Under the said campaign, Google.org earmarked $1 million for grants to institutions which are undertaking developmental experiments on the practical use of plug-in hybrid vehicles. Aside from that, the institution also announced that they are planning to provide $10 million to fund the actual development, adoption and commercialization of plug-in hybrid vehicles as well as electric cars. According to the institution, they are willing to fund any development of vehicle-to-grid technologies.

The Brookings Institution received a $200,000 grant from Google.org which will be spent in its hosting of a conference next year. The said conference which will be held on the spring is aimed to promote the use of plug-in hybrid technology.

CalCars also received a $200,000 grant from Google.org to support its effort in educating the public on the advantages of using plug-in hybrids. The Electrical Power Research Institute also received a $200,000 grant which will be used in the development of plug-in technologies.

Google.org also awarded a $100,000 grant to Plug-in America which will be used to support the group’s public awareness in the use of plug-in hybrids. The Rocky Mountain Institute also received a grant worth $200,000. The said grant will be used by the RMI in the development of a practical plug-in hybrid vehicle which hopefully will be adopted by car manufacturers.

Dr. Larry Brilliant, the Executive Director of Google.org, has this to say at the launching of the initiative: “Clean energy technology can dramatically shift how we make and use energy for our cars and homes by charging cars through an electric grid powered by solar or other renewable energy sources, and selling power back to the electric grid when it’s needed most. This approach can quadruple the fuel efficiency of cars on the road today and improve grid stability.”

Plug-in hybrid cars are more environment-friendly than hybrid cars since its battery pack can be recharged via a common household outlet. For hybrid vehicles, the only way that the battery pack can be charged is by the use of the alternator or when the brakes are activated.

Aside from providing grants which will promote the development of environment-friendly vehicles, Google has also taken a step to make their company headquarters more environment-friendly. The company announced that they are now using solar electricity on their Mountain View, California headquarters. Google’s solar panel installation can produce as much as 1.6 megawatts - this is estimated to be the equivalent of the power needs of 1,000 average California households.

According to the company, their solar panel installation is the largest of its kind in any corporate campus in the United States.

“Google is committed to using its resources to help solve the global climate challenge,” says Dr. Brilliant. “Google.org is a hybrid philanthropy, bringing together the active engagement of the broader Google corporation, as well as investments in for-profits, traditional grants, policy work, and public information. RechargeIT brings together all of these elements to help accelerate progress on plug-ins,” he concluded.

by Anthony Fontanelle
About the Author: Anthony Fontanelle is a 35-year-old automotive buff who grew up in the Windy City. He does freelance work for an automotive magazine when he is not busy customizing cars in his shop

Buy the book: The Electric Car
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Biofuels are produced by converting organic matter into fuel for powering our society. These biofuels are an alternative energy source to the fossil fuels that we currently depend upon. The biofuels umbrella includes under its aegis ethanol and derivatives of plants such as sugar cane, as well as vegetable and corn oils. However, not all ethanol products are designed to be used as a kind of gasoline. The International Energy Agency (IEA) tells us that ethanol could comprise up to 10 percent of the world’s usable gasoline by 2025, and up to 30 percent by 2050. Today, the percentage figure is two percent.

However, we have a long way to go to refine and make economic and practical these biofuels that we are researching. A study by Oregon State University proves this. We have yet to develop biofuels that are as energy efficient as gasoline made from petroleum. Energy efficiency is the measure of how much usable energy for our needed purposes is derived from a certain amount of input energy. (Nothing that mankind has ever used has derived more energy from output than from what the needed input was. What has always been important is the conversion–the end-product energy is what is useful for our needs, while the input energy is just the effort it takes to produce the end-product.) The OSU study found corn-derived ethanol to be only 20% energy efficient (gasoline made from petroleum is 75% energy efficient). Biodiesel fuel was recorded at 69% energy efficiency. However, the study did turn up one positive: cellulose-derived ethanol was charted at 85% efficiency, which is even higher than that of the fantastically efficient nuclear energy.

Recently, oil futures have been down on the New York Stock Exchange, as analysts from several different countries are predicting a surge in biofuel availability which would offset the value of oil, dropping crude oil prices on the international market to $40 per barrel or thereabouts. The Chicago Stock Exchange has a grain futures market which is starting to “steal” investment activity away from the oil futures in NY, as investors are definitely expecting better profitability to start coming from biofuels. Indeed, it is predicted by a consensus of analysts that biofuels shall be supplying seven percent of the entire world’s transportation fuels by the year 2030. One certain energy markets analyst has said, growth in demand for diesel and gasoline may slow down dramatically, if the government subsidizes firms distributing biofuels and further pushes to promote the use of eco-friendly fuel.

There are several nations which are seriously involved in the development of biofuels.

There is Brazil, which happens to be the world’s biggest producer of ethanols derived from sugars. It produces approximately three and a half billion gallons of ethanol per year.

The United States, while being the world’s greatest oil-guzzler, is already the second largest producer of biofuels behind Brazil.

The European Union’s biodiesel production capacity is now in excess of four million (British) tonnes. 80 percent of the EU’s biodiesel fuels are derived from rapeseed oil; soybean oil and a marginal quantity of palm oil comprise the other 20 percent.

Author: Gracia Sitjar
About the author:My Websites are:Unblock MySpace , Unblock MySpace, MySpace Proxy, MySpace Proxy

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I ask you to consider honoring Mother Earth everyday. We can not continue to take from our resources and never give back in return. There needs to be a balance in nature. We have moved so far away from living in harmony with nature. The foods that we eat no longer come from the local community. We drive when we can walk or bike. We make several trips when they could be minimized. We spray pesticides and bug killer like they do no harm. We consume to try to fulfill a deeper need…

Where will it stop? How much ’stuff’ do we truly need? How big do our homes need to really be? How many cars do we need? When will we begin to live in harmony with the earth that nurtures us? We in North America are perhaps spoiled and lazy and it is time to wake up and realize that you can make a difference in many ways. Be an example to your children and grandchildren.

You can help celebrate earth day every single day in so many small ways. If you will just do it. If you aren’t ready to move to the woods and live in a yurt with a composting toilet and no electricity like some of us that’s okay, but you can still make a difference! Here are a few ways to help you begin celebrating the earth each and everyday and you may just have fun doing it:

1. Join Freecycle. Freecycle can be found online at www.freecycle.org You can join your local group to give away things that you no longer need or get the items you need from others. It’s all free!

2. Shop at thrift stores. By buying second hand clothes and household goods you save the environment and help various causes. Finding a local thrift store in your community helps your local area too.

3. Bike, walk or take transit. Do you really need to drive three blocks to the market? Come on, you can use the exercise and may enjoy the moment by meeting a few folks along the way. And if it’s too far to walk or bike then try transit.

4. Buy local organic food, eat wild foods or grow a garden. Buying local organic food not only helps your community farmers but saves on the transportation of food and helps you by getting fresher and healthier food into your body…putting you in sync with the area of the earth that you live on. Growing your own garden is the best for those that are willing and even better is to eat ethically harvested wild foods.

5. Recycling is so easy these days. You can recycle just about anything. Be creative.

6. Plant trees. For all the trees we cut down…lets plant a few in their place. They help us breathe.

7. Have a green baby. Come on mamas use those cloth diapers and cloth baby wipes. They are so much easier then you may think with snaps and velcro. The money you will save is amazing and they are healthier for your baby as well as Mother Earth. Try elimination communication.

8. Use the library. Instead of buying more magazines and books use the library. There is interlibrary loan if they don’t have what you are looking for in your community. Just ask and they will help you out.

9. Hang your clothes on the line. There is nothing like the smell of fresh laundry coming off the line. You can turn it in to a totally zen moment when you are outside hanging the clothes. Saving on your electricity and enjoying the simplified life is not so bad.

10. Use cloth shopping bags. So, you probably think only granola, sandal wearing folks use cloth bags to go to the market…well, yeah some of us are but come on and join us. Those plastic bags can be easily replaced with creative cloth bags. Some places are even banning the plastic.

11. Use eco friendly cleaners. There are many eco cleaners that are found in your local health food stores or even your markets. However, you can easily make your own with some simple household goods such as vinegar and baking soda. Much better for you and the earth.

12. Make your home more energy efficient. Spend the extra money for making your home more energy efficient and it will pay off in the long run. Check out your area for possible tax incentives as well.

I could go on and on with ideas as I sit here, but you get the idea. You can all do something. So, if you don’t mind please do you part. We are all in this together and the sooner that we become cooperative and live in harmony with the earth and each other..the happier and healthier we will be. Celebrate earth day everyday by making a difference…in whatever way you choose.

Author: Lisa R. Marshall
About the author: Lisa R. Marshall is the facilitator of Path to Nature….honoring life through whole health, natural living, herbal healing, sacred celebrations & journeys. Path to Nature’s vision is to help people recognize their ability to empower themselves. She is a also a mother and doula. Lisa is a facilitator to those who want to make changes in their lives. Visit http://www.Pathtonature.org for further information or to contact the author.

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This might be acceptable if the amber waves of pesticides are feeding thousands of starving people, but now it seems that massive government subsidies are in place to promote ethanol which takes more fuel to create than it produces in the end. Is ethanol an environmental nightmare?

Author: Sandra Case

What is Ethanol?
Ethanol is a colorless, volatile, flammable liquid that is the intoxicating agent in liquors and is also used as a fuel or solvent. Ethanol is also called ethyl alcohol or grain alcohol. Ethanol is the most important member of a large group of organic compounds that are called alcohol. Alcohol is an organic compound that has one or more hydroxyl (OH) groups attached to a carbon atom. Alcohol is shown as: C-O-H or C-OH.

Ethanol is a product of fermentation. Fermentation is a sequence of reactions which release energy from organic molecules in the absence of oxygen. In this application of fermentation, energy is obtained when sugar is changed to ethanol and carbon dioxide. All beverage ethanol and more than half of industrial ethanol is made by this process.

Pros of Ethanol:

1. Adding ethanol to gasoline improves combustion and reduces toxic emissions
2. Ethanol helps keep fuel injectors clean and improves engine performance
3. Ethanol revives local economies with high paying jobs (thanks to the subsidies)

*source Iowacorn.org

Cons of Ethanol

1. Ethanol increases prices at the pump due to increased complexity of production
2. Ethanol requires more energy to create than the final product contains
3. Ethanol is simply converting massive amounts of energy into another form
4. Ethanol cannot be shipped via normal pipelines substantially increasing costs
5. Ethanol contains 2/3 less energy than gasoline so the same priced tank will not take you as far
6. Billions of tax dollars are being spent on ethanol subsidies
7. Corn production depletes underwater aquifers
8. Corn production causes massive soil erosion
9. Negative environmental impact of 10 million acres of corn that could be returned to forest

source: Slate.com, Igreens.org

How Ethanol is Made:
Converting corn into ethanol by fermentation takes many steps. Starch in corn must be broken down into simple sugars before fermentation can occur. In earlier times, this was done by chewing the corn. This allowed the salivary enzymes to naturally break down the starch. Today, this is achieved by cooking the corn and adding the enzymes alpha amylase and gluco amylase. These enzymes function as catalysts to speed up the chemical changes. Changing the starch in kernels of corn to sugar and changing sugar to ethanol is a complex process and requires a mix of technologies that include microbiology, chemistry and engineering.

Once a simple sugar is obtained, yeast is added. Yeast is a single-celled fungi which feeds on the sugar and causes the fermentation. As the fungi feeds on the sugar, it produces alcohol (ethanol) and carbon dioxide. In fermentation, the ethanol retains much of the energy that was originally in the sugar, and explains why ethanol is used as a fuel. Most of the ethanol production in the United States is made in 50 production facilities in 20 different states. Most of these plants are located in the Midwest.

Bottom line:
Why on earth are we going to spend billions of dollars to chemically infest 10 million acres of previously forested land that could be used to grow food for human beings but instead is used to make an incredibly inefficient fuel that is so expensive that the farmers themselves cannot use it to fuel their own ethanol production and it does nothing to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

Better alternatives? Public transportation, solar cells, electric vehicles, hybrids, bicycles, scooters and yes, your own two feet.

About the author:
This article has been written by Sandra Case, who is Vice President of Commodity Research for Absolute Futures Commodity Brokerage. For further information regarding this article or information on other commodities or trading of the commodity markets please contact Sandra Case 800-935-6494. http://www.absolute-futures.com

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Author: Paul Crossley

Unlike solar thermal systems, photovoltaic (PV) systems convert sun directly into electricity. Contrary to solar thermal water heating systems, photovoltaic doesn’t use the sun’s heat to produce electricity. Rather, electrons released by the interaction of sun with semiconductor materials in Photovoltaic cells are captured in an electric current.

Photovoltaic allows you to produce power with no noise or air pollution from a clean, renewable resource. A Pv system never runs out of fuel, and it will not increase oil imports. A number of Pv system components are produced in North America. These characteristics may make Pv technology become the energy source of choice for this century.

The basic building block of Photovoltaic technology is the solar cell. Multiple Pv cells are connected to form a Pv module, the smallest Photovoltaic component sold commercially.

Modules vary in power output from roughly 10 watts to 300 watts. A Pv system connected to the power grid has these components:

• One or more Pv pieces, which are connected to an inverter
• The inverter, which changes the system’s direct-current (DC) power to alternating current (AC)
• Batteries (optional) to provide energy storage or backup power in the event of a power interruption or outage onboard become the grid.

About the author:
Paul is the operator of http://www.eco-living.ca , a non commercial site dedicated to eco-friendly, sustainable living.

Buy the Book: Got Sun? Go Solar
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by Ian and Jo Ludlow

Home owners who are remodeling their kitchens are increasingly seeking environmentally friendly kitchen design ideas. Kitchens are responsible for around 40 percent of a home’s energy consumption so not only does an eco friendly design help on a global scale but it can also seriously reduce a family’s electric bill.

We have put together a number of kitchen design ideas from recycling food waste to green products that do not necessarily add expense to your home improvement project. Indeed, the long term cost savings made from energy efficient performing materials in the kitchen should reduce your carbon footprint for years to come.

Here are some high-impact environmentally friendly kitchen design ideas:

* Kitchen Recycling Center
Look for sets of kitchen recycling bins that allow you to easily separate trash - paper, food, bottles, plastics, etc.

* Waste Disposal machines
These are ideal for reducing the physical amount of food waste down to small pieces. Then start a compost bin or wormery where worms can compost down the food waste more efficiently. Use the compost on your houseplants or garden.

* Energy-Efficient Kitchen Appliances
Advanced technology now means that appliances can use 10 to 50 percent less energy and water than standard models so look for the Energy Rating when considering your refrigerator, dishwasher or washing machine purchases for the kitchen remodeling project.

* Induction Stoves
Induction cooking uses electricity to produce a magnetic field that reacts with the ferric content in stainless steel, cast iron, and enameled steel cookware. This excites the molecules and produces heat. The cookware (and therefore the food) gets hot, but the stove-top doesn’t. Less heat is wasted and the food heats faster, saving time and energy. Induction cooking is about 90 percent energy efficient as compared to gas and electric radiant, which are 50 to 60 percent efficient.

* Dishwashers and Washing Machines
Use a full load in your dishwasher and washing machine. If you are thinking of buying a new machine, make sure you buy a water efficient model. Have a look at our website where we have collected more information on water efficient appliances.

* Stained Concrete or Indigenous Stone Kitchen Counter-tops.
Your kitchen design should include materials that are durable and water-resistant for both counter tops and back-splashes. Stained concrete uses non-toxic, natural pigments rather than surface-applied stains. Many types of indigenous stone are available and can come from salvage sources. Make sure they are adequately sealed to prevent staining.

* Energy-Efficient Task Lighting and Lighting Controls
Kitchen designs often include two or three light settings such as general, task lighting, and mood lighting. Maximize natural light wherever possible and low voltage systems for task and mood lighting.

* Eco-Friendly Kitchen Flooring
Products manufactured from renewable forests can provide you with a beautiful, affordable and durable floor - and an environmentally responsible choice. Bamboo, cork, and eucalyptus mature in roughly half the time (or less) that it takes hardwoods, grown in colder climates, to reach market size.

* Wall Insulation
Nothing improves the comfort and energy efficiency of a kitchen more than plenty of insulation in the exterior walls. To add insulation to existing kitchen walls, blow fibrous insulation material - fiberglass or natural materials like cellulose and mineral wool - into enclosed wall, floor and roof cavities. “Dense packing” the insulation inhibits air circulation within the cavities, thereby eliminating a major cause of condensation, moisture problems and air leakage.

* Kitchen Windows, Doors and Skylights
Well-designed windows and skylights can lighten the feel of a kitchen and save on fuel bills as well. Ensure the products used have low heat emission glass with solar shading, which increases the room’s comfort, protects items from sun damage and reduces condensation on windows.

About the Author:

Ian and Jo Ludlow have worked in the home improvement industry for many years. They can be contacted through any of the following websites. http://www.design-ideas-for-kitchens.com
http://www.home-and-garden-ideas.com & http://www.sales-and-management-training.com

Ian Ludlow’s background is in sales training and coaching with a specialization in supporting companies that sell direct to the public.

Buy the book: Good Green Kitchens

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Alternative energy stock portfolios are a great part of a modern investor’s financial plan, due to the simple fact that there is so much upward potential. These make excellent long term growth investment vehicles, and the money put into them by you, the investor, serves to further the cause of implementing the alternative energy power sources that we need as we sail into the 21st century and beyond.

Analysts predict that by 2013, the alternative energy industry will be a $13 billion dollar industry in today’s dollars. This figure bespeaks an enormous return on investment. Indeed, if you were to invest in a start-up alternative energy company, you might find yourself having invested in the next Microsoft in terms of return on investment.

People are fed up with the rising costs of gasoline–while this alone is not sufficient understanding of the need for developing alternative energy sources, it is a factor which can act as a market maker–meaning for you that investments in alternative energy companies makes a lot of financial sense. However, this does not mean that you don’t first want to do some careful research into alternative energy stocks, perhaps with the help of a financial planner. “A few alternative-energy companies are going after the right markets but that doesn’t mean you should go buy every name in the sector. Investors need to be cautious about chasing the stocks,” says Sanjay Shrestha, who is an analyst at First Albany Capital.

If you are an investor, then you know that the problem in this sector is that nearly every single one of the major players in the alternative energy for profit game are start-ups or in the very early stages of growth. This means for you that they have relatively minuscule (even if rapidly growing) sales, and no expected profitability in the near term or history of earnings for you to be able to research. This can lead to some bubbling, as with what happened to the dot-com industry at the turn of the 21st century. Bubbling in the stock market is not a good thing for investors.

Analysts and financial planners can play a crucial role in helping you get it right with alternative energy investing. “We don’t play around in the tiny cap stocks that have technology and not much revenue–the ‘hope’ stocks. We invest in companies with clear cash-generation plans in place,” are the words of Ben walker, who is a senior portfolio manager at the Gartmore Global Utilities fund out of London.

Still, the outlook is very positive overall–and healthy. “It is good to see that the number of renewable energy funds and the amount of money flowing into these funds is increasing,” according to chief executive of UK alternative electricity supplier Good Energy Juliet Davenport. “The renewable generation market is at an important stage in its development; it needs the continued support of the consumer, investor and government to ensure that it reaches its potential and really starts to make a difference to climate change.”

Buy the book Future Energy
About the Author:
My Websites are: Unblock MySpace, Unblock MySpace, MySpace Proxy, MySpace Proxy

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