Thursday, April 23, 2009
Earth Day 2009 reflections – be Green
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
We have gone a long way forward since the first Earth Day which this family seems to remember attending in Union Square Park, with masses of cheerful people. Expectations for future were high. History states that it was initiated in April 22, 1970 as a teach-in, by environmentalist US Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, as a part of a Zero Population Growth movement. Although Earth Day observation dates vary, the concept has picked up momentum world-wide, and green concepts such as global warming became the main thrust around 2000. Wikipedia claims that it is observed by 500M people and 175 national governments.
Actually, whether we like it or not, New Yorkers are some of the greenest people on the earth, particularly Manhattanites. Where else are people living so close together, sharing heat through apartment walls in the winter and sunshine as well, through use of strategically distributed vertical density (highrisers, in common parlance) . We use our bipedal structure to perambulate rather than hop in cars to buy fresh bagels, and take common carriers – buses (oh well, sloppy diesel consuming rather than hydrogen, as in parts of Canada) and subways - for longer distances. There is some thought on part of the Mayor to place solar panels on public buildings and bridges, and make car use below 86th Street super-prohibitive.
It is therefore particularly pleasing to see commercial enterprises, such as the ShopRite supermarkets, embracing Earth Day 2009, April 22, the 39th anniversary of the modern environmental movement, to make public their participation. They were following the example of the three Piscataway NJ middle schools, where with an investment of $1.2M the school district installed 800 solar panels on the roofs of the schools, supplying 20% of their energy requirement and saving $67K in annual costs, more importantly preventing 45 tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere annually, equivalent of planting 13.5 acres of trees or not driving 125,000 miles a year. The ShopRite people at Wharton, NJ have installed 1,600 solar panels, apparently larger, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 280 tons a year, ditto in Marlton, NJ, a store certified with the Energy Star designation since 2007, using 35% less energy than similar locations. Reduce, reuse and recycle is their slogan at Meriden, CT, where the recycle program has saved 50% of their trash removal work. This is where green Manhattan fails – while apartment buildings using city Sanitation Department program can recycle, commercial buildings, supermarkets and offices using commercial trash removal services are not motivated enough to apply the three Rs. Currently a startup project is investigating the possibility of employees in late working offices where they order takeout food -- law firms, brokers, IT shops - to reuse the plastic dishes, but that is just a research effort, as of now.
Reusing plastic is important. While plastic beverage bottles and food dishes can be made of tree and plant-byproduct sources, most of them come from oil based materials, isolated in refineries., as a polymer, polyethylene terephthalate (PET, labeled 1 on the bottles – you will find most plastics are numbered 1-6). Plastic pellets are preformed into tubes and expanded into thin lightweight bottles, a favorite material for cheap shipping. Recycling them is important for humanity (seriously), PET is not a renewable material. Consumers to note.
Some further ways to reduce energy use in tight Manhattan, consider changing your incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs (CFB), which will reduce your energy use by one third, and save $30 per bulb in their lifetime. The incandescent light bulb, which has not changed much since Thomas Edison invented it I 1879, a thin wire in a globe, is heated with electricity to 4000 degrees Fahrenheit until it glows. But 90% of the electricity is wasted in heat. A CFL borrows the light principle from fireflies that use chemicals in their bodies to glow without creating heat. The CFL is a fluorescent tube swirled into a corkscrew shape, with electrodes at each end that send tiny particles through a gas that fills the tube. The inside of the tube is coated with phosphors that release white visible light. Note that there is a small amount of mercury, 4mg per tube, so in case of breakage everything must be carefully cleaned up and disposed properly, as you do with paint, batteries and thermostats. The CFLs last 10 times longer than ordinary light bulbs, so you need not worry too frequently about disposing of burnt out ones.
Watch the media for NYC Earth Day activities and events in cleaning up and refreshing our environment. This article tries to concentrate on activities we can engage in every day, painlessly. Turn off your lights when not in use. Stop your car engine if you are about to wait for more than 30 seconds. Turn off your electronics – computers, televisions, stereos and chargers. The cost of such standby power adds up to $4B for the US, not much when you consider the astronomic figures for Washington’s bailouts and initiatives, but we are also talking about protecting the environment for our families, which is invaluable.
We have gone a long way forward since the first Earth Day which this family seems to remember attending in Union Square Park, with masses of cheerful people. Expectations for future were high. History states that it was initiated in April 22, 1970 as a teach-in, by environmentalist US Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, as a part of a Zero Population Growth movement. Although Earth Day observation dates vary, the concept has picked up momentum world-wide, and green concepts such as global warming became the main thrust around 2000. Wikipedia claims that it is observed by 500M people and 175 national governments.
Actually, whether we like it or not, New Yorkers are some of the greenest people on the earth, particularly Manhattanites. Where else are people living so close together, sharing heat through apartment walls in the winter and sunshine as well, through use of strategically distributed vertical density (highrisers, in common parlance) . We use our bipedal structure to perambulate rather than hop in cars to buy fresh bagels, and take common carriers – buses (oh well, sloppy diesel consuming rather than hydrogen, as in parts of Canada) and subways - for longer distances. There is some thought on part of the Mayor to place solar panels on public buildings and bridges, and make car use below 86th Street super-prohibitive.
It is therefore particularly pleasing to see commercial enterprises, such as the ShopRite supermarkets, embracing Earth Day 2009, April 22, the 39th anniversary of the modern environmental movement, to make public their participation. They were following the example of the three Piscataway NJ middle schools, where with an investment of $1.2M the school district installed 800 solar panels on the roofs of the schools, supplying 20% of their energy requirement and saving $67K in annual costs, more importantly preventing 45 tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere annually, equivalent of planting 13.5 acres of trees or not driving 125,000 miles a year. The ShopRite people at Wharton, NJ have installed 1,600 solar panels, apparently larger, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 280 tons a year, ditto in Marlton, NJ, a store certified with the Energy Star designation since 2007, using 35% less energy than similar locations. Reduce, reuse and recycle is their slogan at Meriden, CT, where the recycle program has saved 50% of their trash removal work. This is where green Manhattan fails – while apartment buildings using city Sanitation Department program can recycle, commercial buildings, supermarkets and offices using commercial trash removal services are not motivated enough to apply the three Rs. Currently a startup project is investigating the possibility of employees in late working offices where they order takeout food -- law firms, brokers, IT shops - to reuse the plastic dishes, but that is just a research effort, as of now.
Reusing plastic is important. While plastic beverage bottles and food dishes can be made of tree and plant-byproduct sources, most of them come from oil based materials, isolated in refineries., as a polymer, polyethylene terephthalate (PET, labeled 1 on the bottles – you will find most plastics are numbered 1-6). Plastic pellets are preformed into tubes and expanded into thin lightweight bottles, a favorite material for cheap shipping. Recycling them is important for humanity (seriously), PET is not a renewable material. Consumers to note.
Some further ways to reduce energy use in tight Manhattan, consider changing your incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs (CFB), which will reduce your energy use by one third, and save $30 per bulb in their lifetime. The incandescent light bulb, which has not changed much since Thomas Edison invented it I 1879, a thin wire in a globe, is heated with electricity to 4000 degrees Fahrenheit until it glows. But 90% of the electricity is wasted in heat. A CFL borrows the light principle from fireflies that use chemicals in their bodies to glow without creating heat. The CFL is a fluorescent tube swirled into a corkscrew shape, with electrodes at each end that send tiny particles through a gas that fills the tube. The inside of the tube is coated with phosphors that release white visible light. Note that there is a small amount of mercury, 4mg per tube, so in case of breakage everything must be carefully cleaned up and disposed properly, as you do with paint, batteries and thermostats. The CFLs last 10 times longer than ordinary light bulbs, so you need not worry too frequently about disposing of burnt out ones.
Watch the media for NYC Earth Day activities and events in cleaning up and refreshing our environment. This article tries to concentrate on activities we can engage in every day, painlessly. Turn off your lights when not in use. Stop your car engine if you are about to wait for more than 30 seconds. Turn off your electronics – computers, televisions, stereos and chargers. The cost of such standby power adds up to $4B for the US, not much when you consider the astronomic figures for Washington’s bailouts and initiatives, but we are also talking about protecting the environment for our families, which is invaluable.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 9:58 AM 
