March, 2010

EcoFacts — 1 Comment
26
Mar 10

Pilot lights keep on burning

We don’t really think about pilot lights, which is part of their intention. They just sit there quietly and burn, waiting for the moments when flames are needed. They came to be when waste was not an issue.

According to a source at Cornell University, pilot lights account for over 20 percent of the gas used in the U.S.. A study for a Canadian utility found that in homes with gas fireplaces, half of the gas was used just for the pilot, if left on all year. Granted, natural gas is a clean fuel by fossil fuel standards, but a limited and CO2 emitting fossil fuel, nevertheless.

While many newer appliances have electronic ignitons, pilot lights burn continuously in millions of stoves, water heaters, furnaces and gas fireplaces, pool heaters, and equipment in labs. The flames may seem small, but multiply hundreds of millions of them by 24/7 use, burning natural gas or propane.  Each pilot light uses enough energy to make ten or more pots of coffee or tea PER DAY – enough to make billions of people happier, more productive (or crazy) – except that instead the stuff is just gone, used for nothing. (As for hot beverages, electric kettles boil water most efficiently, gas and electric stoves less, microwaves are the least efficient.)

The point of this, really, is to suggest turning off your pilot lights for the seasons when they are not being used. If you do not have access to yours, the gas man does, and you will save some bucks (seeing a notable difference in your gas bill), while doing the world a service.

http://www.utilities.cornell.edu/utl_labtips.html

http://library.thinkquest.org/3659/energy/energy.html
http://www.homeenergy.org/archive/hem.dis.anl.gov/eehem/97/970103.html

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Barbara Hirsch, recording engineer, eco-person

“Unless someone like you cares a whole lot,
nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

– The Lorax, Children’s book by Dr. Seuss

EcoFacts — No Comments
19
Mar 10

Species for sale

A United Nations meeting on endangered species is happening now in Doha, Qatar. Their work seems to be endangering them further, as the convention is actually on International Trade in Endangered Species.  Large animals are not doing well. There was a ban on the table for trade in Bluefin Tuna*, for example, a fish that can live to be 40 years old and weigh up to 1000 lbs.  It has been severely overfished due to its deliciousness as sushi.  Alas, no ban. And the polar bear, now iconic for representing the dangers of global warming, will also not be protected as game. The ones that don’t drown can be hunted, their pelts and parts will still be being sold on the international market. Tens of millions of sharks are caught and killed each year, primarily for their fins. No protection for them either – good news for surfers and some other ocean creatures, bad news for the sharks and marine ecologies.

Elephants and their ivory are up next. For some reason, it is believed that if trade in them is allowed, poaching will increase! (The trade is supposed to be in stockpiled ivory but clearly not limited to it.) Poachers have just recently entirely wiped out elephants in the African nation of Sierra Leone, other countries may be following. The numbers of this wise and majestic creature are dwindling rapidly.

Speaking of wise and majestic, it’ll still be a while before humans are endangered. (I guess the news of this conference really twanged my sarcasm string.)

*All tunas (bluefin, yellowfin, albacore, etc.) are high on the food chain and therefore in mercury.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7067909.ece
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/science/earth/19species.html
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/03/18/tech-cites-polar-bear-ban.html?ref=rss
http://fishnewseu.com/latest-news/world/3065-new-global-shark-fin-report-launched-by-oceana-in-doha.html
http://www.cites.org/eng/cop/15/doc/index.shtml
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/03/science/earth/03tuna.html
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Barbara Hirsch, recording engineer, eco-person

“Unless someone like you cares a whole lot,
nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

– The Lorax, Children’s book by Dr. Seuss

EcoFacts — 10 Comments
12
Mar 10

Parking, our lot

As clear as it is that the driving of millions of cars every day, millions of miles, is a burden on the planet, we don’t usually think about those cars parking, however (literally, HOWEVER!)

Here, our parking burden, in brief:

Urban parking spot searching increases traffic congestion up to 45%!

For his book “The High Cost of Free Parking”, Donald Shoup studied  one Los Angeles neighborhood and estimated that in a year, 47,000 miles were driven, (emitting close to a million pounds of CO2) looking for parking there.

Much of our urban sprawl is land paved for parking – mall parking lots are designed to accommodate parkers for the busiest shopping days. Most of the year, their size has primarily negative environmental effects.

Parking Lots are sealed, regularly, with coal tar sealants, whose toxic dust is carried into homes and waterways. The city of Austin, Texas found that 660,000 gallons of these were used annually, studied the effects and subsequently banned their use.

Parking uses more land than all other land uses in Albuquerque, N.M., and half of it in the city of Buffalo, N.Y..

Urban temperatures are higher due to large paved areas. The urban heat island effect increases air temperatures, problematic in summers, at least.

Rain falling on impervious paved surfaces carries toxins as runoff into waterways. When it falls on permeable ground, water is naturally filtered and water sources replenished.

Gas, emissions, time, energy and good will are all spent finding parking, sometimes for the closest space, so as to walk the least. Who knows? If you park more quickly, and spend that time walking instead,  you might find yourself in a better mood.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/10/01/parking
http://sf.streetsblog.org/2009/01/06/sfs-parking-experiment-to-test-shoups-traffic-theories/
http://www.epa.gov/heatisland/about/index.htm
http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2380
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/watershed/coaltar_ban.htm

^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~
Barbara Hirsch, recording engineer, eco-person

“Unless someone like you cares a whole lot,
nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

– The Lorax, Children’s book by Dr. Seuss

EcoFacts — No Comments
5
Mar 10

Worm food

There are worse things one could be doing than feeding a bunch of happy worms, especially after having a good meal yourself. Worms are our friends, an invaluable part of the process of turning the earth’s dead matter into new food for us all. It appears that being part of that process can be a deeply connecting and joyful thing.

This was reflected in some replies to last week’s ecofact on food waste. Apparently, living in a place with no yard does not exclude one from this process. On apartment living for both her and the worms, Rachel writes “contrary to the first thoughts of what this might be like, it’s very clean and completely odor free. In fact, I keep my worms in a bin in the corner of my dining room!” (Nice that they eat there too.) “You don’t need a fancy bin to do this. I bought a large plastic bin from Target and drilled holes in it. Then you just need newspaper, worms and a handful of dirt to get started.” Cool, huh? Kathy suggests a balcony or garage – “a good solution for apartment dwellers is a small worm bin. It only takes about 2 square feet of space …is really clean,….The little critters go through food scraps (not meat, though), as well as newspaper, really quickly. We love ours! … Ask any gardener, worm castings are like fertilizer gold and about that expensive if you buy it by the bag at a nursery.”

Call it worm composting or vermicomposting, it’s catching on. Maybe the trend will mean less commercial fossil fuel based fertilizers in the future, and less of our garbage sitting amidst plastic bags in the landfill, emitting evermore greenhouse gases.

Here’s to the lowly worm.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/garden/19worms.html?_r=1
http://www.vermicompost.net/
http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/organics/Worms/
http://www.wormpoop.com/
http://www.composters.com/vermiculture-worms.php

^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~
Barbara Hirsch, recording engineer, eco-person

“Unless someone like you cares a whole lot,
nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

– The Lorax, Children’s book by Dr. Seuss