While listening to the radio, I heard an interesting commercial DTE Energy stated that there is a renewable energy option available NOW! This new project is called Green Currents. I am always interested in saving the environment so continued to listen until they gave me a website to check out on my own. 

Thinking I was going to find the mother load of cool I hit a new stage of euphoria, I went to their new site. It starts out by forwarding you from the green currents page to a DTE product page. I read on. “GreenCurrents is a voluntary green options program that makes being green easy and affordable,” they say.

Excited about the prospect I read the explanation of what renewable energy is and how it will help lessen the impact on the environment. The site even comes with its ownCarbon Emissions Calculator. Still not exactly sure what this new “Renewable Energy Option” was I stumbled across the press release explaining their Green Currents project.

They explained that they are working on creating a wind farm and you can “play a significant role in shaping the future of sustainable energy in Michigan,” and all you need to do is pay DTE more money. 

It is undoubtedly going to cost millions of dollars to switch from the fossil fuel to renewable energy, but it also seems like a great business opportunity for DTE. When you move to a renewable resource DTE will not have to spend money on fuel to keep the generators going and because of this there should be a cost advantage that the early adopters will probably not see any kickback on. If you are interested and live in Michigan you can check it out here. 

I have contacted DTE and when I get a response I will bring you more information on the project and see how DTE plans to make the world a better place without making your wallet too light. 

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Green Currents
Carbon Emissions Calculator
Green Currents Press Release
DTE Residential Green Currents

Ever been out and have your cell phone or iPod go dead when you’re nowhere near a place to plug it in? Of course you have… everyone has. Well, Zegna Sport andInteractive Wear AG want to make that a thing of the past, like the Megalodon. Designer Ermenegildo Zegna recently showed off the Solar JKT at a Florence fashion show. The jacket, using solar cells and a battery will allow you to charge many different personal electronic devices. What’s really cool as well is that since there is a built-in battery, it can store the charge when you are in the sun and then save it so you don’t necessarily have to be in the sunlight when you charge the device. You can look for the Solar JKT in Zegna Sport’s 2008 collection. 

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Zegna Sport 
Interactive Wear AG 
Megalodon 
Ermenegildo Zegna

Ever dream of taking a crazy road trip all over the United States? How would you like to do it without using a single bit of gasoline? There’s a show I watched tonight on The Science Channel called Cool Fuel where they do just that. The people on the show put together a plan to take their dream trip across the country using only bio-diesel, geothermal, solar, and other renewable power sources anywhere they come across that they can find it. They even try to work off the costs of their fuel when they can, such as one bio-diesel station they go to where the guy offers to mow the lawn with a solar-powered lawn mower to pay for a fill up. There are all sorts of crazy vehicles they come across on the show such as a one-of-a-kind VW car where the bio-diesel engine is on a trailer pushing it down the road. The show even features a cameo by actor Ed Begley, Jr. who has a solar powered home. If you’re wondering who Ed Begley, Jr. is, you’re probably not alone, but I looked him up on IMDB and this guy has been in everything from Star Trek to Scooby Doo to CSI to… well, Cool Fuel. In fact, here’s a list of his work, over 200 films and TV shows. This guy’s like a real-life version of Troy McClure! Anyway, enough about Mr. Begley… Cool Fuel is not only pretty entertaining due to the crazy inventions they come across, but it’s also very interesting to learn about these vehicles and the different ways to power them. I would recommend it to anyone looking for their options for a renewable energy vehicle or just wanting to learn more about them. 

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Cool Fuel 
IMDB 
Ed Begley, Jr. 
Troy McClure

One of our main purposes for this website is not only to do something good for the planet, but to also help consumers save money by cutting energy costs. Well, I’ve decided to take that a step further by helping to point out some investments that present ways of hopefully making money for investing in companies that are doing something good for the environment. 

Stock Symbol – Company Name 

• Solar Stocks
o ESLR – Evergreen Solar
o FSLR – First Solar
o SPWR – SunPower
o LDK – LDK Solar Inc.
o YGE – Yingli Green Energy Holding Company

• Wind Stocks
o GE – General Electric (Yes, the General Electric. They’re subsidiary GE Wind is a leader in wind power)
o FPL – FPL Group Inc.

• Ethanol
o GPRE – Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc.
o PEIX – Pacific Ethanol, Inc.
o USBE – US BioEnergy Corporation
o VSE – VeraSun Energy Corp.

• BioMass
o MEOH – Methanex Corporation
o GEYC – Green Energy Corp.

• Hydrogen Fuel Cell
o HYGS – Hydrogenics Corporation
o QTWW – Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide, Inc.
o FCEL – Fuel Cell Energy
o PLUG – Plug Power Inc.

• Geothermal
o ORA – Ormat Technologies Inc.

• Wave Power
o OPTT – Ocean Power Tech Ocean Power Technologies, Inc.

• Recycling
o AERT – Advanced Environmental Recycling Technologies, Inc.
o CSAR – Caraustar Industries, Inc.

• Renewable Energy Automotive
o CLNE – Clean Energy Fuels Corp.
o ENA – Enova Systems Inc.
o SATC – SatCon Technology Corporation

• Green Mutual Funds
o Winslow Green Growth Fund: WGGFX
o PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy: PBW
o Guinness Atkinson Alternative Energy Fund: GAAEX

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