Happy Holidays!

Snowflake-shaped photovoltaic cells are being developed by Sandia National Laboratories. Made from crystalline silicon, they use 100 times less material to generate the same amount of electricity as standard solar cells make with solar wafers.

Erin Brockovich is Going Green!

GoingGreenTV interviews Erin Brockovich about the MillionBabyCrawl.

Save green by retrofitting green

Retrofitting existing buildings is the quickest and least expensive impact we can have on slowing climate change, according to Tom Zeller Jr. of the New York Times Green Inc. It is also a great way to save money on our energy bills. So where do we start? What can we do to make our homes more energy efficient and better for the environment and our families?

A new website, www.EnergySavvy.com, aims to help homeowners around the country who want to upgrade their homes to energy efficiency but don't know exactly where to start. EnergySavvy connects homeowners that want to make their houses more efficient to pre-screened contractors that can help them do their projects right. It also helps you find the energy rebates and tax incentives that can help you pay for these kind of projects, including low-interest loans.

In fact, if every owner-occupied single-family house in the U.S. redeemed their federal tax credit (just 1 of over 1000 programs nationwide) for home energy efficiency upgrades, it’d be $84 B in government stimulus – 30X the budget of the Cash for Clunkers program!

Now that is saving green by going green!

Paper or plastic? Or not?

Paper or plastic? In 1999, 14 million trees were cut down to produce 10 billion paper bags for Americans. An estimated 12 million barrels of oil are used in the production of 1 billion plastic bags. In addition, each year, millions of tax dollars are spent disposing of a recycling plastic and paper bags. Instead, bring a stylish fun reusable bag, like the ones you can find on reusablebagsdepot.com. Better yet, some stores like Target, Whole Foods and CVS, give you discounts when you bring your own bag. If we use one reusable bag for a year, we eliminate the need for 1,000 plastic bags. As Heather would say, "Now that's good to know!"

SEMA 2009

They say attendance was down, but you couldn't tell by the enthusiasm in the aisles. Engineers, shop owners, buyers and builders combed the rows of parts, girls, and cars at the 2009 SEMA Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center, held November 3 - November 6. Excitement carried over to the farthest corner, upstairs in the South Hall to the "Making Green Cool Zone" where eco-innovations, green automotive technology and many of the participants from the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize were on display. The "Revolution through Competition" consists of 43 teams showcasing "design-viable, clean and super-efficient cars that people will want to buy" in hopes of winning $10 million in cash and prizes.

Green Vehicle Disposal

Each year in North America, close to 12 million vehicles reach the end of their useful lives and are taken out of service. Ever wonder what happens to them after that? 75% of your old vehicle CAN be recycled and using recycled metal saves up to 74% energy and 40% water consumption. It also reduces air pollution by about 86% and water pollution by 76%.
So how do you make sure your vehicle get recycled?
There is a new company called Green Vehicle Disposal that is dedicated to finding an eco-friendly disposal solution for your vehicle. They may even pay you for it! You can make green by going green! www.greenvehicledisposal.com.

Go Green Girl!

UPDATE 11/9: CONGRATULATIONS FOR FINISHING 2ND!

UPDATE 10/25: CONGRATULATIONS TO LEILANI FOR BEING ONE OF THE TEN FINALISTS IN THE PROJECT GREEN SEARCH GREEN GIRL COMPETITION!

FINAL JUDGING TAKES PLACE IN LOS ANGELES NOVEMBER 6! GOOOOO LEILANI!

Never underestimate a vegetarian hippie chick with a racecar. Meet Leilani Munter. After earning a degree in Biology from UC San Diego, Leilani got the racing bug after doubling for Catherine Zeta Jones in a driving stunt. Capable of success behind the wheel of any type of racecar (she has raced NASCAR and Indy-type cars), Leilani uses the platform of racing to reach thousands of racefans with her environmental awareness message.

Her website, www.carbonfreegirl.com, is a story of her journey to be carbon neutral and "a diary of her lifetime project of sorting through the facts & fiction about alternative fuels, organic food, clean energy, green buildings, solar power, wind farms, composters, recycling, politics & more all while she makes a living driving a race car at 200 mph." Additionally, Leilani hopes her efforts will encourage racing sanctioning bodies to increase their environmental initiatives with expanded recycling programs and the use of alternative fuels.

Leilani is competing to be a Green Girl in the Project Green Search campaign, aimed at inspiring people to align their careers with their environmental, social and humanitarian ethics.

We at GoingGreen.com, endorse Leilani Munter to be the next Project Green Girl. Voting is only through Friday, October 16. To vote for Leilani or to pick your own favorite green girl, go to ProjectGreenSearch.com.

Photo credit: snudgebros.com and Italian Vogue.

One man pushes the carpet industry to go green

The petroleum intensive industry of carpet is going green with the leadership and ambition of Ray Anderson, founder and chairman of Interface, Inc., the world's largest manufacturing of modular carpeting. A pioneer in corporate sustainability, Anderson set an ambitious goal in 1997 of Mission Zero®, a promise to eliminate any negative impact Interface, Inc. may have "on the environment, by the year 2020, through the redesign of processes and products, the pioneering of new technologies, and efforts to reduce or eliminate waste and harmful emissions while increasing the use of renewable materials and sources of energy."

Says Anderson, “If we’re successful, we’ll spend the rest of our days harvesting yester-year’s carpets and other petrochemically derived products, and recycling them into new materials; and converting sunlight into energy; with zero scrap going to the landfill and zero emissions into the ecosystem. And we’ll be doing well … very well … by doing good. That’s the vision.”

Anderson's quest for sustainability doesn't begin and end with Interface, Inc.; he also drives a Prius and built an off-the-grid home. An author of several books, his latest, Confessions of a Radical Industrialist, hit the shelves last month.

Treehugger.com's Top Ten Going Green Driving Tips

Go Green and save green, by Derek Markham.

1. Limit yourself: The song says, "I can't drive 55", but you really ought to. For every five miles per hour you drive above 55 mph, you lose 10% fuel efficiency, so keep your speed down when you can.
2. Don't be idle: If you're stopped for more than a minute, shut off your engine. Fuel efficiency savings of up to 19% are possible by being more aware of not letting your engine idle while stopped.
3. Get the lead out: Do you take off from stoplights like you're drag racing, then hit the brakes at the next one? Accelerating less aggressively and slowing down moderately for stops can increase your fuel efficiency by over 30%.
4. Go steady: Many traffic lights are timed for efficient traffic flow, and by maintaining a constant speed, you'll hit more green lights in a row.
5. Go for a cruise: Use your cruise control on the highway to maintain a steady speed and keep yourself from accelerating unnecessarily. An average fuel savings of 10% is possible by just cruising. For mountainous drives, skip the cruise control and accelerate smoothly on the hills, coasting down the other side with minimal fuel.
6. There's an app for that: Got an iPhone? Install a fuel saving application like MyMPG that lets you know when you're wasting gas.
7. Streamline your ride: Improving the aerodynamics of your car reduces drag and improves fuel efficiency. Got a roof rack full of gear? Leave it at home and feel the difference.
8. Hack your fuel efficiency: Change your plugs regularly, keep your engine tuned up, and your filters clean. Empty your car of any extra items you've been hauling around for years to lighten your load.
9. Jump in the pool: Drive alone, and you're making the gasoline industry very happy. Find a carpool for work commutes, and ask your friends and neighbors to combine errand runs with you.
10. Gear up: Cars are more fuel efficient in a higher gear, so when you're up to speed, pick the gear with the lowest engine rpm and you'll burn the least amount of gas, while reducing the emissions from your tailpipe.