Challenging where our energy comes from and who profits from it can seem a little eccentric... After all, not everyone has solar panels bolted above the doorstep. Green economy educator David Chernushenko does, and they generate more than enough energy to go around. So why can't he share it? New technologies mean that energy security is within our grasp, but harsh resistance is still being met. Debunking some of the spin of the big energy lobby, David embarks on a global journey to discover what a sustainable future might actually look like.
Watch below as he explains his own experience in the discovery of renewable energy and what he saw throughout the globe:
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about renewable energy - Knowledge Is Power! For more information go to www.endeavorscorp.com or write to us at info@endeavorscorp.comif you have questions or want to get involved. Have a green day!
Whether you celebrate Chinese New Year, or any New Year, now is a great time to begin your green resolution! Like many New Year's themes, green resolutions can also be aimed at improving your health as well as that of the planet. Try any or all of these green resolutions today, and use some tricks to help you keep them:
Green Resolutions:
Walk! Limiting your use of vehicles can greatly reduce the amount of harmful emissions released into the atmosphere, while at the same time increasing your cardiovascular fitness, lowering your cholesterol, improving your circulation, and much more! You can also run and ride your bicycle; both are great ways to get your heart rate up and keep gas use down. Check your local resources for walking routes, hiking trails, and bike paths.
Co-transport!Shared means of transportation are a great way for you to fulfill your needs without putting as much damage on the environment, or your wallet! Translink, Zip Car, Modo, and Car2Go are just some of the options available to you. Check out your local community for more today!
Clean green!Using green products in your household cleaning can be better for the health of the planet and of yourself, your family, and your pets. Green products are typically made with natural ingredients and can reduce the amount of harmful toxins you inhale each day. Green products are also often packaged in recycled or biodegradable materials and offer bulk options to reduce waste. Research and read the labels of your green products, looking for words such as biodegradable, 100% recycled, certified organic, and green certified, to chose the ones that are right for you.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! These days most homes, offices, and public areas all offer recycling options to encourage us to manage our waste properly. While you may already practice the 3Rs, try to go that extra mile and do a little more this year! Composting is a great way to reduce, and make use of, your waste. Did you know you can recycle aluminum foil? See what else is on the recycle listhere!
Tips for Keeping Them:
Set alarms!Make use of those reminder options in your email and mobile devices by setting daily green alerts.
Plan ahead!Organizing your activities and meals ahead of time can help you make better, greener, decisions. Try things like: pre-making your lunches at home with fresh, local ingredients and packing them in reusable containers and bags; bringing water with you in reusable bottles; and walking or riding to your destinations.
Set goals!The first step to achieving a goal is deciding on it, the second is writing it down, and the third is acting towards it. When you can see and measure your tasks you are much more likely to achieve them! Learn more about how to set and achieve goals here.
DO IT FOR YOURSELF!You are your greatest motivator, and your greatest procrastinator. You can always find an excuse not to do something, but when you really want it nothing can stop you. Go green for the planet, for the future, but mostly for yourself; doing your part never felt so good!
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about renewable energy - Knowledge Is Power! For more information go to www.endeavorscorp.com or write to us at info@endeavorscorp.comif you have questions or want to get involved. Have a green day!
It's no secret that elementary, secondary, and post-secondary schooling all put a heavy strain on paper products with materials to teach and learn. The use of online reference has greatly reduced the number of students that require paper research information but today textbooks are still mandatory and primarily in paper form. Apple has just announced its new digital textbook service called iBooks 2, and they are not alone in the area of paperless learning. Here are a few companies currently making waves in the digital reading arena:
A Multi-Touch textbook on iPad is a gorgeous, full-screen experience full of interactive diagrams, photos, and videos. No longer limited to static pictures to illustrate the text, now students can dive into an image with interactive captions, rotate a 3D object, or have the answer spring to life in a chapter review. They can flip through a book by simply sliding a finger along the bottom of the screen. Highlighting text, taking notes, searching for content, and finding definitions in the glossary are just as easy. And with all their books on a single iPad, students will have no problem carrying them wherever they go.
Built for students, with students, to help you learn faster
Anytime, anywhere access across all connected devices
Search, highlight, take notes & see key highlights from other students
24/7 interactive math & science help from Chegg's network of students and experts
Students can rent e-textbooks for as few as 30 days and extend rental periods in one-day increments. A key feature is you can keep annotations and highlighting after the rental period ends. The notes are stored in the Amazon cloud and can be automatically synced if you re-rent a textbook. The amount of storable highlighting allowed is determined by the individual publishers, according to an Amazon spokesperson.
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about renewable energy - Knowledge Is Power! For more information go to www.endeavorscorp.com or write to us at info@endeavorscorp.comif you have questions or want to get involved. Have a green day!
In 2011 GE launched its "Tag Your Green" campaign with the following question:
"What does environmental responsibility mean to you?"
Watch this video and "let’s use the internet to get inspired, get involved, and get everyone thinking and acting more responsibly. Let’s connect and exchange new eco-ideas, thoughts, and innovations." - GE
There has been a heavy shift towards green building design over the past decade due to a more environmentally-conscious mind state. Take a look at what's new in retrofitting existing building structures, environmentally safe products, and green roofs!
Retrofitting Existing Building Structures:
Retrofitting existing buildings is an excellent way to optimize overall efficiency, whether it be in your existing home or commercial building.The best approach to increasing energy efficiency will vary from building to building. For some buildings, a comprehensive retrofit project will produce the most energy efficient building system, possibly reducing energy consumption by 25-50%. In other buildings, technical and financial constraints may prevent a retrofit project and in these cases, it is often desirable to implement behavioural changes.The following chart shows some factors that should be considered when planning a retrofitting project:
The composition of materials used in a building plays a major factor in its impact on the environment. Whether new or renovated, existing government facilities must lead the way in the use of environmentally preferable products and processes that do not pollute or unnecessarily contribute to waste stream, do not adversely affect health, and do not deplete limited natural resources.
Here are at some eco-friendly materials for the foundation and construction of a home/commercial building and some for the interior of buildings as well.
Engineered Roof & Ceiling Frame Plan
Advanced framing techniques that use engineering principles to minimize material waste while meeting building code structural guidelines.
Engineered Flooring System
An engineered system that reduces warping, twisting, and shrinking that can lead to squeaky floors. These systems make efficient use of faster-growing trees from managed forests which help preserve old-growth forests for a sustainable future.
Finger Jointed Studs
Resource efficient construction materials that are as strong and stable as solid-sawn studs. This material is used throughout all the walls of our homes and engineered to deliver straighter stronger walls. Here is a quick video on finger jointed studs…
Made from small pieces of wood harvested from small, fast growing trees (usually from a tree farm) and have an average recycled content of anywhere from 66 to 75 percent.
Mgo Board Trim/Soffit
These innovative magnesium cement-based products are deemed to be CO2 (greenhouse gas) friendly by capturing emissions in the manufacturing process that are not released into the atmosphere. Mgo boards can be recycled upon demolition or even composted, returning valuable magnesium-based minerals to the soil. This superior, non-combustible material also resists rot resulting from humidity, rain, salt air and termites.
Eco Glass
Generally is comprised of 95% recycled glass and plastic, and can be used as a hard wearing surface for kitchen worktops. Eco glass worktops are available in a range of finishes to resemble marble, quartz or granite, and match conventional glass for practicality and style.
Eco Fabrics
Natural eco fabrics are the environmentally friendly alternative to synthetic cloth because they’re made from renewable plant fibres. The two most popular eco fabrics are cotton and jute (also called hessian), and other types include hemp, recycled polyester, organic leather, wool, felt and fair trade silks.
Eco Paints
Conventional lead based paint emits harmful chemicals into the air, such as pesticides, herbicides and toxins, which are referred to as volatile organic compounds (VOC). Eco paints, on the other hand, contain fewer or no toxins at all, in which case they’re labelled as being VOC free. Eco paints are odourless and popular types are milk, plant, water or soy based, rather than lead.
Green Roofs:
There are two distinct types of green roofs: intensive and extensive.
Intensive green roofs are essentially elevated parks. They can sustain shrubs, trees, walkways and benches with their complex structural support, irrigation, drainage and root protection layers. The foot or more of growing medium needed for an intensive green roof creates a load of 80-150 pounds (36-68 kilograms) per square foot.
Extensive green roofs are relatively light at 15-50 pounds (7-23 kilograms) per square foot. They support native ground cover that requires little maintenance. Extensive green roofs usually exist for their environmental benefits and don't function as accessible rooftop gardens.
Benefits:
Protect the roof membrane from harsh weather and ultraviolet radiation, allowing them to last twice as long traditional roofs.
Have a fairly stable surface temperature, remaining at air temperature or cooler while traditional rooftops can soar up to 90º F (32º C) above air temperature.
The extra growing medium and vegetation insulates the building from intense temperatures and minimizes heat gain. According to a Canadian study, even a six-inch extensive green roof can reduce summer energy demands by 75 percent.
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about renewable energy - Knowledge Is Power! For more information go to www.endeavorscorp.com or write to us at info@endeavorscorp.comif you have questions or want to get involved. Have a green day!
The final country on our list of the largest reported investments in renewable energy in 2010 is the Czech Republic
In the Czech Republic, renewable energy is supported through either a guaranteed feed-in tariff or a green bonus paid on top of the market price. System operators are free to choose either option. Furthermore, renewable energy is promoted through several subsidies and an exemption from the tax on income gained from the sale of electricity from renewable sources.
Policies
Here are a few of Czech Republic’s renewable energy policies (click here for more information):
Tax exemption– No income tax is foreseen neither in the year of putting in operation renewable electricity plants nor for the following 5 years.
EU Structural Funds– From 2007, investors in renewable electricity production had the opportunity to obtain aid from the EU’s Structural Funds via the Operational Programmes. The Operational Programme (OP) for 2007-2013 focused, amongst other things, on the construction and restoration of plants using RES.
Motives
The share of renewable energy sources has been increasing, although still below EU average.
Coal is the main energy source for electricity production. The second most important source is nuclear power.
The share of renewable energy sources has also been increasing, although still below EU average.
Renewable Energy Availability
Click to see larger image
and for more information.
Gross electricity production from hydro amounted to 2,090 gigawatt-hours while the total installed capacity amounted to 1,031 megawatts.
Gross electricity production from biomass amounted to 968 gigawatt-hours in 2007 (with an annual increment of 237 gigawatt-hours).
Wind plantsproduced 125.11 gigawatt-hours in 2007. By the end of 2007, 113.8 megawatts of wind power had been installed in the Czech Republic. In 2007, 10 projects with a total capacity of 70.3 megawatts were put into operation.
To learn about the other countries on this list please see our blog archive or take a look at our GREENcyclopedia for much more!
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about renewable energy - Knowledge Is Power! For more information go to www.endeavorscorp.com or write to us at info@endeavorscorp.comif you have questions or want to get involved. Have a green day!
Continuing with our list from December 2011 (archive) next up we have France
Renewable sources such as biomass and hydro participate to a significant extent of France’s energy mix. However, France is developing policies aimed at a more diversified mix which includes increasing wind and photovoltaic electricity, solar energy for heat and biofuels. France also has the second largest potential in the European Union in terms of wind energy and a very good potential in terms of solarand geothermalenergy.
Here are a few of France’s renewable energy policy plans (for more info, please click here):
Tax Credits – In 2005, tax credits were set up (50% since 2006) for equipments using renewable energy source. This is now called the sustainable development tax credit regime and is extended to 2012.
General Tax on Polluting Activities– Operators who incorporate levels of biofuels inferior to the anticipated national objectives must acquit, according to the 2005 Financial Law a supplementary payment of General Tax on polluting activities. The rate of the tax decreases according to the amount of biofuels put on the market.
Motives
France faces an energy import dependency close to average EUlevels, with the majority of imports being oil.
The share of gas, also imported, has been steadily increasing in recent years.
Electricity production in France is dominated by nuclear energy which amounts approximately to 77% (2007).
Renewable Energy Availability
The level of production of large-scale and small-scale hydropower installations combined to represent 59,712 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of the total 64,439 GWh.
The second and third principal sources are biowaste (1,671 GWh) and solid biomass (1,371 GWh).
Solar power demonstrates an average annual growth of 90% (between 1997 and 2004), and for onshore wind power this figure is 58%.
Stay tuned for the final country coming up!
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about renewable energy - Knowledge Is Power! For more information go to www.endeavorscorp.com or write to us at info@endeavorscorp.comif you have questions or want to get involved. Have a green day!
Sources: EREC, EREC, EREC, Europa, Bloomberg New Energy Finance and United Nations Environment Programme (2011)
Indiais next on our listof countries with the largest reported investments in renewable energy in 2010.
India has a vast supply of renewable energy resources, and it has one of the largest programs in the world for deploying renewable energy products and systems. It is the only country in the world to have an exclusive ministry for renewable energy development, the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (MNES). Since its formation, the Ministry has launched one of the world’s largest and most ambitious programs on renewable energy.
Policies
Here are a few of India’s renewable energy policy plans (click for more information):
Foreign Investment Policy – Foreign investors can enter into a joint venture with an Indian partner for financial and/or technical collaboration and for setting up of RE-based power generation projects.
Industrial Policy– A five-year tax holiday is allowed for renewable energy power generation projects.
Soft loans are available through Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency for renewable energy equipment manufacturing.
Private sector companies can set up enterprises to operate as licensee or generating companies.
Motives
India’s energy consumption has been increasing at one of the fastest rates in the world due to population growth and economic development.
Primary commercial energy demand grew at the rate of 6% between 1981 and 2001.
Renewable Energy Availability
India is surpassed only by Germany as one of the world's fastest growing markets for wind energy.
India has an average annual temperature that ranges from 25°C – 27.5 °C. This means that India has huge solar potential.
In India, small hydro (less than 25 megawatts) is the most utilized renewable energy source for energy production.
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about renewable energy - Knowledge Is Power! For more information go to www.endeavorscorp.com or write to us at info@endeavorscorp.comif you have questions or want to get involved. Have a green day!
The Spanish economy is characterized by a slightly higher energy intensity than the rest of Europe, by a high dependence on energy imports and rapid changes of the energy system in the last few years. Security & diversityof energy sources remain the major driving forces for the growth of Spain renewable energy industry. A stable legal framework based on feed-in tariffs with premium price recognising the environmental benefits promotes the development of renewable energy.
Policies
Here are a couple of Spain’s renewable energy policy plans (click for more details):
Feed in Tariff– Electricity generation in Spain has two different regimes, the ordinary regime to which all the conventional generation belong to, and the special regime to which renewable energy generation belongs.
A feed-in tariff promotion mechanism is implemented and incorporates both fixed total prices and price premiums added to the electricity market Price.
Grid Access– All systems that generate electricity as specified by the special regulation (renewable energy) and whose capacity exceeds 10 megawatts shall be connected to a central control system.
Motives
Spain strongly depends on energy imports, while domestic production is mainly related to nuclear energy. Energy demand has increased significantly since 1990.
Transportation and industry are the most significant energy-consuming sectors. In the electricity sector, coal is still the main fuel, but the contribution of gas, nuclear and renewable sources is remarkably high.
Renewable Energy Availability
The production of green electricity increased from 36,609 gigawatt-hours to 53,750 gigawatt-hours between 1997 and 2004.
In 2005, Spain produced the largest amount of bioethanol in the EU-25.
In 2004, hydropower accounted for almost 60% of all renewable energy production.
Stay tuned for more countries coming up!
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about renewable energy - Knowledge Is Power! For more information go to www.endeavorscorp.com or write to us at info@endeavorscorp.comif you have questions or want to get involved. Have a green day!
Sources: EREC, GENI, Europa, Green Tech Media, Bloomberg New Energy Finance and United Nations Environment Programme (2011)
