| they tell us that we lost our tails evolving up from little snails i say its all windmills and sails |
[Nov. 29th, 2007|08:01 am] |
Are We not Green? We Are E-V-O!
 
EVO! it's eco. it's EVOlutionary. It's "your marketplace for natural, clean & green products" and it's brand new (there was actually a media embargo until 8:00 am this morning). it's a web 2.0 green play, but looks way solid + fun! Think of a green version of amazondotcom meets digg, meets GroovyGreen. EVO is a green e-commerce hub-- there's already over 20,000 green products available a mouse click away, but the goal is more than that--- a place for news and views, and (online) community building.
And that they will eventually have members of their community adding products (as well as of course suggesting products to their "friends"). I think this 2.0 part makes this a killer ap (in the sense that a crappy product, a greenwashed product, or a company with horrible customer service will be mentioned by the masses--- as well as the best) so the creme will rise, and the newest-and-greenest will also be able to share the spotlight! Seriously, this is going to be a great watershed for finding the ideal green paint, the ideal eco fashion fall collection, or anything else you can consume. But it's not just about consumption right? Heck no.
Well it is a store, so there is some of that marketing & commercialization (a lot of that-- but really cool stuff like solar purses and electric cars!) But there is a whole section where you can shop around to find the best places to put your money (clean tech, green investments...). And there are so many articles, one might just think this is a blog (but it's not). I read a really nice clear post about B Corporations--- (and boy how i love learning a new term!!!!). And they even have cute video news!
So go check it out! it's EVO, it's live now. Sign up and they'll plant a tree in your name!!! |
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| MDI finds Indian love with TATA. Will finally manufacture theaircar! |
[Nov. 4th, 2007|02:00 pm] |
No, not hot air. Compressed. C-o-m-p-r-e-s-s-e-...
Woooooot! Well there you have it, once more, it pays to be persistent. At least that's how it's panning out for Guy Nègre who, as Green Car Congress just revealed has signed a manufacturing deal for his long awaited MDI Air Car. Yes! the silent car that gets about 125 Miles [at 70 MPH] on a tank of compressed air (and can fill back up in a couple of minutes). So Tata Motors, India's largest automotive manufacturer is going to start cranking these baddies out! And everybody says "Oh yeah!" ...Newly added, they are also going to be manufacturing a hybrid version that runs on gas and compressed air (gas to boost it at higher speeds, as well as to refill the air compression making road trips more doable).
And they don't just have the city cab version anymore, they got a sleek 21st century pickup truck now, and a family vehicle! I wonder if it is silent though, or if it sounds like a balloon slowly deflating (or a whoopee cushion?) Will have to wait and see, but so the question i am thinking is not so much when can i get my hands on a waycool EV, but more, in about 18 months which type of green car is going to be the one to get?? |
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| NREL does CHEVRON, algae style! |
[Nov. 4th, 2007|12:53 pm] |
The Green Slimy blobs from
Roswell NM are taking over!!!
Some interesting news just came onto the wired about Chevron and the NREL's Algae peeps hooking up to develop algae fuels. Finally. It has sunk in. And they're keen to leapfrog whatever developments have already happened, and work with startups to see which algae techs will be the winners. Pretty cool for an Oilco (hope they remember to also bust out the algae jet fuels, as well... ((and yeah i kinda kid about that green slimy thing, algae is green and slimy, but not alien, it's just that when John Sheehan (now VP Sustainability at LiveFuels)started the NREL's aquatic species program ages ago, they had algae "racetracks" in Roswell --of all places-- where they really developed the concept. Anyway, this is a kinda wikked cool story, maybe one day the Condolezza Rice will be filled with biofuels made from waste CO2! wouldn't that be awesome (and even better if Condi is in Jail for War Crimes)? |
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| Fast Times at Russ College of Engineering and Technology |
[Aug. 7th, 2007|08:16 am] |
cheap abundant hydrogen is about to become a reality
Frank Neukomm is a smart man. ok he's not Dean Kamen, but man o man would i love to be involved in the games this guy -CEO of American Security Resources Corporation-is playing. He seems like some Gordon Geko but for good worldchanging! Just a month ago he bought MagWind, one of the coolest VAWT companies there is (i guess Mr. Perot Jr. makes better deals than his dad :p ..but what he did this week blew me away! Blew-me-away.
Not content to wait for companies to develop the technologies we need, he went to the core, and just struck a deal with Ohio University to bring chemical and biomolecular engineering associate professor Gerardine Botte's brand new technology to market. And what does it do? It efficiently turns amonia into hydrogen! And he's a nice guy, OU also gets equity in the company --brand new ASRC subsidiary American Hydrogen Corp. See, ASRC was looking at hydrogen feeds to satisfy the hunger of (yet) another subsidiary; HydraFuel Cell Corp, they read Dr. Botte's research and pounced! Well it took a year to do the deal, but now they are ready to go! And why not? Ammonia is made everywhere... you can make it from fermenting waste, and when you look at the molecular structure, it's as easy to split as water. Maybe easier.
 .
I still like making H out of methane myself, as we end up dealing with mitigating a greenhouse gas as well... but heck, cheap hydrogen would be a way to get us using the stuff regularly, and building up the demand for the slightly more expensive approaches. Just one more small step for Frank Neukomm, one giant step for humankind!!
[important note: i have to put a caveat vaporptor on this story. I'd like to believe it's true, but MagWins while a cool idea, may not really be all that hot, and hasn't really produced anything. And that last pitch they has in TH a month ago with a GIANT sized magwind was so pie in the sky... so that, plus a Fuel Cell company, and we have to make sure that this guy isn't just doing one more vaporware stock push... you know like Zapworld does, or Hybrid Technologies, no real product just lots of green hype. we have to at least keep one eye open, ok cowboys?] |
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| things are panning out in the wild west..... |
[Jul. 23rd, 2007|09:01 am] |
Kholsa's Gevo attracts new 'polylactic CEO' and Sir Richard
Big news last Friday as California's Gevo Inc dropped not one but two bombs on the biofuel world.... it appears they have a new CEO-- one Ptrick Gruber, who's name might sound familiar to you.. and who has touched you-- if you have ever had a bioplastic cup, pen, mug, schwag.... any PLA plastic around is basically from his old haunt (he was CTO at Naturworks/Cargil). But then of course, the big news was Vinod Kholsa's new partner in crime;
Yes! The Branson and his $400M "planet cooling company" is getting on the GEVO train! It's basically the Frances H Arnold Technologies, Gevo has exclusive rights to the stuff-- and any friend of cellulostic ethanol is a friend of ours, right? I just wish "Sir B" would have shown up at the conference with Kholsa airdropping himself to the podium, or skydiving in... you know something Branson-style ...but hey, even without the spectacle, it's quite spectacular! |
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| Blame Hugg ...sorta |
[Dec. 25th, 2006|07:11 pm] |
Hey happy holidays y'all, and I do apologize that i have been such a lameass and not writing regularly since, well jeez, since the summer... I would like you to blame hugg, but it's really not all the hugg's fault. See, a while back, during the summer my buddy Graham asked me to help him with a new site he was developing called hugg. Graham is the brainchild behind the ever popular treehugger.com and a general sweetie-pie (as I have said here many times before) and the hugg idea, basically a green Digg-clone seemed worthwhile. And it has been-- see, now there's something like 15,000 visitors a day and countless people supplying green news (and with all those peeps supplying you can imagine that it's kinda a haven for someone like me...). There's a few regulars there; the bundle of energy called Linton and a very mysterious MayLoveHeal and they make my day, everyday, finding stories and videoclips that blow my mind... so its a nice kinda peerdom, you know? But i promise that in this new year I will import some of the goodies from hugg over to my LJ and no longer abandon it...
I will do the same with something else Ive been building more recently. See, I have been working for this group in Toronto Green Living Enterprises who run a consulting firm, a green investment branch, do events (like this nice green show we're doing in springtime) and FSC magazine, both custom jobs (like this series we're doing for Home Depot called Eco Options all about their 1,000 green products ...and their very own magazine called Green Living. I'm kinda like the guy every one in any department can go to and say "hey Lee, is this (potential advertiser) green?" or "hey Lee, do you know where I can find solar panels that make AC instead of DC??" stuff like that... I'm their answer guy. Though it takes a lot of my time, It's not 100% full time or anything-- I'm still doing other projects-- some waycool ones, and even redoing that Bonnaroo festival this coming summer in a way that will blow everyone's minds!! (big rumour coming up soon!!). But these Green Living peeps sure do take a lot of my time... and one thing that I've been busily doing for them that takes up my previous LJ time, is this daily (monday to friday) Headline News page on the magazine's site. OK I haven't done it since the holidays began (and am REALLY enjoying the downtime) but it is pretty heavy; the daily green news in 10 categories, all killer, no filler. It's just the headlines and links to articles (and some blogs, if really newsworthy) but there's 10 categories; Green Business, Green Buuilding, Transportation, Energy, BioBased. Health & Beauty.... and like i said Monday to Friday this is a great information source. It will recommence on January 4th and I do hope to sway some of you to checking it out... (and/or will be learning how to get the ordered list thing happening here and will post the daily top stories or something here... so you can get your fix...
I know that life goes on and everyone has been happy in their lives.. but I would like to apologize for leaving my baby Exuberant Pantaphobia ignored for so long.... here's to a healthy happy and rockin' 2007!!!
~lee |
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| The Green People's Choice Awards |
[Sep. 12th, 2006|04:34 pm] |
forget about voting with your dollar, here's to a real clean electronic election
Show your appreciation to the green business you just couldn’t live without by submitting a nomination for Co-op America's 2006 People’s Choice Award. COA are the folks who make that awesome Green Pages, and who also do the best conference in the world, the green festivals! Between now and October 5 votes will be tallies, then they’ll conduct a run-off vote among the top ten most popular nominations and announce the winner of this year’s award at our San Francisco Green Festival on November 10 (oh and if you look at COA's site there's a way for you Americans to get totally treated at the green festival like mad, so snoop away!) |
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| Holy Shiholy Batman! |
[Aug. 11th, 2006|07:38 pm] |
SunEdison Acquires Team Solar; Serious Legion of Superheroes Shihizzle
Wow. this is a match made in heaven. I swear. SunEd + TeamSolar TL4Eva...
Together they have installed enough solar panels to power 15,000 homes (and that's energy pig homes, not back-to-the-earth one-LED-christmas-light-is-fine-for-my-
reading-light hippy homes).
And while they come from radically different places, this is going to be a symbiotic powerforce. Nobody is talking about how much it sold for, but the Sun bought the Team! And it looks like Baltimore's brilliant SunEdison krewe is poised for even greater stature in the energy biz (and West Coast presence) now that they've bought TS... And they were already pretty amazing, known to provide competitively priced solar energy at or below local utility rates with various financing schemes (sometimes they lease big box's rooftops, put solar there and then sell the juice to the stores, other times they lease the PV to the stores, and do the the installations and maintenance...) And SunEd's CEO Jigar Shah is a solid leader, building a team with some insanely impresisve playere (it's like he raided the halls from BP S0lar --duh, they're in Maryland-- to Bechtel).
And TeamSolar is no slouch ...born under the close tutelage of Sacramento's highly evolved SMUD, Angela and Rick Lavezzo's tiny company has grown to be California's largest solar installer. No job too small or too large.
Now we know what they did with some of that twenny six point one $M they just raised with Gold Man Sachs. But this is awesome, this is grassroots California meets business2.0 east coast new green stylee. With balance and harmony for all, I expect SunEd will spred....
[source Sun Edison, LLC press release |
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| to the moon, alice, this stock is going to go to the moon!! |
[Jun. 2nd, 2006|05:00 am] |
I know i said it months ago, but I am going to say it again. And now I'm not the only one saying it (thank you RenewableEnergy Stocks.com). Zappy the little Zappster is going to EXPLODE. Y'hear me? E-X-P-L-O-D-E!!! (sos if u were one of those peeps investing in pets.com or toys.com or burnallyourcash.com instead of, say, WholeFoods (which was $5 pre dotbomb, and is now around $66 (peaked @$80 in Jan, pre-walmartorganics) well, this may be your chance again!!
Zap (NASDAQ ZP) dipped to $0.70 last week, but has finally started to climb! They closed at $1.53 yesterday climbing again by 23% And now the press is going to start well, if not flowing, then something more than a trickle... it's still far from a household name.
And sure, they started off a little PT Barnum (oh like that stopped Steve Jobs?), Gary Starr was a wildman (but he knew his stuff!) and of course Daimler-Mercedes just really didn't like working with new CEO Stephen Schneider (maybe it was feeling like they had to work with a company called "Zero Air Pollution" or they just felt that some of the lower-end Zap products made them an unattractive biz partner?). But that's all in the past. Schneider and Co have developed, and own the software that makes smart cars street legal in the US! And smart cars are popping into the US in a big way, already the heroin of DaVinci and Inspector Cluseau are smartified, and when the Pink Panther hits the DVD racks, the smart is going to be in every eyeball in america!
And then Zap has other awesome cards up their sleeve. they have an all-electric car called the Xebra that is way cute, and made in China (affordable), Once people realize that they can get Italian Oxygen electric scooters there as well, the company is going to fly! And the stock... well I'm still betting that it will hit $25, let's say within 30 months. You just wait (and so, even if you aren't an investor, but you have played the occasional lottery ticket, plunk $100 down, here's a chance to make it grow %1000 in less than 3 years)
ok pics:
heres the 3 and 4 wheel versions:
and here's the Xebra interior (seriously, hot or not??):
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| greenSTAR and the 2 minute biodiesel converters! |
[May. 27th, 2006|10:21 am] |
GreenStar Biofuels announced this week that they have developed and successfully commercially tested their advanced biodiesel reactor. Three different sizes of the proprietary biodiesel reactors were tested from January 2005 through February 2006 at their Bakersfield Biodiesel Plant. Most biodiesel plants processes require from one to one-and-a-half hours for complete chemical reactions to take place between vegetable oil, alcohol (methanol) and the catalyst. The GSPI reactors take less than two minutes to complete the reactions. Wikked! |
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| looooooking gooooood! |
[May. 23rd, 2006|10:01 am] |
greenloop gets an online makeover
Aysia Wright, owner of Greenloop, strives to offer her clientele the best the eco-fashion world has to offer. And whiel it's true what they say, that "Gone are the days when the choices of environmentally responsible clothing were between burlap sacks and shapeless oatmeal color..... ((she does have Deborah Lindquist, loomstate, carol undersigned, anna cohen, the hirribly named by way snazzy ecoGanik, acessories, and the WORLDS BEST inara babassu lip balm )) still, their website wasn't "all that".
Now, after a little over a year and a half in businesses, Greenloop has given its website a facelift, dramatically improving the shopping experience for would be eco-savvy clothing & accessory shoppers by providing multiple views of each item, size charts, wish lists, and a monthly e-newsletter to keep us In The Loop about what's new in the eco-fashion world, who’s in the spotlight, what's coming soon, how to save a buck or two while re-styling our newly green wardrobes! |
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| yet another Clean Energy Index (this one from NASDQ and the Makcower) |
[May. 22nd, 2006|08:58 am] |
so last week it was announced that AMEX was launching a clean energy index but apparently green energy indexes (indexii?) are like peanuts and you cant just have one (or 10 as the case may be...) so this week's entry is: Joel Mackower's CleanEdge and NASDAQ together making the the NASDAQ® Clean Edge® U.S. Index. NASDAQ enhanced its longstanding capabilities as an index provider last year by launching a state-of-the-art indexing platform. And so, the NASDAQ Clean Edge U.S. Index is calculated using a modified market capitalization methodology. The index will be calculated and disseminated on a price return basis (NASDAQ: CLEN) and a total return basis (NASDAQ: CLNX). |
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| the Daystar plan... |
[May. 22nd, 2006|08:53 am] |
CEO John Tuttle points the way forward
Wow. Two of my favorite companies in the news back to back = ) yay.
"We strongly believe that the global demand for non-fossil fuel energy solutions, the continued shortage of Silicon solar cells, the progress and experience we have achieved to date, and the support and encouragement from our stakeholders have converged to create a window of opportunity that has driven us to accelerate the deployment of our manufacturing capabilities. To accomplish this we have developed an execution plan that includes a number of near term achievable milestones. The purpose of releasing this plan to our Stakeholders is to provide a framework for monitoring our progress in the coming months and years." And the plan has been working out for them, as they are one of the newest shining stars of the solar world. So click and read up on the plan for the next phase of DayStar taking over! |
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