Greg Seitz from Friends of the Boundary Water Wilderness wrote an excellent comment on the post I wrote about PolyMet’s mining proposal that I think it worth promoting to its own post status: Erik – 81% of Minnesotans want our state agencies like the Pollution Control Agency and the DNR to do a better job [...]
Greg Seitz from Friends of the Boundary Waters mentioned in the comments of this post that I may find the movie produced by his organization worth watching. He was right. Precious Waters is a 25 minute long overview of the threats proposed sulfide mining operations (that’s mines that use acid to extract minerals like copper, [...]
I had a chance to attend the Green Ideas and Ham meeting hosted by Environment Minnesota at the Red Stag in November. It’s a monthly get togetherto discuss environmental issues in Minnesota, and the breakfast is really good. November’s topic was proposed mining operations near the Boundary Waters. Here is a previous write-up on the [...]
Target Corporation recently announced plans to become a greener company through a combination of supply chain efficiencies, store designs, and waste stream tactics. They’re great goals that should have a significant impact on the environment, considering Target’s size. If Target manages to reduce their landfill waste by 15%, gas emissions by 10%, and water usage [...]
Every once in a while, i get in a debate with someone regarding whether municipal or private trash hauling is a better option for a city’s residents. The video below breaks down my position on this never ending debate: To be clear, the municipal proposal doesn’t necessarily mean that the trash collectors are city employees. [...]
One thing the Google Powermeter taught me over time was that our biggest energy gain would come through upgrading our refrigerator to a more efficient model. Our old one worked fine, but used more energy than a 2010 model of the same size and specs does. We got around to upgrading ours after Carly donated [...]
One type of compact fluorescent bulb that’s a bit harder than average to find are bulbs for recessed lighting. I have a hallway that uses 60W incandescents or 15W CF bulbs, but exposed regular CFs just weren’t going to cut it. This bulb from Feit does the trick: Like most CF bulbs, they take a [...]
I recently gave Centerpoint Energy a ring and asked if they could pull the records on what Carly and I have been paying for natural gas used in our home over the time we’ve owned it. CenterPoint provides up to 15 months of data on their website (login required) but will print and mail larger [...]
I had a little chat about my latest obsession, the Google PowerMeter service, on Quick On The UpTake with Mike McIntee this afternoon. Good times were had. The theme of the hour was energy conservation starting with my segment at 15 minutes into the segment embedded above (that a live studio shot of Mike doing [...]
Maria Energia has a look at a local company, freEner-g , that’s leases solar power panels. As I understand it, you end up paying a fixed monthly cost for the panels and depending on your power consumption and solar exposure, may be able to drop your electricity bill to zero. In fact, I think it [...]
