Green Cool Hip

The United States Marine Corps is going greener and today completed its largest installation of a 1.4 megawatt solar power plant to generate renewable electricity for Camp Pendleton.

The plant is expected to generate 2400 megawatt-hours a year.  The project cost around 9 million dollars and will save the Corps in excess of a quarter million dollars in electricity cost annually.

The photovoltaic system was produced locally and installed by a local company creating jobs - or at least keeping U.S. residents employed.

This is a great example being set here by the U.S. military and one that should be followed by U.S. corporations.

Looking back at 2010, a lot of good things have happened over the last twelve months for the green industry.  To only list a few, Nissan delivered its first electric vehicle, the Leaf.  Audi retrofitted an A2 with an electric engine and ran it for over 6 hours without rechardging, courtesy of Lekker Energie and DBM Energy.  Tesla received half a billion dollars from the government and struck a deal with Toyota to acquire one of its plants, and mass produce its $40,000 electric model S sedan.  President Obama emphasized his commitment to the green movement by contracting to install solar panels to the roof o fthe White House.  A number of green jobs have been created.  And Detroit has finally joined the green movement realizing past mistakes of killing the EV1, by committing to build future electric vehicles.

I now say Good Bye to a Green 2010 and Welcome to a HAPPY GREENER YEAR 2011.

Lekker Energie and DBM Energy, both German companies, have just run 372 miles over 6 hours in an Audi A2 equipped with an electric engine on a single charge.  At the end of their world record event, there was still some electricity left over.  Mirko Hanneman is the  27 year old inventor of the DBM Energy battery based on DBM Alpha Polymer Technology.

This new battery which can be recharged from any socket now makes the electric car look like a very attractive daily driver even in congested cities like New York City where traffic can be a real nightmare.

Back in my April post, I mentioned that President Obama could show his support of the alternative energy movement by bringing Solar energy back to the White House.  Today, he has made it official that he would reverse President Reagan’s decision to take down the solar panels installed by President Carter and install new ones by spring 2011.

According to the Chair of teh White House Counsel on Environmental Issues, Nancy Sutley, President Obama wants to lead by example and practice what he preaches.  This is much welcome news for all renewable energies advocates as these panels will provide a portion of the White House’s electricity and hot water.

Next stop: All U.S. government and military installations.

Ford plans to release its firts fully electric car next year.  Currently, it’s known as the Focus Electric and as its name indicates, it will be a Ford Focus.  This will be the first full electric car from one of Detroit’s Big Three.

Unlike its GM and Chrysler counterparts, Ford seems to be embracing the future, and if we recall, never went hand in hat to Washington, D.C, crying for a bailout.

Ford has partnered with Magna International, using Magna’s electric car design, while the battery will be supplied by South Korea’s LG Chem.  The 2011 Focus Electric will have a range of 100 miles.

We expect to see more electric cars based on the Magna model since Ford did not secure sole rights to Magna’s technology.  Magna which has its own electric vehicle known as the “Mila Eva” with a range of 100 miles and charge time of 2.5 hours has also been in talks with BMW since last year.

Abengoa Solar and Abound Solar will receive nearly two billion dollars from the economic stimulus fund for building solar plants in the United States.  Both companies already have projects planned for the U.S., the most notable one being a 280 megawatts-electrical output plant for Gila Bend in Arizona to be built by Abengoa.

This is not only a step in the right direction as it will reduce CO2 emissions, but it will also create new jobs and spur rapid development of the solar industry in the United states.

The Arizona plant will deliver clean power to 70,000 homes, reduce CO2 emission by 400,000 tons and create about 1500 jobs during its construction phase.

Will President Obama bring solar panels back to the whitehouse?

We may not all remember but President Jimmy Carter was a visionary in advocating alternative energy by bringing solar panel to the white house back in 1979.  President Reagan did the [now] unthinkable and removed them.

While President Obama clearly and ludly supports the green movement, we have yet to hear of his energy savings plan for the white house.  Sungevity which leases home solar systems is offering to install a solar system at the White House for no more than zero cent.

In pushing the envelope even further, Sungevity is also offering to lease the entire system to the government of the people for the low price of $537.  Assuming my math is correct and using the estimated population of 307,006,550 U.S. residents, that’s $6,444 annually or about $.000021 per U.S. resident per year.

Ronald Reagan may have lacked judgment in ordering the solar panels removed, but Obama can start leading by example in the fight against global warming.

Sungevity has already taken the first step with its offer and writing to the President and First Lady [see letter here] and started the Globama initiative.

Let’s bring solar energy back to the White House.  Let’s lend our support by signing the petition.

Worried that you may not have lived a green life or that your decomposing body, and coffin materials sipping in the ground may be more bad treatment that the planet deserves. Well, worry no more.

After a lifetime of trashing the planet or taking of it, one can now satisfy his desire to remain green in the afterlife thanks to alkaline hydrolysis also referred to as resomation.

Alkaline hydrolysis not only reduces carbon dioxide emissions by about 90%, it also uses less energy than conventional cremation. The water-based process can rapidly reduce the human body to ashes.

Although safer to the environment – no mercury is spewed into the atmosphere – this process does not come without its share of controversy. For example, the Catholic Church strongly opposes the process, stating this is not a respectful way to dispose of corpses. However, Christiannity, Judaism and Islam in the past have all been strongly opposed to cremation though it has now become accepted in many of these circles.

However, with a third of Americans and half of the Canadian population now opting for cremation, and more green-conscious citizens, resomation is poised to enjoy some noticeable success.

But let’s not start trashing the planet yet just because we can be green in the afterlife.

With its “Go Green” selection of spring watches, Casio is sure to generate a buzz thanks to its leading PRG110C-3 solar- powered watch.

This cool watch uses the company’s “Tough Solar Technology” hoping to reduce the number of batteries thrown out each year, thus lowering the level of toxic contaminants to the environment.

The watch features a compass, an altimeter, a barometer, thermometer, stopwatch and world time for a number of cities; 30 to be exact.

Currently available in green shade only, anyone wearing it on his wrist will not only be recognized as a friend of the earth, but will also be making a bold statement.

Hopefully, the solar cell technology employed here will soon be transplanted in other popular devices such as cell phones.

The last two months have been particular busy trying to complete year-end projects, and as a result has taken my focus off the site. In addition, I recently got involved (from a technical standpoint) with the Rebuild Haiti effort now underway, following the recent earthquake which has devastated this beautiful island.

But 2010 is here and GreenCoolHip wants you to go out and see two of the best green movies of 2009 if you have not already done so.

If I were asked to choose one movie last year that would be captivating and open our eyes to how we treat our planet and its living organism, it would be impossible. However, I could manage to round up two.

Food Inc., the documentary film by Robert Kenner, takes a hard look at how farm animals are raised in the United States and reveals the shocking truth about how we grow and harvest our crops. In our culture of more, bigger, faster and not necessarily better, we have traded quality and long term health concerns and let corporations put profits ahead of our safety and our environment. I bring up Food Inc. as a must-see movie because we all need to ask ourselves the following question. How can we take care of our planet if we don’t take care of ourselves?

Which brings us to our second choice, Avatar. After his 1997 blockbuster hit, Titanic featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, James Cameron waited 12 years before releasing his next movie, which almost instantly became a hit grossing over 1 billion dollars in a short period of time much like Titanic.

In Avatar, Cameron depicts a future where earth, after being trashed and having all its natural resources exhausted by its abusive inhabitants cannot longer sustain life. So we do what we do best and set out to exploit another people on another planet, except that we did not expect them to resist and fight back.

I will not delve too much into the movie as it’s excellent and I don’t want to spoil it for those of you who have yet to see it.

There will certainly be some great movies in 2010 urging us to think about the environmental impact of our actions. But for now, go out and see Avatar in theaters, or if you would rather stay home, grab a copy of Food Inc.

Enjoy!