Rare earth not so rare

This map is almost impossible to see, but all those dots represent deposits of rare earth. Not so rare now, are ya? The NYT had a short article on where these inputs crucial to everything from color televisions to electric vehicles are located around the world. Despite their global prevalence, the Chinese have almost cornered the market essentially because they do not give a F about what the nasty extraction process does to the environment.

Very interesting concept

NYC has taken a very cool step in reducing the city's power needs. It's so simple it's odd it's only finally taking place in 2010. The city is painting it roofs white. By painting the roofs of buildings white, they are "making them reflect sunlight, cutting down on temperatures in crowded urban areas, and reducing the need for air-conditioning." (Fast Company)

If they eventually get all of the roofs in NYC whitewashed, it would lower the temperature in the city by 2 degrees. While this may not seem like a lot, it would have a DRAMATIC effect on power needs. For example, "in a one-story building, a reflective white coating could cut down on air conditioning by up to 50 percent." That has HUGE potential for the overall power demands of the city.

For building owners, this lowers costs significantly and greatly improves the lifespan of their HVAC equipment.

Great stuff. Thanks to Fast Company.

Next in environmental catastrophe news...

Sorry, this isn't what everyone wanted to read today I'm sure. Anyway, the Brazilian government plans to auction off its rain forests to logging companies in hopes of squashing illegal logging operations, stemming the destruction of the rain forests, and making some money. Here's how it works:

Right now, the Brazilian government only sells about 370,000 acres of rain forests to loggers. This isn't enough to meet demand so illegal operations practice slash and burn tactics and destroy way more rain forest (in a way more destructive manner) than can regenerate. As of now, slash and burn tactics have destroyed over 20% of the planet's rain forests. F**K.

To mitigate this destruction, the government wants to up its logging concessions to 2.47 million acres by year end and 27 million in the next several years. Yes, that's a lot - roughly the size of Virginia - but apparently it's by a means and at a rate that will allow the rain forest to regenerate.

I guess what I'm saying is, don't print these blog posts to read on your commute home, as much as you'd probably like to.

*From Fast Company

Oh crap...

"Oh crap moment of the day" brought to you by Fast Company:

If humanity continues sucking up resources at its current rate, we will need a second planet to meet our material needs by 2030 and the equivalent of 2.8 planets by 2050. That's the conclusion of the World Wildlife Fund's biennial "Living Planet Report", which evaluates our ecological footprint--the total demand on Earth's ecosystems. The good news is, we can still turn things around.

The WWF's ecological footprint metric tracks "the area of biologically productive land and water required to provide the renewable resources people use, and includes the space needed for infrastructure and vegetation to absorb waste carbon dioxide (CO2)." According to the organization, our footprint exceeded the planet's capacity by 50% in 2007. It has doubled in size since 1966.

Read more here if you haven't already abandoned your desk and started stockpiling canned food.

They're pitching boxed water now

Not joking here. One company argues that buying your water by the box is better for the environment than the plastic bottle and they've created a product to support that. While the box of water does, in fact, have a smaller impact on the environment than the plastic bottle, it still has an impact and a MUCH greater impact than delicious tap water.

Dear everyone, please stop f'ing around, go buy a reusable water bottle and even if you need to get a water filter or something like that, drink from your tap.

Anyway, here's a photo of the product below.

ARPA-E

How sweet is that as an acronym for a Government grant program? Sounds like something a bad guy in MacGuyver would have on the back of his jumpsuit.

Anyway, it's the Feds' program to fund "moonshot" green technology ideas (read: "out-there shit").

This is news today because the Feds just doled out $10 million to new initiatives including kites that produce energy...which is sweet. From Fast Company:

Google-backed Makani Power is getting the most funding ($3 million) for its airborne wind turbine, which converts wind energy into electricity using tethered wings outfitted with turbines. In other words, Makani is using kites to generate energy. The company is currently working on its first 1 MW turbine kite, which is expected to be finished in a year and a half. After that, the kite will undergo a year and a half of testing before hitting the market.

You read that correctly, 'Google-backed.' Apart from a very intriguing diversification for Google, it's really nice to see one of our most innovative companies helping drive these new technologies.

Read about ARPA-E here.

Machine turns plastic into oil

You read the headline right, an inventor in Japan has invented a machine that turns #2, 3 and 4 plastic into oil. Before we all collectively lose our shit over this potentially world-changing invention, it still requires a good amount of power to complete this task. Make no mistake, once they really work to develop this and make it more efficient, it could have immediate benefits. Obviously, this isn't the same as replacing our dependence on oil with a renewable energy source, but it's still cool and for the next 50 years, could make a big difference.

From Big Think and authored by my favorite nerd, Maria Popova, an excerpt below, full article here:

To harness this energy while addressing the waste problem, Japanese company Blest has created a machine that converts several types of plastic into oil.

Rather than burning the plastic using flame, which generates CO2, the machine uses a temperature-controlled electric heater to convert plastic into crude gas, which can then be used to power gas-based household appliances like stoves, boilers and generators or, if refined, can even be pumped into a car or motorcycle. Small yet highly efficient, the machine produces nearly one liter of oil – gasoline, diesel or kerosine – from every kilogram of plastic, requiring only 1 kilowatt of electricity for the conversion.

Disturbing Infographic of the Day

From "The Little Book of Shocking Eco Facts"

The numbers below are GROSS