses occupants, money saving, along with reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving utilization of resources. Image by Avi Decorative Painting, Inc.... read more

A Smart-Grid is defined as an interconnected network for delivering electricity from suppliers to consumers. It can be referred to at a city level, county, state, or national level, or even throughout a continent. The grid supports electricity generation, electric power transmission and distribution.

Other terms for Smart-Grid are smart electric grid, power grid, intelligent grid, FutureGrid, microgrid, intergrid and intragrid.Original photo from FreeFoto.com

Smart grids use digital technology to save energy, reduce cost and increase reliability and transparency. Software is a critical component to successful Smart-Grid operations. Software standards, security and Open Source/Open Access methodologies have been gaining traction as the solution to Smart-Grid software applications: they are sustainable, cost effective and collaborative.

The Open Source initiative and Free Software methodology are two movements that focus on everyone’s right to use software.

products freely without paying the high costs required by the software companies. They also focus on the principle that the software source code must be available to everyone to modify, enhance, distribute or port to new environments.

Open Source is an architecturally driven approach that is not linked to a particular software company and can be applied at the strategic and enterprise levels as well as in tactical projects.

Using open source software enables the concept of FISDev, a Framework for Integrated Sustainable Development, which helps organizations move towards a software development approach focused on Sustainable Development.

Read more about Green software and sustainable software design.... read more

Tricycles for adults? Electric bikes as a replacement for cars?

Two and three wheel electric powered bikes, also referred to as ebikes, motorized bicycle or light electric vehicle (LEV), have been gaining popularity. The market for ebikes is growing faster than the one for cars and trucks and it's one of the booming Green sectors.

Motorized bicycles are powered by an electric motor (in the past, some used a small internal combustion engine) and they are distinguished from electric motorcycles and scooters by being capable of being powered by pedals alone, if required.

Electric bikes and tricycles have the potential to revolutionize transportation in our neighborhoods, places of work, and ‘going’ around town. A significant percentage of car rides are for short trips to local destinations, running errands, accessing your town’s shops or business districts, getting to medical appointments, riding to work, etc., often with only one person in the car.

Touted as a substitute to automobiles, electric bikes and trikes enable us to drive a car significantly less. In some cases it may replace a car altogether.

As a transportation mode, ebikes have a direct impact on greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Automobiles contribute to air, water, and noise pollution. The motored bike’s footprint is so minor when compared to that of a midsize car, which creates thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide emissions in its manufacturing process and, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an additional 20 pounds per gallon is burned while driving.... read more

Upcoming SOLAR events in the San Francisco Bay Area - Week of October 19 - 24, 2009

Tapping into solar energy has many benefits: reduced burning of fossil fuels, independence from foreign energy producers, a lower electricity and gas usage bill -- and helping protect the planet's climate! ... read more

Remember how hitchhiking was an accepted mode of transit in America years ago? Well, now we have ride sharing. With approximately ¾ of commuters driving alone to work in the U.S. every weekday, alternative transportation modes bring many benefits.

Photo by dreamstime.com

Ride sharing is a simple way to save money, reduce one’s carbon footprint, provide opportunities to network and expand one’s contacts, reduce driving stress, as well as pleasant. Find friends, neighbors, and co-workers who are traveling the same way you are – for school, work, events or leisure – and share a ride.

There are several variations of sharing transit: carpooling, where pool members use their own private cars. Ride-share also refers to members jointly share the costs of a rented car; or sharing a ride in a hired vehicle with a hired driver, like a shared taxi, shuttle, vanpools, etc.... read more