What If We Could Convert Trash Into Energy?

IST's Green Energy Machine can. It takes garbage and turns it into green energy. Read for yourself here. It's pretty cool.

Photo courtesy of Daily Tech

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The Green MTA

So I got another tip from the Brooklyn Green Team's Blog. They posted an entry last month about the "CAN IT FOR A GREENER PLANET!" stickers on trash cans at subway stops in NYC. Turns out, the stickers are true. The Brooklyn Green Team referenced MTA spokesperson Deirdre Parker: "A contractor retrieves the trash after it's taken to various collection points and the plastic, cardboard, paper and glass are pulled out. A fifty cent credit goes to the MTA and last year 63% of the waste collected from the MTA was recycled."

So use those garbage cans!

Thanks again, Brooklyn Green Team!

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Keep the Heat to Yourself!

This week has seen the coldest temperatures in years, and the weekend won't be much warmer. So while you have your heat cranking in your apartment or house, do your best to make sure the least bit of it is escaping through your windows or doors. You will use less energy and have a lower energy bill. Lock your windows and plug up places where air can get in or out, roll up a towel and put it in the crack under doors, and open window shades to allow natural sunlight to give you some heat. Stay warm and green at the same time!

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Another Ghost Bike

This ghost bike is at the corner of Livingston Street and Boerum Place/Adams Street in Downtown Brooklyn. It honors the memory of young Alexander “Zander” Toulouse, a student at P.S. 29 in Cobble Hill. Zander was struck by a mail truck on Adams Street while riding his bike with his dad last September. Sadly, there are now 55 ghost bikes installed in New York City, with roughly 20 in Brooklyn.

For more info on ghost bikes and the recent memorial ride and walk held by Transportation Alternatives, click here.

Photo and caption by Mary Frost

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Third Thursday Tomorrow At CUE

The Center for the Urban Environment holds a monthly "Third Thursday" event, and this month it's focused on post-election strategies and campaigns around environmental issues.

Two panelists — Josh Nachowitz, New York State policy director for the New York League of Conservation Voters, and Dave Shukla, organizer with the Student Environmental Action Coalition — will discuss the recent election's impact on national, state and local environmental politics. This includes the role youth will play in ushering in a new clean energy economy by holding our newly elected officials to their campaign promises and demanding real solutions to the climate crisis.

The event is tomorrow from 6 - 7:30 p.m. at CUE, 168 Seventh St., between Second and Third Avenues.

For additional information, visit www.thecue.org.

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NYC Christmas Tree Goes Green

Even though Christmas is over, one Brooklyn family was granted (part of) their Christmas wish this week. On Jan. 10, the Rockerfeller Center Christmas Tree was taken down and milled into lumber that will be incorporated as shelving in Habitat-NYC’s new affordable condominium complex in Brooklyn.

Esther Huambo, a future homeowner at the Brooklyn complex, was at Rockefeller Center as the 72-foot trunk of the Norway spruce was cut into lumber in preparation for its new role. Her children, Dalila Santiago, 12, and Jose Santiago, 4, looked on as a large saw slicked the trunk into planks (family is pictured above).

“Now, every day will be Christmas at my house,” Dalila laughed.

A single mom, Esther works full time as a Student Accounts Assistant at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Manhattan, raises her children, is active in her church and has already completed 300 hours of sweat equity, helping to build her Habitat home.

The Habitat-NYC home at Atlantic Avenue, Eastern Parkway and Sherlock Place is the organization’s first large-scale building. When finished, it will house 41 New York families in need — double the number of homes Habitat produces in a typical year.

The residence includes a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units in three four-story buildings. Eleven ground-floor residences will be handicapped-adaptable.

Including wood recycled from the Rockerfeller Center tree will not be the only green feature of the complex. The project is being constructed with healthy and environmentally friendly materials and will strive to meet strict LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards. Energy-efficient building methods will enable future Habitat homeowners to save up to 30 percent on their energy bills.

And the tree was green on its own. It was lit with 30,000 energy-efficient LEDs, powered in part by energy generated by a solar roof.

Photo by Anthony Collins

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Holiday Tree Recycling: Remove the Lights!

I came across this holiday tree on Henry Street between Love Lane and Clark Street while walking in Brooklyn Heights today.

As usual, NYC's Department of Sanitation has been doing curbside collection and recycling of trees, which began on January 5 and will last through this Friday, January 16. In a statement issued in December, Sanitation Commissioner John J. Doherty said the following:

"The Department is very pleased to offer this special recycling service. Providing collection and recycling options for residents is environmentally valuable and benefits our neighborhoods. Working in conjunction with the City's Parks & Recreation Department allows residents to take part in the recycling process and permits them to even reuse their composted Christmas trees to fertilize for the spring. Compost is a natural fertilizer and is an excellent soil enrichment that promotes the healthy growth of plants and grass."

The Brooklyn Heights resident who put out this tree had the right idea, but didn't remove the lights! I hope the Department of Sanitation still takes the tree and recycles it.

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