The wine industry’s conversion from corks to plastic caps is beginning to have an unintended consequence—threatening the sustainability of the nation’s existing cork oak trees. In recent years, up to 90 percent of wine bottle caps have been converted to plastic. Without sufficient demand for cork, producers have less incentive to maintain the trees, which are beginning to disappear.

One company coming to the rescue is Adapt-Mobile Ltd., maker of phone accessories, which now offers its Adapt Eco Case line, which is made of natural cork. The cases are stylish and leather-like in appearance, touch and durability, but provide a much more eco-friendly solution to protecting smartphones and laptops. The natural protective properties of cork also make the cases both heat- and water-resistant.

Adapt-Mobile is working in partnership with Trees for Cities, an independent charity working to enrich biodiversity, create social cohesion and beautify cities through community tree planting, education and training initiatives in urban areas.

By purchasing Adapt Eco Cases, consumers can create a demand for corkwood, thereby supporting the ecosystems in which cork grows. In addition, Adapt-Mobile is donating 55 cents from every Eco Case sold to support the planting of new cork trees. Its goal is to plant more than 900 trees by 2011.

Schools have a long history of allowing students to get immersed in environmental and conservation studies, projects or causes. When the first “Earth Day” was celebrated on April 22, 1970, it marked the first time in history that students in classrooms across the country spent their physical education classes picking up litter or taking part in other simple environmental tasks.

As “green energy” and “going green” become more common parts of our vocabulary and, ultimately, in the way we live our lives, it makes sense that our nation’s schools will continue to be on the front lines of such work.

One key for cash-strapped schools is to obtain grants from any number of foundations, organizations or businesses to help fund green projects. Names such as American Honda, Boeing, Captain Planet Foundation, Coca-Cola, and the National Education Foundation are just a sampling of the hundreds of sources of grant money available to help protect the environment. These sources have helped schools spearhead thousands of field projects addressing conservation and environmental issues.

It is also common for schools to take advantage of their own state’s energy grants. A good example unfolded in the Geneva School District, which recently received $36,500 from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation as a reimbursement for lighting projects in two of the district’s elementary schools.

The money was used to pay for lighting retrofitting during renovation projects at the schools. In addition to replacing many light fixtures with more energy-efficient light bulbs, as many as 110 fixtures between two elementary schools were removed. The district reported to residents that the work resulted in energy savings of more than 27,000 watts of electricity. It was a good start, they insisted, on reaching an overall goal of reducing district-wide energy use by 10 percent during the 2009-2010 school year.

If all school districts across the nation could somehow attain a similar goal, the amount of savings in electricity usage would be impressive.

In another Midwest state, Missouri’s Department of Conservation offers  many education grants through its “Fresh Afield – Serving up a Slice of Conservation” program in which the emphasis is on getting school children out in nature and understanding the importance of conservation at a young age.

In this particular area of conservation study and grants, it is common for zoos in major cities to have similar offerings to keep children aware of the pros and cons of nature’s interactions with humans.

The canvas for learning about our environment and the habits we can all live by to conserve our natural resources, and the canvas for obtaining funding to help with those causes, are both endless with opportunities.

The state of Maryland is going green in its effort to get rid of the white stuff. The state became the first in the nation to purchase an all-natural road de-icing product, Ice B’Gone, to use in clearing snow and ice from roads during the winter season.

The product was chosen as part of the state’s Smart, Green & Growing initiative. That program brings together state agencies, local governments, businesses and citizens to establish a number of environmental guidelines, including investment in green technologies and restoring the health of the Chesapeake Bay. The state is one of the first to set environmental procurement standards and to uphold those standards by choosing a green road de-icer.

The makers of Ice B’Gone, Sears Ecological Applications Co., began research in 1997 that eventually developed into the product in 2001. For the past decade, the company has been hopeful the environmental de-icing technology would become mainstream, especially with its ability to also reduce overall costs, improve road safety and impede corrosion.

“It is much more effective at clearing roads while being less harmful to the environment than untreated chloride salt,” says David Wood, president of SEACO. “We’re excited to see Maryland take progressive steps to becoming an environmentally friendly state in all aspects of procurement.”

Ice B’Gone is the only road de-icer in the country to receive the EPA’s “Design for the Environment” designation, which indicates the product has undergone rigorous testing and has been proven to reduce risk to the environment. The product is all natural and formed from low-molecular-weight carbohydrates, which have shown to work much longer and at significantly lower temperatures than untreated rock salt. Because it works longer and at lower temperatures, Ice B’Gone can drastically reduce the amount of chloride salt used over the course of a winter. With less salt applied to roads, less salt finds its way into watersheds and runoff, thereby reducing the impact road de-icing can have on local water sources. Ice B’Gone also has proven a 70 percent reduction in corrosion to bridges, roadway surfaces, equipment and vehicles, saving governments additional costs in maintaining the roadway and maintenance equipment, according to the product’s developers.

SEACO’s technology has been adopted around the country, particularly in the Northeast, with successful results, but Maryland is one of the first states to purchase the product in a statewide bid for green road de-icers.

Aluminum is the big winner in this year’s ranking of the “10 Best Engines” by Ward’s Automotive Group. Eight of the 10 engines recognized by Ward’s are made of aluminum. Aluminum’s lightweight, high-strength and corrosion resistant properties make it attractive for a variety of automotive applications, including engine manufacturing, as automakers look to improve fuel economy while maintaining safety and performance.

“It’s no surprise that nearly all of the engines on Ward’s list are all-aluminum. The auto industry relies more every year on aluminum to improve fuel economy without sacrificing the performance and safety that customers expect,” said Randall Scheps, chairman of The Aluminum Association’s Aluminum Transportation Group and director of ground transportation for Alcoa. “Time and time again, aluminum’s value proposition for engines, components and body panels is recognized by leading automakers, contributing to aluminum’s nearly 40 years of uninterrupted growth in North America.”

Automakers continue to see the benefits of lightweighting with aluminum, as evidenced by Ford’s recent announcement to include a 5.4-liter all-aluminum engine in the 2011 Shelby GT500. The new engine is 102 pounds lighter than its predecessor’s cast-iron engine, delivering a better power-to-weight ratio, improved fuel economy, acceleration, handling and steering precision.

In fact, the use of aluminum in vehicle engines has grown over the past three years. A study commissioned by The Aluminum Association, Inc., last year, and released by Ducker Worldwide, showed that, on a component basis, aluminum use for engine blocks has had the largest increase with penetration reaching nearly 70 percent.

In the same study, worldwide aluminum content in vehicles was projected to grow by 28 to 30 billion pounds per year, from the current 16 to 17 billion pounds, through 2020.

Ranking as the world leader in aluminum penetration in vehicles, North America produces more than 50 vehicles that contain more than 10 percent aluminum content.

Climate change always gets a bad rep. It’s blamed for rising ocean levels, melting glaciers, and a slew of many other predicaments. However, amidst all these problems, climate change has done one thing well: it has promoted the growth of forests in the Eastern United States. This unexpected outcome really embodies the idea of looking on the bright side of things.

According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, trees in the mentioned region are growing faster than they have in the past 225 years. Ecologists Geoffrey Parker and Sean McMahon found evidence that the forest is growing an additional 2 tons per acre annually. To bring this into perspective, that is like having a 2-foot diameter tree sprouting in a year. On the average, such trees take decades and even centuries to grow fully. Parker and McMahon say that this growth spurt is likely due to several factors of climate change: increased levels on CO2 in the atmosphere, an increased temperature, and a lengthened growing season. Their study stated that CO2 levels have risen by 12% in the past 22 years, the mean temperature has risen by three-tenths of a degree, and the growing season has increased by 7.8 days. All these factors combined are the reason the trees have been shooting up in inches.

Growing trees are a good thing. More trees means more CO2 is taken out of the atmosphere and converted into oxygen. So does this study mean we can bust out our Escalades and crank the A/C on high? Not so fast, junior. Despite the fact that the study doesn’t mention any consequences of the tree growth spurt, it is important to look at the bigger picture. Sure, the trees are sprouting, but at the same time, global climate change causes more devastation than benefit: more extreme weather (heat waves, hurricanes), increased temperature of oceans, change in the pattern of migration and mating for animals…the list can go on and on. So although it is reassuring to know that our wasteful ways have incurred some benefit, the consequences outweigh profits and we should not be encouraged to continue perpetuating climate change, but rather strive to mitigate it.

Golfers know a nice golf course when they see one, and they appreciate one that is kept in top-rate condition. But they may not realize the effort and the science that golf course superintendents employ to put good conservation techniques to work. Perhaps the most significant is the current trend toward conserving water use when trying to keep the fairways and greens pristine.

The United States Golf Association’s “Green Section Record” has provided information to golf course superintendents for decades, dating back to 1973 when it forwarded the latest research of the times in “Environmental Concerns for the Golf Course Superintendent.”

The messages of more than 30 years ago remain relevant today, but the nation’s dwindling water supplies have made it more urgent than ever to consider methods of proper water usage.

The use of recycled water has been a key advancement, though the salt content of recycled water can be difficult for certain types of turf grasses to tolerate.

“Golf courses do conserve the use of well water by using community waste water or effluent water,” says Peter Leuzinger, a golf course superintendent for 30 years before retiring to teach horticulture and turf grass studies at Kishwaukee College in DeKalb, Ill.

“We did it at Ivanhoe golf course and for 170 homes in the community,” Leuzinger said. “We had our own waste water treatment lagoons and fed our irrigation system with that water.”

Leuzinger said many golf courses throughout northern Illinois do the same thing today, which goes a long way toward saving water, particularly during periods of drought when water usage restrictions are in place.

“The sodium (salt) issue comes mainly from water softeners discharging into the sewer system,” Leuzinger explained.  “Often the pH of this ‘grey water’ is very high at 8.4 and is treated with acid to get it close to neutral (7.0).

“Sodium build up in the soil should not be allowed. It can be treated with gypsum or sulfur and watered in. This replaces the nitrogen on the exchange sites of the soil and it flushes out with heavy rain water as it restores the soils’ fertility level and structure.”

Leuzinger said that winter snow and spring rains also help reduce salt levels in the soils in the Midwest, but in western states the golf course superintendents have to flush their greens and tees “by watering very heavily, from time to time, taking the salt out through the drainage system to reduce the concentration to an acceptable level for fine turf.”

Golf course superintendents understand what works and what doesn’t in their particular environment. “Some turf species are more tolerant of sodium than others, but might not be good grasses to use in the Midwest for golf course turf,” Leuzinger said.

The USGA researches turf grasses and their tolerance to weather conditions, and the organization is finding more requests for grasses that can tolerate less intense management and care. This calls for turfs that need less water or can handle recycled water on a regular basis.

It is not uncommon to see desert golf courses use very limited areas of grass because water usage is heavily limited, but others are seeking turfs that can go nearly dormant, but still be playable.

Which introduces a new reality for golf course pros and superintendents – they will have to lower the expectations of the players at their courses who are used to brilliantly green fairways, while explaining that the playing conditions are the same.They may be able to start with this pitch – saving water will save money and quite likely help keep greens’ fees lower.

Celebrities are probably the most notorious for their bad habits. Wasting resources is definitely one of them. Of course they need 20 bedrooms villas, several cars ( all high priced, low fuel economy), not to mention thousands of clothes, shoes, doodads, hobbies, whatever. Point is, Mother Nature frowns upon their wasteful ways. But certain celebrities are in line with reality. Local band, The Giving Tree, is an example. A recent article from the Chicago Tribune describes the band’s green ways. In an effort to clean up the dirty old ways of other recording artists, this band spent a month recording their album in rural Wisconsin at the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center. The center generates all of its electricity on site, meaning no power is taken from the local grid.

And things get better. In order to avoid the Chicago-Wisconsin commute, the band camped at Mirror Lake State Park and biked to the facility every day. Take that, Al Gore. But don’t mistake the band’s eco-conscious ways as just a publicity stunt. The members are involved in promoting other green habits. They wear clothes made of organic cotton or hemp and they planted trees in order to make their first album ‘carbon neutral’.

I know what you may be thinking. Good luck getting Paris Hilton and P.Diddy to bike to work. Well, the moral of the story is that everyone, not just celebrities can adapt a more green lifestyle. And you don’t need to record an album in Wisconsin to do it. Consider taking public transportation or carpooling with friends and co-workers. Think about adapting more energy saving actions such as turning off the lights or turning down the heat/AC. No one said you have to move to the woods and be a nomad to be green. All it takes is some simple steps and dollop of determination. Thanks, Giving Tree, for showing us that green doesn’t mean grim.

A close look at any company that provides a product or service would reveal an economic truth about the waste it generates: Virtually 100 percent of it is recyclable.

Take a look around any office in Anytown, U.S.A., and you would generally find the same things – drywall, computer equipment, glass, metal, Styrofoam, printer ink cartridges, plastic, paper, wood and carpet.

“All of these materials can be recycled, but most of them are overlooked,” says Fred Rosenthal of the Rosenthal Group, a waste consultation business out of St. Charles, IL. that has trademarked the slogan, “Turning Waste Green.”

“The slogan does have a double meaning,” Rosenthal said. “Green can either mean financial or environmental, depending on what our client is trying to accomplish. It normally starts with the environment, but ultimately depends on the cost.”

When a company overlooks the recycling process, it usually comes down to any combination of three key reasons: they were not aware; the volume of material is low; or the cost to dispose was restrictive.
Rosenthal feels there is more awareness of the “green movement” today, but that does not necessarily equate to more participation.

“This will sound political, but I do not believe in global warming and it is that fear that drives a lot of politicians to regulate the recycling industry,” Rosenthal said. “What I do believe is that we should all be good stewards of the world. If we can use materials that were recycled, then we should. “Like most things in life, there is a cost regardless of what is done,” he added. “Most businesses want to do the right thing, but they also have a bottom line they must meet, and that causes many to stay with their old ways rather than recycle.”

The most common items that a waste consultant will help a client deal with are cardboard, paper, plastic and computer equipment. But there is a cost in training employees, installing proper procedures and equipment and the pickup and transfer of waste products.
The poor economy has also put a damper on the recycling industry because rebates for recyclable commodities have fallen.

“Prior to the collapse of our economy, the rebates were at an all-time high,” Rosenthal said. “We saw cardboard at $200 a ton, and then when the bottom fell out and recycling processors were refusing material, the cost to dispose, with no rebates, was $50 a ton, or in effect a $250 drop.“Today, the market has made a turn and rebates for recycling materials have turned to the positive side,” Rosenthal added. “It’s not the $200 a ton of the past, but around $75 to $100 a ton for baled cardboard.”

Rosenthal cautioned that the supply-side of that equation has been low “because companies that used to generate large volumes of cardboard have reduced their inventory and thus do not generate what they did prior to the collapse of the economy.”

While companies start to rebound through an economic recovery and commodities prices edge forward, there is another waste product that Americans have generated for decades without much concern. “It’s food waste,” Rosenthal emphasizes. “For the state of Illinois, there is so much control on regulations for food waste that most is ending up in our landfills.” By comparison, Rosenthal points out, his son worked as a chef with Disney Company at the Flying Fish Restaurant in Florida. “All of Disney’s food waste was either used for feed for the animals, or it was composted.”

An enormous amount of energy is wasted every year from heat sources such as engine exhausts, commercial ovens, industrial furnaces and landfill flares. Labs around the world are seeking ways to capture this excess heat before it disappears into the atmosphere.

According to the U.S. Clean Heat and Power Association, a variety of industrial waste energy streams can be recycled into useful heat and power. These include hot exhaust gases, low-grade fuels such as methane emissions from landfills and high-pressure steam and gas. Proven technology can profitably convert the energy in hot exhaust (600 degrees F or higher) from any process into steam that drives turbine generators and produces electricity. Coke ovens, glass furnaces, silicon production, refineries, natural gas pipeline compressors, petrochemical processes, and many processes in the metals industry vent hot exhaust that can be profitably recycled to produce fuel-free power.

More and more, devices known as combined heat and power (CHP) technologies are installed to recover heat that would normally be wasted and use it to produce both steam and electricity. Currently, CHP systems produce almost 8 percent of U.S. electric power; save building and industry owners over $5 billion per year in energy costs; decrease energy use by almost 1.3 trillion BTUs per year; reduce NOx emissions by 0.4 million tons per year; reduce SO2 emissions by over 0.9 million tons per year; and prevent the release of over 35 million metric tons of carbon equivalent into the atmosphere.

One CHP maker, Cyclone Power Technologies Inc., Pompano Beach, Fla., will soon offer its Waste Heat Engine—a modern-day steam engine—that can capture wasted heat from various sources and convert it into between 1kW and 1MW of electricity. “We believe that our WHE systems can fill an enormous gap in the waste energy recovery industry—namely small and medium sized businesses with low to medium quality excess wasted heat,” says Cyclone’s CEO, Harry Schoell.

Cyclone believes that the installation of its WHE systems can also help drive investment and create jobs. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, if the U.S. were to increase its use of CHP and waste heat recovery systems to generate 20 percent of its electricity by 2030, it would spur $234 billion in private investment and create 1 million jobs.

Electric vehicles–plug-in hybrids and battery powered–will comprise nearly 20 percent of the global market for light vehicles in 2030, according to findings in a study on the business case for Plugged-in Electric Vehicles (PEVs) by automotive industry analysts at IHS Global Insight.

The IHS Global Insight white paper, “Battery Electric and Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles: The Definitive Assessment of the Business Case,” forecasts an 8.6 percent market share for plug-in hybrids and a 9.9 percent share for battery-electrics.

“The advantages of electric vehicles are numerous–the multiplicity of energy sources, reduced emissions, reduced noise, the possibility of reduced operating costs–but so too are the challenges,” said Philip Gott, director of Automotive Science and Technology in IHS Global Insight’s Automotive Services Group.

The development of powerful, long-lasting batteries and ready access to a reliable power grid for recharging remain the critical issues for the success of the battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle of the future, according to the white paper. In addition to technology limitations, high costs and expectations of consumers’ accustomed to internal combustion engine vehicles must also be overcome before the plugged-in vehicles achieve significant acceptance.

Gott said the major challenges to be overcome if the vehicles are to be successful in the marketplace are consumers’ preference for long range, versatile vehicles; cost and uncertainty about battery life; perceptions of safety hazard; and adequacy of the power grid.

There are two kinds of PEVs: pure battery electric vehicles (BEVs) powered only by an on-board battery recharged from the electric power grid, and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) that combine an internal combustion engine with a battery that can also be charged from the grid and run for as long as 100 miles before needing the internal combustion engine.

BEVs, the study concludes, will find a natural home in urban environments, like those found in the global mega cities, while PHEVs will play a transitional role in suburban environments where range anxiety is a real concern. At issue is whether consumers will continue to use personal motor vehicles for work and play as they do today, or whether there will be strong moves away from the extensive use of privately owned cars in urban areas, accompanied by significant third-party influence changing consumer attitudes towards cars and how they are used.

The pathway for commercialization for these new generation vehicles highlights the needed role of government and the utility sector. Consumers are expected early on to be more attracted to PHEVs because of their range and convenience, the study said, but as the infrastructure evolves, many early urban PHEV owners will realize they are running predominantly in full electric mode and a large-scale switch to BEVs could begin.