Here’s some college students who instead of “taking you money” will be “saving you money” by retrofitting your windows etc:

I recently saw a demonstration of some of the musical inventions that will be played during the upcoming performance of SchickMachine, the latest work of the The Paul Dresher Ensemble. The non-conventional instruments are made from strange objects, including a lot of reclaimed junk and decommissioned relics, such as an old church organ.

The show is sort of a combination of concert and theater, with large and outlandish instruments providing drama on stage. The team recognized that traditional concert instruments require fine motor skills and are consequently difficult to see from several feet away in the audience. To better connect with the audience, they have created large instruments, some of which are robotic and others that interact with the performer’s entire body. One of the coolest instruments, is an experimental hurdy gurdy that the team of musical inventors created. Below is a demonstration of some of the instruments that will be played in the solo show:

A company called Soler is currently marketing Natural Charcoal Briquettes called Green Hearts. The product claims to be carbon neutral, with a focus on bio-diversity and social justice. The company grows the briquettes from cultivated eucalyptus forests in Brazil with no child laborers. Now if they can only teach me how to light the briquettes without a ton of lighter fluid. Word is you can get them at Whole Foods.

People have been going nuts about Nancy Pelosi’s mouse protection provision in the recently passed stimulus package. At first, I thought this was just another example of government waste and local politicians using the systems to aggrandize themselves within the local political arena. Then I saw a talk by Cheryl Davis of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

The SFPUC administers the water supply that feeds San Francisco and neighboring areas. The task of bringing water from the Hetch Hetchy reservoir to the Bay Area is no small feat. Much of the transit lines are undergoing seismic retrofits to better secure the San Francisco water supply. A water interruption due to an earthquake could cost up to 28.7 Billion dollars, not to mention the panic that would overtake the city. The Hetch Hechy water, which comes mostly from the Sierra snow pack, makes its way via tubes that traverse both private and public lands. After the water arrives to the bay area, it is stored in the reservoirs West of the 280 Freeway until it makes its way to the city. These reservoirs and open spaces contain not only precious watersheds, but also many endangered species including the much-maligned Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse.

I agree that protecting a mouse does not provide “stimulus”, but by recognizing that everything in the environment is connected and by protecting the weak species, we may be protecting ourselves. It is possible that once we go down the road of runaway budgets there is no turning back, but it is certain that once a species is gone, there is no getting it back.

As we throw billions of dollars of public money at energy and finance problems with our fingers crossed, law-makers should think about incentivizing at least some of the solution-seekers. The X-prize has proven that cash rewards are a huge motivator for inventors, entrepreneurs, scientists, and financiers to attempt to solve seemingly impossible problems.

American energy use has increased 200% since 1990, and 40% of that energy consumption occurs in the the home. Statistics like these have mobilized a coalition of public and private institutions to offer prizes to those intrepid souls who can build the next generation of “energy-free” buildings.

The Energy-Free Home Challenge defines an “energy-free home” as a modern building that produces as much energy as it consumes. It must be scalable and within the cost of an average consumer. The prize purse that will go to the team that can make this dream a reality is $20,000,000.

Interesting note in the category of “that’s how the world works”: I tried to Google the “Energy Free Home Challenge” and the top result was their lobbying statistics on Open Secrets ($65,000 in 2008).

The subject of our last video, Nammy Patel of the Green Dentistry, has started a new website in partnership with HowYouEco.com. HowYouEco is a website that lets green-conscious people and practical ideas connect, and Toothhugger has a focus on oral hygiene and dentistry. Our video with Nammy is featured on the site now so check it out!

As the debate on the stimulus package continues, it will be interesting to see whether infrastructure will be a key component. Seen as an important element to growing the economy, construction and civil engineering projects take a lot of time to plan and execute effectively. That being said, there are a ton of projects here in California that are just waiting for a green light and already speculation is flying about which far-off projects here in the Yay might be accelerated. Hopefully the 580 connection repair will be be a model for future projects. It was speedy and came in under-budget, which means there was little to no graft or corruption involved.

The energy independence lobby and environmental groups are hoping for some real alternative energy stimulus in the bill. With layoff news dropping each day, green retrofits of homes would mean jobs for displaced workers. Interest is high in green energy educational programs like the solar installation training classes at San Jose City College and the time is ripe for government to make some permanent incentives for businesses to install alternative energy. Despite the downturn, there are still a grip of green jobs available in various disciplines.

Check out http://www.solarjobs.us/ and http://www.windjobs.org/ to see the latest jobs available in the green energy space.