Investors have given the needed boost Thames Estuary’s, “London Array,” a plan to build 175 wind turbines offshore in its first phase, according to The Guardian.

From the story:

The prime minister, Gordon Brown, described the London Array as a “flagship project” in the drive to cut carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. Environmental groups also broadly welcomed the project although they warned that much more needs to be done to encourage the growth of the offshore wind industry. Nick Rau at Friends of the Earth said the decision to go ahead with the project showed that renewables were becoming “major league”.

Major league, indeed!  Britain is apparently thinking on a grand scale for wind projects:

The scheme is part of the second round of offshore wind farms that have been given consent, which together with the first phase would generate 8GW of power when they are fully built, although many of the projects have stalled because of the economic climate. Bids are in for a third round of nine sites off the coast of Britain, which would add an additional 25GW. If all the proposed wind farms were built, they would together generate 33GW, meeting 25% of the electricity demand in Britain.

That’s right: 25%!  Britain has about 60 million people, which is approximately 20% of that of the U.S.  But that’s no excuse for dragging our heals over here in the States — we have a lot more available coastline for projects and should take advantage of the technology that is available here and now.  

Still, some say that the British are not coming fast enough:

One of the most oft recommended ways to reduce your energy consumption is to begin using compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs.  We have recommended this purchase both in the Greener Under Twenty and in the Green Life Project series.  

Many will bring up that the bulbs contain mercury, which is true.  However, they can be recycled at more and more places, including Home Depot stores.  And even if they don’t make it to the recycling center, which is bad, because they should go there, there is still less mercury being emitted by coal-fired power plants due each bulb replacing a less efficient incandescent bulb.

So, they’re much more efficient and can be recycled, taking away that mercury complaint, which makes this seem as if it might be a no-brainer.  Not so fast.  It’s not so simple!

Light emitting diodes (LEDs) have been touted recently as another contender for replacing our lights.  They are even more efficient than CFL bulbs, however are much more expensive than CFLs which are usually more expensive than incandescent bulbs.

Plus, Matthew Phillips sent me this story from the Times of London (‘Green’ Lightbulbs Poison Workers) last week, which highlights workers being poisoned due to working with the mercury in the bulbs in factories in China.  

The U.S. citizenry is again gaining interest in what they are eating and for various reasons.  Some are interested in the financial benefits of starting your own garden, others are concerned about their health, and many are concerned about the negative impact most of our agricultural and grocery industries are having on our environment.  

So, although I have not yet seen the film, Food, Inc., which features the likes of Michael Pollan (who, by the way, I get to hear speak at the Harold Washington Library in Chicago next Monday), it seems to focus on many of the problems with our food industry, most specifically, its production.

Check out the trailer below and let me know what you think!

In an effort to further green their business (and image), Google is now mowing the grass around their office property with, that’s right, goats!

According to their blog, for about the same price as their lawnmowing service, they now have a herd of about 200 goats graze for a week at a time courtesy of California Grazing.  Not only do they trim all the grass but fertilize it too, yeah, exactly how you’d think!

I wanted to bring to readers’ attention a new vehicle that might revolutionize travel in cities. The PUMA! You’ve probably already heard about this by now. The concept seems on the surface to be a rather brilliant attempt at tackling the smog and congestion problems posed by motor vehicles.

General Motors (GM), known for making such gas guzzlers as the Humvee (Hummer and H2), has teamed up with two-wheeled personal transporters, Segway, to produce the PUMA, a vehicle focused on, “Personal Urban Mobility and Accessiblity.

It’s great to see GM move away from over-sized vehicles.  Also, SegWay, whose product has, to me, seemed to have held such promise for a long time but not the results to match, to have maybe found a way forward into massive implementation of their technology.

Check out this video:

I want to call readers’ attention to this story published a few days ago in the New York Times regarding a method of enticing homeowners to install solar panels.

From Europe’s Way of Encouraging Solar Arrives in the U.S.:

Put simply, the idea is to pay homeowners and businesses top dollar for producing green energy. In Germany, for example, a homeowner with a rooftop solar system may be paid four times more to produce electricity than the rate paid to a coal-fired power plant.

This month Gainesville, Fla., became the first city in the United States to introduce higher payments for solar power, which is otherwise too expensive for many families or businesses to install. City leaders, who control their electric utility, unanimously approved the policy after studying Germany’s solar-power expansion.

Now, let’s get political

I’m sure many will rail against this type of, “socialism,” because they feel (I no longer consider it to be rational thinking, but rather a “feeling”) that the, “free market,” if allowed to work, will provide us with such necessities.

The, “free market,” hasn’t brought us widespread green energy use.

Likewise, the, “free market,” didn’t bring us:

• The current, now-antiquated, once state-of-the-art energy grid
• The current, now-antiquated, once state-of-the-art railway system
• The U.S. Interstate Highway system

We've indexed ten great ways to be greener without spending much of your hard-earned green!

You may be watching as the economy threatens to turn its, “recession,” moniker into, “depression,” all while reports about the dire circumstances our environment is in continue to mount.

Need a couple of examples?  Try here and here.  Below, you can find ten great ways to green your life on the cheap and save money while you do it!

While the economy plummets, you may be asking yourself, “can I really afford to be, ‘green,’ during these economic times?”

I’m here to tell you, “Absolutely you can!”

Here I have compiled a list of ten articles from Earthascope that outline different ways to improve your envirohuman impact while saving money.  You don’t have to stop your efforts to pollute less just because of bad economic times!

Think of it as turning the recession into your own, “green session”!

Corn husk or food wrapper?

Tomales!

Why are tomales a green food?  Well, the ones I enjoyed at lunch today had green peppers inside, but that’s beside the point.

It’s the wrapping! Check out the steamed corn husk being used to wrap tomales!  While munching on my tomales today at work (yum!), I found myself admiring the continued use of corn husks to wrap food.

It seems as if this is an age-old practice that has been passed down over time (and has somehow been preserved as common practice) and, well, why not?  The husks are otherwise going to be tossed and this way they get another use before making their way back into nature — with their fully biodegradeable goodness!

We had a whole bag of tomales brought in at work, and while the bag was not biodegradeable (it was plastic) imagine any other fast food — or food from the store — coming in a bag and most likely, it would be wrapped in paper, plastic, foil, or styrofoam — all of which are not nearly

For this week’s news segment, I’m going to concentrate my efforts to report two major stories, both of great importance to you.  The stories are of such signficance that they will each be followed by a special commentary from yours truly, helping to put them into context.

The first story I would like to bring to your attention is regarding one of California’s latest law proposals, which regards factory farms.  Known as, “Proposition 2,” the law would put severe restrictions on factory farms, which are of both growing ecological and ethical concerns for our population.

The story I read gives great insight into Proposition 2, but goes a step further to outline who has been funding a campaign against the measure to the tune of $4.5 million.  You guessed it!  Factory farmers.  But not only those from California, but from across the United States.  Read more about the story here.  Also, visit the Yes On Prop 2 Website to get involved or informed about the myriad issues at stake.

Special Commentary:

Lloyd Alter discussed in a recent article that as oil prices have increased (yes, of course, they have dipped down slightly recently) China has exported less steel to the U.S.  Check out his article or keep reading:

Lloyd talks about some of the political and economic implications of such a shift, but let’s look at the environmental effects.

Here, again, because of rising costs of fossil fuels, we see decreased consumption.  Suddenly, the difference in the cost of labor between the U.S. and Chinese markets, is eaten up by high oil costs.  From the article:

Rubin continues: “Shipping a standard 40-foot container from Shanghai to the US Eastern seaboard now costs $8,000. In 2000, when oil prices were $20 per barrel, it only cost $3,000 to ship the container. But at $200 per barrel, it will soon cost $15,000 in transport costs to ship from China to the US Eastern seaboard.”

Wow!  What a difference!  I had no idea it was that high of a cost to move something across the ocean (though I suppose I never had given the financial costs much thought).  This just goes to show that increased fossil fuel consumption and costs can force people to rethink the way that they act — and this is probably truer for companies moving many tons of heavy stuff (such as steel).

Let’s just hope that not only does this spark a large green energy industry, but also perhaps some manufacturing jobs of yesteryear return to the U.S. as well.

One other note: with the cost of iron ore also increasing, perhaps recycling rates and more importantly, required recycling programs, will increase as a manner of combating that high cost.  The environmental effects of mining for more ore and processing it versus recycling are high and extensive.

How are increased fuel costs affecting the way that you behave?