Tempe goes to green composting pilot, adds recycling around town...and I finally get a post out there!

First off, I must apologize for the lack of information lately. From this point on there will be more and more information and great ideas coming out from this blog! I appreciate all of the support that has come from the audience out there, but I am still looking for links and stories from you, the readers! If you have something in your community or your house that you think should be covered or want people to know about, leave us a note and we'll get it out there for ya. We are always looking for input and the more we keep talking the better for all of our communities and homes.

Now, on to the post.

Tempe, Arizona has done it again, leading the way with a new and invigorating ideas to improve their city and continue to promise green living to their community. Over a year ago they expanded their recycling program to include all plastic numbers, #1-#7, and now they are looking to include green compost waste. According to an August 24th, 2010 press release from the city they are piloting a program in some of their neighborhoods to college green compost waste. This is exciting news, especially from a community that already offers free compost bins to their residents. According to the release the waste is going to be used right back into their community:

As they say, what goes around, comes around - in a good way. Tempe's new pilot compost program collects green waste that comes back to the community in the form of rich compost for parks, ball fields and community gardens.

They also have released a nice video about the program and the important benifits of the program:

Once again, Tempe showing the way for other Arizona cities, and actually, United States cities. Does your community do this? If they do let me know, and I'll give an update and a shout out to those communities as well!

Also, speaking of Tempe. According to a July press release from the city, they have finally installed the much needed Mill Avenue District recycling bins for drop-off recycling. This should be a great benefit for the students that live off campus in apartments and houses in the area, where recycling is not necessarily offered. From the press release the location is:

It’s now a little easier to be green in downtown Tempe. This week, the City of Tempe in partnership with Downtown Tempe Community installed three new recycling containers in the downtown area – on Mill Avenue at both Fifth and Sixth streets and at Tempe City Hall, 31 E. Fifth St. – making it easier for people to recycle while visiting downtown Tempe.

This should be a great improve to a city always trying to look forward. For more information please visit Tempe's recycling website.

Speaking of recycling really quick, I recently took a trip back to Michigan, and was flying Delta. For the first time in all of my air travel, they actually offered in-flight recycling. I was shocked, but pleased. This probably isn't news since I don't fly more than twice a year, but it was comforting to finally see this in-flight.

Until next time, which will be sooner than last time, feel free to reach out to us and help us bring this community together and move forward one mind at a time, and spread the word!

----Justin J. Stewart

Solar power transportation, at night?! The future of commerical air flight.

...link via Kendall Crever

Now, this is still far off, but pretty impressive. We are not going to be flying in carbon neutral planes tomorrow to go visit the aunts and uncles, but it could very well be in our life time, and the first steps are being put in place right now. A Swiss Company named Solar Impulse, has successfully tested a solar powered airplane that lasted in flight for over 26 hours, including through the night on July 7th and July 8th. Their overall goal is an around the world flight via solar power, and a trans-atlantic flight by 2012. The craft flew just over 28,000 feet above sea level, and the wingspan of 208 feet same as a Boeing 747-400. This was just a lightweight prototype, but it shows that the technology is sound by staying aloff for 26 hours. It set records for the longest and highest solar powered flight. How does the power work? According to the Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, part of the U.S. Department of Energy:

"The aircraft's nearly 12,000 silicon mono-crystalline solar cells—mounted on its wings and on its horizontal stabilizer—absorbed the sun' rays on the ascent and supplied the craft's four electric engines and lithium-polymer batteries, enabling Impulse to average about 26 miles per hour for the flight"

The Solar Impulse HB-SIA in action, in the great blue yonder.What are the implications of this for you and I. Like I said before, these are babysteps, but they are important movements towards commercial aircrafts using this technology to create carbon-neutral flights for you and I. According to the Carbon Footprint Calculator at Terrapass a round trip for 2 to JFK Airport in New York from LAX Airport in Los Angeles would be about 3,468 pounds of CO2. If we can cut into that number in the future for normal passenger flights using this technology it would be a great victory. Right now the airline industry accounts for about 12 percent of all of the CO2 released into the atmosphere. This technology is a step in the right direction, and is exciting in a very nerdy type of way (the way I like it). I hope to see more developers get into this arena and hope to see solar panels on my flights in future years to come.

Whole article from the EERE can be found here:

Swiss Solar-Powered Plane Makes First Night Flight

---Justin J. Stewart (link via Kendall Crever)