We have had a week long Energy Conference hosted by IE that was incredible! Here are a few things I learned to try and reduce your energy consumption:
Install motion sensored lighting in your hallways, closets, and bathrooms.
Don't brake or accelerate quickly when driving.
Unplug your cell phone charger when you're not using it.
Eat less meat. It takes a lot of energy to raise an animal for us to eat (i.e. more than the energy expended to grow a carrot).
Also, buy your meat from a local butcher or a place that sells meat from local farms instead of large supermarkets. This reduces the ill effects of transporting meat and often times packaging.
Support propositions in your cities to invest in more public transportation.
Buy an electric car.
Install a rain water harvesting system for non-drinking water uses (watering the lawn, etc).
A company in New Zealand recently designed a small machine (about the size of a dishwasher) to put in your home that will make all the energy you need for your home without the use of traditional energy sources. They're being manufactured in Spain. Check out the website http://www.whispergen.org/
GE has already built a zero emission house in California! If you are about to construct a home, find out what features you can have built into your home.
Build your home that maximizes the natural resources. For example in hot Southern Spain, the houses are constructed with long hallways and other architectural tricks to allow wind to flow throughout the house and natrually cool it. And all the floors are made of marble.
Apostando por la reducción de CO₂ con la generación de CO₂nciencia.
Iceland is doing some pretty amazing things with hydrogen.
France is run with about 70% nuclear power.
An amazing speaker if you're looking for one is Profesor Ralph E H Sims. He's working for International Energy Agency out of Paris. http://www.iea.org/
Check out the article "The Power and the Glory, A special report on energy" from the June 21, 2008 issue of The Economist for some really interesting things that are going on!
Recommended Movies:
Who Killed the Electric Car?
The End of Suburbia
Blood and Oil
MICHHAMMI DUKKDAM
14 years ago
I just thought of something else that our soccer club participates in at our school, IE. Go to www.greenlaces.org and buy a pair of green shoelaces to wear and support earth friendly causes. On the website you make a small promise to the earth and are reminded dialy through the green laces to follow through. Happy Greening!!
ReplyDeleteI haven´t checked the book out but for those of you interested in Renewable Energy - a trusted friend just recommended a book to check out written by David JC MacKay, that gives a great overview of the renewable energy problem, possible sources and their potential. It includes a lot of numbers, perfectly suited to those of you who have an engineering background! (but seriously, it's very understandable for non-engineers, too).
ReplyDeleteObviously, it has been written with the UK in mind. It nevertheless gives one a good sense of magnitude that would apply for other countries.
http://www.withouthotair.com/
It's free to download as a pdf or cheap to buy from Amazon.
Thanks so much for the recommendation Roland!
Does anyone know where I can find biodegradable trashbags in Madrid? I heard that they have some that are made out of corn starch or something.
ReplyDelete