Chemically Green
Top 4 Environmentally Friendly Cars Get 4 Leaf Rating!
4 Cars You Can Purchase in America: Rated 4 Green Leafs, Most Environmental Friendly!
Greenopia Green Leaf Ratings for ALL 2009 Automobiles!
SANTA MONICA, CA - (Marketwire - February 19, 2009) - Greenopia announced today that it has released the green industry’s most comprehensive automobile ratings. Available on its popular website, www.greenopia.com, the car ratings use Greenopia’s EPA-recognized 4-Leaf rating system to provide definitive indications of over 100 models’ impact on the environment resulting from their manufacture and operation.
The most eco-friendly model year 2009 cars available on the market today are the Honda Civic Hybrid Sedan, VW Jetta TDI Clean Diesel, Toyota Prius, and VW Sportwagen TDI Clean Diesel. Each model earned a Greenopia 4-Leaf rating.
This was an independent study conducted by Greenopia’s Research Labs using an extended list of test criteria that included fuel-efficiency, manufacturing materials, EPA SmartWay vehicle emissions and proxy data representing manufacturing processes. The criteria data was gathered, calculated and analyzed using Greenopia’s proprietary lifecycle eco-cost methodology. “Automobile operation logically has the most significant impact on the lifecycle eco-costs of a car,” said Douglas Mazeffa, Greenopia’s Director of Research. “However, we wanted to extend measurement to actual production processes so that green consumers will have a more complete picture of the impact of their purchase decisions.”
Chevrolet, Honda and Toyota rated high for their eco-friendly manufacturing processes. Ratings were conducted within vehicle classifications so that green consumers could choose the lowest eco-cost car within a class.
Where are the American made cars? Achieving 29-35 miles per gallon simply isn’t good enough to make this environmentally friendly list.
Save the Crapper, Flushing Is Going To Cost Money!
Déjà vu all over again with talk of saving the planet and toilet flushing cutbacks.
Australia is in a drastic situation due to a drought that has been causing severe water shortages. The Australian government has decided to take action against home owners and their toilets to increase water supplies; you flush, you pay.
HOUSEHOLDERS would be charged for each flush under a radical new toilet tax designed to help beat the drought.
The scheme would replace the current system, which sees sewage charges based on a home’s value - not its waste water output.
CSIRO Policy and Economic Research Unit member Jim McColl and Adelaide University Water Management Professor Mike Young plan to promote the move to state and federal politicians and experts across the country.
“Some people may go as far as not flushing their toilet as often
because the less sewage you produce, the less sewage rate you pay.”
Professor Young said sewer pricing needed to be addressed as part of the response to the water crisis.
“People have been frightened to talk about sewage because it is yucky stuff, but it is critically important to address it, as part of the whole water cycle,” he said.
“We are looking at reforming the way sewage is priced and this plan will drive interest in the different
ways water is used throughout Australia.”
Professor Young said “a sewage pricing plan, like the one proposed, was already used in the US.”
“In places like the City of Bellaire, Texas (a virtual suburb of Houston), they do it and the system seems to work,” he said.
“As nearly all of (the homes in) mainland Australia’s cities and towns already have water meters, introduction of a volumetric charge, such as that used in the City of Bellaire, would not be difficult to implement.”
The reform would see the abolition of the property-based charge with one based on a pay-as-you-go rate and a small fixed annual fee to cover the cost of meter readings and pipeline maintenance, Professor Young said.
The pay-as-you-go rate would provide financial savings for those who reduce their waste water output.
Other considerations for saving the crapper are dry toilets & low water-use toilets; both types are expensive. There’s always the old the Australian Dunny!
New Solar Power Crappers in Portland, Oregon at your Disposal!
PORTLAND - The City of Portland unveiled the first in a line of new solar-powered public toilets that will be popping up throughout the city and it’s now open for public use.
Low Water-Use Crappers May Not Be The Answer. Crappers using less than 2.0 gallons of water for flushing cause problems for Waste Water treatment plants!
Waste water officials who originally had hoped to reduce flows into the sewers now say they’re concerned that the new toilets may reduce flows too much. They’re worried that without enough liquids in sewer lines, solids will settle into the lines, causing corrosion, odor and even sewage backups.
The new toilets use 1.6 gallons of water per flush, compared with 3.5 gallons in older toilets.
Well, it seems you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t. I am fortunate, I have a well, and as long as my well does not go dry, I can flush, flush and flush. However, to do my part for the environment on the land I occupy, I am going to put in 3 new low flush toilets. I have plastic fill lines and I use bacterial formulations to enhance my septic tank performance. How about you?
Chicago Rebellion as Traders Revolt, Tea Party Anyone?
One man leads Chicago Floor Traders rebellion against Obama’s plan (as seen on CNBC).
It’s Tea Party Time!
I wonder who’s mortgage payments I will be helping to pay? How about it folks, will you enjoy paying another person’s mortgage while you struggle to make your own?
What does this have to do with Green? Billions of dollars that could be used to increase green technologies are instead being directed towards the care of irresponsible people. If the economy continues to falter, and these folks lose their jobs, who’s going to take up the slack then? My answer: all of us.
Jatropha Curcas, The Nut of Choice for Biodiesel!
Major new expansions being made with Jatropha Curcas being processed into a clean green biodiesel fuel.
Green Gold Ray Energies Inc. announced today that its biodiesel refinery in Nasipit Port, Agusan del Norte will be opened in the next 90 days. Below is the perspective view of the GRYE Processing & Refinery Plant, capable of producing about 180 million gallons per year (680,400,000 liters per year).
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The Research and Development Team of Green Gold Ray Energies has designed a unique biodiesel processing and refining technology that fits best to the Jatropha oil market requirements. The plant is designed to produce high quality biodiesel oil, based on fast enhanced growth, cultivation period, increased production efficiency, reliability and better productivity.
A minimum of 1% by volume shall be blended into all diesel engine fuels within 3 months from the effective date of the Act and will increase to 2% in the next 2 years. The Philippines is in need of 150 million liters of bio diesel per year and that figure is expected to double in the next 5 years.
CEO Tecson says, “There is only one existing biofuel company here in the country, Chemrez Phil., with only 60 million liters production per year, not enough for the country’s bio fuel demand and Chemrez is using coconut oil as feed stock. Food-fuel competition will be their future problem.”
Green Gold Ray Energies, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: GRYE) is a rapidly growing biodiesel, green technology, environmentally friendly and alternative energy company. The Company has already solidified its position through a highly successful land acquisition program, acquiring large parcels of land ideal for the cultivation of the Jatropha plant. Jatropha Curcas grows almost anywhere, even on gravelly, sandy and saline soils. Jatropha oil can be processed to produce a high-quality biodiesel that can be used in a standard diesel car, while the residue can also be processed into biomass to power electricity plants.
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Company Switching from Waste Grease & Cooking Oil to Jatropha Curcas for Biofuel Production.
Sirona Fuels claims it can make cheap biodiesel with fixed-price agreements for jatropha with farmers in Haiti, India and other emerging nations.
Sirona Fuels wants to move from the fryer to the farm.The small San Francisco-based company – which is holding its coming out part at the National Biodiesel Conference and Expo in San Francisco – says it can make economically competitive biodiesel from jatropha.The company’s strategy essentially revolves around its ability to negotiate. It received a 15 million gallon-a-year refinery and a limited number of customer contracts by purchasing Blue Sky Biofuels, which had been producing biodiesel from waste grease harvested from the multitude of American deep-fat fryers. Thus, the self-funded Sirona is getting into the biodiesel refining industry quickly and inexpensively.
Second, it will ramp down its use of waste grease in favor of jatropha, a shrubby plant most commonly found in India. Jatropha is relatively oily, grows on marginal land and doesn’t need much in the way of water or fertilizer. Since it doesn’t compete with food and isn’t typically grown on food ideal for edible crops, jatropha isn’t as subject to commodity price fluctuations as other feedstocks, he claimed.
To get its jatropha, according to CEO Lacrouciere, Sirona is lining up fixed-price agreements with farmers in Haiti, India and Indonesia. Sirona will plant 2,000 acres of jatropha in its pilot-farming project in Haitia. That will result in 600,000 gallons of oil a year, or 300 gallons per acre. Technically, the company doesn’t have contracts with customers. Things like liquidated damages clauses are tough to enforce in emerging nations. But the company is trying to build strong local links, which is even more important. Jatropha is also tough to displace as a crop because it’s a bush. Farmers can’t simply pull it up and switch to another crop.
California Mandates Green Gas Pumps, Owners Say Forget It!
The Golden State Trying to Become Greener has Become a Nightmare to its Inhabitants as Government Kills Off the Little Guy. 
[image credit]
California will run out of money in February or March and if action is not taken soon, a 15 billion dollar cash shortage will have to be faced as California gas stations say ‘no’ to new green pump mandate.
ARCADIA - Dozens (potentially hundreds) of gas stations around California are choosing to shut down rather than comply with a state mandate that would require owners to purchase new equipment to reduce vapor emissions at the pump. Small station owners have decided going out of business is preferable to meeting the mandate.
California’s New Phase II Enhanced Vapor Requirements go into effect April, 2009.
The requirement, known as Phase II of the states Enhanced Vapor Requirements, calls for gas station owners to individually purchase tens of thousands of dollars of equipment designed to prevent harmful vapors from escaping into the air when gasoline is pumped. Small retailers say the new law is unfair and that the law will not be very beneficial because they do not sell enough gasoline to offset the higher costs of the new pumps. Many of those shutting down their pumps are actually city facilities and businesses with their own dispensers, such as fire stations and construction companies.
“Seventy-six — or 2.4% – of the station owners indicated they will be shutting down on April 1, 2009 rather than upgrade their sites,” said Dimitri Stanich, public information officer for the California Air Resources Board.
Will New Mandated Law hurt California More than it will Help?
April’s regulations promise to cut what are known as reactive organic gas emissions by 7 tons per day statewide, but opponents point to the fact that California produces 2,322 tons of such gases per day. In theory, 822 tons of gas emissions will be removed from California’s air.
How much will this cost the state in revenue from station owners not paying taxes after they shut down gas purchases in their operations. Losing revenue from these stations must not be too important to California since they have asked the feds for a Bail Out and want our tax dollars to save their bacon.
Small independents closing up as green mandated government policies shut them down.
Small station owner George Fasching, who after 31 years of selling gasoline at Fasching’s Car Wash in Arcadia said no, shut off the flow of gasoline from his station in December. “I came to the decision that I was too small a volume operator to continue on with the expenses imposed by the bureaucracy of the state,” Fasching said.
April’s requirements would have cost him $35,000, he said. Fasching only sold the gasoline as a convenience for his car wash customers and blames the new regulations for forcing him to stop. According to Fasching, “It will have some effect on my business, but at least I have the relief that I don’t have to deal with these people anymore.”
[Time Magazine: The Next Big Biofuel, Jatropha Curcas?
Renewable energy, it turns out, does grow on trees. The fruit pods plucked from jatropha trees have seeds that produce clean-burning diesel fuel. But unlike corn and other biofuel sources, the jatropha doesn’t have to compete with food crops for arable land. Even in the worst of soils, it grows like weeds. Sound too good to be true? That’s why brothers Paul and Mark Dalton chose to name their Florida jatropha company My Dream Fuel.
Jatropha, like other nonfood sources such as algae, will revive a biofuels movement battered of late by charges that it diverts too many crops from too many mouths. India has set aside 100 million acres for jatropha and expects the oil to account for 20% of its diesel consumption by 2011 (read the entire article: Time Magazine)
Jatropha Curcas has many uses besides being an oil for biodiesel. Jatropha is also used as an oil for lubricating machinery and softening leather. Listed below are the numerous ways in which Jatropha is being presently utilized.
Pork Bringing Home the Bacon in Stimulus Spending Bill
U.S. Taxpayers Risk $9.7 Trillion on Bailouts as Senate Votes.
The Social Medicine Legislation (National Health Care) hidden in the Stimulus Spending Bill will seriously affect senior citizens. Your future health benefits will also be greatly affected. How is this supposed to create jobs?
The Wall Street Journal, which was covering a recent White House meeting between the President and senior aides that discussed the many challenges the country faces, reported this week that even V.P. Biden had serious doubts. He was quoted as saying, “If we do everything right, if we do it with absolute certainty, there’s still a 30% chance we’re going to get it wrong.” Not very encouraging.
President Obama promised No Ear Marks in the Stimulus Spending Bill. However, the U.S. taxpayer continues to be fed Pork, Pork and more Pork. It’s the New Stimulant of Choice for Economic Chaos, helping to elevate the total cost of the Stimulus Bill to nearly $1 trillion dollars. How safe will our jobs be after the bill is passed?
“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent vice of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.“ –Winston Churchill
The Age of Obama begins with perhaps the greatest frenzy of old-politics and influence peddling ever seen in Washington. By the time the stimulus bill reached the Senate, reports the Wall Street Journal, pharmaceutical and high-tech companies were lobbying furiously for a new plan to repatriate overseas profits, yielding major tax savings. California wine growers and Florida citrus producers were fighting to change a single phrase in one provision. Substituting “planted” for “ready to market” would mean a windfall garnered from new “bonus depreciation” incentives.
According to the latest Rasmussen Poll, Americans are against the Stimulus Package. 50% of the population believe more harm will be done than good with the spending package proposed by Congress.
Sooie, Sooie, Pork Rules the Stimulus Spending Plan!
Provisions of the bill that many legislators are questioning:
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Are you satisfied with the new Spending Package? Even with Congress reaching an agreement on reducing spending to $780 billion dollar? Most Americans are screaming NO!
The fact is, this bill was never meant as “stimulus” per se, but rather as a quick way for President Obama and the Democrat-led Congress to rush through their sweeping agenda for the country under the guise
of an emergency economic rescue. Why does Harry Reid want to vote for closure on a bill that the American public is against and is now literally hating?
The Buck started, and will stop with Nancy Pelosi (who is acting like the President and running the show) as the Senate and House figure out how to spend taxpayer money.
Too bad the American people have called them on it.
We’d like to see Obama be successful in his presidency. But his success will be built — can only be built — on winning voter support for his plans. Yes, he won the election, but he has yet to make the case for each and every one of his policies.
The latest Rasmussen Poll reports that a national telephone survey found 37% of Americans favor the legislation, 43% are opposed, and 20% are not sure.
These latest survey results are very similar to a recent Gallup survey which found that only 38% now support the recovery plan. The Gallup survey found that another 37% wanted major changes made to the legislation, and 17% said that it should be rejected entirely.
Two weeks ago, 45% supported the plan. Last week, 42% supported it.
Big Statement Made from Government Agency Against the Obama Spending Package Comes from the Congressional Budget Office, CBO.
President Obama’s economic recovery package will actually hurt the economy more in the long run than if he were to do nothing, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.
CBO, the official scorekeepers for legislation, said the House and Senate bills will help in the short term but result in so much government debt that within a few years they would crowd out private investment, actually leading to a lower Gross Domestic Product over the next 10 years than if the government had done nothing.
The stimulus package is rolling through Congress like an express train packed with goodies, so an enormous deficit seems to be a given. Entitlements will go up instead of being brought under better control, auguring big future deficits. Where will the Treasury find all those trillions in a depressed world economy?
And what is going to happen when Congress has to deal with Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other entitlements? Trust me, we are just at the tip of the iceburg!
Bright Lights, Small City
A Current Pew Poll has revealed that 47% of Americans are not very satisfied with their cities (especially big cities) of residence and would prefer living elsewhere. City dwellers are more likely to dream of living somewhere else, and men in rural areas are far happier living there than women. Generally speaking, men would rather live in Las Vegas and young people like the attraction of L.A. and New York.
Those are just some of the findings from a Pew Research Center survey released today in which Americans were asked where they would most like to live. Whether they favor cities, suburbs or the countryside, almost half wish they could pick up and leave in order to live elsewhere, the report found.
Me? I prefer the small-town living, about 75 minutes from Atlanta, Ga. and 25 minutes from Chattanooga, Tn., the best of the small, medium and large environments. (Lower cost of living and less taxes in a small town while being relatively close to metropolises.)
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Percentage of Americans who say they want to live in this city or metropolitan area:
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