It is getting hard to keep track of all the credible companies delivering advanced structural building materials.  It’s fine to call something “green” that has a high recycled materials content, low embodied energy, doesn’t offgas unhealthy toxins, doesn’t include toxic materials, and has superb insulation value, but this is only half the story.  Many of these products are interesting for [...]

Back in April 2006 we posted “The Photovoltaic Boom ,” where we enthusiastically reported the bright future of photovoltaic power.  We thought then, and we believe now, that photovotalic production will increase faster than projections, at the same time as costs will fall faster than expected.  But if photovoltaic power is becoming a commodity, doesn’t that mean [...]

How fares the singular Patagonian Cypress, the Alerce, these majestic 200+ foot trees, with lifespans exceeding 4,000 years, populating the western shores of temperate South America?  From Chile’s mediterranean mid-section, southwards until the escarpments of the Andes begin to moderate into a broader expanse of multiple ridges and mountain ranges, rainwatered from the Atlantic, through river gorges and ascending rolling and rugged hillsides [...]

Most modern cars now have onboard black box recorders, but the standard units typically only store the most recent few seconds of driving data.  They are used in accident investigations.  And consumers have already been able to purchase recorders that track your vehicle’s braking, acceleration, mileage, and spit out a report, extracting the data via OBD II [...]

EFuel Corporation. located in Los Gatos, California, is heralding the next generation of biofuel production and distribution, by selling a ” EFuel100 MicroFueler,” a turnkey device that will turn biofuel sugars feedstock into ethanol, and pump it into your vehicle’s tank.
This company claims this machine consumes 3.0 kilowatt-hours to produce one gallon of E100 ethanol.  [...]

Despite the relentless media assault declaring debate is over, catastrophic climate change is just around the corner, and immediate and drastic curtailment of anthropogenic CO2 emissions are our only chance of survival, there remains significant debate in the scientific community. Rather than attempt to refrain what has become countless takes on this point (see links [...]

Today California is probably the most hostile state in the U.S. towards private business, and with the global warming act nearing implementation, things are going to get much worse.  But big changes could be closer than you think.
It isn’t easy to understand just how bad California’s business climate is until you talk to people from [...]