Solar Decathlon: Variety is the Spice of Sustainable Life

One interesting aspect of the Solar Decathlon was the diversity of solutions given the same design parameters - a testament to the infinite opportunities on the horizon for the future of sustainable living.

Here, a few of the 20 Solar Decathlon entrants. In order: Team Spain, Rice University, Penn State, University of Kentucky, and Team California (Santa Clara University, California College of the Arts).

White Roofs Cool the World

Arthur Rosenfeld, California's energy commissioner, is advocating painting the town white.

"Everybody who's ever walked on a roof knows if it's white it will only heat up maybe ten degrees above ambient temperature. If it's some nice architectural green or terracotta tiles or whatever, it can heat up to eighty degrees above room temperature. So a white roof reflects solar radiation back into space where it's transparent, where it belongs, and a dark roof traps heat and contributes to the greenhouse effect."

Rosenfeld points out that this is not a new environmental technology. Greeks painted their roofs and whole buildings white 2000 years ago, and Pharaohs whitewashed their roofs 5000 years ago.

The numbers:

"For 1,000 square feet which is like half the area of your house, a white roof as opposed to a dark roof cools the world enough to offset the heating effects of ten tons of carbon dioxide. That's like two and a half years of emissions from your family car... If white roofs took over the world or the urban world over a twenty year program, we would save twenty five billion tons of CO2, which is the same as turning off the whole world's emissions of CO2 for one year."

Click here for a summary on how white roofs cool the earth.

And for an interview with Commissioner Rosenfeld, click on this link for PRI's Living on Earth segment entitled Painting the Town White.

Arnold Flexes Environmental Muscle

Arnold Schwarzenegger is no poser. The California governor has been aggressively exercising the Golden State's right to address climate change.

Efforts to raise the bar on auto emission standards beyond the meager standards set by the federal government met with opposition from the former Bush administration, but President Obama recently ordered a review of that policy opening the way for its implementation.

The PBS program NOVA, in a program entitled The Big Energy Gamble, takes a look at California's sustainability agenda and ponders the question, "Will the US will follow?"

California Dreamin'

The State of California's proactive policies regulating the emission of CO2 is paying off.

Emissions per person are down even as the state's economy has grown. And the green sector of the economy has shown the most impressive growth rising 10 percent annually.

A new report by NEXT10 - a non-partisan organization focused on the convergence of energy, the economy, and lifestyle - exposes as myth the idea that "environmental stewardship comes at the expense of business."

The group's 2008 Green Innovation Index summarizes that "since the 1970s when the state government first started requiring more energy-efficient buildings and appliances, California has grown more prosperous and added jobs even as its citizens cut the amount of energy they use and the greenhouse gases they produce."

A focus on conservation along with higher standards for energy-efficiency in buildings and appliances means Californians are paying much less for energy than their the rest of the country. And aggressive incentives for developing and installing clean green energy systems has attracted record amounts of venture capital investment for green business start-ups. As a result, California leads the nation in patent applications for renewable energy and green products.

This morning, President Obama announced that he is ordering the EPA to reconsider it's opposition to states setting higher standards for auto emissions. Unconscionably, under the past administration, the Environmental Protection Agency prohibited states from raising local environmental standards higher than those set by the agency.

Check out the Los Angeles Times story: Obama clearing way for California emissions waiver

And just for kicks: The Mamas and the Papas