Green

Environmentally friendly, green ways of living

There are 363 posts filed in Green (this is page 19 of 37).

Datacenters in North Carolina


Earlier this month much hoopla was made by the Governor’s office when Gov. Bev Perdue visited Facebook’s datacenter in Forest City in Rutherford County. Facebook announced it was adding another building to the site, doubling its capacity.

In a press release, Perdue touted the jobs it would bring:

“Creating jobs is my top priority. Facebook’s additional expansion into North Carolina means more high-tech jobs and investment in Rutherford County,” said Gov. Perdue. “Facebook continues to be a ‘friend’ to North Carolina.”

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About those solar panels

Raleigh's going solar

I spent some time Friday at a dedication ceremony for the City of Raleigh Parks Department’s new greenhouse. One might think that a greenhouse wouldn’t be exciting but this is no ordinary greenhouse. It’s got energy-efficient features, it’s fully automated, and for the first time it provides the City the ability to grow any type of plant during any season. Raleigh’s parks, streets, and highways look so sharp because of the work of the Parks and Recreation Department’s horticulture and landscaping teams, who keep Raleigh looking beautiful through the careful stewardship of our trees, plants, and flowers.
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Solar pioneers needed

Photo by Gray Watson


I got this email from a organization I signed up for, One Block Off The Grid. It seems Raleigh is only 67 homes short of qualifying for this program of group-purchases of solar panels.

If you’re interested in going solar, sign up at One Block Off The Grid and let’s close the gap!

Hi Mark,

Our national campaign for solar is going strong! So far, 2,198 counties in the U.S. have active group deals on solar available and hundreds of homeowners have received free solar roof evaluations in 40 different states. There are still 943 U.S. counties, though, where the group deal on solar hasn’t tipped yet.
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Petrol price panic

On my daily dog walk through the neighborhood, I encountered an elderly neighbor I’d never seen before, also out walking her dog. After exchanging pleasantries and walking on, I hit upon a thought that should have been obvious all along.

When we were living in North Raleigh I saw the writing on the wall that one day I will be too old to drive safely around town. Since I expect to retire in Raleigh some day, I wanted to live where driving wasn’t necessary. Thus, we now live within walking distance of downtown, buying our house as much as an investment for our twilight years as much as an investment for right now.
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Cheap thoughts: illumination

Dead CFL bulb


I began labeling my CFL bulbs with the date I put them into service. This one died today after just 18 months of use. Ordinary bulbs last far longer than this! Cheap (possibly counterfeit) electronics are to blame.

So if CFLs aren’t the answer, what is? When will LED bulbs be ready for prime time? Is there a future where we move beyond bulbs entirely? Are self-illuminated walls and ceilings in our future?

Area 51

I’m reading a good book about Area 51 from Annie Jacobsen. Called Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base, the book peeks into the secret and bizarre activities that have taken place there.

One thing I find fascinating is the accounts of how the base dealt with the multiple nuclear detonations that took place near the base over the years. One of the key environmental elements which helped maintain Area 51’s secrecy also put the base and it’s staff in jeopardy on a regular basis. There were many blown-out windows, warped steel hangar doors, and other frightening damage. I’m not sure exactly what goes on at Area 51 but being that close to ground zero would be my least favorite part of the job.

I’ll write a fuller review once I’ve plowed through it, but needless to say the book is eye-opening.

Update 11 Jul: Review posted!

Repair conditioning

This week’s heat wave has taxed our upstairs AC unit to the maximum. I work upstairs every day and became alarmed at the rising temperatures there. The AC was not keeping up with its settings. I didn’t notice this last year but this is the first summer we’ve had our new upstairs office/bedroom, so any cooling issue has become more apparent.

I called up the neighborhood HVAC guy who went through his troubleshooting checklist. Refrigerant was fine, the compressor was fine. The blower coils were fine. Everything looked good. That is, until he checked the bottom of the blower in our attic.
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Doggie arms race

The suspect

I’m locked in a doggie arms race when it comes to the garden. Once the plants were in the ground, I surrounded the garden with a two-foot-high wire fence, thinking that that would be enough disincentive for Rocket, our boneheaded Labrador, from wandering in and grazing.

I should’ve known better. At first I surrounded the garden on all sides but one, leaving a three-foot-wide opening to walk in. I was anticipating Rocket would be too lazy to walk all the way around. Needless to say, it didn’t take long to see that this wasn’t working. A few days later, I put up more wire fence to block it all the way around.

Then I saw the fence next to my new fence was dented outwards, as if a big, clumsy, lazy dog had not quite cleared it on his way out. I didn’t do much about that, preferring to keep an eye on it. Turns out I never saw that happen again: it seems the height was enough to keep him from jumping it.
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Gardening

As I mentioned before, I’ve been enjoying gardening this season: all two and a half weeks of it (ok, ok … I’m obsessed with it). My plants are going like gangbusters with the exception of my jalapeno pepper plants, which seem to be withering. They’re hanging on, though, so I haven’t given up on them yet.

I spend spare time during my day in the garden, pruning the plants. I was delighted to see many of my tomato plants sprouting flowers already. And, thanks to sites like vegetablegardener.com, I now know what kind of care these plants need. The 15 minutes I spent before work this morning out pruning my plants was some of the most delightful time I’ve enjoyed all day. There really is something zen-like about gardening.

After my plants were finally in the ground I saw how much our kids enjoyed gardening. That gave me the idea to start a gardening email list for Raleigh gardeners. After only a few days it had 65 enthusiastic subscribers. It’s now up to 67 and I’m expecting that to rise. If you’d like to join in and share your gardening experience, you can sign up for the list here.