Welcome back for another edition of our weekly green news highlights. This week:  hybrid sharks were discovered swimming in the waters off Australia’s east coast; solar ATMs provide service to rural India; and Habitat for Humanity is building energy efficient homes and helping low income homeowners with reduced monthly utility costs.

Hybrid black tip shark containing both common and Australian black tip DNA (Image credit: uq.edu.au)

Ready for new hybrids?  Australia’s hybrid shark reveals evolution in action.  Is climate change causing different species of sharks to mate and create hybrids?  MSNBC reports that Hybrid sharks have been discovered in the waters off the east coast of Australia. According to a research team, the hybrids may be driven by climate change and more hybrids could become common discoveries in the future. The hybridization is between the Australian black tip shark which prefers tropical waters and the larger, Common black tip shark, which favours sub-tropical and temperate waters. “To actually find something like this and prove it genetically is unprecedented,” said Bob Hueter, director of the Center for Shark Research at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida.

Solar ATMs Bring Change(s) to Rural India. Vortex Engineering has developed an ATM (Automated Teller Machine) that provides services to rural areas using solar power. The machine uses about as much electricity as a 70-watt lightbulb. “The initial lot of 400 solar ATMs, aptly called Gramateller (‘gram’ means village), the world’s largest order, placed by the State Bank of India ( SBI), has been winning accolades for performance and substantial energy savings. The ATMs were installed in 2010-11 across several states, usually within 20-50 km of the district headquarters, Vijay Babu, CEO of Vortex Engineering, which makes these units, told IANS from Chennai. Following SBI’s success with solar ATMs, the Catholic Syrian Bank also placed an order for 50 Gramatellers and Indian Bank for 20, while 10 more have been ordered by other banks, he added.” A solar-powered ATM saves over 90% of annual expenses in comparison to traditional ATMs.

Habitat goes green, saves green for residents. Antonio and Christie Miller of Nashville and Casey Greer are happy to see the decline in their utility bills thanks to their Habitat for Humanity built home that was designed to meet top energy efficiency standards.  Habitat for Humanity, a non-profit organization, is responsible for building 4,800 homes in the United States and Canada in the last year, and they are committed to building energy efficient homes that are both affordable and green. Habitat homeowners agree.  “Oh, my gosh, my utility bills are awesome,” Greer said.  “This summer when it was extremely warm, I think the highest bill was 80 bucks. In my old place, the cheapest bill was almost $200.”  Habitat programs in Nashville, Denver and Goshen, Ind., earned the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2011 Energy Star Sustained Excellence award for dedication to reducing greenhouse emissions through energy efficiency.  With Habitat building homes for low income families, increased energy efficiency equates to lower monthly bills thereby making the ongoing costs to live there more affordable.
 
Are you afraid to go back in the water with new ‘hybrid’ sharks out there (I’m terrified of sharks)?  Do you think solar ATMs will be popularized in North America?  And bravo Habitat for Humanity, for green building and helping residents save on monthly utility expenses.  Stay tuned for more green news.
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