From Costa Rica: Producing bio fuel, it is important  to ensure sustainable crop production that is environmentally and socially effective as well optimized. The Costa Rica News

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• Sustainable urban planning Abu Dhabi style The Abu Dhabi urban planning council asked helped from the city of Vancouver to help elaborate their their sustainable urban design.  Vancouver's  co-director of planning, is serving as the emirate’s “special adviser. The city of Abu Dhabi has requirements that are quite different, mostly heat and drought related. Among other......
• The Evil Liberal Agenda According to the Conservatives, the Liberals have an agenda:  They want to rule the world.  Here are the facts:  Al Gore owns 100% of 100% of all the green companies in the world, on top of donating money to all those non-profit organizations who own large pieces of land that......
• Sustainable Development -- The HOME movie Luc Besson partnered with a French documentary filmmaker to produce an amazing documentary film that is a strong message sent to humanity: Stop procrastinating and take action now if we, as humans, want to have a future on this planet. The film was released on the Web and on various......

• How To Spot Third Party Verifications Of "Green". How can you know if you are really buying an eco-friendly product? While many everyday things we buy are not rated for their "green-ness", there are tons that are. You just have to know what to look for! I have written in the past about organic labeling and certification, but......
• Unemployment above 10% Unemployment has soared to 10.2%. That is the highest in nearly 2 decades. What is so disappointing is that we are experiencing the steepest rates of job losses in the past few months in the midst of the GDP and the economy roaring back to health. There are some good......
• Bio Fuels: A Sustainable Solution? As people have started looking towards alternative energy sources, bio-fuels have often come up as a solution.  So what exactly are bio-fuels? How do they differ from fossil fuels? How are they produced? And are they a sustainable solution to the world's energy crisis? As the name implies, bio-fuels are......

A very large version of a stereo lithographic printer is being used to “print” large structures such as sculptures or even houses. The printer uses a mixture of sand with a magnesium based glue that binds the sand into rock.

The inventor claims that his process is four times faster than conventional building, costs one-third to one-half the price of Portland cement and creates very little waste.

See the complete story on the fast company website.

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• The Cost of Oil Last week the barrel of oil had its highest one-day increase ever. Every time that I hear news concerning oil prices, that always makes me realize how dependent we are on oil. I try to imagine how we could get out of that dependency. The thing is, even if the......
• The only problem with politics is the politicians Politicians make me sick. In a recent post, I commented on my disagreement with Cap and Trade, and why it wouldn’t resolve any issues.  All the hoopla and controversy around the upcoming Copenhagen Summit has to do with politicians not agreeing on political issues.  The United States has yet to......
• China's low carbon and sustainability problems I came across an interesting article about the low carbon emissions and sustainability problems facing China as the country moves increasingly towards urbanization. It is predicted that china will have 75 percent of urbanization by 2050, which means much more energy consumption and green house gas emission. China currently lacks......

• The Environment: It's Not All Bad News. I know it is very easy to get caught up focusing on the bad stuff going on in our world - the destruction of our rainforests, climate change, peak oil, hormonal changes due to our use of toxic chemicals - sometimes it seems like the totality of the environmental movement......
• Would gas prices have to go up another buck? A friend pointed me toward this Washington Post article on a gas price tipping point analysis after I chatted with him about the Wisconsin gas station that shut its pumps down yesterday in protest. (If you're not registered and get bugged, go here.)The reason why, perhaps, gas prices are still......
• Barter, bargain, haggle As our economy continues to sputter along, wise people will do everything possible to reduce debt and hold down costs. If you happen to be someone who is or lives in a household that is subject to very little debt, you have an opportunity to take advantage of some......

An interesting article on the architecture 2030 website about energy consumption as it relates to buildings. The article shows three pie charts with the first two showing U.S. energy consumption and the third one showing worldwide energy consumption. Surprisingly, it shows that transportation only accounts for 1% of energy consumption and buildings for 76%.  That energy comes from electricity produced from oil or gas. Sometimes the heating uses oil or gas directly. But in both cases, oil or gas is used. Energy requirements are for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) as well as lighting, elevators, security systems and all other systems using electricity. The charts include energy required for construction, renovation and maintenance of the buildings.

Most of that energy requirement could be reduced by having more intelligent HVAC systems, better insulation and heat management. But most importantly, large buildings could incorporate energy producing features such as harnessing wind and solar energy as well as geothermal energy.

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• Copenhagen and Third World nations By being just a little smarter and with just a bit more foresight, it could be advantage of Third World. Third World nations feel that first world nations had it good for 200 years and that it gave them an advantage that they are now denied. In fact, it's quite......
• Sustainable development and large corporations It is always a good sign when large corporations get on the bandwagon.In this case, the sustainable development bandwagon. There are currently two very different strategies taken large corporations in their drive towards sustainable development: • A “sustainable brand” strategy: Clorox and S.C. Johnson have both chosen to create a......
• How clean is clean coal ? Clean coal, Carbon Sequestration, these are expressions we hear quite often when dealing with the production of electricity using fossil fuel other than oil. About twice a week, a new coal plant opens in China.I came across a blog post on the topic of patents and innovations and the possible......

• Hybrid Electric Car Auto Insurance This post is a guest blog written by Travis Overby. With skyrocketing gas prices and the increasing concerns about the impact of carbon emissions on the environment, Hybrid Electric Cars have been growing in popularity. A hybrid electric vehicle combines a fuel-efficient gas engine with an electric motor. The purpose......
• Roundup for week of 6 January 2008: Birthday edition My wife and I are now the proud parents of a three-year-old. Our daughter is doing way too much growing up way too fast.Here are some links of interest from the folks at the MBN and other great blogs in my reader:All Financial Matters thinks the $2,500 car is ugly.Consumerism......
• 10 Ways to Prove that Frugal Living is Really Green Living in Disguise. I'm probably the most unlikely Green Living advocate on the planet. I'm an advocate of offshore drilling, I voted for Bush in 2004 (bad call I know), and I drive a crossover SUV. Yet, more and more these days, I find myself being slowly taken in by the tree hugger......

Foreclosures, mortgage industry collapse, bank collapse. With all those bad housing industry news, one wonders who sets the prices on a house.

The old real estate adage is well known: To succeed in real estate, there are three things you have to know: Location, location, location.

A house in Beverly Hills may be worth $3 Million and an identical house in Missouri may  be worth $200,000. It’s all in the location. 6 months later, the stock market collapses,fortunes are lost, people in Beverly Hills scramble to sell their houses, there is a surplus of houses for sale and not enough buyers, price plummets in that location.

Location can also mean where are you in time. One day its up, one day its down.

The price we put on things is equal to the value we put on the darn things. And the value has to do with scarcity, demand, desire, etc…  It’s all very emotional.

One thing to remember, though is that a house can be worth as much or as little as one puts value to it. If someone were to tell you: ”Your house will be flooded 6 months from now, but I will swap your house for a brand new house of equivalent size.” Would you do it?

How much will your house be worth when it is flooded ? (or put any natural disater you want, hurricane, eartquake, fire). Would you still get that house swap deal ? Probably not.

Money and finances are in fact very abstract notions. Yet, these abstractions have very real consequences on the lives of many people.

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• organic food - How green is my valley? Most people still have a bucolic view of agriculture. In fact, modern agriculture is far from green. It is in fact, one of the largest contributor to green house gas. Unfortunately, organic farming is not as productive. In fact, it is said that today's yield is bout 10 times......
• Buildings and energy consumption. An interesting article on the architecture 2030 website about energy consumption as it relates to buildings. The article shows three pie charts with the first two showing U.S. energy consumption and the third one showing worldwide energy consumption. Surprisingly, it shows that transportation only accounts for 1% of energy consumption......
• Business practices in the 21st century A lot of entrepreneurs may change their business practices and adapt to the 21st century after they have gone through the list of speakers that have been assembled in Calgary for the "Engage today" mega event happening later this week. The organizer was able to get the Dalai Lama for......

• How To Earn Money With The Help Of Internet? How to earn money with the help of internet? I have noticed for a long time that many beginners think that money in the Internet becomes ostensibly from air, from anything. For this reason many of them have an impression what to earn a heap of money in the Network......
• So, how do you tell if you can actually afford that home you want? Since I only have a few minutes this morning, I wanted to quickly post this article about affording your new house that I found online. Sorry I don't have time to comment on it, but I have to run out for the day. Hope everyone has a great one. According......
• Found The Perfect House But Not Ready To Move Yet. UGH. Since we started our discussion about moving to Taos, NM, we have been looking at houses for sale on the internet. Although we are not ready to move yet, I found my perfect house this weekend...2 acres of land, solar panels, 2 workshop rooms, an office, etc.. It is......