Posts filed under 'Energy'
August 18th, 2009
No, no sit-ups!
This week at the state fair, a trash compactor is really crunching things up.
From our AP story, with a quote from our former mayor:
Waste Management is introducing the compactor, about the size of a standard, 35-gallon bin, which holds 180 gallons of compacted waste and reduces hauling trips by 80 percent.
The unit is at the corner of Brian Raney Avenue and Main Street, outside the governor’s tent. It includes a bin for recyclables.
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Director Doug Scott called the compactor “doubly green” — using renewable solar energy to operate and compacting waste so it can be handled more efficiently.
August 6th, 2009
This month, the county Zoning Board of Appeals is expected to hold a hearing regarding a proposal from Navitas Energy, which wants to build a 100-turbine farm that straddles Stephenson, Ogle and Winnebago counties.
Fewer than half of turbines would be in Winnebago County, which does not have any ordinances addressing wind farms. According to Monday’s story:
(Navitas) supplied county officials sample legislation that it would like to see adopted by the County Board.
The company would like commercial wind turbines to be a permitted use in agricultural districts. This would allow companies to have their pick of farmland as long as the soil could support the turbines and they found landowners willing to sell or lease.
July 7th, 2009
When I hear the word “diesel,” I tend to think about the actor or the snarly train on “Thomas the Tank Engine.”
But it’s been poppping up lately as a greener car option, particularly from Volkswagen (someone thinks it’s fun to drive; it also won an award) and other European automakers … as well as an Indian one.
The TDI, as VW calls its diesel engines, is popular with Jetta buyers and accounts for the majority of Jetta wagon sales. Those cars are rated by the EPA at 29 miles per gallon in the city and 40 on the highway, and in our real-world around-town driving, the cars have typically returned fuel economy in the upper 30s. This is in line with results by AMCI Testing, an Oceanside, Calif., company that recorded 38 mpg in city driving and 44 mpg highway for the Jetta TDI.
The best explanation of this phenomenom I found from Popular Mechanics:
Most Americans have a bad impression of diesel cars. We think of them as loud, hard to start and foul-smelling. We sneer at them for lacking the get-up-and-go of their gasoline-powered cousins. And we dislike them for their perceived environmental sins, chiefly the polluting brew of sulfur and nitrogen compounds that they emit into the atmosphere. All those complaints were fair a generation ago, when the twin energy crises of the 1970s propelled diesels into national popularity and kept them there for a decade. Back then, many drivers ignored diesel’s faults, or were unaware of them, because diesel cars ran 30 percent farther on a gallon of fuel than similar gasoline-powered cars. It felt savvy to buy a diesel, even daring. Then fuel prices dropped in the mid-1980s, and drivers abandoned their clattering, odoriferous fuel sippers. They went back to gasoline.
Today, diesel powertrains are on the map again, for both car manufacturers and efficiency-minded drivers. The technology could be here to stay, even if fuel prices (improbably) decline. The new cars run as well as their gasoline-powered competitors. And as for the emissions problems of the past—well, the dirty bird of fossil fuels isn’t so dirty anymore.
July 6th, 2009
The Rockford Area Economic Development Council wants to send a delegation to Sweden for International
Bioenergy Days Sept. 28-30 to to learn about the latest on alternate energy technology and to prepare to host the event in 2010.
If you are interested in attending, contact Bea Miller at 815-987-8118 or bmiller@rockfordil.com.
If you want to join the 2010 planning committee, contact Mark Podemski at the same number or mpodemski@rockfordil.com.
June 15th, 2009
And you’ve probably driven it: The Little Tikes Cozy Coupe — affordably priced at $49.99 and recently updated with a smiley face on the front and cupholders.
The plastic piece of our American childhood has been in the news because it was inducted into the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum in Cleveland.
The Little Tikes Cozy Coupe, that yellow-topped, red-bodied rite of childhood passage, sold more than 457,000 units in 2008 — more than any other car in America.
“It’s definitely a recession-proof vehicle,” said Rosanne Kubisty, director of marketing for Little Tikes.
Little Tikes has sold more than 10 million Cozy Coupes since the model was introduced in 1979 — and that doesn’t take into account its reputation for surviving multiple owners.
May 28th, 2009
OK, I didn’t have one, but my cousins did. It was nothing like what you see above — it was OLD!
It’s more likely these days that you have a second refrigerator in the garage or basement.
I got a letter from ComEd this week letting me know that I could earn $25 for that fridge or freezer if I allow it to be picked up and recycled properly.
To qualify, you must be a ComEd residential delivery services customer, and your fridge or freezer must meet these minimum requirements:
- Between 10 and 30 cubic feet in size.
- Empty and working at the time of pick-up.
- Accessible with a clear path for removal by contractor.
Call 888-806-2273 to schedule a pickup. You could lower your electric bill and reduce greenhouse gases with that old “energy hog.”
May 19th, 2009
The Obama administration is expected to announce today the nation’s first emission limits and a higher requirement for an average miles per gallon — 35.5, up from 25.
Consumers should expect to pay an extra $1,300 per vehicle by the time the plan is complete in 2016. …
Obama’s plan couples for the first time pollution reduction from vehicle tailpipes with increased efficiency on the road. It would save 1.8 billion barrels of oil through 2016 and would be the environmental equivalent to taking 177 million cars off the road, senior administration officials said Monday night.
New vehicles would be 30 percent cleaner and more fuel-efficient by the end of the program.
March 30th, 2009
I’m back in the real world after a week of vacation. Even though I had access to the Web and TV, I was pretty tuned out. So much so that I missed Earth Hour. The World Wildlife Fund encouraged people to turn off their lights for an hour Saturday night to draw attention to the problem of global warming.
In case you missed it, too, you can see a slideshow of darkened world landmarks.
Or you can read about whether this effort made a difference in this Time article, which notes that more than a third of Americans think that global warming fears are exaggerated.
What’s next?
1. Probably another Earth Hour.
2. You can “vote for the Earth” by filling out this form and sending it to politicians.
3. This December, world leaders are expected to work on an agreement to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
UPDATE: Did you participate? Did you take pictures? Share with me in the comments or at jpollock@rrstar.com.
March 9th, 2009
Well, not exactly.
If you missed this Sunday’s BusinessRockford.com story, you missed a green story. A New Jersey company, Global Resource Corp., is making a prototype in Rockford (at Ingersoll Production) for a process that extracts energy from waste like tires.
The hope is that the venture will lead to production of the final machines here, creating up to 100 jobs in the region.
“We have a lot of opportunities to create jobs for people when people are worried about losing their jobs and people are being laid off,” said Jeff Kimberly, president of the West Berlin, N.J.-based company.
That’s good news.
March 6th, 2009
This week, the Chicago Tribune wrote about Kalmar, Sweden, a city much smaller than Rockford, that has made the leap toward reliance on alternative energy.
The city of 60,000—and its surrounding 12-town region, with a quarter-million people—has traded in most of its oil, gas and electric furnaces for community “district heat,” produced at plants that burn sawdust and wood waste left by timber companies. Hydropower, nuclear power and windmills now provide more than 90 percent of the region’s electricity.
My favorite quote is from a resident who says “We are not eco-freaks.” The story also notes some of the challenges of living greener. One family couldn’t afford to switch to hybrid cars and couldn’t make the switch to a vegetarian lifestyle but gave up their dryer. Wow.
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