ReGeneration Roundup - 2008-03-06
A Toast to a U.K. Brewery and a Finnish Power Company
Wärtsilä, a Helsinki-based power company, signed a deal March 3rd with Scottish and Newcastle, the folks that bring you Newcastle Brown Ale among others, to install biomass-fueled, combined heat and power plants at two of the company’s U.K. breweries. The plants will run off of the spent grain the brewery churns out after brewing every batch of beer, and will be the first of its kind in the world. “Cheers!” to ecoscraps for informing us of this development.
Indian Device Turns Biowaste into Biofuel
Sintex, a well-known plastics molding company, has installed 100 dome-shaped “digesters” in India that can catch and store the methane byproduct of any organic material, including human waste. Costing only $425, a primed digester can produce enough energy to cook all the meals for a four-person household, and pays for itself in less than two years. According to ecofriend, one of these devices is already being used to power the streetlamps of a village in India. The Indian government has gotten behind the product by agreeing to subsidize one third of the cost of the units. This could actually end up saving the government money in the long run because they won’t have to find other ways to dispose the waste.
Tightened Environmental Standards Enacted in China
In anticipation of the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing, the Chinese government has tightened environmental regulations on select industries within the booming nation. The thermal power, steel, cement and aluminum sectors will now need the government’s approval before applying to sell shares, and will also have to disclose all environmental information related to their businesses. This comes in the wake of other new environmental policies, such as the plastic bag ban we blogged about last month. The Chinese economy is growing at an incredible rate and it is very promising to see their government ensure that further growth will be done with a mind towards making life on Earth longer and healthier.
Easy and Economical Ways to Recycle Your Cell Phone
An estimated 125 million cell phones are thrown away annually in the US. I have two myself gathering mold in my sock drawer as we speak. Luckily for people like me, triple pundit has blogged about several very painless ways to get our old cell phones recycled. How does getting paid for that old phone appeal to you? Thought that would grab your attention. Other helpful and creative ideas are included at the triple pundit blog.
Global Seed Vault Officially Opens in Norway
Sometimes ominously called ”the doomsday vault,” the Global Seed Vault officially opened last week in Svalbard, Norway. The vault will store away over 1.5 million distinct agricultural seed samples as a safeguard against the possible future loss of these varieties due to climate change and other unforeseen catastrophes. The vault looks a bit like a shark fin slicing through the permafrost, and descends 500 feet below the surface to protect it against bomb blasts and earthquakes. The temperature is kept at a constant -18C (about -4F) to prevent the seeds from germinating, and if the cooling fans fail, the outside temperature will keep the seeds at -4C (24.8F). Hats off to the Norwegian Government for protecting our planet’s invaluable biodiversity for generations to come, and to Inhabitat for keeping us up to date on this ambitious project.
