Going Green - Videos
by Terry Ettinger
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Description
Terry Ettinger, noted TV personality and garden expert -- and now director of the ESF greenhouses -- examines environment and sustainability topics of interest. Tune in and "go green!" (produced by New York's News 10 Now in collaboration with SUNY-ESF)
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| 1 | VideoDe-Lamping | It sounds too simple to be true but it is conserving on energy use can be both cost effective and fairly painless. One conservation measure businesses and institutions are ramping up is called de-lamping, another term for turning out the lights. In a hallway in Illick Hall on the SUNY-ESF campus, half the lights have been turned off since mid-2009. "We took out half the lights in the hallways and I'm not sure if anyone has noticed. There's still plenty of light in those hallways and now we're saving energy and in addition we only buy half as many light bulbs," said Michael Kelleher, ESF director of Renewable Energy Systems. In another building, students conducted a lighting survey. "Basically, they tried to figure out how many lights there are in the building, how long the lights are on and then they produced a report with solutions to help reduce the amount of energy used for lighting" said Dr. Richard Smardon, Environmental Studies. Some light-saving possibilities were discovered by accident, in an unlikely place, the library. "The biggest thing we noticed were the skylights located on either side of the main desk and directly underneath are lights. I was in there one day, looked up and the sun's out and there's plenty of light" said Andrew Dorr, ESF senior. So, de-lamping the library is underway but it's being done incrementally with feedback encouraged. "We want to be more proactive; in this case soliciting feedback from people before we change all the lighting in the library, making sure people are comfortable with this lower level of lighting so we might end up with more lighting in one area and less in another, whatever people are comfortable with and save some energy" said Kelleher. De-lamping also involves using motion sensors and changing over to lights that use less energy, like LED lighting. "So if you're spending eight or nine hundred dollars for new lights in a building, you capitalize it over two or three years and by that time you've made up your replacement costs with energy savings" said Smardon. | 6/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 2 | VideoTeaching Teachers Alternative Energy | It was a workshop teaching teachers to teach their students about alternative energy resources, like wind turbines. "We have a group of teachers from around New York here all week for an alternative energy conference. Today they are designing their own wind turbine. We're going to do a wind challenge to see who can get the most power out of their wind turbine," said Neal Abrams, SUNY-ESF. This is the laboratory portion for hands-on curriculum development and they will take this kit into the classroom this fall. "Not only a wealth of information on the science and the politics of this but also the mechanical aspect, the laboratory aspect including the electronic devices that we've learned how to use and these kits for demonstrations. I'm looking forward to getting them into my classroom," said Matt Clayton, Springville Griffith Institute, Buffalo. Part of this program is funded by NYSERDA, which is the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. They are very interested in getting renewable energy into the classroom like solar, wind power, fuel cells, biomass and overall thoughts about energy and how much we really have. Fifteen teachers are participating in this workshop. "We will be starting a renewable energy program this fall and everything that we've learned here will be directly tied into my curriculum," said Meg Gardner, Herkimer BOCES. Working in teams, they design and construct a wind turbine then, put it in the wind to see how much power it produces. It's fun but it will also deliver an important message to the high school students. "It will not only give them a gut awareness of the process to create this energy but also the political ins and outs of alternative energy resources. Also, the fact that we need to go toward this energy is something that I hope they get out of it. This is something in their lifetime they're going to have to deal with whether they want to or not," said Clayton. | 6/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 3 | VideoCooling Computers Saves Energy | Anyone who has ever used a laptop on his or her lap knows how much heat even a small computer like that can generate. Now, imagine a large room full of larger computer systems generating heat and using up a lot of energy doing it. However, that's not the case in the SU-IBM Data Center at Syracuse University. “We have combined a number of functions in ways that eliminate waste and wasted power. Most of the technology is not brand new technology but this is a novel way to assemble old technology to eliminate the waste in conventional data centers and by eliminating that waste, we believe we're going to save at least 50 percent of the power normally consumed in a data center,†said Mark Weldon, Executive Director of Corporate Relations at SU. A major key to create savings is using water to cool the individual racks of servers as opposed to cooling down the entire room whether all the servers are in operation or not. “If you're just cooling the room, you have to run the air conditioner full blast all the time no matter how many computers are working because it doesn't discriminate. We have the tools to tune the system to the need. No one gives up any service or reliability but we don't fire hose energy at the problem,†said Weldon. Cool water is circulated through the rack's cabinet and the warm water is carried off by hoses in the floor for use in this building and the building next door. The power for the system comes from an array of power turbines fueled by natural gas and located right next door to the data center. “We make our own hot water as a result of the exhaust that comes out of those turbines and we make our own cold water using the exhaust from those turbines but it's put through an absorption chiller,†said Weldon. SU partnered with IBM and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to build the data center and each shares in the resulting research. | 6/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 4 | VideoGreen Lawns, Beautiful Lawns | Everybody likes a beautiful lawn. The thing is there are different definitions of what a great lawn really looks like. Some people need it to be absolutely pristine without a weed to be seen. Others, you know, as long as it's green it really doesn't matter. To help us all, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is implementing what they're calling their Be Green Lawn Care Program. Now what that means is they're looking for lawn care companies that will offer lawn care services that avoid the use of synthetic pesticides, relying instead on proper cultural practices to produce lawns that are both attractive and environmentally friendly. Now, there are a couple of things to keep in mind when it comes to having a nice lawn without the use of pesticides. First and foremost, you need to focus your management practices between Labor Day and Thanksgiving not Easter and Memorial Day as many do now. This time of the year is a great time of the year and in fact the best of the year to either renovate an existing lawn or start a new lawn. Right at the first part of September through the middle of September is the best and most effective time of the year to apply any kind of fertilizer. You want to avoid fertilizers that include sewage sludge as a source of nutrients. Probably 80-percent of having a nice lawn is simply mowing correctly. As the lawn starts to grow more quickly at this time of the year, make sure you have your mower set to cut at 3 inches and keep it at that height for the rest of the year. So if you're interested in more information, simply go to the DEC web site at www.dec.ny.gov. On the front page you will find Tips for Living Green and learn more about the Be Green Lawn Care Program. | 6/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 5 | VideoBrownfield Golf Courses | Chambers Bay on Puget Sound in Washington State was the site of the 2010 U. S. Amateur Golf Championship. It's hard to believe it was once a mining quarry, home to a paper mill and lumber operation, in other words, a brownfield, a place where industrial activity might generate hazardous waste making it difficult to redevelop the land for safe use but brownfields are popular places for golf courses. "That's a new place where we seeing substantial new opportunities for golf courses, particularly in urban areas," said Scott Shannon, landscape architect. Developers like to build golf courses in these areas because real estate in urban areas is expensive. As an added benefit, the topsoil used helps prevent the spread of pollutants. "That topsoil can provide a cap along with liners to prevent rainwater and storm water from leaching down into the groundwater system. In addition, where we're trying to control contaminants, they don't want trees because there is a fear the tree's root system will penetrate through the cap layer and allow water to move through those contaminated sediments. Golf courses don't need to have trees even though U. S. courses have a lot of them but if you look at the Scottish precedent like St. Andrews there's not a tree anywhere to be found and many other courses like that," said Shannon. Chambers Bay is one of those links - type courses, where they rely on the sandy soil to retain storm water and planted fescue grass that require less water and chemicals. Also, environmentally friendly golf courses add another benefit. "Golf courses, particularly if the design incorporates the right type of education, are wonderful wildlife habitats. Songbirds and birds that may nest on the ground and for them the links - type environment is ideal for that type of nesting habitat," said Shannon. | 6/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 6 | VideoSolar Power | Solar power is a great alternative to fossil fuels but it can be too expensive for many people to make the switch, but changes are in the making to so it more affordable. "One of the things we're doing in this lab is developing efficient solar panels that will give you much more efficiency at no greater cost," said Danielle Merfeld, GE Research Labs. Instead of using the more conventional crystalline, silicon, semi-conductor wafers that are all strung together we're actually starting with a glass sheet, depositing very thin semi-conductor layers, very, very thinly spread out and then another glass sheet. It's like a sandwich and that meat in the middle is the magic semi-conductor layer that does the same thing as the crystalline silicon wafers did in the old silicon solar panels. Danielle Merfeld with GE Research Labs in Niskayuna says the new solar panel combined with other cost-efficiency improvements can cut the per watt cost in half. "Now the cost of your system isn't just the cost of the panel. The upfront cost also includes equipment like the frames and the inverter. The inverter is something people don't usually think about and don't usually see because it's not on the roof," said Merfeld. The inverter converts the DC, or direct current, electricity produced by the solar panel into AC, or alternating current, so typical household appliances can use it. But as far as developing the new thin film solar panels: "So right now we have some of the scientists looking at some of the samples we've already prepared. These are early cell designs for cadmium telluride thin - film photovoltaic cell and they're preparing them for either measurements or for an additional part of the fabrication," said Merfeld. When they've perfected an improvement, it's sent on to their manufacturing facility out in Colorado. | 4/27/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 7 | VideoRacing To Conserve Energy | Conservation is an easy and inexpensive way to save money and reduce your carbon footprint. The problem is, it means changing your lifestyle but at Medaille College in Western New York they are using peer pressure, prizes and competition through a racing theme to motivate students to change. "This is the first time we've done anything like this and nationally I think this is very unique. What we've done is create a video game, a race simulation where we pit the North Residence against the South Residence in saving energy," said John Mikullitz, Director of Energy and Sustainability, Aramark. Aramark Facilities Management tracks the energy data and the energy savings achieved to determine how fast each car goes. The idea is to encourage the students to turn off lights, turn down the heat, use less water, use stairs instead of elevators, and so on. "Seventy five percent of Medaille's energy consumption makes up their carbon footprint so there's a strong connection between energy consumed and carbon emissions. So, if we can actually lower carbon emissions we can have a positive impact on the environment, that's what we're trying to do here today," said Mikullitz. The key is motivation and the hope is the race competition combined with encouragement from fellow students will help change the behavior of a large number of students. "So it's a matter of making them aware in a creative way through a fun event so the lessons learned can be passed along. Also, it's a way to change a mindset of the way we think about energy so it's easier to make good decisions rather than bad decisions about energy and its impact on the environment," said Mikullitz. And it's just making simple choices. "From shutting off the lights, setting computer management on their computers, turning down the heat when they leave their rooms, those types of simple strategies that help reduce the excess waste," said Mikullitz | 4/27/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 8 | VideoParking Lot Designed to Prevent Erosion | To a casual observer, this may look like a run-of-the-mill parking lot but it's not. It's designed to prevent erosion and equipped to regulate runoff from melting snow and heavy rain events. I'm standing in the middle of a rain garden that has been installed in a new parking lot. It's designed to take all the runoff from the driveway and the parking areas and collect it in this location and allow it to slowly seep into the ground, said Timothy Toland, SUNY-ESF Landscape Architecture. In addition to providing water quantity control, the rain garden also provides water quality control so contaminants from the roadway like brake dust, lead and other pollutants that drop off cars and other vehicles are held in the soil and by the time the water percolates down through the soil it's cleaned up. | 4/27/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 9 | VideoGreenwashing | In an effort to join the ranks of those 'going green,' you may find yourself in this aisle of the grocery store. This aisle provides 'green' cleaning products for a bit more than your standard cleaning products. The idea is to give you piece of mind that you're helping the environment by buying 'environmentally friendly' cleaning supplies. But are they really friendly? "Is it really green, in fact? Or is it just what we call 'green washing?' Or using PR, basically, to label products so somebody else will buy it," said Dr. Richard Smardon, SUNY-ESF Environmental Studies. That somebody else is you, and like it or not, some products you pick up may not be as green as they appear. It may look that way at first glance. But the back of the product really holds the answer. "What's the major ingredient? If you have a window cleaner and it's all ammonia, or if it in fact has vinegar instead of ammonia as the major agent. That will tell you something right away," said Smardon. Greenwashing comes in all sorts of disguises, from earthy-type pictures to eco-friendly wording and there are no 'greenwashing' police patrolling the aisles to pull false products from the shelf. That kind of detective work is up to you. "There really isn't an agency in charge of misrepresentation. For organic certification, the USDA uses organic labels, but there's no one to follow up to see if it's really organic or not. So there's a lot that can be done with the labeling issue, but there's no agency that actually checks up on this," said Smardon. While you're looking over the product, check the label for credibility. Is it a certified product with a legitimate organization? Sierra Club, Green Forest Association and EcoLogo are just a few certified names you can look for. "There is what is known as the 'green forest certification association.' It will tell you- in terms of fiber product-whether it's wood material or wood-based material and exactly what kind of forest the material comes from," said Smardon. Read the ingredients carefully. Key words to look for? "Free" is the most obvious. Things like fragrance-free, formaldehyde-free or chlorine-free. After that, you're on your way to true, green cleaning. | 4/27/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 10 | VideoAlternatives to Road Salt | We see the monstrous creatures every winter on the highways around the Northeast: Snowplows. And they dominate icy roadways, casting upwards of 200 pounds of salt per lane mile to keep our vehicles from sliding off the road. "New York State is one of the highest users of rock salt in the country. New York State uses over a million tons of rock salt a year," said James Craw, Village of Fayetteville Superintendent of Public Works. That's a lot of salt. Studies show road salt application has a negative impact on the environment. When roadside salt seeps into ditches and streams, it can affect and hinder the reproduction of amphibians. Vegetation along the highways is also compromised and wildlife is impacted. "Road salt is a huge attractant for both deer and moose. As soon as the snow melts, they find the nearest sodium source they can find and try to replenish the sodium that has been depleted in their body over the winter," said Brian Underwood, a SUNY ESF research life biologist. Ingesting the actual road salt doesn't appear to be a problem for these animals. Short of a salt lick, the granulated mineral is often the only available salt source they can find. Road salt is detrimental to wildlife because they have to go to the edge of the roadway, where traffic is often plentiful, to get it. "The big concern is that because the craving is so huge, they go to the nearest salt source. And most of the time, that's the stuff that's put right on the side of the road in the wintertime, and of course, it attracts animals to the roadside and creates a hazard for drivers," Underwood said. With this in mind, environmentalists seek alternatives and one deicing alternative, brine, a saltwater mixture, is successfully being used in several locations around the state, including the Village of Fayetteville. "We're using such a small volume of salt, it's basically gone by the time it hits the side of the road," Craw said. Brine is only 23 percent salt and it's sprayed using a regular spray bar attached to the back of the truck. | 4/27/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 11 | VideoCombined Heat and Power Deomonstration | Half of the electrical power used by this house and half of the heat needed for the winter is coming from a CHP, or combined heat and power energy system. "Combined heat and power is just another term for co-generation, and that means, one, fuel producing, two, outputs. In this case we're burning natural gas and we're making both heat and electricity at the same time," said Karl Mayar, ECR International. Instead of being wasted, the heat is being used to warm the house and produce hot water making it a more efficient power plant. Mayar said, "The Freewatt system is about 90-percent efficient. The typical power plant is only about 30-40 percent efficient, so you can see where the energy savings come from." The system is also supposed to reduce the home's environmental impact by reducing the output of greenhouse gases by as much as 6,000 pounds. Michael Kelleher, SUNY-ESF Director of Renewable Energy Systems, said, "As part of our overall effort to make the college carbon neutral, we've been investing in systems to try and reduce our energy use and provide benefits for the environment. The Freewatt system is a system we're using to help conserve energy at the residence of the college president." Edward White, National Grid Vice President of Energy Products said, "Another exciting application of this technology is it allows customers to use natural gas to produce their own electricity and offset what they would need through the utility. They're actually able to use the cleaner burning natural gas rather than the electricity produced at a traditional power plant." This part of the energy system houses the engine, the equivalent of a five horsepower lawn mower engine and the heat generator. The hot coolant is piped into the heat exchanger and the blower sends that heat through the house. As the home is being heated, 1.2 kilowatts of electric power is going into the household electrical panel. Mayar said, "The bottom line is this system will use about the same amount of natural gas as the furnace unit we removed from this house but it will make half the electricity needed to run the house." | 4/27/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 12 | VideoE-Recycling | E-waste recycling days like this one held in Rochester are necessary because of the hazardous materials in electronic gadgets like televisions, computers, radios, game consoles and cell phones. "There are about eight elements, metal elements that are considered hazardous and toxic in the components of computer circuit boards and digital displays," said Dr. Kelley Donaghy, Inorganic chemistry, SUNY-ESF. But there are also elements in electronic gadgets that are quite valuable like gold and can be recycled from our electronic gadgets. "Platinum and palladium are elements commonly used in electronics because of their superior conductivity but they're also rare, precious metals," said Donaghy. "We need recyclers who recycle responsibly because many of the precious metals are used in combination with other metals and simply burning the gadget to extract the precious metal is problematic." More and larger waste companies like Waste Management, are taking a larger stake in the e-cycling business, extracting precious metals from electronic scrap. "We recover almost 200 times the metal from e-cycling than we obtain from the ore mined in this country," said Donaghy. But Dr. Donaghy says the growth of e-cycling is being hindered. "One of the problems that I noticed in my research is manufacturers do not label what's in these computer components. For example, the plastic could be recycled much easier if we knew what kind of plastic it is. The same thing goes for the circuit boards if you knew you were looking for gold or silver or some type of composite, things like that. If the manufacturers would help us, the recycling effort would take off," said Donaghy. | 4/27/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 13 | VideoChanging the Recycling Process | The familiar blue bin won't be decorating as many curbsides as recycling companies change the collection process. As recycling companies switch to a single stream, where the items are sorted and separated after they reach the plant, it offers a way make the collection process more efficient and save money. "We're going to a single-stream system operation, which means everything can be thrown in the tote and people won't have to do any curbside sorting that slows the process down. We're going to a tote system rather than a bin system, a 64 gallon tote," said Steve Stepniak, Buffalo DPW Commissioner. The tote is similar to the regular garbage container now used by Buffalo but that's a 95 gallon container. "We would love to, someday, use the 95 gallon container for recycling and the 64 gallon container for garbage. We would love to do that and it's happened in other communities. Everybody that's switched to the tote seems to increase their recycling volume because it makes it easier to recycle. We get a lot complains that recycling items are blown out of the bin on windy days so we believe the tote will minimize a lot of that and encourage people to recycle a bit more," said Stepniak. The 64 gallon tote gives people more room for recyclables, enough room so Buffalo can switch pick-ups from every week to every other week saving on fuel and labor reducing their recycling costs by more than a half million dollars a year and there's still a use for the blue bins. "You'll be able to keep your bin and use it indoors to collect the recycle items and then as it fills, transfer the items to the tote and put the empty bin back in the hallway," said Stepniak. The switch from the blue bin to the tote and the biweekly collection system will be accompanied by an education campaign to encourage more recycling. | 4/27/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 14 | VideoNew Biofuel Study | New York sources of biofuel made from wood, grass and other forms of biomass could substantially reduce our consumption of gasoline and reduce greenhouse gas emissions according to a report from the Pace Law School's Energy and Climate Center. "Producing biofuels and developing a biofuels industry in New York State has multiple benefits: Job creation opportunities, and reducing gasoline imports from outside the state which are dollars from New York going to some other place and no benefit in the economy," said Dr. Timothy Volk, SUNY ESF. Dr. Timothy Volk says the report, sponsored by the New York's Energy Research and Development Agency, the DEC and Ag and Markets Department, shows a reduction in gasoline consumption by as much as 16% with the use of biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel. Biofuels are just any liquid transportation fuels made out of sources of biomass. Biomass can be a wide variety of different things. It's any organic or plant material that's been produced recently and is available on recurring and renewable basis. The report envisions the creation of up to 14,000 jobs with the construction of biofuel production facilities, new sustainable forest management, and growing more crops like shrub willow or switch grass. So when we did this in terms of determining how much biomass is out there we were very careful about sustainability, making sure that this biomass was renewable and the numbers end up being fairly large. About nine and a half to 14 million dry tons a year, about double the biomass that's produced right here. In addition to being a renewable energy resource, another benefit is a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. This study found that for a biofuels industry in New York, greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced by 65 to 85 percent relative to petroleum fuels used in New York State. | 6/21/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 15 | VideoHome Energy Systems | When you hear the brand name Panasonic, you think of televisions, camcorders, phones, computers, electronic stuff. But there's something completely different in the works, the development of a low or even zero emission carbon footprint home lifestyle. We're focusing on a number of themes. One is the actual creation of electric power itself. The second is once you've created this power, what do you do with the excess? You can sell it back to the grid, but we think it would be better to store it in your home and use it when you need it and thirdly, we want to talk about how you can better manage that power in your home. For example, the company is introducing a home fuel cell to generate electricity. "You hook it up to your natural gas line and you generate your own electricity using hydrogen from the gas and oxygen from the air to produce electricity and you also use the heat generated to heat water for cleaning and showering, as well as heating your home," said David Thompson of Panasonic. Thompson said it's a more efficient way to generate power compared to generating power at a large power plant and then transporting that power to your home. "When you do that, you lose approximately 65 percent of the power that was in the original energy component by the time you get it to your house. If you use the in-home fuel cell to produce your power, you save that loss," Thompson said. Two other components are needed to make the system work because unlike a large-scale fuel cell, the in-home model might not be able to handle your peak demand. "So we want to supplement that with two things. One is an in-home battery storage system, as well as a solar power generation system," Thompson said. The home energy generation system is being tested now in Japan. | 6/21/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 16 | VideoEnergy from Exercise | It's is a pretty typical scene in a physical fitness center. There are a number of people at work on the 20 or so elliptical machines. But this physical fitness center at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts near the border with New York is different. Stephanie Boyd, Director of Environmental Initiative at Williams College, said, "What we're doing here is we've retrofitted our elliptical trainers, about 20 of them, with a gadget that converts the energy from the people exercising into direct current." As in electrical current. Boyd said, "Which is then sent to an inverter box and converted into AC (alternating) current that we can use in the building for electricity." In other words, Boyd said, "We're using human energy to power up things in our athletic center." Things like the television monitors that people are watching while they exercise. Reaction seems pretty positive. "It's a great idea," said one woman. "I hope more machines will be able to do that." "The more we can do to make energy and being able to work out and do that is a wonderful thing," said another woman. "I think it's a great idea. You might as well put that energy to good use, whatever we're doing out there," said a man at the gym. But don't get the idea elliptical power is going to take the fitness center off the grid. Boyd said, "For example, it would take three people working fairly hard on these machines to generate enough electricity to run the television that they're watching." And there's another aspect to this project. Boyd said, "But we think most importantly, it's a way to help us think about energy and how we use energy and how much energy you create." Depending on use and how intense the workouts are, the payback for the $13,000 investment is between 7 to 10 years. The college is also looking into adding other exercise equipment into the mix. | 6/21/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 17 | VideoHybrid Bike | Everyone knows a bicycle is a great alternative to a fossil fuel burning automobile to get from here to there, but a lot of people are dissuaded by the prospect of riding uphill. Suppose there was a bicycle, a hybrid bicycle, an environmentally friendly bicycle that could help? "What we have here is the inter-loop bicycle from Sanyo; Inter-loop means energy looping so it's a pedal assist hybrid and when you pedal you get a little boost from the motor. It allows you to go a little faster, a little less effort for going up a hill. When you're going to work and you don't want to arrive all sweaty this provides that opportunity," said David Politis, Sanyo. It is also a regenerative bicycle so when coasting downhill or breaking, it generates power back to the battery. "The motor is also what is known as a dynamo so when you are putting on the brakes it is capturing that kinetic energy and putting back in the battery," said Politis. Until you take a close look, it's hard to tell that this bicycle is different. The hub is where the motor resides and the battery is underneath the seat to balance everything out. "The inter-loop battery that comes with this (bike) is very lightweight, it weighs about three pounds. It takes about three hours to charge at just a standard re-charging station. A full charge will take you up to 45 miles depending on how much the rider weighs, the terrain and the temperature, those types of things," said Politis. By standard charging station, they mean any three-prong outlet in your home or at the office can serve as your charging station. The Sanyo hybrid bicycle is available at a cost of about $2,300. | 6/21/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 18 | VideoGreen Infrastructure | This may look like an ordinary road and parking lot construction project but it's not. It's being built with green infrastructure. "We're putting in a rain garden as part of the soil-water management strategy. We're putting in underground storage tanks to minimize the impact of storm water runoff from our buildings and off of the parking lot," said Timothy Toland, ESF Assistant Professor Landscape Architecture. Landscape architect Tim Toland says they're also going to use porous paving on the parking area to help reduce the storm water runoff reaching area waterways and overwhelming wastewater treatment systems. "A lot of cities across the country, particularly in the northeast, put in a combined sewer overflow system rather than putting a lot of pipes in the ground and that was fine then but increased development has produced more impervious surfaces, faster runoff and the systems aren't designed to accommodate these higher flows," said Toland. The result is untreated wastewater or pollutants getting into rivers and lakes. Green infrastructure is designed to minimize the runoff. Rain and melting snow will seep through the porous pavement and into the ground or be caught in the rain garden. Overflow will be trapped in the storage tanks and released slowly when the storm event is over. This will be more expensive upfront but less expensive than a new water treatment plant. "So you have to balance these cost issues when you're talking about green infrastructure. Yes there are some additional costs directly related to them (green infrastructure) but there are other costs related to maintenance and management that are reduced because of them," said Toland. The green infrastructure planning process requires a little bit more up front due diligence to execute it properly but the payoff down the line should be increased. More and more municipalities are requiring green infrastructure. | 6/21/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 19 | VideoFort Drum Goes Green | The Army's Fort Drum near Watertown is becoming greener by incorporating green features into major construction projects. A new barracks is under construction and 30 geothermal wells are being drilled to a depth where the air temperature is constant. Water is run through the piping to that depth where the air at that level warms or cools the water to that temperature and then it's pumped back into the barracks to help warm the building in winter and cools it in the summer. "The wells will end up being under the parking lot so you won't see them when the project is done. You can see the well rigs at work and a bunch of completed wells and all the tubing that's being hooked up to make them work. All of our new barracks projects include this geothermal heating and cooling application. We've got eight to ten of them completed on post now and it's the new standard," said Jim Corriveau, Fort Drum Director of Public Works. The blue wall is another major green construction feature. It's a solar wall. "When the sun is shining on that dark wall, the air you're bringing in for ventilation is being preheated. It's being warmed up by the sun. The energy that you draw out of the sun is energy you don't have to produce burning natural gas so you're saving on the heating bill for the building. The payback is about nine years," said Corriveau. Most all of our major facilities, like the motor pool buildings and hangers have them. They have big walls. Not wooden World War Two buildings. Not the smaller buildings like offices. Not the barracks, they have too many windows. You have to have a big wall with no windows. So hangers and maintenance shops and motor pools, those are the perfect applications. In addition, commanders have stepped up a campaign for everyone on the post to help conserve energy use by turning off lights and turning down thermostats. | 6/21/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 20 | VideoDisposal of Electronics | Big screen TVs, computers, DVD players, all the electronic products we can't live without all have what manufacturers call an end of life moment and the question becomes how to dispose of the item or recycle it. "Once the product has reached the end of life we have in the United States a comprehensive recycling program for our customers. We have over four hundred drop off locations where you can drop off your products in all 50 states. We also have a trade in and take back program," said Craig Herschberg, Toshiba. They are not the only electronics company to offer this recycling option in fact Toshiba is part of a partnership with Sharp and Panasonic. "So Panasonic, Sharp and Toshiba formed a joint venture company call the Electronic Manufacturers Recycling Management Company. What we do is we have our own branded program. We tell our customers if you have a Panasonic product that you want to recycle bring it here and in the background is this other company that operates the infrastructure and the logistics of getting them collected and recycled," said David Thompson, Panasonic. The goal is to have one thousand of these recycling drop-off sites in operation in the U.S by 2013. Plus more companies are expected to do the same thing. "We believe very strongly that the way to go is for more companies to come together into networks so we have more resources to offer more sites and added convenience over time to get customers to recycle products," said Thompson. And the problem is only going to get bigger with a growing population and growing demand. "In 2050 there's expected to be a population increase of 9 billion people at that time with a lot of demand for new energy and social infrastructure so the real challenge for companies is how do you balance growth but do it in such a way to minimize environmental impact?" said Herschberg. | 6/21/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 21 | VideoConstructed Wetlands | This is what most people envision of a wastewater treatment plant, but there's a more low-tech system called constructed wetlands. The Village of Minoa treats 130,000 gallons of wastewater each day using these constructed wetlands. There are three cells that are two feet deep, two hundred feet by one hundred feet, built at a one percent pitch to move the wastewater by gravity and planted in these cells are phragmites to help clean the water. "This is 14 years old. It's working great. We're getting ninety nine percent removals. The biosolids are contained right here. We never have to handle biosolids. As the organisms die off they have their own anaerobic digester at the bottom," said Steve Giarusso, Minoa Wastewater Treatment Supervisor. Primary water from Minoa enters the plant where solids are settled out. The remaining water and solids are gravity fed into the cells. "Think about it now, third world country, no electricity, and no chemicals. The challenge was to use the materials that you only have around you and build a system that works," said Giarusso. We just have some raw data; it's got to be reproduced yet. We decided we finally got a break, we've got instruments to look at it and we've cracked certain pharmaceuticals that have never been cracked and we did it with this constructed wetland. Waste is most often treated using expensive and energy intensive equipment. In a constructed wetland, the gravity and microorganisms do all the work naturally. "What's the draw back on a constructed wetland, ok? Look at the footage, ok? Its big it takes a large area. We're only using one hundred and thirty thousand gallons," said Giarusso. "We're finding out how the hydraulics work that 130,000 is adequate. Officials from the United Nations have been looking at this system for possible applications in third world countries. | 6/21/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 22 | VideoBuilding Smaller Homes | Bigger isn't necessarily better, in fact, there's a push by many advocates encouraging people to think smaller because structures like smaller houses are easier to sustain. "Sustainability starts with us, all of us, and so as you start to implement these ideas into your home and into your life, that's how we get to a sustainable future," said Sarah Susanka, architect and author. Speaking at a recent conference, architect and author, Sarah Susanka, reiterated her not so big philosophy. "I've been writing about building smaller and better designed houses for almost a dozen years now. It's really coming into vogue at this point and a lot of homeowners are asking how do I make my house greener, how do I make it more sustainable," said Susanka. For years, when energy prices were cheap, it was easy to build bigger and bigger 'McMansions' but Susanka says now we have to think about right sizing. "Instead of building rooms that we rarely use, we now build a house designed for the way we actually live. If you don't use your formal living room, your formal dining room and if you're building a new house then you don't need to build those. Instead design the square footage that you use every day to really support the life that you want to live," said Susanka. Then the money that would've gone to build more square footage can be applied to better quality. "A lot of people don't think that is a green act but it really is. When you think about the amount of resources that we put into square footage that we don't use, it's crazy. We have to heat it, we have to cool it so it's not a very sensible use of resources so what I've been trying to help people see is that by making a house that really fits you, you end up having a house that's also a really good custodian of the planet's resources," said Susanka. | 6/21/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 23 | VideoBiomass | This power plant, once fueled by natural gas, is being converted to run on biomass, biomass like trees and shrub willow. Shrub willow is being developed as a renewable energy resource that farmers can grow and harvest just like corn or wheat with their wood chips burned to produce energy. Eric Spomer, President of Catalyst Renewables, announced that his company will plant 200 more acres of shrub willow in Cayuga, St. Lawrence and Erie Counties. "We have previously planted 600 acres on land leased from farmers in Oneida, Lewis, Cayuga, and Livingston Counties. In addition, this is only the beginning because Catalyst plans to plant twenty thousand additional acres in this area," said Eric Spomer, President of Catalyst Renewables. Tom Sleight of the New York Farm Institute said says farmers are looking for new cash crops. "And we see these extra 200 acres of shrub willow as increasing the information on how to grow these crops and increasing the knowledge base on how to grow a bioenergy crop that's going to help build this momentum in the agricultural community for bioenergy crops in general," said Tom Sleight, New York Farm Institute. This shrub willow is a hardwood that's been developed to grow quickly. It's ready for harvesting in three to four years. Farmers throughout Central New York will have the opportunity to plant fallow hard to till land with a new cash crop giving new value to land that previously produced little or no return for farmers. Catalyst plans to make shrub willow nearly a third of the feedstock for their new power plant with the balance coming from New York's 18 million acres of hard wood forest. Harvesting waste wood and diseased wood from forests keep them healthier. Rotting wood left in the forest gives off methane which is 20 times more harmful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and new well-planned forest growth absorbs even greater amounts of carbon dioxide. | 6/21/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 24 | VideoAnaerobic Digester | The Minoa Wastewater Treatment Facility generates about 25,000 gallons of biosolids every week, waste that now goes to a landfill but it's waste that can be turned into energy. "It's something we look at as a great opportunity to use our facility for a test site for this digester to turn our waste into energy," said Mayor Dick Donovan. Mayor Dick Donovan is referring to an anaerobic digester being developed by the village and Dr. David Johnson. "It's an engineering mechanical device that uses bacteria to break down organic waste to liquid and gas. The gas that's produced is mainly methane with some carbon dioxide," said Dr. David Johnson, SUNY-ESF. The methane will be used to generate electricity and save money for the village. "That's part of it. Money is important and municipalities have to find new ways to do things more efficiently. But it's also about the environment. Right now we're sending this material to a landfill so if we can take that waste and turn it into energy then we're reducing the material going to a landfill," said Donovan. It'll take more feedstock than just the waste biosolids so Minoa is hoping to collaborate with the local school district. "We have contacted ESM about using the garbage from their cafeteria, food waste," said Donovan. Our hope is we can start working with them to convert their vehicles and then either at the school or here have a fueling station to further improve the environment in this area. If all goes well with the next phase of testing, then construction could begin before the end of the year. | 6/21/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 25 | VideoBy-products into Energy | The Village of Minoa is looking to reduce the cost of operating its wastewater treatment facility by turning one of the by-products into energy. "We have to reduce the cost of operating this facility. We wanted to do something and that's when we started talking about the anaerobic digester," said Steve Giarusso, Minoa Wastewater Treatment Supervisor. Steve Giarusso supervises Minoa's wastewater treatment operation which uses a combination of wetlands, a fixed film reactor, and a sequential batch reactor. The sequential batch reactor is very productive, cleaning about a half million gallons of waste water every day. Everything has a drawback. It's expensive to operate electrically; it has a ton of moving parts and a lot of o and m, operation and maintenance. But it also produces about 20,000 gallons of biosolids during an average week and village officials hope an anaerobic digester like this one can turn those biosolids into energy. Right now the liquid biosolids are processed here. What we're trying to do is reduce anything left in the waste, any carbon, any ammonia. We want that stripped out. Then from here it goes to a bell press where we make it into a solid and from there it goes to a landfill. Instead of sending it to a landfill, our goal is to combine the liquid biosolids with food waste, both pre - consumer and post consumer, and run it through an anaerobic digester and from the anaerobic digester create methane. The methane will be used to run a generator that will produce electricity and they hope to use the methane in a new garbage truck. "It's a compressed natural gas garbage truck and it's another part of this project. We hope to convert the methane to power that also," said Mayor Dick Donovan. Minoa Mayor Dick Donovan hopes to see the project under construction before the end of the year. | 3/23/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 26 | VideoTurning Food Waste into Energy | Turning food waste into compost is a fairly common practice. It's even being done on a larger municipal scale. But is there a way to turn food waste into energy? "Food waste, institutional food waste is what we're targeting. Material, which currently goes off to the landfill or is composted," said David Johnson with SUNY ESF. We're also interested in what we call the post consumer material, the fish sandwiches, the half-eaten pizza, meat products, egg products. Those things don't normally go for composting, but they're wonderful for an anaerobic digester. Dr. David Johnson is building an anaerobic digester. It's an engineering, mechanical device that uses bacteria to break down organic food waste to liquid and gas. The gas that's produced is mainly methane with some carbon dioxide. And methane is an energy resource. This is a methane digester at Morrisville State College. It uses manure from their dairy farm to power a generator that produces electricity. The typical rule of thumb developed from experience with agricultural digesters and we're using a very similar design, one third of the methane produced is used locally to heat and stir the operation and about two-thirds of that can be exported. "This anaerobic digester is being designed for use by the village of Minoa. Biosolids, human waste, from their wastewater treatment plant could be turned into energy instead of being trucked to a landfill," said Steve Giarusso, Minoa wastewater Treatment Supervisor. This is what we want to create energy with, instead of going to a landfill. Our goal is to combine the liquid biosolids with food waste, pre-consumer and post-consumer food waste and run it into an anaerobic digester. Then the anaerobic digester produces methane gas. Some of it is used to produce electricity to help power the wastewater treatment operation, while the balance of the methane will be used to power the village's new garbage truck. | 3/23/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 27 | VideoIncreasing the Use of Solar Power | Solar panel installers should see a lot more work by the end of this year through contracts with the New York Power Authority. One hundred megawatts of new solar power is being proposed through a public - private partnership announced recently by Governor David Paterson. The project will increase the amount of solar power produced in New York State by five times. "The options this will bring to local governments and municipalities is energy that is cleaner, it will be more affordable, safer than ever before and it will address a major problem in this country, climate change," said Governor David Paterson. Roof mounted and ground mounted solar arrays will be installed primarily on government facilities like schools and municipal buildings. The New York Power Authority has issued a request for proposals for developers to build up to one hundred megawatts of photovoltaic systems across New York. The developers would install and operate the PV arrays with a guaranteed market for the power produced and there's not supposed to be any cost to taxpayers. "But NYPA is prepared to enter into a power purchase agreement with all these developers to buy the energy and sell it in our grid to our ratepayers. When you look at the fact that we produce about a fourth of the stateÕs electricity, mostly through our two major hydro plants in Niagara and St. Lawrence, this in our view will not impact any of our rates at all. Plus the rates will be phased in over time and there is no cost to the state of New York for this whatsoever," said NYPA President and CEO, Richard Kessel. Construction of the solar arrays is supposed to begin before the end of this year and be completed by 2014. More information is available at the Power Authority web site at nypa.gov. The deadline for proposals is April 9th. | 3/23/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 28 | VideoAsian Carp | There's a new invasive species threatening the Great Lakes, Asian carp. Some species of Asian carp can grow up to four feet long and weigh between fifty to one hundred pounds and they can be a physical hazard. "One of species, the silver carp jump out of the water when they're disturbed by such things as a motor boat going by jump out of the water, a real hazard for people jet skiing or boating. Someone likened it to being hit with a bowling ball," said Dr. Kimberly Schulz, Aquatic Science. Dr. Kimberly Schulz says the other big problem is Asian carp thrive on plankton, which is the base of the food chain, and a carp will eat forty percent of its body weight each day. "So in a lot of river areas researchers have found where the Asian carp move in, some stretches of the river are ninety percent Asian carp and our native fish have been displaced," said Schulz. Between recreational boating and sport fishing, hundreds of thousands of jobs could be threatened by a fish that was brought to the United States on purpose in the seventies to service sewage lagoons and for aquaculture "Then, it escaped into river systems when aquaculture and sewage lagoons flooded in the eighties and nineties and it quickly invaded the Mississippi River and it's been swimming its way toward the Great Lakes ever since," said Schulz. The Asian carp are now in a canal connecting the Mississippi River drainage area to Lake Michigan with an electronic fence keeping them at bay. "Sort of like the electronic fence you use to keep your dog in the yard. They had to do some service on it and found that maybe a few carp have escaped past that fence so it looks like the only way to prevent the carp from reaching the Great Lakes is by shutting the locks on the canal," said Schulz. But that is being opposed because of the heavy amount of commercial traffic on the canal. | 3/23/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 29 | VideoIndoor Composting | In the wintertime, people composting outdoors are not getting much accomplished because it's cold outside. There is an alternative that is done indoors, vermi-composting. All you need is a bin the size of a recycling bin; a container for your food waste; shredded paper: peat moss; some dirt or compost: and the key ingredient, worms to do the work. Allison Stuart with the Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency explained the set-up. "You lay down shredded paper. Make sure it's nice and moist but not dripping wet. Sprinkle in some peat moss. It's a little dense than soil. It helps the air circulate around better. Then you put in soil on top of that. Add your worms, which are red wiggler tropical worms. Then put the food scraps in with them. Cover them up to avoid the odor problem and put the lid on and that's it," said Allison Stuart, OCRRA Recycling Aide. It's not a labor-intensive process. You put the bin together, maybe once a year. You harvest it at the end of the year. You add food to it maybe twice a week depending on how much food waste your family creates. You use the same food waste as in an outdoor compost system like fruits, vegetables, coffee grounds, eggshells and then let the worms do the work. That's the good thing about indoor composting as opposed to outdoor compost piles. The worms do the mixing for you. You don't have to it all. As they move through the soil, they are doing the mixing themselves. You don't to worry about the worms looking to move out of your compost bin and into your yard, red wiggler worms are tropical and need a temperature of at least 50-degrees to survive. Once the compost is finished it can be added to plant soil. It's much better than any fertilizer and it's all natural. It'll get great results in your garden too. | 2/17/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 30 | VideoFood for Thought: Composting | We're all pretty familiar with Christmas trees, tree limbs, leaves, and grass being turned into mulch or compost but what about food waste. "Most food waste ends up in a landfill, where it readily decomposes and becomes a greenhouse gas," said Gregory Gelewski, OCRRA Recycling Operations Manager. And food waste is a significant percentage of the waste stream. "For Onondaga County, it's between 13 and 14 percent of the waste stream. That's our commercial and municipal waste streams. So you're looking at 13-percent of 350,000 tons, that's quite a bit," said Gelewski. Food waste in Onondaga County can be burned and produce some energy, but the Resource Recovery Agency is trying to produce a more useful product. "We're actively pursuing food waste composting. We are doing it on a small scale right now producing a thousand cubic yards of food waste compost a year on top of our regular yard waste composting operation. Our goal is that by 2015, we want to compost over ten thousand tons of commercially generated food waste," said Gelewski. Here's what the composting operation looks like with a capacity for piles that are eighty feet long, one hundred twenty five feet wide and eight to twelve feet high. At the bottom of this pile is a layer of rough cut wood to help with air circulation, then there's the mixture of three parts yard waste to one part food waste piled up nearly nine feet high and then it's covered with finished compost to keep the heat and the odor inside. "Out here right now you don't smell any food odors and we have over 47 tons of food waste in the system right now," said Gelewski. These generators kick on every few minutes to push air through the pipes and through the compost pile making the temperature inside the pile hit over 155 degrees producing a compost that's safe to use and turning food waste into compost in thirty to forty five days. | 2/17/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 31 | VideoGrowing Food Locally - Aquaponics | Growing more food locally helps the economy and the environment but northeastern winter weather stands in the way. Morrisville State College is working on a way to extend the growing season to year round. "That means in the wintertime we have to extend daylight with some type of supplemental lighting and provide heat for that system," said Dr. Ben Ballard, SUNY Morrisville. And this is the greenhouse where they're going to put the system together. "This new greenhouse here at our aquaculture center is going to have a combination of aquaculture and hydroponics, also called aquaponics," said Laurie Trotta, Director of Aquaculture. Fish waste will be used to fertilize the plants plus the controlled environment will also help with some of the fish grown at Morrisville. As the temperature drops, the tanks that are exposed to the ambient air are also going to drop in water temperature so the fish metabolism slows and keeping the water warm in a controlled environment allows us to keep growing the fish at a higher rate than we would otherwise. Growing year round would mean more vegetables and more fish. The fish also help the growing process in another way boosting the carbon dioxide level. As fish grow and breathe and respire like all organisms do, The CO2 they respire could actually be a benefit because the plants need carbon dioxide for photosynthesis. The key is matching the nutrient requirements with the amount of fish waste. We're working with O'Brien and Gere taking advantage of one of the systems they developed, their Source Sentinel technology that provides real time monitoring of nutrient quality. In this system we'll be able to take water samples anywhere in the system and see what the nutrient status is and then make some decisions on the amount of fish waste or do we need some other fertilizer to meet the requirements of the plant. The new controlled environmental agriculture system should be up and operating early next year. | 1/19/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 32 | VideoGeothermal Heating | Welcome to the world of geothermal heating and cooling for your home. This unit doesn't look much different from the furnace you'll find in the basement of most homes but note the two pipes on the right side. Water from eight feet underground is pumped through the unit to provide heat in the winter and cooling in the summer. This house is using a horizontal geothermal system. "In the rear of the house we have twenty four hundred feet of linear coil filled with water and glycol that's responsible for the transfer of heat. Right now we're taking the heat out of the house and emptying it into the earth and it'll be just the reverse of that in the winter time when we take the natural heat out of the earth and bringing it into the house," said Michael Pettinato, General Manager for Harrington Homes. The coils are eight feet below ground where the temperatures stay between 50 and 55 degrees year round. So in the winter when it's below zero outside, the air temperature inside your home starts at fifty five degrees. You're going to save anywhere from sixty to seventy five percent on your monthly utility bill that would go toward your cooling and heating so that can add up to significant savings There's a 30 percent federal tax credit to help with the cost. When you're building new, you can do a system like this for about $15,000 installed and that includes a system that will actually offer you free hot water so the incentives right now are fantastic for it. Plus this is one way individuals can reduce their use of fossil fuels. "Economically it's becoming more competitive so really it's a solution that isn't as extreme as it was once thought. It's going to be used more and more, I think, in people's homes as they recognize the advantages," said Paul Crovella, SUNY-ESF. | 12/16/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 33 | VideoNew Homes Equipped With Alternative Energy Sources | More and more new homes are coming on the market more environmentally friendly with more alternative energy sources. "There's a component that's market driven and people are out there looking for green features in homes. People don't want homes where the indoor air quality isn't good for their children. People don't want homes where they feel the materials used in the construction weren't used responsibility," said Paul Crovella, Construction Management at SUNY-ESF. "I'm seeing a lot of interest, more so than last year. With all the new technology, it's here to stay, it's not here for tomorrow and what we've tried to do with this home is let people see how the technology is hands on use. You can actually see for yourself how the solar panel works, the wind system, and the geothermal system," said Mark DeAngelis, custom home builder. "But at the same time, New York State is taking steps to encourage builders in this direction as in how can they integrate some of this commonsense stuff into the building so these items aren't add-ons but the basic practice of the builder so simultaneously its happening. The builders are moving in that direction because of client interest but the codes are also shifting in that direction," said Crovella. Construction management professor, Paul Crovella says there's also a push from the younger generation. "When I'm in the classroom today with the students, almost to a person they're interested. They want to know, they want to hear about building, but they're very interested in figuring out how to do it sustainably. So when we're talking about building materials, they want to know about the traditional materials but they're thrilled to hear about recycled materials and what you can do with existing materials to reduce the impact. They're all over it," said Crovella. There's also a financial incentive. "By having solar, wind, and geothermal you can bring your energy bill down to pretty much zero, and if you're really into conserving you could even be getting money from the grid," said Allison Rutherford, General Manager Pyrus Energy. | 12/16/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 34 | VideoNot Letting the Waste go to Waste - Part 2 | The electricity running through this display panel is being produced by an internal combustion engine powered by methane gas coming from this methane digester supplied by the manure from some 300 cows on the Morrisville State College dairy farm. The system generates $35,000 of electricity annually, plus the effluent can still be used to fertilize their crops, in fact, the treated manure can be stored and used when they want too. "Being able to hold on to the effluent and then apply it when the plant can best use it. What is the advantage there? The odor issue prevents that now. If you store untreated manure and then apply it in the summer you will have a big problem with odors and neighbors can complain and this is a way to reduce that. The treatment of manure through the system helps produce material that is not as offensive as otherwise," said Dr. Walid Shayya, Professor of Natural Resource Engineering, Morrisville State College. Is it worth the cost? The Morrisville State College methane digester cost about $900,000. A lot of farmers actually can justify the installation of this system just from the odor elements. That is to cut down on complaints but having the additional component of producing electricity and in this case, hot water, that's another element that helps offset the cost. They've been using the treated manure as fertilizer for the past two and a half years and acting dairy farm Manager Doug Trew is pleased with the results. "That works real well because we don't lose any of the nutrients. If you went out and spread the manure without treatment, the gas would be gone, the gas would slip off into the atmosphere and you wouldn't get any gain from that at all," said Doug Trew, Morrisvile State College Acting Dairy Farm Manager. So in addition to producing electricity and reducing the odor from manure, the digester is reducing methane emissions. | 12/16/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 35 | VideoNot Letting the Waste go to Waste - Part 1 | These dairy cows produce a lot of manure. Each cow produces around 14 gallons of effluent per day but Morrisville State College is not letting the waste go to waste. "The whole idea is to burn the gas off before it gets up in the atmosphere because cows are some of the greatest polluters, other than the automobile. We're catching all the gas off the effluent and using it to generate electricity that in turn runs the farm," said Doug Trew, Morrisville College Acting Dairy Farm Manager. The gravity-flow system, designed for 400 milking cows, takes the manure from the barn to a pumping station that pushes it through tanks buried under an insulating earth cover where the manure is kept at the magic temperature of 98 degrees. "As long as you maintain the temperature within the system the anaerobic microorganisms produce the methane that's used to generate the electricity," said Dr. Walid Shayya, Professor of Natural Resource Engineering. The methane gas is piped to an internal combustion engine that generates electricity. The system is producing an average of 900-kilowatt hours of electricity per day. So over a year we produce 330,000 kilowatt-hours, which translates into a value of about $35,000. That's a nice benefit but there are also maintenance costs, operational costs that play into the equation but I believe there are going to be economic benefits to the system but the question is how long it will take to pay for the system. The Morrisville digester system, installed in 2007, cost $900,000 so it will be awhile paying for itself, where a system on a larger farm, say 2,000 cows, would pay off much faster. But there's another benefit small farms might want to consider. Professor Shayya says in addition to producing electricity and hot water, the methane digester reduces the odor of manure so it can be stored without offending the neighbors and then used as fertilizer when it will do the most good. | 12/16/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 36 | VideoElectric Cars | New York will soon be home to an automaker that only makes electric cars. Officials announced that Reva Electric Cars would be built in Central New York. They're expecting electric cars to grow in popularity for some people they're already popular, like Greg Tyler, an assistant professor at Morrisville State College, who bought a used electric car and fixed it up. “For me there are three reasons. One is the savings, it's less expensive to operate and maintain. Two is the ecology, much friendlier to the environment with totally zero emissions, and three it reduces our dependence on foreign oil. All the electricity I use is local, domestic energy,” said Greg Tyler, Assistant Professor SUNY Morrisville. And, so far he says the energy use has been very reasonable. “I've had it on the road since the end of June. I've put almost 1,500 miles, averaging less than six and a half cents per mile of electricity to run the car,” said Tyler. Most electric vehicles run at a much more efficient and cost a lot less than an equivalent internal combustion engine even at the current prices of $2.50 to $2.80 per gallon. Translating that into miles per gallon, that means Professor Tyler's 1993 Ford Escort is running at sixty five to seventy miles per gallon. Plus he says electric cars are cheaper to operate and maintain. Well, there are a whole lot fewer moving parts. Think of your typical internal combustion engine with four or more cylinders and all the valves, the camshaft, etc. There is essentially one moving part in this car, the motor. There's no oil to change, there's no air filter, no coolant. You have to put in brake fluid but a whole lot fewer moving parts and a whole lot less to maintain. The range between plug-ins is limited, just 20 to 25 miles but Tyler says that's perfect for commuting to work. | 12/16/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 37 | VideoTrail Maintenance | When you hear about people doing trail maintenance, here is what they're doing in the fall of the year. The ESF soccer teams volunteered to clean up the trail on Goodnow Mountain in the Adirondacks and that means a lot of raking because leaves on a trail create a serious problem. After instructions, the volunteers take their tools and head up the trail. "The trail is not always in the best shape at this time of the year because the leaves fall and get in the way preventing water from draining off. There is a ditch right in front of me and all of the water that has been sitting on the trail is now draining freely. That's much better for the integrity of the trail to keep it less muddy so people aren't eroding the trail as much. When trails get muddy, people tend to create new trails around the mud so we're trying to prevent that," said Erin Vinson, Education Specialist. One of the key areas to clean is a log used as a water bar, to direct water off the trail. "You'll notice here, towards the end of the bar, there's a buildup of dirt. What we need to do is clear some of this dirt out. You can use a fire rake to do it, or a shovel, or a grub hoe," said Mike Gooden, Forester at Huntington Wildlife Forest. Then the water is directed to the downhill side of the trail. This is how the grub hoe helps the process, building the ditch to move the water away from the trail. It's muddy work, but it's easy to tell when you've done it right. | 12/16/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 38 | VideoGold Medal for Green | It's hard to believe but this 4,800 square foot home is the winner of the Gold Medal for Green Sustainability from the National Association of Home Builders. Marc Antony Contracting built the house for the Syracuse Parade of Homes with that goal in mind. "To build a home that was a net zero, fully self-sustainable home. The way we did that was with wind, solar, and geothermal systems. And what net zero means is, ideally, the user will have a home that runs on very little or no energy monthly bills," said Mark DeAngelis, Marc Antony Custom Homes. So this home, called The Evergreen, is equipped with wind turbines and a photovoltaic array on the roof. Those power generators are combined with a geothermal heating and cooling system that taps into the constant temperature of the earth below ground level. All of that, though, is not enough to attain the Gold Medal. "Even though it's got photovoltaics and things that are providing the energy for it, they have to build it tight enough so its energy use is below 50 percent of what a typical new building would be. So, if this home was sitting next to another new home and there was none of the wind or solar energy on top of it, regardless, this home would still be 50 percent more efficient," said Paul Crovella, SUNY ESF To provide that efficiency, the house is also equipped with high performance insulation, triple pane windows, and other design features for maximum conservation. They also used green carpeting, recycled countertops, recycled tile, L.E.D lighting, and soy-based insulation. Mark DeAngelis says he's seeing more and more interest in sustainable homes and the environmentally friendly building products are becoming more available and less costly. "Cost is always a concern. I think the initial cost may be a little bit of a shock but when you read down through the numbers and see how the payback time has been shortened by the Federal tax incentives, it's a wonderful way to go," said DeAngelis. | 12/16/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 39 | VideoSolar Homes | Thousands of people saw this solar house on display at the New York State Fair; a 900 square foot home with a very unique design that doesn't need power from a utility. How about something more conventional? Could a 4,800 square foot home like this one go off the grid? The answer is yes, using a combination of alternative energy resources. "We have two vertical access windmills you can see behind me. They're 1 KW so they both produce 1000 watts of energy. We also have a 3.45 KW solar panel system, all by Sharp, and we also have two vertical access geothermal systems that cover the heating and cooling," said Allison Rutherford, General Manager of Pyrus Energy. Allison Rutherford of Pyrus Energy says the home needs about six kilowatts of power per day and depending on wind and sun conditions, that's what this system provides. "This home, in particular, has such great insulation and so many characteristics and specialties that keep all of the heat and they're using L.E.D. lighting, some really great lighting, to keep the energy consumption down," said Rutherford. So if the owner practices good conservation, the combined systems should provide more than enough power. But the total cost of the system is $90,000 is it worth it? "If someone is in an existing home or looking for a home, the first thing they should really be concerned about is just what they can do to tighten up the existing envelope," said Paul Crovella, SUNY-ESF. Construction management instructor Paul Crovella says a simple and inexpensive step like the right level of insulation is the way to start. "And dollars spent there are much more efficiently spent than on some of the renewables. Once your home is tight enough that there's not much more gain there and you're really interested in taking the next step then you're looking to putting in a renewable system like this and the investment that goes along with it," said Crovella. | 10/23/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 40 | VideoEmerald Ash Borer - Part 2 | Researchers are using the solitary digger wasp as an early warning system for a beetle that kills ash trees. The emerald ash borer was recently discovered in Randolph, N.Y. so monitoring sites are being developed across the state. "I've found about ten sites and I've put together a network of volunteers to find other sites around the state," said Warren Hellman, SUNY ESF graduate student. So Far, Warren Hellman has a site in the Pine Barrens in Albany, one in Saratoga Springs, several spots in the St. Lawrence River valley and this one in Central New York. But he needs sites and volunteers in Western New York and the Southern Tier. "We know where they'll be the following year, if we can find them (the wasp nests) this year; we know they'll be in the exact same place the next year," said Hellman. The digger wasp hunts a single family of beetles, like these metallic wood borers. Use these plastic traps, they collect the beetles harvested by the wasps. If emerald ash borers move into the area, the wasps will collect them too. "These monitoring sites (the wasp colonies) help us identify populations if there happens to be one in the territory where the wasps gather food and we can also delineate a population once it's identified, when you find infested ash trees we can bring in a mobile colony," said Dr. Melissa Fierke, SUNY-ESF. Use the wasps to define the boundaries of the infestation, and then act to slow the spread of the emerald ash borer. "If we can slow the spread enough maybe scientists will figure out how to control the emerald ash borer, that's the best we have to offer right now," said Fierke. | 9/29/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 41 | VideoEmerald Ash Borer - Part 1 | Ash trees are being killed by beetles called the emerald ash borer. "The Emerald Ash Borer is a small beetle that was brought into the United States from Asia, probably on wood-packing material and since its discovery in 2002 near Detroit, Michigan it has caused the demise of hundreds, thousands, millions of ash trees," said Dr. Melissa Fierke, SUNY-ESF. Ash is a popular tree for landscapes and to make baseball bats like the Louisville Slugger and tool handles. "And it looks set to cause the extinction of ash in North America so Fraxinus species as we know it will no longer be in the United States and Canada because there is one-hundred percent mortality associated with this beetle," said Fierke. The destructive beetle is now found in thirteen states and two Canadian provinces and earlier this year in Randolph, New York. It's not easy to spot in the early stages of infestation. "That's why an infestation can be present for quite awhile before it's even noticed. The Randolph infestation was probably there four to six years before we noticed it, and that was with technicians driving from New York to do research on Emerald Ash Borer in Michigan," said Fierke. So an early warning system is being organized using the solitary digger wasp. "This wasp hunts, almost exclusively, in a single family of beetles. It uses them as its prey, like the metallic wood borers we collected today also include Emerald Ash Borer," said Warren Hellman, SUNY ESF graduate student. Nesting areas are being identified across New York where volunteers will use a piece of plastic with a hole punched in it to collect beetle samples. The hole is large enough to allow the wasp to go in but small enough to prevent the wasp from going in with a beetle. Then researchers will know when the Emerald Ash Borer has reached a new area and take measures to slow its spread. | 9/29/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 42 | VideoSustainable Solar Home | One of the most fascinating exhibits at this year's great New York State Fair is this completely sustainable solar home constructed entirely by Cornell University students and we had a chance to take a look inside. It only has 800 square feet of living space but the students have developed some innovations to make it feel bigger. Like this floating bed, attached to counterweights so it can be hoisted up to the ceiling during the day. Here in the kitchen, the center island, which contains the sink, dishwasher and stove, has a sliding cover, which morphs into a table that seats eight. It is also equipped with LED lights, a rain showerhead and a tankless toilet. "We have forty General Electric solar panels, so we have an eight-kilowatt system for an 800-square foot house. That's very powerful. We're also using solar evacuated tubes to create all of our hot water. We have sixty tubes on the south side of our house for that. We're also doing a little bit of experimental work on the house, we're actually running copper tubing through the corrugations on the exterior of our house and we're pre-heating our domestic hot water with that as well with nothing but the sun's power," said Chris Werner, project leader. The 40 photovoltaic panels actually provide more power than the home needs so the surplus can be sold. The students call it the "Silo House" because the three main rooms look like grain silos. The walls are made from special corrugated steel designed to develop a superficial coat of rust as it weathers giving it a burnt orange look. "We think of this as a show house. This is something a little bit out of the box. We are selling this house for $199,000, it's for sale. But a big purpose is to generate interest in solar power," said Werner. | 9/29/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 43 | VideoGreat Lakes Compact | The Great Lakes Compact, governing the use and protection of Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan and Superior, has been ratified by the eight states and two Canadian Provinces bordering the lakes, plus both federal governments. The next step is implementing the agreement. "We now have to regulate any large out-of-basin transfer of water and there needs to be a permit program set up for consumptive use. A water conservation plan is needed for the half of New York State that's in the Great Lakes Basin," said Dr. Richard Smardon, Chair of the Great Lakes Basin Advisory Council. "The Great Lakes Compact said, okay, you can regulate out-of-basin transfers or stop it in some cases, but you have to develop water conservation practices for your internal (consumptive) use as well." Smardon chairs the Great Lakes Basin Advisory Council, which is drafting a report for the Governor and State Legislature. Holding workshops in Plattsburgh, Troy/Albany, Cortland, Rochester, Buffalo and Watertown, the council found some very divergent opinions. "Because you're dealing with a real range of stakeholders. You're dealing with groups that want to protect the environment and push regulation to the nth degree. You're dealing with industrial users who are quite concerned because it will impact their usage. You're dealing with farmers and irrigation practices, you're dealing with municipal water supplies and commercial water usage as well," Smardon said. "The big problem for municipalities and their water supply systems is that most are very old and have a huge amount of leakage, up to ten percent in some cases, so you are losing a lot of water and in some cases, they're not metered, so you don't know how much water you're actually using, so we need to pay attention to this as a part of the compact," said Smardon. Time is running out for public input. The Great Lakes Basin Advisory Council Report will be filed by the end of September. | 9/29/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 44 | VideoTech Garden | New York State is putting up the seed money to grow green jobs. Recently, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority awarded $1.5-million to the Center for Green Tech Entrepreneurship at The Tech Garden in Syracuse. "To establish a clean energy business incubator program to provide business support to accelerate the successful development of early stage clean energy technology companies. New York ranks among the top three states in the country for patent filing in clean energy technology and one of our greatest challenges is how to capitalize on this intellectual resource by turning knowledge into jobs and that's where business incubators come in like the one we're announcing today," said Francis Murray, Jr., NYSERDA President. "As part of the NYSERDA grant we will be incubating companies which could come in with an idea or they could come to us with a prototype and needs to refine it or it could be that the product is ready but they need additional funding or assistance making connections with potential customers," said Nasir Ali, Tech Garden President. The Tech Garden, like similar incubator centers in Rochester, Buffalo, and Brooklyn, will use the grant to build up their network of businesses and educational institutions. They already partner with Binghamton, Clarkson, Cornell and Syracuse Universities as well as Morrisville and SUNY-ESF. "Each of our universities has many, many technologies in the lab that are now looking for a way out into the market. Many of the companies that we're working with, in particular National Grid and others, are looking at smart grid technology to bring together partners that have more innovative solutions," said Ali. The next step is connecting with green technology entrepreneurs. "The goal then is to work with them to identify where their gaps are and based upon the identification of those gaps we will try to connect then with the right partners and find the right resources," said Ali. | 9/29/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 45 | VideoLED Lights | LeMoyne College is putting a big spotlight on a lighting revolution, LEDs or light emitting diodes and it started with a lighting change in just a couple of offices. "What we found was people coming into our offices saying 'The light in here is wonderful, can we get it in our office' so last November we went to the larger project with 200 tubes. We lit two classrooms, one hallway and all the building down here (physical plant). It's worked out very well," said Jim Dishaw, LeMoyne College Director of Facilities Management. The difference between florescent lighting and LED is very noticeable. As a matter of fact we've found we've had to reduce the fixture to three tubes instead of four to keep the light from becoming excessive. Unlike a florescent that radiates light 360-degrees, these are directing light at about 90-degrees. They're pointing straight down. The LED produces all this light using about half the electricity of a traditional florescent and it lasts about five times longer. We can figure that the LED tube will last from 60,000 to 100,000 hours so if you're lighting an office 12 hours a day, five days a week that tube will last 25 and a half years at an average of 80,000 hours. They last a long time. The problem is the cost difference, a traditional florescent light tube costs less that three-dollars At $75 a tube, which is what we paid, we'd have to keep them in service for ten years to get a pay back on it. That's a long time to get a pay back. But there is another pay back. LeMoyne College is very committed to a green and sustainable environmentally friendly existence. Plus Jim Dishaw fully expects higher demand LED lighting and technological advances to keep bringing the prices down and eventually they'll replace all 25,000 florescent lights on campus. | 9/29/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 46 | VideoGoing Green in the Workplace | Human resource managers are bringing the green movement into the workplace. At a recent conference of the Central New York Society for Human Resource Management they devoted time to designing green behaviors in the workplace. "In the past it looked too expensive and now it's the way you have to go in order to stay in business and grow it properly. As human resources professionals we need to understand that and bring that information to the table and help guide and direct our CEOs as they go forward," said Keith Flynn, Vice President of CNY SHRM. Keith Flynn says practicing sustainability and conservation will help save money. "As we saw last year with high gas prices and high-energy costs, we're at the whim of offshore suppliers and the world economy so we help with that and go forward by making good decisions for our companies and be good stewards of our earth," said Flynn. But Flynn cautions that saving money probably won't happen immediately. "You have to have a long-term plan. The initial investments are probably more but you have to look beyond one year. You have to have a five and ten year plan if you want to be around five and ten years from now," said Flynn. The 700 members of CNY SHRM also learned that going green is creates new job opportunities. "As job professionals we'd love to be on the recruiting front creating new jobs as we go forward. On the cost side of things, can green technology help businesses cut costs? In the past probably not, then it was too expensive but, now as it gets more popular and we see where it's going not only is it less expensive but essential," said Flynn. | 8/18/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 47 | VideoStudents Compete in EcoCAR Challenge | Engineering students from 17 universities in the U.S. and Canada are in the three-year EcoCar challenge to build a more fuel-efficient car. Among those students is Albany area native Ryan Meisert, a PhD candidate at Georgia Tech. "We start the first year off designing the vehicle with very rigorous models and simulations trying to predict across the board what our vehicle will do. Then at the end of the first year we actually get that vehicle and then we have to do what we said we would. In the second and third years we actually test the vehicle at the proving grounds," said Ryan Meisert, Burnt Hills, N.Y. Their EcoCAR challenge is designing advanced architecture for a 2009 Saturn Vue to reduce petroleum use and increase fuel efficiency. Ryan's Georgia Tech team is building an E85 two-mode hybrid electric vehicle. "Well, we really hope to make a vehicle that is showroom quality, that doesn't lack in any area. We're trying to cover all our bases and really have something that people on our team and other people would want to buy," said Meisert. Ryan admitted there is some pressure going into the year one-competition finals staged in Toronto. "I really find it very empowering, you kind of go through school, you get all these tools. You kind of drive down the street and say why don't they do this on a car or I would do this if I had the job so now you've got to back up what you say. You really have to put things together and at the end there's no talking there's actually hard numbers measuring how well you did for the whole year," said Meisert. The overall winner of year one was the team from Ohio State University. | 8/18/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 48 | VideoWind Turbines Becoming Popular | People are getting used to seeing the giant wind turbines of Madison County and up on the Tug Hill Plateau and they're beginning to see more and more residential size wind turbines. "This is residential size that we're looking at here. You're looking at something here that's about 600 pounds and 126 feet in the air. At Tug Hill, they're 300 feet in the air and I believe they're 1.5 million watts," said Roy Butler, Four Winds Renewable Energy. Roy Butler says he has installed about 100 of these five-kilowatt wind turbines in New York and Pennsylvania, especially in New York because of the state rebates that are offered. "You can power your home or at least part of your home with a wind turbine providing you have enough wind resource and you have enough space. You're not going to put this up on a quarter-acre lot or less. You can't put it in the city nor in the more heavily populated suburbs," said Butler. So in heavily populated areas, instead of the traditional horizontal wind turbine, how about a vertical turbine? "The vertical access wind turbines have some fundamental design problems they have to get past. They're battling some of the laws of physics and right now there are a lot of nice, spinney things installed, vertical access wind turbines, but they're more or less turning into kinetic lawn art. They're not producing kilowatt-hours to the grid or to your batteries," said Butler. This horizontal wind turbine will generate 8,000 to 9,000 kilowatt hours of electricity each year, with the right wind. "Kind of a general rule of thumb that people would use is a 12-mile an hour wind is about what you need to make it cost-effective small wind project," said Mike Kelleher, SUNY-ESF. If the wind speed hits that target, then this wind turbine will pay for itself in about ten years. | 8/18/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 49 | VideoTrees Die From Damaged Root System | We often don't appreciate the trees in our neighborhoods until they're gone, and most often, trees die off too soon because we've done something to the root system. "Most people don't understand that the most important part of the tree is what's under the ground. It's also the most abused and neglected part of the tree," said Christopher Sandstrom of Cayuga Tree Service. Chris said tree roots can easily be damaged if you don't know where they are but there's a way to find out. "And what we're going to do is use compressed air and a tool called an air spade to move the dirt away. By using the air compressor we do it without damaging the roots. We'll find out what the extent of the root system is so we can advise the contractor on what precautions might be needed to preserve the health of this tree," said Sandstrom. The contractor, in this case, is building a new parking lot, but just parking cars can be damaging. "I've been on sites where people are doing a simple home remodeling project and contractors spend the summer parking in the shade of their mature trees and it's enough to compact the soil to have a serious, detrimental effect on the health of the tree," said Sandstrom. Saving trees and helping trees to live as long as possible is not just an aesthetic concern. In addition to helping clean the air of carbon dioxide above ground, the roots are doing important work below ground. "Well roots are important because they hold the soil. We're losing topsoil in this country at an incredible rate due to bad farming practices and removal of hedgerows allowing wind and water to wash away the soil so root systems are vital for holding the soil," said Sandstrom. | 8/18/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 50 | VideoComputer Data Centers | A new and innovative computer data center is under construction, a computer data center that's supposed to cut energy use by half. IBM Vice President of Systems and Technology, Vijay Lund explains that for every dollar of energy that's used in a data center about half is wasted. "It prevents wastage that I talked about. There's a tremendous amount of waste, about half the energy in a data center is wasted. Annually that's about two billion dollars, so there's a lot of savings there. Efficiently using computers and technology we can lower electric bills or energy bills for data centers," said Lund. IBM will supply the equipment, design and support services for the new data center at Syracuse University and that includes an electrical generation system powered by natural gas-fueled micro turbines to run the computers and provide cooling for the computer servers. "This is critical. This is what IBM came to us and said one of the major questions their customers are asking is how much energy will it take to operate this system. Companies are spending; data intensive companies like insurance companies and banks are spending an awful lot of money on energy," said Eric Spina, SU Vice Chancellor. SU Vice Chancellor and Provost, Eric Spina said the university will manage and analyze the performance of the data center to maximize its efficiency. IBM will use the data center to showcase the technology. Although the system is now geared toward large, institutional users, someday it might have more widespread applications. Because we're deploying newer forms of energy to power data centers, called micro turbines, the output of the micro-turbines will be used for power, cooling and heating in buildings for free so this can be good for residential use as well. Construction if the $12.4-million computer data center is supposed to be completed before the end of the year. | 7/17/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 51 | VideoAmerican Chestnut | This is one of two plots of the largest planting of transgenic American chestnut, a big step forward toward the reintroduction of this species. One hundred fifty transgenic American chestnut trees were planted to see if they are resistant to the chestnut blight and how they interact with soil and insects "Remember that the American chestnut was devastated by the chestnut blight about a hundred years ago. It used to be one of the most common trees in these forests and now you can't find them," said Dr. William Powell, SUNY-ESF. We're taking our trees from the lab putting them out here in the field and see how they do. "The significance of this day is the fact that we have planted a large enough number of transgenic trees to be able to test, even though it'll be two to three years before we know for sure, we're going to have some proof of what we've been doing for eighteen years," said Herbert Darling, NYS Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation. The trees that we have out here now will be studied for a number of years. They have one particular gene added to them but we're going to have new trees coming out with a different gene coming out that we'll do the same kind of study. That way we can determine which gene is going to give us the best result. Every effort is being made to encourage good growth like the black ground cover to limit competing weeds and this white covering. "In here they don't protect from the deer because we have this area fenced but in the field sites they protect from the deer," said Dr. Charles Maynard, SUNY-ESF. So, they're shade, they raise the humidity and hopefully they will protect them (the trees) from the deer. So, whether it's with this planting or subsequent plantings, it may not be long before the American chestnut once again graces forests through the eastern United States. | 7/17/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 52 | VideoPreventing Home Heat Loss | This time of year is a great time to look for evidence of home heating inefficiencies, like icicles and roofs where the snow melts very quickly, and where the snow melts first on your roof is a clue to where heat is escaping explains Paul Crovella, an instructor in sustainable construction management. "So previous work done on the house which opened up a pathway internal to a wall where plumbing goes, where there's mechanical venting or ductwork, if not properly sealed heat gets to the roof and as you drive home and take a look at our roof, it's talking to you. There's heat coming up there," said Paul Crovella, SUNY ESF. Now, icicles on your roof are not necessarily a sign of problems, in fact some icing is expected at the roofline. "Ice damming, typically, is taken care of when roofing a house. Today's code requires a self-sealing barrier. Basically a pool liner for about three feet up the roof deck recognizing the fact that you're not going to eliminate all ice damming. Now, excessive ice damming is due to problems with insulation in that upper space and ventilation," said Crovella. Adding insulation may do the trick but to be sure you're spending your money wisely, Paul advises using a contractor certified by the Building Performance Institute. Your windows also offer a telltale sign of inefficiency. Frost on the inside of a window is a sign of heat loss. "If it's not yet to the point where it's frost, if it's just condensation that can create problems, too. And when you have either frost or liquid water on the inside of your window it's an indication of heat loss and that window should be doing a better job keeping heat from escaping from the building," said Crovella. If you can't afford to replace the windows then cover them with plastic. | 6/16/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 53 | VideoHome Heating Issues | Most people find out they have home heating problems in the winter. Cold temperatures combined with icy winds quickly demonstrate any weaknesses in your home heating system, like too much outside air getting inside. "There are couple things at this time of year that people are typically concerned about and one of them is drafts. Wrapping windows in plastic using the kits you find in hardware stores are a very efficient way to improve the thermal comfort," said Paul Crovella, from SUNY ESF. Another area that's a concern is humidity inside the house. That comes about because of the dryness in the cold air and the more of that getting into the house, the dryer the house gets. Cutting out those drafts will also improve the humidity and make you more comfortable in that regard. And once you're comfortable, sustainable construction instructor Paul Crovella says then you can look at a more permanent solution and that doesn't necessarily mean putting in a new furnace. The question of when to replace a furnace and what to replace that furnace with is best looked at in light of how is the whole house working. In other words, how well is the house insulated, what kind of windows do you have in it. When the rest of the envelope or the shell of the house really gets sealed many times a new furnace can be a good improvement toward cutting down on bills. These structural improvements have summertime benefits too. So anything you can do to seal up the home, if you have an air conditioner for summer conditioning as well, is going to be an improvement. Essentially, it's the same thing but we've just got a difference in terms of where the warmth is and where the cold air is. All those improvements will pay dividends both in the summer and during the winter. | 6/16/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 54 | VideoElectronics Go Green - Part 2 | Consumers and activists are looking for greener electronic products. "We're looking for manufacturers to phase out the use of toxic chemicals, to run their products energy efficiently, help combat climate change and we're looking for free and global take to these products don't end up as e-waste in developing countries around the world," said Casey Harrell, Toxics Campaigner for Greenpeace International. Manufacturers at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas had several greener products on display, like a battery that can be thrown away with regular garbage. "Throw them in the garbage, have no fear. In a time when too much of the wrong stuff is getting into the (waste) stream we felt we had to make something that will kind of bridge the gap while people are using $14 billion worth of throwaway batteries a year. We better get something you could throw away," said Jeff Kreidenweis, Fuji EnviroMax. There are also television sets that don't contain mercury and use 40% less energy. Or, even ways to conserve on energy use at your workstation with a power center. "What this product does, it automatically senses when a product like a cpu for your computer goes to sleep, which is a normal thing you would set-up, it turns off the peripherals. With electricity costing 15 to 30 cents a kilowatt-hour, a person can spend several hundred dollars a year for standby power when their products really aren't doing anything for them," said Vern Smith, Monster Cable. You can see the kilowatts needed to power this set-up with a computer, monitor, music system, printer and then what happens when it isn't in use for awhile. So there's progress toward green but is it enough? "We're seeing a lot of green products being niche, a side project for a large global company. We want these products to be replacements. We want green products to be the products," said Harrell. | 6/16/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 55 | VideoElectronics are Going Green - Part 1 | All the newest toys were on display at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and many of them are trying to become more eco-friendly, like this new green TV. "The new Samsung Luxia line of LED backlit TVs are greener for two reasons. One, there is mercury in the traditional LCDs while there's no mercury in the LEDs which is more friendly to the environment. But I think the bigger story is a 40 percent reduction in power," said Scott Cohen of Samsung Electronics. Which translates into using a little over half the power you use now to operate the same size television set. And battery power is becoming more eco-friendly. "Start with the packaging, over 80 percent made of recyclable material, very important the plastic that holds it in and the wrapper you can see the writing on is all PTE plastic instead of the rather toxic PVX that most everyone else uses. Recycled paper is used as an insulator. A very pure iron ingot that holds the silver dioxide (also very high grade), so the metal eventually rusts, lets out the inert material and all goes away," said Jeff Kreidenweis, of Fuji EnviroMax. Long story short, a battery that can be thrown away with your regular garbage. Another hot new item, a green power center for your workstation that cuts down on the power usage. It's a device that senses when your computer goes to sleep and turns off the other devices in use like printers, monitors and even the lights. It sounds like green is making progress in electronics. "The electronics industry is greening but it's not green yet. We're no longer arguing over whether green progress needs to be made. We're talking about how fast it's made and to what depth," said Casey Harrell of Toxics Campaigner for Greenpeace International. | 6/16/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 56 | VideoReducing Car vs. Deer Accidents - Part 2 | Car vs. deer collisions in New York State are no small matter. There are 40,000 - 50,000 car vs. deer collisions reported every year. USGS research biologist Brian Underwood is positive there are many more accidents than that. "But I believe the numbers range in the forty, fifty, to sixty thousand reported deer/car crashes in the state of New York every year. [Probably underreported?] Oh, yeah at least by half," Underwood said. Which means the actual number of car/deer crashes is as high as 120,000. New research shows that barriers or guardrails installed to help protect drivers are obstacles that deer would rather walk around than jump over. But what brings them to the roadside in the first place? Typically there are two motivations for animals to be near the road. One is because they're trying to reach some place beyond the road or there's something about the road itself that is attracting animals to be there. In the springtime, when the grasses emerge one of the first areas to grow is along the roadside and the deer are highly attracted to those because they've been eating sticks all winter long. The deer are also attracted to one of winter's leftovers, the salt residue from the efforts to keep the road free of ice and snow. Brian says if you spot deer grazing along the roadside just slow down and watch carefully. And in that instance you're probably fairly safe because they're busy doing something else. The worst-case scenario is when half the group has already crossed the road and the remaining individuals are left on the opposite side. That's absolutely the high alert situation where you need to be prepared for animals that are absolutely going to be crossing the road. The key to avoiding a car/deer crash is to slow down so you have time to react to whatever the deer decide to do. | 6/16/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 57 | VideoColleges Reduce Energy Use | More and more colleges and universities are working to reduce their energy consumption and lower their carbon footprint. Many are being spurred on by their students, like at St. Lawrence University in Northern New York. "Last year, the student body said they were concerned about the impact of electricity usage on campus. Through the student government association they found the money to purchase the energy credits equivalent to 50 percent of the Student Center's consumption," said Ron Dixon, SLU Development and Sustainability Coordinator. So this year, the University administration stepped in and purchased enough credits to cover 100 percent of the Student Center's electric use and they now buy windpower to provide 50 percent of the electricity for a new building. "The building that we're in right now, our new Johnson Hall of Science, is a LEED Gold certified building. In order to achieve that LEED Gold status, we need to power 50 percent of this building from renewable sources," Dixon said. St. Lawrence University is buying over 3,000 megawatt hours of renewable energy generated by windmill farms to supply 15 percent of all campus electric needs. But you pay a premium for windmill power so the first priority is cut back on how much electricity is used. "There's a whole number of projects and programs to try to cut down on our consumption first and foremost be it doing energy audits, making our buildings more efficient, putting in motion sensors and what have you and behavior change programs," said Dixon. Our primary mission here is to educate and put out the leaders of society of tomorrow so in taking this kind of approach we can educate our students on this and they can take it out on their next step in life. | 6/16/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 58 | VideoEnergy Auditing & Saving | A multi-million dollar energy savings project is underway in the East Syracuse-Minoa School District that requires no taxpayer dollars. "What we've done is creatively worked with Siemens and collaboratively to put together a contract would help our taxpayers and residents while we're upgrading our buildings. It actually is no cost to our taxpayers during the implementation phase and yet we'll reap the benefits in millions of dollars in savings over the course of the next 18 years," said Doctor Donna DeSiato, ESM Superintendent. Superintendent Donna DeSiato says the energy savings of over $9 million is guaranteed in the contract and Siemens Building Technologies will be paid with the savings. "Most of our buildings were built in the mid-60s and over time what we have found is even if the buildings are well maintained, we need to implement and to install new technologies," said DeSiato. Inefficient boilers and air leaking windows will be replaced. Buildings will be weatherized and energy management systems will be installed, and she says a building doesn't have to be that old to benefit. "Because the technologies have actually been upgraded so much so that even if a school district did this kind of upgrade 10, 15 or 20 years ago they would find that today a substantial upgrade. We've learned so much more from science and from environmental studies about what we can do to both take care of our planet and the properties that we occupy each and every day," said DeSiato. Faculty, staff and students are being involved in the process. "Our high school students have taken a lead role in collaboration with our buildings and grounds staff to work on other important initiatives such as recycling, energy efficiencies and green initiatives. They're actually helping to teach our younger children," said DeSiato. The young people are expected to carry the message out into the community. | 6/12/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 59 | VideoSolid Waste | Sixty-six percent of all solid waste in Onondaga County that used to go to a landfill is being recycled, while nationally that percentage is only in the upper 20s. The Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency is running an advertising campaign looking for more. "And we have measured in our waste stream here that there is a harvestable amount of paper, recyclable paper in the trash. So, even though we have these great recycling recovery rates and we have a community that participates so well, in fact overall 98 percent of the community participates, there still is a real opportunity to recover more newspaper, more third class or junk mail, more magazines, more cardboard even," said Tom Rhoads, OCCRA Executive Director. But the bottom has dropped out of the recycling market with prices for recycled goods about 25 percent of what they were still Tom Rhoads says recycling makes sense. "So we're talking about recycling helping us conserve energy, helping us conserve natural resources, helping us reduce greenhouse gases and also helping us reduce the cost of solid waste disposal" said Rhoads. Even though that means subsidizing the recycling operation. "We have a market-based price with them so when markets are low we have to give them support for their activities in processing the materials. We've had to chip in a little bit but that's still than what it would cost us if we disposed of those materials in a landfill or a waste to energy plant," said Rhoads. And when the market turns around OCRRA will receive some money back. Rhoads says people can make that happen by buying more recycled products. "Because we also have in this economic discussion a tremendous amount of purchasing power. What we all buy really does change the economy and if we work together at improving things for the environment by buying recycled, participating in recycled a lot can happen," said Rhoads. | 6/12/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 60 | VideoFort Edward Distribution Center | The 150-acre site in Fort Edward, New York is now the processing site for the PCB clean up of the Hudson River. But six years from now planners hope to take advantage of a new rail and water transport system to create a giant food distribution center. "The site has been developed so that it's probably going to be one of the easiest clean ups ever because it was designed to be cleaned up," said Preston Gilbert, Director of the SUNY Center for Brownfield Studies. "The concept we're working from is a European Union concept called a 'freight village,'" said Emanuel Carter, ESF Associate Professor Landscape Architecture. "There are about 60 of them in the European Union. The whole idea is to cut the carbon footprint of cargo transportation and the best way to do that is to make the connection between rail and water transport and what gets phased out is trucking." A truck going from Elmira to New York City is lost for two maybe three days between getting down there, waiting to unload, getting caught in traffic and coming back. While transforming the huge buildings built to process PCBs into food storage warehouses, ESF landscape architecture students also proposed a recreation area for boating and water sports. "This is the recreation area down here that we designed," said Annalena Davis, ESF graduate student. "There is an existing wetland here, which is also being used to clean storm water. The industrial area is up here for transporting goods and process foods that are grown in upstate New York." They took into account a nearby bird habitat. "We added habitat to actually improve that environment so many of the buildings in our design include green roofs with grasses which is what many of the local bird species live in," said Davis. Next, it's up to the officials in Fort Edward to decide if this is the plan they want. | 6/12/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 61 | VideoBackyard Coyotes | More and more New York backyards are home to a growing number of coyotes. Coyotes have been increasing since the last century. They started coming in around 1920-1930 and since then proliferated throughout the state in fact they in almost every part of the state. Growing public concern prompted the study ESF graduate student Christy Boser is working on, to track coyotes using GPS collars. "We take that information and use it to assess what kind of habitat, how long they're spending in one location and their movements, if they're booking it from one place to another it's obvious their hunting or they're being territorial," said Christy Boser, SUNY-ESF graduate student. Thirty seven coyotes have been collared. One was tracked to East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania 150 miles from the Oneonta study area. We had previous reports of some of our animals in the Albany area. People spotted the ear tags. One visited Albany, came back to the study area and now is missing again. Researchers want to learn more about coyotes' interaction with humans. There's a second study that's being done in Westchester County which is looking at how coyotes move in an urban and suburban landscape, looking at how coyotes interacted and maybe caused problems with humans. They couldn't find anyone consistently having problems with coyotes so that's become a study of habitat use down there. And so far, the research doesn't show any adverse impact on the deer population. At the current deer population levels, managed by the DEC, we don't suspect that coyotes are having an impact. We suspect that most of the mortality that we see in fawns is compensatory, that these fawns would be killed in other ways. But that's not a final conclusion and the study goes for another three to four years. | 6/12/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 62 | VideoUsing Wood Chips for Energy | We all know we need alternatives to petroleum for the fuels we use. Instead of using food for fuel, like taking this corn and turning it into ethanol, maybe we should look at something like wood, which is already a fuel as an even more efficient alternative. "The main advantage of this idea in terms of making ethanol is the sugars come from wood and we have three-quarters of the wood left," said Dr. Tom Amidon, Director of Empire State Research Institute. Here's the process Dr. Tom Amidon has developed. Wood chips are poured into this giant digester, water is added and they're pressure cooked at a high temperature. The liquid extracted is filtered through membrane separators removing the sugars, acidic acid and other components. About 75 percent of the wood mass remains. "The wood chips that we bring in, about a quarter of the mass will come out in solution. That solution, as we turn it into the products that are in it are worth more than the cost of a 100 percent of the wood chips," Amidon said. Then the remaining wood chips can be burned for energy or made into paper, while the sugar solution goes into a fermenter to become ethanol. "Not only would the ethanol come from renewable and sustainable resources, more energy than we need to make that ethanol would also come from a renewable, sustainable source that doesn't compete with food crops," Amidon said. Plus recovering acidic acid from wood is much less expensive than the current method of making it from natural gas. "I like that. It's from a renewable resource. Trees are out there growing and catching CO2 and making more acidic acid," Amidon said. "What's really good about this wood to ethanol process is that it uses hardwoods of which we have 18 and a half million acres right here in the Empire State. | 5/4/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 63 | VideoConventions and Conferences | The effort to go green has created a new growth industry conventions and conferences on the environment. Click on Google and search environment conferences. Just one selection taps you in to 935 upcoming events in this country and all around the world. Conferences like the Green Building Conference recently held in Syracuse. "This conference is really all about educating the public about green building processes. We have green building materials. We have three tracks tomorrow. We have green housing, green energy and building science," said Maureen Wakefield, Continuing Education Coordinator, SUNY-ESF. Our first annual green building conference was really nothing more than 50 enthusiasts in a room up on our campus, but in just a few years, the conference now attracts nearly 300 attendees and a very diverse group of vendors with new green products. Our vendors have everything from recycled materials that are going on roofs, new energy systems. We have a gentleman here who actually makes sinks and countertops from concrete and it ends up looking like slate and marble. We have a diverse approach to materials used and the way we build our homes and our public facilities. Many of these environmental conferences focus in on specific issues. Such as waste management in Kuwait, the latest in hydrogen and fuel cell technology in Columbia, South Carolina while the conference in Syracuse zeroed in on using green building concepts in local projects. The green building movement is really about change in the Central New York community. It's really about efficient use of energy. It's about changing our communities, revitalizing and renovating, the near West Side initiative, our schools. It's really about changing the way we live and the way we think about waste. We're really taking waste and reusing it to create new materials, change our whole building process and our approach to living. | 5/4/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 64 | VideoExpanding Oswego Harbor | A multi-million dollar expansion of the Oswego Harbor is in the planning stage. The three and a half to four million-dollar expansion is potentially very big. It is because the Oswego harbor could then take a lot more freight. It could really be a full-scale port and that freight can then be transported throughout the region from Oswego. We'd have a lot more ships coming down through the St. Lawrence and stopping in Oswego instead of going on to Chicago and places like that. Khris Dodson is with the Great Lakes Research Consortium and teaches environmental studies at SUNY-ESF. He and his students organized the first public meeting on the harbor expansion plans. So their feedback may affect the plan. It's a very important thing to create that dialogue between the Port Authority and the public and hopefully we can replicate that kind of participation with other environmental and economic issues throughout the region. Port of Oswego Director Jonathan Daniels said good questions were asked during the meeting. What we're trying to do is make sure we come up with guidelines that work well with the environment, making sure that ballast water management is in place, to make that the environment is not impacted by this type of transportation and at the same time that it's not something that can impede transportation and the economy as well. They do have to file several reports and do some analysis before they actually build it. I think the negative environmental effects will be minimal because we already have so much infrastructure here. It's just really expanding what's already here. For example, to reduce congestion, they might schedule offloading of cargo over twenty-four hours instead just in the daytime. The next step is finding the funding. I'm Terry Ettinger for Going Green. | 5/4/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 65 | VideoHotels Going Green | The Sheraton Syracuse University Hotel and Conference Center is one three finalists for the Good Earthkeeping Award from the New York Hospitality and Tourism Association. The hotel is being recognized for making a number of environmentally friendly changes. General Manager David Heymann said it's the right thing to do and makes good business sense. "We realized there was some financial gain by going that way by saving energy. We also realized we could gain customers by being green because that's the way of the world and customers want to see that," said David Heymann, Sheraton SU General Manager. One of their big investments is the Guest Energy Management System. When a guest leaves the room it shuts back the temperature. We put that system after trying it out for several months in a handful of rooms and we've really have had some great results. Unlike motion sensors, GEM detects infrared body heat to determine whether someone in the room then lowers then adjusts the heat or air conditioning accordingly. New boilers were recently installed that are 98-percent efficient. "I was amazed when I was told what the new boilers could do in relation to the old ones plus, it's a fraction of the size. The old boilers were massive, the size of a large SUV. And they don't fire very often because they are so, so efficient," said Heymann. It was one of the first hotels in the area to put recycling bins in each guest room. They've also installed energy efficient lighting and use more locally grown food products in their restaurant. Also up for the Good Earthkeeping Award are The Statler Hotel in Ithaca and the Golden Arrow Lakeside Resort in Lake Placid. The winner will be announced at the Tourism Association's meeting in Saratoga Springs. | 5/4/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 66 | VideoSoil Erosion | Soil erosion from rain and wind produces water quality issues in streams, rivers and lakes, degrades soil quality, and affects human health. Sediment in and of itself suffocates a lot of aquatic habitat but it also acts as a magnet to carry other things that aren't very good for our water environment. "A lot of people have a tendency to think dirt's dirt. The problem is that we have all different kinds of soils, in fact as we learned today in class there's over 444 different soils in New York State alone. There are all different combinations of organic contents, silt, clay, sand, and gravel. They're all not going to behave the same way. They all don't erode the same. Silt and clay particles have a lot of surface area, which act like magnets to collect pathogens, nutrients, and toxics and carry them into the receiving water body," said Donald Lake, watershed management and soil erosion specialist. Donald Lake conducts workshops on soil erosion prevention and watershed management for landscape architects, engineers, town and city planners, developers, code enforcement officers, and so on. His goal is to prevent soil erosion rather than have to clean up the mess it makes. How to operate and use the appropriate practices for the appropriate site, in other words good implementation trying to keep the soil in place, control the runoff and prevent offsite resources from being damaged with sediment damaged and degrade the water quality. As you think about the infrastructure in and around buildings, oftentimes we'll create a halo of compacted fill, which means you make it tighter with all the construction equipment that's on it for a long period of time. It would be best to aerate it to re-establish its permeability, its ability to absorb and infiltrate the water into the groundwater. So water seeps down into the soil and doesn't runoff carrying soil with it. | 5/4/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 67 | VideoHelping Construction Sites Go Green | Construction sites can be a big source of environmental problems if there isn't good planning to deal with soil erosion and sediment control. Too often it's an afterthought. "Oftentimes they (project managers) will make a statement, 'Well, I'll clean it up when I need too.' And I answer, how do you know when you need too? It's when you see the mud going down the street or something like that and by then it's too late. Enough of that stuff adds up from all the work sites that by the time it gets to a receiving body of water it does an awful lot to degrade the environment," said Donald Lake, a watershed management and soil erosion specialist. Lake's goal is to teach construction engineers how to best build on a given site so that the environmental impact from the construction is minimal. "Most of the time where construction activities take place, you use the soil that's on the site already. In other words, you've stripped the topsoil because you're going to replace it or you're going to put it back down and seed over it," Lake said. To prevent erosion problems, that topsoil needs to be returned as quickly as possible with vegetation. Also, after being packed down by the heavy construction equipment the soil needs to be aerated so water will seep into the ground and not become runoff. He points out soil particles collect pathogens, nutrients and toxins that can be deposited in our waterways when eroded soil is washed away. "We look at the aspects of controlling runoff, stabilizing soil, that's what we call erosion control and 85% of all planning should be geared toward erosion control not sediment control," said Lake. Sediment control is after the fact and that's more difficult with greater risks to the environment. | 5/4/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 68 | VideoUrban Forests - Part 2 | The urban forest provides a multitude of benefits. The trees in the parks and along the city streets help remove air pollution, provide carbon sequestration, energy conservation and protection against ultraviolet radiation. So you might think the more trees a city has, the better. In general, the more trees the better. It's how we design the forest. It's what we try to look at in our research such as which species should we have in the forest and where should they be because it's a question of what do you want to improve. David Nowak of the U.S Forest Service and his unit use satellite data to make maps to understand the forest distribution: Here's Onondaga County, Albany County, and Monroe County. And here's a high-resolution map of the city of Syracuse. And they've developed a computer program to analyze data collected in a ground inventory of how many trees, what species, and where are they located. The program is called I Tree available for free at itreetools dot org And then we load in pollution data from the U.S. EPA, we load in the local weather data and simulate with our models what's the pollution level, what's the carbon storage, what's the energy conservation and the dollar value effects so you can start doing this cost-benefit. We tell our students in the classroom it's like trying to manage a grocery store without knowing what's on your shelves. You know there's stuff out there you see it. We see the trees all the time. It's a lot better to have hard numbers and that's what I Tree tries to give you is a statistical sampling design which will give you numbers that there are this many trees with species composition and running it through the model to say here's the annual effect of the various benefits. And then city managers can make realistic decisions for their urban forest. I'm Terry Ettinger for Going Green. | 3/24/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 69 | VideoUrban Forests I | Over my shoulder is a great view of the city. You see large buildings that create a distinctive city skyline, roadways from busy interstates to residential side streets, and forest. That's right an urban forest, thousands of trees. Woods scattered around the city in parks and natural areas, trees along the streets, and trees in the thousands of residential backyards, and these trees are extremely valuable. "People view the trees from an aesthetics point of view and they see the shade and enjoy the beauty of the forest but it's the physiological functions that the trees have, the gas exchange that transpires water which cools the air and the leaf surface provides such benefits as carbon sequestration as the tree grows," said David Nowak, U.S. Forest Service. Dave Nowak of the U.S. Forest Service says as trees grow they take in carbon dioxide, the carbon dioxide produced by the cars and trucks driving on all those streets and highways. Another big one is air pollution removal. Besides temperature reduction from trees transpiring that water, evaporating the water making it cooler - when they do that they open what are called stomata in the bottom of leaves which allows gas to get inside the leave surface and a lot of air pollutants move inside the leaf surface and are dissolved in the leaf surface. Air pollutants like ozone, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxide. Another benefit is energy conservation. You plant trees around buildings, you shade them and cool them and that can reduce energy use in the summertime that can reduce energy use but here in New York State the other issue is in the wintertime. In leaf, trees can block 70-90% of solar radiation while out of leaf they still block 30-40% so if you shade the south side of your building you can influence your heating use. So more and more communities are paying closer attention to the design of their urban forest. | 3/24/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 70 | VideoIndoor Air Quality | At the new headquarters of the Center of Excellence in Syracuse, they will be studying all aspects of indoor air quality, but in order to understand indoor air quality you have to understand the quality of the air outdoors and that's exactly what Dr. Myron Mitchell and his colleagues at Clarkson and Cornell Universities are doing. "An exciting part about this, it's a major operation with respect to analyzing air pollution within the city. We've got two major highway intersecting here, Interstates 81 and 690. We've already done some preliminary work that shows those highways affect the air pollution within this city," said Dr. Myron Mitchell of SUNY-ESF. The same meteorological and climatological instruments have also been installed at a site in a residential neighborhood to they can make an urban-residential air quality comparison. "We're measuring air pollutants such as nitrous oxide. It's commonly called Nox. We're also measuring the concentration of ozone, two important urban air pollutants. We're also looking at the types of fine particles and fine particles are another type of air pollution. These are things that get in people's lungs," Dr. Mitchell said. And even inside a building people are affected by the air outside the building. "Obviously there's always an exchange between outdoors and the indoors so the quality can affect possible building designs. For instance, opening windows at certain times. If you're going to open the windows to bring in outside air then it's important to know the quality of that air," said Dr. Mitchell. In addition to the two stationary testing sites, researchers are also using a mobile lab to take readings around the city and they expect the results to be useful as a decision is made whether to keep the elevated portions of Interstate 81 through the city. "We're not the only city dealing with this. A lot of cities have large roads, elevated roads within the cities," Dr. Mitchell said. | 3/24/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 71 | VideoEnvironmentally Friendly Insulation & Packaging Material | A new company, headquartered in Troy, New York, is going green with environmentally friendly insulation and packaging material made with mushrooms. "At Ecovative, we're creating Acorn Packaging which is a replacement for the typical expanded polystyrene that you find around your packages that lasts forever and is made from petroleum. Our packaging material is sustainable, it's renewable, and when you're done using it you can throw it in your garden and compost it," said Eben Bayer, Ecovative Design, CEO. It's biodegradable because it's made from agricultural waste products like cotton burrs, buckwheat hulls, and rice hulls. Their other product is called Greensulate that can replace pink board or fiberglass insulation. "To create Greensulate, what we do is we take loose fill agricultural particles (like rice hulls) and we grow fungal mysillium, mushroom roots, so the roots grow and digest some of the agricultural particles while bonding others together. At the end of the process, we dry it. This renders the material biological inactive," said Gavin McIntyre, Ecovative Design Chief Scientist. Going Green: Environmentally friendly insulation and packaging material A new company, headquartered in Troy, New York, is going green with environmentally friendly insulation and packaging material made with mushrooms. Terry Ettinger has more. Company officials claim the cost of production is lower than for polystyrene and there is minimal environmental impact. "We are able to do this because we use an organic process. Our material is actually grown using a living organism so we need very little energy input into our process. It happens at room temperature, room pressure, and in the dark. It's grown just like a two by four is grown," said Ed Browka, Ecovative Design COO. They've been written up in Scientific American. They've made their case on You Tube, so what's next? "We're looking for partners in the capital region to start shipping in this product this year. It's very good for shipping fragile, heavy items," said Bayer. | 3/24/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 72 | VideoHydrogen Fuel Cell Cars | More and more alternative energy vehicles are hitting the highway. Hybrids are becoming more commonplace. We even have mass transit fleets converting to hybrids. We also have more vehicles are running on biodiesel but here's something new, how about an electric vehicle that runs on hydrogen? "This is a hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicle. The fuel cell technology was produced and developed in the Rochester area. It's 20 degrees out today and we have our fuel cell vehicle out operating in these temperatures which is a big accomplishment making it a full-function vehicle and we're using over a hundred of these vehicles across the country to demonstrate fuel cell technology," said Gary Stottler, General Motors fuel cell car project. GM's Gary Stottler is referring to one of hydrogen vehicle's problems that partner, the University of Rochester, helped them overcome. Chemical engineering professor Matt Yates explains the cold start issue. "The fuel cell vehicle makes water as a product so if you are in a really cold environment you have ice and trouble getting the vehicle started," said Matt Yates, University of Rochester. What you find from driving this vehicle is that it does everything that people need. That's what this demonstration project is all about, that you can drive this vehicle every day, you can carry your groceries, you can carry your children and it really does work. The inside doesn't look any different from other cars but under the hood there's a fuel cell stack about the size of a microwave oven that produces a hundred and twenty kilowatts of electric power fueled by four gallons of compressed hydrogen, enough to travel 150 to 200 miles. "Obviously, it's critical for us to continue our commitment and bring these technologies to market," said Stottler. Still to overcome though is the mass production needed to lower the cost so people can afford these vehicles and like other alternative fuel vehicles, a network of fueling stations like we have for traditional gasoline is needed to make the switch practical. | 1/29/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 73 | VideoReducing Car vs. Deer Accidents - Part 1 | Why do deer cross the road where they do? New research has found some answers that might help reduce the number of car/deer collisions. "There are a couple of things; one is the presence of cover right to the edge of the road. For example, there might be a tree line and if that brushy area comes right to the edge of the road that tends to produce a corridor so the deer feels safe to come to the edge of the road and then go ahead and cross," said Brian Underwood, USGS Research Biologist. Now here's one of the hotspot type areas that Brian is explaining to us. We have forest coming right down to the edge of the road and right across the road we have a guardrail, a barrier that deer are hesitant to jump over. "It's one thing for an animal to get on the road. It's an entirely different matter for them to get off the road. We found those kinds of barriers (fences or guardrails) can interact and change the frequency of crashes at that site," said Underwood. At least in my experience deer would rather walk around a barrier or crawl under a barrier to get to a road. So if they came to a fence, for example, unless they were under duress, their natural inclination is to walk along the barrier until they find the exit. (How far would they go?) They could go a half a mile or more. Graduate student Sarah Nystrom visited 500 car/deer crash sites like this one in Onondaga County to put-together their profile to help highway planners change the habitat that makes roadsides attractive to deer and perhaps re-design guardrails and other barriers to provide the deer an escape route. Meantime, what should car drivers do when they see deer on the roadside? "The fact of the matter is that not everybody knows that you really ought to slow down," said Underwood. | 1/29/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 74 | VideoCooling with Chilled Water | There is a plan in the works to use water from Lake Ontario to air condition buildings in the city of Syracuse. Dr. James Hassett is the Director of the Central New York Chilled Water Project. "We are looking at the potential for taking naturally chilled water from deep within Lake Ontario, bringing it to Central New York and using it for cooling to replace mechanical chillers. It's an idea based on what's been done at Cornell University, using Cayuga Lake water to cool campus buildings, and a similar project in Toronto. We think there will savings in terms of energy, in terms of emissions and there will be economic benefits to the community," Hassett said. "Cornell's lake source cooling project has shown great success taking naturally chilled water from Cayuga Lake to meet the University's cooling needs. It's proven a cost-effective and reliable cooling method that provides significant environmental benefits at the same time. This project is on a scale eight times larger than Cornell University," said former Congressman Jim Walsh. Walsh obtained the money to see if it makes sense to bring 40-degree water from about 250 feet deep in Lake Ontario, pump it 30 miles to Syracuse where it would be circulated through a number of major buildings replacing mechanical air conditioning. It's not an unrealistic concept since that's almost exactly, where much of Onondaga County's drinking water comes from. "Exactly as long as the Metropolitan Water Board pipeline which takes drinking water from Lake Ontario and brings it to the northern part of Onondaga County. One possibility is to put in a parallel pipe to bring the chilled water along that same right of way," said Hassett. Once the chilled water has cooled the buildings, it will be returned to Lake Ontario by way of Onondaga Lake where it will add oxygen-rich water, and improve the habitat for desirable fish species in the once heavily polluted lake. | 1/29/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 75 | VideoEnvironmentally Friendly Holiday Gifts | The holiday season is upon us, which usually translates into a lot of shopping and gift giving, and that can become a bad thing. Particularly around the holidays we just amass so much waste. It's an incredible assault on the earth every year, right around this time of year. There's a huge amount of stuff being purchased much of which ends up in landfills. Dr. Jack Manno points to a pin on his sweater to explain a more environmentally friendly holiday gift. "The best things in life aren't things. And I think the first place to look is what can you do that doesn't involve giving things like giving of yourself, giving of your time," said Dr. Jack Manno, SUNY ESF. Make things to, making breads, making things that you enjoy making and giving to other people. Another great thing is give memberships to organizations that you would like to support. Of course, all kids want toys but pay attention. Particularly toys for young children. The most recent analysis that I've seen shows up to a third of all the toys had high levels of toxic metals and children put these toys in their mouths so it's important if you're thinking about toys to look at natural materials. Think about buying local. There are so many craft fairs at this time of year. Go to them and support local artists and local craftspeople. There's no packaging, no transportation costs. Another thing you can buy locally are plants not only are they an environmentally sensitive gift they' are also a gift that can keep on giving. A lot of plants you can take cutting or harvest seeds from and then pass it on to friends and family sometimes for many generations into the future. The other thing to mention is given that we're in economic hard times doing things for people or making things for people, or offering services for time doesn't involve spending any money. | 1/9/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 76 | VideoReal Christmas Trees | This is a balsam fir, one of the many different evergreens that can be used as a Christmas tree for the holiday season. A lot of people, though, really question the sustainability of cutting down a living tree to enjoy it for such a short period of time. "It'll grow for about 10-12 years before it's harvested, faster or slower depending on management. While it's growing it's taking carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and it's making sugars and making cellulose, essentially it's harvesting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for those 10 or 12 years," said Dr. Russell Briggs, SUNY ESF. So you cut it, so then maybe it sits around for 6 to 8 weeks depending on how long you want the tree in your house and then it goes outside. Some people with turn it into mulch, some people will burn it but eventually it goes back to the atmosphere which puts carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere but the next growing trees take up that carbon dioxide so if you think about it, it's carbon neutral. While that recycling is going on, the growing trees provide wildlife habitat. Actually interesting, a few years ago I had a study looking at fertilization and I discovered a bunch of turkey eggs right underneath this fir tree. And what about the fertilizer used to grow Christmas trees, can't that hurt the environment? Oftentimes you'll get a little bit better color with fertilization. Most soils are slightly deficient in nitrogen when you're trying to grow crops so the demand on the soil is high and people fertilize and that nitrogen is absorbed into the soil. Fertilization at reasonable levels, there's nothing wrong with it. Fertilization at excessive levels first of all is expensive and it's very soluble so that has a potential negative impact if you over fertilize. Dr. Briggs says minimal amounts of herbicides are used to grow Christmas trees and irrigation systems are rare. | 1/9/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 77 | VideoSolar Powered Trash Cans | This is what trash looks like in a typical receptacle but here at Syracuse University, Chief Sustainability Officer Steve Lloyd says there is a new alternative that is more sustainable. It's a solar-powered trash compactor, placed in one of the busiest areas on campus - the main drop off point for buses taking students to class and fans to sporting events at the Carrier Dome. "During a football game or a basketball game regular trash receptacles had to be emptied a couple times a day but with this Big Bellied Solar Compactor, it's powered by the sun, it compacts the trash, we've only had to empty it six times since mid-September," said Steve Lloyd, SU Chief Sustainability Officer. That has translated into substantial savings sooner than expected even though it costs $4,000. Labor costs and fuel costs driving the collection truck up here have been reduced so this trash compactor has paid for itself in less than a year, and yes there is plenty of sun, even in Syracuse, to power the compactor. Central New York actually has a lot of sun. It's similar to Germany and Germany is one of the leaders in solar power. So it really is very impressive that it works here because most people don't think it does. The key is location, making sure other buildings don't block out the sun. The next big test is durability, can the Big Bellied Solar-powered Trash Compactor make it through a Central New York winter. We're going to see how it goes over the winter with plows and everything coming by here we know it's going to get nicked and dinged no doubt and snow will be pushed up against it. If all goes well then we may be seeing more solar-powered trash compactors. | 1/9/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 78 | VideoRecycling Christmas Trees | Once the holidays are over, many of us drag our live tree out of the house and put it at the curb. A municipality will haul it off, grind it up and then allow the residents to take the resulting mulch and use in their landscape. Now that's all well and good and certainly much better than taking the tree and putting it in a landfill. However fuel is still being used to haul the tree away and grind it up. Instead consider keeping the tree right on your property. There are a couple of things you can do with it. One is to cut the boughs and use the boughs as mulch. They make good cover for things like mums that you might've planted last fall. Mums and other perennials can be harmed by freezing and thawing conditions. You put the boughs over those freshly planted perennials and that will help keep the soil frozen throughout the winter protecting the plants. As for the tree after the boughs have been removed, use it as a trellis out in your garden for pole beans and other vine-type plants. Use old Christmas trees instead of buying stakes. Leave the boughs on the tree for a third option, just jam the tree in a snow bank, hang suet balls from it and it provides a perfect bird feeder for the winter months. The birds also like the protection. | 1/9/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 79 | VideoSpotting Dangerous Trees | We've all seen the heavy damage that can be done when violent winds or ice and snowstorms whip through our neighborhoods. Trees topple on cars, homes, and take out power lines. Homeowners can prevent some of the damage by spotting dangerous trees and removing them before a storm hits. "I think the first thing you should so is look at the crown. Look for any dead and dying branches. Look for any branches that have been pruned, some of the pruning may've been done improperly. You also want to be looking for any fungus that may be growing," said Dr. Rene' Germain, forest management. Dr. René Germain says these are signs of problems inside the tree that can be weakening it. One likely cause is damage to the roots that occurred years ago, perhaps when a new sidewalk or driveway was put in. The root system of a tree goes out well beyond what we call the drip line, where those last branches are dripping water. It's sort of a myth that the roots end there. Any damage that occurs to those roots, especially the root fibrils at the end of the roots is going to have an impact in the crown several years later. Also at risk, trees that have been trimmed because of power lines, trees with leaves that fall early or the leaves turn brown and brittle. And there are trees to avoid when you're planning a landscape. The big white pine has a crown structure that lends itself to big, broken branches. The Norway spruce, the amount of surface on those needles collect ice and snow and become extremely heavy and also, a very popular one, the Norway maple which have such big, thick crowns they present themselves as a target. | 1/9/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 80 | VideoHeating Our Homes | It looks like the future could be a return to our past when it comes to heating our homes. A hundred years most people heated their homes with wood and a lot of people are making the move back to wood with systems that are more efficient and a lot less polluting. "It can come in a variety of different forms of heating applications, you can use chunk wood, split-logs. You can use pellets and an alternative and then there's different systems that people can look at as alternatives for home heating," said Dr. Timothy Volk, SUNY-ESF. One system many people already have is a fireplace. The challenge with fireplaces is they're open, they're pulling in air out of your room into the fireplace to burn the wood and the heat is largely going up the chimney. Fireplace inserts help solve that problem. "The first round of inserts with fireplaces that occurred after the oil crunch in the mid-seventies were a step forward but we've come another whole large step since then," said Volk. Federal regulations limit what pollution or soot can escape up the chimney from fireplace inserts and wood stoves and furnaces. The regulations cover split wood or the increasingly popular pellet stoves. "All pellets are is ground up wood either from sawmills or processing facilities or wood harvested from the forest and it's ground and it's pressed to make little pellets," said Volk. The beauty of pellets is you get that material and most of the stoves have a hopped or container so you can dump in a day's worth of pellets. It will be metered automatically and many now have thermostats so you can set the temperature you want. Dr. Timothy Volk envisions even less work for homeowners with a home delivery system developing when demand becomes strong enough. | 12/5/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 81 | VideoRenewable Energy | When we talk about alternative energy sources, the conversation usually revolves around wind or solar power but a good case can be made to include wood in that circle. It's a renewable energy resource that's readily available in New York. "In New York State now, 63% of the land is covered with forest. We're a very heavily forested state," said Dr. Timothy Volk, SUNY-ESF. There is a lot of material in the forest now that would make good firewood because generally firewood is lower quality material. It's not the nice, straight trees of cherry and oak that can go to saw logs, which is a much higher value product. It's the lower value trees in the forest. Dr. Timothy Volk says using wood to generate electricity or to heat homes does release some carbon dioxide into the air but the growing of new forestland takes that C O 2 back in, a closed loop system unlike oil or natural gas. "The difference with wood is, the wood is growing out in the forest. We're harvesting some portion of it. We're using it to heat our homes, which releases the CO2 into the atmosphere but in properly, managed forests that forest is still growing and taking in the CO2 to grow more wood," said Volk. All kinds of energy production have an impact on the environment, even wind or solar, so the question is, can that environmental impact be minimized. "The way we do that when we're talking about wood is to use good forest management practices and be wise about the way you're harvesting the trees you're choosing, the amount of trees over a given area, and the mixture of species you have in the forest," said Volk. | 12/5/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 82 | VideoWood Burning Technology | Wood burning technology has advanced to such a point that you can heat your home with roughly six to eight cords of wood over the winter months. Now if you choose to go off the grid like that, how much land would you need to own in order to produce that much wood? Well, one kind of rough rule of thumb, maybe one face cord per acre so an average house might need 25 to 30 acres of a good woodlot. That's not going to be cheap. "It didn't used to be very hard to buy some woods, some forestland at fairly reasonable prices, maybe a thousand dollars an acre, maybe a little less. But as I look around more recently I see prices like two or three thousand dollars and very tough to have that be economic," said Mike Kellleher, harvests his own woodlot. Because you have to pay taxes on that plus there's the investment in a chainsaw, log splitter, and a way to bring the wood from the forest to your house without creating environmental damage. You can use things like a four-wheeler and a trailer and cut the wood and load it on a trailer so you're not skidding logs through the woods. Then you need a wood stove or fireplace inserts or like Mike Kelleher, a wood gasification boiler. It's a technology designed in Europe, now made in New York and a couple of other places in the U.S. It's a very efficient central boiler so it produces hot water just like oil or a natural gas system and ties into an existing gas boiler and produce heat that way. It's probably on the order of eighty percent efficient. We haven't even touched on how much time this wood harvesting will take. Mike averages two days a week, 20 weeks a year. | 12/5/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 83 | VideoInvasive Plants | This is a classic example of an invasive plant species. What makes it invasive, among other things; it has the ability to overrun native plants. You need to be aware of this so you can avoid installing invasive plants in your landscape. Dr. Dudley Raynal says we should be fairly aggressive to minimize the negative impact of European Buckthorn and other invasive plant species. "It's not an unattractive shrub that may have a role in the landscape but it can become rampant in its abundance. It spreads very naturally through bird dissemination and through the dropping of its abundant fruit," said Dr. Dudley Raynal, SUNY ESF. We're not going to eliminate them from the flora, eliminate them from the area but we can minimize their negative or adverse impacts." Often they are introduced into relatively productive environments where there's a rich flora that already exists and then competing for resources, limiting light and water and therefore limiting the growth of native species," said Raynal. You can dig out the invasive species or at least cut it back; in some cases herbicides might work. "There's no easy fix and there's no single application of cultural or chemical techniques that are going to be successful. It involves vigilance and an effort to reduce, to limit their growth," said Raynal. Other common invasive species include Asiatic Honeysuckle with bright red berries and this leafy plant, Garlic Mustard - which gives off a garlic smell when you crush the leaves. You can help keep plants like these from gaining a new foothold somewhere else. Know what we are planting, be very careful about movement of soil and soil substrates so you're not inadvertently spreading these species that we don't want in our landscape," said Raynal. | 12/5/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 84 | VideoSeaside Goldenrod | Thriving populations of seaside goldenrod have been found in Central New York, a plant that was previously thought to have vanished from upstate New York. The once abundant seaside goldenrod, plowed under by urban sprawl, is coming back in unlikely places like along heavily traveled highways and growing with very little soil. ESF doctoral student Tony Eallonardo says in addition to promoting a native New York plant there are very exciting practical reasons to welcome it back. "Seaside Goldenrod along with a handful of our other inland salt marsh plants would be ideal plant to utilize for planting in highway medians and other infiltration retention basins because of its high tolerance for salt and its low maintenance," said Tony Eallonardo, SUNY ESF doctoral student. In fact, once planted no maintenance at all, not even mowing like we have to do with traditional grassy highway medians. Even better, this nectar haven for bees and other insects, also develop extensive root systems using a lot of water that can keep surface contaminants from reaching streams and lakes. "We found a plant we think would thrive under urban storm runoff. There are engineering solutions to runoff problems and there are some more green solutions. We think this is a very inexpensive, low energy way of dealing some very serious urban runoff problems," said Dr. Donald Leopold, SUNY-ESF. While Dr. Donald Leopold and his research team work to plant more seaside goldenrod, he's also asking people to save and encourage any of the 15 varieties of goldenrod in New York because they're not a problem plant. Goldenrod does not cause allergy problems. The public is convinced that goldenrod is a very serious cause of allergies and anxious to rip it up whenever they see it. The pollen on goldenrods is very heavy and it's transported only by bees so there's no way that it causes allergy problems. | 10/20/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 85 | VideoGoing Green with Lighting | Nationwide, about 20 to 25 percent of our electrical use is for lighting so our homes are a good place to conserve energy and save money. Homebuilders have gotten the message from buyers and are doing a lot to build in efficient lighting systems, like motion sensors to turn lights off. "Typically a bulb that runs at sixty watts might use around $5 of electricity a year and if we have a motion detector on it we can cut that use down to a quarter or a third so we're looking at a direct savings anytime you install one of those over the life of the switch," said Paul Crovella, SUNY ESF. Dimmer switches, while used mostly for accent lighting, but dimming a bulb also reduces energy use. Builders are also switching to a different kind of light. "Well some of the features that we noticed earlier include using fluorescent lighting which is much more efficient that incandescent lighting so there are opportunities in your home where you need lighting to work, like on countertops or in closets where decor isn't so important and it provides a big savings in energy," said Crovella. Improvements have been made in the quality of light produced by the energy efficient bulbs and fluorescents and SUNY-ESF professor Paul Crovella says the "instant on" problem is being resolved. "Yeah, instant on has been a concern for compact fluorescents so there's definitely an effect when you turn on a fluorescent and it takes awhile to reach its full intensity. But one type of light out there now that is efficient and is competing with compact fluorescents is LED lighting," said Crovella. LED stands for light emitting diodes, they are energy efficient and when you hit the button it's on as bright as you want it to be. | 10/20/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 86 | VideoNew Homes Built With Concern For Water Conservation | Today we're all concerned about water quality and water conservation. Now, more homes are being built with that in mind. The new technology includes low flow faucets and dual flush toilets. While others boast instant hot water systems. "One of the real neat features of this house is the dual flush toilet. For those people not familiar with that, it has a two-position flush to produce two different volumes of water. Basically, the one stage uses the lower volume of water and the two stages is for additional water with a net savings of thousands of gallons a year by using that appropriately," said Bob Krell. One of the other things you can do to save water in your house, go with lower flow faucets, lower flow devices for showers and bathroom faucets. Typically you stay away from that in your kitchen because you want full pressure for dishwashing but in the other faucets you don't notice the effect and again you can cut a substantial amount of water usage. This is an instant hot water system. Notice there's no big tank and another big difference, very little copper piping, mostly pvc pipe. "It's no different, essentially, than a hot water heater but in a smaller version so we're heating the water very close to where we're going to use it. As soon as the faucet comes on, the device senses that and begins to heat the water either with electricity or with a gas-type unit and the coils in heated in a matter of seconds where it comes out of the faucet at the temperature you're hoping," said Paul Crovella, SUNY ESF. | 10/6/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 87 | VideoEnergy Efficient Airflow | Energy efficiency in new home construction is way beyond windows, doors, and insulation. Today it's all about controlling airflow in your indoor environment. Heat recovery or energy recovery ventilators are becoming more and more popular as a way to maintain good indoor air quality by removing stale air while retaining the heat. "So we're able to get fresh air in but get that fresh air heated by the air going out of the building. It's a very energy efficient technology in terms of the heat use but it also gives us the kind of quality we want in our indoor living space," said Paul Crovella, Sustainable Construction Management, SUNY-ESF. This Mark Anthony custom home was built with airflow control to recover heat during the cold months and recover the cooler air needed in the summer months. "Well this house has a Fantec Energy Recovery Ventilator ties through all the bathroom exhausts and the laundry room exhaust and the main furnace. It takes the exhaust air that would normally be thrown out and recovers some of the energy, either the heating or cooling and uses that to pre-condition the fresh air that's being brought into the house," said Bob Krell, IAQ Technologies. The energy savings can be as much as 70 percent on air that you would normally just waste. Also, moving some fresh air in the house is an absolute necessity because the newer windows, doors, and insulation have sealed homes tighter. You don't want your heat or air-conditioned air going outside but you need fresh air coming in. "So in addition to being green and helping to save energy, this allows us 365 days a year to bring fresh air in to the house which from an indoor environmental perspective is wonderful," said Krell. | 9/30/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 88 | VideoSafe Drinking Water | Safe drinking water is a high priority and for most of us, our water comes through a filtration system but the City of Syracuse taps Skaneateles Lake and it's so pure no filtration system is needed. "So that requires extremely high water quality and that requires a lot of vigilance to make sure that, that water quality is maintained. Building a treatment plant for filtration would be very, very expensive," said Dr. Russell Briggs, SUNY ESF. Dr. Russell Briggs is leading a study of the Skaneateles Lake watershed. It's a mix of mostly forest and agricultural land and the risk, he says, is from the agricultural land. "Of course, forest land is the primary source of the purest water and agricultural practices have a potential to degrade water quality from fertilization and runoff and a variety of things," said Briggs. So researchers are comparing the quality of the water coming from forestland with water coming from agricultural land. Thousands of samples are being collected and brought back to the lab where each is measured for nitrogen, nitrates, ammonia, phosphates, suspended sediments, electro-conductivity, and other components of water quality comparing the quality of water in the forest watershed to the agricultural watershed. "At this time we see very little difference in water quality between the watersheds that are dominated by ag and those that were dominated by forest which suggests at least right now the system of best management practices is effective," said Briggs. Which means the water quality is good because farmers are using best management practices such as keeping contaminated water out of nearby streams, treating contaminated water before releasing it, and using vegetation like shrub willows to filter the water before it reaches the lake. The lessons and techniques we've learned protecting the Skaneateles Lake watershed can be replicated around New York State using nature instead of expensive water treatment plants to produce pure water. | 9/17/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 89 | VideoChange at the Bird Feeder | You may soon notice a change of clientele at your birdfeeder because of climate change. New York State's bird population is changing as birds from the Mid-Atlantic States move north and New York birds shift north into Canada. New research documents birds like the red-bellied woodpecker and the Carolina wren are moving north. "But the real signal came out with these northerly species, species that are more common in Canada and other parts of the northeastern United States and their southern range boundary is moving northward as well at a much faster clip I'd say," said Dr. Benjamin Zuckerberg, SUNY ESF. Dr. Benjamin Zuckerberg says it appears a nearly 1-degree Celsius increase in average temperatures over the past 30 years is pushing birds like the Nashville warbler and the pine siskin farther north into Canada. Dr. William Porter worked with Zuckerberg comparing the bird census taken in New York in the early 80s with the census taken in 2000 and 2005. "There are wide spectrum changes that are occurring and those changes are occurring in a relatively short span of time. We're not talking centuries, we're talking decades," said Dr. William Porter, SUNY ESF. They focused on 83 species of birds that have traditionally bred in New York and found northern movement in nearly all of them. "And so when you put all these things together, you're starting to get this puzzle that potentially climate change could be affecting these populations but to really get down to it and determine whether it's habitat loss or reforestation New York State, this is much bigger issue, trying to dissect that mechanism is something we're still working on." "New York citizens need to recognize that these changes are occurring. Whether they are good or bad, whether they should be addressed, whether we should adapt to them, whether we should try to mitigate some of this, those are questions that really, rightfully, belong in the political arena." | 9/17/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 90 | VideoTeachers Take Part in Research Opportunities | Researchers are doing a lot of work on Lake Ontario and one group of middle and high school science teachers had a special opportunity to get involved as part of a summer cruise aboard the Lake Guardian. "I'm Greg Boyer. I'm with the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse and I'm sort of the on-water science coordinator," Boyer said. They take different kinds of water and sediment samples in a variety of locations and begin analyzing those samples right on board, using microscopes for a visual examination and then test for ph, turbidity, alkalinity and more. "For 2008, our number one concern is understanding the changes that the zebra and quagga mussels, invasive species that arrived about a decade ago, how they've changed how the way nutrients are being cycled through the aquatic food web which has caused both water quality problems as well as biological problems," said Frederick Luckey of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The change is hurting efforts to restore a naturally reproducing population of lake trout to Lake Ontario. It's a native species and it was once the top cold-water predator in the lake. "The status of the lake trout population has changed. We know we've had poor juvenile survival for over a decade now and the adult stock has declined to a very low level. And at the same time we've had many ecosystem changes, many of which we associated with the invasive species," said Jana Lantry, an aquatic biologist for the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. Since it's nearly impossible to turn back the clock and remove these invasive species from Lake Ontario, the question is, is there anything that can be done to overcome the problems they've caused? This will all be pulled together into a comprehensive assessment of the Lake Ontario ecosystem and we're working on having a special conference in 2009 where we'll pull together all of these findings. | 9/2/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 91 | VideoBioretention Basin | Rainwater from most buildings ends up in the storm sewer system and that's a big concern because many storm systems are combined with sanitary sewage systems and heavy rain means untreated sewage and other contaminants pollute our streams and lakes. This building is different. Let's head up to the roof to see how it works. Rainwater is collected in these drains and piped down the building, instead of going to the sewer, it goes here, what ecological engineer Doug Daley calls a bioretention basin. "What we're doing is diverting it to the bioretention basin and the bioretention basin is soil and plants. And what we're hoping to do is hold it (the water) long enough in the bioretention basin so that evaporation can take over. We get evaporation through the soil and evaporation through the plants," Daley said. Here's the bioretention basin under construction. Then into the topsoil go the plants. Plants like spice bush, chokeberry, Virginia sweet spirer, witchhazel and sweet bay magnolia are all very tolerant of wet soil. But what happens when there is a really big rainstorm? "Now if we get a big, gully washer as sometimes happens in the summertime in Central New York, we also have an under drain system so if a very, very, very large storm event happens we can capture the water off the bottom after it's filtered through six feet of soil. Ultimately it will end up in the sewers, but the water going in is cleaner than it otherwise would've been," Daley said. If we can makeover more buildings to reduce rainwater run-off and work bioretention basins in new building construction, then we can foresee building fewer and less expensive water treatment facilities. | 9/2/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 92 | VideoFlexi-pave Surfaces | This walkway is being surfaced with something that's very green. Not green in color, green as in environmentally friendly. It's called Flexi-Pave and it's made from recycled tires and stone. "It's a 50 percent ratio stone and recycled tires. Then we mix it with a binding agent, a urethane binder. It's installed two inches thick for new construction or one inch thick over an existing surface," said Tony Ross of James Ross and Sons Contractors. In addition to walkways and sidewalks, Flexi-Pave is also good for parking lots and low speed roadways; less than 35 miles per hour, where it helps reduce stormwater runoff problems. And here's how. Rainwater runs right through Flexi-Pave going into the ground underneath instead of collecting in stormwater sewers. Tony Ross says Flexi-Pave also cleans itself of debris. "Because it's porous and it's flexible, when you have a heavy rain the fines actually work their way down through it and also when you walk on it or drive on it, it's like a sponge effect," Ross said. Now in this application, there will be heating cables placed over the concrete and the Flexi-Pave on top. The heating cables will melt the snow and ice during the winter months, preventing the formation of ice and that means you won't need any salt to remove that layer of snow and ice as well. "This has a heating system underneath it called Warm Zone and it works on a sensor system," Ross said. "When the temperature gets below freezing and it senses snow in the air it'll automatically kick on." So far, close to 7,000 tires have been recycled into Flexi-Pave projects around New York. Now the great thing about this system is that one day instead of these tires ending up in a landfill, you may be walking on them. | 8/20/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 93 | VideoGreen Roof | If you're looking for a way to keep your home or your business cool in the summer and warmer in the winter you may want to consider a green roof. There are other advantages as well as landscape architect Scott Shannon explains. "Environmentally, it significantly reduces the amount of storm water runoff. It acts like a giant sponge. Both the lightweight soils, as well as the plant material itself intercept the rainwater and absorb water as quickly as they can. That's part of the natural feature of this type of plant. Being really drought tolerant, being kind of waxy and the type of flesh in the leaves, they're designed by nature to absorb water very quickly and hold onto it for a long time," said Scott Shannon, Landscape Architect. During a typical rainstorm, this green roof will absorb as much as 95% of the water. The plants also have to put up with heat and wind and should be low maintenance. "One is six different species of Sedums which you know as stonecrop, their common name. That's the real fleshy plant with a number of different species that are flowering right now. We also have some Allium or ornamental onions and a final one that's called Talinum, the prairie fame flower which is a Midwestern native that grows in very dry habitats in the Midwestern prairie.," said Shannon. It does cost more to build a green roof, perhaps 15-20% more than a conventional roof but it's worth over the long term. "The biggest reason that anyone, any commercial venture and any institution with a flat roof would want to consider it is the life costs. One of these roofs, because of the protective value of the vegetation can last as much as three times that of a typical membrane type of a roof," said Shannon. | 8/20/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 94 | VideoPaper versus Plastic | You know, when we go to the grocery store we all face the decision, do we use plastic bags or do we use paper bags to be more environmentally friendly? As it turns out, neither is a good choice, according to Dr. Jack Manno. "Depending on what you're looking at, essentially both of them are environmentally harmful and neither of them are necessary," said Dr. Jack Manno. And here's how he reached that conclusion using a chart to make an environmental comparison. Plastic is better because it takes less energy and water to make the bag, since plastic weighs less than paper it's cheaper to transport and it takes up less space in a landfill. While paper is better because it will eventually biodegrade, paper is less a threat to marine life and less likely to clog drains. So how can you make your plastic or paper bag more environmentally friendly? "Well, the easiest thing is you can reuse them. You have five plastic bags in your house, most of us have a few hundred. They easily fit in your pocket. You don't need to buy a special bag that somebody has produced and they're selling, they're good and they're better with the fact that you can keep using them. I just tend to bring a couple of plastic bags with me," said Manno. Some stores now offer reusable shopping bags at an affordable price, others will give you a little discount if you bring your own bag and there's even some that discourage the use of plastic bags through some negative reinforcement. "Many places in Europe charge you, particularly for plastic. In Ireland it's five cents a bag. In Seattle there's a proposal for 20 cents per bag. It's amazing to see, even at five cents a bag people really don't use them," Manno said. So the real key to being environmentally friendly is to reuse it, whether it's a plastic bag, whether it's a paper bag, or whether it's a cloth bag. | 8/11/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 95 | VideoLow Emission Asphalt | We drive along our streets and highways without giving much thought to the pavement beneath but the traditional method for making asphalt is not very eco-friendly. Now, there is a way to make blacktop green. It's called LEA, low emission asphalt and the only difference you might notice is no smoke or pervasive odor during the paving process. And Suit-Kote Corporation says their new process takes 30 to 40 percent less energy to make it, the asphalt lasts 10 to 20 percent longer on the road and the process produces fewer emissions. "This asphalt right here is produced at much lower temperatures so a lot less emissions are put into the atmosphere. We've been able to reduce emissions in this process by anywhere from 25 to 95 percent," said Brian Renna, Director of Corporate Relations, Suit-Kote Corp. The fact that it uses less energy to make this asphalt has gotten the attention of the city of Syracuse. "Producing asphalt consumes a lot of fuel, so right off the bat we're looking at trying to save some money," said Jeffery Wright, Syracuse DPW Commissioner. Low emission asphalt is also prompting calls from California, Pennsylvania and other state and can be adapted to work in different climates. "Correct, I mean we have to work with the specific states to come up with certain mix designs and understand their mixing procedure but we are saying this process is very easily adaptable to many states with very minor modifications to their hot mix plant," said Paul Suits, Vice President Suit-Kote Corp. Now back to what we casual observers might notice. Lowering temperatures by 50 to 100 degrees to make and pave this asphalt means less smoke and fumes bothering workers and … "By reducing those temperatures, we virtually eliminated all the odors typically associated with hot mix asphalt which makes for a better relationship with our community as well," said Greg Harder, Vice President McConnaughay Technologies. So far, low emission asphalt has been tested on roads in Cortland and Onondaga Counties. | 8/11/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 96 | VideoIndoor Contaminants | How many times have you heard, wipe your feet before you come in the house? Well it turns out that is not only good advice to keep your house clean, it turns out to be good for your health. And Dr. David Johnson explains why. "Contaminants in outdoor soils are brought indoors where kids spend more time and some fraction of household dust is ingested so they're exposed to whatever the soil contaminants contain," Dr. Johnson said. How much outside soil can be found in household dust? Recent research pegs that number at 30 to 60 percent. And how much soil is coming indoors? "Between 200 milligrams, that's .2 of a gram, and 2 grams per day, per occupant is roughly the amount of material that's brought into the house on shoes. I don't know about pets. That could be even worse," said Dr. Johnson. And Dr. Johnson's big concern is the soil in northeastern urban neighborhoods where there's a concentration of older homes that used lead-based paints and we see much higher levels of lead in children. "And when you look at things in the southwest, for instance, where less wood was used in the construction, more brick and adobe, there's less external paint and it turns out there's less lead in the soil," Dr. Johnson said. So lead-based paint peels off older homes, mixes in the neighborhood soil and then, unless you remove your shoes, you track it in the house where cleaning doesn't necessarily help. "Many contaminants are concentrated in the smallest sized fraction of the soil particle so when you employ a cleaning machine, particularly sweeping and vacuuming, it's the big particles that get removed most easily," Dr. Johnson added. "The small particles, many of them remain behind so the concentrations build up." Dr. Johnson says wet mopping is better. So, it really does turn out that one of the best ways to improve your indoor environment is to keep this stuff out. | 8/11/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 97 | VideoSaving Heritage Trees | Dr. Chuck Maynard and Dr. Bill Powell explain how test tube technology may be key to once again helping American elm and American chestnut again grace New York State and much of North America. "The elm as a street tree was the most popular street tree in the United States so it was planted everywhere. Nearly every city has an Elm Street, an Elm Drive, an Elm Parkway, an Elm Place, but the elms are gone," said Dr. Charles Maynard. Victims of Dutch Elm disease, while the chestnut, a very useful building material because it's so rot resistant, has been done in by a fungus. The lab work starts by establishing a small piece of tree tissue in a Petri dish, getting it to multiply, then introducing the desired genes and regenerating a whole plant. "The simplest tissue to use is a simple leaf and with the American elm the leaf transformation process worked marvelously well," Maynard said. On the other hand, it took 20 years of research to create a tissue for the chestnut tree by taking apart a chestnut burr. Then the embryos are encouraged to form shoots, root in soil, and then the shoots are slowly introduced to the outside world. Through genetic engineering, the researchers have added a defense mechanism that the tree doesn't have. "The chestnut has a gene that originates in wheat. It's called an oxalate oxidase gene and we're very interested in that gene because it detoxifies an acid that's produced by the fungus that attacks the tree," said Dr. Powell. For the elm, they use what are called peptide antibiotics to defend against pathogens like bacteria or fungus. Now it's only a matter of time before we find out if the trees coming out of the lab are in fact disease resistant. | 7/7/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 98 | VideoEcological Engineering | The goal is to keep the chloride in the Solvay Settling Basins from reaching Nine Mile Creek, Onondaga Lake and groundwater and there's a way to prevent that while restoring wildlife habitat and generating a renewable energy resource. Conventional landfill closures keep water out by using clay and plastic, but with funding from Honeywell, SUNY-ESF Forest Engineer Doug Daley is developing a natural cover using shrub willow, a plant that uses a lot of water, to do the same thing. It's called ecological engineering. "The ecological engineering approach would be taking the plants that are already there and modify the environment a little bit to give them a boost, give them a leg up," Daley said. "We're trying to modify those water processes to maximize how much goes off through evaporation and transpiration." Ecological engineering Terry Ettinger tells us how ecological engineering is helping to keep groundwater clean. The dense canopy of the willow traps a lot of rainfall right on the leaf surfaces and evaporates from there, so it never reaches the ground. And what water does reach the ground is then evaporated or transpirated right back into the foliage. The other advantage to the willow is as the root system becomes better established it helps to stabilize the loose soils of the Solvay Waste beds." "We are stabilizing the soil, the waste material that's out there. Areas that are unvegetated can be revegetated. From a soil stabilization standpoint, we're cutting way down on wind erosion, so we're not getting anything moving off the site in the form of a waste product," said Daley. "What we're proposing is somewhat of a monoculture, that is it's got one type of plant which is shrub willow, but we are still getting lots of other wildlife benefits. We will get songbirds moving into the willow and they'll stay." Now even though this willow is growing in very difficult and contaminated soils, it can still be harvested as a renewable resource and turned into a variety of products. | 7/1/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 99 | VideoSolar Panels | It's overcast, it's raining lightly but surprisingly these solar panels on the roof of Walters Hall are still generating electricity according to Mike Kelleher here at SUNY-ESF. "Well, the panels will actually work in ambient light and a lot of people think of upstate New York as a lot of cloud cover, a lot of winter, and they don't think it's the place for solar but even on a day like today with clouds up above and not much sunlight, we're generating power with these panels," said Mike Kelleher, Director of Renewable Energy Systems. And demonstrating that premise is one of the big reasons for the college's installation of a 40-kilowatt photovoltaic array. "A great source of reference is the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, NYSERDA, they provide incentives and a lot of information. One of the important things when we did the application of PV here is we're generating power, we're reducing our carbon footprint but we also conduct outreach educational activities and education for our students so we hope to expand the impact of our solar experiment to help people use them in their homes and businesses and a lot of other applications," said Kelleher. In addition to the PV array on the flat roof of Walters Hall, another array is installed on Baker Laboratory but on the side of the building to provide shade while also generating electricity. But PV arrays are not just for big buildings, homeowners can benefit even if it's just a 5 kilowatt system "That would cost about $40,000 gross but with incentives and tax credits the actual cost would be about $15,000. That would generate about half a typical home's electric use and reduce its carbon footprint of that home by about 2 and a half tons a year," Kelleher said. So this is where the electricity generated by the solar panels comes into the basement and then gets distributed throughout the building and as Mike was saying we can see here that even though it is cloudy electricity is being generated. | 6/23/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 100 | VideoNanocrystals | Particles so small, we need powerful microscopes to see them. They hold the key to making plastic stronger and biodegradable. They're nanocrystals and commercial use could be just a few years away. Dr. William Winter at the SUNY-ESF is developing a new component for plastic that makes it 3,000 times stronger and biodegradable. Nanocrystals of cellulose are being extracted from natural materials like trees and shrub willows using a reactor to produce a viscous, white liquid that goes into a microcompounder where it is mixed to produce a crystal-reinforced plastic, as opposed to a traditional reinforcement material like glass, which is heavier, harder to work with and not as strong. "When you're finished using your plastic and you put it in a landfill, the glass doesn't go anywhere, it stays there for centuries. So the advantage here is we're using plant particles as an alternative to the glass. Anything that's made in nature can be destroyed in nature and these cellulosic particles have a lifetime in a landfill of less than 90 days, at which time they go back into carbon dioxide and water," Winter said. The key to making usable plastics with nanocrystals, so-called because they're so small, at just billionths of a meter, is getting them to stick together with the plastic. "Cellulose is a hydrophilic material and more of your matrix materials are hydrophobic. Those two types of materials generally don't mix well and what we're trying to do is add some chemical groups on the surface that will make the cellulose more hydrophobic so that they'll blend with the hydrophobic matrix," said graduate student Jacon Goodrich. The microcompounder helps disperse the chemically altered crystals throughout the plastic material for maximum strength. These cellulosic nanocrystals also have the attention of the military and law enforcement in the development of a new generation of body armor. | 6/17/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 101 | VideoShrub Willow for Energy | Learn about Your World | 6/10/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 102 | VideoAlternative Fuels | Learn about Your World | 6/2/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 103 | VideoRevitalizing Ontario, NY | Learn about Your World | 5/28/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 104 | VideoFrom Wood Chips to Plastic | Researchers at SUNY-ESF are turning wood chips into plastic (produced by New York's News 10 Now in collaboration with SUNY-ESF). | 5/20/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 105 | VideoSackets Harbor Goes Green | Learn about Your World | 5/15/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 106 | VideoTrees | Learn about Your World | 5/15/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 107 | VideoKeeping the Golf Course Green | The typical golf course that relies on pesticides, synthetic fertilizers and irrigation systems to maintain a beautiful green carpet is giving way to new courses that rely on a more organic approach. | 6/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 108 | VideoAffordable Sustainable Housing | -- | 6/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 109 | VideoLake George: Eliminating Pollution | Learn about Your World | 6/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 110 | VideoDeconstruction vs. Demolition | Learn about Your World | 6/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 111 | VideoRecycling Your Old Refrigerator/Freezer | Customers of National Grid have a chance to make money two ways in the refrigerator version of the cash- for-clunkers program. The idea is the same. In one case, older and less-efficient cars and trucks were taken out of service. Now, older inefficient refrigerators and freezers are targeted for recycling. "The intent of this program is to encourage customers to recycle an old, inefficient appliance that they might not be using as often. Many people may have a refrigerator or freezer in their basement or garage that may not be full. So the point of this program is to encourage them to recycle it. We'll give them the $30 incentive and it gets that appliance off the grid and the appliance is recycled in a responsible manner," said Lisa Tallet, National Grid. National Grid customers can call a special number or visit the website to find out if they're eligible. Eligible appliances will be picked up for free and brought to recycling centers. It will be drained of refrigerant and compressor oil and then dismantled. The metal, plastic and glass will be recovered and used in new products. The toxic material, like the polyurethane foam insulation goes to a waste-to-energy plant. "The refrigerator needs to be in working order because our intent is to remove that from the grid so an inefficient appliance is no longer being used," said Tallet. Customers receive a check for $30 but also receive another payback. "If someone recycles their old, inefficient refrigerator, it's like taking two vehicles off the road per year. It will also save a customer about $150 per year. So again when we say two vehicles off the road, one is the savings of just recycling and the other is just from the energy savings," said Tallet. The refrigerator/freezer recycling program is scheduled to run through 2011. For more information, customers are encouraged to call 1-877-691-0021 or log onto www.powerofaction.com/unyfridge. | 6/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 112 | VideoUrban Wind Turbines for Power | Very soon, a new power generating wind turbine will sit atop this building as a demonstration project to bring this renewable energy resource into urban use. "This roof is the future site of a new vertical access wind turbine we're putting on campus to help generate energy and test a new product," said Michael Kelleher, Director of Renewable Energy System, ESF. We have predominantly a southwesterly to westerly wind so there are not a lot of obstructions. It's a good test site for an urban setting. This is a Powersail vertical wind turbine that will be installed on the roof of the five story building. It's eight by eight, weighs 300 pounds and starts producing power with a wind of three miles per hour. "This unit is perfect for urban environments for several reasons. One, it's virtually silent. You can't hear it so that overcomes noise restrictions. Two, it operates with minimal vibrations so rooftop installation is easier and the unit is aesthetically pleasing," said TriciaRae Davis, Impact Technologies. But the artwork like design also serves a purpose and draws upon an age-old method for harnessing wind power. "Wind comes from multiple directions; it comes up the walls, over other roofs so you have to take that into consideration. One way to do that is with sails. It's an old technology but sails really harness the wind," said Raymond Davis, President and CEO, Impact Technologies. And unlike other wind turbines, strong winds aren't a problem. "You look at the most of the horizontals (wind turbines) and even some of the verticals, they're cutting out at 40 or 50 miles per hour. Ours has actually been tested in winds of over 90 miles an hour so we don't have to shut down in those high wind speeds," said Davis. Since the unit only weighs 300 pounds most rooftops can handle it. Whether it's a home and a peak type roof so there are braces that disperse the weight even more while all commercial businesses have the infrastructure to handle it. In fact, most air conditioning units weigh a lot more than the wind turbine itself. | 6/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 113 | VideoWeather Stations & Air Temperature Patterns | A study of city air temperature patterns is underway to learn how trees and tree cover can influence temperature fluctuations, and temperature has a big impact on energy use for heating and cooling urban buildings. "We're basing our methods on a study that we did recently in Baltimore. We have also collaborated on a similar study in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Sensors were placed around the city to make the measurements and then predict the effect of the tree cover on temperature in that city as well," said Gordon Heisler, Meteorologist, U.S. Forest Service. Eleven weather stations like this have been positioned around Syracuse to measure temperature, humidity, rainfall and more over a one-year period. They've been positioned near buildings, and in neighborhoods to gather data that will provide a guide for designing an urban forest. "Tree cover can make a difference of something like two degrees centigrade. If you have those kinds of temperature differences over a large area of the city it can have a large influence on such things as the energy used for heating and cooling buildings," said Heisler. Syracuse is one of 16 cities in the U.S. selected for ecological research funding and in this case the focus is on urban climate and the importance of vegetation on temperature, storm water runoff and people's perception of urban quality of life. "So we're really looking at the socioeconomic metabolism of a rustbelt city in the northeast and how they're going to provide food and fiber and quality of life for people who live in this region," said Myrna Hall, Director, ESF Center for Urban Environment. The urban tree cover will also be studied for its impact on air pollution and the help trees provide preventing storm water runoff. All the results will be put together in a computer model. "We will be able to change the tree cover design in the computer model to tell us what will happen for long range planning when urban forestry will go to work to change the tree cover in the city," said Heisler. | 6/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 114 | VideoRunning on Wood instead of Gasoline | Imagine a pick-up truck that runs on wood instead of gasoline. That's what Rick Bates did and he built a gasifier in the bed of his truck to do it. It's not that Bate's 1969 GMC pickup truck will ever get good fuel mileage running wood or wood will replace fossil fuel because it actually does about 30-percent worse. But, the theory behind gasification from biomass is what makes this truck the leading edge of a new technology and that's the subject of Bate's Ph.D. studies under Dr. Klaus Doelle at SUNY-ESF. "We are trying to prove the sustainability of wood material for use powering vehicles, machinery, generators, mobile or stationary machines to produce energy, electricity or heat," said Dr. Klaus Doelle, SUNY-ESF. It takes about 20 pounds of wood to produce the equivalent of one gallon of gasoline. Bates said the switchover from gasoline to wood gas is relatively simple. "Really, the only adjustment, other than piping the wood gas into the engine, is to have the timing adjustable so you can advance it when you've switched to wood gas. That's because wood gas acts like a very high-octane fuel when it's burned in the engine. But, lest you think that you're going to get high performance out of it, no it has a lower energy content compared to an equivalent amount of gasoline vapor," said Rick Bates, Ph.D student. Bate's truck is fueled by chunks of wood but any type of biomass would work. "We want to test out all types of lignocellulosic biomass, run it in the gasifier, prove the concept and also improve the efficiency of the gasifier operation to get more energy out of the feedstock," said Bates. The research could lead to use of biomass fuels in farm vehicles or electric generators for cash-strapped communities or in Third World countries. Bates and Doelle made a test run with the truck going from Syracuse to Massena and back, a total of 420 miles and used about one and a quarter pounds of wood per mile. | 6/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 115 | VideoBuilding Green: Dormitories | This new college dormitory is uniquely designed to be built and used with minimal impact on the environment. In other words, it is more than just green building design and green fixtures and green appliances. "Green construction as a whole is a concept from beginning to end, and it's not so much the construction techniques as it is the elements and the energy usage that goes into the products being manufactured plus the energy used to environmentally control the structure and air quality. The indoor air quality and all these features have been worked into the design in this building. You may notice after living in one that you do feel better. We have constant outdoor air being brought in and circulated and the stale air is being exhausted out so there's always a fresh air supply," said Jackie Goodwin, Senior Project Manager. Formaldehyde-free cabinets and flooring will also make for better fresh air living. Add to that plenty of windows and you have a cozy dormitory that will function with less energy and more conscious green living. "The abundance of windows allows for the natural day lighting which decreases the requirement for artificial light. We have shades that will eliminate the need for additional air conditioning," said Goodwin. The exterior of the building also boasts energy saving initiatives. Concrete block is used as a veneer because it uses less energy to fabricate than other block and most of the dorm was constructed in a warehouse in Pennsylvania which minimizes construction waste. Any waste that is produced on site is separated and recycled. "The waste is put in separate dumpsters and even the wood waste the concrete blocks, concrete, is all being separated on site and being delivered to different recycling plants to be reused," said Goodwin. Even more, bicycle use is being encouraged by the design of SUNY-ESF's Centennial Hall because close to 200 bike racks are included both inside and outside the building. "The more we continue to develop green buildings and work together, the better we'll be down the road," said Goodwin. | 6/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 116 | VideoPlug - In Hybrid | Carmela Peters is driving her Toyota Prius on phantom power. "When I take off from a standing still point, it's kind of a slow pick up, but I don't mind because I know I'm saving electricity," said Carmela Peters, SUNY-ESF student. Carmela is a SUNY-ESF student lucky enough to have earned a chance to drive this hybrid car as part of a Toyota testing program. She works part-time at the Center of Excellence where Toyota has given them two cars for the employees to test. Carmella lives ten miles from campus. So before she leaves, she plugs the car in to charge it up. Then off she goes to class where she plugs the car in again on campus and it keeps her wallet fat. She says she used to pay almost $40 a week for gas with her regular vehicle, but not anymore. "I pay about $35 every week to ten days commuting back and forth to school and other driving I would do. For this car? Maybe $3," said Peters. Three dollars a week! That's it! And as far as her electric bill? "I have not seen a significant change in my electric bill at all and it doesn't use any gasoline," said Peters. Well the car does use gasoline once the power runs out. It automatically switches over so Carmella doesn't get stuck, but with such a short commute, electricity is all she needs. "I'm trying to get more mileage out of it if possible. I'm trying to maximize it to show a short term commuter can benefit from this type of vehicle," said Peters. "And I can go anywhere from 65 to 95/100 miles per gallon on all electric." Toyota distributed the cars to various universities and corporations in select states in an effort to gain feedback. A few obstacles could slow consumer demand; such as the need for more plug-in stations, better mileage running on electric power and a lower sticker price. | 6/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 117 | VideoWater Bottle Project | These Manlius Pebble Hill elementary students don't mess around. When it comes to water, they're armed with stainless steel bottles that they can keep full all day. It's called the water bottle project. The object is to avoid buying and using plastic bottles that can ultimately harm the earth. "We don't have to throw them out and they just end up sitting in a landfill for a really long time," said Olivia Moffa, MPH fifth grader. It's no secret that water is better for these kids, too. "I like drinking water. I think it's good that we have the water bottles because it's better than drinking soda that has 40 grams of sugar," said Zachary Sussman, MPH fifth grader. The water bottle project isn't the only 'going green' project-taking place at the school. Solar panels will soon be part of the landscape of the buildings, helping to save energy and inside, off one classroom, a small greenhouse is home to herbs as students learn to plant, grow and enjoy their own homegrown food from seed to harvest. "In middle school we've been thinking about eating locally and field to fork and what that means and so the kids have been growing herbs that they've harvested, walked down to the dining hall and they appeared on the salad bar," said Sue Foster MPH Science Department Chair. Students are also monitoring their own food portions and encouraging each other to produce less food waste. "We're trying to get people to take less and eat it all instead of taking a lot and eating only some of it and throwing the rest out," said Max Charlamb, MPH fifth grader. Whoever produces the least amount of waste wins a prize at the end of the school year. But what's really important is helping the students become environmentally conscious and develop a more sustainable lifestyle, starting with a little stainless steel water bottle. | 6/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 118 | VideoEmerald Ash Borer Approaches Hudson Valley | The emerald ash borer is lethal to a very popular tree in New York State, the ash tree. It was first discovered in the western part of the state, Cattaraugus County, in 2009. "Unfortunately, last year we found a very large infestation in Ulster County and that infestation is also believed to be in Greene County too right up against the western shore of the Hudson River. That is where we see the front line of the emerald ash borer movement east so we're putting a lot effort this year into determining the exact location of this invasive species working with the United States Forest Service and several other state partners," said Rob Davies, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. Rob Davies with the State Department of Environmental Conservation joined with the State Society of American Foresters, the Wood Products Council, New York Ag and Markets and researchers to discuss the latest findings and strategies because the stakes are high. "New York State has 18 million acres of forest which surprises many people but we actually have more forest land than the state of Maine. It is an incredible resource for New York State and to the extent that some of these invasive species wipe out part of that resource it's an economic loss in forest products, a loss for recreation plus our forests have a very strong role protecting our water resources," said Neil Murphy, SUNY ESF President. SUNY ESF President Neil Murphy says researchers are looking at ways to grow an ash tree that's resistant to the insect or a means to safely use an insecticide but at this point there's nothing to stop the emerald ash borer. "What can we do to slow that spread, that's really where we're focusing right now. What management on the ground can we do, not chemicals, what on the ground management can we do to slow that spread," said Davies. | 6/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 119 | VideoLake Cleanups | When this snow melts, or there's a rainstorm, the water runs off into Geddes Brook and with it mercury and other chemicals are carried into Nine Mile Creek that then end up in Onondaga Lake. "You've got volatile organic compounds, you've got PCBs, you've got mercury and (unless it's cleaned up) it will continue to go into lake, re-pollute the lake," said Diane Carlton, Assistant Director DEC Region 7. A half-billion dollars is going to be spent dredging and capping the bottom of Onondaga Lake to remove or contain the mercury and contaminants. That project starts in 2012. Before then, nearly $60 million will be spent on Geddes Brook and Nine Mile Creek "There are a number of creeks that empty into Onondaga Lake, including Nine Mile and Geddes Brook, and most carry some kind of pollution in the water or the sediments and left unchecked then the millions and millions of dollars being spent to clean up the lake bottom will just be re-polluted by the sediments coming in from the creeks," said Carlton. So beginning this year 184,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil covering 46 acres around Nine Mile Creek and Geddes Brook will be removed and Diane Carlton of the DEC says this is an opportunity to return the area to what it used to be. "One of the things we'd like to do make the area more natural because there are things growing there that shouldn't be, like phragmites, that weren't there a hundred or 150 years ago. So one of the plans we've been working on is habitat restoration using native species and we'll try to return the creek to what it used to be and foster not only good vegetation but we can also foster wildlife like invertebrates, amphibians and more natural areas where fish will be able to thrive," said Carlton. And once the cleanup is complete, plans also call for developing public access into this restored nature area. | 6/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 120 | VideoLive Snow Fence | You may not even realize why these shrub willows exist along the roadside. Yes, they are a part of nature, but they've been planted along specific roadways for a reason: to keep the blowing snow that swirls throughout open fields off the roadways. This row of fast-growing shrubs is better known as a living snow fence and they can be found in various locations throughout the state. South of Buffalo on 219, alongside Route 30 in the Catskills and bordering I-81 in Central New York. "Just north of the Tully exit going south on 81 on the west side, and then again just south of the Preble exit on 81. There's actually a series of five sections of willow living snow fence that are five or six years old," said Timothy Volk, SUNY-ESF Senior Research Associate. You've likely seen your share of the traditional bright orange snow fences, but now New York State is teaming up with SUNY-ESF to plant shrub willows instead. The idea is to use an earth-friendly life form to help the environment and to save New York State time and money. "It costs more to put a living snow fence in the ground than to put up a plastic snow fence, but if you put it in the ground once, it's good for 20 or 30 years," said Volk. Researchers at SUNY-ESF are working with the DOT to train staff on how to plant and maintain the willows. Once they're planted, they will need to be cut back; a process that helps them flourish and grow quickly. "Typically what we do then is we cut it down. It seems a little counter-intuitive sometimes, but when they grow the first year, you may only have two to four stems coming out of this piece of plant material. And you need more. You want a lot of stems to get the density to act as a snow fence, so when we cut this back at the end of the first growing season, if it had two to four stems the first year, the next year it may have eight to 15 stems," said Volk. "It grows very quickly, so when you put in a willow living snow fence, within two years it will start functioning. Other plants may take ten or 20 years before they start functioning." While the bright orange snow stoppers will still make their appearance every winter, it's likely we'll see less and less of them as living snow fences take their place. | 6/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 121 | VideoSustainable Designs: Building Green Saves Green Part I | This 98-year-old building has a new lease on life while setting a new standard for sustainable design and providing a high quality workspace. At the same time, the ecological rehab of the building is also saving money. "In Manlius we had about 12,000 square feet and our energy bill for electric and gas was about $48,000 a year. Here we are heating and cooling with our building and one tenant about 32,500. There's about 18 or so that's just raw warehouse so there's not a lot of energy spent there so we're spending about $37,000 a year so for about two and a half times the building we're enjoying a 40 percent reduction in the cost of energy," said Peter King, CEO/Managing Partner, King and King Architects. King and King Architects CEO Peter King said they've accomplished this without delving into any exotic technology. For example, they increased the reflectivity of indoor surfaces. The reflectivity of the standard floor is 20%. "If we bump that up to 40 which is what we have here plus the floor we're standing on has a 70 percent light reflective value, 85 on the walls and 90 on the ceilings which is what we have in this building then every bit of daylight that comes through the windows like this one to my left reflects off of that material and can be used to see the work that we're doing," said King. They also added windows which means employees have a view outdoors as well as providing light. They also use natural convection to heat the building. "There is no rocket science in that system. The diffusers that you can see from here are low at the floor. They have very low velocity so very low fan power is needed to push the air through it and then you let that natural current, convection of the air, as it heats it rises and is exhausted out the ceiling and there's no special equipment," said King. | 6/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 122 | VideoThe ReStore | "It's part of our mission, really. What we do here is try to take something that has life still and let it continue to live in another house," said Alicia Sierrawolfe, The ReStore General Manager. Everything old is new again at The ReStore in Syracuse. "I have everything from light fixtures to switch plates to paint and appliances and cabinet sets, windows, doors. If you can find it at a big box store, I've got it here," said Sierrawolfe. The ReStore supports Syracuse Habitat for Humanity through the sale of new, used and surplus donated materials. Their mission is to divert usable building and home improvement materials from local landfills, like in this traditional demolition project. When a house or building is deconstructed, the owner can bring anything from the walls to the floors to the contents in between to The ReStore - where it is sold at discounted prices. The doors are open to anyone looking to find a good deal. "I have a lot of homeowners. I have a lot of landlords. I even get renters in here that pick things up just to pretty up their place. It's so inexpensive that people don't really feel the hurt that they would if they had to go to a big name store and purchase something for a place they don't even own," said Sierrawolfe. Light fixtures like this one, $10. A sink like this, $40. Cabinets, toilets, potting soil, nails, sheetrock - the list goes on at just a fraction of the cost. "Right now we've got hemlock beams. And they're real hemlock and they're 2x12x14 foot. We get in amazing stuff. And some of the stuff people tend to overlook. Like switch plates. When you change out your switch plates, don't throw them away! Bring them here," said Sierrawolfe. All proceeds are used to help support Syracuse Habitat for Humanity, to help fulfill Habitat's mission of providing home ownership opportunities for low-income families. | 6/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 123 | VideoHome Solar Power | If you installed solar power panels on your home, just how much power could be produced even in the wintertime? Dick Thompson did and he knows, in fact he can track the power output of his photovoltaic array all day from sunrise to sunset. "What we're seeing here is power production at the moment, which is 1.2-kilowatt hours. Here's today's total, the seven-day total and the lifetime total since November of last year," said Dick Thompson, Marcellus, N.Y. November is when he had this $26,000, four-kilowatt system with 18 solar panels installed on the garage roof at his Marcellus, N.Y. home. "Well this is fairly new technology using microinverters. Each panel has its own inverter that changes the DC power collected by the panel into AC so each panel can put out its maximum function," said Thompson. And he says that maximum has been pretty good. Even through the bad winter months, his system has generated 40 percent of the electricity used in his home since November. "You don't need bright sun, it's best to have bright sun but you can make power. The rule of thumb is if there's enough daylight that you can drive without your headlights, you'll make power," said Thompson. And snow isn't a big problem; a modified roof rake can handle it. "But it has a foam covered plastic end on it so you can clear the snow off without causing any damage to the panels. It slides off pretty easy because they're quite slippery; it's a tempered glass surface," said Thompson. Or just let it melt. This system cost $26,000 but using tax credits and incentives, Thompson's cost was about $6,500 and he saw it as an investment. "We had a little money that was going to be renewed on a CD and it was going to earn one or two percent and looking at our numbers we're getting somewhere around five or six percent return on our investment," said Thompson. | 6/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 124 | VideoSelf-Sustaining Streetlights | -- | 6/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 125 | VideoSolar Powered Water | -- | 6/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 126 | VideoBuilding Green Saves Green Part II | -- | 6/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 127 | VideoReducing Carbon Footprint and Runoff | -- | 6/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 128 | VideoCleaning Up Litter | -- | 6/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 129 | VideoNew Ash Borer Infestation | -- | 6/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 130 | VideoSwimming Pools | -- | 6/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 131 | VideoRecycling Clothing | -- | 6/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| Total: 131 Episodes |
