Archive for sustainable farming
There is always a variety of green stories in the news and this week is no exception. This edition of green news of the week features: Toys R Us green building plans, Jake Gyllenhaal promotes sustainable solutions, 25 Recycling facts not everyone knows, Greenland glaciers melting at a record pace, CO2 emissions in the US have increased by almost 4 percent, and Ford and Toyota are working together on hybrid engines for SUVs and trucks. If you see a headline and want to learn more, just click on it to read the full article.
Toys R Us Embeds Green Building Elements in Store Expansion Plans
Green building development, recycling, renewable energy and sustainability plays a key role in Toys R Us plans for 21 new stores and 23 existing stores being renovated. “According to Toys R Us, the new and renovated stores all have sophisticated energy management systems; outdoor signs with LED bulbs that last at least 2 1/2 times as long as the fluorescent bulbs they replace; low-flow plumbing and water fixtures that are expected to save about 34,000 gallons a year at each superstore; high-efficiency automatic hand dryers that use 80 percent less energy than standard devices and a cardboard baler that supports the company’s recycling program.”
Jake Gyllenhaal Helps Inner-City Kids Learn About Sustainable Farming and Healthy Eating
Jake Gyllenhaal gets his hands dirty teaching kids about sustainable farming and healthy eating. Jake is endorsing an ‘edible education’ by teaching kids to grow and cook their own food just like his family did when he was growing up. Watch the video with Gyllenhaal on The Today Show over at ecorazzi.com
25 Interesting Facts You May Not Know About Recycling
Recycling should be a common practice in any green lifestyle, but it’s important to recognize the environmental impact of the decisions we make. This list of 25 recycling facts is often surprising, always informative and underscores why recycling is essential for the long-term health and sustainability of our planet.
Greenland glaciers show record losses
Increased service temperatures have caused significant losses for Greenland’s glaciers in 2010 and 2011, according to an announcement from researchers this week. “Our fieldwork results are a key indication of the rapid changes now being seen in and around Greenland, which are evident not just on this glacier but also on many surrounding small glaciers,” study researcher Edward Hanna said in a statement. “It’s clear that this is now a very dynamic environment in terms of its response and mass wastage to ongoing climate change.”
U.S. Carbon Emissions Up Nearly 4 Percent
Here’s some shocking green news on CO2 emissions considering all the global green progress, I found this quite disappointing. “U.S. carbon emissions rose by 3.9 percent in 2010, which is the greatest increase since 1988, according to an annual report from the Energy Information Administration.”
Ford, Toyota to work together on hybrid trucks
Ford and Toyota announced Monday they will collaborate on a gas-electric hybrid engine for pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles. “Those kinds of models are indispensable to American customers. And providing them with our hybrid technology will help conserve energy and reduce output of greenhouse gas here in the United States. That was our thinking in considering the collaboration,” said Takeshi Uchiyamada, Toyota’s executive vice president for research and development.
And that’s a few of the highlights from this past week in green news.
August 25, 2011
Tags: carbon emissions, Climate Change, CO2, co2 emissions, conserve energy, edible education, energy efficiency, Ford, Ford Hybrid SUV, Ford Hybrids, glaciers, glaciers melting, green news, greenhouse gas, greenhouse gases, Greenland glaciers, hybrid engine, hybrid engines, hybrid SUV, hybrid trucks, Jake Gyllenhaal, LED bulbs, low-flow water fixtures, organic farming, organic foods, recycle, Recycling, recycling facts, reduce waste, renewable energy, sustainability, sustainable bottles, sustainable farming, Sustainable Practice, sustainable practices, Sustainable Solution, sustainable solutions, The Today Show, Toyota, Toyota hybrid SUV, toyota hybridsEco-friendly packaging for chips – made from potatoes
Posted by: | CommentsAs you may recall the eco-friendly efforts of Frito-Lay with their Sun Chips brand packaging caused quite a buzz when the compostable packaging was removed from many flavours due to the bags being too noisy according to customers! I’d written about that previously on this post, but now a new story from the UK brings snack food packaging back into the spotlight for sustainable packaging ideas in an exciting way. ‘Walkers’ make the most popular potato chips (crisps) in the UK market and the manufacturers promise a new bag will be introduced in the future that not only will be made from potato skins but they guarantee it will also be much quieter than the effort from Sun Chips. Hopefully that will silence the critics. Interestingly, Walkers are owned by Frito-Lay who in turn are owned by PepsiCo – the food and drinks giant who are investing a huge amount to further their sustainable practices.
Walker's look to make packaging from potatoes
They’ve announced that the new bags are hoping to reach the market in 2012 following extensive testing, reports from the Carbon Trust show that the average bag of Walkers crisps creates about 80 g of carbon dioxide with approximately a third of that due to the packaging. PepsiCo are linking this to part of their overall initiative to reduce carbon footprint that they manufacture by improving water consumption, reducing waste, recycling in greater quantity and ramping up changing their farming methods where possible. Due to the international passion for snack foods and compostable packaging looks more and more likely to become a growing staple within the industry, PepsiCo with Walkers are looking to develop the packaging using the offshoots and waste from the actual manufacturing of the chips. The plan is for unused potato skins and roots from the crops to be combined into a hybrid that will actually contain the chips themselves. It would result in complete use of the crops being grown, significant waste reduction and a bag that can be composted easily and efficiently. While the Sun Chips saga made headlines for the strangest reason due to the noise made by the bags, customer feedback also showed that many consumers loved the idea of the packaging and were sad to see it go. With the continued advances in technologies there is a great likelihood that packaging will become more and more biodegradable, the thought of filling a recycling bin as well as a compost bin might not appeal to everyone but it provides options for many that will be more environmentally friendly. I must mention that Walkers make the most amazing crisps, and offer a range of flavours that borders on the absurd as you can tell by the image on today’s story.
The chips are down in the race for the most eco-friendly packaging, I’m excited to see who will win – hopefully everyone.
Tags: compostable packaging, composting, Eco Friendly, eco friendly packaging, frito-lay, pepsico, planet forward, potatoes for packaging chips, Recycling, sun chips, sun chips packaging, sustainable farming, sustainable packaging, walkers crispsNew emission free tractor looks set to conquer farms globally
Posted by: | CommentsWhile the media and the public spend a great deal of time getting excited about the prospect of electric cars, hybrids and vehicles with lower emissions another type of vehicle consumes extremely high amounts of fuel but rarely gets mentioned. Farm equipment and particularly tractors often get less than 10 miles per gallon primarily due to the emphasis on power for such vehicles. Needless to say this results in high energy usage and emissions down on the farm.
New Holland feel they have a solution at hand and are introducing a concept tractor that the manufacturer is calling “the zero emission tractor of the future”. The vehicle will be hydrogen powered completely emission free not to mention almost silent in its operation. New Holland are putting the vehicle on show in Boone, Iowa the heart of America’s corn producing state. The need for power in a tractor should be addressed by the output of 106 hp which is in keeping with the vehicles it looks to compete against. The the manufacturer added:
“Farmers are in a unique position to benefit from hydrogen technology. Unlike many people they have space to install alternative electricity generation systems, such as solar, wind, biomass or waste, and then store that power as hydrogen”
The idea of an alternative to traditional gasoline or diesel tractors is far more than fanciful although a late start compared with the passenger vehicle industry. The concept is also extremely beneficial due to the fact that vehicles considered ‘heavy/industrial’ will now be under the scrutiny of new government standards concerning vehicle omissions. New Holland are already a large player in both the construction and agricultural vehicle markets and fall under the umbrella of the Fiat group. These facts by themselves should aid the company in marketing and promoting the tractor of the future to farmers who already have decades of satisfaction and experience from the manufacturer.
I find the approach even more fascinating due to the fact that the energy source on an energy independent farm such as one that benefits from wind turbines or solar power could mean that there would be no transportation of the hydrogen required to power the tractor. The tractor is causing quite the positive buzz and farming circles and winning awards for concept and design in both Europe and North America. Hopefully achieving a large market share in the tractor industry will accelerate the idea of a green farm in the very near future.
To learn more about New Holland please visit their site.
The tractor’s debut in 2009
Tags: alternate fuel, electric cars, electric tractor, green tractor, hybrids, hydrogen cell, hydrogen powered tractor, new holland, new holland farm equipment, planet forward, rechargeable tractor, sustainable farming
