Posts Tagged ‘Joel’s News’

Electric Cars

Friday, May 29th, 2009

A friend of mine sent me a link to Left Coast Electric and after I read through the site and saw the video it really sparked my interest.Now I know that given the current energy crisis we are now experiencing electric cars have been one of the many ways we can ween this country off imported carbon based fuels.

Now as I see it we have to take into consideration price because when at the end of the day to go green cost a lot green and especially when it comes to the electric car
market. GM has entered this market showing off there Chevy Volt with a confirmed price tag of 39,000.00 dollars is just to high and out of reach for the masses.
volt-gm
On the other end of the spectrum is the the Tata Nano with a price tag of 2500.00 dollars for the gas powered version and soon to be released will be an electric version with a price point somewhere around 4200.00 dollars.Tata motors is trying to make transportation affordable but I guess I do need a bit more form with than function when comes to my ride and there cars just look like go carts.

peoplescar

So here comes Left Coast Electric they will take an existing car and covert it to an electric car for the price of a new honda civic or any other entry level compact car (17,000.00) in my opinion that is within reach of most consumers and and it will pay way more dividends than buying that Civic.

1.It would reduce the amount of fossil fuel we would need to power our cars.

2.It would greatly reduce the number of cars in that are in junk yards and land fills polluting our environment.

3.It would reduce the amount toxic emissions that our cars spew into the atmosphere.

4.With mass production of these systems and components you will see the price come down and a whole new cottage industry that will create jobs and stimulate the economy.

Now I know we all want to do our part to make this world a greener place to live but for now it just seems out of reach financially for most of us but if companies like Left Coast Electric can succeed we will all benefit from there success for years to come.

Posted By Joel Ginsberg

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Solar City

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

I just read an article online about Freiburg, Germany and came away thinking this could be a model for how small cities and towns could manage there renewable initiatives. First I must mention that Freiburg’s voting district is lead by Germany’s Green party and as you might expect has a local government that is very green friendly with respect to encouraging and even mandating that it citizen’s and business adopt alternative energy solutions.

 

 

Freiburg likes to be known as “Solar City”. The town hall and the football stadium, swimming pools and the train station boast mirrors to create solar power. New houses have to consume a third less energy than German law requires.Now i know it seems that our local governments are not going to pursue this aggressive approach to mandating renewables but I think that Freiburgs model would be a good place to start. As I look forward to a changing energy policy in our federal government I am hoping local governments can adopt there own grass roots approach’s to tackle there  energy needs with renewables.

1. City and town buildings should be powered by solar.

 

2. Where ever possible to mandate that all publicly owned vehicles with exception of first responders be hybrids or even electric cars.

3. If the geography  would allow to consider wind turbines and or wind farms

4. Utilizing landfill’s for either capturing methane or erecting a solar farm

 

I understand our country is in a recession and local cities and towns are feeling the pinch but if our President is truly committed to make renewables a major part of his administrations agenda it has to start at the local level and what better time than now.

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Green Google

Monday, May 18th, 2009

Corporate social responsibility it is sort of a ubiquitous term you here flying around these days, CSR is now seen as a vital tool in promoting and improving the public image of some of the world’s largest companies and corporations, now I know this blog primarily deals with green topics but I think this is where it gets relevant

Now when we think of CSR as big corporations giving back with regard to social causes but social responsibility can and should include a green initiatives as well. After a little poking around the web I found one such company that I would like to feature in this blog and its uber computer web search giant Google.

Now after I saw that video I know its not possible for all companies to go to such great lengths with there green programs but I think they can use Google as model how to break down some of the norms and dare I say “think outside the box”. I have friend who works for a software company who encourages there employees to carpool so the owner of the company will reward those employees if they carpool by allowing them to leave earlier on Fridays thats just one example another example is a leading mutual fund company will provide shuttle service to and from train stations to employees who commute by train into the city of Boston,now these may seem like small steps compared to Google but they are very important step in the right direction and I hope it continues to grow in the years to come.

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