More and more individuals and companies are going green each day but here are a few who have taken it to the next level and have integrated green into the foundations of their businesses.
Since the early 1930s the Hilarides family of Lindsay, California, have been trendsetters in environmentally friendly farming practices.
In 2003 Rob Hilarides capitalizing on a $600,000 grant from the California Air Resources Board Alternative Fuel Incentive Program, to convert all of his delivery trucks on the Hilarides Dairy Farm away from traditional diesel fuel and onto animal waste fuel.
Using a lagoon and some feisty bacteria, the farm produces methane gas from the waste of their cows which is then pressurized and fed into delivery trucks, removing 650 gallons of diesel consumption from their daily operations.
Not only is the technique carbon negative but also saves the Hilarides a significant amount in expenditures and serves as a model for sustainable independent farming.
The lagoon (below) produces methane when combined with cow waste.
Watch This to learn about the Hilarides Farm and its sustainable farming practices.
The waste disposal giant Waste Management displays through its daily operations that turning our wastes into energy can be both resourceful and profitable. With a customer base of over 20 million people, Waste Management turns the trash sitting in their bins into energy that provides daily power for over a million homes in North America.
Using cutting-edge technology the company is able to eliminate the consumption 9 million pounds of diesel by powering its trucks with natural gas made from their collected wastes.
With ambitious goals to add to their current 119 landfill-to-gas plants in North America, Waste Management is sure to be a driving force in advancing biomass energy technology for years to come.
The English water treatment company Welsh Water is a cavalier in sustainable water treatment practices.
Today, Welsh Water serves over 1.2 million Welsh & English customer and is consistently looking for ways to enhance the efficiency of its company, including an investment of over $75 million dedicated to creating a fuel from the waste water it collects.
Using anerobic digestion to convert the waste in water into a fuel gas, enables Welsh Water to power three-quarters of its operations with the energy extracted from waste water.
Taking advantage of the fact that it is a non-profit organization with its trustees as its only shareholders, affords Welsh Water the freedom to venture into other sustainable endeavors that require high start-up investment and low returns but that blossom into prosperity for customers and the environment alike.
The need to expel energy stored in our bodies keeps our body and mind healthy, but innovative companies are finding ways to use exercise in keeping our world healthy.
The Green Microgym of Portland does just that, by taking the energy expelled in its stationary gym equipment and using it to fuel the operations of the facility. Individually the impact made by one person’s exercise routine is negligible, but places like The Green Microgym aggregate the efforts of many users to create a flow of energy strong enough to supply a significant amount of their operating power.
Along with other sustainable practices implemented at The Green Microgym, the revolutionary impact of gyms like these has excitement bubbling. Future developments in efficiency could lead to gyms producing energy for the grid and instead of membership fees, customers could be provided free membership in exchange for the energy they produce through working out. Scientists are extending this idea into any area of human kinetics, such as an electricity producing dance floor and spring loaded shoes that charge a battery as people walk. The idea of taking advantage of the kinetic energy produced by the most populated species on earth is a natural one and with future innovations it is likely to be a profitable direction for alternative energy in the future.
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.com if you have questions or want to get involved. Have a green day!
Canada benefits from a wealth of renewable energy sources. The country possesses vast and varied natural resources including massive supplies of water, solar, wind and biomass – the raw materials to produce green energy. Canada has one-fifth of the world's fresh water and is surrounded by three oceans, providing nearly endless water resources.
