Green Technologies

Innovative green technologies use less energy and provide reduced carbon footprints.  Some green technologies are easy to identify and acquire (such as low-energy light bulbs), while others require self-education and significant investment (hybrid cars, residential solar panels, etc.).   

Numerous green technologies are poised somewhere between research and development (R&D) and being commercially available. These green technologies are at their critical tipping point; unfortunately, global warming and species extinction are also at the tipping point. 

The Green Pages (by ECO Services International of Switzerland) is one of many online directories of green products and services. As more green products are sold, the lower their cost will become through economies of scale.

In the U.S.A., Federal Government spending in 2006 on energy research and development was less than one-half the annual spending level 25 years earlier. [source]

Lighting the Way

Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) are an example of a green technology that is widely available.  Spiral-type CFLs typically use only one-fourth to one-third as much energy as standard incandescent bulbs to provide the same amount of light, and CFLs last up to 10 times longer.  

Every CFL can prevent more than 450 pounds of emissions from a power plant over the light bulb’s lifetime. [source]  An organization called onebillionbulbs.org has a goal of getting Americans to use one billion CFLs, which will reduce the demand of power plants the equivalent amount of the annual greenhouse gas emissions of one million automobiles.

 

 

 

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