Global Ongoings of Today

Today in Washington, President Bush announced that the U.S. would be included when negotiations for the upcoming international treaty for limiting the greenhouse gases go underway at the G-8 Summit next week located in Germany next week.

The G-8 Summit includes the countries of Canada, Germany, Russia, Japan, Italy, Mexico, China, India, Brazil, South Africa, France, and Britain. There they will discuss issues of a wide variety and the topic of climate change will be the biggest brought up during the meeting. The Summit will meet from June 6^th to the 8^th and take place in Heiligendamn, Germany.

15 of the world’s largest countries that emitted the biggest amount of greenhouse gas were prompted to a meeting by Bush, to set goals in emission reductions. Each country is informed that they need to find their procedures to meet the goals set.

The new agreement would serve as a replacement or a follow-up to the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gases, which expires in 2012, and which Bush refused to ratify. He did call it a "long-term global goal for reducing greenhouse gases."

With this announcement; the critics disagree. Critics such as Daniel J. Weiss retort that is just another ploy for Bush’s Administration to “do nothing...” Weiss also wrote that that many corporations such as Shell, Dow, General Electric, and Motors, along with many other Fortune 500 companies backed a proposed 60 to 80 Percent drop in pollution by 2050, only to have it fall on the deaf ears of President Bush.”

Other countries in Europe proposed a “two-degree” proposal, which states that temperature increases on a global scale should be limited to at max, 2 degrees Celsius. That is the equivalent of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. After that the temperatures should start declining least they wish to break the agreement set in the proposal. This would enable the global emission to an amount of 50 percent below the levels recorded at 1990 in the year 2050. The United States unfortunately have disagreed with this approach.

As Always, Keep it Green

Air Cars of The Future - Your Childs or Your Future?

Yahoo announced today that the world first commercial compressed air-powered vehicle is coming into production. This “CityCat” car was developed by an engineer named Guy Negre, and will be produced by Tata Motors. It should hit the streets in 2008.

Using only compressed air to push the engines pistons, it will be able to achieve speeds of up to 68 MPH, be able to drive 125 miles, and it promised to be reasonably priced. India foresees the quantity of cars out on the market and driving to be 6000 when it is available next year.

You will be able to refuel the car with an everyday air compressor at a speed of 4 hours till it’s fully charged. It can be refueled also when plugged in electrically and should only take a few moments. This makes it a slightly different version of an electric car found throughout the motor industry; just without the electric motor.

The car is only foreseeable in Europe. This includes Germany, South Africa, and Israel. There are also 12 more countries that will see this vehicle. America may not see it simply because the body is that of fiberglass and will not stand up to our crash test requirements.

So far the only way American will be able to have such a vehicle is with Negre’s hybrid design. The design will include an on-board gasoline-powered compressor which will refill the air compressors when they run low and should be able to achieve those cross country trips for all you traveling people. Both products though, will leave carbon emissions, but will still be lower per mile than a regular gasoline powered car found on today’s market.

You can preview the cars design, handling and technology at youtube.

This car will be amazing once it airs out into the market in 2008. They haven’t set an exact date in 2008 but it should be safe to say it will come out near May. With both designs being made as we speak, this is yet another great story and update that the world is aware and it doing something about the earths environment.

As Always, Keep it Green.

Website Petitions Toyota

For those of you not on the HybridCenter Driving Change Network, exciting news about their petition campaign to Toyota was announced today when it comes to thier recent events on the petition to Toyota.

Hybrid Car News Only launched the Earth Day Challenge ’07. a petition urging Toyota to focus on fuel-efficient use of hybrid technology in the U.S. market, such as a hybrid minivan like the Estima Hybrid they sell in Japan.

Members of their Driving Change Network like you would help them with getting more than 8,400 signatures, surpassing the number of projected Estima Hybrid sales in Japan this year. And guess what?

They’ve already blown that number away!

Now have more than 17,000 signatures. That’s DOUBLE the projected Estima Hybrid sales—no doubt a tremendous consumer chorus for cleaner cars. May 28 was the deadline, and they asked many people from the community both offline and online to see if they could get past the 20,000 mark.

With the Earth Day Challenge over, they ended up with over 18,000 signatures, well over double the projected Estima Hybrid sales in Japan for this year. They’re now moving gears and are prepping the petition for delivery to Toyota, and will be announcing the winners of the Earth Day Challenge contest next week.

However they did leave a note this week to all who have helped with their signitures and support for their cause through out it's launch.

"I wanted to personally thank you for helping to make this happen with your signature. Thank you once again for helping to make our Earth Day Challenge a huge success for the second year in a row. So spread the word today!" Said ScottN, a daily informer for the Hybrid Car News Only website.


On another note, They've addressed a "tidbit" that raises hopes of their efforts saying it will aid them in "tipping the tide". Note the quote in this Edmunds article from Toyota Sales, U.S.A. General Manager Bob Carter, who says, "Personally I think [a Sienna hybrid] would be a home run...But that decision has not been made."

The HybridCenter Driving Change Network hopes that the decision will be made soon with the focus on fuel efficiency.

As Always, Keep It Green.

1 Former President + 16 Cities = A Greener Earth

Former President Bill Clinton, spoke at a press conference in New York earlier this month and announced that 16 cities will receive financing to the transition to "go green" as part of a global plan to reduce carbon emissions and save much needed energy. The sixteen cities are based around the world and include New York, Chicago, Houston, Tokyo, Berlin, London, and Rome. The other cities taking part in the building plan are Mumbai, Karachi, Seoul, Bangkok, Melbourne, Sao Paulo, and Johannesburg.

Bill Clinton's foundation has arranged for four major energy service companies and five global banking institutions, which include Citi, JP Morgan Chase, and Deutsche
Bank, to contribute $1 billion each to help finance the cities movement becoming greener. The cities will perform renovations of buildings and factories, as well as utilizing new technology to cut carbon emissions and save energy.

The foundation also announced that the exact nature of the financing will be determined in coming months, and will likely differ from city to city. With the money from the banks, cities will get the green technology at little to no cost. The cities will have to pay back the bank loans, plus interest, and will do this through the energy savings that the projects achieve over several years.

To ensure the savings, Honeywell, Johnson Controls Inc., Siemens and Trane will conduct energy audits of the buildings. If the expected savings are not what they are planned to produce than the companies will pay the difference or make the changes in the buildings, the foundation stated.

Bill Clinton made the announcement alongside the mayors of several cities, including Mayor Bloomberg, who was quoted in the Associated Press article on Yahoo News as saying, "It really is groundbreaking; it really is going to make a difference."

The meeting of Bill Clinton and the mayors is the second such meeting of the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit, which was created for the purpose of devising and sharing strategies to combat climate change and enable cities to become more energy-efficient.

Many cities across the world, including Chicago, have already taken steps to "go green", and have managed to save huge amounts in energy costs over the past several years as a result. This was another way the cities are going to pay back the loans.

Bill Clinton wants his foundation to expand the number of cities that will receive financing in future months. In an Associated Press article on Yahoo News, Warren Karlenzig, author of "How Green Is Your City?” said, "The technology is there and these retrofits have been crying out to happen."

As Always, Keep it Green

Vegetable Oil and Cars

Step One
Start with a diesel engine. Almost any newer diesel engine can be made to run on vegetable oil as long as it doesn’t have the rubber seals. The rubber seals will deteriorate when exposed to vegetable oil over time, since vegetable oil acts as a solvent.

Step Two
Install a vegetable oil fuel conversion kit. You can also have a mechanic do it for you. You should keep the original gas tank to hold regular diesel fuel for cold weather. Install a second tank for vegetable oil. These can go in the trunk. The conversion kit should include hoses from the car's radiator to the vegetable oil tank to heat the oil via a heat exchanger before it enters the final fuel filter.

Step Three
New vegetable oil is easiest to get but can be very expensive. Restaurants will often give you their waste oil for free. Chinese and Japanese restaurants are best because their oils comes out cleanest. The oil should be amber in color and any oil from other types of restaurants may also be suitable but could require more filtering. You will need a few containers for transferring the oil from the source to your filtering location. The five gallon jugs that the restaurants receive the fresh oil in work fine. Restaurants are usually happy to give you these containers since it saves them some money.

Step Four
Filter the oil. Use filter bags that are rated to 0.5 microns thick. To increase the life of your filter bags, first allow the oil to sit in a barrel for about a week to let particulate matter settle to the bottom. Then, pump or scoop the oil into a filter bag suspended above a fresh empty barrel from the top of the barrel (since most of the food particles matter and possible water is at the bottom). Start your engine using regular diesel fuel from the normal gas tank. Once the engine and vegetable oil are warm (after about 15 minutes depending on weather), switch to allow the vegetable oil to flow into the fuel source.

Step Five
Switch back to diesel a few minutes before you stop your engine for any time (about 10 minutes depending on the temperature) to make sure the vegetable oil is purged from the fuel line and injectors so that they don't become clogged when the engine cools.

After you do this you'll have a car that can run on Oil AND Diesel. Another trick to getting the earth a bit greener!

As Always, Keep it Green.

What's Happening in New Jersey

New Jersey may bring to mind dense cities, neon boardwalks, and jokes about the turnpike.. But it also is known for the watery quiet of the Pine Barrens, fine beaches, and choice farmland. Sounds more like Vegas doesn’t it, just without the farmland

In New Jersey, conversion of open land for development has often been justified in economic terms: new jobs, more taxes, less people worried about the environment. This arises the question of what is the economic value of a bog, a salt marsh, or an urban park?

On May 21, 2007, the New York Times featured a report by Robert Costanza and his colleagues at the University of Vermont’s Gund Institute for Ecological Economics that answers this question for New Jersey in accurate and straightforward terms.

In an article on the front page of the Metro section of the New York Times, Pam Belluck reports that the study commissioned by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, puts dollar values onto different types of natural lands. Storm-slowing sand beaches cash in at over $42,000 per acre, freshwater wetlands at $11,568 per acre, whereas grasslands are only at $77 per acre.

Robert Costanza and his collaborators, including UVM professors Austin Troy and Matthew Wilson, developed the report by analyzing numerous studies of wetlands and other land types.

The new report is part of a larger effort by the Gund Institute to study and quantify “natural capital” across the earth with the goal of conserving important lands and waters through the recognition of the economic value of different types of ecosystems.

It’s great to see, one of the most looked at cities finding ways to clean up the Earth and keep it green. Not only has New Jersey started multiple petitions and studies but many colleges such as U of M and Yale have been keeping updates on events that college students have been doing to keep track on Global Warming and its effects. With the new upcoming generation of the future and the present adults, we are slowly making our earth a better place to live, even when it has nothing to do with the currency.

As always Keep it Green.

The Green Express

An Atlanta courier is working on a creative solution when is comes to keeping the earth green and keeping within the

companies budget. The Green Express is the first courier in the country to move its fleet to hybrids. Jay Holgate, owner of Green Express, foresaw that Atlanta companies would share his commitment to reducing their own use of imported oil and a desire for cleaner air. The response has been nothing less than astounding.

Affordable gas is the blood that runs of any courier company. With gas prices at an all-time high, the hybrids are delivering tremendous savings. Green Express drivers travel at least 2,500 miles every day delivering packages throughout metro Atlanta in 16 counties. Green Express hybrids average 47 miles per gallon, while their traditional cars get just 25 miles per gallon. Not to mention the hybrids are zero-emission vehicles when idling or under 30 mph.

Holgate and his team all have young children which was another motivator to go green. Also, 35 new customers have come on board. Holgate has been operating as Georgia Couriers for seven years using traditional cars, the company was renamed Green Express in January of this year.

Environmental groups like the Georgia Conservancy and Atlanta Botanical Garden have switched curious to, you guessed it, Green Express. So have environmental attorneys Morris, Manning and Martin, and three divisions of Interface, Inc. Interface’s legal secretary Karen Daniel uses Green Express almost every day and is pleased to know that they have the earth, the children of the future, and her in mind.

Once Green Express took the leap of going green, it became a kind of challenging game to filter every process through an environmental microscope. By employing the most advanced GPS mapping technologies to boost efficiencies even further, drivers are often rerouted to alternate roads to avoid the worst congestion and another way to save fuel. One wrong turn can waste a gallon of gas every day times 10 cars; that’s at least 2,200 gallons a year.

Holgate encourages his customers to rethink how often they use their own cars for trips Green Express can easily handle. Visit greendelivers.com to find out more about Atlanta based courier’s future.

As always, Keep It Green.

Solar Energy 101

“Solar” is the Latin word for “sun” – and it’s a powerful source of energy. In fact, the sunlight that shines on the Earth in just one hour could meet world energy demand for an entire year!

People have used the sun as a heat source for thousands of years. Families in ancient Greece built their homes to get the most sunlight during the cold winter months. In the 1830s, explorer John Herschel used a solar collector to cook food during an adventure in Africa. In 1954, scientists at Bell Telephone discovered that silicon (an element found in sand) created an electric charge when it was exposed to lots of sunlight. Just a few years later, silicon chips were used to help power space satellites.

Today, more than 10,000 American families get all of their electricity from solar power. The panels are made of silicon and silcon is made from just one ton of sand. When used in photovoltaic cells, silicon could produce as much electricity as burning 500,000 tons of coal.

You might be wondering why we don’t use solar electricity all the time. Solar power systems make a different kind of electricity than big power plants do, so different wiring is needed – and that can be expensive. There are a few big solar power plants in the United States, mostly in California. It’s difficult and expensive to make a lot of electricity using photovoltaics – the panels cost a lot, and a lot of open land is needed. We can use solar power in two different ways: as a heat source, and as an energy source. Here’s a simple break down of the 3 most common ways we use solar energy.

Solar Cells - Also known as photoelectric cells convert light directly into electricity. In a sunny climate, you can get enough power to run a 100W light bulb from just one square meter of solar panel energy This was originally developed in order to provide electricity for satellites, but these days many of us own calculators powered by solar cells.

Solar Water Heating -Heat from the Sun is used to heat water in glass panels on your roof.This means you don't need to use so much gas or electricity to heat your water at home. Water is pumped through pipes in the panel.This helps out your central heating system, and cuts down on your gas and electric bills. However, in the UK you must remember to drain the water out to stop the panels freezing in the winter.Solar heating is worthwhile in places like California and Australia, where you get lots of sunshine.

Solar Furnaces – Furnaces use a huge array of mirrors to concentrate the Sun's energy into a small space and produce very high temperatures.There's one located at Odeillo, in France, used for scientific experiments. It can achieve temperatures up to 3,300 through 3,800 degrees Celsius. In California, theSolar One power station uses the Sun's heat to make steam, and drive a generator to make electricity. The station looks a little like the Odellio solar furnace , except that the mirrors are arranged in circles around the "power tower". As the Sun moves across the sky, the mirrors turn to keep the rays focussed on the tower, where oil is heated to 3,000 degress Celsius, The heat from the oil is used to generate steam, which then drives a turbine, which in turn drives a generator capable of providing 10MW (Mega Watts) of electrical power. Solar One was very expensive to build, but as fossil fuels run out and become more expensive, solar power stations may become a better option.

This was just a brief history on what solar energy is being used for and what’s come out of it since it’s deveolpment.

As always Keep it Green

Water Cars

Many people around the world have been bring up new ideas to the table of alternative energy sources. One subject being debated is if you can turn your car from a oil guzzling to a more refined water converting one.

Many claim that most of these modifications are ideas of con artist and will never be real. Others say it will not happen because of the big oil companies fear free energy, or the worlds governments simply will bully the inventors, take their ideas and murder them. despite these debates, scientists around the world still continue to make new inventions to find new ways to solve the worlds energy problems and save our planet.

Inventor Mr. Denny Klein, President of Hydrogen Technology Applications, Inc., is one of the many that are constantly pursing new ideas to help save our world. Inventor of Aquygen™ , Klien says that he’s found a new way to create gas made out of ordinary water with his invention. Aquygen™, also known as HHO gas, and is being commerically used from fusing to heating. It can cut and weld faster than the traditional method and is safer. Also, the unique properties of Aquygen will be ideal for increasing BTU’s while decreasing emissions. It is also compatible with Hybrid Hydrogen-Powered Cars. Too good to be true, perhaps. Skeptic? That’s completely understandable.

For the skeptics out there, Mr. Denny Klein has you in mind as well. Two cars, tested, documented, patent-pending and seen on Fox news and CNN. Kleins’ Hybrid Hydrogen Oxygen System (HHOS) can enhance the fuel-efficiency of a traditional gasoline run vehicles 20 – 30%. This is achieved since the HHOS generates the Aquygen gas, which in turn is able to bond with traditional gasoline. That’s not all when it comes to bondage, (not the leather and whips type people.) It can also bond to a variety of gaseous fuels and liquid fuels, depending on what it is being used for.

Gaseous fuels such as natural gas and magnesias fuel, etc. For the liquid fuels diesel, and liquid petroleum, etc. When this additive bonds it significantly improves their thermal content as well as the environmental quality of their exhaust.

Rock on. So where do you get one? Sorry not in production yet, but there is still good news. In the Tampa Bay area Hydrogen Technology Applications, Inc offer demonstrations for investors, dealers, licensees, and strategic business partners. You can also visit their site to request demonstrations. They predict Aquygen to be available in 2008.

Keeping it Green.

What Is Global Climate Change Part 1

When we talk about global climate change we are in fact referring to what is known as the greenhouse effect. So in order for everyone to know exactly what we are talking about I wanted to explain this a little further.

Greenhouse gases are what keeps our planet warm. (try to picture our planet with a large glasshouse built around it keeping the heat in). Greenhouse gases exist naturally in our atmosphere. These gases trap the energy that comes from the sun which in turn heats up our atmosphere. This whole process is known as the greenhouse effect and without it our planet would be around -18 degrees Celsius. As it stands the typical surface temperature of our planet is around 15 degrees Celsius.

Now that you understand this let's move on to talk about changing temperatures. Studies carried out around the world have shown that our global climate is changing and that in the last 100 years our atmosphere has heated up by approximately half a degree Celsius. I know that this doesn't sound like much but it is having disasterous effects and has led to the world standing up and taking notice of what we now call global warming.

You may wonder what has led to this change in global temperature and this is what I want to talk about next.

Over the last 100 years it is us humans that have been causing the damage. We have been emitting extra greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These are the result of burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas. There are a large number of gases that are included in this and we will move on to talk about them later.

I am going to finish this post now and hopefully you can see that global climate change is something that we humans have caused and let's hope it is something that we can help to stop. As we move on through these basic post we will discuss: greenhouse gases, natural changes that have occured, what the future holds, and the impact that global warming will have on our planet.

Once you have read and fully understood all the basic posts you will then fully appreciate the posts in our other categories.

Until next time remember, it is our planet and it is up to us to save it.

Global Warning: The Time Is Now!

Sure, there is little doubt left that our corner of the Universe is warming, that Planet Earth's climate is changing. No one can, in good faith, deny this evidence. But just how much do we know about global warming? The answer is, probably not very much.... Well, definitely not as much as we need to take charge. Problem is, we do NEED to take charge. And take charge NOW. So, here at Global Warming Uncovered, we have come up with this column, Global Warning: The Time Is Now! Because we do think that with what has already been uncovered about this hot topic we can start, not only raising awareness around us, but also rethinking our habits and lifestyles. We will be posting Five Fast Facts for everyone to think about, and What You Can Do suggestions on what is expected of us all. Now one thing we do not need to know - other than in order to maximize the efficiency of our fight by taking adequate corrective actions - is how responsible we humans are for global warming. Because it doesn't matter. And because we don't want to sound like we are trying to exonerate ourselves and hide behind our (not so) clear conscience. Many have so far. It's time to change that. Together, let's save our planet!

Today's Five Fast Facts

1. Over the last century, the average temperature has rised about 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.6 of a degree Celsius) around the world.

2. The spring ice thaw in the Northern Hemisphere occurs 9 days earlier than it did 150 years ago, and the fall freeze now typically starts 10 days later.

3. The 1990s was the warmest decade since the mid-1800s, when record-keeping started. The hottest years recorded were: 1998, 2002, 2003, 2001, and 1997.

4. Over the last million years the Earth has fluctuated between colder and warmer periods. The shifte have occurred in roughly 100,000-year intervals thought to be regulated by sunlight. Earth's sunlight quota depends upon its orbit and celestial orientation.

5. The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects that global temperatures will rise an additional 3 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit (1.6 to 5.5 degrees Celsius) by century's end.

We look forward to your next visit as we plan to post many more global warming Fast Facts and What You Can Do's. Remember: The time is now. Let's make a difference together!

Global Warming Uncovered - It's Time To Save Our Planet

Welcome One and All,

Unless you have had your head in the sand for the past number of years, you will be aware of Global Warming and the threat that it is having on our planet. The increase in temperatures, climate change, polar ice cap melting, unpredictable weather patterns, etc.

These are all part of Global Warming and they are set to increase. The purpose of Global Warming Uncovered is to educate the everyday person on how to prevent these changes. Did you know that simple everyday things that you take for granted such as choosing between paper and plastic can have an effect on our environment.

It's time for change and time to save our planet.

With that said, we would like to welcome you to Global Warming Uncovered and state that it is our intention to provide you with up to date information on the effects of Global Warming and what we ALL need to do to help prevent it.

Remember it's OUR planet and WE all need to HELP SAVE IT.