Posts Tagged by water conservation
Cutting-Edge Consumer Product Conserves Huge Quantities of Water
| October 19, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Sustainable Building |
The response to my request for more cleantech business plans has taken me to some fantastically interesting places, as I knew it would.
Here’s Smarter Flush, a consumer product I really love. For $19.95 and an investment of 10 minutes to install (no tools needed), anyone can retrofit a toilet so that it uses as little of 50% of the water it’s currently consuming. Depending on where you live and your utility rates, the payback period for this can be as short as 90 days. Try that with solar panels! Read More
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Michal Lenchner of the San Francisco Examiner
| August 26, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Politics |
I just got off the phone with Michal Lenchner, whom I had met at the Plug-In 2010 conference for electric vehicles not too long ago. A committed environmentalist, Michal writes a column for the San Francisco Examiner (linked above) that’s a true fountainhead of information on a range of eco-issues.
In particular, she wrote me recently suggesting that I look more deeply into water: desalination, re-use of gray water, the energy required to move water around, and the water required to extract oil and gas. While it’s not a subject of which I have a deep understanding, it most certainly is an interesting and important one. I recall what the late Matt Simmons of Peak Oil fame told me when I interviewed him for my book:
Oil and gas exploration uses a remarkably large amount of water — and often other energy. The oil sands of Canada use just a phenomenal amount of potable water and natural gas to actually steam it out of the sands. In California, something like two-thirds of their oil supply comes from Kern County’s heavy oil, and while the San Joaquin Valley is one of the key food supply sources of America, they’re having a very serious drought.
I’ve asked Michal to become a guest blogger here; I very much hope she’ll take me up on my offer.
