Low-Carbon Videos (It’s OK To Watch With Both Eyes)

I’ve been rummaging a bit and have found a few sites with eco-friendly shows or segments, meaning shows or segments about eco-friendliness, that I’d like to pass on. If you know of any more please don’t hesitate to share in the comments.

1. Ethical Man (BBC) British journalist who journals his attempts to reduce his footprint for a year, including convincing his family that they don’t need a car. Not everyone is amused.

2. Building Green (PBS) Originally on PBS and now on hulu.com, it details a fellow building his dream house using low-impact & sustainable materials and practices.

3. GardenGirlTV (www) Sustainable living (and garden-growing) in an urban environment. A bit focused, but if you’re looking for tips on that new box garden then Patti is your gal.

4. Red Hot & Green (HGTV) Home renovation using a lot of natural materials. Low-flow toilet, meet bamboo counter.

5. Wa$ted (Discovery Channel) Those who waste without regard will wish they’d went another way. (Ahem, sorry.) Each segment consists of educating average consumers (and thrower-awayers) by showing them their collected trash. Reactions make the show.

Bonus. 3-2-1 Contact (PBS) This perennial show exists today only on dusty VHS tapes, Amazon.com, and youtube.com. Not an eco show directly, but this and Mr. Wizard ignited my interest in the physical sciences. Gimme an “S”! Gimme a “C”!

And make sure to watch ‘em on your eco-friendly television set.

Pre-Friendly Video Conversion

The Palm Prē is brand spanking new, and it has a lot of potential in the field of ‘convergence’. Once you’ve sung yourself hoarse with all those songs from Amazon.com and iTunes, you’ll surely want to watch some videos so we’ve teamed up with the folks at everythingpre.com to provide you with a brief overview on how to best use the rest of your 7GB.

The idea of re-encoding a video file (tv show, movie, birthday party, whatev) is to shrink its size enough to make it easily portable but not so much that it becomes unwatchable. We’ll reduce the video a bit (we don’t want any tracers or artifacts), the audio a lot (not even headphones need Dolby Surround),  and hopefully end up with a pleasant variety of small-footprint video distractions.

What you’ll need:

1. A video on your Mac OS X, PC, or Linux computer
2. HandBrake video conversion software

How much time you’ll need:

Less than 10 minutes, start to finish, for a short video; 2+ hours for a full-length movie. Double these times for 2-pass encoding (explained in Step 5 below)

Difficulty:

Disclaimer: This walk-through assumes that you already have a video file on your computer. It’s certainly possible to convert your DVDs using this same software and a similar procedure, but how you get the movies off of your DVD is between you and the DVD distributor.

Note: The screenshots below point out the various sections of the software but should not be taken as literal guides. For example, it has been shown (so far) that only FFmpeg-encoded .mp4 videos can be decoded by the Pre despite the fact that the screenshots show H.264 .avi files. The pictures will be updated in short order.

Step 1: Load HandBrake. If you plan on converting, compressing, or in general re-encoding a lot of files then it may be worth your time to set up a  Preset to save you the trouble of selecting the same options each time.

The HandBrake Start Screen

Step 2: Select the video file you wish to convert. Do this by clicking Source then Video File. As mentioned, it is possible to grab a movie directly off of a DVD but that is beyond the scope of this walk-through.

Select a video from the Source button

Step 3: Select the Destination File by clicking the Browse button. While browsing, be sure to change the File Type as needed, currently only .mp4 files are proven to work correctly. Note: the File Format drop-down box will change automatically.

Choose a Destination path and name (be sure to confirm file type)

Step 4: Change any Picture Settings as needed. Here you may specify video Width & Height.

Since most videos will be watched in landscape mode it may be desirable to specify a width of 480 pixels.

Anamorphic: Strict will keep the same aspect ratio and frame size as the original. It’s very likely that the Pre can resolve any size difference internally but that hasn’t yet been confirmed.

If you select Anamorphic: Loose and Width: 480 the software will keep the aspect ratio of the source file, but force the video width to 480 pixels.

If you choose Anamorphic: None y0u can specify both Width and Height but the screen will look stretched or squished if you don’t choose the right values.

Specify the width and/or height if you'd like

Step 5: Select your desired Video Codec, determine a Target File Size, and select 1- or 2-pass encoding. We’re currently testing to see if there are any unpublished supported video codecs, but for now we know that H.264 is supported. H.264 is listed as a supported codec on Palm’s website but only the FFmpeg codec has been proven to work. We’re looking into it.

If you want a video file to be a specific size then enter that value and the software will choose settings accordingly. If you choose this option, it’s best to not adjust too many other options.

Check or uncheck the 2-Pass Encoding checkbox. A definition for multi-pass encoding is here [afterdawn.com] but basically the software looks more closely at each frame and makes high-action scenes look better; the drawback is that the ‘closer look’ means it could take twice as long to compress the video file.

Choose your CODEC

Step 6: Select audio properties. This image is edited to show all of the drop-down options at once. These options are largely a matter of preference; audiophiles won’t accept anything less than CD quality (1,411kb/s) but most folks won’t notice too much difference at bit rates less than the average mp3 file, 128kb/s. To learn more, see the Wikipedia entry on Sound quality. Understand that, for a video file with sound, the audio component is often ⅔ of the entire file size. Reductions here can go a long way toward reducing file size.

Choose your audio properties

Step 7: Hit Start and go away for awhile. A DOS command screen will pop up showing you the progress as well as the pass (if you’ve chosen more than one).

It's working, honest.

Step 8: Well, you’re done, really. Connect your Pre and move or sync your video file(s).

Thanks for following along during this walk-through, and thanks to forum members Deihmos & kenspy for help with confirmations, and to members garion & hchavarria for suggesting that anything compatible with the iPod should work, and to member MarcoC2 for suggesting that a FireFox extension is available. Don’t hesitate to send me a tweet or leave a post on the everythingpre forums, or send me a PM through that site. Happy watching!

Travelogue: Colorado

I recently flew to Colorado to attend a good friend’s undergraduate commencement ceremony, and took some time to visit with friends and play tourist a bit. Of the 300+ shots I snapped over 10 days, here are the ten pictures that best capture my trip. There are several other important moments as well, and some of them are on my Facebook page, so mosey over there for a few more.

Ben Acknowledges His Entourage | Greeley, CO

Butler-Hancock Field May 2009 | Greeley, CO

University Center | Greeley, CO

Peaking Out A Portal | Fort Vasquez, CO

Setting Sun Frames Tree | Greeley, CO

The Broadmoor Hotel | Colorado Springs, CO

Panorama Of Garden Of the Gods | Colorado Springs, CO

Garden Of the Gods In the Shadow Of Pikes Peak | Colorado Springs, CO

Garden Of the Gods | Colorado Springs, CO

Garden Of the Gods | Colorado Springs, CO

…and as a bonus, 10 seconds of a street musician in Boulder:

Non-Corn Ethanol Alternative; Popcorn For All

There is no silver bullet to finding non-fossil based fuels. Luckily not many folks are looking for one. It’s pretty well accepted that what we need is a silver revolver.

BACKGROUND:: In the U.S. corn is the primary source for biofuel (ethanol) production. In other countries – Brazil for example – sugarcane is preferred. Sugarcane is easier to convert into ethanol which means less waste is created from its production; the downside is that sugar-based ethanol is less fuel efficient than its corn-based cousin, so more must be used to travel a similar distance.

The folks at North Carolina State University in Raleigh have added another entry to this crowded bio-field: duckweed. Wired has an article pointing out one of the benefits of using this tiny plant: it thrives on animal waste. Think industrial-scale waste. From the article:

Duckweed, [researchers] discovered, has an appetite for animal waste, quickly converting it to leafy starch that can then be converted into ethanol. The current source for most U.S. ethanol is industrial-scale corn farming, which requires large amounts of toxic pesticides and dead zone-feeding, fuel-intensive fertilizers. When the costs are added up, corn-based ethanol may prove little cleaner than gasoline.

The duckweed plant would remove the need for fertilizers that  deoxydize water tables & ponds and it would create higher concentrations of starch (five to six times greater) than corn – it’s this starch that is useful in biofuels. And since it grows naturally in shallow water it could be used to remediate almost any kind of wastewater.

Now granted, converting duckweed into ethanol won’t reduce CO2 emissions, and may not even delay “saturation,” a loosely agreed-upon atmospheric concentration of about 550 ppm (for more info watch this youtube video from 21:15). Further, efficiency is as-of-yet unknown and emissions would be those of other plant-based ethanols, so it may not seem like it’s progress. Remember, though, the idea of a silver revolver: reduction of fossil fuel use, cleaner ponds & watersheds, and a more stable price of corn for two- and four-legged animals. If alternative energy is a potpourri then it smells pretty good.

Offshore Resources: How Much, How Soon, How Bad?

Secretary of  the Interior Ken Salazar gave the closing keynote address at the 2009 25x’25 summit yesterday, and presented an Executive Summary on the viability – and the unknowns – of commercializing the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) of the U.S. for the purposes of energy production. The summary (pdf) is here.

BACKGROUND: Under the Energy Policy Act, passed in 2005 and tabled without action, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) was directed to implement the commercialization of natural resources located between 3 & 233 miles off our shores, an area known as the  Exclusive Economic Zone. The DOI delegated this responsibility to their Minerals Management Service (MMS) and charged them “with developing regulations intended to encourage orderly, safe, and environmentally responsible development of renewable energy resources and resources and alternate use of facilities on the OCS.”

The three resources discussed in the summary were wind, water, and oil & gas; how much might be available, how much the ecosystems might be affected by their collection, and identified data gaps were presented. An oversimplified summary of each follows.

Wind energy

• It’s possible that shallow water wind power could provide up to 20% of coastal states’ energy needs in the near-term; further, “of the 48 contiguous States, 28 have a coastal boundary (including Great Lakes), and electric-use data show that these coastal States use 78 percent of the Nation’s electricity.” For best results, this technology would be deployed in the upper Atlantic and the Pacific regions.
• Potential impacts include wind pattern changes due to climate change, coastal habitats of onshore infrastructure, and the impact of turbines on marine & coastal birds.
• Likely the biggest unknowns are “extractability” and the level of space-use conflicts involved.

Hydro Energy

• Even though hydrokinetic energy collection technologies are still developing, and MMS feels it could make a significant contribution, the summary states that it would likely be limited to the Hawaiian islands and the Pacific Northwest.
• Coastal habitats would be most sensitive to wave or tidal energy. A concern unique to this technology is the impact of EM fields on marine life.
• The least understood of the technologies presented, there have been neither significant studies of potential nor impact. They are assumed to closely resemble wind energy.

Oil & Natural Gas

• Covering more than 43 million acres, the OCS provided 14% & 27% of the national gas & oil production in 2007, respectively. There are an estimated 160 billion barrels of equivalent oil (BBOE) left untapped and/or undiscovered. Current and future production is expected to remain most viable in the Gulf of Mexico with possible locations in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Alaska regions.
• Fossil fuel extraction offers most probably the highest risk to the OCS ecosystems by affecting migration, noise due to drilling and construction, and the potential for oil spills.
• Production is quite invasive so seismic more data is needed (and surveys have a noise impact);  studies of human impact on migration, spawning, and storminess due to climate change.

This Executive Summary was requested by Sec. Salazar and drafted by MMS and the U.S. Geological Society with input from the Dept. of Energy and the National Renewable Research Lab in Golden, CO.

Efficient Homes Need Appraisers Of A Different Color

I came across an article published by Dan Meisler of the Michigan Business Review and realized that it – no offense Dan – wasn’t really news. Granted, it was news to me in that I hadn’t considered this dilemma, but it seems that folks greener than me have been on this bent for some time now.

The problem lies with how to sufficiently appraise energy-efficient (aka “green”) homes, both for existing home resale values and new construction lending amounts. Appraisals are generally an aggregate process: the values of homes, or the plans therefor, are calculated by reviewing the appraisal values of other homes with like features (e.g. number of rooms, square footage) in a surrounding area, which are based on the appraised values of yet other homes.  “Turtles all the way down,” in a sense. Don’t get me wrong; skill and experience are crucial factors, as are market conditions, but it’s mostly a comparative process. So how does one compare an energy-efficient, low-impact home when it’s the first one in the neighborhood? Or even the county?

This was the point of Dan’s article and I found it a very enlightening read. After talking with a few industry experts, the takeaway was that  there really are homes like this but it’s difficult to identify and locate them for comparison. While a certified ENERGY STAR-compliant home may bear the ENERGY STAR Qualified Home label, there isn’t any sort of registry (federal- or industry-wide) to help appraisers quickly and easily locate appropriate homes.  BuildingGreenTV user myleenjan blogged about their experience trying to get an appraisal for their new home as far back as Feb ‘08.  myleenjan mentions both a green-oriented appraiser (handy if you live near Austin, TX) and a lender.

The best (read most painful) solution is an industry overhaul – I interpret this to mean ‘more education.’ Appraisers should continue to focus on room counts, acreage, and carpet depth but they should also be trained in how to consider geothermal heating efficiency, rainwater collection, capacitive utility buy-back (I made that term up, it means selling electricity back to the local Edison), and other factors that are uniquely low-impact. It seems that even David Gottfried agrees, though based on his green cred I likely agree with him. Appraisals are intended to offer an analysis of the long-term assets & liabilities of a property or plan; these energy-efficient features fit so neatly into that definition that, to quote Dan, “the lack of credit from appraisers makes it financially impossible for many people to build green.”

Consider this another call for a slide rule revolution.

Cows’re For More Than Riding

An industrial dairy in Wisconsin has taken another careful step by implementing a program to reuse waste generated by their milking cows, reports NPR.org.

Holsum Dairies, LLC has included their Holsum Elm Dairy in Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources Green Tier program. The Elm dairy joins Holsum’s Irish Dairy, a charter member the Green Tier program. The Level One Environmental Management System uses a digestor at the farm which “[funnel manure] into a big vat, where it decomposes, producing methane that’s then used to create electricity. The digestor at Holsum Elm Dairy in Wisconsin powers about 400 homes a year.” How much manure? A lot; over 150 million pounds annually.

But the Holsum Elm Dairy doesn’t stop there, or at least much farther from there: it has partnered with feed vendors within a 10 mile radius in order to reduce fossil fuel consumption. I’m not sure how close the nearest farmer’s market is, but I suspect the dairy’s 4000 cows make more cheese and milk than could be carried home on a Saturday morning anyway.

Two thumbs up to Holsum Dairies, LLC and the state of Wisconsin for their out-of-the-litterbox solutions. Pictures of their planned energy-efficeint calf barn would be great; cow babies are so cute.

Smart Grid, But What About the User?

USA Today published an article this week pointing out that 1 in 3 consumers who install high-efficiency appliances (light bulbs, air conditioners, …bidets?) don’t always see a marked decrease in their utility bill.  The problem is evident to anyone who has tried a diet and failed; it’s called the Snackwell Effect. From the article:

People who install efficient lights lose 5%-12% of the expected energy savings by leaving them on longer, said Karen Ehrhardt-Martinez of the non-profit American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. People who buy an efficient furnace lose 10%-30% of their savings, probably from raising the thermostat, she said.

[Alan King of Morgantown, W.Va.] confesses that sometimes his wife will wash just one piece of clothing in their high-efficiency washer, which she would not have done before.

It seems that efficient power generation and routing isn’t enough to address our appetite for consumption. Those failed dieters will confess to falling victim to the concept of a ‘diet’ and that the only long-term solution is a change in eating habits, a change in lifestyle. The same may be said for energy use.

The concept of a smart grid is, then, only as smart as the user. There are an abundance of clever (and geeky) folks out there striving to understand there impact, and share their experiences with others. One fellow, about a year ago, set up his house to tweet  its energy use. Following @andy_house requires registration, but screenshots are available by following the former link.

If you have recently, or soon plan to, upgrade your home to include high-efficiency appliances: kudos to you, and thank you. That’s just the first step, though; the rest is, also, up to you.

Edit March 26th, 2009: Want your house to tweet your awesomeness? The Make blog has instructions for outlet-level tweeting.

Energy Policy, Analysis, and Information: Major U.S. Players

Below is a brief list of individuals & organizations working to effect change in our approach to energy use. This is a fairly dense list, and for that I apologize. Skim over the groups then come back to it as a reference as needed. If you feel that I have missed anyone, please feel free to point them out.

1. Executive
   1. White House
      1. President Barack Obama: 44th President of the United States, drafted the Obama-Biden comprehensive New Energy for America plan link
      2. Vice President Joe Biden: 47th Vice President of the United States, documented record of (co-)sponsoring efficiency & reduction bills (36 years)  link
   2. Department of Energy (DOE)
      1. Dr. Steven Chu: Secretary of Energy, Nobel winner in physics (1997), formerly of UC Berkeley (5 years) & Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) link
      2. Dr. Steven Koonin: DOE Under Secretary for Science (nominee), chief scientist for BP LC (5 years) link (video)
      3. National Laboratories: LBNL, National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL), et al.
   3. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
      1. Lisa Jackson: EPA Administrator, formerly of the EPA (16 years) and the New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection (7 years) link
      2. Louise Wise: Associate Administrator (acting) of the Office of Policy, Economics, and Innovation (OPEI), led the EPA’s transition team during the Obama transition link
2. Legislative
   1. Senate
      1. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: oversees the DOE & Federal Regulatory Energy Commission, responsible for national energy policy, generation & conservation of energy resources including coal, petroleum, and renewable sources link
      2. Renewables and Efficiency Caucus: doesn’t hold law-making authority; serves as information resource for Senators link
   2. House of Representatives
      1. Committee on Energy and Commerce Responsible for the location, generation, storage, marketing, sale, transportation, regulation, and conservation of energy commodities link
      2. US House of Representatives Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus: doesn’t hold law-making authority; serves as information resource for Representatives link
3. Judicial: involved as needed, when a party has been harmed. In general, then, not a major player but holds significant sway when called.
4. Private Sector: private or public organizations, both for-profit and not, rarely have a single focus. Petroleum companies are increasing their investments in renewable energy but still pushing to block carbon emission caps; utility companies are working to reduce demand at peak hours (rather than simply providing more power) but increase their customer fees to achieve this goal; policy and analysis shops have individual agendas and collect meaningful data to advance those agendas. It’s a mess. If there is a particular company or organization you’d like to know more about, don’t hesitate to let me know.

Economy Has Outpaced Environment For Over Quarter Century

Americans: Economy Takes Precedence Over Environment March 19, 2008

SUMMARY: Released last week, this Gallup poll shows that more Americans (a majority in fact) give a priority to economic development than to environmental protection. The poll breaks down the numbers by party affiliation and then by environment vs. economy & environment vs. energy production.

ANALYSIS: This is the first time in the history of the poll, which began in 1984, that the economy has had precedence. There have been two recessions in that time, though admittedly neither as severe as the current downturn. In both cases – early 90’s & early 00’s – the (rate of) changing attitude favored keeping jobs & net worth; even though support for environmental protection (pla-net worth? Earth worth?) had outweighed it had not been keeping pace.  For half of the poll’s history (13 years) the economy gained in importance, and in only four of those years (1991, ‘94, ‘95, ‘04) the environment gained as well. It’s interesting to note that respondents have become more certain of their opinion over the course of the poll: there has been a steady decline in “no opinion or not sure” data points.  It’s not clear if the percentages given are of persons polled or the entire sample, including callers who didn’t answer their phone, so this observation may not be valid.

Data courtesy Gallop, results formulated by dotplaid|at|gmail|dot|com

One observation seems to be the perceived exclusivity: that environmental protection or consideration is not economically viable – that it’s a zero-sum equation. Other than the four years mentioned above the trends move in opposite directions. The solution to this mindset, and to the potential truth of this point, is the classic “infrastructure and education” approach. To that end I was warmed to read that Texans celebrated Solar Day today (at least in an unofficial capacity) and Physorg lists some of the companies likely to benefit from President Obama’s directive for funding R&D at the Department of Energy and the private sector.  It will, of course, be painful but stretching the mind to new possibilities often involves some discomfort.