One of the main reasons why electric vehicles (EV) haven’t quite caught on in this country? Their cost. But back in July, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk announced news that lots of people were waiting to hear — that his car company is working on the first EV for the mainstream.
Called the Model 3, Musk claims that the car (targeted for release in 2016 and available to the general public in 2017) will cost $35,000 and can travel 200 miles on a single charge. The only other major EV that can reach 200-something miles is the Tesla Model S, which starts at a much more costly $70,000.
If the Model 3 succeeds, Tesla could dominate a very niche and profitable sector. But not if General Motors gets there first.
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Quartz recently detailed the tense and exciting battle between the two auto companies vying to make the first mass-market electric car. Here, some of the most interesting findings:
1. Tesla or GM could sell a LOT of electric cars. Like the highly popular and desirable BMW 3 series, there is a serious market for entry-level luxury cars. And now that consumers are more open to plug-ins, plus the trendiness of sustainable products, the sky’s the limit. Experts tell Quartz that the potential of an affordable 200-mile EV could really sway buyers to make the switch to electric, since that’s the point at which people no longer feel scared about their battery running out of juice in the middle of nowhere. Sales of electric cars — which currently stand at 2,000 to 3,000 vehicles a month — could swell to 15 to 20 times that amount once this technology proves successful, Quartz reports.
2. Tesla’s “gigafactory.” The reason why EVs are currently so expensive: batteries are costly. However, as technology improves, batteries will get cheaper. For example, the Tesla Model S lithium-ion battery currently costs about $15,000 per car, but Musk is building an enormous plant called the “gigafactory” that aims to double the global production of batteries — thus cutting expenses. Musk expects his new batteries will cost about $10,500 each.
3. GM is worried. Can a 106-year-old car company (riddled with controversy and recalls) actually compete against the technological whizzbangery of 10-year-old Tesla and its charismatic rockstar of a CEO? Steve Girsky, GM’s vice chairman, says that former GM CEO Dan Akerson was worried about Tesla and assigned a small team to study Musk’s EV’s and how it might threaten GM’s business.
4. GM, however, has a card up its sleeve. Tesla isn’t the only one working on a cheaper super battery. According to Quartz, Korean chemical company LG Chemical is working on their own battery that could be 200-mile ready by 2016. And while LG hasn’t said which automaker is getting the battery, since LG is GM’s supplier, we have a good guess as to which company will get it.
5. Still, the smart money is on Tesla. “We just haven’t seen any incumbent carmaker that has been able to make a compelling plug-in car in the way that Tesla has,” Navigant’s Sam Jaffe tells Quartz.
The drama between Tesla and GM is already exciting, but the best part about this EV battle? The planet is much better off for it. With so many environmentally friendly cars potentially flooding our roads, this would reduce the demand on fossil fuels and maybe, one day, even put a serious dent in the earth-damaging oil industry.
Competition spurs the best in innovation and as Tesla spokesperson Simon Sproule said after Musk surprisingly released his electric car patents to all in June, “The mission of the company is to accelerate the widespread adoption of electric cars. If Tesla acts as the catalyst for other manufacturers … that will have been achieved.”
Guess we only have to wait two years to find out which company comes out on top.
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Category: Preserving the Environment
Can You Grow All Your Food in an Old Swimming Pool?
With the rise of green living, it seems like gardens are popping up everywhere: in backyards and abandoned lots and on rooftops. However, when the McClung family moved into their Mesa, Ariz. home in 2009, they took one look at the empty swimming pool in their backyard and saw an opportunity for something completely unique.
They turned their swimming hole into something they’ve dubbed the Garden Pool, and over the past five years, it’s changed the McClung’s life, as well as foster a whole new sustainability movement.
So what exactly is a Garden Pool?
It’s a former swimming pool turned closed-loop ecosystem boasting everything from broccoli and potatoes to sorghum and wheat to chickens, tilapia, algae and duckweed. The food produced in the McClung’s Garden Pool is enough to feed their family of five — cutting up to three-quarters of their monthly grocery bill.
Instead of soil, the Garden Pool grows its plants in clay pellets or coconut coir. Any excess moisture drops from it into the pond below, which, combined with a rain catchment system, means that the garden requires only a small fraction of watering compared to what is usually needed in a conventional garden. A transparent plastic roof covers the in-ground pool.
In addition to less watering, the Garden Pool doesn’t need commercial fertilizer, either. That’s because the chicken excrement falls through a wire mesh covering a portion of the pond, feeding the algae and duckweed that grows in it. In turn, the tilapia living in the pond then consume those plants and release their nitrogen-rich feces. Using a solar-powered electric pump, this enriched fish-water is funneled into the hydroponics system which grows the family’s produce.
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Sounds complicated, right? The McClungs assure that it actually isn’t as difficult as it seems. In fact, over the past five years, they’ve brought garden pools to a dozen other homes in and around Phoenix. And that’s just the beginning, since Garden Pool is now a certified 501(c)3 nonprofit, it’s helping people across the country and globe start their own.
This past spring, Garden Pool joined forces with Naturopaths Without Borders and traveled to Haiti to construct a garden pool. The group also helped start about three dozen more across the country — from Palm Springs to Toledo to Florida.
But you don’t need Dennis and Daniella McClung around to create your own Garden Pond, since the couple offers a number of free online tutorials such as “Getting Started in Barrelponics” and “Growing Duckweed,” plus a 117-page how-to book containing detailed instructions, pictures, diagrams and links to video tutorials.
The McClungs are nowhere near finished — recently, they added pygmy goats as well as various fruit and nut trees to their Garden Pool.
For Dennis, doing this work is a dream come true.
“I love it,” he told Grist. “I dream about it. What inspires me is watching families’ lives being changed, watching communities change, observing the change.”
Not bad for a guy who started with an empty swimming pool, right?
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Meet 3 Young Innovators Who Could Make The World Cooler — Literally
Miles Barr wields the power of invisibility and draws energy from the sun. George Ban-Weiss can make the temperature drop in an entire city. And Emily Cole harnesses light to transform matter.
The three 30-somethings aren’t members of Marvel’s latest squad of superheroes. They’re part of a different high-powered team: MIT’s 35 Innovators Under 35.
Every year, MIT Technology Review Magazine picks 35 young problem-solvers to feature on its list, which includes scientists, inventors or entrepreneurs working on groundbreaking tech advancements in fields such as medicine, computers, data mining and robotics.
At least three of the members of this year’s list — Barr, Ban-Weiss and Cole — are working on new ideas that could help fight global climate change.
INVISIBLE MAN
Miles Barr, a 30-year-old entrepreneur, wants to turn every cell-phone screen into a solar panel without anyone noticing the difference.
He’s the cofounder of a company called Ubiquitous Energy, which is developing transparent — effectively invisible — solar panels. The technology’s implications for mobile devices are potentially transformative. No more battery-life worries: Every time you use your phone or tablet outside, it would be drawing power from the sun.
Barr also envisions larger-scale applications, like replacing entire windows with power-generating, transparent solar panels. The technology could mean less reliance on energy from fossil fuels, meaning less pollution overall.
SILVER SURFER
George Ban-Weiss, a 33-year-old professor in the University of Southern California’s school of engineering, came up with a simple idea to cool down Los Angeles: Paint roofs silver.
Black roofs soak up rays from the sun, making buildings hotter and heating up the air. Cool roofs — ones that reflect sunlight rather than absorb it — can make a measurable difference in the temperature in a city.
After Ban-Weiss presented his findings on cool roofs to the mayor of Los Angeles, the city passed a law requiring cool roofs for all new or refurbished roofs on residential buildings. It’s a change that could mean people in L.A. will have to run their air conditioners a little less, and the city will feel even cooler.
WONDER WOMAN
Excess carbon dioxide is making the planet hotter. But the harmful gas could be put to good use: making plastics, so says Emily Cole. The 31-year-old is the chief science officer at a company called Liquid Light, which is working on ways to convert CO2 into more useful chemicals.
Cole has helped develop technology that uses light to trigger reactions converting carbon dioxide into over 30 different chemicals. Liquid Light is focusing on ethylene glycol, which is used in plastics manufacturing, as it’s first commercial product.
Click here to meet the rest of MIT’s 35 Innovators Under 35.
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This Small Change to Toilet Paper Will Reduce Its Big Environmental Impact
Why has this taken so long?
In news that would probably only upset the most passionate arts and crafters, tissue manufacturer Scott Paper (widely credited as the first ones to put toilet paper on a roll in 1890) is getting rid of its tube to cut down on waste.
The brand’s Scott Naturals line is offering tube-free toilet paper at Walmart stores nationwide. (The product had a test-run back in 2010 in the Northeast.)
The new version looks just like a regular roll, only without its center tube. “You just put it on the spindle like regular bath tissue,” Scott brand manager Jared Mackrory tells Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel. “And when you get to that last sheet, it just rolls off. There’s no wasted cardboard tube left behind.”
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In our opinion, good riddance. Not only has the cardboard tube been the bane of passive-aggressive standoffs between roommates and significant others for more than a century, it also generates a tremendous amount of trash. In a press release, parent company Kimberly-Clark Corp. says that the move will help eliminate a big chunk of the 17 billion toilet paper tubes Americans throw away every year, which is enough to fill the Empire State Building twice.
Additionally, ditching the cardboard will help cut down the environmental devastation caused by the pulp and paper industries, which is the third largest industrial emitter of global warming pollution, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Early reviews of the product have been mixed, with some customers praising how eco-friendly it is, while others have complained that the quality has gone down, claiming that it’s “flimsy and linty.” As for cost, Entrepreneur reports that the tube-free rolls run $8.87 for a pack of 12, compared to a cardboard-loving Extra-Soft 12-pack, which costs $8.54.
Scott could do the planet a favor by sharing its tube-free know-how with other toilet paper and paper towel brands. But in the meantime, please recycle your cardboard rolls.
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Why Those Red Party Cups Are Also Big Red Flags
The Red Solo cup is about as American as beer pong and Toby Keith, but there’s a big problem with this party icon.
These beverage holders are made of No. 6 thermoplastic polystyrene, a moldable plastic that’s cheap to produce and found everywhere, from disposable razors to CD cases and even Styrofoam containers.
In theory, this plastic is 100 percent recyclable. But even if someone actually collects the used cups for recycling, most curbside pickups and facilities do not accept this kind of plastic since it’s not easily recyclable.
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This means, unfortunately, most of these cups get sent to the landfill where they take their sweet time to decompose (No. 6 plastic takes about 50 years to break down).
We’ve already mentioned how plastic is an environmental menace, and that doesn’t even include all of the energy, chemicals and barrels of oil it takes to manufacture a cup that’s probably only going to be used a single time before it’s trashed. (In case you’re wondering how you can recycle them, you can send your used Solo cups to TerraCycle.)
Whether they’re made of plastic, paper or Styrofoam, it’s clear that America has a disposable cup problem. They’re everywhere. You’ll see them ankle-deep at college keggers and all over coffee shops and restaurants. In fact, airline flights in the United States go through a staggering 1 million disposable cups every six hours (!).
So what’s a environmentally conscious beverage-drinker supposed to do?
Well, you can swear off all disposable receptacles forever or just wash and reuse the ones you already have. Alternatively, you can drink from a better cup.
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Washington-based company MicroGREEN Polymers launched their InCycle Cup a few years ago with hopes of replacing these plastic menaces. What makes these cups different is that they are made from recycled PET bottles, which are exceptionally recyclable.
“The main distinguishing factor is they are cheaper, made from water bottles that already exist so no trees are cut down or chemicals used to create the cups, and InCycle cups can be recycled again and again,” a rep tells NationSwell.
Last year, InCycle saved and repurposed 27 million water bottles from landfills. Not only that, according to a report from Seattle King 5, a single plastic water bottle can make three InCycle Cups.
If you’re worried that these cups are made from the same weak and crinkly material as plastic bottles, thanks to proprietary technology involving billions of micro air bubbles, these American-made cups are light yet extremely durable and can hold hot and cold beverages alike. Check out this neat video of an InCycle Cup that survived without a single crack after being run over by a car.
The eco-friendly cups — which are currently being used on United Airlines, Virgin America and Alaska Airlines flights and other companies — can be purchased online.
Turns out plastic can be used the right way. Cheers to that.
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How Texas is Turning Toilet Water into Drinking Water
The idea of turning wastewater into drinking water might make your stomach churn, but for the dry American southwest, it’s a smart, economic reality.
As the Associated Press reports, 2,000 acres of man-made wetlands in Fairfield, Texas are naturally filtering out the pollutants from the area’s treated wastewater, slowly converting the muck into 65,000 gallons of drinking water per day.
This system — which, since beginning operations in 2002, consists of a series of sedimentation ponds and wetland cells — is part of the George W. Shannon Wetland Water Reuse project and is the first of its kind in the country.
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It takes about a week for the vegetation, soils and microbes residing in the wetlands to filter out the phosphorous and nitrates in the water that’s been diverted from the Trinity River (which mostly contains treated wastewater). This naturally-cleaned H2O is then pumped into the Richland-Chambers Reservoir for future use.
The AP notes that at $75 million, it’s far cheaper to build wetlands over traditional filtering infrastructure. (It’s also a win for the area’s wildlife which have taken habitat on the grounds.) According to the report, the George Shannon wetland has already provided about 30 percent more water to the reservoir than it would normally hold. This is only good news for the drought-stricken state and the 1.5 million local Texans that the reservoir serves.
“This is stepping back from dependence on rainfall,” David Marshall, head of engineering services for Tarrant Regional Water District, which operates the wetlands, tells the news organization. “With potential climate change or long-term droughts, we’re at risk, whereas these wetlands firm up a tremendous amount of water supply for us.”
Encouragingly, a similar wetlands project will be built at Cedar Creek Reservoir in the near future.
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Despite Reports About Increasing Environmental Hazards, the Air in Our Cities is Getting Much Safer to Breathe
For all the hot air we often hear from politicians and pundits alike, the quality of the air we breathe in this country has actually gotten a lot better in the last two decades.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released their Second Integrated Urban Air Toxics Report to Congress, which surprisingly, shows that a lot of progress has been made to reduce harmful pollutants in cities due to the Clean Air Act updates from 1990, reports Think Progress.
Some highlights in the report include:
– A 66 percent reduction in benzene
– A nearly 60 percent reduction in mercury from man-made sources like coal-fired power plants
– An 84 percent decrease of lead in outdoor air, which slows brain development in children
– The removal of an estimated 1.5 million tons per year of air toxics like arsenic, benzene, lead and nickel from stationary sources
– Another 1.5 million tons per year (about 50 percent) of air toxics from mobile sources. This is significant because air toxics (also referred to as hazardous air pollutants or HAPs) are known or suspected of causing cancer and can damage the immune, respiratory, neurological, reproductive and developmental systems
– Approximately 3 million tons per year of criteria pollutants, like particulate matter and sulfur dioxide, have been reduced as co-benefits of air toxics reductions
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And if you think the EPA is just tooting it’s own horn, NASA also studied satellite images from 2005 to present day and saw physical proof that air pollution is decreasing in major urban areas.
Not only is cleaner air good news for our health, it’s good for the economy, too. CNN reports that better air quality prevented 160,000 deaths in 2010, 1.7 million asthma attacks and cut down hospital admissions and emergency room visits by 86,000. By 2020, the dollar savings in cleaner air will amount to $2 trillion annually in alleviated health risks.
In a statement, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy emphasizes that strict environmental regulations do not hinder this country’s economic growth: “This report gives everyone fighting for clean air a lot to be proud of because for more than 40 years we have been protecting Americans — preventing illness and improving our quality of life by cutting air pollution — all while the economy has more than tripled.”
“But we know our work is not done yet,” McCarthy notes. “At the core of EPA’s mission is the pursuit of environmental justice — striving for clean air, water and healthy land for every American; and we are committed to reducing remaining pollution, especially in low-income neighborhoods.”
So yes, while this is a small victory for all of our lungs, we shouldn’t breathe easy just yet.
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After Major Grassroots Efforts, This State Has Dealt a Huge Blow to Big Coal
Here’s another sign that coal could be going the way of the dodo in the United States.
Officials in the state of Oregon have rejected a permit that would have allowed the export of 8.8 million tons of this dirty fossil fuel each year to South Korean and other Asian countries.
Oregon’s Department of State Lands recently blocked Australia-based Ambre Energy’s plans to construct the Morrow Pacific coal export terminal on the Columbia River, Oregon Live reports. In a statement, the state agency said the project “would unreasonably interfere with the paramount policy of this state to preserve the use of its waters for navigation, fishing, and public recreation.”
Although the project isn’t officially kaput (since Ambre Energy can appeal the decision), it’s clear that they would have an angry public to contend with if they did. According to a press release from the Sierra Club, more than 20,000 citizens pressed Governor John Kitzhaber to nix the permit, and about 600 Northwest businesses and business leaders either expressed concern or outright opposition to coal export. Not only that, 3,000 medical professionals and public health advocates and 165 physicians have voiced their concern about the dangers of coal to human health, the release says.
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The state has also said that the project would destroy protected tribal fishing areas on the Columbia River. “Coal exports would devastate my business and jeopardize many other family operations and industries that depend on a healthy, clean Columbia River,” Mike Seely, of Seely Family Farms, said. “[The] decision shows that Oregon communities and leaders agree: The threats of coal exports are far too risky for our economies and natural resources.”
And while we should all hail Oregon’s decision as a major win for the environment, it’s really just the beginning. As Vox reports, there are two major projects being proposed in Washington that would export a lot more coal than the amount that Oregon just prevented. If approved, the Gateway Pacific project would ship 48 million tons annually and the Longview port would ship 44 million tons per year.
Looks like we still have some work to do to stop coal for good.
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Do Ants Hold the Key to Reducing Pollution?
Ants — some bite, some eat wood and others just come crawling when there’s food left out on the counter. Turns out, however, that these insects (that most of us find downright annoying) could be helpful in reducing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.
How so?
A recent study from Arizona State University, conducted by geology professor Ronald Dorn, found that the presence of ants can cause certain rocks to capture carbon dioxide, therefore preventing it from going into the atmosphere. This CO2 absorption isn’t small either. Ants can increase the natural amount a rock takes in by up to 335 times.
What’s the secret to this powerful partnership? Well, even Dorn doesn’t quite seem to know yet. In fact, he basically discovered the connection by accident. Back in the early 1990s, he was conducting a study about the weathering of minerals, and one of the rocks he was studying happened to become ant-infested. The bugs were annoying to him, pouring out whenever he tried to drill for a sample. Over time, however, he realized their effect on capturing carbon dioxide.
Even without the help of insects, though, rocks absorb a lot of carbon from the air.
The dangerous polluter seeps into calcium and magnesium deposits found in many rocks, which then transforms into limestone or dolomite. If it weren’t for rocks taking in carbon, our earth would be a whole lot warmer and air dirtier than it already is.
“When I take students on field trips, I make them kiss the limestone, because that limestone is just CO2 that’s just locked up in rocks and how Earth has remained habitable,” Dorn told Scientific American.
With carbon-rich rock already having contributed so much to our environment, the effect of ants speeding up the process could be huge. After all, there’s an estimated 10 trillion of the tiny insects on earth at our disposal. Even better would be if researchers could figure out exactly what the ants do to the rock to make it absorb carbon faster. Then, the solution could be mass-produced.
Until that’s the case, we’ll just have to settle for welcoming ants into our yards and enjoying our little patch of cleaner air.
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Meet The Councils Putting Local Food on Tables Nationwide
It goes without saying that America is a melting pot of different cultures, customs and people. Traveling from one state to another or one region to another can be like entering a new country. But for all of our differences, we’re united by one thing: Our love of food.
And although the type of food varies by state, we all want access to the best — which, for many, means local food. But for others, that isn’t a viable option due to the lack of access or inability to afford it.
That’s where food policy councils come in. A phenomenon found in every state in the country, these conglomerates of stakeholders work to create policies and laws to help develop the economic, environmental and social infrastructure needed in a local food system.
Of all of the councils in the county, Sustainable Cities Collective recently highlighted their top six champion councils. Here’s a look at a few of these pioneers.
1. Knoxville-Knox County Food Policy Council, Knoxville, Tenn.
This group got things started back in 1982, as the first food policy council in the world. It was created by a government law, and when first recruiting members, it had three main criteria: “ties to government, working knowledge of food industry and experience in neighborhood and consumer advocacy.”
Since then, it’s definitely proved its worth. In order to make grocery stores more available to its citizens, it expanded the city and county bus routes and mapped out the local grocery stores. It also worked in the schools, expanding breakfast and lunch programs for students. Local food projects such as farmer’s markets and community gardens have been supported by the council as well.
The Council hasn’t stopped there, though. In addition, it has worked to pass ordinances to ease the local food movement, such as allowing residents to grow hens on their property.
2. Cuyahoga County Food Policy Coalition, Cleveland, Ohio
In 2007, the Cuyahoga County Food Policy Coalition popped up. Their focus has been on legislation, as well as creating and operating food programs.
So far, the coalition boasts Urban Garden District Zoning and Farm Animals and Bees legislation and an Urban Agriculture Overlay District Zoning policy on its list of accomplishments. And that’s just at the legal level.
As far as programming, the coalition is working to make farmer’s markets more accessible for low-income residents. Farmer’s markets now accept EBT (electronic benefit transfer) and SNAP as payment. Further, under Produce Perks, customers who use EBT at the market can get up to a $10 match on what they purchase.
Additional resources for residents include community food assessments and guidebooks such as Local Food Guide and Cleveland’s Healthy Food Guidelines.
3. Milwaukee Food Council, Milwaukee, Wis.
The Milwaukee Food Council is another group focused on policy and programming. It’s responsible for the 2010 honey ordinance allowing residents to keep bees and the 2011 eggs ordinance giving people the ability to grow chickens for eggs.
In addition to partnering with many local groups, it works with the University of Wisconsin Extension and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), with which it created the Milwaukee Urban Agriculture Audit that finds the possible legal barriers to urban agriculture.
And through its Healthy Food Access Work Group, it works to make local food accessible to low-income residents through incentives and programs.
To check out the other top councils, click here.
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