Donna DeForbes a great writer and eco-mom, she is our new contributor!  Donna wrote a very cool post about bio gas and the multiple options out there for transforming solid waste into energy.  According to the article, under the gentler moniker of ‘bio-gas’, businesses around the globe are seeking ways to harness the power of human waste, which contains bacteria that releases methane gas (also known as Natural Gas and CH4).

Using solid waste from 70 homes, British company GENeco powered a ...
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The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE)'s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently completed a performance evaluation report that showed significant fuel economy benefits of hybrid electric delivery vans compared to similar conventional vans. "During the on-road portion of our study, the hybrid vans demonstrated a 13 to 20 percent higher fuel economy than the conventional vans," said NREL Project Engineer Michael Lammert. "During dynamometer testing, three standard drive cycles were...
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In 2000 the Zero-Emission Bus (ZBus) regulation was established. Its intentions were to develop a Californian transit system made up of 15% zero emission buses. This formation of this regulation would also meet California’s air quality, greenhouse gas, and energy security goals.



Source: Zero-Emission Bus Design

Zbus’ produce zero smog pollutants and when compared to diesel-fueled buses, is predicted to reduce greenhouse gases by 46 percent. They have centralized fueling that allows one s...
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Since the late 1830’s companies around the world have been striving to create a technology that can replace traditional batteries and generator technologies. They seek a technology that will help to overcome the pressing environmental concerns the world is facing. That is where the fuel cell comes in. Fuel cells are electrochemical energy devices that convert hydrogen and oxygen into water, which can then produce electricity and heat. They are most similar to the average household battery; ...
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Sustainability is the ability to be sustained, supported, upheld, or confirmed. A question all companies ask themselves these days is: “Will investing in sustainability pay off within an acceptable amount of time?” Huge companies such as Henkel Corp. and Cybex are putting millions into the construction of eco-friendly factories and products, hoping that it all pays off in the end. 


 
Today many executives, some of whom used to be skeptical about this very matter, are trying to do more wit...
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Innovation is Here!

In order to combat the world’s more problematic environmental issues, scientists, researchers, and architects have been coming up with exciting and innovating fixes.


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Microempowering.org is proud to announce that we have been awarded 1st prize from the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative from the Department of Defense, after launching our STEM education app on May 25th!!!

The Curiosity School - STEM series app by MicroEmpowering is a greener alternative for teaching Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) to curious students. This iPad app has been designed to promote a “learn by doing” approach to education. It is a hands-...
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They say a picture is worth a thousand words — but what happens when what you want to look at is impossible to see?
 
That’s where the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy’s Electrofuels program comes in. The 13 projects that make up the program seek to develop renewable liquid fuels that use microorganisms to harness chemical or electrical energy to convert carbon dioxide into liquid fuels, without using petroleum or biomass. For example, scientists at Columbia University are using...
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Energy breakdown for the food production system includes about 20 percent of overall energy used in agricultural production, 14 percent for transport, 16 percent for processing, another 7 percent for packaging, 4 percent in food retailing 7 percent in restaurants and caterers and a whopping 32 percent goes to home refrigeration and preparation.

What do you think are the solutions to this challenge:


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Natural gas derives from animal and plant matter that was heated and pressurized in earth’s layers (hence why it is referred to as “fossil fuel”). It is generally made up of methane, ethane, hexane, propane, heptanes, butane, and pentane; however, gas companies purify it until only methane is left. That way the gas used for heating burns cleanly. Methane is considered a clean fuel because compared to coal and oil, it is less chemically complex, releasing only carbon dioxide and water va...
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Over the course of one year, NYC residents will throw away about 200,000 tons of clothes, towels, blankets, curtains, shoes, handbags, belts, and other textiles. The reason New Yorkers may choose to dispose of their unwanted clothes and accessories rather than donate them is out of pure convenience.

To overcome this ailment, the non-profit organization re-fashionNYC, in partnership with the City of New York and Housing Works has come up with a convenient and innovative solution. Re-fashionNY...
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(Rio de Janeiro, 18 June 2012) – A role for the international business community in identifying and promoting a new set of global goals was endorsed this evening at the Rio+20-aligned private sector forum, and will be forwarded this week to the UN and Heads of State.

The proposal to give business a voice in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) emerged from the 15-18 June Rio+20 Corporate Sustainability Forum. Approval came via a show of hands by business executives as well as other F...
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Education in science, technology, engineering and math, also known as STEM, provides many benefits to students. STEM scholarships and college education can lead to work in fields which are vital to almost every aspect of our modern world, from the roads we drive on to finding cures for diseases. 

Women, however, are not represented as highly in these fields as they are in the rest of the work force. United States Census Bureau data shows that woman make up 48 percent of the total workforce, bu...
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Do you want to develop a healthier lifestyle?
Do you want to embrace green living?
Do you want to help save the planet?
Do you want to lose weight?

Try the city sponsored "prescription" being followed by Parisians, Londoners, Berliners, Brazilians, the Dutch, and very soon... New Yorkers!  

Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and a group of elected officials announced the big plan for public bikes around NYC. Some key facts are: 

Within the service area, which will stretch fro...

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NASA Quest Challenges are Web-based, interactive explorations designed to engage students in authentic scientific and engineering processes. The solutions relate to issues encountered daily by NASA personnel.

The content of NASA Quest Challenges follows real NASA tasks with the goal of involving young people in developing tomorrow's solutions, while inspiring them towards careers in science and engineering. As students work in teams to mirror NASA career roles, agency experts are available to ...

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Last week, at the release of the White House Girls in STEM video, some of the Nation’s top women scientists and engineers took a break from their daily responsibilities at the heights of Federal, private, and academic science and technology enterprises to urge girls to open their minds to careers in these fields. Their voices joined a chorus of women across the country who are making it part of their mission to inspire students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Over the...
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Join or host one of our STEM education workshops!

Give us a call or send an email to: website [@] microempowering.com and we can coordinate our agendas or provide you with a vast list of resources and materials such as;

Resources:
PBS, public television stations and content producers rely on organizations like the following to help us stay informed about STEM initiatives.

International Society for Technology in Education: ISTE is the premier membership association for educators and educati...
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Interested in volunteering on Earth Day?
 
According to Christine C. Quinn Speaker of NYC Council and James F. Gennaro Chair, Environmental Protection Committee - NYC Council. The 35 ways to Celebrate Earth day and give back to the Planet are listed on the links below: 

FRIDAY, APRIL 20
Earth Day Indoors at Grand Central Terminal - www.grandcentralterminal.com 
Earth Day in Times Square - http://www.earthdayny.org/ 
NY Public library Stories, Songs and Activities That Celebrate Our Earth - www.nypl...
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Income inequality is defined as the unequal distribution of household or individual income across the various participants in an economy.


 
Income inequality is often presented as the percentage of income to a percentage of population. For example, a statistic may indicate that 70% of a country's income is controlled by 20% of that country's residents.

It is often associated with the idea of income "fairness". It is generally considered "unfair" if the rich have a disproportionally larger p...
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It's one of our favorite times of the year—when hundreds of concerned citizens from across New York State travel to Albany to call on lawmakers to vote green!

Please join us for the 22nd annual Earth Day Lobby Day!

	When:	Wednesday, April 25, 2012 9:30 a.m.–3 p.m.
	Where:	New York State Capitol Albany, NY
	RSVP:	Click here to register

At Earth Day Lobby Day, you'll hear from state government and environmental leaders, learn about environmental bills that are pending in Albany, and lob...

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Successful climate change adaptation and mitigation require appropriate knowledge, skills and behavior change that education can provide. Specifically, education can enable individuals and communities to make informed decisions and take action for climate resilient sustainable development.

Policymakers have not fully engaged the education sector, even though existing climate change frameworks are in place that could utilize education as a mitigation and adaptation strategy. For example, two...
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The biggest employers in the world account for a vast percentage of global GDP. In some cases these organizations aggregate tremendous amounts of value to the local economy via Research and Development (R&D). In the chart below, the defense industry, energy corporations as well as retail and fast food industries are the clear winners... 
 
What a few people realize is the amount of R&D and innovations fostered by these companies. 

Equipments and solutions we often take for granted, such as cellu...
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The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio +20, will be held from 13 to 22 June 2012, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is known as Rio +20 because it marks the twentieth anniversary of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio-92), and should help define the sustainable development agenda for the coming decades.

Brazil's petition to host Rio +20 was approved in the 6th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, in 2009. The objective of the...
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To repair the planet, business must go further than simply doing less harm. In the second of a series of posts examining investment models that help restore the resiliency of business, society and the earth, Capital Institute's Susan Arterian highlights the efforts of Cleveland's Evergreen Cooperatives.

Inspired by the Mondragon group of cooperatives in Spain, the Evergreen Cooperative members are attempting to "build resiliency and redefine wealth through hands-on ownership of capital, a mo...
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The 7th annual Photovoltaics Summit will take place April 17-18, 2012, in San Diego, California. The conference will address the issues, markets and technological advancements that will drive PV developments in 2012 and beyond. This year's event will examine all of the successes and challenges the industry has faced over the past decade, and provide attendees with the knowledge they need to compete and succeed in the coming years. 
 
Location: The Westin, San Diego, CA, United States 
Summary: T...
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Poland has signalled its opposition to an EU plan for deeper carbon emission cuts, which environment ministers will discuss on Friday.
 
Denmark, currently steering EU negotiations, is backed by the UK in calling for a 25% cut in CO2 emissions by 2020. Previously the target was 20%.

But Poland, reliant on coal for more than 90% of its electric power, fears the move would make energy more costly. Coal and other fossil fuels emit CO2, seen as a catalyst for climate change.

Poland's Gazeta Wyborc...
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These vents have naturally acidified waters that hint at how our seas might change if atmospheric carbon dioxide levels continue to rise. They are conditions that would make it harder for corals and similar organisms to make the hard parts in their bodies.

Dr Jason Hall-Spencer's work suggests our oceans could lose perhaps 30% of their biodiversity this century. The Plymouth University researcher has been presenting his latest findings to a major conference in Vancouver, Canada.

"I am inves...
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Leif Ristroph and colleagues at NYU are designing tiny paper aircraft and making them fly using a pot, a speaker and a bunch of straws. When the subwoofer plays a low-frequency tone, it pushes the air above it up and down, which is funneled through the pot and straws, creating a flow of pulsing air.

The system simulates flapping flight by taking the flap out of the wing and putting it into the air. Ristroph explains what his aircraft are teaching him about stable flight.

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Visit our on line store, 92% of the profits are reverted to fund our Educational Workshops

On Dec 21, if you order FREE Two-Day Shipping before 8 p.m. PST (which varies by item) item gets to location before Christmas. Dec 21 is the last full day to order One-Day Shipping ($3.99/item)

On Dec 22, if you order One-Day Shipping ($3.99/item) before 4:30 p.m. PST (which varies by item) item gets to location before Christmas.

  
Smithsonian Motor-Works
    
Smithsonian Diggin' Up T-Rex 


Smithsonian C...
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The Food and Drug Administration's about-face on the chemical bisphenol A (BPA), which is used to harden the plastic of sippy cups and baby bottles and to seal the inside of tin cans, could spur the adoption of bills in the California Legislature and U.S. Congress to restrict the chemical.

Despite a 2008 determination under President George W. Bush that the chemical was safe, the Obama administration said Friday that it would spend $30 million to study the effects of BPA. which has been lin...
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What do you think of sustainable houses?
The technology used for building is improving every day, but if it's a super energy-efficient dwelling you're after, the tools are already well at hand. Once a year, the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association organizes a green buildings open house where energy nerds like us can see the latest in home efficiency. 


Source: CNET

On the other hand, if you want to built a different house, to be in harmony with nature. You might want to consider these inexpen...
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The world’s 9.9 billion acres of forest absorb roughly a quarter of human emissions of carbon dioxide, and help limit the increase of the gas in the atmosphere. While many healthy forests are robustly absorbing carbon, others are threatened by a warming climate. 

 
Visit their page to experience the data and research in a interactive manner.
NYT map http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/10/01/science/earth/forests.html?ref=earth
Additional coverage http://www.h2brasil.com/artigos-publicados/o...
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Do you have a "bajillion" things to do? Have you ever had a "light-bulb moment"?

Entrepreneurs need to keep up with the new business-related words and lingo that pop up almost every day. The publishers of the Concise Oxford Dictionary have added 400 new words to the 12th edition of the publication, so we thought it might be useful to take a look at the new terms. Turns out several apply to business.

We've selected the 10 need-to-know new words. Whether or not you start using them in your own bu...

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DOE Announces Funding for Nationwide Student-Focused Clean Energy Business Competitions

Washington, D.C. - As part of the Obama Administration's effort to support and empower the next generation of American clean energy entrepreneurs, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced $2 million in available funding for the National University Clean Energy Business Challenge. This nationwide initiative will create a network of regional student-focused clean energy business creation competitions ...
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Prime Minister Naoto Kan reiterated in a speech to parliament that Japan was grappling with its worst problems since World War II."This quake, tsunami and the nuclear accident are the biggest crises for Japan" in decades, said Kan, dressed in one of the blue work jackets that have become ubiquitous among bureaucrats since the tsunami. He said the crises remained unpredictable, but added: "We will continue to handle it in a state of maximum alert."

Source: NASA (Picture1 red = previously popula...
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This is a great idea, kudos to Katherine V. Smith and her team at The Center for Corporate Citizenship (at Boston University). We hope other Universities will do the same.

"Dear MicroEmpowering, 

As the world begins to comprehend the devastating impact of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, the Center extends its deepest sympathies to the people and businesses struggling against extraordinary circumstances. Our community of companies includes several headquartered in Japan and hundreds of othe...

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For decades, developers have been creating smart growth communities—places with a mix of land uses and housing types, built compactly to make walking and biking easier—throughout the county in urban, suburban, and rural locations. Some communities structure their approval and entitlement process to encourage construction of this type of neighborhood. Other communities are less familiar with these neighborhoods and may present more hurdles in the approval process because the design and lay...
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CHECK BELOW FOR DONATIONS:

Headquarters INVESTS RIO - Rua Mexico, 125 - Centro Rio (in the shop of the Tourism Department in front of elevators)

HemoRio - The organ of the State Department of Health and Civil Defense is urging the population to donate blood. The blood center needs to send 300 bags of blood to the mountain region. The address is HemoRio at Rua Frei Caneca, No. 8, in downtown Rio The agency operates daily from 7am to 18 hours, including Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. To be a ...
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By Ana Murphy  

According to some EPA guidelines due to the importance of accurate cost information in making the decisions sketched out above, the term “environmental cost” has been introduced into the vocabulary of environmental managers. 
Today we are starting a series of posts related to the definition(s) and the measurements used to evaluate environmental costs. 

Environmental costs are often hard to define from a business stand point. In the past 10 years they are more likely to be qua...
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The U.S. recycling rate for post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is 28 percent in 2009, marking the sixth straight year that the nation’s recycling rate has increased, despite a four percent decrease in the availability of PET containers, by weight, according to a new report.

The report, “2009 Report on Post Consumer PET Container Recycling Activity” (PDF), also details the end uses for a record 937 million pounds of recycled PET used in manufacturing applications, reflecti...

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Via NREL Newswire
 

The kids are back in school in post-Katrina New Orleans, and there's light at the end of the classroom.

Five years after Katrina flushed water through the failed floodwalls, destroying homes, damaging classrooms and dashing dreams, the opportunity to build green schools that save millions of dollars on energy bills is just within reach for the school districts that serve New Orleans.Hurricane Katrina knocked out dozens of schools along with thousands of homes, and for quite a...

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Via U.S. Department of Energy

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Council of Environmental Quality (CEQ) Chair Nancy Sutley recently announced plans for the installation of solar on the roof of the White House residence. The plans are for two solar panels that will provide electricity, and a solar hot water heater that will heat water for use in the residence.

The announcement came on the one-year anniversary of President Obama's Executive Order (EO) 13514 on Leadership in Environmental, Ene...

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Courtesy of the IRS via email - Summertime Tax Tip 2010-21

Did you make a donation to a charity this year? If so, you may be able to take a deduction for it on your 2010 tax return. Here are the top 10 things the IRS wants every taxpayer to know before deducting charitable donations.

1. Charitable contributions must be made to qualified organizations to be deductible. You can ask any organization whether it is a qualified organization and most will be able to tell you. You can also check ...
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Via Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University

Our colleague and good friend Steve Schneider, the Melvin and Joan Lane Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies and senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford, died on July 19, 2010, while traveling from a meeting in Stockholm to London. Steve was not only a man of formidable intellectual depth and breadth, but also a committed and compassionate advisor, mentor, teacher and friend. ...

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By Rose Anderson

Providing access to safe water is a priority for all nations, as water is a limited resource essential to human health and economic activity. For many people in Africa, there is little or no access to safe drinking water. Water scarcity in Africa is expected to increase in the near future due to economic growth and increasing populations. By 2025, 45% of the populat...

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In the United States, electricity is generated in many different ways, with a wide variation in environmental impact. Electricity generation from the combustion of fossil fuels contributes toward unhealthy air quality, acid rain, and global climate change.

Many electricity customers can choose their provider of electricity or can purchase green power from their utility. In fact, you might now have the option of choosing cleaner, more environmentally friendly sources of energy.

The Tool Power ...

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by Scott Gilmore - May 21, 2010. Scott Gilmore is the Executive Director of Peace Dividend Trust.

I was sitting at the great Irish pub across from the office watching the Yankees game, when a clip of Sean Penn came on.  Turns out he’s in Haiti now.  (I thought he was in jail, but I don’t keep up like I should.)  Sean has set up a clinic or a school, or something, and Haiti is  doing much better now, thank you very much.  Somehow this didn’t surprise me.  I thought that’s ...

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This picture was tucked away in the FT website...




http://blogs.ft.com/energy-source/files/2009/02/oil_and_alternatives_pricepoints_dec2008.gif
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Did you know that 25% of the US population doesn't have a bank account to begin with? This is a rather surprising and sad story from Ylan Q. Mui to the Washington Post... One-quarter of American households -- about 60 million people -- have limited or no access to banks or other traditional financial services, with low-income and black families among the hardest hit, according to a government report released Wednesday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/02/AR20091202...
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