Re-Inventing Everything

It is December 2009. We are all leaving the reboot and reset years. What is next? We need to re-invent everything.

This seems a tall order. Do I really mean "everything"? Yes and no. Not all at once, as that would be too much to do. But there are many things that need to be re-invented. We just need to do them all, but one at a time.

I started a new business this year. I call it Enovative Energy Solutions. I need to find new customers in order for the company to survive. So how do I do it? There is the "old way", but is that good enough?

The old way involves mass producing chaos and hoping that – when the dust settles – there are more good things produced then negative. The old way involves printing many letters and sending them to many people, only a few of which – 3-5% is the rule of thumb – have even the vaguest interest in what you are trying to sell. The old way involves "cold calling", which means picking up the telephone and invading people's work time to banter them into buying what you are trying to sell. In short, the old way involves wasting paper, postage, and time with making a lot of noise. It is "mass marketing pollution".

The old ways are inefficient with the use of materials and resources. But the worst offense is that the old ways involve a waste of your time and that of all the non-customers that you must encounter on your way to finding customers. What is it called when people waste your time by calling you up to ask you to buy something that you are not interested in? It is really a kind of noise pollution, delivered by the telephone rather than in person.

What are the new ways to promoting a business? You can, of course, provide information on the Internet and rely on search engines like Google and Bing for your customers to find you. You can put on seminars and invite your friends to attend and learn about what you are trying to sell.

The new ways must involve networking. Networking has always been important, and yet it is hard to quantify the benefits from them. Networking involves going to places with other people who are similarly interested in meeting new people. Networking involves talking to the people that you already have relationships with and asking them to help you find other people that they know but that you do not know. Networking involves talking to people one-on-one and asking for their help, without badgering them into letting you do what you want to do.

When does networking become selling? That is like asking to identify the moment when a stranger becomes a friend. It happens in the blink of an eye. It happens without your knowing that it is happening almost.

There are more new ways. I am committed to discovering (rather than truly inventing) them. I must be willing to accept being the recipient of a marketing / sales approach as well as being willing to engage in the act of performing those marketing / sales activities. As I discover them, I will report on them here.

Life Box and Bio-Mimicry [Again]

An earlier entry (The Life Box – Is It Biomimicry?) posed a question but gave no answer. Since then, I have found an answer. The question was left unanswered because I didn't know if ideas used in the making of the Life Box had been "taken from the genius of the natural world" (in the words of Janine Benyus, who coined the term). In hindsight it seems obvious, but I wanted to double-check with the inventor of Life Box – just to be sure.

Paul Stamets is the inventor of Life Box. He is founder and owner of Fungi Perfecti and author of five books on mushrooms. I had Thanksgiving Dinner at his house. (In the interest of full-disclosure, I must mention that Paul is my brother-in law).

I asked Paul Stamets whether the genius of nature had inspired him in creating Life Box. His business, growing mushrooms at Fungi Perfect, requires paying close attention to the patterns of Nature. Paul pointed out that he had used cardboard as compost for many years. Turning a shipping carton into ready-to-use compost, then, is a pretty obvious match for any self-respecting, self-composting gardener. And we have one example of bio-mimicry.

Then, there is the relationship between trees and mushroom mycelia. That pattern in nature is pretty hard to miss. So putting mushroom mycelia with the tree seeds in the Life Box just mimics one aspect of the ideal conditions that nature provides for tree seeds. That the seeds and mycelia may have traveled thousands of miles together in a freight train filled with Christmas presents is beside the point. And this is another example of bio-mimicry.

Then there is the manner in which the Life Box seeds are made to germinate. You put the Life Box into a very cold place – either outside or in a freezer – for two weeks. This mimics the "wake-up" call that nature gives to seeds to let them know that winter has come and gone. Once again, an example of bio-mimicry.

Three examples of how elements of Life Box were inspired by the genius of nature. How cool is that? There are doubtless other examples, but for my purposes three is sufficient.

Paul showed me a Life Box that is the perfect size for shipping books. The timing is could not have been better because I need a box with just that size. My website sells Kill A Watt power meters. The book-sized Life Box is the perfect size for shipping them in. I also sell online a computer programming book that I wrote; it should fit perfectly as well. (Life Box comes in other sizes, but I didn't see them because dinner was ready and we had to get to the table.)

As soon as we get our supply of book-sized Life Boxes – early in 2010, I expect – we will use them for all orders for Kill A Watt power meters and also all orders for my books. I can't wait!

Faronics Power Save and Microsoft Windows® 7

My company, Enovative Energy Solutions, recently become a reseller of Faronics Power Save. The Faronics website says that Faronics Power Save 3.3 is compatible with Windows 2000, XP, and Vista. My question: what about Windows 7, which started shipping last month?

Here are the results of my tests:

• Workstation Computers – Power Save 3.3 client can work with a few tweaks (details later in this post)
  
• Core Console – I was not able to get Faronics Core Console to run on Windows 7, but this is hardly a major issue because it works fine with Windows XP (or Windows Vista). With some futzing, I suspect I could make this work, but it was not a priority for me.
  

Installing FARONICS Power Save on Windows 7 required a few tricks. Neither is very tricky, both involve file compatibility settings. By way of background, workstations need two pieces installed:

1. The Faronics Core Agent provides connectivity for Power Save (and other Faronics products). Its installation file is named Faronics Core Agent.msi.
   
2. The Power Save Add-In provides the power management-specific elements. Its installation file is PowerSave_Ent_32-bit.msi for systems running 32-bit OSes.
   

The first trick starts by manually copying both files to a workstation. Set the compatibility mode for both MSI files to a "Previous version of Windows". (See the Step-by-Step section for details on how to do this.) Then run both install files (starting with the core agent installer).

After installing both components, things look okay. That is, the Core console can see the Windows 7 workstations. Look more closely. The console does not recognize the Windows version. This brings me to the second trick...

The second trick is to modify the compatibility settings to make the applications themselves appear to be running Windows Vista SP2 (instead of Windows 7). Among other things, this enables the Faronics code to know that user account control (UAC) support is present, along with other Windows Vista power management features. Details on this second trick are described below, in the step-by-step instructions section.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Details on the first trick – after you copy the MSI files to the target workstation...

1. Run Windows Explorer.
   
2. Locate the two MSI files (Faronics Core Agent.msi and PowerSave_Ent_32-bit.msi).
   
3. For each MSI file, right-click on the MSI file, and then…
   
4. Select the Properties item on the popup menu. A property sheet appears (see screenshot, below).
   
5. On the property sheet, click on the [Compatibility] tab.
   
6. Click the checkbox labeled Run the program in compatibility mode for.
   
7. Close with the [Ok] button.
   

Details on the second trick are to set the executable compatibility mode to Windows Vista SP2 for all executables and all users:

1. Run Windows Explorer
   
2. Find the Faronics core programs (\Program Files\Faronics\Faronics Core\Workstation Agent).
   
3. Locate the two executable files (EnterpriseWorkstationService.exe and FraonicsCoreAgentConfiguration.exe)
   
4. For each executable file, right click on the file, and then…
   
5. Select the Properties item on the popup menu. A property sheet appears…
   
6. On the property sheet, click on the [Compatibility] tab.
   
7. Very important step! – on the bottom of this page, click the button labeled [Change settings for all users]. A second property sheet appears (see figure, below).
   
8. Click the checkbox labeled Run the program in compatibility mode for.
   
9. Open the list below the checkbox and select Windows Vista (Service Pack 2) from the list.
   
10. Close each property sheet by clicking on the [Ok] buttons.
    
11. Follow steps 4-10 for all Power Save executable files (located here: \Program Files\Faronics\Power Save Workstation).
    
12. To enable these changes, reboot the workstation.
    

I would like to write a utility that enables all these features, and hopefully will find the time. But probably not until after Thanksgiving…

The Lights Are on but Nobody’s Home

You are, again, the last one to leave the office. You turn the lights out as you make your way towards the door. And you notice something that you have seen a thousand times before but never thought about: all the computers in your office are still on. Or, as the title of this entry suggests, the lights are on but nobody's home.

What are all those computers doing at night? In some cases, they are downloading software or security updates. Most of the time, however, they do nothing. More accurately, they burn electricity but produce no useful work. Each is like a tiny furnace, burning chunks of fossil fuel, doing nothing but – at the same time – not doing anything good. What can be done?

Isn't Electricity Clean?

But wait – electricity is a clean source of power. You don't need to worry, right? Actually, each kilowatt of electricity creates 1.33 pounds of CO2. That is the average for the United States, and is based on the fact that 50% of electricity in the United States is generated by burning coal. It is the cheapest form of fuel, which is why it is so attractive to power companies. From an environmental point of view, coal is the dirtiest and so – in environmental terms, at least – is more expensive in terms of its contribution to Global Warming. Is there a good alternative around? Yes, natural gas. Details of that will have to wait for another time.

Controlling PC Power

Computer power management – also sometimes known as "PC power management" – involves taking steps to reducing the power wasted when computers are sitting idle. At home, the best thing you can do is to turn off the computer when you are not using it. Many people already do this at home, but more people need to get on the bandwagon.

In the office – especially in larger companies – computers are generally left on all night. Why? The stated reason is that IT departments need to update software at night. And yet, the actual time needed for this activity is generally very small (a few hours per month, perhaps). During the rest of the time these systems burn electricity, grind down their parts (especially the motors, which typically turn at 5,000 - 10,000 RPM) while doing no useful work. Quite a bit of money could be saved by turning off these workstations at night and over weekends. How much?

How Much Can Be Saved?

For an example, let's go to Hawaii. It has the highest electricity rates, and so can be used to best illustrate the possible savings. If you worked in Hawaii (I am told that there are people who work there) in a firm with 100 desktop workstations and each workstation used 135 watts of power (an average amount for typical systems), the cost of electricity for each year would be about $26,000. Turning those workstations off on evenings and weekends would save your firm about $20,000 per year. That is a 76% reduction. Run the calculations for yourself by clicking on this link: http://www.enovativenergy.com/Cpm_Calculator.aspx?Systems=100&Watts=135&Rate=22.20

As attractive as Hawaii might be as a vacation destination, it does have the highest utility rates. What kind of savings would be possible for a similar firm in another location – say in Chicago? At 11.42 cents per kilowatt hour, the rates are half of those found in Hawaii. They are also closer to the average for the whole USA. The cost of running the same PCs as in the previous example (100 systems with each using 135 watts of power) is around $13,500. Turn them off on evenings and weekends, however, and those same workstations only cost $3,200 – a net savings of $10,300. Run the calculation yourself by clicking on this link: http://www.enovativenergy.com/Cpm_Calculator.aspx?Systems=100&Watts=135&Rate=11.42.

Automating PC Power Management

When there are many systems that need to be controlled, it helps to have power management software to help automate the process. This allows centralized control over many computer systems, and is surprisingly affordable. In fact, in many cases the electrical utilities will subsidize the cost of purchasing such software. For details on computer power management, check out this page on the Enovative Energy website: http://www.enovativenergy.com/cpm.aspx.

The Life Box – Is It “Biomimicry” ?

I got a "Life Box" in the mail yesterday. Here is a picture of it.

There are many reasons to like the Life Box. But first, what is a Life Box, anyway?

The Life Box is a cardboard box. You ship things around in it. But it is different from other cardboard boxes because the Life Box has seeds impregnated in it (plus some mushroom mycelium). When you are done with shipping it around (and, hopefully, it will get used and reused several times), you "retire" the box to let the seeds germinate. What do they grow? Trees. Trees for shade. Trees for camping under. Trees for absorbing CO2.

The Life Box provides a second use for something that many worry about because of its environmental impact, namely packing material. The Life Box gives a second, long-lasting purpose to what otherwise would end up as trash. This cartoon on the side of a Life Box suggests its destiny in four cartoon frames:

Why the mushroom mycelium? I'm not a mushroom expert (a "mycologist"), but the person who invented the Life Box is. That person, Paul Stamets, has an undying passion for the environment. The role of the mycelium is to help the seedlings along, in a symbiotic relationship that I don't quite understand, except to say that such relationships in Nature are a good thing. Thank God for them! You know what a "Life Box" is, so is this a case of "biomimicry"?

What is Biomimicry? In the words of Janine Benyus, biomimicry is "about taking the genius of the natural world and learning something from it". Benyus coined the term biomimicry in her 1997 book, Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature.

Examples of Biomimicry can, perhaps, make clear what Janine means. Examples include velcro (inspired by burrs stuck to dog fur), passive cooling (observed in termite towers in Africa), and self-healing plastics (like the way blood clots). You can find more examples in these two articles: Fifteen Coolest Cases of Biomimicry and Nature-Inspired Innovation: 9 Examples of Biomimicry in Action.

The Life Box Is A Clever Way To Transport Seeds, and in that way The Life Box has similarities to pine cones, dandelions, and peaches. Each of these demonstrates Nature's cleverness in propogating seeds. Like pine cones, the Life Box protects its seeds until they are ready to grow. Like dandelions, whose parachutes carry the seeds through the air, the Life Box allows seeds to be carried over a distance. (Since cargo often travels in airplanes, the comparison is even more apt.) Like peaches, whose fleshy pulp nourishes baby seeds, the Life Box has mushroom mycelium that nurtures its seeds.

My Conclusion on the original question, "Is the Life Box the product of biomimicry?", is that I do not know. According to Janine Benyus' definition, it depends whether Mr. Stamets was inspired by the "genius of Nature" or not. For that, I need to ask the inventor. Which means, I'm afraid, it must be the subject of a future post. Whatever the source, there is genius in the Life Box.

For more information on the Life Box, visit this website: www.lifeboxcompany.com.

PC Power Management – Savings Calculator

I wrote a PC power management savings calculator a few weeks back. The purpose of this online calculator is to estimate the savings for adopting a PC power management solution.

The Variables

A challenge in estimating the savings is that there are a few variables that need to be taken into account. Those variables are:
(1) The number of computer systems,
(2) The average power consumption of each system, and
(3) the local utility rate.

My calculator accepts these three inputs and estimates the savings.

Assumptions

The calculator makes two assumptions: (a) in the BEFORE case, all systems are left running all the time without PC power management. In other words, each computer runs for 8760 hours per year. (b) The second assumption is that – in the AFTER case – all systems are run for only 2080 hours per year. While this is something of a simplification, it is not overly optimistic. According to a study conducted by Beacon Consultants Network, fewer than 10% of US-based computers are configured to take full advantage of energy-saving features.

Calculator Link

Here is a link to the calculator: http://www.enovativenergy.com/Cpm_Calculator.aspx

You can also link to the site to add in the values of the three variables (above). This enables two people to share a common view of the data, which should help simplify a discussion of what results are seen. In the following example, the calculator will run be run to perform its calculations for 100 workstations, with an average power consumption of 100 watts per workstation, and a electricity rate of 7.10 cents per KiloWatt hour:

http://www.enovativenergy.com/Cpm_Calculator.aspx?Systems=100&Watts=200&Rate=7.10

PC Power Management Solutions

For PC-savvy people, setting PC power settings is easy. Unless your computer system is locked-down, and then you have to have an Administrator make the settings for you. Let me start again...

For PC-savvy people with Administrator privileges, setting PC power settings is easy. Unless you have lots and lots of computers (more than a few dozen), and well – it is still easy. It is just time consuming. If you have plenty of time, then you probably are not working in IT; because IT professionals are always busy. Busy finishing the fight against yesterday's fires while learning the new technologies in order to prevent tomorrow's fires.

I am in the middle of pulling together the details of all my research on computer power management (or power management software) solutions. Why? Because people need more than just "PowerPoint summaries"; but also I have some great data to share. To start things off, though, here are some useful lists:

• Integrated Solutions – Although the name makes them sound sophisticated, these are the solutions that desktop management vendors added to existing desktop management products. If you are looking for a power management solution, this is a good place to start. If you are already using the desktop management solution, then that is where you want to start your evaluation. integrated solution list


• Stand-Alone Solutions – My mother used to always say that "no man stands alone", and yet there are times when it makes sense for software to stand alone. These solutions provide centralized support for large number (greater than 500) of computer systems. stand alone solution list.


• Home and Home Office Utilities – Here is my list of simple power management utilities best suited to individual users who do not need (or do not have) an IT staff to help them. home office solution list.

If you know of a solution that is somehow not on one of my three lists, please drop me an email. You can contact me at the email address on my website's About page.

I will keep this list up to date. Check the "last updated" date on the bottom of each page.

Where Your Garbage Goes

When you throw something away, can it "phone home" and tell you where it has ended up? If it could, would you want it to?

Researchers at MIT have launched a program to tag trash and watch it as it goes through the system. Read about it in this Scientific American article

Recycling High-Tech Gear

The principle of "biomimicry" suggests that we learn from Nature. Nature is very good at reusing things. Where there are nutrients, some player figures a way to access those nutrients, use them, and discard what is not needed. When living things die, the nutrients that have been captured in their bodies are returned to the Natural world to be recycled and reused.

Applied to high-tech gear, you want to recycle that gear. You want to send your used PCs, mobile phones, and other such electronic gadgetry somehow back into Nature. That does not mean throwing it into the general waste stream where it will end up in a landfill.

Instead, you want to recycle it. How? Here is one vendor's solution. OFFICE DEPOT sells boxes for $5, $10, and $15 that you fill with used electronics and return to an Office Depot Store. They ship the boxes to a recycler, who crushes the products to extract useful glass, plastic, copper, and aluminum.
URL:http://www.officedepot.com/promo.do?file=/promo/pages/0928_recycling.jsp

Of course, there are other places you can go as well. A search for Computer Recycling through Google or Bing will yield many local businesses that can help you do the right thing with your used high-tech gear.

WA State Building Energy Efficiency

My Energy Efficient Workplace. I wrote in a previous post about my Energy Star office building. Okay, it isn't really mine. It belongs to Clise Properties, which also owns a number of other office buildings in and around the cities of Seattle and Tacoma. My office is located in their building at 1700 – Seventh Avenue in downtown Seattle. I am pleased to be in a building that is more energy efficient than the average office building.

WA State Energy Efficiency Bill. I am also pleased that my state is moving to implement measures to make office buildings more energy efficient. This past year, the Washington State legislature passed a bill with the simple title of Reducing climate pollution in the built environment. I find the first two lines of the bill somewhat enlightening:

"The legislature finds that energy efficiency is the cheapest, quickest, and cleanest way to meet rising energy needs, confront climate change, and boost our economy. More than thirty percent of Washington's greenhouse gas emissions come from energy use in buildings." – From State Bill 5854 – 2009-10

The bill calls for the state – through the Washington State Department of Community, Trade, and Economic Development – to develop "a strategic plan for enhancing energy efficiency". That must be a good thing, although I have no idea about what progress has been made on this plan since the bill was signed into law in May of this year.

Coming Soon – Office Building Energy Efficiency. This bill requires the disclosure of energy use benchmarking data starting in January 2011. That means if you are going to purchase a commercial building, or even sign a lease in a commercial building, you can ask for information about the building's energy use. Why is this important? Because everyone pays energy bills and this benchmarking data will help measure the energy costs in one building over another. Over time, this approach will encourage building owners to invest in energy efficiency because an energy efficient building will be economically attractive to both buyers and tenants.

The Future – Residential Energy Efficiency? The specific buildings that are covered are "all non-residential and qualifying public agency buildings." At some point, I expect that a similar kind of benchmarking will be done for residential buildings as well. The European Union has an Energy Performance Certificate for homes. These must be in place for a building to be bought or sold. The attached image shows part of one of the certificates. I expect something along those lines will eventually be required in our state and – in time – in all states.

State versus Federal Legislation. I found it a bit of a challenge to read the 14 pages of this bill. Little did I know that state bills are nothing compared to the massive numbers of pages involved in federal legislation. The recently passed American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (also known as the Waxman-Markey bill) has 1,090 pages in its final form. Wide margins and double-spaced output helps, no doubt! But still – a lot of words on a lot of pages…

Computer Power Management

About half of office computers are left running at night and on the weekends. The dollar cost of this practice is huge. In a given year, a 200 watt computer will consume about $200 dollars. Your costs will vary, based on your local electricity rates. This online CPM savings calculator lets you use the average electricity rate for your state: http://www.enovativenergy.com/Cpm_Calculator.aspx.

Consider a company with 1000 computer systems. If each uses $200 worth of power per year, the electricity cost is $200,000.00. With the right computer power management settings in place, that amount can be reduced by 75%. In other words, savings up to $150,000.00 could be realized. Why aren't more people implementing the right computer power management settings?

One concern might be that 1000 computer systems is a lot to maintain. No one wants to sit and change the power settings for that many computers. Fortunately, there is an easier way. Computer power management (CPM) software from companies like FARONICS will let you change the settings from a central management console. Here is a link to more information about FARONICS Power Save: http://www.enovativenergy.com/Solutions_Faronics.aspx.

The page includes a link for downloading a demo version of the software. It supports both PC and Macintosh systems.

Go Energy Star – In An Office Building?

After years of seeing the Energy Star label on various products, I was – at first – surprised to see it on the side of an office building. It makes a lot of sense, of course. Energy Star – a joint program of two US government agencies – is all about saving energy and also protecting the environment. It is not surprising, then, that the two government agencies which sponsor Energy Star are the US Department of Energy and the US Environmental Protection Agency.

If you are stuck in the "Energy Star is for Appliances" mindset, as I apparently was, that is fine. You just need to think of office buildings as great big appliances. If you conjure up street after street of your local downtown lined with massive, multi-story refrigerators and toasters, it is quite comical. Humor aside, however, it is not such a bad notion. What are office buildings, after all, other than huge appliances? That people happen to be able to walk in and out of them doesn't change the fact that they are built for a utilitarian purpose, and have "standard" sets of features which make them easy to use. Elevators, hallways, offices, copiers, and computer systems are just elements of the larger system – the larger appliance – namely, the office building.

I work in an Energy Star building located in downtown Seattle. According to the sign out front, this building uses 41% less energy than an average office building. This is one of those situations, I suppose, where being "below average" is a good thing.

And it is, of course. This building uses less energy, which means less waste, less pollution, and greater efficiency. I am glad to work in such a green building. Here's hoping that all of your office buildings are similarly below-average as well.

A surge of green products

It's all about saving the Earth.

So how to respond when we see a surge of green products? Complain because someone is "jumping on the bandwagon"? Do we make a fuss because someone is "taking advantage"?

Some might. I have. It all depends on whether the product (or service) works as advertised. If so, then great! I say -- thank you!

What brought these ideas to mind are a new product from an old company. I have several iGo chargers (which I enjoy a lot!). I was looking up something on their website when I saw a notice about a new, green product that was "Coming Soon....". Not wanting to wait, I dug around on their website. What did I find?

I found something I'd been looking for! It is called their "Power Smart Tower" and it lets you cut down on "Vampire Power Loss". This term refers, of course, to the way that many (most?) electronic products use electricity when they are supposedly "off."

It is like when you were a kid and your parents said "go to sleep." You'd go to your room and then pretend to sleep. No worries when you were a kid, because eventually all that pretending worked and you did fall asleep.

With electronic devices, once a vampire always a vampire. (Another popular term is "phantom power loads", for those who don't like vampires.) Among the solutions for power vampires are (a) unplug when not in use (so inconvenient), (b) put on a switch box and turn off (less inconvenient, but you have to be diligent), and now you have (c) automatic devices that sense when devices are not on and eliminate the vampire power usage. I like it.

Here is the link to the iGo Power Smart Tower: http://www.igo.com/Other-Power/Power-Smart-Tower/invt/pm000110004. The website says it is on pre-order, and that it is due to ship... TODAY! October 30, 2009. I should order mine now...

The Life Box

A lot of people want to improve their environment. I just heard about the "Life Box" from "The Life Box Company" (link: http://www.lifeboxcompany.com/index.html). They are working on packing material that is impregnated with seeds. When you are done with it, you break it apart; scatter it anywhere, and – voila! – an instant garden. As of this writing, the Life Box is still under development. What a great idea!

[Note: In the interest of full-disclosure, the author is related to the inventor of the Life Box by marriage.]

I plan to buy and use this shipping material in my business. My business, Enovative Energy Solutions, is a Green-IT firm that is focused on exploring ways that computer technology can have a positive impact on the environment. We are soon launching a product line and mail-order business to provide resources to like-minded individuals. This Life-Box fits into that picture very well. If nothing else, it will alleviate the "eco-guilt" that I otherwise may feel from the packing material used in sending (or receiving) products by mail.

Some Thoughts on Refuse

If you think about environmental issues and packing material, then you have probably thought about other issues related to refuse. That term, of course, means anything that gets thrown away. And what kinds of refuse are there? It includes everything from landfill fodder to recyclables and, of course, compostable items. This is the reverse order of desirability, in case you hadn't noticed.

The "Life Box" is interesting because it represents a whole new category of refuse. While it is, in fact, compostable, it also has the benefit of being infused with seeds (and fungi mycelium, which helps the seeds get their start). What would be a good name for this new category? Here are some ideas:

• Bio-Generative
  
• Renewables (sounds like an air-freshener – oh wait, I think it is!)
  
• Eco-Friendly Packaging (really underestimates the effect this can have)
  
• Do you have an idea? Respond to my blog and share your ideas with me (and others)…
  

My comments on three well-known categories of refuse…

Best Kind of Refuse: Compostables

These are the best kind of refuse. In an ideal world, most – if not all – of what we dispose of would find its way back into the natural world as a compostable item. Kitchen scraps, yard waste, all of it seems to be the most "desirable" kind of stuff to throw away. In Seattle, where I live, we have a weekly pickup for compost.

This is picked up, processed, and sold locally as Cedar Grove Compost. It is available in five different "blends", which makes it sound much like coffee.

Second Best Kind of Refuse: Recyclables

Recyclables are second best, because – of course – they have a chance at a second life. They don't get returned to the Earth, but rather stay in the realm of human artifice. A whole set of companies has been started, in the past decade or so, that specializes in finding ways to reuse discarded bottles, recycled paper, and so forth.

Worst Kind of Refuse: Landfill Fodder

Then there is the landfill fodder. Landfills involve putting anything not recycled into a huge earthen pit that is lined with plastic. The liner prevents ground water contamination. The net result is that there is an awful lot of garbage that has been buried as inert, unrecyclable matter. I have heard stories of newspapers that have been dug up after forty years and the text is clearly readable.

I do not know what is going on in today's landfills. But it does make me wonder.

Greatest Energy Efficiency

Our society is one great big machine. As our "Great Recession" begins to slowly wind down, I hope the commitment to finding a new world order continues. While the distress of many turns to relief, the fact remains that the old way is not sustainable. The efforts towards recreating a new order should continue.

New World Order
When I say "new world order", I mean those things which encourage and advance the cause of sustainability. We need to have a sustainable social order. We need to have a sustainable economic system. And, most importantly, we need a sustainable political order.

This great democracy (really it is a "republic") called the United States of America has a very sustainable political order. We change leaders every four (or eight) years in a wonderfully non-violent way.

And there has been a lot of progress in creating a sustainable social order. In the past century, there has been much progress: women got the right to vote in 1920 and fity years later there were women in most if not all universities. Progress was made in civil rights in the 1960s, and progress in that area will -- I hope -- continue. These changes have enhanced the stability of society, and has therefore made them much more sustainable.

The last frontiers, I believe, are in the economic and environmental front. Although two separate arenas, they are tightly interconnected. What we have done in the past is not sustainable, which means things like burning coal to generate electricity, and dumping waste into our drinking water.

Energy
What is energy? Energy is a tool. Like a hammer or a book, energy provides a way to extend some human faculty. A hammer that pounds a nail into a wood beam does something that is good and helpful. That same hammer that breaks a car window is, on the other hand, most likely not doing something good and helpful.

Just like a hammer, energy is also a tool. Used in the right way, it extends what people can do so that we can read at night, travel over distances, and stay warm when it is cold outside. But we must be thoughtful about this. If, for example, we pollute the air we breathe because of the way we generate energy, then we are doing ourselves some harm. Likewise, if we waste energy by keeping lights on that are not used, or running computers 24 x 7 x 365, then this tool is not being taken care of in the proper fashion.

Energy Efficiency
Energy efficiency is about re-thinking how we use our energy. The focus is often on the energy that is consumed (or saved). Are we using less electricity? Is our use of natural gas appropriate for the heat that is being generated? Are we making the best use of the gasoline that is consumed.

What is the role of human energy in all of this? I think it must play a central role. The role of ANY energy-consumption must be to extend some human faculty. And yet, if the human energy behind it -- the thinking, the planning, the acting, the living -- is not well thought out, then all kinds of other energy will be wasted.

The main source of all energy efficiency must come, then, from efficiency in how the human energy is invested in the process. In some sense, human energy and human intelligence is the scarcest resource of all. Only by thinking through what we are trying to do can we decide (1) if, in fact, we even need to use the energy from the environment, and also (2) how and how much of that externally-source energy we must use. It all starts, I believe, with how the surrounding human energy is deployed.

My New Addiction: Energy Efficiency

I am addicted to energy efficiency. Call me crazy, but I am not ready to give it up. In some ways, I am just getting started. I have considered other addictions. But I don't like any of the other ones. I only like my own, and it gives me great comfort.

Society’s Addictions
Drugs and alcohol are so 1990. I got clued into the addictions of the 21st Century at a talk given by Jason McLennan in Seattle in early 2009. (Jason heads the Green Building Council for the Pacific Northwest.) An architect by training, Jason has the soul of an environmentalist. He pointed out the parallels between the current economic and climate situations. “Both,” he said, “were created by unsustainable practices. The current economic crisis was caused by unsustainable lending practices. The current climate condition was created by unsustainable energy practices.”

Bingo! That’s when it dawned on me. We are addicted to cheap credit and to cheap fossil fuels. Our addiction to cheap credit, after all, is what contributed to the current economic situation (our “Great Recession”, so to speak). And our addiction to cheap fossil fuels is largely the reason for our current climate condition (a.k.a. “Global Warming”).

I am affected by both these addictions. While hoping to reduce my dependency on both, I stumbled upon my own -- hopefully more "positive" -- addiction. I won't claim that addictions are good, nor invoke formal definitions. What I can do is admit this: I am addicted to Energy Efficiency.

How It All Happened
My own plunge into addiction happened almost by accident. I was looking for a business that enabled me to make a living and simultaneously promote environmental stewardship. I looked into many areas and quickly got overwhelmed. So many issues - air, water, soil, solid waste - and so little time. And then I stumbled into energy efficiency, in particular that related to electricity. What attracted me was how easy it was to create, and how much I was personally able to save in terms of both electricity and money.

As I began to explore electrical efficiency, I begin to collect information and “toys” that let me explore how much electricity was being used by different pluggable products. One toy was the Kill-A-Watt power meter. This small, $25 tool lets you measure power usage on anything you can plug into it. (For details, BING! this: Kill-A-Watt)

I ordered a power meter online, got it in a few days, and started measuring things. I was hooked right away. I measured how much power my desktop computer took (130 watts), my two monitors (15 and 30 watts), and my laptop computer (35 watts) . I measured my television set both on (70 watts) and off (5 watts). I then tested a simple fan (80 watts) against an air conditioner both when the compressor was on (1000+ watts) and when it was off (100 watts). I was, in short, becoming an electricity-measurement fool. I measured lamps and clocks, cell phone chargers and waffle irons, my electric toothbrush and even a lava lamp. I couldn't get enough of it. I was, in short, an addict. But it was just the beginning.

A Bigger Power Meter
Things really got out of control when I noticed that my tiny power meter could not be used for everything in my home. I had somehow overlooked the biggest appliances, which by the way were likely to consume the most electricity. How had I not seen my electric stove? My microwave oven? The dishwasher, clothes washer and clothes dryer? Then it dawned on me: these had been safe from my measuring frenzy because none had a plug, or at least one that was convenient.

To feed my addiction, I went searching for a whole house power meter. I found it. A product with the innocent, friendly name of “TED”. Short for “The Energy Detective”, I ordered TED online (at a cost of close to $200), got it a few days later, and installed my TED. We soon became fast friends. Hooked into the power panel of my home, TED provides real-time updates. Every second, a little light on TED's panel blinks, telling me that another measurement has happened. I always give TED a glance on my way in and out of the house. In spare moments, I steal a glance and even openly stare at my beloved, my TED.

The Impact of My Addiction
Like other electricity efficiency addicts, I did all the usual things: changed to CFL light bulbs, turned off lights when I was not in the room. Got power strips to eliminate phantom power loss and religiously turned off those strips when not charging a phone or listening to my stereo. After TED came along, things happened more quickly. My washing habits started to change as I ran only full dishwasher loads. The same with the clothes washer. I discovered a $10 wooden clothes drying rack, and started to line-dry some of my clothes. In my bathroom. In secret.

As always, the biggest sufferers in any addiction are the by-standers. Inevitably they are the ones who are neglected or abused. In my case, it was neglect. The object of my neglect was Seattle City Light, my ever-faithful electrical utility. How had I betrayed it? How had I turned away from all that it meant to me?

And I wondered -- idly at first -- just how low I would go. How low could my electric bills be? When I realized the truth of it all, I was astounded. Before this madness began, my electricity usage were good - even above average - for a home my size. It was decent and respectable. I could talk about it in public, simultaneously boasting and complaining about it.

By the time the madness had run its course, fully three-quarters of my electricity usage was gone, frittered away in the energy efficiency addict's ongoing race to the bottom. I dared not talk about it in public, lest someone judge me. But I cannot stop. I am trapped in my addiction, in my search for perfect energy efficiency.

What does "Green" really mean?

I am committed to improving my environment. When I use the term "my environment", I mean a lot of things. It starts with my immediate surroundings: in and around my home in downtown Seattle, and in and around my office in downtown Seattle. I am committed to finding ways to improve my most local environment. To my way of thinking, my concern cannot -- and does not -- stop there. I am also concerned about the city of Seattle, the state of Washington, the United States of America, and the world beyond the shores (and borders) of the U.S.A.
That is the reason why I named this blog "My Environment." While I take care of things local to me, I also do not -- in fact, cannot -- ignore the bigger world beyond my local concerns. I wish to join with others to create an impact far larger than that which any single individual can have. And together, we can excert a positive influence on how people think about environmental issues in general.

A Double-Meaning: Money and Environment?
I am concerned, therefore, when I hear people talk about "being green" and how their interpretation involves both (a) money (in the USA, paper money is green) and (b) the environment. I am disturbed by this trend. It suggests to me that concern for the environment is somehow not enough. This brand of "green" really means being more cost-effective and efficient. But because it is au current, the environmental benefits are tied on to the economic benefit in hopes of allowing both to rise above the noise. Such a tie-in hurts the message of our need for environmental stewardship.
Certainly environmental efforts do need to take into account the economic element. There are clearly some things we can afford and other things that we cannot afford. But then we need to prioritize based on the greatest long-term impact, with a focus on improving the environment.
By stamping a double-meaning on "Green", I believe there is a dilution of meaning. It is somehow to state that doing the right thing is somehow not good enough. That markets and economics must lend a blessing. Otherwise, the thinking goes, "green" efforts are doomed to fail. I, for one, believe that such double-meaning are not required. Green as environmental benefit can and should stand on its own.

Green As Guilt-Inducing Moniker
Another meaning of "Green" that rankles me is the one that focuses on end-of-the-world scenarios. Perhaps the end of the world is coming. (For me, it is not in a time-frame or form any of us can imagine.) To quote the Christian scripture, "you know not the hour or the day." I would add that you also do not know the year, the decade, or even the century.
The tendency for identifying "Bad Guys" who caused all these problems is a tempting one for many. Whether it be large corporations, news media, the fundamentalists, the liberals, or whoever. We are all in this together. Progress is not made by assigning blame. What is needed, instead, is a way forward that helps us all make progress- whatever our political persuasion.
I have a lot of trouble reading about large issues like climate change and global warming that predict catastrophe about which I can do nothing. What I prefer, instead, is a framework that lets me see how I can make a difference. Yes, there are big changes coming. To my way of thinking, it is good because we get to invent -- perhaps I should say "re-invent" -- what our society and culture are about and how we should live. Is that such a terrible thing? I think not. I, for one, am looking forward to finding ways to improve life, for me and for others. Yes, for future generations, but also for the current generations that are living now.

Obama's Message of Hope and Change
Whatever your poltical leanings, the clear message of "hope and change" that President Obama urged during the 2008 election is one that Americans needed to hear. If you look back on the past decade, there was a lot to make people less hopeful. Remember the Y2K Fears of Computers Crashing? Enough time and energy were applied to that problem so it became a non-issue. Then of course there was "the-date-that-shall-not-be-named". The thought of that time makes some people's blood pressure go up. New Yorkers continue to scan the skies every time an airplane flies by. The current recession also causes concern. Do we need hope? Do we need change? The questions are rhetorical, because few believe that we do not need both.

Green As The Light of Hope and Change
So maybe "green" is really the "go-ahead" signal -- like in a traffic light -- for hope and change. We hope for the future. To make that better future, we have to change. There are many things that we can do to improve the environment, both in our immediate surroundings and in the broader context of our city, country, and the world. These are things we give the "green light" to. We need to take the long-term view and realize that worthwhile things are both worth working for and are also worth waiting for. We give the green light to those things.

The Yellow and Red Light
Improvement is not an all-at-once kind of thing. It happens in fits and starts. As we learn more about how to improve our environment, we might decide to flag some thing in our life. Not everything, because that would be too overwhelming. The things you flag as "yellow" are the things you are concerned about and which you want to cut back in. This includes things like driving everywhere (but some driving may still be necessary), using your gas or electric clothes dryer (some items can be line-dried), and starting to recycle (or recyling more, if you have already started).
Moving forward, some things that were "yellow light" yesterday can become "red light." Maybe you switch jobs and can walk to work instead of driving. Perhaps your city offers a new recycling program, so you change what you throw away and recycle more. Or you used to print all your emails; then one day, you decide to "red-light" all that printing and read all on screen.
Of course, these are just examples. I cannot say what things in your life should be started, slowed, or stopped. But this is what I am trying to do in my life. I do now walk to work. I think twice before printing from my computer. And I have stopped using grocery store bags.

What Green Means To Me
To me, the label of "Green" is a commitment to make daily improvements in my environment. I have spent my whole life getting to where I am, with all my habits -- both good and bad. I can start to adopt more environmentally-friendly practices at a pace that works for me, in the areas of my life where I can. Not everywhere, not all at once. But, because I have hope that I - and others - can change, one thing in my life at a time.
One such change per week means 52 improvements in a year. Those fifty-two changes give me reason for hope and change.

Bing Contest

The Bing search team is sponsoring a contest called "Will Code for Green".

The contest involves creating a website that uses the Bing search API. Contestants have two categories to choose from. Given what is going on in the world, the categories are quite timely. The categories are:
1) Sites that improve the ECOLOGY of the world.
2) Sites that improve the ECONOMY of the world.

My entry was just accepted. It appears here: http://www.enovativenergy.com/tips.aspx. It provides 21 Green-IT tips. The tips provide a starting place to help people who use computers to find ways to save energy, and to help the environment at the same time.

To vote for my site, go here: http://microsoft.promo.eprize.com/willcodeforgreen.