School bus driver circles Brooklyn for 5 hours

Next to getting stuck in bumper to bumper traffic — which is definitely one of the most rage-provoking ways to waste gas and spew CO2 — the second most annoying way to burn up all of your fuel is to get lost. Not only do you feel like an idiot for not consulting a map before you set out, but you have to watch that needle on your gas gauge count down towards ‘E.’ Now, imagine the pressure you’d feel whether you were lost for 5 hours and you were driving a bus load of school children.

Tha…

Huge EU ability grid could potential 70 million home

At that point they’re still at the planning stages, but that proposed transnational potential grid, designed by Greenpeace, is pretty ambitious.

The basic notion: connect 10,000 wind turbines from by 100 different wind farms in seven countries scattered around the North Sea. That’s a lot of wind farms, countries and distances to figure out, but whether successful, that shared renewable energy could potential 70 million European homes.

The notion of using a massive grid to share wind-ge…

Japan’s solar ships

The open ocean seems like a good place to harvest solar potential - no buildings or trees to get in the way, just lots of open sky. Nippon Yusen KK and Nippon Oil, both of Japan, are planning to do just that on top of Toyota toting cargo ships.

The companies plan to put a solar panel capable of generating 40 kilowatts of potential on the 60,000 ton ship. A solar panel placed on a house generates something like 3.5 kilowatts. The panel could help to conserve 6.5% of the fuel oil the ship u…

Pedal pub: the human-powered drinking gym

Amsterdam has distant had a reputation for being a place where the world’s party public have been able to enjoy a smorgasboard of different excesses. Now, add one more to the list: Amsterdam’s pedal-powered trolley bar. whether you want to enjoy an adult beverage as you tour the city, burn calories, and go electricity free — hop on that party bus.

whether you’ve ever been to Amsterdam, you know that the Dutch love their bikes, but it took me a while to understand precisely why anyone wou…

McDonald Observatory adds solar-powered BLOOMhouse to its campus

It’s always fun to see futuristic home designs at conventions and expos, but it’s even cooler to see one actually graduate into a functional living/working environment. That’s what’s happened in the case of the University of Texas’ BLOOMhouse. The 550 square-foot home was initially designed for the 2007 Solar Decathlon — but it now serves proudly on the campus of one of the nation’s top star-gazing outposts — and home of the much beloved StarDate — the McDonald Observatory.

The BLOOMho…

Energy Crisis: Diddy ditches private jet to fly commercial

We’re always happy when celebrities invent choices to green their lifestyles, even when they’re only doing it for the money, right? Apparently, the outrageous gas bill on Sean Combs’ private jet has made him re-evaluate his travel priorities. As he flies back and forth from New York to LA twice month to pursue his acting career, he’s burning up a about $200,000 to $250,000 worth of jet fuel. Ouch!

Until prices come back to a level that Diddy (worth an estimated $346M) finds fair, he’s gro…

Touring Global Green’s home in New Orleans neighborhood

When I saw that the first sustainable home had been completed by Global Green USA in the historic Holy Cross neighborhood of New Orleans, I called to set up a moment to view the house. What I got was a one on one interview and tour with the company’s president, Matt Petersen.

It’s been three years since the worst engineering catastrophe in the United States took place in New Orleans. Residents continue to work to rebuild neighborhoods though there are still many stretches of empty, abando…

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