What’s in your trash receptacles? Palo Alto is in the process of crafting a new Recycling and Composting ordinance to restrict recyclables and compostables from the garbage.
On January 27, 2010, the City of Palo Alto conducted its first public meeting regarding the proposed Recycling and Composting Ordinance. ... read more
As I noted in an earlier post, the matter of figuring out the best way to dispose of human waste has been haunting mankind since the beginnings of civilization. Current treatment of raw sewage results in large quantities of sludge which is not good fertilizer and is laden with toxic materials. Disposing of sludge is a huge problem for waste treatment plants. Enter Micromidas, a finalist at the Clean Tech Open. They have an idea - and it sounds like it's loadSludgeed with win!
Why It's Keen:
Using Microbes, they are able to convert the CO2 in the sludge into polyhydroxylalkanoate (PHA) flakes which then can be turned into bio-plastics. Bio-plastics can be used for plastic containers and function similar to synthetic plastics. Finally, by capturing carbon that would normally be released into the atmosphere the process should result in carbon credits, mostly likely for the municipality who runs the sewage treatment plant. If this turns out to be true, it could be a key element in turning this technology into a reality as it will make it easier to be economically as well as environmentally justified.
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
I was fortunate enough to attend the CleanTech Open this week in San Francisco. The CleanTech Open is a business plan competition in the Green sector and they provide mentoring and significant funding (and media and VC attention) to Green start-ups. These were their Academy Awards at the beautiful Masonic. I particularly enjoyed the variety, creativity and potential of the finalists and imagine there are many great ideas that didn't make it to the finals. This gave me a lot to write about and even one product to lust about. I want one of these 3 wheeled vehicles which will get 100 mpg and bends into a turn like a motorcycle (from Green Lite Motors).
I was struck by how great some of the contenders were that did not win final awards at Clean Tech Open. Below are some of the stand-outs in my opinion. Check them out below!... read more
At theClean Tech Open Gala last night, awards were made to early stage start-ups that compete for recognition and financial assistance. Also, there was an alumni award made.
A scary piece of information: Americans spend over 3 billions of dollars on Halloween (statistics from 2006 and 2007)! This includes parties, candy, decorations, and, of course, costumes.
As our environmental and health awareness increases, we may want to choose alternative and greener ways to celebrate a fabulous Holiday, and also demonstrate to our friends and family how to be considerate to nature on Halloween.
Here are 5 unusual tips to Green your Halloween:... read more
Who else hates that plastic packaging (called blister packs or clamshell or oyster packaging) that things like electronics come in? I think they're so annoying, dangerous, unnecessary, and bad for the environment. There's even a name for the anger associated with opening these packages: wrap rage! Who hasn't had a bout of wrap rage when trying to open up the packaging for something they were initially excited about?... read more
There are a lot of buzzwords when it comes to the environment these days. For some of the stuff, it's hard to figure out what it all means. What is carbon offsetting really? What are photovoltaic panels? Why am I seeing products boasting that they're BPA-free and PVC-free?
Here's a list of some of the green terms you might be hearing these days, from A to Z. Well, actually, it's from A to X, because I couldn't think of anything for Y and Z!... read more
Who else hates that plastic packaging (called blister packs or clamshell or oyster packaging) that things like electronics come in? I think they're so annoying, dangerous, unnecessary, and bad for the environment. There's even a name for the anger associated with opening these packages: 
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