Google’s mission is to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” and we believe consumers have a right to detailed information about their home electricity use. We’re tackling the challenge on several fronts, from policy advocacy to developing consumer tools, and even investing in smart grid companies. We’ve been participating in the dialogue in Washington, DC and with public agencies in the U.S. and other parts of the world to advocate for investment in the building of a “smart grid,” to bring our 1950s-era electricity grid into the digital age. Specifically, to provide both consumers and utilities with real-time energy information, homes must be equipped with advanced energy meters called “smart meters.” There are currently about 40 million smart meters in use worldwide, with plans to add another 100 million in the next few years.

Read on.

3Prong Power is delivering enhanced Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) conversions for early adopter customers. Our goal is to meet and expand the demand for PHEVs that has been seen nationwide, starting in the Bay Area.

You bought your Hybrid because you care about the environment and you want to use less fuel. This technology enables using two distinct power sources and enhances fuel efficiency. Take it to the next level, make your car a true Hybrid…Plug it in.

• I have two Soshine Hi-Tech LCD NiMH / NiCD Super Quick Chargers (US$13.98). Probably the best deal for a smart charger.
• The Maha C9000 (US$59.97) is very well thought of.
• Also La Crosse BC-900 (US$38.97, pictured)

Smart chargers indicate the state of charge, monitor temperature and voltage curves and adjust the rate of charge.  They charge a fully discharged battery fast and then throttle down to put a small trickle charge on the battery once fully charged.  This is not needed for low discharge batteries. Just take them out and store them for a year a more once fully charged.

Sanyo Eneloop is the most well known low discharge NiMh batteries.  Rayovac makes some called “hybrid”  and Duracell just calls theirs “pre-charged”  because they are sold with a full charge in the package and are ready to use.  You can really treat these like Alkaline batteries once they are charged, just put them away until you need them.   A trickle charge will just reduce their life and waste electricity. These chargers use independent channels for each battery so you can charge just one and when you charge several, each battery is monitored separately.

Although I wish could have bought it alone, I ended up buying the La Crosse BC-900 bundle. I got it from Thomas, because they ship it with 2400 mAh AAs (vs. 2000 mAh on Amazon) and they stock the latest version (33) which is important to me. I like that it has four individual circuits and with separate displays for each one (doubles as an excellent battery tester too).

I’ll continue to rotate out my older AA recyclables and buy low-discharge cells the next time I need more cells.

We did it today. We needed a new car so we bought a 2008 Toyota Prius. Cliché, you say? I hear you, but 48 MPG speaks for itself. Maybe more people should look into getting one. Unfortunately, just as we bought it the price of gas started dropping.

There is a 6-12 month waiting list for cars, depending on who you talk to. We got ours by getting on several waiting lists months ago and we jumped on the first one that came along in Seaside Pearl. I’ve heard that some dealers are taking the 1 or 2 Prius’s that they get allocated each month down to auctions in places like Florida where they’re selling for US$6-8k over MSRP at auction.

So far so good, it’s super-silent when running off the battery and I can keep the gas engine from kicking on by keeping it under 20MPH. I’m still trying to figure out if there’s a hack to keep the gas engine off longer.

The first fill up only required a little over nine gallons of petrol (US$33.33) in the 12 gallon tank and I was able to get about 400 miles on the first take. We’ll see how the MPG numbers end up over the next few months.

Stay tuned for lots of Prius hacks on this page

Carpet recycling is slowly gaining traction in Atlantic County, and the Seaview project is believed to be the largest of its kind so far. In November, the Atlantic County Utilities Authority added residential carpets to its list of recyclable materials. In five months, the authority sent nearly 50 tons of carpet to CarpetCycle. Most of the material came from homes in Egg Harbor and Galloway townships. In December, Margate became one of the first municipalities in the state to adopt a law banning carpets from being thrown out with curbside trash.

Complete article here: http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/186/v-print/story/150003.html
with a copy after the jump…

Carpet recycling gains traction in region
(Published: Monday, May 05, 2008)

GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP – A recycling milestone unfolded with the old green and yellow carpets from the Seaview Resort & Spa.

As part of a $1.5 million carpet and painting renovation, workers from Baumgardner Flooring, of Egg Harbor Township, spent three months removing tons of carpet and padding from the 297-room resort. But instead of hauling the loads to a landfill, where it would take years for the petroleum-based fabric to break down – if it ever does – all 14,000 square yards of flooring were trucked to CarpetCycle, a carpet and ceiling tile recycler based in Elizabeth, Union County.

Seaview General Manager Robert Schmeck said the changes are part of the Marriott resort’s environmental initiative. On a corporate level, Marriott is developing “greener” hotels by increasing recycling, using “greener” supplies and pledging to preserve 1.4 million acres of Brazilian rainforest.

On a local level, Seaview upgraded its cooling and heating systems to be more energy-efficient and installed low-flow showerheads and toilets to conserve water, said John Petrolino, the resort’s engineering director. Seaview also is working with the New Jersey Audubon Society and The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey to make its two golf courses more ecologically sound by creating bird habitats from old trees, using fewer pesticides and protecting turtles that live on the grounds.

Schmeck called the carpet recycling a no-brainer.

“This just adds to our corporate philosophy of being environmentally friendly,” he said. By recycling, Seaview conserved 6,160 gallons of oil and diverted 63,000 pounds of garbage, according to an Internet calculator supplied by the Carpet America Recovery Effort, or CARE, a nonprofit recycling organization.

Petrolino and Joe Nickels, a sales manager for Baumgardner Flooring, declined to disclose how much the carpet recycling cost but said it was about the same as sending it to a landfill. “It really wasn’t a matter of cost. My main thing is to get the carpet recycled than in a landfill,” Petrolino said.

Carpet recycling is slowly gaining traction in Atlantic County, and the Seaview project is believed to be the largest of its kind so far. In November, the Atlantic County Utilities Authority added residential carpets to its list of recyclable materials. In five months, the authority sent nearly 50 tons of carpet to CarpetCycle. Most of the material came from homes in Egg Harbor and Galloway townships. In December, Margate became one of the first municipalities in the state to adopt a law banning carpets from being thrown out with curbside trash.

Avalon Carpet Tile and Flooring has been recycling carpets with CarpetCycle throughout its southern New Jersey stores, as have residents in Burlington County and Hawthorne, Passaic County. Others joining in the carpet-recycling effort include the Atlantic City Convention Center, which recycled 5,000 square yards in 2005, and the Egg Harbor Township and Vineland municipal buildings.

The last of the Seaview carpet arrived on the CarpetCycle sorting floor Thursday and Friday, where it was tested for yarn quality. Sean Ragiel, CarpetCycle’s president, said the fiber is nylon 6, which means it will be sent to the Evergreen Nylon Recycling plant in Augusta, Ga., to be shredded and transformed into new carpeting. The padding will be taken to Chasen & Sons, a Newark company that makes mattress batting.

Recycling carpets isn’t easy. Not all communities require carpet recycling, and only two companies in New Jersey – CarpetCycle and Carpet Recovery Inc., based in Newark – are certified by the state Department of Environmental Protection. The logistics of transporting the heavy materials can be tricky; Ragiel said he is limited to collecting from a 100-mile radius and the carpets must be kept dry and separate from other garbage.

The cost of such a project varies, depending on the amount of carpet and travel distance. Ragiel said he charges $100 for residential pickup in northern New Jersey and recycles residential carpets for free if dropped off.

Ragiel said his company sorts about 400 tons of carpet per month from New Jersey and New York. Since the company’s inception in 1999, it has diverted 15,000 tons of carpet from landfills, most of which was sent to Georgia – where many carpet manufacturers are based – to be recycled into new flooring. Carpets made of nylon 66 and propylene are ground up and turned into new plastics for automobile parts, synthetic railroad ties and storm water drains. Carpets made of polyester fiber are burned to create energy.

Carpet-recycling awareness has been growing. Nationwide, about 5 billion pounds of carpet is dumped into landfills each year, according to CARE. In 2007, about 297 million pounds of carpet was recycled or turned into energy and other products, a 17 percent increase over 2006, according to CARE data. The organization hopes to divert 40 percent of all carpets from landfills by 2012. The recycling numbers could rise as landfill disposal rates continue to get more expensive, said Richard Dovey, president of the ACUA.

Nickels and Petrolino hoped other large businesses, hotels and the Atlantic City casinos could follow Seaview’s lead and start recycling old, worn-out carpets.

“It’s a coming trend with the cost of oil being the way it is. There’s got to be pretty significant thinking outside the box with carpet,” Nickels said. “Before, it was thrown in the Dumpster. You can see how much space carpet takes up. When you take something like that out of the trash system and put it into the recycle system, it’s a pretty significant drop in the amount in landfill (waste), in weight and cubic feet.

- Michelle Lee

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/186/v-print/story/150003.html

A big problem getting smaller through shrink wrap recycling
By RICHARD DEGENER Staff Writer, 609-463-6711
Published: Sunday, April 13, 2008

LOWER TOWNSHIP – Plastic shrink wrap has become a valuable material to protect boats during the winter, but it also becomes a problem for landfills in the spring.

The state Department of Environmental Protection has a way to change that.

The DEP has initiated a recycling problem to take the plastic wrapping out of the waste stream and turn it into plastic bags, lumber and other products.

“I collect it and throw it in the dumpster,” said Ernie Utsch, who owns Utsch’s Marine on Schellenger’s Landing in Lower Township, Cape May County.

Utsch was interested in the new program, which is being funded by $100,000 in registration fees boaters pay each year, and has no problem collecting shrink wrap if somebody picks it up.

The DEP estimates that New Jersey boaters use hundreds of tons of the nonbiodegradable plastic each year. While there already is a program to recycle greenhouse plastic, until recently the boat plastic has been tossed into landfills.

The DEP has awarded funding to nine counties to collect, bale and recycle it. The counties include Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Ocean.

Cape May County Recycling Coordinator Bridget M. O’Connor said for now marinas have to bring the material to the county landfill in Woodbine or the transfer station in Middle Township. Blue, white or clear plastic is accepted and containers are set up to collect it.

“I’ve had a good response from boatyard owners and marinas. We’re just beginning to get the message out,” O’Connor said.

The material will be cleaned and shredded. Then it will be turned into the plastic pellets used to make other plastic products.

O’Connor said an average size boat produces about 14 pounds of shrink wrap. She said the county is expected to generate about 15 tons of shrink wrap per year.

It’s not a huge landfill item but is also another way to help marinas become eco-friendly. Utsch’s is already recycling plastic monofilament fishing line and beverage containers. The county also has a program to accept marine paints, which contain more toxic materials that regular house paints.

The DEP said the nine counties have committed to collecting plastic shrink wrap for five years. Revenue from the plastic could end up keeping it going long after that.

For more information, marina owners can contact their recycling coordinator or check out the DEP Web site at:

www.state.nj.us/dep/newsrel/2008/08_0020.htm

Published: Sunday, April 13, 2008
Original link: http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/186/story/131562.html

// –>

Christmas trees should be placed at the curb on the day of yard waste collection, which is either Saturday or Monday depending on which zone you live in. You can confirm your zone by downloading the Yard Waste Collection Zone PDF from ACUA.

Some tips:

• Trees should be free of lights and decorations, including tinsel
• Trees do not have to be bagged
• Flocked trees are acceptable for collection and composting
• For more information on Christmas tree recycling please visit: www.earth911.com

In other Christmas tree news, an article in the Press of A.C. has determined that fresh cut “real” trees are more eco-friendly than artificial trees.

Often made of PVC – “the worst of the worst when it comes to plastics,” – fake trees, while reusable, have no green method for disposal. Also a factor is the cost of shipping a tree, real or fake. According to the National Christmas Tree Association, 85 percent of fake trees are made in China.

…A real tree is a renewable resource. For every tree that’s cut, three are planted. When a tree is young it gives off the most oxygen. We give an ecological benefit and they’re a good habitat for wildlife.

Have you seen the Ambient Orb?

It’s kind of expensive at US$150 just to monitor the stock market but I read a cool story in Wired magazine about how they’re using Orbs to monitor the power grid “to signal changes in electrical rates, programming them to glow green when the grid was underused — and, thus, electricity cheaper — and red during peak hours when customers were paying more for power.”

I kind of reminded me of a cool gauge that my friend Shaun Redmond showed me that monitors your energy usage in your house.

Ideally, I could keep tabs on my home power consumption from my computer or iPhone from anywhere with an Internet connection.

Even wilder it the EnergyJoule (pictured) which is currently only available to Consumer Powerline customers in New York City.

Welcome to TravelMatters, the website for those interested in learning more about how travel habits and transportation choices affect global climate change. TravelMatters offers a trio of resources—interactive emissions calculators, on-line emissions maps, and a wealth of educational content—to emphasize the close relationship between more efficient transit systems and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

In achieving a world climate balance, travel choices do matter. To learn more, click the icons below, or simply follow the sidebar menu.

Maybe we all need to take a look?