Energy

With the presidential campaign well under way, many issues have been debated and discussed such as Iraq, gas prices, and foreign policy. One of the lesser addressed areas is each candidate's stance on the environment and animal rights. However, Obama's and McCain's views on this matter should be taken into a greater consideration for the decision of who should become the next leader of the country.

Obama has a variety of environmental goals and successes. He has organized inner-city recycling, introduced bills to reduce mercury and lead levels, and supported national parks. Much of his effort is focused on environmental racism and educating the inner cities and the poor.

He does not support the storage of nuclear waste in Yucca mountain, and instead promotes green technology and fuel efficiency.

The Humane Society gives him a score of 60%. While Obama supported bills against dog/cock-fighting and signed a letter asking for more funds for the Animal Welfare Act, he did not vote for the Horse Slaughter Prevention Act or the Downed Animal Protection Act.

John McCain received a 40% from the Humane Society. He only supported the bills involving the prevention of horse slaughter for human consumption and exportation.

McCain believes that the economy and the condition of the environment are not "mutually exclusive, but intrinsically linked." Therefore, he advocates sustainable use of resources and the preservation of wilderness areas.

He co-sponsored many bills on protecting natural parks and wants the EPA to become a cabinet department. He does support Yucca Mountain and using nuclear energy.

So, the two candidates do have some overlapping opinions, especially on the subject of national parks and sustainability. Obama has a slighter better track record in the eyes of the Humane Society, but both candidates don't seem to be hardcore animal rights supporters. The major area in which they disagree is the storage of nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain.

Obama seems more of an "activist"; he has actually gone into the cities, interacted with the people; physically done more for the environmental cause. McCain, on the other hand, has supported a lot of legislation in Congress that protects and preserves nature.

Both candidates seem to do fairly well from the environmental standpoint. At least they each acknowledge the problems that the world has and have advocated methods to alleviate them. Hopefully, no matter whether McCain or Obama wins, our country will start making eco-friendly decisions for a sustainable future.

The image is from www.time.com

There's news about environmentally friendly cars, homes, and workplaces, but rarely do I hear any good changes happening in schools. Well, that's changed, thanks to the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED certification program. Schools that intend to make their buildings more water and energy efficient can register for this program.

There are many wonderful benefits to these changes, including a better air quality for students. Now, when people think of air pollution, they mostly think of outdoor pollution. However, I recently learned in my AP environmental science class that indoor air pollution can be more harmful, because we spend the majority of our time indoors, and because pollutants can build up in enclosed spaces. Polluted air leads to respiratory problems, and bad health can cause poor concentration and overall learning.

Additionally, many LEED schools lower energy usage by 40%. This not only helps the environment by reducing the amount of fossil fuels used, but also saves taxpayers a lot of money. The savings could be used to buy more supplies for students or to upgrade and repair old facilities.

These develops are great, but I believe there are still many areas in which schools can improve. For example, my high school in Virginia keeps the AC on all year round. Now, I can understand this practice on the hot 90 degree August days, but in the middle of February? Most students complain about the freezing indoor temperatures and teachers urge them to wear layers. It is silly and a total waste of money and fuel.

Anyways, I think this program is heading the educational sector in the right direction. Hopefully, if inner city schools are given the initial cost of revamping their systems, they will be able to save enough money in the long run. Also, the students themselves in all schools can learn from the changes and start thinking in an eco-friendly manner.

If you're interested, the article is from LOHAS online.

The image above is from Inhabitat.com.

The Laker School in Michigan has taken great strides in going green. As one of the windiest places in the country, the small, rural, school gathers their power from wind. Giant, utility-scale wind turbines provide the Jr. High with year-round power, thanks to the District’s zest for embracing renewable energy.

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The school is able to afford such a feat due to acquiring various grants sought out by Junior High Principal Kathy Dickens. Threeyears ago, she helped the school receive more than a quarter of a million dollars to buy the wind turbines. Since then, Laker Jr. High has received energy smart incentives, biomass and biodiesel grants. With the help of these grants, the school can help educate about the importance of green living, environmental sustainability, and energy renewal.

Recently, The Laker School District received a $59,120 federal grant to help equip a dozen of their school buses with emission-reducing equipment, and with $44,000 of the school’s own money, replaces the district’s oldest bus with a new, low-emission model.

Along with aiding the environment, the Laker School helps prepare kids for future green careers.

With The Laker School’s own anaerobic biodiesel processor, students learn to press oil from soybeans and sunflower seeds they’ve grown by hand in order to produce their own biodiesel.

Dickens says, “Too many bright, promising students leave this county after graduation. If wind, sun, or even an anaerobic processor can provide future jobs, I’ll keep writing grants to give students the training they need for green careers.”

Operating on the belief that “children learn best through experience. If their schools are green, children will learn to live that way,” the Center for Environmental Education is an online resource for students and teachers at K-12 schools, bursting with information and how-to’s for greening their environments. Available on its Web site is “Blueprint for a Green School,” which gives suggestions for three levels of action in ten categories: curriculum, energy, environmental health, food, green building, maintenance, procurement, recycling and waste, transportation, and water. Students and teachers can also learn more about reducing greenhouse gas emissions and climate change issues here.

In addition, there’s a searchable collection of reviewed environmental curricula, and a soon-to-come section on demonstration schools, with profiles of schools that are in the process of change.

“Blueprint for a Green School” was written in 1995 by Jayni Chase, the founder of the CEE. In 2008, it’s being updated and made accessible for download off the Internet. According to the CEE, it’s become “a vital link between the ‘in-the-trenches’ educators and the abundant environmental resources available.”

Tired of the cost and clutter created by the wires and adapters for your electronic devices? Well, a California company named Green Plug has come up with a solution. True universal power supply. This means no more digging through a drawer of tangled wires for device-specific adapters. With Green Plug’s compact external power adapter, you can charge all your devices with the same wire. In fact, you’ll never have to throw away any old adapters when you upgrade your laptop, DVD or mp3, because Green plug serves power to ANY device.

In addition to charging your device, the adapter shuts off power to the port when it registers that the device is fully charged and no longer needs it. This eliminates wasted energy and increases product efficiency. The Green Plug adaptor recognizes each device as it’s plugged in, and immediately knows how many Volts of power are necessary to charge them.

All of this sounds like a sweet deal to me, but to be able to use Green Plug, your device must have an embeddable chip necessary for recognition. Therefore, for a world of universal power supply to exist, leading electronics manufacturers need to adopt Green Plug’s design kits and incorporate the chips into their products. Green Plug assures that due to governmental efficiency mandates, this is already in the works. They also expect to start selling compatible devices sometime in 2009.

I, for one, can’t wait for the Green Plug future. Learn more about their plans and environmental impact on their website, and while you’re there, take a look their DEMO conference in California.

Ever wished you could keep track of how eco-friendly you were at home? Well, the Danish Designnord group has created a visual electricity meter for home use. The FlowerPod, a semi-transparent screen with an electronic flower display, grows blooms or wilts according to how thrifty its inhabitants have been in regards to their heating, cooling, water and electricity use.

If too much energy is used, the flower will wilt or die until the user changes their wasteful habits. It would connect wirelessly to a home’s energy meters and use an Internet-based home page that keeps track of average energy use in the user’s city or region. The home page would suggest ways to improve energy usage if your flower was in trouble and would only use electricity at certain intervals when getting data from the homepage.

At the moment, the FlowerPod is only a concept, but Designnord hopes to produce it for the 2009 post-Kyoto climate agreement talks in Copenhagen.

Its makers hope that the plant can remind people to save energy.

Personally, I think the FlowerPod is a great idea. It reminds me of my old Giga-Pet, (Who met an unfortunate end back in 1998) but with an energy-saving twist. As long as you don’t drop it in the bathtub, you’ll have a flower blooming in your home all year round.