Great green news out of CA, California’s two biggest investor-owned utilities have been given the green light to buy 616 megawatts of renewable energy.

Southern California Edison will buy 20 years worth of output from two giant solar photovoltaic plants being developed by First Solar, Inc.

Pacific Gas and Electric will take power from a large solar PV facility being developed by Alpine Suntower LLC, a subsidiary of NRG Energy, again for a 20 year period.

The companies won approval from the California Public Utilities Commission, which said the contracts would help the state meet its renewable energy goals.

The two First Solar power plants set to supply power to SCE are the Desert Sunlight and Desert Stateline projects, located in Desert Center and San Bernardino, California.

These plants, respectively, will provide 250MW and 300MW of generating capacity from 2015. The Desert Sunlight project is being fast-tracked by the Bureau of Land Management regarding its permitting, and is in line for federal stimulus funding.

Here is some great (not so crappy) news from the UK.  Bio-fuel pellets made from horse manure will help power the new barracks of the Royal Horse Artillery, the Ministry of Defense announced.

Recycled waste and bedding from the regiment’s 111 horses will provide enough low-carbon energy to cover the heating and lighting requirements of the ceremonial unit’s new base in Woolwich, southeast London .

The MoD said the eco-friendly move was in line with the government’s sustainable development agenda and just one of several steps being taken to promote sustainability in the mounted regiment’s future home.

“We are using the latest energy conservation techniques in our barracks,” an MoD spokesman said Monday.

The King’s Troop, an equestrian unit that performs ceremonial duties on state occasions, plan to move to their new headquarters in November 2011

Great story! My name is Jay Shafer and since 1997 I have been living in a house smaller than some people’s closets. I call the first of my little hand built houses Tumbleweed. My decision to inhabit just 89 square feet arose from some concerns I had about the impact a larger house would have on the environment, and because I do not want to maintain a lot of unused or unusable space. My houses have met all of my domestic needs without demanding much in return. The simple, slower lifestyle my homes have afforded is a luxury for which I am continually grateful.

This next week will be a big litmus test for many supporters of green energy and electric cars as Tesla Motors, the electric car startup scheduled to debut in public trading on Tuesday, could deliver the biggest IPO for a U.S. car company since Ford Motor’s initial public offering more than half a century ago. But while the day of the IPO itself will be a fleeting event, Tesla’s performance on the stock market will deliver something more lasting: a signal about the degree of public confidence in electric vehicles at this early stage of the market, and the role that IPOs will play in financing next-gen cars.

Read the entire article here.

Auto parts city was once considered a menace in the community. But after greening up its act, it’s now earning top environmental awards — including Green Business of the Year from the Green Business League.

It may look like a junkyard, but brothers Jay and Larry Brosten hope to change your mind.

“We’ve spent too many years trying to improve our image and we’ve spent millions of dollars setting this facility up and trying to do the right thing,” said Larry Brosten. “But it’s always had the stigma of the ‘j-word’.”

The three-generation old Auto Parts City in Gurnee just got an $8 million make-over. The family’s goal is to set the green standard in auto recycling.

Good going guys! Keep up the green work! Congratulations to Auto Parts City from everyone here at GreenVehicleDisposal.com

read the entire article here

These guys from Maine are great for the future of eco-friendly fuel, I think.  They are the ones who became  online sensations by creating geysers from soda and Mentos candies have discovered it’s not just entertainment. It can propel vehicles, as well.

A contraption created by Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz of Buckfield using a bike and a trailer is powered by piston mechanism using hundreds of pieces of Mentos candy and Coke Zero.

On a video posted online Tuesday, the machine traveled more than 220 feet.

The video was directed by Rob Cohen of “The Fast and the Furious.” Grobe joked that the crew is calling it “The Fizzy and the Furious.”

The geyser experiment used Diet Coke. This time, the crew used Coke Zero. Afterward, they toasted their success by sipping Coke Zero from champagne glasses.

That the appliance surfers use to tap this energy is made from petroleum-based foam, polyester resins and chemically treated fiberglass has long been surfing’s quiet contradiction.

A broken board tossed in a landfill will take generations to biodegrade; the plastic fins probably never will. Even the thin strip of wood that runs down the middle to provide strength comes at an environmental cost — a minuscule yield from the raw material it’s milled from. “A ‘green surfboard’ is inherently an oxymoron at this point,” says Joey Santley, 44, a frenetic surfboard shaper and entrepreneur in San Clemente on a mission to create an environmentally friendly surfboard — or at least one with a carbon footprint that’s less titanic. “Hopefully in the future it won’t be.” In recent years, a wave of experimentation has sought to detoxify surfboards by using materials that suggest the Whole Earth catalog rather than the periodic table of elements: hemp, bamboo, kelp and silk instead of fiberglass; foam made from soy and sugar rather than polyurethane, which is composed of toluene diisocyanate, or TDI, a possible carcinogen that can be inhaled and absorbed through the skin; adhesive resins made from linseed, pine and vegetable oils. But changing the way surfboards are made has proved difficult. The few who have sought to go greener have struggled not only with finding just the right materials but also with overcoming resistance from shapers and professional surfers reluctant to fix what they don’t consider broken.

After experimenting with castor oil, sugar and corn, McMahon’s company found that blanks made with soybean oil were as strong and light as conventional foam.

Two years ago, he and a partner formed Green Foam Blanks, which makes rigid foam surfboard cores by fusing polyurethane with recycled polyurethane dust gathered from workshops that would otherwise discard it. That yields more boards per ounce of toxic polyurethane.

The company recently signed a deal with a leading maker of traditional blanks to manufacture and distribute its product in North America, Japan, Europe and Costa Rica. Still, this being a start-up, Santley is not just part-owner, he’s also the chief dust collector. Darting down a gangway between two nondescript buildings recently, he bounds up the stairs of one of the neighborhood’s numerous surfboard factories. Under a whirring cutting machine, he hits gold: a pile of white polyurethane foam shavings as light as Rocky Mountain snow. “This is like a perfect powder day,” Santley says, shoveling the stuff into a trash bag and holding it aloft. “Probably enough for about a dozen boards. And it won’t end up in the landfill.”

Hat’s off to you Joey and we hope your quest for a green surfboard is successful!

Mike Anton – read the full article

Researchers have found that within the first five minutes of exercise in a “green space,” like a park, mental health is improved.  Researchers in the UK have studied 1,250 people and reported fast improvement in mood and self-esteem, specially amongst young people, after a short “green” exercise.

The research focused on many different outdoor activities — such as walking, cycling, horse-riding, gardening, farming and fishing — and found positive physical and mental effects in the first five minutes of the exercise, the BBC reported.

Jules Pretty, a researcher at the University of Essex, believes those who are generally inactive or often stressed out or mentally ill benefit the most from “green space.”  “Employers, for example, could encourage staff in stressful workplaces to take a short walk at lunchtime in the nearest park to improve mental health,” Pretty said.

A bigger effect was also seen when the exercise was at an area with water, like a pond, river or lake.   I think the reasons are obvious but let’s not forget that exercise anywhere is better than none at all!

Rumor has it there is a new eco-friendly junk car website about to go beta! MrCarJunk.com

This video is just fantastic!