Story of the Week-Two Wolves’ Strategy

Posted by Green Patents

Remember the discussion between the Cherokee Indian grandfather and the grandson?One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.He said, “My son, the battle is between two “wolves” inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.” The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?”The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”This week, let’s remember to choose the wolf before feeding it.

via patsnap blog

Piston-Powered Airplanes More Fuel Efficient (But Is That Enough?)

Posted by Green Patents

Written by Philip Proefrock on 17/09/10

A recent article from Low-Tech Magazine brings up the interesting note that only the most recent jet planes are as fuel-efficient as propeller planes. Many people believe that jets are very efficient, but, “on a per passenger mile basis, the most efficient modern aircraft, the Airbus A380, has just managed to match that which was achieved by the piston engined Lockheed Constellation series in the 1950′s.” Unfortunately, passenger-mile fuel efficiency isn’t the sole metric that airlines have to consider. Fuel cost is certainly a big chunk of the operating budget for a passenger plane, but so is the cost of crew wages and benefits. Jets travel faster, better utilizing the working hours available for each flight crew. Piston aircraft may be more fuel efficient, but there are other things that jets do better. Piston aircraft cannot operate at the higher altitudes that jets can reach. The Constellation’s ceiling was 24,000 feet (7,315 meters), while contemporary jets can reach an altitude of about 40,000 feet (12,192 meters). Flying at higher altitudes allows jet aircraft to avoid weather systems that would delay or halt aircraft operating at lower altitudes. None of this means that we are in favor of retaining the status quo. While jets can fly higher, they also release their exhaust higher in the atmosphere, which is likely more damaging than exhaust released at ground level. The environmental costs of any form of air travel are not fully incorporated into the costs to consumers. Both technologies should continue to be developed, and we’ve also seen hybridpropeller-turbines, which are intriguing, too. via ecogeek

Toyota to Introduce Six New Hybrids in Next Two Years

Posted by Green Patents

Written by Megan Treacy on 14/09/10

The Prius has been a great success for Toyota, especially in Japan, but the carmaker is feeling pressure to stay on top as competitors release all-electrics (namely the Nissan LEAF). Trying to keep its share of the hybrid and electric market, Toyota has announced that they will be producing six new hybrid models by the end of 2012. Two will be under the Lexus brand and the other four will be Toyota models.The six new hybrids will all be first-generation models, not next-generation versions of existing hybrid models. Some models will also have a gasoline-engine counterpart. In addition to the six hybrid models, Toyota is revealing an all-electric RAV4 at the L.A. Auto Show this November through its partnership with Tesla. Toyota is also working on releasing two other iterations of the Prius in the next two years - a plug-in version and a minivan. via ecogeek

Story of the Week: ‘Twenty Dollars’ strategy

Posted by Green Patents

Remember the story of Tom chasing Jerry, who owed him $20?

One day, Tom was walking with his mentor Bob when they saw Jerry. Tom started shouting and Jerry started to run away. Tom’s reaction was to chase after Jerry, but Bob held him back and asked: ‘What are you doing?’ Tom replied, ‘Jerry borrowed $20 from me and he refuses to return it. I am going to chase him and get my money back.’

Bob asked, ‘Do you like Jerry?’

Tom said, ‘Absolutely not!’

‘Do you want Jerry in your life?’

‘No, absolutely not!’

‘In that case, $20 is a cheap price to keep Jerry running away from you.’

This week, let’s remember to use Twenty Dollar strategy to keep ‘Jerrys’ out of our lives.

From http://blog.patsnap.com/?p=515

Story of the week: Turn Your Weakness into Strength

Posted by Green Patents

Remember the story of the 10-year-old boy who decided to learn judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm?

Even after many months of training, he had only been taught one move. However, the boy kept his faith and soon he entered his first tournament.

To his surprise, he won every match with his one move and won the tournament.

On the way home, the boy summoned the courage to ask his master, ‘How did I win the tournament with only one move?’

‘You won for two reasons: first, you’ve mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm.’

This week, let’s remember that acceptance and action can convert our weaknesses into strengths.

via patsnap blog

Port of Long Beach Retrofitting Old Tugboats

Posted by Green Patents

Written by Megan Treacy on 02/09/10

After debuting the world’s first hybrid tugboat in 2009, the Port of Long Beach is partnering again with Foss Maritime Company to retrofit an existing tugboat with hybrid technology.

The ship called the Campbell Foss is a conventional dolphin tugboat assisting ships in the San Pedro Bay. It will be fitted with motor generators, batteries and control systems by Foss at one of their shipyards. The retrofit should cut 1,340 tons of CO2 emissions and save 100,000 gallons of fuel per year. Foss and the Port plan to introduce more hybrid tugs over the coming years and see more retrofits in the future.

The Port of Long Beach received a $1 million grant from the California Air Resources Board for the retrofit project.

via ecogeek.org

The Kindle and the Environment

Posted by Green Patents

Written by Hank Green on 29/08/10

Here at EcoGeek we’ve been long-time supporters of e-book readers. The publishing industry (including books, newspapers and magazines) is a serious environmental threat with a huge carbon footprint and raw materials that result in the harvesting of some 125 million trees per year.

So we were excited. But as the realities of ebooks set in, and they actually began to explode in popularity (with Amazon.com now selling more Kindle books than hard-covers) we got apprehensive. Would this new trend really be good for the environment? The answer…thankfully, is a resounding “Yes.”

The Kindle device itself, of course, has a carbon footrprint caused by manufacturing and shipping all of its parts around. And it does use electricity (though, really, a very small amount compared with devices like laptops or even some cell phones.) But while I still love real books for a lot of reasons, I’ve got to give it to the Kindle. Authors are getting paid more, consumers are paying less, and (according to a study from The Cleantech Group) as long as the devices replace the purchase of more than 22.5 NEW (not used) books in the lifetime of the device, it will be a positive force for the environment. This seems to be roughly one year’s use of the Kindle. Of course, if you’re replacing newspapers and magazines with your Kindle chances are you’ll go carbon negative faster than that.

But if you’re thinking about getting a Kindle for green reasons, make sure you know you’ll be replacing more than 20 new books on the thing before you upgrade, otherwise you’re not just wasting your money, you’re hurting the environment.

via ecogeek