Paging Mr. Edison.

Such a bright idea. Check out these bulbs under a vintage cloche. Desk accessory? I think so.....heck, what else will we do with all those poor little inefficient incandescents?

Unintended consequences....

"A traffic sign when you're already late...." This is certainly an excellent example of the law of unintended consequences or when good ideas go bad. LEDs are popping up everywhere from Christmas trees to traffic intersections, and they certainly do their duty lighting the way....but is that all these energy minis can do? A town in the north switched their incandescent traffic lights and installed LEDs last year to save electricity (obviously). They are now realizing that the heat produced by the energy-hogging incandescents served to keep snow off the lights. The cooler {more energy efficient} LEDs cannot do this, so the snow is simply piling up on the lights obstructing the lights. City officials are considering adding heaters, weather shields and a range of other fixes......so the money saved is now combating the icing problem...go figure. What's next smart car recalls?

Jiminy cricket!

No Jiminy Creek! Stop the presses this ski resort has become a little greener, how you might ask--a windmill! When people go skiing at Jiminy Peak in the Berkshires, there's more than just trees on the horizon. At 378-feet tall, the wind turbine stands taller than the Statue of Liberty and is the only one of its kind on a ski resort in North America. During the winter months, when the wind is strongest, it is estimated that the wind turbine has the capability to generate about half the electricity needed to run Jiminy Peak.

Who'd have thought green snow--much better than its counterpart, yellow snow, that is....Fast Facts:
How much on average does it generate? 1524 kilowatts
How much did it cost? $4 million with an estimated payback period of 6 years according to Jiminy Peak president
Why? To make a difference if you look at the long term, you can invest in alternative energy that will be good for future generations
Here are some of the basic statistics:

It is a 1.5MW wind turbine capable of producing up to 2,000 H.P. for the snowmaking plant

A 1.5MW wind turbine will provide approximately 33% of the electrical demands of Jiminy Peak annually. During the winter months when the wind resource is the strongest it may provide as much as half of our electrical demand.

The turbine will generate approximately 4,600,000 kWh and Jiminy Peak consumes approximately 7,500,000 kWh a year.

The wind turbine will sit atop a 253 ft tower.

The nacelle that sits on top of the structure and houses the shaft for the blades, the gearbox and the generator is approximately 13 ft wide and 13 ft tall and 26 ft long.

Each of the 3 blades is approximately 123ft, therefore to the tip of the blade the entire structure is 386 feet tall.

The blades will turn a maximum of 22 RPM even in high wind conditions.

Playing house.....

Can it really be? A tiny house. Where do you live? Where do you eat? Where do you sleep? Where do you do anything? Can you do anything? Let's find out.

This house, if you will, was developed by Richard Horden, and small living at its best (and worse). The homes are about 10-by-10 square feet and are made for two people. The homes, first launched in November 2005, are produced in Austria and available for purchase throughout Europe. It takes only 8-10 weeks from order to delivery, which is faster than many lead times on single pieces of furniture. The Micro Compact Home combines techniques for high quality compact 'living' spaces deployed in aircraft, yachts, cars, and micro apartments. Its design has been informed by the classic scale and order of a Japanese tea-house, combined with advanced concepts and technologies. Living in an m-ch means focusing on the essential . For $96,000 a cube (including delivery and installation anywhere in Europe), owners get a fully integrated interior teched out with everything from a flatscreen TV to a dining room table that seats five. In the future, solar panels and a roof-mounted horizontal-axis wind turbine generating 2,200 kilowatts of power a year will make m-ch models self-sustaining. Can less really be more? And does less have to be smaller. I am a proponent of all things larger (bigger bags, bigger cars, taller shoes...you get the idea). This house is smaller than my car essentially and has been touted as packing more utility. Maybe you can cook, can eat, and can sleep.....but can you do so comfortably?

Essentially this creation is the same size as a U.S. prison cell or mausoleum perhaps.....those are meant to punish people and house people's bodies after death. Do you really desire to live in something of the same size? Is it worth sacrificing space to sacrifice sanity?

FYI--Design specs:

No furniture required. The m-ch's space-saving interior includes:

1 Fire alarm and smoke detectors

2 Sliding table that seats up to five people

3 Two 7.5-foot-long Double Beds (a bunk above the dining table and a slide-out at floor level)

4 Shelves and drawers for storing clothes, bedding, cleaning supplies and, equipment, and so on

5 Control panel operates all electrical systems: heating, air-conditioning, TV, CD player, and LED lighting

6 Bathroom with a sliding screen that separates the toilet and the shower, plus a drying area for clothes and shoes

7 Kitchen equipped with a microwave, fridge/freezer, sink, waste unit, and double-level work surface