Green Design
Top 7 Green Gadgets and Innovations of 2011
2011 has been a great year for green innovations and products and we here at The Chic Ecologist would like to share some of our favorites. This years list includes green electronics, biodegradable stickers and eco-friendly designs all which present innovative solutions to simple environmental problems. You can also find last year’s most popular posts of 2010 for comparison.
Fruit Wash Labels
A familiar sticker found on fruits and vegetables abound, with a twist. This one will dissolve into a biodegradable fruit wash to clean away pesticides, fertilizer and other gross stuff you may find on fruit. Read More…
Intelligent Learning Thermostat
A thing of beauty as much for it’s energy savings as for its design, the NEST thermostat is an rethought and redesign of the prevalent household energy brain. Read More…
Do It Yourself Home Cold and Flu Remedies
With the cold and flu season not yet passed, I thought it fitting showcase the wonderful benefits of nature in easing symptoms with common cold and the flu. Simple and easy to find ingredients available at any grocery store to ease your pains. Read More…
Sustainable Sushi
You may be shocked to find that most sushi is made from unsustainable and threatened fish, but there are some sushi chefs reshaping the way we look at this delicious food. By harvesting local and sustainable fish, Hajime Sato, the head chef and co-owner of Mashiko Sushi restaurant in Seattle, Washington has pioneered a new diverse menu rotating based on seasonality and availability of sustainable fish. Read More…
Green Driveway Path Options
A while back, I wrote about Green Driveways and Paths, which ended up being a pretty popular article. I figured that it would be helpful to see your options when it comes to porous surfaces, permeable paths and eco-friendly driveways.
Green driveways not only are more pleasant to look at, they also can reduce urban heat retention, reduce CO2, reduce runoff, improve drainage and aquifer recharging, provide some water filtration and more! They can also be cheaper in the long run over asphault (resurfacing costs and crack repairs) and concrete (repairing cracks, staining) not to mention preventing washouts and pot holes.
Systems already embraced in Europe typically last over 20-30 years, with little to no repairs or maintenance. The main options for green driveways are using some sort of permeable surface along with turf, gravel or ground cover to enhance the beauty and green factor.
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Northwest EcoBuilding Guild Building Slam! 2011
Ten projects.
Ten slides.
Ten minutes.
Emceed by Patti Southard, of the King County Green Tools Program, this year’s Annual Green Building Slam! put on by the Northwest EcoBuilding Guild is sure to be interesting.
| What: | Annual Green Building Slam! |
| Where: | Bastyr University Auditorium |
| When: | Saturday, September 10, 2011 from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. |
| Cost: | $20 Advance (before 9/8)/ $30 (after 9/8) |
Hosted by Northwest EcoBuilding Guild’s Seattle Chapter, this event features architects and builders showcasing their green construction projects in a 10 minute, 10 slide presentation.
In celebration of the 100-year anniversary of the International Women’s Day, a number of remarkable projects by top women green building professionals will be highlighted. › Continue reading
Composting with Local Cafe Coffee Grounds
If you have a composting pile or bin for your home garden, then you should head down to your local cafe and pick up these compost boosters. Coffee shops throw away tons of used coffee grounds each year, grounds which are better suited for your garden. Many cafes offer these grounds to their customers if you just ask. Some Starbucks cafes even have them bagged and waiting for you in their Grounds for your Garden bin.
Coffee grounds are excellent for home garden composting, providing your plants with a rich source of nitrogen. You can even add them to rose beds, azalea beds, or any acid loving plants, just spread a thin layer over the surface of the bed. Typical acid loving plants thrive in areas where summer rains are common. Unfortunately, due to salt levels, you should not add coffee ground into your container plants.
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Leaf vs Volt – Who is Winning Sales?
With six months of sales under their belts, which is coming out on top when it comes to sales in the plug-in EV battle?
Apparently the Nissan Leaf has the lead with 3,875 sold LEAFs so far in 2011 while Chevy has 2,745 Volts sold.
Granted they are different cars targeting different consumers with some overlap (see our Leaf vs Volt comparison article) and the Volt costs a pretty $8,000 more. To put it further into perspective, neither is even close to the Prius and hybrid vehicle sales figures- but that may change with time. › Continue reading
Electric Car Showdown – Chevy Volt vs. Nissan Leaf
It’s so exciting to have affordable full electric highway legal cars back on the market! Brings me back to the mid 90′s all over again. This time we have some choices with Chevrolet launching the Volt right around the same time the Nissan brings out the Leaf. While they are both electric cars, they are targeting very different markets with very different strengths. Lets break it down and see the important specs of each.
Chevy Volt
Going for the commuter and road trip crowd, Chevy is betting people will go for a all purpose car offering the most flexibility. It has a gasoline engine onboard to extend the range to 340 miles, but unlike the current hybrids, it will run exclusively on the electric engine for the first 35 miles.
Nissan Leaf
Targeting the commuter crowd and those with garages (for recharging), Nissan is betting on an expanding electric car infrastructure to provide recharging stations in the future. This car relies fully on its batteries for its longer all electric range, but also needs a longer charge time. However, if your daily commute is less than 15 miles both ways, it will last you all week before it needs a recharge, or just top it off every night.
The side by side:
| Chevy Volt | Nissan Leaf | |
| Range (all electric): | 40 mi | 100 mi |
| Recharge Time: (empty to full charge) |
10 hrs on 110v 4 hrs on 240v |
20 hrs on 110v 7 hrs on 240v |
| Power: | 111 kW (150 hp) | 80 kW (110 hp) |
| Top Speed: | 100 mph | 90 mph |
| Warranty: | Basic: 3 yr/36,000 mi Powertrain: 5 yr/60,000 mi Battery: 8 yr/100,000 mi |
Basic: 3 yr/36,000 mi Powertrain: 5 yr/60,000 mi Battery: 8 yr/100,000 mi |
| Price: | $41,000 ($33,500 after tax credit) | $32,780 ($25,280 after tax credit) |
Ford Focus Global Drive
In an effort to promote the Ford Focus, the Ford Motor Company is promoting a competition called Global Drive. While I am optimistic of future electric cars such as the Chevy Volt, I myself am a fan of this small, fuel efficient car until we reach that place.
Ford is interested in making contact with individuals passionate about environmental causes, with the intention of making several $10k donations to non-profits looking to “Start Something More.”
Ford is inviting people to create a simple video and submit it via the Ford Focus Facebook page. Selected participants, along with a friend, will get a free trip to Madrid, Spain on February 18-20th to test drive the all-new Ford Focus. Additionally, Ford will make a $10,000 contribution to your chosen charity in the categories of environment, education or hunger.
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Government Vehicles Going Green
As some of you know, I work for a lab run by the Department of Energy. I get the opportunity to not only witness exciting research that furthers tomorrow’s sustainable lifestyles, but also to see the changes the federal government is making to make their sites as ‘green’ as possible. Current government regulations stipulate that “each agency shall reduce annual petroleum consumption by two percent each year from a FY 2005 baseline through FY 2020″. That might not sound like much, but that adds up to an over 20% decrease in petroleum over the next ten years! That’s a fantastic step in the right direction.
Federal institutions with more than 20 vehicles have also been told to “acquire Electric Vehicles (EVs) to replace gasoline vehicles in locations near facilities and parking structures with electric outlets, and High Efficiency Vehicles (HEVs) in areas with limited alternative refueling, or as appropriate”. In my lab, this translates to replacing all retired vehicles with electric, hybrid or alternately fueled vehicles, and phasing some vehicles out earlier than planned. We were even able to trade in some of our new Ford and Chevy trucks for brand new hybrids for a moderate fee. More electric outlets for vehicles have been added throughout the site as well. My favorite part of the recent changes: the bike trend. More and
more the federal institutions are making bicycles a part of their Federal Fleet. Around my lab, we’ve been acquiring bicycles for employees making trips to other buildings or job sites across our 426 acre campus. At first, a few employees complained when the vehicles weren’t available and we handed them a bicycle helmet and a key to the bike rack, but it’s catching on. People not only enjoy doing good for the environment, but enjoy getting off their butts and exercising during their workday.
