Eco News

California just became the first state in the country to enforce that diesel trucks clean up their exhaust. About a million vehicles, from big rigs to school buses, will be affected by this new rule, which will take effect in 2011 and does not require further ratification. Some vehicles will have to start retrofitting engines in 2011 and older trucks will be forced into retirement starting in 2012. Individual truckers and companies expressed concern for the state’s landmark global warming law. They’re worried that the new rules requiring retrofitting of recently purchased trucks and the replacing of older ones could prove to be difficult during a global economic slowdown.

By 2023, all trucks will have to meet 2010 new engine emission standards. The rules regulate smog-causing oxides of nitrogen, which are greenhouse gases, and particulate matter, which is super toxic.

The California Air Resources Board estimated the regulations would cost about $5.5 billion. It put the health benefits of cleaner air at $48 to $69 billion over the next couple of decades.

The move by California, (leading US in climate change), complements a detailed strategy to cut carbon emissions levels by 2020. California has once again stepped up to lead the way for fellow states. Keep it up Cali.

This has been a crazy week here at Modern Eco Homes. Sorry we haven’t posted as often as we usually do. We’ll be back to working hard next week. In the mean time, here are some great articles rounded up for your lunch break. Enjoy and have a great weekend. Make sure to stop in daily next week!

• You may know that coffee is the world’s second most traded commodity—a stat undoubtedly given a boost by the great caffeinated blogging legion—but according to researchers in Nevada, coffee could be doubly valuable: For use as biofuel. Well, the waste coffee grounds actually. Here’s the skinny on coffee ground biodiesel.

• We all want to have fun celebrating Christmas, but let’s make sure that our celebrations don’t have a negative effect on the environment. So, go green this year with Ecofriends incredibly easy steps that will give everyone something to celebrate. Click here for Ecofriends 10 great tips.

• HP is giving customers good reason to buy their laptops. Starting next year they will be selling machines with a new battery dubbed “Enviro”. EcoGeek has the story for those of us who love green technology!

• U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon called Thursday for a “Green New Deal” to beat climate change and the economic crisis, as a key E.U. summit began in Brussels and global talks in Poland entered their final 48 hours. Grist has the lastest on this. Click here.

• Continental Airlines will test a Boeing 737-800 fueled partially by biofuel on January 7th. This will be the first biofuel-powered demonstration flight of a U.S. commercial airliner. The test will be powered with a mix of traditional jet fuel and a biofuel made from algae and jatropha plants. GroovyGreen has the whole story.

• When the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) decided to invest in alternative energy sources, it looked to its users for the perfect source of energy. Recently the company decided to update their Tokyo Station with a revolutionary new piezoelectric energy-generating floor. Inhabitat has this awesome news.

Ben says he wants to help make the world a cleaner place, and thinks that the best way to do this is to recycle. So every day after school, and on weekends, Ben hops on his bike and rides through his neighborhood in search of cans and bottles.

“I think a lot about how I can help the planet,” says Ben, a fifth-grade student at the Cape Ann Waldorf School in Beverly, Boston.

Recycle Boy

Most kids Ben’s age are content wasting time in front of the TV, not Ben. He doesn’t watch TV, or use the Internet. Ben has grown up watching his parents recycle bottles. That’s how he grew more curious about the process.

A year ago, Ben began his daily four street route and soon found neighbors who were eager to contribute their recyclables to his efforts. Many now leave their empties in their backyard so he doesn’t have to make tons of trips each week and fill up his house with what he calls “jackpots.” By the end of a good week he has collected hundreds of bottles and cans. Ben says another benefit of recycling is the 5 cents he redeems from each can and bottle. His biggest purchase thus far has been a yellow wagon he uses to wheel his cans and bottles down to Beverly Bottle & Can Return redemption center.

What a great contribution Ben is making to our planet. I give him props for being such a great green advocate. We can all learn a lesson here from Ben, that every little bit helps and being environmentally responsible does not age discriminate.

Way to go Ben. Keep of the great work!

Friday is my favorite day of the week. It’s time to grab an organic coffee and catch up on your week in green.

• President-elect Barack Obama officially unveiled his national security team, and in his remarks cited the need for a policy that addresses climate and energy concerns coupled with national security. Grist has the full scoop.

• Environmental Graffiti announced a partnership with the Sony World Photography Awards, in association with the Prince’s Rainforests Project (PRP). Now lucky Environmental Graffiti readers will have the privileged opportunity of having their work seen alongside the best of the best. To find out more about their collaboration with the Sony World Photography Awards, click HERE.

• There’s a cool new website that has the ability to take into account all the things you do on a daily basis, then pinpoints the best spot for you to live so that you’re central to everything you enjoy, effectively minimizing your carbon footprint. Head over to Treehugger for the whole story.

• What would it take to create a fully sustainable city block in downtown Dallas? You’ll have to head over to Jetson Green to find out! Click here.

• Can there really be such a thing as a golf club powered cellphone charger? Mac Funamizu has designed a gadget which will charge your iPhone or other mobile phone by harnessing the kinetic energy of your swing. Ecofriend has the scoop.

That’s all for this week. Have a great weekend!

In good times, people trying to start something like a cohousing project have trouble competing with developers for land. In times like these, there are a lot of developers under water who are happy to unload sites, to idealists.

That’s what is happening in Brooklyn, where a group is buying a project, (formerly 40 high end condos), and planning to build a cohousing unit.

There are many benefits to cohousing as many are designed so that the spaces can adapt to different needs as one ages. This is a good time to be thinking about it. Treehugger has the full story and it’s worth heading over to check out.

The World’s governments will be discussing a global deal on emission cuts this December in Poznan Poland, (concluding in Copenhagen end of 2009). Greenpeace is stepping up and asking electronic companies to show climate leadership in two vital areas. First, giving their support to the levels of global emission cuts we need to tackle climate change and second, by showing it can be done by making cuts in their own emissions.

Greenpeace Guide

The latest edition of Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics has revealed that very few firms are showing true climate leadership. Although many companies like Dell, Microsoft, Lenovo, LG, Samsung and Apple claim to be green, they’re failing to meet the necessary levels of emission cuts required to tackle climate change.

Of the 18 leading companies comprised in the guide, only Sharp, Fujitsu, Siemens and Philips show full support for the necessary cuts of 30 percent for industrial nations by 2020.

For the full story on greener electronics, you can head over to Greenpeace here. For the Greener Guide to Electronics, click here.

New York City’s Times Square is getting its first eco-friendly billboard powered entirely by wind and sun.

Construction on the 35,000 Lbs. billboard, that will be advertising the Ricoh Americas Corporation, (an office equipment and document storage supplier) will begin this month.

It will have 16 wind turbines and 64 solar panels and produce enough power to light six homes. It will be lit by floodlights, rather than light-emitting diodes, and won’t have a backup generator, so it could go dark during long periods of little wind or sun.

However, company spokesman Ron Potesky said the sign’s turbines will be able to keep the billboard lit even after four days without breezes or bright sun. It has also been estimated that the sign will keep 18 tons of carbon out of the environment.

A lighting ceremony for the 126-foot wide, 47-foot tall sign is scheduled for Dec. 4. Although the sign may not be as glitzy as some of its neighbors on Broadway, it will definitely make quite a statement.

This year’s New Year’s Eve, revelers will be able to get a close-up view of the first eco-friendly billboard. What a great way to bring in the New Year.

Head on over to the water cooler and start your Friday gossip session, but make sure you review this week in green first.

• Your garage probably contains more potentially hazardous materials than any other location in your home. To find out what some of the more common chemicals are so that you can safely store them and know where or how to properly recycle or dispose of them, head on over to Ecollo.

• New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed that NYC begin charging shoppers 6 cents for each plastic bag issued at registers across the city. The policy is the latest attempt by the city to go green and reduce its environmental footprint. To read the full story, head over to Inhabitat.

• There are several leaders who demonstrate exceptional commitment to the environment in their home countries and in the international arena. Treehugger has highlighted the 5 most inspiring leaders in green.

• How do you green your bathroom? A few small changes will leave you “clean” of both body and conscience, while leaving enough water for the rest of us. Grist has a few great tips to greening your bathroom. Click here.

• Want to know how to fight toxic exposure and protect your home from dangerous chemicals? Elephant Journal offers us tons of resources about companies you can trust and products you shouldn’t.

• Environmental Graffiti has a great story on homes that are as far from “traditional” as you can get. Just clean, green, natural buildings smoothed from dirt, straw, clay, and loads of ingenuity. Click here view.

Without wanting to worry you too much, check out this excellent article from Environmental Graffiti on Global Warming Effects

Green house gases stay can stay in the atmosphere for an amount of years ranging from decades to hundreds and thousands of years. No matter what we do, global warming is going to have some effect on Earth. Here are the 5 deadliest effects of global warming
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It’s a great, if concerning, read - don’t have nightmares!