Starting Out

As an IT professional, part time geek, part time nerd, and full time Dad, using words to get things done is not something that comes naturally. There's always a bit of trepidation -- will anyone really care to read what I write? Will I make a fool of myself? But with untold millions of doing this every day, I suppose I don't really have much to loose.

So what will this blog be about? For the most part, I'll try to keep it focused on my professional interests. These days, that's the intersection between the environmental movement, entrepreneurship, software, and energy management. Oh, and a smattering of Japanese (more about that some other time). How and when I'll fit blogging into my schedule is something I haven't figured out yet, just as I have no idea what I'll really write about (or if I'll write more than just this one blog entry).

I'll also use this as a forum to experiment a little with social networking and some of the many Web 2.0 technologies. That's what prompted this post, in fact, since a company I advise asked me to take a look at the technologies used by oganizations like Amazon.com. Almost everyone with a web site today is trying to sell us on something, not unlike all other media. Amazon (and many others) make it easy. I won't talk about the hows right now, but I will include a few sample links now and then that are related to whatever I happen to be talking about.

Now every day I'm bombarded by new advertisements for "green" goods. But how many of them are really "green"? What exactly do we mean by "green", or what do we consumers want when buy green goods? I've been doing a fair amount of reading on this subject lately -- and if you're reading this then you probably have been too. We're constantly bombarded by "green" product claims. Some are little more than greenwashing, others have some basis in fact.

Here are a few that caught my eye:

For instance, which of these products is "greener":

or

Or, alternatively:

More often than not, it's difficult to tell. There's actually a science that is dedicated to finding out. They've developed ways of measuring a product's "green-ness." The method is called a "Life Cycle Assessment". Basically, you go around measuring everything that goes into making the product, all the materials, all the energy used to extract the raw materials, turn them into parts, assemble those parts into a product, all the energy that the product uses when we use it, where it goes when we are done with it, and all of the carcinogens, eutrophication, acid rain, and other bad things that happen as a result of all of this digging, building, transporting, using, and throwing away. It's a lot of work, and the results can be controversial, but it's a good way to compare and answer the question "what makes one product greener than the next".

By the way, the answer for the LED vs the CFL? The LED wins. Here's the LCA report:

LED Life Cycle Assessment

I've got to go. Have Fun!