Earth to Everyone

News and insights into environment, sustainability, and climate change.

[earth2every1-blog]

A Highway That Will Produce Power Instead of Roadkill

Missouri hopes to have the first solar panel-paved stretch of U.S. highway before the end of the year.

Earth to Everyone,

A  stretch of the Route 66 highway in Missouri will be covered with road-designed solar panels - and if all goes as planned, it’ll happen by the end of this year.

 The project represents a partnership between Missouri’s Department of   Transportation and startup company Solar Roadways, and represents another huge step towards sustainable transportation technology and infrastructure. Solar Roadways claims that if all US roadways and parking lots were covered in their special panels, it would collectively generate three times the electricity needed to power the entire nation.

While the amount of roadway to be covered isn’t set yet, we can assume that it will cover enough distance to generate a decent amount of clean energy. But how can we be sure? Well because there is, surprisingly, a precedent.

In the Netherlands, a solar-paneled cycling path stretching 230 feet has been successfully generating power since late 2014. In its first six months, it created enough power to supply a small home for a year. A year!  (you can read more about that here)

There are some big questions which will have to be answered: Can these highways withstand heavy traffic? Are they durable enough to withstand varying weather conditions? How eco-friendly are these panels to produce?

I’m excited to see how this develops, and you should be too.

-E2E

[earth2every1-blog]

2016 Cradle to Cradle Challenge Winners

The Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute has announced the winners of its 2016 Cradle to Cradle Product Design Challenge.

Earth to Everyone,

Do more, with less. 

That’s the mantra of the Cradle to Cradle Product Design Challenge, pitting design students and professionals against each other in a competition for the most sustainable and feasible product designs to meet today’s resource challenges. The San Francisco-based non-profit Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute holds this annual challenge to help develop the next big thing in sustainable design.

Cradle to Cradle design, also called C2C or regenerative design, means developing products and systems which mimic natural cycles, resulting in efficient, sustainable, and waste-free product lifespans. Products with this prestigious certification are as diverse as they are eco-friendly - everything from shampoo to sewer pipes to baby diapers. A catalogue of certified products can be found here.

This year’s winning designs are modular shoes, banana-stem fibre packaging, a household food composting machine, and an energy-generating mountain shelter. Very cool stuff.

Check them out in this article, and start to think about the life cycles of your next purchases!

-E2E

[earth2every1-blog]

Elon Musk Wants To Build The World’s First 21st Century Energy Empire

Tesla isn't just an electric car company anymore.

Earth to Everyone,

Unless you’ve been completely out of the renewables loop, you know about the ongoing legacy of Elon Musk. The Clean Energy mega-entrepreneur has witnessed the rise (and spent huge amounts of money fueling the growth of) his company Tesla Motors and its sister company SolarCity (of which Musk owns the majority of shares, despite not running it himself). Many believe that these two companies are the future of clean energy and transportation in the United States and possibly beyond. It’s exciting to watch them grow.

Tesla Motors has made a hefty $3 Billion bid to purchase SolarCity - a bid which will most likely result in a deal, given their obvious executive and industry ties. This is BIG news because this amalgamation means further integration of the two company products. I’m not referring to solar panels and electric cars; I’m talking about solar energy generation and energy-storing batteries. One type of battery offered by Tesla, nicknamed the Powerwall, is currently being sold to homeowners as a means of storing excess solar and wind energy right at home. This means that in the near future (or now, if you can afford it) households and businesses will be generating their own power on site via wind or solar, and storing enough of it to meet their energy on at all times - even when the sun is down and the wind isn’t blowing. This is, of course, 100% clean energy and completely independent of public utility companies. Wow.

Of course, Musk and his colleagues have grander ambitions of fully integrating these energy systems with the existing energy infrastructure, potentially powering entire cities with larger versions of the lithium-ion batteries currently on the market. There are no shortage of complications that come with that kind of plan, but Musk shows no sign of slowing down his progressive entrepreneurial endeavors, and this acquisition is a real sign that he’s not kidding around. 

For the planet’s sake, let’s hope this renewable boom continues.

Stay tuned to E2E for more updates on all things clean energy!

[earth2every1-blog]

Climate experts warn global warming breaking all previous records

Apart from the soaring heat recorded in February and March, alarm bells are ringing continuously in the form of extreme weather events.

Earth to Everyone,

This blog begins in ominous fashion - the most recent reports from climate scientists claim that global warming is occurring at an unprecedented pace - and that spells trouble for you, me and everyone else on the planet.

You’ve probably heard this before or scrolled past similar posts on your social feeds - after all, impending climate doom is old news. But this issue isn’t going away, and the sooner we all understand how the planet is changing and how we are all affected, the sooner we can start doing something about it.

That’s what E2E is all about. The truth. It isn’t always sexy, but it is always important. Stay tuned for more Earth-y realities!