News: Are the signs of Spring changing? LA's first bike-friendly district; Can aquaponics be a solution to California's drought?

>Plane, train or automobile: Which has the biggest footprint? This isn't a new question, but do you actually know whether taking the train is greener than driving? And just how bad is flying, anyway? According to the National Geographic Green Guide, you roughly double your emissions if you cancel your plane reservations and drive across the country instead. If you take the train, then you’ll cut carbon dioxide (CO2) by half compared to the plane. A key reason is that the train (or the diesel bus) may be a big carbon emitter, but it’s designed to carry a lot of passengers, so the per capita emissions are a lot lower. Read more.

>Warming World App. The heat is on for the planet as a whole, but what has been happening where you live? Click on the map to find out, or enter a location in the search box at top right. The initial map shows average temperatures over the past 20 years; use the drop-down menu to see maps for earlier periods.

>California leads the way in solar jobs, but 18 other states more than doubled their solar jobs in 2013, according to a new map. The map, published by the Solar Foundation as part of their National Solar Jobs Census, found that Southern states were some of the most active in creating solar jobs in 2012 — new solar jobs in North Carolina, Georgia, Texas and Louisiana accounted for nearly a quarter of the total new solar jobs added last year. In Georgia and North Carolina, solar installation jobs doubled, bringing their respective totals to 2,600 and 3,100.

>Is aquaponics the answer to California's drought?

Last year was the driest in California’s history, and as the state’s drought worsens, farmers are looking at new ways to grow food, including aquaponics. Aquaponics, which combines gardening with fish farming, is a method of food production that uses 90 percent less water than regular farming.

>Los Angeles is launching the city’s first Bicycle Friendly Business District (BFBD) in Northeast L.A. that will serve as a pilot program for a larger citywide initiative in 2015-16. The public-private partnership aimed at bringing more cyclists to commercial corridors will install bike infrastructure including parking (racks and corrals), repair stations, bikeways, signage and maps of the bikeway network.

>For eons in New England, a First Sign of Spring has been sap oozing from a maple tree. In northwestern Montana, officials at Glacier National Park report that a long understood First Sign of Spring is the appearance of a bear — emerging from hibernation. In other parts of the country, the telltale signs have long been natural recurrences, such as the appearance of crocuses,sandhill cranes, great blue herons and stinging nettles.

But the world is changing and maybe it's time to reconsider and draw up a new list. Where do we look in 2014 for that initial hint of spring – the season's on-button?

News: A 3D printed car; A sparkling glass of wastewater; London's garden-topped bridge

>About two years from now, Cody and Tyler Kor, 20 and 22 years old and sons of Jim Kor, will drive coast-to-coast in the lozenge-shaped Urbee 2, a car made mostly by 3D printing. Jim Kor is thepresident of Kor Ecologic and team leader of the Urbee 2 project. Urbee 2 will have a minimal environmental impact—thanks, in large part, to 3D printing. Compared to a traditional auto plant, the Urbee production facilities would be inexpensive to build and run, largely because the 50 parts comprising the body could be made on-site by 3D printers.

>Today the beauty of Los Angeles is dramatically symbolic of the ancient prophecy the desert shall "blossom like a rose."This blossoming was made possible by the birth of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, opened 100 years ago this month. The opening of the aqueduct might as well have been the birth of the modern West and the image of the city as a Garden of Eden. 

 >Here, Drink A Nice Glass Of Sparkling Clear Wastewater: In California's Silicon Valley, there will soon be a new source of water for residents. That may not sound like big news, but the source of this water – while certainly high-tech — is raising some eyebrows. With freshwater becoming more scarce in many parts of the country, the public may have to overcome its aversion to water recycling.

One man's sewage is another man's drinking water. As wastewater comes through this pipe, straw-like filters get rid of any contaminants wider than a human hair. That's just one step of the purification process.

   >Kyocera Corporation has just launched Japan’s largest offshore solar power plant. Clean energy generated by the 70MW Kagoshima Nanatsujima Mega Solar Power Plant will be sold back to the national grid through a local utility company. Although the utility-scale solar plant went online November 1, 2013, it was officially inaugurated on November 4. Read more.

Thomas Heatherwick Unveils New Images of London Garden Bridge as Public Consultation Phase Launches.

 

>A garden-topped bridge designed by Thomas Heatherwick could span the River Thames by 2017, creating a new green park for London. The project’s engineering consultants at Arup just unveiled exciting new images of the design as the Garden Bridge Trust begins public consultation, supported by Transport for London (TfL).

>A Light Bulb That's Also A Flashlight:  With this dual-purpose device, you won't have to fumble around for a flashlight for trick-or-treating or the next time the power goes out. The Bulb Flashlight is a low-heat, rechargeable LED bulb that doubles as a handheld flashlight. The bulb charges when screwed into a light fixture but works as a torch for up to four hours without a battery. Extend the handle after screwing off the bulb and you have an instant source of portable light.

News: Your morning coffee can have an effect on sustainability; The fastest zero-emission motorcycle ever; Ikea is selling solar panels; Could payphones be converted to EV charging stations?

>"For many decades, we have been relying on fossil resources to produce liquid fuels such as gasoline, diesel, and many industrial and consumer chemicals for daily use. However, increasing strains on natural resources as well as environmental issues including global warming have triggered a strong interest in developing sustainable ways to obtain fuels and chemicals. 

On September 29, a Korean research team led by Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) reported, for the first time, the development of a novel strategy for microbial gasoline production through metabolic engineering of E. coli. The research team engineered the fatty acid metabolism to provide the fatty acid derivatives that are shorter than normal intracellular fatty acid metabolites, and introduced a novel synthetic pathway for the biosynthesis of short-chain alkanes. This allowed the development of platform E. coli strain capable of producing gasoline for the first time."

 >"Swedish flat-pack furniture giant IKEA will start selling residential solar panels at its stores in Britain, the first step in its plan to bring renewable energy to the mainstream market worldwide. The company started selling solar panels made by China's Hanergy in its store in Southampton on Monday. It will sell them in the rest of Britain in coming months, it said. A standard, all-black 3.36 kilowatt system for a semi-detached home will cost 5,700 British pounds ($9,200) and will include an in-store consultation and design service as well as installation, maintenance and energy monitoring service." 

 >"In an intriguing development across New York City there is speculation that the authorities may soon look at converting existing payphones into electric car charging stations. On the surface this may look like yet another crazy idea connected with the electric vehicle industry but if you take a step back, consider the options, it may just be feasible."

Quote from ElectricForum.com : "I'd like to pose a dilemma that cities all over the world are dealing with. Private resident EV owners who park in the street because they don't have a driveway. How do they charge their car?"

> "The U.S. Army is spending billions of dollars shifting toward solar energy, recycled water and better-insulated tents. The effort isn't about saving the Earth. Instead, commanders have found they can save lives through energy conservation. It’s especially true in Afghanistan, where protecting fuel convoys is one of the most dangerous jobs, with one casualty for every 24 missions in some years.

With renewable energy, “there is no supply chain vulnerability, there are no commodity costs and there’s a lower chance of disruption,” Richard Kidd, the deputy assistant secretary of the Army in charge of energy security, said in an interview. “A fuel tanker can be shot at and blown up. The sun’s rays will still be there.”

Gunmen in southwestern Pakistan torched a dozen tankers carrying fuel to NATO troops and killed a driver, police said, the latest strike against supply convoys heading for Afghanistan since Pakistan shut a key border crossing in this 2010 file photo.

> "Two years ago, engineers at Mission Motors, a California electric vehicle manufacturer, set their prototype loose at the 2.238-mile Laguna Seca Raceway. The bike clocked a lap time of 1:31.3, nearly 13 seconds faster than any other electric bike and almost as fast as a 600cc gas guzzler. In 2014, the company will release the street-legal version of that bike, the Mission R. Despite its massive battery and thanks to a custom chassis and motor, the bike is both compact and powerful enough to chase down its conventionally powered competition."

>"The Western U.S. could reap huge benefits in pollution savings and reduced spending on fossil fuels by installing more wind and solar power plants, according to a comprehensive new analysis released today by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The study found that obtaining 25 percent of electricity in the Western U.S. from renewable energy will reduce carbon dioxide pollution by up to 34 percent and save $7 billion annually in fossil fuel costs.

The NREL report also conclusively puts to rest the fossil fuel industry myth that wind energy’s pollution savings are smaller than expected because fossil-fired power plants run at lower efficiency when wind is generating electricity. Even at the very high level of renewable energy use examined in the report, the impact on the efficiency of fossil-fired power plants was found to be “negligible,” reducing the carbon emissions reduction benefits of wind and solar by only 0.2 percent, so that on net wind and solar produced 99.8 percent of the expected emissions savings."

>"When your office’s overzealous air conditioner is creating a sub-arctic work environment, what measures will you take to keep warm? Will you go right to the thermostat, or do you put on a sweater, make some hot tea or perhaps even plug in a space heater? A Drexel engineer is looking at how these behaviors affect your thermal comfort and the office’s energy usage with the hope of informing future sustainable building design practices with you and your sweater in mind.

Part of Langevin’s survey instructed subjects to explain how they had modified their clothing that day to make themselves more comfortable with the temperature of their office.

Jared Langevin, a doctoral student in the department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, wants to know if you’re too hot or too cold in your office and what you do get comfortable.  Langevin’s goal is to make a computer model for architects, engineers and building managers that accurately reflects how people adjust to their thermal environment on a daily basis."

>"While Los Angeles is globally recognized for its love of the car, it is not associated with myriad of rail lines and train cars scattered throughout the city. These 19th century icons have been abandoned or built over, forming “urban scar tissue” on the city grid as urban sprawl began to take over. Positioned between downtown Los Angeles and the Los Angeles River, the Arts District showcases many of these urban scars. As the area became gentrified in the 1970s with the emergence of housing and commercial amenities infilling the industrial warehouses, the rail lines which used to exist in the area become embedded in streetscapes. Many other unused rail lines follow major streets such as Slauson Ave. and Florence Ave. through the entire city, crossing residential and commercial neighborhoods. Such cases of abandoned rail lines, strands of unused land, and obsolete train cars and flatbeds are lifelessly scattered throughout the city. June Street Architecture’s proposal for Building Trust International’s PlayScapes Competition reclaims this industrial infrastructure and converts it into the much needed park space throughout the city."