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sheaman42

Last seen: 4 hours ago

Shea is a 31 year old guy from Portland, Maine, USA

I cover green politics, renewable energy, and climate change for MNN.com, play a lot of Ultimate Frisbee, and love living a greener small city life in Portland, Maine.

  • Instead of Walking Miles, Indian Farmers Use Cellphones...

    Rated Nov 25 • 1 review • environment, technology, india, science, green, food • treehugger.com

    From the page: "Better for Farmer and Saves Lots of Water
    Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL), a telecom company in India, has launched a new service that allows farmers to operate their irrigation pumps remotely using a SMS-capable cellphone. This is extremely useful because the alternative often is for the farmers to walk many miles to the pumps, often at night because the electricity supply is a bit more reliable then (and sometimes after walking for hours, they arrive to find out that the electricity is out)."
    121 views
    Instead of Walking Miles, Indian Farmers Use Cellphones to Operate Irrigation Pumps : TreeHugger

  • Bio-Plastics Could Replace Up to 90% of Plastics, But Not...

    Rated Nov 09 • 4 reviews • environment, technology, science, green • treehugger.com

    From the page: "270 Million Tons of Plastics in 2007
    Bioplastics are certainly not a panacea - they have their problems - but if we are to someday move to a world free of fossil fuels (by choice or by necessity), we'll need something to make plastics. Researchers from Utrecht University conducted a study that was commissioned by the associations European Bioplastics and the European Polysaccharide Network of Excellence (EPNOE), and their findings were pretty interesting."
    709 views
    Bio-Plastics Could Replace Up to 90% of Plastics, But Not in Short Term : TreeHugger

  • Europe Gets Water Smart, With a Little Help from...

    Rated Nov 03 • 1 review • environment, ireland, water, technology, europe • solveclimate.com

    From the page: "Irelandâ€s Environmental Protection Agency is launching a nationwide â€oesmart water” program to monitor one of the world's most important resources. Powered by IBM, the program will use a network of smart sensors, wireless transmitters, and analytic software to continuously monitor and manage water quality along the countryâ€s coastline and in swimmable lakes and rivers.

    Itâ€s all part of the European Unionâ€s Bathing Water Directive, which on its face may seem like a simple move to preserve beaches for tourists, but is actually a huge first step in the worldâ€s next big climate-change-related resource battle. "
    26 views
    Europe Gets Water Smart, With a Little Help from Technology | SolveClimate.com

  • Sharing Green Patents: Eco-Patent Commons &Green Xchange...

    Rated Nov 02 • 1 review • environment, technology, science, green, patents • treehugger.com

    From the page: "No Need to Keep Re-Inventing the Green Wheel
    Last year, guest posters from the World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD) wrote a post on TreeHugger about the creation of the Eco-Patent Commons. At the start they had 31 green patents that had been pledged by companies like IBM, Nokia, Pitney-Bowes and Sony. Today, that number has more than tripled with a 100 patents and new heavy-weight pledgers like Xerox, Dupont, Dow Chemical and Bosch."
    536 views
    Sharing Green Patents: Eco-Patent Commons &Green Xchange : TreeHugger

  • Ford Not Sold on Battery-Swapping for Electric Cars :...

    Rated Oct 30 • 1 review • cars, electric cars, environment, technology, ford • treehugger.com

    From the page: "A Good Idea that Faces Many Big Challenges
    I couldn't resist using that old photo from an experiment that Mercedes did in the 1970s with battery swapping. The modern version of that technology is a lot more automated than this (see our post about Better Place's robotized swapping station), but the general idea is the same and not all the auto makers that are working on electric cars are enthused about it. Among those that aren't sold on the idea is Ford."
    854 views
    Ford Not Sold on Battery-Swapping for Electric Cars : TreeHugger

  • Running the White House Web site on Drupal is a political...

    Rated Oct 29 • 2 reviews • government, white house, internet, technology, drupal • slate.com

    From the page: "In yet another repudiation of its predecessor, the Obama administration this week migrated the White House Web site to Drupal, the popular open-source Web site management software. By dumping the Bush administration's proprietary system and embracing software authored by the community and available to everyone, the consensus holds, the White House embodies the very essence of the new politics.

    I wish Drupal and the White House nothing but happiness. But I have a feeling this story ends badly. If the administration had conducted a few polls among the swing demographic of Web site administrators, it would have realized that Drupal is pocked with political landmines. To wit: Drupal represents everything the Obama team does not want to project. Allow me to elaborate."
    31 views
    Running the White House Web site on Drupal is a political disaster. - By Chris Wilson - Slate Magazine

  • Paul Graham: Priority Access to Twitter Is Practical...

    Rated Oct 29 • 1 review • internet, technology, startup, entrepreneur, twitter • readwriteweb.com

    From the page: "If hardcore hackers had any doubts whether the real-time web was a legitimate development environment, Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham is dispelling them. In an interview with Graham, ReadWriteWeb learned that the entrepreneur-turned-investor issued a "Request for Startups" (RFS) asking for ideas from companies utilizing Twitter and Justin.tv's live video API. Groups who are accepted to Y-Combinator and fall under these categories will be given "priority access" to Twitter and Justin.tv. "
    97 views
    Paul Graham: Priority Access to Twitter Is Practical Necessity - ReadWriteStart

  • Dell HQ Gets a 130 kW Solar Parking Lot with Plug-In...

    Rated Oct 23 • 1 review • cars, environment, technology, solar, dell • treehugger.com

    From the page: "Park In the Shade, Recharge Your Plug-In Vehicle
    Dell's headquarters in Round Rock, Texas, now have a shaded solar parking structure called the Solar Grove. It was built by Envision Solar, and it has a capacity of 130 kilowatts, which should help avoid about 145,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per year. But the clean electricity is only part of the benefit; there's also some energy savings that come from the shade produced by the "solar trees" since cooler cars don't need as much A/C."
    1,136 views
    Dell HQ Gets a 130 kW Solar Parking Lot with Plug-In Charging Stations : TreeHugger

  • Blinded by the light | MNN - Mother Nature Network

    Rated Oct 21 • 3 reviews • environment, technology, green design • mnn.com

    Awesome technology if it can be made to work. From the page: "Minjoo Kwan's probably-won't-be found-at-your-local-Home Depot-anytime-soon design concept, the Blind Air Conditioner, is exactly as described: a solar-powered AC unit that's also a set of window blinds. On a hot and sunny day when the blinds are drawn, solar panels built into the top of the blinds power a built-in air conditioning unit. Cool. Kwan, who apparently likes a good breeze, explains further:

    Imagine a cool breeze blowing from your window! â€Blind Air Conditioner†is an innovative air conditioner that can also function as a blind. â€Blind Air Conditioner†is installed on the window itself like a blind, thereby emphasizing the image of a window on a breezing morning. â€Blind Air Conditioner†challenges the old design by combining the functionality of both an air conditioner as well as a foldable blind."
    1,365 views
    Blinded by the light | MNN - Mother Nature Network

  • OMG ... another Kindle killer | MNN - Mother Nature Network

    Rated Oct 21 • 4 reviews • books, technology, reading, ebooks, kindle • mnn.com

    From the page: "Just when you thought there couldn't be one more Kindle killer, Barnes and Noble will be running an ad this weekend in the New York Times featuring their brand new digital book reader called "the nook."

    The device is very similar to the Kindle in size and price ($259) but it includes a full color touch screen! It also has a nifty browser function that lets you pan through full-color book cover icons to select your book, similar to the touch screen panning feature of the iPhone.

    The device is 3G, so according to the Barnes & Noble website you can download over a million titles in seconds rather than minutes, and B & N is letting users flip through any book for free prior to purchasing it. This "bookstore in a box" functionality is paired with a new technology called E ink which lets the user zoom in at random and maintain a crisp resolution on the text. "
    13K views
    OMG ... another Kindle killer | MNN - Mother Nature Network