+ Shine It All Around

It has been estimated that over 50% of the trees cut globally are used for cook fires. Gathering wood and burning fires requires tremendous effort and has a significant impact on the environment, communities and families. A great example of user-need focused concept that helps improve the quality of life for families is the solar oven. While a solar oven is not the magic silver bullet, it can be used to significantly reduce the amount of these problems and costs. The other part of the effort is getting the ovens to those families and communities.

The mission of the Solar Oven Society is to provide low-cost, effective, durable, attractive solar ovens, education and training to help families in sun-rich, fuel poor countries improve their environmental, health, nutrition, time and financial resources.

To learn more we spoke with Michael Port, Executive Director, Solar Oven Society

How much does the purchase of SOS sport solar oven in the US help someone else in another country?

When an oven is purchased here at the retail price helps us offer the oven at a very reduced rate to people overseas who really need an oven on a daily basis.
The oven is intended to part of the kitchen, it is not intended to replace traditional cooking completely, but it is a huge help to those families.
The ovens are not free, and we encourage people to never give the ovens away. Often times the people using the ovens are in cities, and traditionally are using up to 1/3 of their income for fuel, 1/3 for food, and 1/3 for housing. So even at a cost of $25 to $30 US dollars, if they save $5 a month in fuel costs, they can recoup the cost the of oven relatively quickly.


Many households in the US have some sort of oven range in their kitchens, as well as a microwave oven and an outdoor grill. How does a solar oven fit in beyond being another novelty appliance or piece of camping gear?

One of our upcoming efforts is to begin working selectively with power companies to include information flyers in utility bills on how the solar oven can reduce energy consumption, the other benefits it can proved and directing them to our website. We feel strongly that this can help people begin to consider and use alternatives. Most people cannot to afford to go out and purchase a photo voltaic cell based solar energy system for their homes, but they can easily begin to use the ovens and realize the sunshine can cook some of their meals and explore what else can it do for them. Another benefit is that the oven's main casing is made from recycled post-consumer PET plastic. Another way this will be successful is through word of mouth. When people know the ovens work they are more likely to be supportive of our overseas efforts.

Another thing that benefits the user regardless of locale is that slow cooking is more nutritious. The oven is safe, pollution free and cannot burn food!

An interesting feature of the solar oven is the use of the oven to pasteurize water. I was wondering what the combination of slow sand filtering could provide for people needing potable water?

If water is 150 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes or more the waterborne bacteria and parasites are killed. The SOS Sport solar oven comes with a simple to use WAPI (water pasteurization indicator) that provides a sure test for water pasteurization. If there is sediment, etc the water may still need to be filtered, so a combination of slow sand filtering and heat pasteurization would be good way to get potable water without boiling.
We are also working with some retired 3M engineers to develop a system to pasteurize even more water quicker.

It has been estimated if we can somehow capture the energy that the earth receives from the Sun in 10 minutes time, that would be enough to supply the entire population for a year. We have a ways to go, but one thing our country is good at is coming up with solutions when we have to.


The Solar Oven Society has an outstanding website that provides an abundance of information:
http://www.solarovens.org/

+ Got Nature?

"Bone specialists say possibly millions of seemingly healthy children aren't building as much strong bone as they should _ a gap that may leave them more vulnerable to bone-cracking osteoporosis later in life than their grandparents are".

Evidence is mounting that considerably more children are breaking bones now than their counterparts were 40 years ago. What is the cause of all of this? Often the first thought is lack of Calcium. With so many products having "added Calcium", not to mention the Got Milk campaign it stands to reason that there is not a shortage of Calcium in our children's lives.

A more unfamiliar fact is that the body does not properly process the Calcium it has if there is a lack of Vitamin D.

"By some estimates, 30 percent of teens get too little".

Without diving too far into the chemistry, a primary source of Vitamin D is sunlight. It is generated by the skins exposure to UV light. Furthermore, the Vitamin D generated by the human body is more effective, and easier for the body to use than the supplemental counterpart. So, many experts are beginning to agree that the indoor sedimentary lifestyle has more than a psychological effect on developing children, it may be producing a whole generation of people with weaker bones.

To read more on this subject, click here and check it out. Or better yet, lets make sure that our kids actually get out and see the sun occasionally.

+ SunTable

Two Brooklyn designers (Devang A. Shah & Michael Low) got together and created an outdoor recreational table with a solar panel top. The SunTable.

SunTable is made to be left outside and used as a part of daily life. It uses the highest quality parts, and is designed from the ground up for sustainability and ease of recycling (90% is reclycable). It is designed and assembled in the USA.



The table can store 13 amp hours, at 12 volts and charges in 3 hours of sunlight. That equals 156 Watts in total. That is enough power to run a laptop for over 3 hours, or a TV for 4.

Designed for intermittent electrical use, it has an LED monitor which will display the charge level of the table. The energy is stored in a battery and accessible with the 12V DC outlet on the side of the table itself. An 120V AC inverter is also available.

+ Park + Vine... Where Being Green Is Easy

The Greener Grass recently sat down with Dan Korman, the owner of Park + Vine. Named for it's location on the corner of Central Parkway and Vine Streets in Cincinnati, OH, it is "a green general store where being green is easy" as the website declares - and where it also boasts a Walk Score of 97 out of 100.


The Greener Grass: Let's get some background first... where did you get the inspiration for the store?

Dan Korman: I got the inspiration from going to a farmer's market in Chicago called Green City Market, a sustainable market, so I became friends with a lot of the vendors there who are a combination of farmers, bakers and soap makers, and I just got a lot of inspiration from what they were doing as entrepreneurs and on a mission to make a product that was not only good for people, but also good for the environment. And then I saw three of them go from being vendors at the market to having their own storefront which gave me great inspiration.

"I'm a big proponent of shopping local - three times more money goes back into the community if you shop at a locally owned store versus a chain."

TGG: And it's so unique for Cincy - that's why I got excited about it. So, you've been open for seven months... How's business?

DK: Business is great actually - December was our best month in terms of retail... we started off strong in June, fell off a little in July and every month thereafter it's gone up, and we're essentially breaking even. There seemed to be a lot of pre-opening press exposure, and then the area started opening up, but because of the make up of the store we were able to ride it on our own, and not just the things happening around us.

TGG: That's great, and it seems like 'green living' has permeated the public consciousness now. Have you ever had anyone come into the store that hasn't understood its premise?

DK: No, most people who come here know about the store before they come in - well, word of mouth is the number one way people hear about it, and then whenever we're in the Enquirer or City Beat we typically get a nice little rush. Sometimes we'll get somebody who is like "What is this place?" - which is exciting! But what is also exciting is when we get people who are not from here who come specifically to this store from another area.

TGG: On your website and your blog you talk about local things that are happening in your neighborhood of Over the Rhine. How is 'being local' connected to 'being green' and saving energy?

DK: I was just asked something along those lines - what's most important to the business? Is it that you have products that are made out of recycled materials, is it that it's locally made, etc.? - it's really a combination of all of those things. We look for as much stuff as we can that is made locally and then bringing in stuff that fits the store's mission, and maybe that will provide inspiration for somebody to make it locally, like the furniture that we are sitting in right now. (Chairs and side table made from bike parts). Which captures a lot of people's imaginations. I'm a big proponent of shopping local - three times more money goes back into the community if you shop at a locally owned store versus a chain.

TGG: I think there's a lot of people that don't know that...

DK: It's statistally proven... I'm sure you've seen the Buycincy.com blog - and with the whole Cincinnati Unchained event we've aligned ourselves with and hopefully next year there will be even more momentum and businesses participating in it, raising awareness. It's funny because I've found that it's more of a struggle with my own family forgetting that one of their own family members owns a business and supporting that before going somewhere else...

TGG: Awareness and education seems still to be a really big issue when it comes to how to 'live green'...

DK: And without being too heavy-handed message as well, because we don't want that to be the case with this store, we want to keep things upbeat and offer a positive message. In addition to being a retail store, we have an education outreach arm as well - we're planning a workshop on composting and lead paints and somebody has pitched the idea of eco-feminism.

TGG: How are someways that the store itself is energy efficient?

DK: First off, we're in an existing building, so we're using something that was already here; I think it was built in the 1880's, and when we painted it we used non-toxic paint, Low-VOC paint. We use compact fluorescent lighting, and we had our HVAC system upgraded to where it complies with L.E.E.D. requirements. We're pretty sure we have the prerequisites in place for L.E.E.D., we just haven't pursued it. The refrigerator up front and the coffee maker that we have are Energy Star rated and a lot of the displays that we use in the store are re-used from other stores that no longer exist or things we found at antique stores. And we encourage people to ride their bikes or walk to the store... Starting February 1st officially, anyone who bikes or walks to the store gets 10% off.


TGG: That's awesome. So of the items in Park + Vine, what are some of the biggest energy savers for people?

DK: Well, water bottles are big. Instead of buying water bottles over and over again, you just use one and the same thing with reusable bags, we sell tons of reusable bags. We don't sell a ton of compact fluorescent bulbs, but we do have them in the store, and then we have the Smart Strip as well.

TGG: That's interesting, because I think the first two things that you mentioned would surprise most people as energy savers, but recently China just banned giving away free plastic bags at retail citing that they are "a huge waste of energy..."

DK: That's amazing... I'm going to put that on our blog.

"I just got a lot of inspiration from what they were doing as entrepreneurs and on a mission to make a product that was not only good for people, but also good for the environment."

TGG: You mentioned having more solar powered items - and it seems like solar products is kind of a maze when looking. I know you sell bags from Voltaic Systems for charging up small electronics. Are there many companies doing that for personal items?

DK: We're looking at a company called Silicon Solar which has a whole array of consumer friendly products that they make, and we were looking at solar powered holiday lights for the season, which makes sense for the outdoor, but didn't get to it in time, but we just went with the LED holiday lights. We are still going ahead with the batteries and battery chargers because of several requests. And that's what the store is - a direct response to what customers want. Doesn't it seem like the store has changed since you've first come in?

TGG: Yeah, it definitely has, and that's an interesting point. There's so many new 'green' items coming out that it seems there has to be a back and forth between who knows what's best and why...

DK: It goes both ways here. Our biggest competition is online, and what we've learned is that we need to let people know as much as possible about what we have, because we'll have people come into the store and say something like "Oh I didn't realize you had these Klean Kanteen bottles?!" because there is a certain amount of brand loyalty to certain products and people are used to buying them online. So they'll say, "Had I known I would have got them from you because the price is the same, and you don't have to pay for shipping."

TGG: So what's the greener grass for Park + Vine; what's in store for the future?

DK: Do more education outreach, and get even more involved in the neighborhood and the city in terms of Green initiatives because there is a lot going on in Cincinnati - it's amazing.

TGG: What are you most excited about?

DK: There's an initiative to make Over the Rhine a L.E.E.D. certified neighborhood as a whole... that's big. We're obviously excited about any bike initiatives along the river, glad that the city didn't cut the bike program and of course the street car... it would definitely affect us and be good for the overall city. And then we're bringing in compost bins and recycling containers, and more solar powered stuff, batteries and battery chargers. In the future, I'd love to get more into home improvement, building materials as well. We obviously only have so much space here... maybe build a L.E.E.D. certified building next door... who knows?