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WHATEVER HAPPENED TO…
Biosphere 2?
 Initially constructed in the late 1980s to determine whether eight people could maintain themselves in a matter-sealed but energy-rich environment, Biosphere 2 was an air-locked habitat in Oracle, Arizona. But the project, once hyped as an answer to space colonization, failed as a sealed environment more than a decade ago due to difficulties maintaining oxygen levels.
Today, the facility has found new life as a center for education and research. Managed by the University of Arizona, the site is a major regional attraction and public education center and also serves as a laboratory for controlled scientific studies. Research at Biosphere 2 is overseen by B2 Earthscience and will address issues of global environmental change. From 1991 to 2007, nearly 2.3 million visitors have explored the 7.2-million-cubic-foot interior, which includes mangrove wetlands; a 40-foot ocean cliff overlooking a million-gallon ocean complete with coral reef; and a tropical rain forest boasting 150 species of plants, some of which grow to more than 60 feet tall. Daily guided tours offer guests a closer look at the abandoned human habitat (where the biospherians lived, grew food, and cooked meals) and the enclosure’s various ecosystems and environments. Techies will love the technosphere -- a basement wonderland where all the electrical, mechanical, and plumbing machinery is housed. For tour times and additional information, call (520) 838-6200 or visit www.b2science.org. -- Becca Hensley
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A WHOLE NEW WAY TO NETWORK
 Think
the most you’ll ever share with your neighbor is a cup of sugar? A new
energy-distributing technology might make you think again. --Wendy Lyons Sunshine
Imagine
your green dream home: The lawn is irrigated with used bathwater, the
appliances are energy misers, and thick insulation keeps the summer
heat and winter cold safely outside. Maybe you even have a few solar
panels on the roof to generate electricity while the sun is shining.
Better still, behind the scenes, an energy-allotting gadget called a
Qbox is saving you and your neighbors money by distributing stored
energy as it’s needed.
Sound
too good to be true? It won’t be for long. Qurrent Renewable Energy, a
Dutch company, is fine-tuning its Qbox system to help residents and
business owners spend less money on local energy production.
“If
we can save money for people,” says Igor Kluin, the company’s founder
and CEO, “more people will buy into their own local clean-power
production.”
How
does it work? Homes hooked up to a network use the energy they generate
themselves before it gets transferred to a main grid, where it is
transported to the nearest energy-needing consumer. The Qbox is
responsible for allocating the supplies so that higher demands from one
household can be satisfied with superfluous energy generated by another
home. (Excesses could be the result of less usage or even the home’s
location, e.g., if it’s in a particularly sunny or windy area.) With
the help of a smart network, the Qbox can also determine when it’s most
efficient to run certain appliances and schedule cycles accordingly. It
can even optimize an entire community, ensuring that 50 pool pumps or
75 dishwashers don’t kick on at the same time and max out the system.
No
matter the energy-generating platform -- be it solar panels and wind
turbines or more conventional choices like natural gas and heat pumps
-- Qbox can integrate them all, increasing efficiency and return on
investment. The potential for energy conservation is so significant
that Qurrent was awarded Europe’s 2007 Picnic Green Challenge for the
most promising eco-conscious innovation.
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Shape Shifting > Architect Eli Attia’s
vision for eco-friendly homes will spin you right roundhouse, baby.
Well, sort of. (Technically, they’re 64-sided polygons, but that’s
splitting hairs.) Attia says the homes (www.roundhousedev.com) will be 30 to 50 percent more energy efficient than their boxy brethren. -- Jenna Schnuer
Why round?
Round is thought to be the most efficient form in the universe. It
encloses the largest area in the smallest footprint. It has between 30
and 50 percent less [of an] exterior wall. Exterior walls are where
heat is gained in the summertime and lost in the wintertime.
You’re
working on the first house, a 15,000-squarefoot project in Beverly
Hills. It was test-listed with a real estate firm for $16.5 million.
Are the houses only for the rich? The roundhouse system is
scalable to anywhere. It can even be built for extremely modest means.
Actually, it is being considered for implementation in New Orleans.
Why did you choose steel, glass, and concrete as your building materials?
On average, every house built of wood requires a clearing of about one
acre of forest. [Roundhouse] is built of totally recyclable materials.
It is durable and sustainable. It doesn’t rot. It’s not combustible.
You don’t need to paint it. It requires barely any upkeep. When you
want the house to look sparkling clean, you just hose it.
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TRANSPORTATION
The Little Car That Could
 The
Smart ForTwo , which debuted on these shores earlier this year, comes
in six colors. Green isn’t an option, however (probably because that
would just be rubbing it in). After all, every tiny, adorable ForTwo --
whether it’s the Pure, the Passion Cabriolet, or the Passion Coupe --
is already as green as can be by the time it rolls out of the factory,
the so-called Smartville in Hambach, France. From design to
construction to performance, the ForTwo is all about being BFFs with
the environment. -- Zac Crain
BODY PANELS
, manufactured via injection molding, are completely recyclable. Get
into enough accidents and you might end up with your old fender -- or
at least part of it.
THE TRIDION SAFETY CELL
(the passenger-protecting steel shell, part of which is exposed) is
powder-coated instead of painted. The low-energy method means no
solvents are necessary and no water is used. Also, tridion sounds kind
of awesome.
The CATALYTIC CONVERTER
is located near the engine, dramatically cutting down response time.
This one is a layup: Since the car is only 8.8 feet long, it would have
been difficult to put the catalytic converter very far away anyway.
Carbon
monoxide and hydrocarbons are almost completely neutralized (it’s
classified as an Ultra-Low Emission Vehicle) thanks to fresh air
propelled by an ELECTRIC PUMP streaming into the Smart’s exhaust when the engine is cold. When the engine is warm, it’s replaced by NPR’s Fresh Air.
The DASHBOARD and WHEELHOUSING COVERS are constructed from 100-percent-recyclable synthetics. (Because 95-percent-recyclable synthetics are for quitters.)
The DASHBOARD AIR SYSTEM
was redesigned so that 20 individual components were streamlined into
an all-in-one molded unit, meaning Smartville’s carbon footprint goes
down a size, maybe two, depending on the style of carbon shoe.
The Smart gets up to 41 miles per gallon , due to a skimpy weight of just 1,800 POUNDS
. In comparison, the Toyota Prius gets an average of 46 miles per
gallon and tips the scales at a relatively burly 3,000 pounds. Watch
out for bikini season, Prius.
An ALL-ELECTRIC
Smart model is currently undergoing testing in the UK. When that hits
the market, owners could burn old tires in their backyards while wildly
spraying aerosol cans and still be considered friends of the
environment.
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FILL ’ER UP
An alternative-fuel primer
Don’t
know the difference between CNG and C-3PO? We’re here to help. Here, we
translate alternative-fuel jargon into language that’s easy to
understand, and we tell you who can and can’t use it. You can also find
stations that carry the gasoline substitutes mentioned here using the
Alternative Fuels & Advanced Vehicles Data Center’s handy locator
website at afdcmap2.nrel.gov/locator/. --Z.C.
ETHANOL
Made mostly from corn or sugarcane (for vehicular use, it’s known as
E85 -- 85 percent ethanol, 15 percent gasoline). Many major car
companies have models that can run on E85 and conventional fuel;
they’re called flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs).
BIODIESEL
Created from vegetable oils and animal fats. Various blends of the fuel
are denoted with a B followed by a number, indicating the amount of
biodiesel present. (B99 contains 99 percent biodiesel and 1 percent
petroleum diesel.) Side effect: It might make you hungry for a
cheeseburger and fries. All diesel engines can use biodiesel, though it
is not recommended that older diesel engines (pre-1993) operate on
higher blends of biodiesel.
COMPRESSED NATURAL GAS
(CNG) It’s natural gas that has been … compressed. We won’t pretend to
understand the science behind CNG, but we can tell you it takes a lot
of room to store. Your choices are limited: The Honda GX CNG is the
only dedicated natural gas vehicle, though other cars can be modified
to use it.
PROPANE
Also known as liquefied petroleum gas. The Roush F-150 pickup truck --
the only dedicated propane-powered vehicle on the market -- was
released during the 2007 model year, but most cars can use it if
they’re properly retrofitted. Depending on where you live, it’s also
plentiful.
HYDROGEN
The gold standard for alternative fuels, hydrogen releases no harmful
pollutants into the air beyond water vapor. It’s versatile, too, able
to be used in electric vehicles or burned in traditional internal
combustion engines. Alas, it’s expensive to produce and only a handful
of cars (the new Honda FCX being one) use it. Unless your name rhymes
with “Shmeorge Shlooney,” it’s going to be a while.
ELECTRICITY
Pretty much the same story as hydrogen -- clean, versatile, and
practically a rumor. There are plenty of gas-electric hybrids, in
addition to a variety of smaller, all-electric models (called
neighborhood-electric vehicles) or low-speed vehicles that have been
available for several years. But full-speed, purely electric
automobiles are a few years from being a common sight on the highway.
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The Gas Is Always Greener
A new crop of eco-friendly alternatives makes fueling up a little less painful. --Becca Hensley
Inspiration
from a gas station? It’s hard to imagine, especially with rising (and
rising) fuel prices. But a new breed of fill-up stops are taking small
-- but important -- steps to show that even gas stations can go green.
Take Helios House, located on the corner of Olympic and Robertson Boulevards in central Los Angeles. Evoking a design from The Jetsons,
BP’s stainless-steel-crafted, LEED-certified station shows the fuel
company’s commitment to balancing our undeniable need for energy with
environmental responsibility. Though the station sells conventional gas
products, its eco-friendly complex gets points for being constructed
entirely from recycled or sustainable materials. The station utilizes
solar panels and motion-sensor lights to save energy, collects
rainwater to hydrate its CO2-reducing landscaping, and serves as a
recycling site for cell phones and other items. While it’s not a
solution to all of our environmental woes, Helios House reflects the
belief that little steps do make a difference. 8770 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles; (310) 855-9346
Customers
of the first Green Spot Market & Fuels, located near White Rock
Lake in Dallas, show that what we put in our cars is as important as
what we put in our bodies. This gas station with a conscience sells
both alternative fuel (B5 at the pump and B100 from an aboveground
tank) and regular gas. The accompanying market offers a vast array of
organic sushi, sandwiches, and flowers, as well as fair-trade chocolate
and coffee, so you can fuel up the right way too. 702 N. Buckner Blvd., Dallas; (214) 319-7768
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GO GREEN
Ever
notice the smug look electric-car owners get on their faces as they
silently whir away? It’s annoying. We checked in with Josh Dorfman,
author of The Lazy Environmentalist (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, $15) and spokesman for FilterForGood.com, to see what the rest of us can do to give our daily commute an eco-makeover. -- Jenna Schnuer
Are hybrids the best way to go green on the way to work?
[Why]
are we celebrating a solution that is [all about] driving your own car?
There’s another philosophy that asks how we can really reduce the
impact of our transportation in ways that are still going to get us
where we want to go, in ways we want to get there.
Like what?
[Car-sharing programs like] Zipcar. It’s so successful that Enterprise Rent-a-Car just announced that they’re launching their own car-sharing program.
Any others catch your eye?
GoLoco.org
is designed to make carpooling something we might consider doing. You
create a social profile. You can read about other people. And you can
choose whom you might want to ride with so you’re not getting into a
car with a random stranger who has a really disgusting car deodorizer
or really bad taste in music.
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Share Tactics
Five Philadelphia residents are helping change the way people commute. --Wendy Lyons Sunshine
In
urban areas where walking and public transit can serve most travel
needs, having a car isn’t always necessary. Except, that is, when it
is. (Ever tried moving into a new place with nothing but the subway to
transport your boxes? Not fun.) But rather than buying cars that would
go unused much of the year -- or using them more than necessary to
justify the purchase -- Philadelphia residents Clayton Lane, Eli
Massar, Nathaniel Robinson, Tanya Seaman, and Lawrence Shaeffer thought
there had to be a better, more efficient way for Philadelphians to have
access to a vehicle without dealing with the hassles of owning one.
In 2002, they founded PhillyCarShare,
a pioneering car-sharing program that is an economical and eco-friendly
alternative to private car ownership. What started with two cars and
nine members has ballooned to several hundred cars and 50,000 members,
making PhillyCarShare the largest regional car-sharing organization in
the world. (Similar programs are in place in cities such as Chicago;
Austin; Cleveland; Madison, Wisconsin; and Sydney, Australia; ZipCar is
a multicity program.) One out of five Philadelphia Center City
residents participate, and they can choose from more than 25 vehicle
makes and models -- ranging from BMWs to pickup trucks, though more
than half of the fleet are hybrids.
“More than half our members
have sold their car or avoided purchases,” says Lane, the company’s
deputy executive director. “They’re saving money and driving 42 percent
fewer miles. We’ve taken 19,000 cars off the roads.”
How
convenient can it really be? You might be surprised. Members can
reserve a ride online or by phone 24 hours a day. They can then use a
passkey to access one of hundreds of vehicles strategically located
throughout the city. After the car is returned to its permanent parking
spot, an onboard computer transmits data (e.g. time, mileage)
wirelessly to the billing system, which cuts a monthly invoice for each
member. The organization then charges the user’s credit card. Prices
for usage start at $3.90 an hour plus nine cents per mile with a
$15/month Advantage Plan membership , which includes gas, reserved
parking, and $1 million in insurance.
Easy on drivers, their wallets, and the environment: It’s enough to rev anyone’s engine.
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BUSINESS
Changing Colors
Going blue -- and behind enemy lines -- is all part of Adam Werbach’s plan to change the world. -- Sam Machkovech
In
the 1990s, Adam Werbach was considered one of the green movement’s most
prominent upstarts. The youngest-ever president of the Sierra Club (at
age 23), he was dedicated, hardworking, and vocal. But Werbach raised
eyebrows when he declared environmentalism dead in 2004 (its methods,
not its goals) and then created an eco-conscious consulting firm called
Act Now (which joined the Saatchi & Saatchi advertising firm this
past January ) to help corporations clean up their acts.
If
activists were concerned before, they were apoplectic when, in 2006,
Werbach’s firm teamed up with Wal-Mart. Werbach owns up to the color
change (he says we must go blue rather than green) and insists it’s the
only real path to global impact.
You recently declared “the birth of blue.” Why the new shade?
Sometimes we focus on green as the only end. Sustainability has four
elements -- social, cultural, economic, and environmental. We need to
integrate all these things for sustainability, and going blue means
bringing [all four] into our daily lives in the way we live and in the
things we buy.
With Wal-Mart, you’ve started the Personal Sustainability Program for employees. What is that?
A PSP can be as easy as trying to take one less trip by car a week or
eating one organic meal a week -- one thing that you do repeatedly
that’s good for you, good for the community, and good for the planet.
How have you balanced your increased impact with the perception that you’re no longer an activist?
I still serve on the International Board of Greenpeace, and I’m still
involved in the activist world. But I’ll trade scale and impact -- we
need to work with the most influential corporations in the world to
solve the bigger challenges on our planet. It’s synergy, right? For
these companies, it’s a huge business opportunity to save money, gain a
new market, and make their workforce more productive.
But don’t green-friendly practices require huge short-term investments?
That’s right. The businesses that focus on quarter to quarter, as
opposed to building value, have a harder time. But companies that
expect to be around in 10 years are choosing this. Three years ago,
when I was doing this work, it was new. Now it’s conventional.
Drink Up >
In late 2007, Weston, Missouri–based McCormick Distilling Co. launched
the world’s first eco-friendly premium vodka, making the green movement
a little easier to swallow. Just how green is 360 Vodka? Let us count the ways. -- Jessica Jones
McCormick uses only locally grown grain to produce 360
Vodka, reducing the fuel consumption required to transport grain to the
distillery.
..........................................................................
McCormick
says its state-of-the-art distilling equipment is 200 percent more
efficient than the commonly used pot-distilling method and reduces use
of fossil-fuel energy by 21 percent.
..........................................................................
The
distillery boasts a carbon dioxide reclamation facility and utilizes
additional features that help significantly reduce volatile
organic-compound emissions, sulfur-dioxide emissions, and pollutant
fugitive dust particles.
..........................................................................
The 360 Vodka bottle is composed of 85 percent recycled glass (70 percent postconsumer waste).
..........................................................................
All paper used in labeling, packaging, and promotional materials is 100 percent recycled.
..........................................................................
McCormick
prints all promotional materials and packaging with water-based ink,
which is less harsh on the environment than plastisol ink.
..........................................................................
The
boxes used to ship 360 Vodka are made of 100 percent recycled
cardboard. Equipped with a shoebox-style lid, the banker-box-size
containers are sturdy enough to be reused for storage, shipping, or
filing.
..........................................................................
Unique
bottle closures can be sterilized and reused on future bottles to
prevent waste. McCormick developed the Close the Loop program to
encourage customers to mail in their used closures.
..........................................................................
A portion of sales -- and $1 for every bottle closure returned -- will go to recognized environmental organizations.
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REFERENCE GUIDE
Green Guidance
Want
to learn more about how you can help? Here are just a few of our
favorite books, websites, and other environmental resources. --Jessica Jones
 Books
Wake Up and Smell the Planet: The Non-Pompous, Non-Preachy Grist Guide to Greening Your Day (The Mountaineer Books, $15)
Edited by Brangien Davis with Katharine Wroth
From
the people behind the not-for-profit, independent online magazine
Grist.org comes this guide on how to live a greener life, every hour of
every day. The humorous handbook, small enough to tote, takes readers
through a full 24 hours of daily decisions -- including what to eat,
what to wear, how to decorate your home, and what to feed your pet.
The Environment Equation: 100 Factors That Can Add to or Subtract from Your Total Carbon Footprint (Adams Media, $10)
By Alex Shimo-Barry with Christopher J. Maron
This
handy book clearly outlines 100 common items and activities and the
positive or negative impact -- quantified in pounds of carbon dioxide
-- that each has on the environment. Tips are broken down into
one-page, fact-filled chapters that are spelled out in plain English,
void of confusing terminology.
Earth Matters (DK Publishing, $25)
By David de Rothschild
Just
like our favorite textbooks in school, this hardback “encyclopedia of
ecology” is heavy on the pictures and light on the words. (Sometimes
less really is more.) Still, the book’s message is conveyed loud and
clear through annotated maps, graphs, photos, and illustrations.
Perfect for kids and adults.
True Green at Work: 100 Ways You Can Make the Environment Your Business (National Geographic Society, $20)
By Kim McKay and Jenny Bonnin with Tim Wallace
Even
the smallest changes can make a big difference, down to the pens you
write with. That’s the sentiment echoed time and time again in this
practical guide, which offers realistic alternatives to your usual
work-related behaviors. Short nuggets of information on colorfully
illustrated pages make for a fast read, so you can share it with your
coworkers.
American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau (Library of America, $40)
Edited by Bill McKibben
Writer/activist
Bill McKibben presents a comprehensive anthology of environmental
writing dating back to Henry David Thoreau. Nearly 1,000 pages in
length, brief it isn’t. But the insight offered by more than 100
conservationists and a foreword by Al Gore make this collection well
worth the read.
Magazines
The Green Guide
(www.thegreenguide.com)
National Geographic has been publishing the Green Guide
as a newsletter since 1994. This year, it launches formally as an
independent quarterly publication full of green tips and handy
tear-outs. Hard-copy subscriptions cost $15, and, greener still,
e-subscriptions are available for $12.
Websites
Freecycle
www.freecycle.org
Remember
having to wear all your older siblings’ hand-me-downs when you were a
kid? Freecycle is a lot like that -- except way better. The grassroots
nonprofit site is made up of more than 4,000 (and counting) localized
groups across the globe run entirely by volunteers. Members post
unwanted, reusable items they are willing to give away. It’s like
Craigslist, but everything posted is free.
GreenYour
www.greenyour.com
Want
to know which foods are easiest on the planet? Looking to greenify your
beauty regimen? Simply type any product or activity into this
easy-to-use search engine and get a whole host of related tips and
tricks to reduce your carbon footprint.
TreeHugger
www.treehugger.com
A
one-stop shop for all things green, this website boasts an oft-updated
staff blog (in addition to a user-generated blog), daily newsletters,
videos, and a weekly radio show. A respected authority in the
environmental sect (it’s been called the green CNN), TreeHugger
presents serious news and advice in easily digestible, enjoyable bits.
Google Earth Outreach
earth.google.com/outreach
Everyone’s
favorite time waster can be useful, too, and not just for seeing how
your house looks from way high above. Hundreds of individually
downloadable KMLs (HTMLs for geographic browsers) allow users to see
the habitats of endangered animals and learn more about each species
with the click of a mouse, track the changing ocean levels over time,
learn more about green buildings around the world, monitor current air
quality across the globe, and more.
Ideal Bite
www.idealbite.com
If
DailyCandy was entirely eco-friendly, it would be Ideal Bite. Founded
by and written for modern, on-the-go women, the site and its daily
e-newsletters offer “bite-sized ideas” for conscious living -- from how
to throw a green dinner party to sustainable (but still stylish)
fashions.
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