There were so many articles on blogs yesterday, I didn't feel I could add anything. However, today I want to share that everyday should be Earth Day.

As we move through our day, if we all just make an ounce of effort to pick up an extra piece of stray trash, or turn off an extra light, our habits will have a powerful impact.

Here are some other things you might want to do:

- Join the national call to action on comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation

- Support the Safe Chemical Act

- Volunteer locally

- Use organizations like www.freecycle.com or www.craigslist.com

As we approach Earth Day, this subject has popped up again.

I have written about this in the past and it has been posted on many green blogs and news sites, I just want to summarize again.

Weather events are not climate; climate is the accumulation of weather events over an extended period of time. So a cold summer day doesn't prove global warming is false any more than a heat wave in winter proves it's true.

That said, the effects scientists predict from global warming are sometimes counterintuitive. While snow is associated with winter, warmer winter temperatures can result in more snow, since warmer air can hold more moisture. One of the most well-documented predictions about global warming is that it will result in more intense storms, in any season, but may leave longer droughts between those storms.

And again, the long term chart:

This article is a re-post from renewableenergyworld.com.

- Negawatts are the watts saved from not being used. Not only are they the cheapest source of New Energy but investing in them saves $2-to-$3 dollars for every dollar that is spent, savings that can be invested in New Energy megawatts.

One small problem: As reported in Energy Efficiency Services Sector: Workforce Education and Training Needs from researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), there aren’t nearly enough people trained in doing Energy Efficiency to get the job done.

That small problem, however, presents an enormous opportunity. Thanks in part to a new awareness of savings opportunities and in part to funding in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, Energy Efficiency began growing last year and is expected to continue expanding in the U.S. over the next 10 years as fast as the nation can deploy training and education programs for the Energy Efficiency services sector (EESS) workforce. -

To find out more about the EESS, download the PDF by clicking the related link below.

The above image is just a generic can of paint and a solar installation, there is no color information currently for solar paint. I would guess it is a dark brown or slate color.


As you may have read here before, solar is good but efficiency is low. The value of solar is realized over time as the impact on the environment is low and especially low impact on air quality. As a very predictable source of energy, solar is understandably a winning source of renewable energy. There are many organizations working to create the next "best" thing in solar and one company thinks they are in the lead. NextGen has created "solar paint".

The NextGen solar paint is a liquid material that forms webs of nanoscale solar cells when it dries and it can be painted onto practically any surface. Developed by the Argonne National Laboratory, the solar paint beats out thin-film PV cells in efficiency because it captures more wavelengths of light.

The company is working with ambitious clean tech investors, hoping to get the prototype out of the lab and onto roofs, windows and walls soon. A commercial breakthrough of this type of clean energy technology.

Read more about the source research that NextGen is using by following the related link below.

GE has announced a 40 watt equivalent replacement bulb that uses LED technology for the light source. At a draw of only 9 watts to create the light, it is about 10% more efficient than a CFL for the same job. LED's do not contain Mercury and are therefore a greener choice in lighting.

While I am excited about this because it will lead to cheaper LED alternatives, I am sad about the current planned asking price. GE expects the bulbs to sell for around $40. A CFL with the same light output would be about $1 to $7 depending on the brand and store.

Although the life of a lightbulb is described in years, the average number of hours matters as well. GE says the new bulb will last 17 years with an average of 4 hours daily use. This means the new bulb should last about 24,800 hours, or 2.5 times as long as the equivalent CFL. Even at $7 for a CFL equivalent, the new LED costs more than twice as much for the same amount of useful hours.

I can't wait for this technology to become more mainstream. I remember in the 1990's there was a huge push toward CFL's and the prices were driven down dramatically by subsidies. This is the push LED needs if it is to become the new standard bulb in our daily lives.

Follow the related link below for more information.