Tech-Savvy Camping with Temperature Control

Orange Solar Concept Tent: A Camper's Dream Come True

Whether you are heading to a music festival or family camping trip, "roughing it" out in the woods may never be the same again! The Orange Solar Concept Tent won't be your average run-of-the-mill tent.  This tech-savvy tent is sure to be a camper's dream-come-true.

As the name suggests, the tent is solar.  The energy from the sun will provide heating, lighting, recharging and communication to the tent.  Instead of using traditional solar panels to capture the sun's energy, the tent is fitted with a revolutionary material.  The photovoltaic fabric is made by weaving specially coated solar threads into an outer fabric.  The three glides can be easily adjusted and rotated to capture the most sunlight and maximize efficiency.

Besides being solar powered, the tent is equipped with 3G wireless too!  Since most of us are joined at the hip with all sorts of electronic devices, this is great news!  The central wireless control hub provides the wireless signnal and displays the energy level on a flexible LCD screen.  The hub also includes a nifty wireless charging pouch for portable devices.  Instead of having to fiddle with all those messy cords, just drop your device into the pouch. That's it!

And you won't have to sleep on a cold, damp floor either.  This tent includes a heated groundsheet that automatically starts to warm up when the temperature goes down below a certain temperature.

Since many tents tend to look alike, this particular tent features something awesomely cool.  If you are out for a walk or picnicking by the lake and you can't locate your tent, just send an SMS message or use the RFID technology and the tent will glow with "Glocation" technology. So no more worries about sleeping in the wrong tent!

The only downside?  True to its name, the Solar Concept Tent is still a concept and is not available- yet.  
Source: Jace at IZITGREEN

Building Commissioning: The Stealth Energy Efficiency Strategy  

Excerpt from Evan Mills- a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

The aim of commissioning new buildings is to ensure that they deliver, if not exceed, the performance and energy savings promised by their design.  When applied to existing buildings, commissioning identifies the almost inevitable "drift" from where things should be and puts the building back on course, often making it perform even better than the original designers intended. (Why do we tune up our cars but not our far more complex buildings?)  In both contexts, commissioning is a systematic, forensic approach to quality assurance, rather than a technology per se - SCI for efficiency, if you will.  Quality assurance is an essential element of any serious technological endeavor.  Energy efficiency is not alone in this regard, and commissioning offers a key solution.  (consider how even more poorly electric power plants would perform if there was no QA in their construction and operation.)

Specific "deficiencies" identified and corrected through the commissioning process include problems like simultaneous heating and cooling (yes, believe it or not, this is common), mis-calibrated or otherwise malfunctioning energy management controls and sensors, defeated efficiency features (e.g.,variable speed drives locked at full speed), leaky air-distribution systems, and oversized equipment.  These kinds of problems collectively waste several tens of billions of dollars in energy each year, while compromising occupant comfort, health and safety.  Yes, they should be caught during the original design or corrected by routine operations and maintenance. They rarely  are.

Commissioning is arguably the single most effective strategy for reducing energy, costs,and greenhouse gas emissions in buildings today.  Commissioning maximizes the quality and persistence of savings achieved through other energy saving technologies and practices.  The process ensures that building owners get what they pay for when constructing or retrofitting buildings.  It provides risk management and "insurance" for policymakers and program managers, enabling their initiatives to actually meet targets and detects and corrects problems that would eventually surface as far more costly maintenance or safety issues.  As such, commissioning is more than "just another pretty energy saving measure."  It is a risk-management strategy that should be integral to any systematic effort to garner and maintain energy savings or emissions reductions.

Green Wall Lowers Temperature 25%

North America's largest green wall is adding to energy efficiency for PNC Financial Services Group Inc., which unveiled the giant soil-based wall at its Pittsburg, PA. offices.

The 2,389 square foot wall, about the size of a doubles tennis court, has 602 panels with about 24 plants in each two-foot space.  Each of the panels is estimated to offset the carbon footprint of one person, according to a press release.

Ambient temperatures behind the south-facing wall should be about 25 percent cooler, according to preliminary studies.  The plants on the wall also help cool adjacent sidewalks and help absorb noise from the street.

When fully watered, the wall will weigh about 24 tons.  It should require about 15 minutes of watering, once a week.  
Source: Environmental Leader 9/09

Jogging Lighter with Eco Running Shoes and Recyclable Gear

When you go outside to get some fresh air, are you actually making the air less fresh?

From mountain biking to skiing, outdoor sports do not come without an energy burden.  Even running, a sport without a massive energy-consuming infrastructure, has consequences.

According to an analysis by Runners' World magazine (based on carbon figures from Green Design Institute and Carnegie-Mellon University), the carbon footprint of a serious runner adds up to 5,449 lbs of carbon dioxide per year.  

This number includes the energy used to manufacture and transport shoes durable enough to withstand 300 to 400 miles of pavement pounding, as well as water bottles, clothing and transport to and from races.

Some of the many energy uses include:

• 3 pairs of running shoes (average number bought by a runner every year): 430 lbs CO2
• 3 pairs of synthetic socks: 89 lbs CO2
• 2 pairs of running shorts, 99 lbs CO2
• 1 pair of running tights, 79 lbs CO2
• 1 running shirt, 48 lbs CO2
• 1 load of laundry to wash and dry running gear: 225 lbs CO2 per week

Fortunately, these numbers are not fixed.  In the hopes of mitigating how much carbon each runner consumes, many sporting goods companies are rethinking how they make their products.

Reducing how much material is used per item is an easy first step.  With bio-mimicry, manufacturing goods doesn't require toxic chemicals or inputs.  Reusing materials in order to avoid extracting virgin resources again and again is another major aim of sustainability initiatives.  Plenty of exciting developments around sporting goods and running accessories are afoot.  
Source: Betsy Herzog,, Rocky Mountain Institute

5 Ways to Save the Ocean: 

1.  Don't wash your car in the street

Not only does it use 60 percent more water than a commercial car wash, but the detergent run-off ends up untreated, in streams, lakes and the ocean.

2.  Pick up after pets

A recent US Geological Survey study of streams and creeks in Kansas showed that per-waste germs made up approximately a quarter of the bacteria in samples collected from local waterways.  When enough bacteria get into the ocean, they can cause beach and shellfish-bed closures and threaten the drinking supply.

3.  Watch what you wash down the drain

Cooking grease, excessive food waste, and trash in sink drains and disposals can accumulate in city sewer lines and cause blockages that create sewage overflows into the ocean.  Everything you put on your body eventually goes down the drain when you shower, as does the water from your washing machine.  Waste-water treatment plants are not equipped to filter out these types of chemicals.

4.  Choose your fish carefully

Many marine species are over-fished, and some have high levels of mercury and PCBs.  Do your research by searching "ocean-friendly seafood" at the New England Aquarium's website, neaq.org, or browsing sites like blueocean.org (its fish phone can send a text message report to your cell phone) and montereybayaquarium.org.

5.  Don't flush unused or expired medications

Hormones, antidepressants, painkillers, and other drugs are showing up in our water supply and harming aquatic life.  Crush unused pills and throw them away in kitty litter, used coffee grounds, or other unpalatable items.  
Source: Elizabeth Gehrman

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