IntelEfficient
Promoting Efficiency and Sustainability through the Intelligent use of Energy and Information
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Over the weekend, a friend shared with me how a local university banned bottled water on their campus. On one hand, I knew the reason behind this change, and celebrated it. Plastic water bottles have become an enormous source of trash, with three out of four bottles going into landfills or incinerators rather than being recycled. It also takes an equally enormous amount of resources to manufacture the bottles, and then market and transport the finished product around the globe.I started drinking bottled water in the 90’s, when I quit drinking the diet soft drinks that I finally conceded were not healthy. (This is a story in itself – how I got caught up drinking free refills of Diet Pepsi with my fast-food lunch, usually consuming 48 oz. or more during each midday ritual.) But then I began to believe the growing evidence that drinking tap water has its own safety concerns. I knew several people who were selling water filtration kits to attach to your kitchen sink to filter out all of the impurities, and they showed me evidence that that water company would not want to publicize. So our regular trips to the grocery store included cases of whatever brand of bottled water was on sale, trusting that this had to be better than what came out of our (or someone else’s) pipes. Read the rest of this entry »
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- Rain garden in St. Stephen’s Lake Park in Columbia, MO (Photo courtesy of Steve Johnson, Executive Director of the Missouri River Communities Network)
Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone? They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot!
Joni Mitchell warned us years ago about what we’re doing in the name of “progress.” As we moved from the city to the suburbs to the exurbs, we’ve been slowly paving over our metropolitan areas at an alarming rate. Of course, with paving comes piping – channeling the rainwater that can’t penetrate into the ground into concrete pipes that quickly carry it to our creeks, streams and rivers.
This is growing into a significant problem. During heavy storms, huge volumes of water are channeled into creeks, carrying residues from cars, lawn-care products, salts and other pollutants directly into our streams, and in the process eroding the banks of the natural waterways. Ultimately, this increases flooding because the stormwater doesn’t get a chance to seep into the ground. In a natural system, much of the water in creeks and streams comes from groundwater, which is filtered and purified by the earth itself. Our groundwater tables are at all-time lows these days, from a combination of pumping for crop irrigation and a lack of replenishment. Read the rest of this entry »
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The solar panels on the roof of the Belshe farm in Cuba, Mo. produce clean, renewable electricity at a reasonable cost.
Twelve years ago Bob and Pat Belshe bought their farm in Cuba, Missouri to have a place to relax in the country. Over the years they invested in a number of conservation projects to create a more sustainable farm operation, and were awarded the “Farmer of the Year” by the local district of USDA and Natural Resources Conservation Service for their conservation and modern farming efforts. To truly “walk his talk,” Bob knew he wanted to start using renewable energy on their farm to reduce his carbon footprint and make his operation more sustainable. Read the rest of this entry »