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The other night I watched a segment on Discovery’s Daily Planet showing off a race car made with a lot of recycled or renewable materials. The seat of the WorldFirst Formula 3 car is made with soy foam, the body is made with recycled carbon fibre, the steering wheel is made from carrot compounds, and it can run on many flavours of biodiesel. The car’s builders want to push the green envelope, so to speak, to try to match the speeds achievable in a regular Formula 1 car in a more sustainable car.

What do you think, is there a hope that one-off examples can bring change to an industry? Is this akin to NASA developing futuristic technology (the computer mouse, cochlear implants, Tang) that we adopt for life on earth?

I’m trying to read through new legislation passed in Ontario, the Green Energy Act. I’ve heard a few positive things about it so far. Based on some news from agricultural sector representatives, the act should allow farmers to be part of green energy solutions, including turning agricultural products into biofuels. According to the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA), “New biomass [unused crop leftovers such as corn stalks, straw or pods] regulations will provide a base to start an industry for the future using crop scraps along with purpose-grown crops [plants grown for the purpose of energy production] from Ontario farms. Biomass and energy crops create revenue opportunities for farmers.”

Apparently the Act also restricts noise levels on wind turbines and prevents those interested in building solar farms from doing so on top-quality farm land. On the surface, these restrictions make sense, but I’m nervous that traditional energy companies may have lobbied for controls on renewable energy. After all, isn’t residential development of high-quality farmland a bigger concern? Once that good soil is carted away to make room for homes and streets, it’s gone for good.

Clearly I have more reading to do.

What do you think a green energy act should do?

Monday’s Global Wake-Up Call was a citizen effort to press politicians to act on C02 reductions at the climate change talks in Copenhagen this December. Here’s a terrific video showing some of the events that went on around the world.

As a member of the Green Team at the Homemakers offices, I’m helping put on a clothing swap. We thought it would be a fun way to get people together, help everyone save a little money and make sure that good clothes don’t go to waste. I haven’t been to a swap before, so I’m trying to find out what makes this kind of event work well.

Here’s what we’re doing:
- Circulating a poster via e-mail to encourage everyone to bring in their clothing (clean and in good condition)
- Collecting clothing on designated days and giving a chit for each piece (they’re shopping credits for swap day)
- On swap day, we’ll lay out all the clothing on a large table, grouped by type (e.g., women’s pants, men’s shirts)
- All the leftover clothing will go to a charitable organization

Have you tried a clothing swap? Do you have any tips?

Homeamakers.com has some tips on building a recession-ready wardrobe; read the story here.

Listening to CBC Radio’s The Current this morning, I heard about CRS Electronics, a company in Welland, Ont., that’s making LED lighting for streetlights. Since LEDs are many times more efficient than fluorescent lighting, that’s a whole lot of money cities could save by having their repair crews install LEDs lights as conventional bulbs burn out. In the town of Welland, they replaced 65,000 street lights with LED lights.

The best way to compare efficiency of a bulb is to look at how much light you get out of it for the energy it uses. Incandescent bulbs give you about 15 lumens (a measure of light output) per watt. Halogen bulbs give you 24 lumens per watt. Fluorescent bulbs give you 50 to 100 lumens per watt. And LEDs give you 150 lumens per watt (and last for about 50,00 hours).

In my home, we have a mix of incandescent, fluorescent and LED bulbs. I’m finding that LED bulbs are becoming available in brighter and brighter styles, so they are not just for accent lighting anymore. I’ve noticed major lightbulb manufacturers, such as Philips, making LED bulbs for household lighting.

Have you tried making your home lighting more efficient? What do you think of the results?

Look at this amazing shot of a Tesla electric roadster sitting atop four Wedgwood teacups at William Ashley in Toronto. It just goes to show how durable the teacups are — and how sexy the Tesla is! Learn more about it, and its cousin the Tesla S, in this earlier post.

At my post at Homemakers magazine, I get to work with writers to tell inspiring stories of women’s lives, particularly efforts to live healthfully and make the world a better place.

In the October issue, which recently hit newsstands, environmental journalist Alanna Mitchell, author of the best-selling book Sea Sick, writes about the tangible effects of climate change on the people of Bangladesh. She tells the story through three Canadian women who, through CARE and CIDA, have worked to help Bangladeshi people – particularly women – adapt to the frequent flooding that’s been made worse by climate change effects, including rising sea levels and cyclones.

Alanna’s story is a great read and a revealing look at how the carbon we release here in Canada – and everywhere around the world – has a tangible effect on our neighbours.

My friend Julia let me know about a “flash mob” she’s organizing this coming Monday as part of a “Global Wake-Up Call” designed to urge politicians to act on climate change. This Monday, September 21, at 12:18 p.m., in locations all around the world, groups of people will converge to show that people want action on climate change, and that we want our politicians to come up with a solid plan during the UN Climate Change Conference on from December 7 to 18.

The idea is we’ll all set our cell phone alarms to 12:18 p.m., so the entire group’s alarms will go off at once. Everyone is encouraged to place calls to our MPs and others who we think could influence action in Copenhagen. The event will last just a few minutes, so it’s not a big time commitment, it’s just a chance to converge with a bunch of people and send a message.

Julia’s event is at the Toronto Sculpture Garden, 115 King St. E. (just east of Church St.). To join her at noon on Monday, click here. She’s even encouraging people to wear suits and carry briefcases to show that “climate change is everybody’s business.” I’m going to take part in the flash mob near the Homemakers offices in North York.

To find an event near you, click here.

Participants are encouraged to take photos and video during the event and send them to others, post them to blogs and otherwise get the message out about the critical nature of the Copenhagen talks. For one take on why the talks are so critical, listen to the “Oceans of Trouble” podcast from CBC’s Quirks and Quarks.

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Now that the nights are cooling down here in Toronto, home heating is back on the radar. My 1940s home has radiators powered by gas, which makes for a nice warm feel, but I’d like to move to a greener option.

If we had forced air ductwork, I’d look at a high-efficiency heat pump. There is an air-source option now available from Mitsubishi. The Zuba-Central both heats and cools, and unlike most air-source heat pumps sold in Canada, it’s able to run efficiently when it’s as cold as -30 degrees C outside. (It will work in lower temperatures, just not at the same efficiency level.) The Zuba-Central connects to your existing forced air infrastructure using an internal unit that replaces your furnace and an external unit that collects or sheds heat energy (depending on the season) via a coolant loop. I think it’s a great option – but for my home, I have to wait for a ductless version, since we only have radiators.

Of course, for those of you with suitable property, there are geothermal options. While these are typically $30,000 plus to install, they are very efficient.

To make geothermal or air-source heat pumps even greener, you could change your household electricity provider to Bullfrog Power (or another renewable energy provider). Then you’d be running a super-efficient furnace without burning any fossil fuels at all, effectively heating your home without a carbon impact. Wow!

To address our situation, my partner and I are evaluating on-demand hot-water systems that will power my household hot water and the radiators as well, perhaps fed by a solar hot water heater mounted on the roof. Or perhaps we could have ductwork installed in our attic. It’s not easy to retrofit an older home!

Are you trying to move to a greener home heating option?