Living Green

Solar Cemetery Helps Produce Energy For A Town

2008-11-21T03:47:00Z

Here's a new, albeit, different idea. Solar panels on top of graves to help produce power.

It's happening in one of Spains final resting places. A Barcelona cemetery has installed 460 solar panels over dozens of graves. The panels will generate an estimated 125-thousand kilowatts of electricity every year, enough to supply about sixty homes. The installation cost more than $900,000.

Solar panels are more common place in Barcelona.

The City Council encouraged solar and other renewable energies in the town to demonstrate the potential of this type of equipment.

A Business In The West Bottoms Goes "Green" Again With 5 Kilowatt Solar Array

2008-11-21T03:39:00Z

The Energy Savings Store announces the installation of Solar panels at an employee owned HVAC regrigeration company in the West Bottoms building. CFM Distributors are putting up new 5 kilowatt solar panels to sve energy, money and reduce their dependence on fossil fuels.

CFM President, Tom Roberts, has overseen a number of green projects on the property, including a green parking lot, lighting retrofit program, facility wide energy control system, and now the solar panels.

The solar array is a joint project with Kansas City Power & Light. Bob Solger, owner of The Energy Savings Store, and his crew are installing the system. His company is based in Prairie Village and focuses on wind and solar solutions for residential and commercial customers.

Pink Mary Kay Goes Green

2008-11-11T23:23:00Z

If you or someone you know wears make-up, chances are at some point you have tried Mary Kay. with a sales force of close to 2 milion people, it's hard not to be familiar with the brand and it's signature pink packaging. But the Texas based company also like things a little green.

At the Mary Kay distribution center in Carrollton, they're moving thousands of boxes a day and that means a lot of packaging. "We know that what we do today will affect the next generation," says Crayton Webb with Mary Kay.

Mary Kay is trying to lead the way with its pink doing green program. Consultants and customers are encouraged to recycle compacts.

Webb says, "We decided to engage in a compact recycling program, and we asked all of our independent sales force members to bring back their previous pink and black compacts and for every compact we got back we pledged to plant a tree up to 100-thousand trees."

The most recent initiative is a change in their packaging peanuts. "These peanuts are made out of corn and potato starch," says Shelly Miller with Mary Kay.

The peanuts are so bio-friendly they dissolve in water.

Miller says, "We feel that protecting the environment and also protecting our product is best."

At the plant, Mary Kay also offers premiere parking for it's employees who carpool and incentives for those who use public transportation.

Deck The Halls With "Green Lights" And Recycle Plus Get A Discount While You Do It!

2008-11-07T21:09:00Z

KANSAS CITY - The Home Depot will kick-off this holiday season with its first ever Eco Options Holiday Light Exchange Program. On Saturday, November 8 and Sunday, November 9, customers can bring in their old working or non-working holiday light strings to be recycled and will receive a $3 off coupon towards the purchase of energy efficient seasonal light-emitting diodes (LED) string lights. Customers must purchase their new LED lights that weekend and are limited to five redemptions. This event is valid at all The Home Depot U.S. stores.

LED lights are shown to use 90 percent less electricity than standard mini lights and last up to 20 times longer. This holiday season, The Home Depot has doubled its selection of LED string lights and now carries an exclusive line of LED yard décor items and artificial trees.

The Home Depot launched its Eco Options program, a classification that allows customers to easily identify products that have less of an impact on the environment, in 2007. In June 2008, Eco Options introduced a free CFL recycling service for customers to safely dispose of expired, unbroken CFL bulbs.

For more information on The Home Depot's eco-friendly holiday décor items, CLICK HERE.

Check it out! A Philippine energy company uses methane to produce electricity.

2008-10-30T19:51:00Z

A Philippine energy company is doing what a metro business does to conserve energy and cut costs. They both use methane from the capital's landfill to produce electricity. The Montalban Power Plant east of Manila will also generate carbon credits for the company which can bring in millions of dollars. It's the first to use the waste to energy technology on a large scale in the Philippines at a cost of 33 million.

LaFarge Cement Plant located in Sugar Creek currently uses methane to help power it's plant along with burning "trash" for fuel provided by other metro industries.

The plant will be connected to the city's main power grid before the end of the year. The company expects to extract methane from the dump for the next ten years.

A Watch Dog Group Investigates Fire Retardant Chemicals Now Found In Our Kids

2008-10-21T16:54:00Z

Go to www.ewg.org for details on the story reprinted below.

In the first investigation of toxic fire retardants in parents and their children, Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that toddlers and preschoolers typically had 3 times as much of these hormone-disrupting chemicals in their blood as their mothers.

The 20 children we tested had an average of 3.2 times more fire retardants polluting their blood than their mothers.

Laboratory tests – conducted for EWG by one of the world’s leading scientific authorities on fire retardants – found that in 19 of 20 U.S. families, concentrations of the chemicals known as PBDEs were significantly higher in 1.5- to 4-year-old children than their mothers. In total 11 different flame retardants were found in these children, and 86 percent of the time the chemicals were present at higher levels in the children than their mothers.

The tests also found a form of PBDEs known as Deca, a heavily used flame retardant that has largely escaped restrictions because few labs can reliably test for it. The tests showed Deca more often and in higher concentrations on average in children than their mothers. These high exposures early in life point to a previously undocumented, serious, and disproportionate risk to young children.

Eight of the 20 mothers we tested were also part of earlier EWG studies that found high levels of PBDEs in human *** milk and household dust. EWG tests of umbilical cord blood also found PBDEs in 10 of 10 newborns. The current study is the first to show that U.S. children have much higher levels of PBDEs in their blood than their parents and in fact bear some of the heaviest burdens of flame retardant pollution in the industrialized world.

Kristi & Stella: "I chose not to learn the results of our tests because that would only lead to one thing – increased anxiety on my part. Instead, I chose to direct my energy on insisting that the government enact real protection for our children and ourselves. The burden of responsibility should not fall on my daughter's small shoulders, but on those of the manufacturers and legislators who have the power to protect her, and all of us."

PBDEs in everyday items like furniture, computers, televisions and other electronics migrate into the home environment and could expose children to concentrations exceeding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended safe level. Children ingest more PBDEs than adults because they stick to kids’ hands, toys or other objects they put in their mouths.

Children’s developing brains and reproductive systems are extraordinarily vulnerable to toxic chemicals. In the case of PBDEs, laboratory tests in peer-reviewed studies have found that a dose administered to mice on a single day when the brain is growing rapidly can cause permanent changes to behavior, including hyperactivity. Children's bodies may not metabolize and excrete toxic chemicals as readily as adults.

PBDEs, or polybrominated diphenyl ethers, are global pollutants that build up in the blood and tissues of people and other living things. Two forms of PBDEs known as Penta and Octa are no longer made in the U.S. because of health and safety concerns, but are still found in furniture and foam items made before the phase-out was complete. The largest volume of PBDEs are used in electronics in a form known as Deca. Deca is banned in European electronics and in some U.S. states.

The chemical industry is waging a high-stakes effort to keep Deca on the market, claiming it poses no health risk. But EWG’s tests show that Deca enters people’s bodies, and is polluting children’s blood at much higher levels than adults’. Deca was detected in 65 percent of children and 45 percent of adults.

Laura Spark with twin daughters Naomi & Lea: Naomi had 6 times more PBDEs in her body than her mom did even though they live in the same home and eat the same foods.

Even as the chemical industry insists Deca is safe, manufacturers are moving away from the use of all chemical fire retardants and have found they can achieve fire safety through smarter product design. Major electronics manufacturers including Nokia, Sony-Ericsson and Samsung no longer use Deca and are phasing out other bromine-based fire retardants.

Despite the evidence that PBDEs are harmful, that they pollute people’s blood, and that safer alternatives are available, the EPA has done little to address children’s ongoing exposure. Deca remains widely used, and a regulatory loophole allows Penta, one of the PBDEs banned earlier, to enter the U.S. in imported furniture. Until Deca is banned in all consumer products, Penta is banned from imports, and fire safety regulations are revised to promote non-chemical solutions, American families – and especially their children – will continue to be needlessly exposed to these harmful compounds.

The Annual Change A Light, Change A World Is Here

2008-10-10T17:07:00Z

Independence Power & Light (IPL), with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, General Electric, Westlake Ace Hardware Stores and other Missouri electric utilities, is again participating in the annual Change a Light, Change the World campaign to encourage consumers to use ENERGY STAR qualified compact fluorescent lights (CFLs).

CFLs use up to 75 percent less energy and last up to 10 times longer than traditional incandescent lights, helping the environment by saving energy and helping consumers save on their energy bills.

During the Change a Light campaign, which kicked off October 1st, Independence Westlake Ace Hardware stores at 415 E. 24 Highway and 4545B S. Noland Road started providing instant rebates of $2 per CFL to IPL customers as long as supplies last. Up to six CFLs can be purchased with the instant rebate coupon available at the stores.

Because CFLs contain a very small amount of mercury, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends that CFLs be recycled where possible to maximize the environmental benefit of CFLs. During the 2008 Change a Light campaign, CFL recycling bins will be located at the two Westlake Ace Hardware stores. Residents may dispose of used CFLs at these locations until the bins are filled.

Used CFLs can also be taken to the Independence Home Depot on Lee*s Summit Road or other recycling centers in the metro area. To get information on which recycling centers take CFLs contact Bridging the Gap at www.bridgingthegap.org or by calling 816-561-1087.

For more information on the Change a Light campaign and CFLs, including product information and proper disposal, visit www.energystar.gov

A Guide To Shopping Green During The Holiday Season

2008-09-30T15:26:00Z

Halloween typcially signals the start of holiday season shopping. This year, environmentalists are urging consumers to quiz retailers on if their products are "green". Eco experts say not to expect a lot of feedback, but say if consumers keep asking then retailers and manufacturers will listen.

In the meantime, you might consider visiting the Greenpeace website. The organization ranks products for their "greeness". This month they are reviewing electronics. Below is an example of their criteria.

Greenpeace writes: The ranking criteria reflect the demands of the Toxic Tech campaign to electronics companies. Our two demands are that companies should: (1) clean up their products by eliminating hazardous substances; and (2) take-back and recycle their products responsibly once they become obsolete.

The two issues are connected: the use of harmful chemicals in electronic products prevents their safe recycling once the products are discarded. Given the increasing evidence of climate change and the urgency of addressing this issue, Greenpeace has added new energy criteria to encourage electronics companies to: (3) improve their corporate policies and practices with respect to Climate and Energy.

Turning Household Trash Into A Renewable Energy Source

2008-09-29T16:43:00Z

October is Energy Awareness Month. One company is promoting turning household trash into a renewable source of energy.

Soaring fuel prices, increasing concern about overflowing landfills, global warming, as well as energy security issues have made the quest for clean, renewable energy one of the most compelling issues of our time, and not surprisingly a core issue in this year’s Presidential campaign. One type of renewable energy comes from a rather unlikely source that you may never have thought about: your household trash. A process known as Energy-from-Waste (EfW) or waste-to-energy (WTE) lets communities use their trash to generate electricity. Each year, EfW facilities in the United States help power approximately 2.3 million homes while simultaneously keeping more than 30 million tons of trash out of landfills.

The Nature Conservancy supports alternative sources of clean, renewable energy, like EfW, that reduce habitat destruction while lowering greenhouse gas emissions. One company, Covanta Energy has already processed 250 million tons of municipal solid waste (aka household trash) into clean, renewable energy while simultaneously offsetting 250 million tons of greenhouse gases. To put that number into perspective, 250 million tons is equivalent to 30 million garbage trucks full of waste, which if placed end to end, would circle the earth four times.

Airports Try To Find Ways To Be More Green And Save Money

2008-09-17T16:01:00Z

Some airports are going green to save on energy costs and cut carbon emissions. For example, Logan Airport in Boston how has wind turbines to harness the breezes that gust through Boston Harbor. Those turbines bring in 3% of the airport's energy needs.

Other airports are using compressed natural gas, low flush toilets and glass walls for natural lighting. And, some are offering electrical power to planes parked at the gates so they don't have to burn fuel while running their onboard generators.

Imagine A Dance Club Where Dancers Produce Power!

2008-09-06T02:30:00Z

A new club in the Netherlands hopes to attract environmentally conscious customers.
"Watt" opened Thursday in Rotterdam.

The toilets use rain water and of course the cups are recyclable. One of the more interesting features of the club is the dance floor.

The motion of the dancers on the floor actually produces some of the electricity needed to run the buidling. The owners say they save about 30 percent on energy and carbon emissions. They save 50 percent on water and waste compared to other clubs.

Click here for a link to learn more about this sustainable dance club.

What Is A 5 Star Energy Rated Home?

2008-08-30T01:44:00Z

Jim Kostusik with Redstone Homes, Inc. is building one and he's going to take us through it from the foundation up. Kostusik is providing pictures and an explanation you can read below to help us better understand the benefits and differences between A 5 Star Energy home and regular construction.

Kostusik writes: The foundation is an insulated concrete form that is left in place after the concrete is poured. Some great features with a ICF home are as follows:

Arxx walls dramatically reduce drafts and “cold spots” compared to conventional basements. The two layers of Arxx foam insulation will also eliminate most basement humidity problems. The “thermal mass” of the concrete core stabilizes the temperature in your basement so that you get even comfort, all year round. That’s the real payoff of an Arxx basement. You get more, ultra-comfortable living space from the very first day your home is built.

Arxx Insulated Concrete Walls virtually eliminate the “cold spots” that often occur in old fashioned frame walls, because your home is wrapped in a continuous layer of foam insulation. An Arxx home has much less air infiltration and fewer drafts than a conventional frame house.

The solid concrete core of an Arxx wall stabilizes the temperature in your home because of its thermal mass, so you enjoy more constant temperatures, throughout the day.

With its high R-values, low air infiltration, and high thermal mass, you can save up to 50% of energy costs compared to conventional construction, and your overall operating and maintenance costs will be much lower.

Find true peace and quiet inside your home, no matter how noisy it is outside.
The massive concrete core of an Arxx wall protects your home from external noise. An Arxx wall will reduce sound transmission into your home by 75% - 85% when compared to a conventional wood frame wall. Noisy neighbors, busy streets and jarring lawn mowers are reduced to a whisper.

Arxx walls carry an impressive Sound Transmission Class (STC) of up to 50 or more. This means it’s a lot quieter inside an Arxx home. In fact, many commercial builders use Arxx walls when they are building movie theaters because Arxx provides such effective sound control, so it would be great for your home theatre.

Next to comfort, “quietness” is the benefit most often cited by families who live in ICF homes. They say that after living in a home built with insulated concrete walls, they would never live in a conventional wood frame again. An Arxx home is just so much more comfortable and quiet.

I will keep you updated as more progress is made.

Check out more photos of the ICF Foundation.

The Terminator Hosts A New Web Site That Features An EcoCalculator & Driving Tips.

2008-08-19T22:36:00Z

If you're looking for more gas saving tips, I found an interacative web site hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger that promises to keep you entertained.

It has an EcoCalculator that asks a few easy questions like how many miles do you drive annually? Are you a smooth driver? Do you gun the car and go or ease into traffic. Your choices will determine how eco-friendly you are and how money you can save by being earth friendly. The governor of California promises subtle changes will result in big savings. Check it out.

Love The Park? Here Is A Way To Give It A Big, Earthy Hug.

2008-08-11T19:44:00Z

National Public Lands Day is an annual hands-on volunteer event focused on improving and enhancing the public lands we all enjoy- America’s parks and other public lands, federal, state, and local. Last year 110,000 volunteers working all across the nation built trails and bridges, planted trees and plants, and removed trash and invasive plants.

Join us this year as Bridging The Gap hosts a working celebration of one of the Kansas City region’s most scenic public areas, Swope Park! On Saturday, September 27, 9:00 AM - Noon, staff and volunteers from Bridging The Gap’s affiliates will work together with other community volunteers to pick up litter, remove invasive honeysuckle, and plant trees throughout the park. Volunteers may help with the projects listed above, help run the event or both! Pre-registration is required. Contact Laura O’Brien at 816-561-1061, ext. 109 or lobrien@bridgingthegap.org for more information or to sign up.

Organic Food Has Become About 3% Of America's Food Industry

2008-08-07T02:52:00Z

Consumer are cutting back on luxury items, but those who are purchasing organic do it because they believe it is something that's good for themselves and their families. They also believe it is good for the earth.

To be organic, food must be produced without chemical fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and synthetic hormones and grown in a way that replenishes the soil.

Sales of such foods and beverages totalled 1 billion dollars in 1990 and almost 7 billion in 2006. Sales are projected to pass 23 billion this year.

Despite all the optimism, within the industry farmers and producers worry there is a point, price point, where even the most dedicated organics consumers says enough.

Does price influence your choice to buy organic? Tell us more.