Health Patio » Money

The EPA Picks a Pack of Power Winners

Eco Rock — Fri, 23 May 2008 17:38:23 +0000

The United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Green Power Challenge Winners for 2008 were announced in April and list Fortune 500 Companies, Retail Companies, Colleges and University. The winners consertedly bought only (or almost only) Green Power to maintain the function of their businesses. (The combined green power purchases of these organizations amounts to more than 6.6 billion kilowatt-hours of green power annually, which is the equivalent amount of electricity needed to power more than 676,000 average American homes each year! Visit the EPA’s website for a more detailed table on the top participants in each. Interestlingly, the EPA narrowly escaped its own top ten list, as the 11th organization,


	Organization Type	Providers	Green Power Resources	1. Intel Corporation	Information Technology	Austin Energy, PNM, Sterling Planet	Biomass, Geothermal, Solar, Wind
2. PepsiCo	Food & Beverage	3Degrees, Sterling Planet	Various

3. U.S. Air Force	Govt. (Federal)	3Degrees, Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Bonneville Power Administration, Colorado Springs Utilities, Georgia Power, Minnkota Power Cooperative, Oklahoma Gas & Electric, Rocky Mountain Generation Cooperative, Sterling Planet, TransAlta Energy Marketing	Biogas, Biomass, Geothermal, Solar, Wind

4. Wells Fargo & Company	Banking & Fin. Srvcs.	3Degrees	Wind

5. Whole Foods Market	Retail	Austin Energy, Community Energy, On-site Generation, PNM, Renewable Choice Energy	Biogas, Solar, Wind

6. The Pepsi Bottling Group, Inc.	Food & Beverage	3Degrees, Sterling Planet	Various

7. Johnson & Johnson	Health Care	3Degrees, FPL Energy, On-site Generation, PNM, Reliant Energy, Sempra Energy	Biomass, Small-hydro, Solar, Wind

8. Cisco Systems, Inc.	Information Technology	Sterling Planet	Biogas, Biomass, Solar, Wind

9. City of Dallas, TX	Govt. (Local, Municipal)	Gexa Energy, Reliant Energy, Suez Energy Resources NA	Wind

10. HSBC North America	Banking & Fin. Srvcs.	FPL Energy

Micro-loans, macro-benefit

Health Patio — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 03:58:07 +0000

I run a small free loan charity. The idea is to loan small (and very small) sums of money and allow repayment to be made over time without any interest. The charity derives it name from our first son who unfortunately died after only one day of life in 2002.

This micro-loan concept isn’t original to me, obviously. Today, The Tyee (like the tyee salmon for which the online magazine is named) reported the Big Power of Small Loans.

Microloans are based on character, not collateral, and the principal is to allow people, often women, with few assets or a poor credit history to access small loans for self-employment projects.

Don’t forget to keep your larger investments socially responsible. Think SRI. Forbes today schooled us on what and why SRI is possible, desirable, and… profitable.

The increase in environmental awareness has played a major role in the increasing appeal of SRIs to a wide group of investors. (source)

Ways of Knowing
Which leads us to the U.K. where green economics challenges our culture of consumerism.

Going to work and being healthy? No way.

Health Patio — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:47:59 +0000

Yes, way! The basis is N.E.A.T. (TM) or, non-exercise activity thermogenesis. “NEAT is the energy expenditure of all physical activities other than volitional sporting-like exercise. NEAT includes all those activities that render us vibrant, unique, and independent beings.”

The office – it doesn’t have to be a twisted version of a horrible gym class anymore. You know, the kind of gym class where everyone stands along the sides of the foul line and waits their turn to sprint or climb or miss a lay up. Then after the jolt of activity… it’s to the back of line with you, practically motionless.

Instead, there’s the new Walkstation, unveiled today and reported on by Money, which integrates a specially-designed treadmill with an electric height-adjustable worksurfaces. Steelcase Inc. , a global office environments manufacturer and James Levine, MD, PhD, of the renowned Mayo Clinic teamed up with manufacturer TRUE Fitness Technology, Inc. to make a product that allows for slow walking during tasks ordinarily performed sitting down.

Dr. Levine’s proprietary N.E.A.T. research suggests that increased physical activity among sedentary workers may benefit the workplace environment and increase the overall health, focus and productivity of a workforce that is typically desk-based. “The Walkstation is not intended to provide a gym-style workout in the office; its purpose is not to cause users to raise their heart rates or work up a sweat,” Dr. Levine says.

“Chair-living has proven so enticing that we have forsaken our legs. It is now time to find ways to get us back onto our legs.” Even on Health Patio!

But if you cannot see yourself going on one more step around the grindstone of your work-a-day world, please consider this innovation: the EnergyPod is designed by MetroNaps, for powernapping at work. There’s rules on napping, so please read these terms of service first.

I’m willing to encourage you to ask for a nap room at work, if you disembark from your Walkstation and feel that mid-day energy dip. Just tell the boss that Health Patio says its OK.

If you have 3 extra minutes and just need a little chuckle, watch November (the cat) get on a treadmill: