Green Tech Girl

I was at a friend’s over the weekend and we were playing some games on his Xbox 360. It seems that every time we’re in the middle of a game, one of the wireless controllers dies due to weak batteries. I have to wonder: Is it really that much better to go wireless when you constantly need to change batteries? The wired controllers never needed a battery switch.

I do have a wireless mouse on my desktop. I use the computer to watch TV sometimes and a wireless mouse serves as a remote control of sorts. I use rechargeable batteries to avoid creating unnecessary waste. Still, there is something to be said for having wires that power up a peripheral instead of batteries.

I was never a huge believer in biofuels – why burn corn for fuel when we have people dying of hunger on this planet? There are plenty of other ways to power cars without resorting to burning crops. Now the UN is weighing in. Not only could biofuels create food shortages, but they may also contribute to global warming. An excerpt from the AP report:

But in recent months, scientists, private agencies and even the British government have said biofuels could do more harm than good. Rather than protecting the environment, they say energy crops destroy natural forests that actually store carbon and thus are a key tool in the fight to reduce global warming.

With the American housing market absolutely imploding right now, some cynics are suggesting that “green” may be the next bubble. Biodiesel, solar panels, wind power…all are being deemed as possibly the next hot investment in so-called “environmentalist flim-flam”…but in my opinion, we need alternative fuel much more than we need a new row of McMansions. Investment in alternative energy sources is exactly what we need, and I don’t care whether it’s backed up by hype or not.

In case you had not heard, there’s been a huge brouhaha in the past week over a massive billing error at one of the top webhosting companies, Dreamhost. I found out about it when my friend (who I had referred) asked me why she was being billed in January for a September due date. We discovered that Dreamhost accidentally billed a year in advance (inputting 2009 instead of 2008 or something like that). She got an email back from Dreamhost, felt happy that she had a refund coming, and that was that. (My account was fortunately not charged, since my credit card had expired.)

Well, that wasn’t exactly that. That might have been that for her, but for many others, the charge put them in the red and the refunds were slow in coming. The blogosphere has been aflame with the issue, and the drama has been a whole soap opera of its own. What has amazed me is seeing how many people are living so close to the edge. Dreamhost users were on the official blog, complaining that they had no money for food or baby formula. Baby formula? You’ve got kids, and you spend money for webhosting when you have no savings set aside for emergencies? Yikes. (more…)

I have no idea what a “nanowire” is, but any solar cell that is cheaper and more efficient gets a thumbs up from me:

Scalable LowCost Nanowire Solar Photovoltaic Cell Innovation

This is the question asked, and pondered quite intelligently, by Richard T. Stuebi on the Cleantech Blog. Among other comments of note:

We aspire to free-market capitalism in the United States, and we come pretty close to achieving it, closer than most countries in the world. And, because we are very capitalistic, it is easy to make the leap that American consumerism is inextricably a co-product of capitalism. It is not. (more…)

Here is an interesting tidbit…engineers in Sweden are looking to harness the excess body heat of commuters and use it to heat up an office building. What a great idea! Now if I could only harness the body heat of my cat to heat up my apartment…

Don’t throw that old computer out: Install Linux on it instead!

In a previous article, I discussed how upgrading to Windows Vista could end up costing more in terms of upgraded hardware. Additionally, many older computers (even from a few years ago) won’t be able to handle the increased resource requirements of Vista. Linux, however, can run perfectly fine on older computers without needing to purchase more e-waste in the form of excess RAM if you just want something for web-browsing and word processing. In the least, consider keeping that older computer around to test out Linux instead of just throwing it out.

So if you are curious, here’s a look at how you might upgrade to the Linux operating system. (more…)

“CFL Bulbs” (compact fluorescents) are the new green light bulb – despite concerns over mercury in the bulbs. (I’ve also heard some rumblings of reports of people getting migraines from these bulbs..we’ll see.) These new CFL bulbs are now coming in new shapes and can even be dimmed. See:

10 New CFLs To Fit Your Life and Lamps

Even if this automotive monstrosity drove on pure dog doo, it would still be an obnoxious, annoying vehicle.

The big automotive news out today is that automakers are now focusing on pushing fuel-efficient vehicles and “green alternatives.” More and more there are ads on television, filmed in the great outdoors, trying to showcase hybrid SUVs as if they were somehow good for the environment.

SUVs are not good for the environment. A hybrid SUV is the lesser of two evils…but it’s still a huge resource hog. It’s not just SUVs though. Consider the following from the article “Auto industry shows off fuel-efficiency“:

In 1987, for example, the average vehicle could accelerate to 60 miles per hour in 13.1 seconds, weighed 3,221 pounds and had a 118 horsepower engine, offering about the same power as a 2008 Nissan Versa subcompact, which offers 122 horsepower.

By 2007, according to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the average vehicle weighed 4,144 pounds, boasted a 223 horsepower engine and did zero to 60 in 9.6 seconds.

What an advance in technology. Because we all know how totally important it is to do zero to 60 in our everyday driving, and that extra 3 seconds is worth polluting the air for. We’ve certainly had our priorities straight for the past 10 years…ummm…not quite.

Well, at least they are taking some baby steps in the right direction.