The first Tesla store will open in... Menlo Park, in the Bay Area. It will be in a property owned by Stanford University, which used to house a Chevrolet dealer. Not only is the world getting a green car dealership, but it is losing a non-green one. The original idea was to launch a dealership in New York, Chicago, South Florida, Los Angeles and the Bay area - but tragically none in my home-town of London (not that I can afford one anyway, but I could window-shop). Tesla announced a while ago that they would not be selling franchises for dealerships, but would own and run them all. They are almost like the Apple Computers of the car world; demanding control of every step of the process, from design to sales. Like Apple, this looks like it has resulted in an amazing product which I would happily give a (small) body part to own. The store should be open by the end of the year, which is just after the first production Tesla Roadster is finished in October.
Labels: Tesla, Transportation, treehugger
According to a newly published piece of peer reviewed research, "The United States has had two spikes of lead poisoning: one at the turn of the 20th century, linked to lead in household paint, and one after World War II, when the use of leaded gasoline increased sharply. Both times, the violent crime rate went up and down in concert, with the violent crime peaks coming two decades after the lead poisoning peaks.
The finding seems to address "why rates of violent crime among black adolescents from inner-city neighborhoods have declined faster than the overall crime rate -- lead amelioration programs had the biggest impact on the urban poor. Children in inner-city neighborhoods were the ones most likely to be poisoned by lead, because they were more likely to live in substandard housing that had lead paint and because public housing projects were often situated near highways."
To address a broader point, let's assume that these findings will be corroborated.
Before the ban on leaded gasoline was initiated in the early 1970s', US refiners and auto makers resisted restrictions on the basis of scientific uncertainty, just as they have more recently, on the matter of human-causation of climate change. No one would have ever guessed, in 1970, that the neurological effects of childhood lead exposures could be associated, almost 40 years later, with causation of crime. The estimated cost/benefit ratio of the projected lead phaseout seems, in retrospect, to have been conservative.
Reflecting on this, how shall we anticipate the cost benefit ratio for climate protections? Is it reasonable to make an analogy, in hindsight, to the cost benefit of lead restrictions?
Imagination is more limiting than the spreadsheet. Faith in the future, more valuable than fear of it.
The cited work of R. Nevin was published in Environmental Research
Volume 104, Issue 3, July 2007, Pages 315-336. See full abstract below.
Via:: Washington Post
Understanding international crime trends: The legacy of preschool lead exposure
Rick Nevin
National Center for Healthy Housing, USA
Received 12 August 2006; revised 20 February 2007; accepted 23 February 2007. Available online 23 April 2007.
Abstract
This study shows a very strong association between preschool blood lead and subsequent crime rate trends over several decades in the USA, Britain, Canada, France, Australia, Finland, Italy, West Germany, and New Zealand. The relationship is characterized by best-fit lags (highest R2 and t-value for blood lead) consistent with neurobehavioral damage in the first year of life and the peak age of offending for index crime, burglary, and violent crime. The impact of blood lead is also evident in age-specific arrest and incarceration trends. Regression analysis of average 1985 through 1994 murder rates across USA cities suggests that murder could be especially associated with more severe cases of childhood lead poisoning.
Labels: lead paint, treehugger
Labels: Live Earth, treehugger
When the largest television network in the world with a potential audience of 1.5 billion people in 162 countries decides to make global climate change a top priority, it is time to sit up and take notice. In fact, the MTV SWITCH campaign launched yesterday aims to target people between the ages of 15 to 25 who happen to live in countries with high carbon emissions. The aim is to connect with them and lead them to question their high consumption lifestyles, hopefully raising their consciousness of the environment in general and the fight against global warming in particular at the same time. The organizing principle behind all of it is the idea that when large groups of individuals choose to begin taking small actions on their own it can add up to massive results. To help get youth involved they will be targeting them with public service announcements, television programs, and online resources accessible via the MTV Switch website. And you can bet they will be incredibly effective at making the connection inside of kids minds with them too. It seems that in the strange and wacky world of teenage minds our friends at MTV have made themselves a more trusted source of news than CNN. Go figure!
Labels: MTV, treehugger
Prosumer is a portmanteau from Professional and consumer, it is an ugly word picked up by the vendors of digital cameras to describe too many complicated and formerly expensive professional features being added to consumer models. Paul Kedrosky makes it uglier by inventing Prosumerification- the tendency of home stoves morph into into commercial Garland ranges, Home entertainment systems that rival a THX equipped cinema, video cameras where George Lucas couldn't use all the features, all of them more complex, expensive and sucking more power.
A remarkable example can be seen in rice cookers; Toshiba invented them 50 years ago with a simple heating element beneath the bowl that had a thermostat to click off as soon as the water was gone. We use a 25 year old one like this every night and it still works perfectly. Now the Wall Street Journal tells us that Toshiba is offering the Vacuum-Pressure Rice Cooker for 100,000 yen ( US$ 830). It creates a vacuum while the rice soaks, then 264 pounds of pressure while it cooks, all in a vessel coated in silver and diamond dust to distribute the heat evenly.
One rice expert questions the logic of this:
The latest rash of technology is a bit much for Mr. Nishijima, the rice expert. "Just because you pay 70,000 yen [about $575] or 110,000 yen doesn't mean that there's a drastic change in taste," says Mr. Nishijima, who adds that good rice can be made with the simplest of rice cookers if it is to be eaten right away. He thinks consumers might be too susceptible to hype. "It almost seems like anything is OK as long as it's expensive," he says. ::Wall Street Journal, subscription only but copy of portion here.
Also in the Journal was "Japan Aims To Be Climate Change Leader But Lags Kyoto Goals"
Household emissions present a major challenge. (household emissions rose 37.4% from 1990 levels)
The government estimates that household emission of 175 million tons of CO2 in 2005 will have to be cut by 38 million tons - or nearly 22% - by 2010. Officials are urging citizens to take quicker showers, use less air conditioning and heating, and switch to eco-friendly appliances.
Coincidence? ::Infectious GreedLabels: consumer behavior, greenhouse gas, sarah, treehugger
One of my friends once lamented about a time he toured and kept holding his laptop up in the tour van to get a wireless signal while driving through Utah. When he finally got a signal, his battery died. Enter: Labels: gadget, musician resources, renewables, solar, tour resources, treehugger
SELF-SUFFICIENT SKYSCRAPER. German architect, Eckhard Gerber, wants to build self-sufficient office towers in Riyadh, Dubai and Bahrain that produce 100% of their own electricity supply. The first tower would be 68-storeys, making it the 22nd tallest building in the world, and he is currently in talks with potential investors for the $406 million project. The cylindrical shape presents the minimum surface area to the sun, and a solar shield covers 60 degrees of the building. This will reduce the need for air conditioning.
Seawater will be used to cool air, as well as three large cooling units in the building's cellar. The roof will house a 197 foot wind turbine and 161,459 square feet of solar cells. The additional energy requirements will be handled by a floating solar panel island which drifts in the sea, close to the tower. Any excess electricity will be used to extract hydrogen from sea water, which is used by fuel cells to generate power at night. ::more ::Spiegel OnlineLabels: green building, renewables, sarah, treehugger
Remember furbies? Remember how annoying they were? How small children would dote on them in the hopes that they would flourish? Well, here's a similar concept, but not at all annoying....well, they are kind of annoying because I want one and they are not in production yet, but, wow! The device pictured to the left will water and feed a small tree according to its owner's environmental footprint. Things like energy usage, home heating and cooling, and recycling efforts will effect whether or not the tree is given sustaining nutrients and water or damaging poison.THE ENERGY TREE. Every once in a while, we like to feature an interesting bit of conceptual design. Like the Energy Tree. Apparently in an effort to truly unite technology with the physical environment, designer Ben Arent has created a system that contains a real tree connected to a microprocessor. The device controls the watering and feeding of the tree depending on your energy usage, and also monitors your appliances, heating/cooling, and recycling habits. It uses this information to feed and water the tree, but only if you are efficient with your energy use. If you aren't, the Energy Tree will poison and malnourish the tree, eventually killing it.
The system will also be online, using something known as "the collector." The collector is there to encourage people to recycle; Once at the depot the collector will unit will be radioed indicating that you did your job. This system has the added benefit that someone can take your recycling to the facility, while you can still get the credit. You know, to keep your tree alive.
It's a visceral idea, and (natch) still on the drawing board. According to the article, "The EnergyTree will change the perception and view of how power is being used, implementing a complete system looking at device consumption, home consumption and long term sustainability." If you got this far, I think it just did that. ::more ::Ben ArentLabels: efficiency, gadget, high concept, sarah, treehugger
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