GoingTrueGreen's Blog Postings

New York's Broadway Still Closed

5/22/2014

sustainability, going green, broadway, new york city, broadway closed to traffic, saving energy

New York City's Broadway Closed for Five Years and Forever

Five years ago on Sunday May 24, 2009, New York City Closed Down Broadway! This action was taken by New York City to save lives, energy and the environment. Broadway shows remain open, just 47th Street to 42nd Street of Broadway the road, were closed to vehicular traffic. I took the photo above while enjoying the additional open space on Broadway when New York City's test program just started.

I first blogged about this five years ago on EnergyHotwire.com and spoke about how this project was being evaluate to reduce traffic accidents, save lives, save gas, save time, save energy, and help save our environment by reducing pollution. For years many have stated this test was long over due and hope for positive results. Especially, since these areas of Broadway have accident rates 144% higher than any other street in Manhattan.

So here we are five years later and the results are in...

- Traffic times decreased by 7% overall in Midtown and safety was greatly enhanced.
- According to New York City's DOT (Dept. of Transportation) there was a 63% reduction in injuries to motorists and passengers while a 35% reduction in pedestrian injuries was realized.
- A pedestrian mall from 42nd Street to 43rd Street was opened with just one week left in Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration.
- Beautiful large tile stones replaced the painted traffic lanes and Blacktop surface.
- Five more renovated pedestrian malls are planned to be completed and business should increase even more according to officials from New York City.
- A Times Square Alliance survey found 76% of New Yorkers and 68% of retail gave their approval of the project.
- The groundbreaking pilot project will remain permanent.

It was a beautiful picture of New York's Times Square five years ago... Now with the beauty of plaza layouts, stone surfaces, tables and chairs instead of cars, it is even more beautiful.

Bill Lauto, GTG
Environmental Scientist at
GoingTrueGreen.com
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Send A Book, Give 4 Years of Clean Water

5/13/2014

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The Drinkable Book, clean water, water, Dr. Dankovich, University of Virginia, Water is Life, tap water, center for global health, antimicrobial, water purification, developing countries

A Drinkable Book... Literally!

An amazing book that makes clean drinkable water for anyone living in our world who does not have clean water to drink. A life saving product.

This is a story for everyone who has clean water to drink everyday and a project for all of us to support one way or another.

This is truly a Godsent to people that just do not have clean drinkable water. We now have a revolutionary Drinkable Book that was created by Dr. Theresa Dankovich, a Post-doctoral researcher at University of Virginia. The program established with the Center for Global Health and the university's environmental engineering department, was for investigating water purification in developing countries. The program is called WATER Is Life and the book has pages that are actual filters with antimicrobial properties. The University of Virginia has a collaboration with the University of Venda in South Africa to test silver-impregnanted pages for filtering contaminated water.

End result, ceramic filters for purifying water make up the pages of a book. Facts about the WATER Is Life book:

costs only cents to make
each filter can sustain a person for 30 days
each book contains enough filters to sustain a person for 4 years
bacteria count reduced by 99%, making previously contaminated water of equivalent quality to U.S. tap water
filters and kills waterborne diseases like cholera, typhoid and E. coli

The only issue is having the instructions for use in English, perhaps other languages or images will better serve all the people this book can help.

Technology has provided a tremendous solution because of the hard work of one amazing researcher. Raise your glass and toast Dr. Theresa Dankovich, then go visit the video at http://youtu.be/qYTif9F188E to get involved and save lives.

Bill Lauto, GTG
Environmental Scientist at
GoingTrueGreen.com
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Solar For Miles and Miles

5/11/2014

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Solar, solar power, solar energy, led, leds, solar roadways

Miles and Miles of Solar Energy

Almost 7 years ago I heard about an idea to put solar cells into all the roads of America. I wasn't buying then and even today with major hurdles conquered and becoming intrigued, I still need many questions answered.

Nevertheless, this idea has made news. If we look at 18,000 square miles of roads in America and close to 2 Billion parking spaces, we can generate a great deal of energy from the sun light upon all this space if solar cells were somehow incorporated into the surface.

Enter Scott and Julie Brusaw who went from an idea eight years ago to a project called Solar Roadways. They hope to re-pave the country in custom, glass-covered solar panels that can survive 250,000 pounds of weight while generating energy to light the roadway, prevent snow from sticking in the first place, melt ice and then provide extra energy to the Power Grid. Some people have stated that if all roads in America were re-paved with this product, more energy than what our country uses would be produced.

Now questions still remain, but several have been answered. First everyone will think about driving on glass and how glass breaks. Also a big fear will be about when glass gets wet from rain, there is no traction at all. The solution came with tempered glass laminated together. Only half of one inch thick and strong like bulletproof and bomb resistant glass. The additional solutions are:

Solar Panel Roadways

- A textured surface solves the slippery issue.
- LED lights inside the six sided surface will light the way.
- The same LEDs can spell out warning messages.
- Dividing lines will no longer need to be painted thus, no fading occurs.
- The Solar Cells will power small heaters to melt snow or ice.
- The same small heaters will keep the roads dryer after rain.
- Solar energy created will power local buildings or go to storage.
- If one panel stops working, other panels will call for replacement.
- AND perhaps, just perhaps, no more Pot Holes!

The questions I still have today are about how all this is connected to our current obsolete power grid? Will any of the energy be stored for night use? How is the power to be distributed? What is the Kilowatt cost for homeowners compared to today's bills? What is the expected life of a panel? Will it last longer than Blacktop surfaces? Will the heat from the sun on a hot summer's day cause buckling of the roadway? Will the space (visable in photo above) between panels allow water to get under them and cause erosion of the soil below?

As of now, the company is trying to raise one million dollars on Indiegogo to hire more engineers for additional refining and research. Parking lots will be the first testing ground, then small roadways before we venture onto any highways. Time will tell.

Bill Lauto, GTG
Environmental Scientist at
GoingTrueGreen.com
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Grandparents Did It

5/2/2014

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superheroes, superhero, hero, sustainability, going green, cell phones, social media, webinars, grandparents

True Superheroes must Always be Aware

Yes, your grandparents did it, so why not you?

So put down the cell phone, stop with the social media for three minutes, look up and notice your world. Your grandparents did things that made our world a better place, more sustainable. Compared to us - they were Superheroes.

So what did they do?
What stops us from doing what they did?
AND
What is the secret to be a Superhero?

First thing you must realize to be a Superhero, you don't go running around with a mask and a cape! A true Superhero gets their power from knowledge.

Please read completely and take our survey below so we can provide additional data for future posted discussions and webinars.

modern society, society, crazy, gmo, compactor, sustainable, going green, pattern

A Monotonous & Precarious Pattern

Many everyday tasks that supported a "sustainable" life have been lost in today's modern society. This has created a precarious pattern:

Production of throw away items leads to less reusable items such as a glass or mug. Modern kitchen appliances such as a garbage compactor leads to less composting, which leads to less gardens growing food, which leads to dependence on processed food, which spurs production of GMO food, ad infinitum.

Garbage Compactor

Do you have a Garbage Compactor in your house and you don't do any composting or grow any type of food in a garden?

Composting Bin

Backyard Garden

To read a conversation between a grandmother and her grandchild Click Here. They discuss the difference between taking the garbage out years ago compared to today. The amount of money, energy, and our environment, saved is an eye opener. So tell us what you do to be sustainable that most others don't do. Please submit our survey below: