Save Eco Destinations

Created by: Marketing Degree

By Jack Lundee

Discovering new ways to lessen our carbon footprint comes in many shapes and forms, from algae-based fuel substitutes to solar energy. Many 21^st-century findings are aimed at long-term feasibility for increased efficiency so as to compete with oil companies.

Meanwhile, who’s looking into short-term attempts to moderate the rate in which we use energy?

According to Energy Bulletin, US Military energy consumption is the single greatest consumer of energy in the world, outputting thousands of trillions of Btu’s (British Thermal Unit) every year. In 2006 alone, the US Military used nearly 900 TRILLION BTUs of Jet fuel, which can be quite costly.

But, looking at the consumption of military jet fuel over time, we can clearly see a steady decline of consumption:

Similarly, municipal fleets, including buses and other forms of city transportation, use a heavy amount of energy every year. Although, much like the military, we’ve seen a steady decline in the rate at which city transportation consumes fuel. Factors include:

• Manufacturing (technology)
• Fewer people traveling
• People living closer to work
• Hybrid transportation

Ultimately, we can say that these slowly declining numbers are part of a systematic attempt to increase fuel efficiency through technology. One particular method of doing so involves fleet route optimization.

The CGI (Clinton Global Initiative) and Doug band are one fine example of a large collaborative unit of corporations, political figures, and non-profits that are helping in the process of route optimization. Route optimization can be defined as an attempt to locate the fastest route from point A to B, similar to the algorithms found in most GPS’s.

In a partnership with San Francisco, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) — a company that specializes in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) — and NAVTEQ — which creates digital maps and map content — the CGI and Doug Band provide a commitment to incorporate plans to decrease greenhouse gas emissions from fleets in the San Francisco Bay Area through Fleet Route Optimization Software. This will target anything from public transportation to work force vehicles. NAVTEQ actually makes digital maps and content that drives navigation- and location-based services solutions worldwide, including:

• Auto navigation systems
• Mobile navigation devices
• Internet-based mapping applications
• Government and business solutions

Utilizing GIS mapping software, ESRI also helps the user interpret data, further aiding in transportation-based decision-making, reliant on the best information and analysis. Much of this is similar to what the average consumer finds on his/her portable GPS. Furthermore, it’s important to note that this technology has been around and is widely used.

Most of the time, this feature will be labeled as “alternate routes” and will allow the user to view multiple paths, along with other elements like fuel cost, distance, time, and gas station stops. Similarly, developers incorporate mechanisms that permit users to view weather/traffic in their area.

This is GREATLY beneficial to travelers, as nobody likes to get in bad weather, or a traffic jam for that matter! Typically, users will have to pay a little extra for these features, and may even have to attend to a monthly fee for traffic/weather updates.

Both forces hope to provide powerful solutions for technology companies that enforce municipal transportation efforts. Once a seamless integration of communication and navigation has been implemented, transportation will become much more efficient. Again, this is something that has already taken effect and will continue to improve energy efficiency in regards to transportation fuel costs. As technology progresses and becomes more affordable, individual consumers will begin seeing the GPS as no longer just an option, but rather as an integral part of any vehicle.

Jack Lundee is an avid follower of all things green and progressive. His endeavors have lead him to http://shadesofgreen.info where he’ll talk about the various topics he’s been submitting to the green blogosphere for months now.

Algae harvester

U.S. companies producing algal biofuels may soon rejoice: The U.S. House of Representatives last Tuesday (9/28/10) passed a bill meant to give tax breaks to companies working on algae feedstocks-generated biofuel.

The Algae-based Renewable Fuel Promotion Act (HR 4168) was sponsored by New Mexico Congressman Harry Teague and has a corresponding bill in the Senate that was introduced by Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) which is awaiting action after being referred to the Senate Finance Committee.

Teague’s HR 4168 modifies the Internal Revenue Coded such that algae-based fuels can qualify for benefits now going to cellulosic biofuel makers. The bill includes a USD 1.01 per gal production tax credit and 50 per cent bonus depreciation for property employed to produce algae-based biofuel.

The bill defines “algae-based biofuel” as “any liquid fuel which is produced from the biomass of an algal organism (in essence, an organism that is primarily aquatic and classified as a non-vascular plant),” said the Congressional Research Service, Feedstuffs reports.

“[…] The House sent an unmistakable message of bipartisan support to the hundreds of companies, scientists, entrepreneurs and government agencies working to accelerate the development of algae-based fuels, which will create jobs, decrease emissions and reduce our nation’s dependence on imported fossil fuels,” told Mary Rosenthal, executive director of the Algal Biomass Organisation (ABO) trade group, reports BrighterEnergy.org. “The passage of this bill is a huge first step towards our goal of creating parity for algae-based biofuels within the tax code and among various other government programmes.”

This bipartisan bill did not cause controversy and passed without objections and without a roll call vote. It also received backing from Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), Dave Reichert (R-WA) and Brian Bilbray (R-CA), among others.

“Algae to produce green crude can be grown on non-arable land, in salt or brackish water and using carbon dioxide and sunlight as its primary feedstocks,” Teague’s statement said.

“Therefore, algae has not presented the same land use concerns as other biofuels and does not have any of the ‘food versus fuel’ implications that plague some other biofuels. Green crude derived from algae can be refined into drop-in transportation fuels, such as jet, gasoline and diesel, that are entirely compatible with existing infrastructure and engines. Algae can also be used to produce ethanol and biodiesel,” it noted.

His bill received endorsement from the Biotechnology Industry Organisation (BIO), ABO, the Southwestern Biofuels Association, Sapphire Energy, and Algenol Biofuels, Dairy Producers of New Mexico and Farm Credit Services Southwest plus various regional business, civic and economic development organisations in his district.

The bill’s passing coincided with this year’s Algal Biomass Summit in Phoenix, Arizona, last Tuesday.

Wind power

Australia’s looking up: a report recently showed how Australia could power itself with 100% solar and wind energy by 2020 using technology that is commercially available right now.

However, the federal government reached a deal to keep its renewable energy target at only 20% by 2020, while raising more near-term targets.

In any case, Beyond Zero Emissions — an Australian independent, not-for-profit NGO — released the report, “Zero Carbon Australia,” which contains a detailed explanation of how powering the country completely with renewable energy could be achieved in merely a decade. Beyond Zero Australia was founded in 2006 to help facilitate a quick transition to a zero carbon future.

“Zero Carbon Australia” says 40% of power can be generated with the use of wind and the rest from solar thermal installations (speaking of which, Denmark intends to source 50% of its power from wind by 2025). The report proposes managing variability in renewable power by using molten salt thermal storage (molten salt can store heat so that it can be retained for use for electricity during bad weather or at nighttime, when solar rays are not available).

First public solar phone in Australia

The plan estimates that energy use will jump by 40% (!) up from 228 terawatt-hours/year in the present to 325 terawatt-hours/year in 2020. This will cost some USD 32.3 billion per year, by the way — but the authors find this manageable:

“The required investment of [AUD] 37 billion/year is the equivalent of 3% of GDP. The extra money spent versus Business-As-Usual to 2020 is the equivalent of $3.40 per person per day, the cost of a cup of coffee.”

Hey, that’s nothing [for most people in Australia, I assume and hope]. It’s fantastic.

The concept’s technical feasibility now needs just one bit of help:

“What is required to make this happen is leadership from policymakers and society, with firm decisions made quickly that will allow this transition to occur.”

Naturally.

So if you’re heading to Australia anytime in the next 10 years (or if you live there!), remember to support hotels and establishments that are pushing for increased renewable energy throughout the country. Stay at eco hotels, buy locally grown food, etcetera. We have the power to change the world!

You can help Beyond Zero Emissions if you wish by making a donation here.

Bikes aplenty in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Apart from the ubiquitous bikers spotted across the city, Amsterdam may not appear to be one of the greenest cities of tomorrow (or today). But it is quickly becoming increasingly energy-efficient.

Dutch energy company Nuon, IBM and Cisco last year jointly launched a pioneering energy management scheme in 500 households that is reducing their energy usage by 14% and CO2 emissions considerably.

Thus far, also, certain Dutch banks have given money to some 700 household to purchase energy-saving appliances ranging from light bulbs to roof insulation. The city plans to lower its CO2 emissions by a hefty 40% by 2025.

Another factor making Amsterdam one of the greenest cities of tomorrow is its intent to install several hundred power hookups within the next few years to allow electric car drivers to recharge their vehicles, and to set up solar panels on townhouses. EUR 100 million will be spent each year during the next 6 years to upgrade the electric networks to smart grids that will cut energy use.

Victoria Harbor, BC, Canada

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Victoria is boosting its efforts toward green public transport and building, energy-cutting developments, recycling and decreasing overall waste. It has also set a goal to go carbon neutral by 2012! Swift action’s where it’s at—don’t give me 2025, folks, because 15 years isn’t nearly soon enough…

Insofar as city planning, it supports the creation of a Civic Green Building Policy, which will mandate that the building of all new civic facilities meet the LEED Silver standard. In other words, they must lower energy use by 31% and water use by 22%.

In terms of waste reduction, Victoria has been implementing a program for several years destined to lower and recycle organic materials on a mass scale.

More reasons why Victoria is one of the greenest cities of tomorrow:  it has introduced the first hybrid double-decker buses in all of North America. Plus, the city is covered with so many bike routes it has become known as the “Cycling Capital of Canada.”

More: Victoria’s traffic lights are now energy-saving light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and the lighting in its buildings now feature more energy efficient lights.

Other greenest cities of tomorrow:

Malmö, Sweden
Gothenberg, Sweden
Vancouver, Canada
Reykjavík, Iceland
Portland, OR, USA

A double-decker bus in London

The BBC’s ethical man (I refuse to capitalize this, ha) has written about green transportation and proposed that driving cars is more carbon-efficient than public transport like buses and trains “(maybe).”

Wha? Glad he plugged the “maybe” into his hypothesis!

As a flaming fan of green transportation, which for me constitutes public transport, I was shocked.

The ethical man argues that if you just “pack in extra passengers” into a car, driving becomes a form of green transportation – or relatively green – despite the rise in fuel consumption caused by the increase in weight carried by the vehicle.

I’ll buy that.

Now, he claims buses and trains are not truly forms of green transportation when compared to driving a car chock full of passengers, because buses and trains guzzle loads of gas pollute more proportionally when carrying few passengers. (Read the boring technical details here.)

While he does recognize that a full bus – especially a double-decker – or train generally pollutes less than a car, he notes that for most of the day, buses and trains travel almost empty of passengers.

But back up.

As I have lived in a bunch of different cities, let me bring up some points about green transportation beyond the UK:

In Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; and Sarasota, Florida, this is the case, too (although I am seeing more and more happily hybrid buses). It’s not surprising, though, since public transport is not so popular in most of the U.S. For the most part, green transportation in this country continues to be mostly made up of bicycling, walking, and so forth, as not everyone can yet afford a hybrid or electric car (nor are they readily available yet).

Bus #39 in Capital Federal, Argentina

But in the capital of Buenos Aires, Argentina, for example, subways and buses are, if not always full to the brim (which they are for portions of each day), almost always carry a significant amount of passengers. At night, however, buses are often rather empty (they run 24/7, I am happy to report. Okay, only sort of happy in terms of green transportation). And escalating amounts of people are resorting to bicycling to get around, largely because inflation is driving public transport (and food, etc.) prices up while salaries remain low and unemployment is high.

The good news for Florida is that a bullet train is in the works to take people from Orlando to Tampa and perhaps even down south to Miami. This would be an outstanding form of green transportation, because the only way you can travel up and down now is by car or a filthy Greyhound bus (I’ve taken them!), and it takes something like an 8-hour drive to get from the south of Florida all the way to the north. Although I will mention, I see a lot of “carpool” signs with phone numbers on the highway.

Either way, this is some deliciously hearty food for thought. And at least the urbanites among us can feel good about polluting less than, uh, ruralites?

Anyway, I’ll choose public transport over driving any day. Buses, trains, and subways are going to run anyway, at least for now, so I’ll definitely be lowering my carbon emissions by choosing them over driving.

Green transportation lovers unite!

Hmm, I wonder how subways fit into this. I take them a lot in Buenos Aires, and they are also almost always rather full.

I shall explore teh interwebz for the answers to the universe!

Fly green with British Airways

(Okay, as green as you can fly.) British Airways is taking a revolutionary step as it commits to build Europe’s first facility “to produce jet fuel from waste matter” within the next two years.

You’ll be able to support British Airways’ efforts and fly green by 2014.

The company will take 500,000 tons of crap (probably not literally) annually in its United Kingdom plant to produce 15 million gallons of fuel for its airplanes. As many as 1,200 people will gain work from the operation and countless others will be able to fly green.

Although the company’s plant will produce twice the amount of necessary fuel for all its flights leaving from London City Airport, this will allow just 2% of customers leaving from Heathrow to fly green. At the beginning, the facility will likely not work at full capacity.

But hey, it’s a start – and a kickass one at that!

The idea is that by reducing the amount of waste with high carbon content that reaches landfills by 500,000 tons a year, less methane will be released into the atmosphere. Note: methane is more harmful than carbon dioxide. Speaking of which, cough, don’t eat meat, cough.

United States company Solena Group will construct the plant and British Airways will purchase its output so its customers can fly green and clean (I’m a poet and I didn’t even …).

Here’s how it will work:

The waste is fed into a high temperature “gasifier” to produce BioSynGas.

A chemical process called Fischer Tropsch is then used to convert the gas into biofuel.

Waste products from the process can be used to power the plant as well as supply 20MW of electricity to the national grid.

A solid waste product can be used as an aggregate in construction.

Sweet. That’s a biofuel I can be happy about.

Um, ironically, the fuel is not currently certified for use in the UK, although it is certified in other countries. But fear not! British Airways is positive it will acquire certification so you can fly green by 2014, when Solena Group will begin producing the waste-matter fuel.

The fuel will be used alone or mixed with traditional kerosene.

Hey, I’m excited! I always feel guilty when I fly (and drive, and … a lot of things). Now I’ll be able to fly green, baby! (“Baby” is so silly. But what’s a good alternative? I hesitate to say “dude.” Maybe “sistah”?)

Thoughts? Are you as excited as I am to fly green?

You know how President Barack Obama recently announced in his State of the Union address that he would boost the use of biofuels and “clean coal”?

What are we, idiots?

Excuse me. There is no such thing as clean coal.

Talk about greenwashing!

And this is an issue that’s been going on for a long while – yet greenwashing has managed to keep it around and prosperous. At least some people are logical: Watch the awesome Rachel Maddow slap some sense into the idea.

Thank you, Huffingon Post

Coal produces more carbon emissions than any other energy source.

It causes significant health problems for miners. It pollutes land and waterways. Stop the greenwashing already!

“Clean coal is a dirty lie,” says environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who calls President Barack Obama and other politicians who commit taxpayer money to develop it “indentured servants” of the coal industry.

And biofuels!

It takes preposterous amounts of corn, wheat, and other plants – and land (hello, deforestation and soil erosion!) – to create bioethanol. Not to mention that with crops come fertilizers, with fertilizers come runoffs, and then huge amounts of phosphates that enter waterways and cause algal bloom (a.k.a. red tide) and other environmental calamities. So greenwashing all the way, here.

And what about food? Shouldn’t we be growing food to…eat? It’s certainly more productive given our current biofuel technologies, which are so limited that the use of biofuels causes food prices to soar.

Biofuels are not green. But there sure is a lot of greenwashing about them! (Ha-ha.)

And now algal fuel is coming under attack as being worse than bioethanol (not that it’s stopping the corporations that already invested in mass producing algal fuel). Damn. Just a few months ago I blogged about its shiny new possibilities!

A truly green possibility

Vegetable oil/Biodiesel

This magic fuel is made from vegetable oil. I know people who have gone to Burger King and other “restaurants” and asked for their gross leftover, low-quality, used oil. They got it for free, and used it alone to power their vehicles. It worked, they saved a ton of money, and avoided polluting.

Now this is a neat idea.

So where are we on this, Pres?

This, of course, is a very complex and intricate topic and I barely touched on it. My point is to note the atrocity – yes, atrocity – that is the unabashed greenwashing in President Obama’s speech. Really, clean coal? We can’t let our guard down for a minute, apparently.

What are your “favorite” biofuels, if any, and why?

Any particularly notable sources on the topic? Recommend away!

I am writing this post in reference to the last one, in which I began talking about my eco vacation in Tulum. There, I stayed at a largely sustainable hotel that *gasp* did not provide guests with electricity in their rooms (although you did get hot and cold water and wifi was available).

Waking up to the waves in Tulum

Here are 3 reasons not to be scared of electricity-free establishments and vacations:

1) You awaken to the gentle rays of the sunrise – no jarring alarm clock, no missing the cooler hours of the day. Your day becomes longer and …

2) The night lures you to sleep earlier and more smoothly. I cannot even tell you how much earlier I went to sleep when all I had to give me light were a few candles. My insomnia vanished. It was fantastic. It felt organic and peaceful.

3) You practically have no choice but to actively spend more time performing quality activities such as spending time face-to-face with the people you came with (not watching TV or playing video games but actively interacting with each other), reading, living in the moment, feeling more connected to the flows and ebbs of nature, day, and nightfall. And even though I brought along a fully charged iPod, not once did I opt for mp3s over the relaxing swooshes of the ocean.

And the heat? Stay by the coast and the relentless breeze will soothe you. Especially if you’re naked. Try it.

The beach in Tulum, with a hotel or two off to the side

We first arrived at Cancun Airport, got stood up by the shuttle service we had already paid for, freaked out, threw an exhausting tantrum, had a couple of cocktails, and finally found a solution to our dilemma.

But on to the fun stuff.

I am sorry to inform that the only way to reach Tulum from Cancun is via the use of vehicles that run on gasoline, and there is no airport in Tulum (yet). The trip can take between 1.5 and 3+ hours, depending on much you choose to spend (about USD 30 for a 3+ hour ride with transfers or USD 100+ for a comfy drive with AC just 1.5 hrs long).

You can also rent a car – and maybe find a hybrid one! It’s worth finding out if that’s what you would rather do.

Riding a bike would take so long you’d probably collapse from the heat and dehydration before getting anywhere. If it gets unbearable just standing beneath the morning sun, imagine what it would be like riding a bike with luggage on your back and for hours on end. And it’s not like the road between Cancun and Tulum is picturesque either – it’s very green, but nothing to write home about.

On to the green, largely sustainable hotel -

We finally arrived at our eco hotel, which did not provide us with any electricity except a fan in our room during the day and wi-fi (you could charge your computer, just not in your room, as there are no outlets – but believe me when I say that spending the vast majority of my day away from the computer was 100% liberating and relaxing).

Note: I will tell you why the no-electricity factor is nothing to be apprehensive about in my next post.

A little of the romantic magic in Tulum

We had hot and cold water in our room (but we barely used the hot water at all!). We really did not need AC (it was summer there: late August) and must have used the fan once, if that. The ocean breeze was spectacular and all you really need to feel refreshed.

Okay – our hotel was on the coast. If you stay in the town of Tulum, which is 6 km. away from the beach, the breeze will be less potent. All the hotels I could see in the town advertised AC, cable, and so on. But why go there when you can take a break and detox from “civilization”?

Let me tell you: I can’t remember a time I’ve been so intensely relaxed for so many consecutive days.

Tulum is paradise for beach and nature lovers – and history + anthro buffs too, as Mayan ruins abound. And there are activities – plenty of them (more on that in a later post) – but I basically used most of my time sitting by the waves, staring at them for hours, and letting their beauty flow into me as the sound of the crashing waves cleansed me from the inside out.