Vol. 1, Issue 8

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Your Official Source for All Things Green in the First State
   


DOVER BEAT ●  GREEN DELAWAREANS  ●  BUSINESS ●  GREEN HOME  ●  FINANCE  ●  TRANSPORTATION
 REAL ESTATE  ●  LIFESTYLE  ●  TECHNOLOGY  ●  NATIONAL  ●  EDUCATION  ●  SOCIAL COMMUNITY
 

 

LIFESTYLE

Big Green Earth Store - Coming to Delaware
 (well... at least for one evening)

 

Just a short jaunt from Delaware, it is definitely worth the trip to the Big Green Earth Store at 934 South Street in Philadelphia for your eco-friendly shopping. This unique and charming store is stocked with a myriad of delightful products for all ages. You will find practical products and wonderful gifts ranging from counter top kitchen composters to recycled cardboard origami iPod speakers, (one of the top 100 inventions of 2009).  Everything is made from recycled, reclaimed, or organic materials.

The brain child of entrepreneur and passionate environmentalist Tony Fisher, the Big Green Earth Store has an eclectic array of merchandise, from Klean Kanteen water bottles and eco-friendly cleaning products to kitchy totes, handbags, clutches and Christmas tree balls made from recycled magazines. 

Big Green Earth Store has products for your home, office and when you are on the go.  Some of the "green" goodies you'll find are bowls made from recycled record albums, business card holders made from bicycle chains, staple-free staplers, fire starters made from recycled church candles, eco-bags of all shapes and sizes, along with beautifully crafted hats, scarves, and other knitted and crocheted items made from reclaimed yarn. The Flax Duvet covers and bed linens ...continued

GREEN JOBS

USGBC's 2009 Green Jobs Report

This study, released at Greenbuild 2009, was conducted by the U.S. Green Building Council and Booz Allen Hamilton, and predicts that the green building industry will be responsible for the creation or support of 7.9 million jobs, contributing $554 billion to the U.S. GDP, in the next four years.

From the introduction to the report:

Buildings generate approximately 40 percent of the United States' carbon emissions. Under a likely carbon-constrained future, the construction of more environmentally friendly buildings and the renovation of existing buildings will play a critical role in reducing these emissions. The green building market is growing dramatically. McGraw Hill estimates that the total value of green construction was $10 billion in 2005, and that value grew to between $36 and $49 billion by 2008. By 2013, it estimates that the market could grow to as much as $96–140 billion.

Local and national policymakers increasingly view green construction and renovation activities as an opportunity to spur domestic job creation because these jobs cannot be outsourced ...continued

GREEN ENERGY

2010 Solar Pricing To Be 
About Half the 2008 Cost

By the end of the year, the levelized cost of adding solar should be about half what it was in 2008, according to new analysis by New Energy Finance.

The 50 percent drop in levelized solar costs compares to about a 10 percent drop in levelized costs for other forms of renewable energy. The levelized cost refers to the lifetime cost per kilowatt hour before subsidies.

So far this year, the higher cost of financing has canceled out some of the savings from lower product costs, New Energy Finance says. But the group expects capital markets to free up significantly by year’s end, prompting its heady prediction of a 50 percent drop in the cost of adding solar.

Thin-film solar can cost as little as $3 per watt of installed capacity, making it the least expensive option – about 25 percent less than crystalline silicone systems. Prices for photovoltaic projects with tracking systems have...continued
 

GREEN ENERGY

Delaware's New 
Solar Energy Coalition

Delaware Solar Energy Coalition, LLC (DSEC) was founded to represent the interests of solar PV installers, manufacturers, customers, and concerned citizens in the State of Delaware. The organization will advocate for effective public policy solutions on issues affecting the distributed solar energy industry.

The founding member include six of the major solar PV installers in Delaware: Blue Skies Solar & Wind Power, Clean Energy USA, CMI Electric, Eclipse Solar Specialists, Flexera, and KW Solar Solutions.

DSEC's six member companies have contributed more than $27 MM ...continued

GREEN DRINKS &
UPCOMING EVENTS


Join us for these great
networking events

  • Tuesday, Dec. 1st
    6 - 8 pm
    UD Courtyard Marriott
    (Sponsored by Big Green Earth Store)
     

  • Tuesday, Dec. 15th
    6 - 8 pm
    Moro Restaurant
    (13th & Scott)

Other Events

  • YoYo Joe's
    Toys & Fun
    (Concord Square)
    2nd Annual 
    "Adult Swim"
     Thurs., Dec. 3rd
    6 - 9 p.m.
    Eco-friendly and educational gifts for all ages. One night in the holiday season to let parents shop without spying eyes.
     

more info on all events

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Home Energy Tax Credits to Save You Thousands In 2009

Think You Know Fish?
Play the Game &
Test Your Knowledge

What's really in Glade, Windex and Pledge? SC Johnson will finally tell you

The dirty little secrets of Glade, Pledge and Windex are all coming clean courtesy of venerable consumer products  company SC Johnson. The Racine, Wis. outfit said last week it had launched a new website that lists the ingredients of more than 200 of its products. The WhatsInsideSCJohnson site represents the most significant disclosure to date of the ingredients found in household cleaning products.

Lack of disclosure has been a key complaint of green activists who have often alleged that many household cleaners contain toxic ingredients. Equally important, these environmental do-gooders have charged that some supposedly green products contain ingredients that are either unsafe or suspected of having strong health effects on people.

SC Johnson becomes the second major consumer products company to take this step. ...continued

GREEN HOME

The Shrinking American Home

During the real estate boom, new home construction became a game of ever increasing square-footage. That had a certain logic to it: if you saw your house as an investment to make you rich, bigger could only mean better: as a contractor a bigger home meant more profit.

Now that the economy has changed and people are realizing the reality of flat home prices, houses are getting smaller - and more efficient (for many reasons). Ninety percent of homebuyers are very concerned about energy prices and most big homes are energy hogs. Architects and homebuilders are hopefully now considering to how families actually spend time and use space.

What does the new American home look like?
As soon as you step through the front door ...continued

TECHNOLOGY

Researchers Develop Machine To Recycle Carbon Dioxide Into Fuel

U.S. researchers have demonstrated a technology that uses the sun’s heat to convert carbon dioxide and water into the building blocks of traditional fuels, a reverse combustion process that may emerge as a practical alternative to sequestration of CO2 emissions from power plants. The prototype “Sunshine to Petrol” system, developed by Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, uses concentrated solar energy to trigger a thermo-chemical reaction in an iron-rich composite located inside a two-sided cylindrical chamber. The iron oxide is designed to lose an oxygen molecule when exposed to 1,500 degree C heat, and then retrieve an oxygen molecule when it is cooled down, essentially converting an incoming supply of CO2 ...continued
 

 
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