June, 2010

EcoFacts — 1 Comment
25
Jun 10

Bottles For Pleasure, Again

One could say that wine and beer are rather popular beverages around the world. They’ve been around for thousands of years and have such great pleasure value. But these days, post-pleasure, those bottles are usually tossed, generating lots of weight and bulk in the landfills. Some are recycled – sorted by color, crushed, melted and reformed into new bottles, certainly a better use for the glass, but still really energy intensive. So what about refilling those bottles?

Sterilizing and refilling wine bottles is an old practice, and still being done in Europe and elsewhere. And though it uses a fraction of the energy required to make new ones, it is not catching on quickly here. Everyone wants their own distinctive bottle and needs consistency for labeling. Old labels are hard to remove. But it makes so much sense, and saves money too. A company in Northern California is putting their bets on it. Named simply Wine Bottle Recycling, they plan to begin shipping out bottles to eco-conscious wineries this summer. Maybe they can begin a new way of doing business.

If you happen to live nearby one of the few wineries or breweries that offer it, you can bring in their bottles to be refilled. In the beer world, these “growlers” are catching on. But throughout Canada, beer drinkers return their bottles and the reuse rate is high. Why not here?

http://www.grrn.org/beverage/refillables/USrefill.html
http://blog.cleantechies.com/2009/01/26/chasing-cleantech-in-the-glass-bottle-industry/
http://winebottlerecycling.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/RIEGER_Bottle_Washing_R.pdf
 http://www.springhousecellar.com/sustainability/

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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
11
Jun 10

Power To Go

The Gulf Oil gush is a constant reminder of the big role oil plays in our daily lives, especially realizing that in the U.S., 70% of it goes into transportation, to move us and the products we buy. Then there are the associated fossil fuel emissions.

And so what of electric vehicles? Charging the batteries requires electricity, produced mostly with fossil fuels. How do they compare? This depends partly on your power mix, which varies from region to region. If your home or business is solar or wind powered, electric vehicles are THE WAY TO GO! If you live in Kentucky and get your power from the grid, maybe not. More than 90% of their electricity comes from coal. But overall, estimates give electric powered vehicles a 30 – 50% lower carbon tire print.

The Federal government is still offering rebates for purchase of hybrid and electric vehicles. Some states are too. For those who like riding on two wheels, if you buy an electric motorcycle in California or Colorado, it will cost at least a couple thousand less than retail, and use even less electric juice than cars. One charge will give you 40 or 50 miles of fun and a really quiet ride. Harley owners, move over.

www.zeromotorcycles.com/
www.brammo.com
www.vectrix.com

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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
4
Jun 10

Small Items, Big Subject

Batteries, part 1

Energy = potential. Thanks to an Italian named Volta, we have batteries ­small things that have lots of energy and possibilities in store for us. Besides powering our cell phones, cameras, flashlights, etc, there are currently more laptops being sold than desktop computers. Our cars and trucks have been using them all along but now our future will rely even more heavily on them. Nissan has just broken ground for a lithium ion battery plant in Tennessee, to supply its electric car, the Leaf. (Wow, great name.) Power from the sun and wind is stored in them, for when the sun isn’t shining and the wind not blowing.

From an environmental perspective, they produce clean power, if you don’t take into account their production and their afterlife in the dump. Billions of batteries are produced annually. Each year, Americans buy around 3 billion of the little dry cell ones and 100 million lead acid car batteries. Most of the former are discarded, most of the latter are recycled.

Batteries left to rot in landfills  are polluting, though actually the regular old “heavy duty” (zinc oxide) and the popular alkaline ones (manganese dioxide, potassium hydroxide, zinc)  are more innocent than others, except for the materials in their billions which could be reused if recycled.

Using rechargeable batteries when possible is the way to go, and NiMh (Nickel Metal hydride) appear to be the best, both environmentally and for actual use, as they last longer. These are not considered hazardous waste. Other rechargeables, such as Ni-cds (Nickel cadmium) and lithiums, used for our electronics, and also the little button batteries ARE hazardous waste and hence should be either recycled or brought to hazardous waste collection sites.

The European Union’s Battery Directive places more responsibility on citizens and manufacturers for recycling. In the U.S.,California’s law prohibits disposal of batteries, though I doubt there have been any arrests.

http://www.epa.gov/wastes/conserve/materials/battery.htm
http://www.greenbatteries.com/
http://enviropoliticsblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/confused-about-battery-recycling-read.html

^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~
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