Yesterday I spent a good amount of time going over water saving strategies and products with the Contra Costa Water District. As a follow up I will be spending a good portion of the day with them again today.

Specifically we have been talking about the Ecoblue Cube for urinals, saving over 3 million gallons of water a year from the installations this far and the Touch and Flow faucet.

You can find out more about these two wonderful products at their websites:

This allows you to convert a standard urinal to waterless.

This is the supplier of the Touch and Flow faucet.

Note: The faucet does more than save water, it prevents more PCBs from entering land fills and prevents the use of batteries that are required for other automated faucets. This is a very good environmentally sound product. One other benefit is a lower maintenance cost from reduction of maintenance. Simpler design also means quick cost effective seal replacement when it eventually fails as they all do.

Why not worry about helping developing nations with green energy? I have spoken to people who don't really think that developing nations contribute that much to global warming and that they should be given aid after the leading countries figure out solutions to their own problems.

I just read an article about India's largest power producer, the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and how they will be setting up a 4,000 MW coal-fired power plant for the Chhattisgarh government. 4,000 Mega Watts! That is run from coal!

We are spoiled in the U.S. We are used to having stable electricity and water at any given moment and almost cry if the power goes out and wine everytime we are in a drought. When is the last time you remember turning on the faucet and not getting any water? If you do remember, falling behind on the bills doesn't count. The point is that in developing nations, they walk for their water, and generally do not have electricity at the ready.

If we take new technologies to developing nations as a test ground, we improve their lives while finding out what works well and what does not. We both benefit. When we don't do this the developing nations take advantage of whatever help they can get, which is perfectly reasonable, and install 4,000 MW coal fired power stations!

I know that when we do have established green power infrastructure that the developing nations will follow suit, but doesn't it make more sense to help them get it right the first time while we can both benefit?

To read more about the power station, follow the related link.

Well it is the weekend and I have tasks around the house. But starting the day by checking my email and favorite news feeds I couldn't help but post this article about lawn mowing.

We are in a drought, so the photo above is NOT my lawn or mower, mine is borderline dead right now as I only water a few minutes a week. However, I still have to get out there and trim, pull weeds, put out ant stakes, etc...

The bullet points from the article:

Mow with a sharp mower blade.
Mow frequently and not more than 1/3 of the height at once.
Keep your grass 3 inches tall.
Use a mulching mower and leave grass clippings on the lawn.
Mow when the lawn is dry.
Consider an electric mower.

Hit the related link below for the full article.

Note this only saves water if you do not already do the things listed above. Dialing back the amount of water is still the best way to save water.

This morning I made an early start by going to Northgate High School to check on our solar panels and do a little house cleaning. It is a really big job to clean an area that big and I will have to return to do more.

Check out the power we are producing - click here.

This may sound odd, and it is. We are used to tires being made from rubber and petroleum based ingredients. The rubber will still be part of the recipe, but the petroleum will be replaced with other renewable ingredients like Orange Oil.

The great news is that we will probably have access to these in the near future.

From the article:

- Yokohama is now selling a model made with 80 percent non-petroleum material, substituting orange oil as the primary ingredient to make vulcanized rubber.

The new tire is called the Super E-spec (tm) and has already received the Popular Mechanics Editor's Choice Award in 2008. Yokohama will initially market the tire for hybrid car models such as the Toyota Prius.

"The eco-focused dB Super E-spec mixes sustainable orange oil and natural rubber to drastically cut the use of petroleum, without compromising performance," Yokohama vice president of sales Dan King said. "It also helps consumers save money at the gas pump by improving fuel efficiency via a 20-percent reduction in rolling resistance." -

For more information click the related link below.