New Blog - Home Greening

I'd like to take a moment to announce a new blog: Home Greening.

I have been thinking, recently, how Freelance Geek has changed from the techy, geeky, sci fi, and computer-related blog. It has been ever growing into the reporting of my environmental, green, organic & alternative energy interests.

As of today, my green side is now expressed on Home Greening, as I gather information to make my life, the lives of my family, our home, our community and our world a better, healthier place.

Freelance Geek will remain as my techy, geeky, consulting/business related blog.

Please drop over to Home Greening for the greener side of life.

Have a GREAT day!

Green IT: Why it matters

There's an environmental storm about to hit the technology industry. Information and communication technology accounts for 2 percent of global CO2 emissions, according to Gartner. That's the equivalent of the airline industry.

The big question: What are technology executives going to do about it?

For starters, get more efficient. Gartner analyst Simon Mingay says the bright side is that there are so many inefficiencies in IT that there's a lot of low-hanging fruit to bring down CO2 emissions.

However, regulators, product vendors, IT managers and businesses have to be on the same page, said Mingay at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo.

In either case, CIOs have to prepare for another issue to worry about–carbon emission caps. If an enterprise is subject to carbon emission caps or involved with a carbon trading scheme it's highly likely that the CIO is going to be asked to cap power use pronto.

"Whether you believe in climate change or not, you have to prepare for that reality," says Mingay. "There's a mistaken belief that IT organizations will be able to continue to consume the power they do today."

Mingay says it's very plausible that CIOs will have to cut IT power consumption. It's also possible that environmental groups could start targeting heavy technology users. "The question is not why should you bother, but what are the risks if you do nothing," says Mingay. Gartner is projecting that by 2010, 50 percent of IT organizations will declare an environmental policy.

CIO goals should be to start a debate about an environmental policy, define a strategy, measure CO2 emissions and create procurement guidelines to improve your company's environmental standing.

source: ZDNet

WiTricity - broadcast power at long last

Researchers at MIT led by Prof. Marin Soljacic have accomplished what Nikola Tesla envisioned over a century ago - the efficient wireless transmission of electricity. Dubbed 'WiTricity' (for Wireless Elecricity) by its inventors, it is the first wireless transmission of power to improve on the efficiency of radiant electromagnetic devices, which send energy indiscriminately in every direction, while not requiring direct line-of-sight like lasers.

WiTricity works on the principle of magnetic coupled resonance. The MIT team built matching copper coils to precise specifications, so that when power was applied to one coil, it produces a magnetic frequency - in the MHz range, since you wanted to know - which causes the other coil to vibrate up to 7ft (over 2 meters) away. Meanwhile, other elctromagnetic fields, such as those surrounding computers, cell phones, and human beings, remain largely unaffected.

The scientists were able to light up a 60-watt bulb that had "no physical connection" with the power-generating appliance. "It was quite exciting," Soljacic said. The process is "very reproducible," he added. "We can just go to the lab and do it whenever we want."

Aside from the implications in clutter management (who wouldn't want to get rid of that tangle of wires behind the desk? Ugh!) there's a green component, too - imagine a world without the need for batteries and their weight, inefficiency, short life span and toxic chemicals. Current battery technologies are around 80-90% efficient at best, losing energy through heat and self-discharge; WiTricity is currently capable of about half that, but for a proof of concept that's pretty darn good. The group envisions a product which could supplant batteries in cell phones, Roombas, laptops, and other household items which require frequent charging.

source: MIT News Office

Spend more to save more?

Here’s a story from the NY Times.

People concerned about the high price of gasoline are keeping their big cars and SUVs and adding a third small car like a Prius or a Yaris or a Civic so that they can save money on gasoline.

Pierre Tremblay, 67, of Howell, Mich., bought a Toyota Prius this month because driving his Dodge Ram pickup 40 miles round-trip to work was costing so much. So far the Prius is getting 55 miles per gallon, compared with 13 for the truck.

“I can go to work now, back and forth, on less than a gallon,” said Mr. Tremblay, a maintenance manager for a cement company. “Before it was at least three.”

With regular unleaded gas averaging $3.53 a gallon in Michigan this week, according to AAA, that is a savings of over $8 every workday.

But Mr. Tremblay was not ready to get rid of his pickup, which he uses to haul a camping trailer.

Americans have spent $20 billion more on gasoline so far this year compared with 2006, according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office. That works out to about $146 a person, a fraction of what a new car costs.

Money is no Object(ion) to going Green

from Treehugger

I hear it sometimes and I have said it myself,
“If I had more money, I could do more for the environment.”

While that might possibly be true, it is also accurate to suggest that a lack of money can indeed also look after the environment. Access to wealth can lead to purchases of often unnecessary ‘luxury’ items that bring their own eco-burden. The most environmentally conscious acts are often the cheapest. Like putting on a sweater rather than turning on, or up, the heating. Compact fluoro lighting saves money in the longer term. Owning and using a bicycle for city travel instead of a car. Catching public transit instead of paying a car's loan, insurance, maintenance, fuel, registration, etc. Buying secondhand, preloved goods, in lieu of new resource-intensive stryofoam wrapped or blister pack clad goods. Taking holidays locally rather than flying off to seemingly exotic locales. Placing a brick or weighted bottle into your toilet cistern, so it flushes less drinking water down the drain. Buying direct from farmers markets before visiting the supermarket. Reducing meat consumption, in favor of vegetables, fruit, grains and legumes. Not buying wasteful ‘packaged’ water, but refilling your own bottle with (the often more pure) tap water. Volunteering for your local conservation or environment group. Making your own heartfelt birthday cards instead of buying anonymously written Hallmark style ones. Wrapping presents in salvaged gift paper or even newspaper. Sharing books, lawnmowers, sporting equipment and any items that you don’t use regularly, and likewise borrowing too. None of these actions, and hundreds like them, require a bigger budget than the one each of us already has, but cumulatively they make a significant difference. Indeed, some believe the less money we have the more responsible citizens we are likely to be.