One of the largest electric companies in the United States, Duke Energy, has announced their acquisition of Tierra Energy. Tierra is a company based in Austin, Texas that focuses primarily on wind power development. “As our nation’s appetite for electricity continues to grow, renewable energy will play a larger role in meeting that demand,” said Duke Energy Chairman, President and CEO, James E. Rogers. “This acquisition supports our strategy to increase our investment in renewable energy and national efforts to reduce carbon emissions.” With an increasing focus on renewable energy, we may begin to see a growing number of these types of situations occurring where larger, more established power companies buy up smaller renewable energy companies to gain positions in that market. Read the full press release for more information regarding this acquisition. 

Tierra Energy 
Duke Energy

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) and the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) have released a new report underlining what they feel to be the most important steps in the fight against global warming. “Aggressive investments in energy efficiency in the short run and growing purchases of renewable energy over the long run are a powerful one-two solution for businesses, local governments, and states aspiring to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions now,” says the ACEEE press release. In the report, they also highlight the best ways to create a more secure situation for U.S. energy. The report sets some lofty goals for reducing energy usage and carbon emissions over the next twenty years. With major cities getting involved and local and federal legislatures join in, these goals truly could become a reality. Read the full report by logging in here.

I recently was in a store looking for a greeting card and noticed an interesting looking card on the rack. As I picked it up to read it, I couldn’t help but notice how good the quality of paper seemed for a card. When I flipped it over to read the back, I saw that it had a paragraph or so description about the material it was made of. The card was printed on treeless paper made from some plant called Kenaf. This plant called Kenaf is grown on farms and apparently grows over 15 feet in under 6 months, so it is ideal for use in paper. I had never heard of treeless paper, so I decided to look into it when I got home. I found other alternatives other than the Kenaf paper as well. There are also synthetic papers that are made primarily of resin and calcium carbonate. I wanted to make sure to mention this on our site, even though we focus primarily on conserving energy, since the paper industry is popularly believed to be the most destructive to the environment and it’s great to discover that there is something we can do about it. Below are links to just a few of the companies that I discovered that make treeless papers.

Check them out… 

http://www.rock-paper.com/index.html

http://www.conservatree.org/index.shtml 

http://www.visionpaper.com/

It’s a great thing to see more and more homes around that have solar panels to help power them. It’s an even better thing to read about entire communities that are springing up that rely almost solely on solar power. This story from The Mercury News is particularly astonishing to me because it highlights a community that has decided to remain completely off the power grid by using solar power and is in an area that has a reputation for cloudy weather, the Pacific Northwest. Not to mention, this neighborhood is apparently a well-to-do gated community, not one many might expect to be the rebellious, save the environment type. As the technology of solar panels becomes more and more advanced and prices inevitably drop, I can only hope to see many more stories like this one springing up all over the country.

Did you ever wonder what it would be like to be doing some rustic camping and have your cell phone available to talk whenever you want? Well that is if you can get a signal where you are at. Quite possibly you are actually out there to get away from the world of cell phones… 

A company called “Hi-Tech Wealth” is making this possible for you. With the estimated price of around $510 it is still a bit expensive but, as you know with all things electronic, it will become cheep enough for the casual consumer soon enough. 

For the entire article check out Huliq

Several major cities, large companies, and the aforementioned former President are working together and pledging billions of dollars to do their part in the fight against global warming. They plan to upgrade current inefficient systems that are in place such as lighting, heating, and cooling. The cities involved are Bangkok; Berlin; Chicago; Houston; Johannesburg; Karachi; London; Melbourne; Mexico City; Mumbai; New York; Rome; São Paulo; Seoul; Tokyo; and Toronto. Hopefully, this trend will continue and more cities will get involved and in turn urge more citizens themselves to do more as well. Said Clinton of the partnership, “Climate change is a global problem that requires local action. The businesses, banks and cities partnering with my foundation are addressing the issue of global warming because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it’s good for their bottom line.” But, why is your foundation addressing it Mr. Clinton? Is it good for your bottom line? Perhaps he feels guilty for not joining the Kyoto Protocol?? Or perhaps he wants to boost his image to help his wife follow in his footsteps??? Or maybe he even genuinely wants to do something good for the world???? You be the judge… 

Check out more at The New York Times…

 Tesla Motors has developed a car that has both sports cars enthusiasts and environmentally concerned consumers alike drooling. Their Tesla Roadster is a beautifully designed, ultra-quick, 100% electric sports car. JB Straubel, an engineer at Tesla, has spent years trying to design a commercially viable electric car and it looks like he’s got his wish. “His latest all-electric creation is faster off the line than a 510-horsepower Lamborghini Gallardo. More important, it can run 250 miles between charges, not 20, in large part because it’s powered by laptop batteries.” That’s right, it’s powered by thousands of lithium-ion batteries. Drive it all day, come home and plug it back in and in the morning, its batteries are charged and ready to go. Each mile driven equals out to less than $.02. So, now you can not only save the planet and some gas money, but look good and have fun doing it. Read more here.

Well it looks as though President Bush has decided that we need to increase the efficiency of cars. Better late then never, I guess. “President Bush announced on Monday that he had directed his administration to begin the long process of establishing higher fuel efficiency standards for new cars.” But not everyone is convinced, as it seems that some believe that the results of this process will be too late or never come at all. This will not have any significant impact on the short term but it shows that high prices at the pump are finally reaching the ears of the President. I am sure eventually we will have cars that don’t require an internal combustion engine…right? Read the New York Times article for more.

Hello and welcome to Greener Thinking. 

We are glad you could stop by. You may be asking, “Why am I here?” I would love to answer that for you… but many philosophers have been trying to ask the same question for centuries, and still haven’t found an answer. 

So that is why, instead, I will tell you why WE are here. 
If you have not noticed by now, we have created a site about a topic we care about deeply. Money and saving that environment thing. 

It seems news organizations are focusing on saving the environment, but showing how costly it is. Our goal is to create entertaining articles that you can enjoy reading, along with tips on how to save the environment and some cash along the way. Also we would like to leave our mark on the world with our environmental saving projects that we will keep you posted on under the “GT Press Releases” Tab. We would like to accomplish all of this through our minimalist website. 

We are working on some environmental projects to help repair our planet. As you know everyone can make a difference, so we are going to do our part. We will keep you posted on our projects under the “GT Press Releases” Tab.

If you have any new and exciting environmental products you would like us to try or review please contact us at GreenerThinking@GreenerThinking.com