Ideal Bite: Cool Hand Biter
June 29, 2009 Trouble viewing this email? Read it online...
If 10,000 Biters plant shade trees on the two sunniest sides of their houses, once they're grown, we'll avert the CO2 created by 280 houses in a year, every year.
Feel like a prisoner to your summer utility bill? Make like Paul Newman and fight...inefficient A/C, that is. Houses lose up to 50% of their A/C and heating energy through windows, but tricks such as planting shade trees and window treatments help keep you cool. A sweet escape from energy waste.
- Savings the Boss'll love. Strategically placed shade trees help naturally cool your house, and treatments like window films cut your household energy use by up to 10%.
- Cool CO2 savings. Less A/C = less power = less pollution from power plants.
- Bringing your valuables outta hiding. Keeping out heat and UV rays from the sun means you don't have to worry about your furniture or artwork fading.
Life at the Biter offices would be a whole lot sweatier without window films (see below) - especially when the A/C goes out, which happened with unwelcome regularity last summer.
- Try putting adhesive, tinted window films on your windows. Films from companies like Panorama keep out solar heat and UV radiation while still letting in light (prices vary).
- Plant a shade tree. Check Lowe's for advice on the best types of trees to plant for shade (hazelnut trees are a sure bet); and where to plant them for max shade in summer and sun in winter. Bonus: Trees eat up CO2.
- Get window shades. Some, including Hunter Green, reduce the amount of cool air you lose through windows ($190/typical 60- by-42-inch shade).
- Install awnings. Again, check Lowe's (or any home improvement store) for tons of styles, including metal or fabric; manual or motorized retractable; and window, door, or patio awnings (prices vary).
- Energy Star - find federal tax rebates for window treatments.
Copyright 2009 Ideal Bite, Inc.
340 Brannan St. Ste 402
San Francisco, CA 94107
A personal quest to promote the use of wind energy and hydrogen technology in the Great Lakes area of the United States. The Great Lakes area is in a unique position to become an energy exporting region through these and other renewable energy technologies. *Update 2014: Just do it everywhere - Dan*
Monday, August 17, 2009
Ideal Bite: Cool Hand Biter
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GLIN NEWS: 26 June 2009
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Great Lakes Daily News: 26 June 2009
For links to these stories and more, visit http://www.great-lakes.net/news/
Residents cry foul as city opens temporary dump sites
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Toronto's Sunnyside Park on Lake Ontario is the location of a large, temporary garbage dump that promises to significantly change the views, smell and traffic patterns near the historic waterfront park. Source: The Globe and Mail (6/26)
Hot weather brings harmless but ugly 'scum' to Lake Michigan shoreline
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Researchers found that a thick, greenish substance floating on portions of Lake Michigan between Muskegon and Grand Haven consists only of "natural, organic material." Source: The Muskegon Chronicle (6/26)
COMMENTARY: Stimulus cash needs to go right down the drain
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Although much human waste in Canada now gets properly cleaned up in treatment plants, much doesn't. Waste-water effluent - human waste, prescription drugs, debris of all sorts - has become the biggest source of pollution in Canadian waters. Source: The Globe and Mail (6/26)
Dune stewards posting new blog
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Sportsmen, environmentalists and anyone interested in discovering the unique ecology of the area may be interested in reading a new blog written this summer by stewards of the eastern Lake Ontario dunes and wetlands and the Salmon River area. Source: Watertown Daily Times (6/26)
Family of ospreys take up residence atop St. Lawrence Seaway crane
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A family of ospreys perched high atop a crane at the Iroquois locks will likely migrate before the crane's pulley system is needed at the end of the shipping season, St. Lawrence Seaway officials said. Source: The Cornwall Standard Freeholder (6/26)
GE clean technology center bringing jobs to Michigan
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General Electric Corp. plans to announce Friday that it will open a research and development center in metro Detroit with at least 1,200 new jobs to explore clean technology. Source: Detroit Free Press (6/25)
2 key FutureGen partners drop out, leaving Ill. project looking for more
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Just two weeks after the federal government revived plans to build the FutureGen power plant in eastern Illinois, two of the experimental coal plant's financial backers said Thursday they are withdrawing. Source: Chicago Tribune (6/25)
Report: Genesee County water pipeline would cost $600 million, save area $200 million
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Building a new water pipeline to Lake Huron will cost a staggering $600 million initially, but potentially save the area $200 million during the next 30 years, a new feasibility study on the project says. Source: The Flint Journal (6/25)
Dredging begins: Stimulus money used to dredge harbor deeper than usual
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The bottom of Michigan's Ludington harbor will soon be deeper than it's been in years after the current dredging project ends. The $1.3 million project started this week and is expected to last until late July. Source: Ludington Daily News (6/25)
Strategies for reducing sewage overflows
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The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District allowed overflows of nearly one billion gallons of sewage and storm water during the thunderstorms late last week. Experts say the overflows can't be helped during very heavy rains, at least not yet. Source: WUWM Milwaukee (6/25)
Swimming with E. coli
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The Great Lakes comprise one-fifth of the world's surface fresh water. They have also endured centuries of abuse. But advocates are cheerful these days, as restoration is increasingly seen as an economic boon, not a drain. Source: The Economist (6/25)
Bald eagle sightings soaring
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Bald eagles are nesting at six confirmed locations in southeastern Wisconsin - compared with only two as recently as 2007 - and a steadily increasing number of people are calling state Department of Natural Resources offices to report eagles flying over their communities. Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (6/25)
Economy forces many charters to stay docked
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The economic hard times are stretching to the waters of Lake Michigan. Fewer charter captains are taking fewer clients on fishing trips. Source: WBAY-TV Green Bay (6/25)
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CHI Bite: The BIG Bang
CHI Bite: The BIG Bang
June 26, 2009 Trouble viewing this email? Read it online...
If 10,000 Chicago Biters save just five docs on their computer instead of printing them out, we'll save six trees worth of paper.
If you see law lady Naomi Davis expanding the minds of local peeps, give her a high five. As founder of Blacks In Green (BIG), Naomi heads up monthly workshops and meetings on topics like renewable energy, drums up green biz support, and writes for the Environmental Justice journal. Yep, ball of energy.
How'd you get involved with eco-issues?
Naomi: I was looking for a whole-system solution that could transform the whole-system problems [like malnutrition, health disparities, miseducation…] common to black communities globally. We work to transform those problems with classes, lectures, and workshops on things like local energy production, and affordable green homes and gardens.
What's your eco-confession?
Naomi: I'm in a 12-step program for recovering paper-holics, frequently falling off the wagon because of a lifelong love affair with paper.
Which fellow greenies would you most like to meet?
Naomi: Sustainable business analyst Greg Watson, Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai, and [organic hair and skin care guru] Anita Grant.
You can sometimes spot Naomi organizing at the Little Black Pearl Art and Design Center, 1060 E. 47th St. (773-285-1211).
Map It
Copyright 2009 Ideal Bite, Inc.
340 Brannan St. Ste 402
San Francisco, CA 94107
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