News

When one thinks of an eco-friendly car, the humvee isn’t the type of vehicle that normally comes to mind. Nor is a car that would be spotted on the streets of Great Britain, however, last weekend a Humvee was indeed spotted roaming the streets of the city. The car wasn’t turning heads for the normal, obvious reasons, it was catching people’s attention because of its significantly reduced size and because it is electric. This new design is called the MEV HUMMER HX.

The MEV HUMMER HX is the only proportionally correct licensed resort vehicle currently on the market. Its design matches the infamous Humvee and includes the characteristic louver grille, custom wheels, door sills, styled seats, and floor mats.

MEV, or My Electric Vehicle, was formed in 2006; initially trading as Mini Hummer Europe and achieved year on year growth because of its introduction of luxury golf cars manufactured by others to the European market. As a result of poor growth and lack of sales from third party suppliers, a decision was made in 2009 for the company to design and develop their own products.

The greatest thing about this new Hummer is that it is not a gas guzzler like its predecessors. This Hummer is electric and can be charged from a 12V charging point. Despite the fact that General Motors closed the Hummer automotive plant in 2010, it is believed that the little HX model could have saved the brand.

Just before closing the factory, MEV managed to sign the worldwide exclusive rights to manufacture the HUMMER HX as a mini electric vehicle.

Source: My Electric Vehicle

Scientists have turned to the digestive tract of cows to study how to break down plant matter and convert it into energy. By using genetic materials from a cow’s rumen, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has begun developing new ways to break down plant fibers for conversion into biofuel.

To convert switchgrass and corn stover, the leaves and stalks of maize, into biofuel requires the plant fibers to be broken down into sugars. The difficulty comes when cell wall polymers are cross-linked in various ways that make them resistant to breaking down. This finding comes from Dominic Wong, a chemist at the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Western Regional Research Center, located in Albany, California.

Through previous studies, it was discovered that a unique group of enzymes knows as feruloyl esterases (FAEs) are able to break down key links between the polymers. Studies have also shown that the enzymes are produced by specific types of microbes that degrade plant materials.  Wong collected the microbial population from a cow’s rumen and screened their genetic composition to find which genes produced FAE enzymes.

Wong has worked with scientists at Cargill to isolate, sequence, and clone 12 genes which are capable of being introduced into Escherichia coli for production of the enzymes. These enzymes then can be used to break down the polymeric network in the plant cell wall. Wong and the team of scientists at Cargill have written up a provisional patent application on the FAE genes and enzymes.

Furthermore, the enzymes can also be used to enhance the digestibility and nutritional qualities of animal feed, help with the development of nutritional supplements, and be of use in the development of other value-added products.

Agave, known for its use in the production of alcoholic beverages and fibers, grows chiefly in Mexico and the south-west of the United States, as well as tropical South America. Agave grows best in semi-arid regions where it will not likely come into conflict with food and feed production. Agave is a succulent with the ability to survive long periods of time without water. An article written in an issue of Global Change Biology-Bioenergy states that there is Agave may potentially be used as a sustainable biofuel feedstock.

In 14 independent studies, scientists have found that Agave yields greatly exceed the yields of other biofuel feedstocks, such as corn, soybean, sorghum, and wheat. Furthermore, scientists have noted that there are various other species of Agave in existences that have not yet been evaluated.

Sarah Davis, a bioenergy analyst, states, “We need bioenergy crops that have a low risk of unintended land-use change. Biomass from Agave can be harvested as a co-product of tequila production without additional land demands. Also, abandoned Agave plantations in Mexico and Africa that previously supported the natural fiber market could be reclaimed as bioenergy cropland. More research on Agave species is warranted to determine the tolerance ranges of the highest yielding varieties that would be most viable for bioenergy production in semi-arid regions of the world.”

The economical and environmental sustainability of Agave could greatly stimulate the economies in Africa, Australia, and Mexico, where large amounts of land are unused due to the arid climate.

ScienceDaily

Guest Post By Jim Fitzgerald

Watching baseball’s first quadruple-play was strange. Seeing Wal-Mart go green
is stranger still.

First the baseball: The scene was a game of T-Ball, where everyone bats every
inning, regardless of the number of outs.

The bases were loaded when a line drive ended up in the glove of the pitcher.
While he wondered how it got there, all the runners took off without tagging
up. The pitcher ran to third, then second, then first.

We kept counting the number of outs and they did not add up. First in our heads:
That doesn’t make sense. Then on our hand: That’s crazy. Then our other hand:
It kept adding up to four outs.

It took us a while to believe what we saw right in front of us.

And now Wal-Mart, the original Black Hat, is going green. Or better said, sustainable.
Let that sink in because it is true. Big time.

So much so that Treehugger.com says It “could end up being one of the biggest
motivators to make truly ‘green’ products ever.”

As in the history of the world.

Wal-Mart has made believers out of not just the biggest environmental organizations
in the world — like the Environmental Defense Fund and the World Wildlife Federation
– but also Wal-Mart’s suppliers.

It started five years ago when Wal-Mart announced three goals: 1) 100 percent
renewable energy; 2) Zero waste; 3) Sustainable products.

Wal-Mart stores have already gone sustainable on dozens of fronts from shipping
to selling to storing to recycling. Last year, Wal-Mart saved 4.8 billion plastic
shopping bags.

That’s how they roll in Bentonville: Big.

Even the combined efforts of 8400 stores with two million associates doing $400
billion in sales every year was not enough: Wal-Mart figured out 90 percent of
the carbon was coming from its supply chain. So it reached down to all its 100,000
vendors — and their vendors and their vendors — and told them that reducing
carbon footprints — reducing energy — will save money.

Everyone knows that is what Wal-Mart is all about.

“And vendors are listening,” said Tom Rooney, CEO of SPG Solar in Novato, California,
one of the largest solar installers in the country. “We are seeing renewed and
intense interest in industrial- and commercial-scale solar because of Wal-Mart
and Proctor and Gamble and other companies are showing their suppliers how to
change their shipping, packaging, storing, selling, heating, cooling, disposing of,
recycling and other practices to squeeze energy out of the supply chain and save
money. And solar is a big part of that.”

Not that many need much coaxing: Financial incentives for solar today are so
strong that many companies are essentially getting free energy — and more –
by buying a new solar array from the money they will save from lower energy bills.
And having a big chunk left over.

Now on top of that, the largest companies in the world are saying solar and other
renewables have to be a part of their supply chain. By some estimates, 1 in 3
dollars worldwide is associated with a company that does business with Walmart.
So, if you shift Walmart and its suppliers, the global economy shifts with it,
says R. Paul Herman at hipinvestor.com. Or as the New York Times puts it: “because
of its size and power, Wal-Mart usually gets what it wants.”

And Wal-Mart wants renewable energy.

Earlier this year, Wal-Mart sent its vendors a 15 part questionnaire to determine
what their companies were doing to become more sustainable. Also leading the
effort is Wal-Mart’s “Sustainability Index.”

Scholars from around the world are gathering at the Universities of Arizona and
Arkansas to create this new measure of the energy created — and wasted — during
the life cycle of a product found at Wal-Mart.

It won’t be ready for at least another year.

“But that doesn’t matter,” says Rooney. “No one is fighting Wal-Mart or complaining
about the reporting that this new index requires. Just the opposite: They are
racing to outdo each other, and surpass Wal-Mart’s expectations. Right now.
Not next year. “

And why not:

In May, the world’s largest consumer product company, Proctor and Gamble, announced
its own, similar, sustainability program for its vendors. Joining IBM, GE, and
other corporate giants on the sustainability train.

The results are already showing up on the bottom line:

“Perhaps more than any other company, Wal-Mart has pursued this approach,” said
the Harvard Business Review of Wal-Mart’s new vision of sustainability. “The
payoffs are already showing up: One of the Sustainable Value Networks, tasked
with fleet logistics, came up with a transportation strategy that improved efficiency
by 38%, saving Wal-Mart more than $200 million annually and cutting its greenhouse
gas emissions by 200,000 tons per year.”

Wal-Mart: Not just for beating up anymore. Or maybe we are just seeing the world’s
first quintuple play.

According to this article that I came across on Discovery’s website there is a whole new use for rice husks. Concrete obviously isn’t the most eco-friendly thing in this world, however, it is possible that rice husks could change all of that. Take a look at the article on it below. You may find it to be enlightening…

A new way of processing rice husks for use in concrete could lead to a boom in green construction.

Rice husks form small cases around edible kernels of rice and are rich in silicon dioxide (SiO2), an essential ingredient in concrete. Scientists have recognized the potential value of rice husks as a building material for decades, but past attempts to burn it produced ash too contaminated with carbon to be useful as a cement substitute.

The world’s penchant for consuming concrete is a huge problem for climate change. Every ton of cement manufactured for use in concrete emits a ton of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. Worldwide, cement production accounts for about 5 percent of all CO2 emissions related to human activity.

Now, Rajan Vempati of ChK Group, Inc. in Plano, Texas, and a team of researchers have figured out a way to make nearly carbon-free rice husk ash. Heating husks to 800 degrees centigrade (1,472 degrees Fahrenheit) in a furnace drives off carbon, leaving fine particles of nearly pure silica behind.

“The process emits some CO2, but it’s carbon neutral. Any that we emit goes back annually into the rice paddies,” Vempati said.

In recent years, concrete has become a repository for various waste products. Slag from steel mills, coal fly ash and silica fume — a leftover from the silicon metal industry — all have found second lives as replacements for carbon-belching Portland cement.

“I think the reason rice husk ash has had difficulty making it into mainstream applications is it typically comes with quite a high carbon content,” Jan Olek of Purdue University, who was not involved in the study said. “If properly prepared, it could be a very useful, good material for efforts to limit emissions of carbon dioxide in the concrete industry.”

Adding the ash makes concrete stronger and more resistant to corrosion. The team speculates that rice husk ash could enhance performance by replacing up to 20 percent of the cement typically mixed into concrete in the construction of skyscrapers, bridges and any structure built on or near water.

Article continues here.

I was checking out some news on MSNBC and just so happened to come across an article that I believe is very important for everyone to read, and so I wanted to share it with all of you. Some fish were caught near wastewater treatment plants by a few major U.S. Cities and apparently had residues of pharmaceuticals in them.

Please read this article as it is very informative…

Fish caught near wastewater treatment plants serving five major U.S. cities had residues of pharmaceuticals in them, including medicines used to treat high cholesterol, allergies, high blood pressure, bipolar disorder, and depression, researchers reported Wednesday.

Findings from this first nationwide study of human drugs in fish tissue have prompted the Environmental Protection Agency to significantly expand similar ongoing research to more than 150 different locations.

“The average person hopefully will see this type of study and see the importance of us thinking about water that we use every day, where does it come from, where does it go to? We need to understand this is a limited resource and we need to learn a lot more about our impacts on it,” said study co-author Bryan Brooks, a Baylor University researcher and professor who has published more than a dozen studies related to pharmaceuticals in the environment.

A person would have to eat hundreds of thousands of fish dinners to get even a single therapeutic dose, Brooks said. But researchers including Brooks have found that even extremely diluted concentrations of pharmaceutical residues can harm fish, frogs and other aquatic species because of their constant exposure to contaminated water.

Brooks and his colleague Kevin Chambliss tested fish caught in rivers where wastewater treatment plants release treated sewage in Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix, Philadelphia and Orlando, Fla. For comparison, they also tested fish from New Mexico’s pristine Gila River Wilderness Area, an area isolated from human sources of pollution.

Earlier research has confirmed that fish absorb medicines because the rivers they live in are contaminated with traces of drugs that are not removed in sewage treatment plants. Much of the contamination comes from the unmetabolized residues of pharmaceuticals that people have taken and excreted; unused medications dumped down the drain also contribute to the problem.

The researchers, whose work was funded by a $150,000 EPA grant, tested fish for 24 different pharmaceuticals, as well as 12 chemicals found in personal care products.

They found trace concentrations of seven drugs and two soap scent chemicals in fish at all five of the urban river sites. The amounts varied, but some of the fish had combinations of many of the compounds in their livers.

The researchers didn’t detect anything in the reference fish caught in rural New Mexico.

In an ongoing investigation, The Associated Press has reported trace concentrations of pharmaceuticals have been detected in drinking water provided to at least 46 million Americans.

The EPA has called for additional studies about the impact on humans of long-term consumption of minute amounts of medicines in their drinking water, especially in unknown combinations. Limited laboratory studies have shown that human cells failed to grow or took unusual shapes when exposed to combinations of some pharmaceuticals found in drinking water.

“This pilot study is one important way that EPA is increasing its scientific knowledge about the occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the environment,” said EPA spokeswoman Suzanne Rudzinski. She said the completed and expanded EPA sampling for pharmaceuticals and other compounds in fish and surface water is part of the agency’s National Rivers and Stream Assessment.