Green at Work

Easy Ways to Set Up a Recycling Scheme at Work

The office can be a wasteful place. Paper, plastic water bottles, defunct office equipment, toner cartridges, pens, and so on, float around and often end up getting discarded. This kind of waste in the workplace is of growing concern. Setting up a recycling scheme at work can help. Here are some easy ways to make that happen. 1. Involve Your Boss Have a meeting with your boss and include him or her in your plans. Point out that recycling will save the company money in the long run, and make sure your boss is on board before proceeding. If you proceed without his or her knowledge, you may find your efforts thwarted. 2. Contact Your Local Waste Authority The company who collects your trash or curbside recycling is a place to start. See if they will partner up with your company to collect your office recycling. Check with local charities to see if there are any needs for old computers, copiers, printers, and other office equipment. Develop several partnerships with various companies to see that your office waste is being utilized most efficiently. 3. Conduct a Waste Audit Spend some time noting where the most waste is generated in your office or workplace. It has been shown ...

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The Rise Of Green Energy Jobs

More and more jobs are popping up in the green energy sector as clean technology industries like solar, wind, and energy efficiency continue to grow. These new positions will more than likely require new skill sets that suggest there may be a sudden growth in green education at universities and community colleges. Across the country, training programs are popping up in order to prepare individuals for the new areas in the job marketplace. For example, there are training programs for wind technicians in Texas. Steelworkers are being trained for positions in electric-vehicle battery plants. The EcoTech Institute is a brand new two-year college in Colorado that trains 250 students for solar and wind jobs. In the very near future, they will also offer training for environmental paralegal jobs and sustainable interior design. Not to mention, scientists are being educated on the thriving biofuel sector in California. Federal and state governments are providing many of these programs with hundreds of millions of dollars. The University of Nevada received a $995,000 grant from the United States Department of Energy to start the National Geothermal Academy. The National Geothermal Academy will have 8-week training courses to educate engineers, policymakers, scientists and plant operators about the ...

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Smog-Eating Buildings

Alcoa is the world leader in the production and management of primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum, and alumina combined. Alcoa recently announced a building panel that can clean itself as well as the air around the building. Alcoa has coined these panels: smog-eating buildings. The panels are a silver aluminum that would cover the building like a skin. There is a coating of titanium dioxide that is layered on top of the silver paint of the panel. Titanium dioxide particles act as photo catalysts. When they interact with sunlight, their electrons become supercharged and they interact with water molecules that are in the air. The resulting interaction releases free radicals that break down organic material on the building panel. Thus, pollutants such as nitrogen oxide in the surrounding atmosphere are broken down. The free radicals are the major component that does all of the work. They fight the organic material and oxidize them down to harmless compounds that can be easily washed away with some rainwater. Titanium dioxide yields a hydrophilic surface when it interacts with sunlight. The hydrophilic surface lets water fall off the panel easily, rather than bead up in little droplets. The self-cleaning Reynobond with EcoClean panels may reduce a ...

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Investing In Plastics

A number of hedge fund managers are grabbing up shares of LyondellBasell Industries, which produces chemicals like polyethylene and propylene, both of which are the materials that go into making plastics. Propylene is a molded plastic that is used in producing clothing, rope, car parts and numerous other common products. Polyethylene is the most common plastic, used in a wide array of products from bulletproof vests to shopping bags. Plastics and raw materials are growing in popularity, suggesting that hedge funds are diversifying commodity bets beyond gold, the sweetheart of 2010 returning 30%, as inflationary pressures ooze into energy and food. It seems that investors are looking for commodity-related plays as the global economy surfaces from the recession, because of the bets that major hedge funds are making on LyondellBasell and other raw materials manufactures like Penn West Petroleum and Repsol YPF SA. In 2009, LyondellBasell declared bankruptcy as a result of the struggling economy. They are the third largest chemical maker in the United States. York Capital Management, Greenlight Capital, Viking Global Investors, and Farallon Capital Management made their stakes in LyondellBasell public when the chemical manufacturer returned to the public markets last October. China is leading the way in the rebound ...

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How to Dispose of Your Compact Fluorescent Lamps

In the 90’s, CFL bulbs (Compact Fluorescent Lamps) cost around $20.  Today you can get them for a couple of dollars.  CFL bulbs are available in various wattage, shapes and sizes to accommodate the wide variety of standard light fittings.  Coupled with the dramatically lower cost, CFL bulbs are preferable to incandescent bulbs because they consume much less energy. CFL bulbs have a 2-5 year lifespan. The question is, what do you do with them when they die?  Don’t throw CFL’s in the bin.  It is a waste of materials, and it’s important to recognize that compact fluorescent lamps contain 3-5 milligrams of mercury.  This amount is relative to the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen, and much less than what you would find in a watch battery.  However, with the popularity of these bulbs, the potential for build up of this small amount of mercury once the CFL’s are disposed of does become a significant issue. Fortunately, an even smaller amount of the mercury remaining in the CFL bulb is in its most toxic form.  However, the bulbs are fragile and therefore caution should be exercised that mercury should not find itself in the landfill. Mercury is a dangerous ...

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