From The Workbench - Alternative + Renewable Energy Blog Valuable information for do-it-yourselfers interested in the latest in alternative + renewable energy

Let’s face it, we’re all doing much better than we used to do on really trying to be as Green as possible.  We’re drinking less out of plastic bottles (hopefully), we’re turning off lights when we leave a room (right?), we’re recycling anything and everything that is recyclable in our homes (aren’t we?), and we’re doing our best to cut back on how much gas we need to buy for our vehicles.  If you’re not doing these things, well, you should be, because I’ve been trying my best to get each and every one of you involved, but if not, now is the perfect time to start.

For all of you that think you’re Green, and that think you know all you could know about being Green, I have a challenge for you!  I just found, on the Sierra Club’s website, a “Green IQ” Test that will show you just how Green your mind really thinks!  There are 10 fun questions that can help show you just how green minded you really are.  The quiz wraps up the entire year, a year in which “Green” was a keyword that everyone said, everyone understood and everyone tried to learn a great deal more about.

So, what do you have to lose?  The Sierra Club “Year in Green” Quiz might just open your eyes a bit to the state of things on this beautiful planet of ours.  I’m pleased to say that I got 9 out of the 10 questions correct.  I wish I would have aced it, but alas, it was not meant to be.

Nevertheless, head over, check it out, see how you score.  We’re only 12 days into this new year, what better time to jump head first into making 2009 the Greenest Year yet for you!  Sound off in the comments as to your scores!

Well, It is officially November 10th and the elections are Over!  We’ll have a new President in the White House come January and there are changes being made all over the country.  Drive down any residential street, however, and there’s one change that still needs to be made:  What to do with all of those Obama/McCain, Governor, Senator and Local Office signs and placards up in all of our yards?!

The truth is, on my street at least, there are Hundreds of them left, and there is nothing being done with them yet.  Why throw them away?  Why send them to take up further space in our already over-burdened landfills, why not do something else, why not Recycle?  Some people campaigning might have used paper-placards, those are easy enough to deal with and recycle, but what about the plastic ones?  According to an article I just read, the first step, and probably easiest, would be to call the local office of whomever the sign is for…many of them have staffers on hand that are already out collecting and recycling them.  If not, you could reuse the sign, simply turn the plastic sleeve inside out and use it for your next garage sale or event you need to advertise for.

The article also mentioned, you could reuse the wire as rebar in your next concrete project, turn the sign into an oil drip catcher to put underneath your car.  The bottom line is, there are an Infinite number of ways to make sure that the plastic sign you believed so much in, doesn’t end up as extra waste in our landfills.  Get creative, after all, wouldn’t your candidate have wanted that?!

(Image via Wikipedia)

Talk about news that makes it not seem quite so bad that Winter has already decided to settle in around my neighborhood, reading about this makes me a heck of a lot warmer.  I just read that new traffic laws passed in Beijing, China will effectively take an estimated 800,000 cars off the roads.  That is almost 1 million cars!

According to reports, the new laws came into effect yesterday and instantly those 800,000 cars were off the road.  I do not think the ramifications of numbers that large have truly been felt yet.  The new laws, according to the article, “force 70% of government vehicles, as well as all private and corporate cars, to take turns off the roads on one out of five weekdays….The law works by banning cars with number plates ending one or six from the city’s roads on Mondays, and those with plates ending with two or seven on Tuesdays, three or eight on Wednesdays, four or nine Thursdays and five or zero Fridays. The ban does not apply on weekends.”

This new legislation comes right after a trial two-month ban on vehicles they previously attempted.  What is interesting to note is that the first experiment effectively lead to a “120,000 tonne reduction in vehicle pollution.”  Once the ban was lifted, unfortunately, the pollution went back up to normal.  Here is hoping that this new ban and new laws will do even more to reduce pollution…permanently.