A one-size-fits-all phone charger could cut down on the electronic waste generated by cell phones (Photo by Shawn Allee)
That search for the right cell
phone charger should soon become
a thing of the past. Cell phone
makers have agreed to come up with
a universal adaptor. Julie Grant
reports that that could save tons
of landfill space:
Transcript
That search for the right cell phone charger should soon become a thing of the past. Cell phone makers have agreed to come up with a universal adaptor. Julie Grant reports that that could save tons of landfill space:
Top cell phone makers – including Nokia, Samsung and Apple – have struck a deal to standardize handset chargers for European consumers by next year.
And the U.S. wireless industry association says Americans will likely see a universal charger before 2012.
That means when you buy a new phone, you won’t need to buy a new charger. You’ll be able keep using the one-size-fits-all charger.
Ted Scardamalia is with the technology analysis firm Portelligent. He says this is good for consumers – and the environment.
“If I have a charger that lasts for two or three or four phones, that’s two or three or four chargers I don’t have to recycle or put into a landfill.”
Last year, an estimated 1.2 billion cell phones were sold worldwide, according to University of Southern Queensland data reported by industry umbrella group GSMA (Groupe Speciale Mobile Association), generating up to 82,000 tonnes of chargers.
With concerns over the level of waste generated by redundant or outmoded chargers, European legislators had, prior to Monday’s agreement, considered forcing manufacturers to adopt universal technology.
Ted Bohn, a researcher at Argonne National Laboratory in the Chicago
suburbs, shows off a modified Saturn Vue with a lithium-ion battery in the rear (Photo by Gabriel Spitzer)
One of the great hopes for a green
car is the plug-in hybrid. It’s like a regular
gas-electric hybrid, only you can plug in at
night. That charge is supposed to let most
people make a typical commute without the gas engine. Carmakers and the government are throwing a lot of money at the technology – GM and Chrysler both hope to release models in the next few years. But the cars might not deliver what boosters promise. In the first part of our series on saving gas, Gabriel Spitzer
reports on what new research says about plug-in hybrids in the real world:
Transcript
One of the great hopes for a green
car is the plug-in hybrid. It’s like a regular
gas-electric hybrid, only you can plug in at
night. That charge is supposed to let most
people make a typical commute without the gas
engine. Carmakers and the government are
throwing a lot of money at the technology – GM
and Chrysler both hope to release models in the
next few years. But the cars might not deliver
what boosters promise. In the first part of
our series on saving gas, Gabriel Spitzer
reports on what new research says about plug-in
hybrids in the real world:
Ted Bohn is a researcher at Argonne National Laboratory in the Chicago
suburbs and he’s showing off his ride.
“So this a prototype, plug-in hybrid vehicle. The rear half is a 10
kilowatt-hour battery.”
It’s a modified Saturn Vue, with a big old lithium-ion battery in the rear.
That battery is like what runs your iPod – only it weighs as much as a
linebacker.
Ted Bohn: “If you actually had to drive less than 40 miles on a typical
day, you could drive the whole day without starting the engine.”
Gabriel Spitzer: “Could you drive this very vehicle 40 miles round-trip
without starting the engine?”
Ted Bohn: “Close. If you drive slowly. To be honest, 25 to 30 is what
you’ll really do – driving on a nice day downhill with a tailwind is 40,
more realistically, 25 to 30.”
The thing is, you don’t hear those little caveats from some people, like, say,
General Motors.
“You plug it in. And they expect you’ll get up to 40 miles without a drop
of gas. Wow. The Chevy Volt. I’ve heard the future, and it hums.”
That 40-mile range is based on EPA tests.
Argonne scientist Aymeric Rousseau, with backing from the government,
compared those measures to how people drive in the real world.
Based on more than 100 drivers in Kansas City, he found that 40 mile range
shrinks to about 30.
Flip on your AC, and it’s more like 20.
“People now think about, you know, your mileage may vary. Now we
have to think about, your electrical distance may vary, depending on
how you drive, and what accessories you’re using.”
Rousseau says factors like aggressive driving sap the all-electric range.
And don’t forget – we’re talking Kansas City, here.
“When we talk to people from the EPA they actually say that people in
California drive more aggressively than people in Kansas City.”
General Motors concedes the point.
Rob Peterson is a spokesman for GM.
He says driver behavior can have some affect on the all-electric range.
Though …
“I wouldn’t go as low as 28 to 32.”
He says for a reasonable driver, the Volt can still get about 40.
And how about those pedal-to-the-metal Californians? Well, he says GM
studied exactly those people.
“For 64% of the people that we tested, they would be able to finish their
day with a petroleum-free and a tailpipe-emission-free commute.”
That’s not exactly what Argonne found.
Granted, the batteries they looked at were a little smaller than the Volt’s.
Size matters when it comes to batteries.
Said Al-Hallaj teaches at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
He says carmakers could build a battery that would boost up the all-electric
range – the problem is money.
“If you’re talking about a 25% increase, you know, from 30 to 40 miles,
that could mean thousands of dollars. So that could take it out of the
price range that will make it actually practical for the industry to make
it.”
Al-Hallaj says as the technology improves, so will drivers.
People are already getting better at squeezing fuel efficiency out of their
cars.
“For the first time I see people even worried about closing the window
versus opening the window because of drag. And we’re talking about
common people here, just trying to pay attention to, if your tires are not
properly inflated, the you have prob — so people start adapt and
probably get the best out of your battery.”
So it’s not that a plug-in hybrid can’t get 40, it’s just that you need to drive
like a grandmother to do it.
But if gas prices continue to climb, we may be seeing a lot more grannies
behind the wheel.
Active flame front of the Zaca Fire, the second largest fire on record in California. (U.S. Forest Service photo by John Newman)
New technology might help the US
Forest Service detect fires in remote areas
more quickly. Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
New technology might help the US
Forest Service detect fires in remote areas
more quickly. Lester Graham reports:
A chemical reaction makes batteries generate electricity. There’s a ph difference
between trees and the soil around them. MIT researchers say they can use that
chemical difference to generate a tiny amount of electricity.
Andreas Mershin and his MIT colleagues say it’s just enough power to trickle charge
sensors that read temperature and humidity. Then they send that data to the U.S.
Forest Service so it can determine the risk of fire.
“The advantage comes from the fact you no longer need to be going to very remote
locations and changing batteries all the time.”
The Forest Service will be testing these sensors next spring. They cost about one-tenth
of other sensors that need batteries. So it could mean more sensors in remote
locations. That way the Forest Service could have a better idea of if and when it needs
to put fire equipment near hot, dry areas.
For The Environment Report, this is Lester Graham.
Some people get a little concerned about more electrics and electric-hybrid cars. That’s
because 50% of electric power in the U.S. comes from coal-burning power plants. And,
just about every state wants to build more power plants to meet peak demand. (Photo by Ed Edahl, courtesy of FEMA)
The big automakers are working on
coming up with plug in hybrids. By the
end of 2010, G-M and Toyota plan to have
cars you can plug in to charge up batteries,
backed up with small gas powered engines.
Lester Graham reports there are concerns
about whether pollution from power plants
will be any better than pollution from tailpipes:
Transcript
The big automakers are working on
coming up with plug in hybrids. By the
end of 2010, G-M and Toyota plan to have
cars you can plug in to charge up batteries,
backed up with small gas powered engines.
Lester Graham reports there are concerns
about whether pollution from power plants
will be any better than pollution from tailpipes:
I was out the other day with a guy who converted his Saturn four-door into an all electric
vehicle. Did it all himself.
His name’s Bob Gurk. He’s one of a lot of people who think there’s a better way, and
they want you to see for yourself.
Bob Gurk: “Here are the keys.”
Lester Graham: “I’m drivin’?”
Guys like Bob Gurk think the big automakers should have come up with electrics and
plug-in hybrids a long time ago.
Lester Graham: “Unplug here?”
Bob Gurk: “Yeah.”
(sounds of driving)
Bob Gurk says, sure, he spent a lot converting his car to electric. And there are some
sacrifices: no air conditioning, he can only go just a little over 50 miles without a charge,
but then, he’s not paying close to four-bucks a gallon for gasoline now.
Bob Gurk: “I figure it’s about three cents a mile.”
Lester Graham: “Three cents a mile?”
Bob Gurk: “Yeah.”
Lester Graham: “As opposed to gasoline, which is?”
Bob Gurk: “Ten cents a mile, I’d say. At least.”
Some people get a little concerned about more electrics and electric-hybrids. That’s
because 50% of electric power in the U.S. comes from coal-burning power plants. And,
just about every state wants to build more power plants to meet peak demand.
A guy who’s supposed to know something about electric cars is Andy Frank. He’s at
the University of California Davis. Some call him the father of the plug-in-hybrid. Andy
Frank says we don’t use all the power that’s available right now.
“What a lot of people don’t realize is that the grid actually has excess capacity. The
reason why is there has to be enough capacity to satisfy the peak draw in the middle of
the day. But, at night everybody turns off their lights and that draw goes down to about
anywhere between a half and two-thirds of what is required during the peak of the day.”
So, the idea is you could plug in your plug-in hybrid overnight.
“And then the question is how many cars could you charge with that idle capacity on our
existing grid? About 75 to 80% of cars in our entire fleet in the U.S. could be charged
with that excess capacity that we currently have.”
That’s assuming most people would only plug in at night, during the off-peak hours. If
most of them did, that would be a lot of cars that would not be emitting pollution from the
tailpipes.
But that also means some power plants will be burning more coal at night, billowing out
pollution, including greenhouse gasses.
Dustin Dwyer reports on automotive issues for Michigan Radio and he’s covered this
issue.
“One of the benefits, the power companies will tell you, is that if you have millions of
tailpipes out there spewing emissions, it’s much more difficult to capture those emissions
or manage those emissions than it is to manage coming out of one smokestack at the
power plant.”
But, you do end up shifting some pollution upstream to the power plants. And that
would pollute rural areas more, because that’s where they build the power plants.
The experts say that’s why we ought to start building parking lots with car ports covered
in solar panels, put up more wind turbines, and find other ways to use energy better – to
power all those electric and plug-in hybrids that are coming.
For The Environment Report, this is Lester Graham.
A laboratory researcher examines a lithium-ion battery that may be put in a hybrid car in the future (Photo courtesy of the Department of Energy)
The federal government and US carmakers are spending more
money on battery research for plug-in hybrid vehicles. That’s because
existing battery technology is limited. But some of the grant winners
say success won’t come easily. Chuck Quirmbach reports:
Transcript
The federal government and US carmakers are spending more
money on battery research for plug-in hybrid vehicles. That’s because
existing battery technology is limited. But some of the grant winners
say success won’t come easily. Chuck Quirmbach reports:
The US Advanced Battery Consortium is made up of General Motors, Chrysler and Ford.
Together with money from the Department of Energy, the consortium is handing out millions of
dollars to develop batteries for Hybrid vehicles.
Johnson Controls and a partner will develop lithium-ion batteries for plug-in hybrids.
Michael Andrew is a spokesman for Johnson Controls. He says his company has a lot of work to
do to make a battery that will go forty miles between charges.
“You’ve got to hit volume targets, weight targets, power targets, energy targets, cost targets. For
the 40 mile range application, that’s gonna be a tremendous challenge for us.”
The battery and car makers say it might take even more government support to help the US auto
industry shift away from gasoline-powered cars.
Critics say the companies should have focused sooner on fuel efficiency.
Hybrid cars like this Honda Insight look good to consumers at first...until they see the price tag. (Photo courtesy of the National Park Service)
We’re hearing a lot more from automakers these days about new
technologies that will save you gas. Most of the technologies they talk about
are not in showrooms yet. So when will they be? And which technologies
will find their way to your car first? Dustin Dwyer has some answers:
Transcript
We’re hearing a lot more from automakers these days about new
technologies that will save you gas. Most of the technologies they talk about
are not in showrooms yet. So when will they be? And which technologies
will find their way to your car first? Dustin Dwyer has some answers:
There is already one kind of car out there that will save you a lot of gas. You’ve heard of
it before. It’s a hybrid. And it seems like everyone says they want one. They say they do:
“I live in the world where I don’t deal with what people say they think, or what they give
to a survey. I live in the world where they write the check.”
That’s Mike Jackson. He’s the head of the country’s largest chain of car dealerships –
Autonation. Jackson is pretty much the prototypical, no-nonsense businessman. He’s also
somewhat of an unlikely environmentalist, but Jackson doesn’t have much faith in today’s
hybrids:
“70% of our customers want to talk about hybrids when they walk through the door.
They’re aware of it. They think it’s a great idea. And they’re predisposed to buy hybrids.
You then get them at the table.”
Jackson says that’s when the customer asks how much extra the hybrid costs, and how
long it takes to make that money up by saving at the pump. That’s when the deal falls
apart:
“And we have a two percent closing rate.”
Jackson says, plain and simple, most people just aren’t willing to pay the extra money to
get a hybrid. So he says to really cut gas use, the industry still needs mass market
solutions, and the first technology that he’s looking out for is something that Ford
announced earlier this year. Ford’s chief marketing guy, Jim Farley calls it Ecoboost:
“Which uses direct fuel injection and turbocharging to get big engine power and all that
low end torque we love from smaller, inherently more fuel efficient engines.”
Direct injection and turbocharging have been around,
but mostly as a way to make cars go faster. Now the idea is to use them on small engines
so that when a customer comes in and wants a big powerful engine, Ford can give them
Ecoboost, which promises the same power with 20 percent less gas, and 15 percent fewer
CO2 emissions. Ford plans to put Ecoboost in more than half a million cars per year
within the next five years.
In that same time frame, you can also expect to see more diesel engines coming out from
all the automakers. Diesel will get you better mileage, and it’s now cleaner in some ways
than gasoline. But it can create more smog-forming gases such as nitrous oxide.
Ethanol is also still out there. But at best, most people say today’s corn ethanol really
doesn’t save any fossil fuels when you look at what it takes to raise the corn. So the big
hope is cellulosic ethanol, which can be made from grasses, or even used tires.
Nobody’s found a good way to make it yet and Mike Jackson, the no-nonsense car
salesman, says he’s not holding his breath. Instead, he’s looking for the real game
changer – hybrid vehicles that can be charged through a wall socket and run on electricity
alone for miles before a gas engine has to kick in. Jackson expects those plug-in hybrids
on the road within five years:
“The cost-benefit ratio is going to be so compelling, and people are going to be so
enthralled at the idea they don’t have to go to the gas station, just go home and plug it into
the socket, this idea will win over American consumers.”
The auto companies are scrambling to make a plug in hybrid. Right now the race is
basically between General Motors and Toyota. Both say they might be able to build a
plug in hybrid by 2010.
The problem is the battery. To get the higher charge, hybrids need a new kind of battery –
something called a lithium ion battery. It’s the same kind of battery, it turns out, that’s
used in your cell phone, but there are some challenges scaling that up for an automobile.
Lithium ion batteries can overheat, and right now they’re more expensive than the
batteries in today’s hybrids.
But Bob Lutz at General Motors says you can bet those problems will be solved:
“Every manufacturer in the world is hot on the trail of lithium ion technology, and the
battery manufacturers all say it’s going to work.”
And once you have viable lithium ion batteries, you’re talking about cars that can get
more than 100 miles to the gallon or better.
Most people say the next step is hydrogen fuel cells. With the fuel cells, you put
hydrogen in, and the only thing that comes out of the tail pipe is water vapor.
Some in the industry say fuel cells could be ready for the mass market in the 2020s.
Mike Jackson isn’t so sure. He pegs the arrival of fuel cells at somewhere between not in
our lifetime and never.
Mechanic Mike Beukema just opened his own shop, Enviro Auto Plus, after working as a Toyota mechanic for 18 years. He specializes in fixing hybrids. He says there's a pretty big learning curve, especially when it comes to dealing with the high voltage battery. (Photo by Rebecca Williams)
High voltage lines are usually encased in orange plastic in hybrid cars.
(Photo courtesy of Macomb Community College)
Working on hybrids means using high voltage-rated gloves, like the kind linemen use when working on electric lines. It's also advised to wear leather gloves on top of the high voltage gloves. (Photo courtesy of Macomb Community College)
Automotive technology instructor Dan Claus teaches mechanics and emergency responders how to handle hybrid batteries safely. (Photo courtesy of Macomb Community College)
These days, hybrid gas-electric vehicles make up just a tiny fraction of total car and truck sales. But that’s expected to change. With higher gas prices…
demand for hybrids is
going up. And car companies are stepping up their hybrid production. But there’s a shortage of people who know how to fix hybrids. Rebecca Williams reports some mechanics are getting a crash course in hybrids:
Transcript
These days, hybrid gas-electric vehicles make up just a tiny fraction
of total car and truck sales. But that’s expected to change.
With higher gas prices… demand for hybrids is going up.
And car companies are stepping up their hybrid production. But there’s
a shortage of people who know how to fix hybrids. Rebecca Williams
reports some mechanics are getting a crash course in hybrids:
Mike Beukema’s been a mechanic for more than 18 years. So he’s seen
cars change a lot. But opening the hood of a hybrid car… that pretty
much changed his life:
“This car just fascinates me altogether so that was the perfect fit.
When it came out, I says this is what I want to be all about!”
He loves the technology. He loves that every time you hit the brakes
you recharge the car’s battery. He loves all the little computers that
tell him exactly what needs fixing.
But there’s one thing that took some getting used to:
“The whole issue of safety was freaky at first because you almost
didn’t dare work on them because they were letting you know exactly how
dangerous it was.”
It’s dangerous because you can get zapped by the high voltage battery.
“These have circuit fuses in ’em at 15 amps – there’s plenty of power
there. Not something you want to mess with.”
You can actually get electrocuted.
Mike Beukema’s got experience with hybrids. He worked at Toyota when
the first generation Priuses came out.
Beukema says the high voltage batteries are pretty intimidating for the
professionals, let alone backyard mechanics. And to really know what’s
wrong with a hybrid system, there’s a big thick manual you have to
read. And c’mon, who wants to read the manual?
Beukema says all this means working on hybrids is a pretty big shift
for mechanics. He says at this point most people who know how to fix
hybrids work at dealerships. There aren’t a whole lot of independent
shops that can fix them. That could be a problem if you like to shop
around to save money on car repair. Or if you break down in the
middle of nowhere.
That’s why, here and there, hybrid classes for independent mechanics
are popping up.
Kurtis LaHaie teaches auto tech classes at Macomb Community College in
Michigan. He recently started hybrid classes here. Today, he’s got a
room full of high school auto tech teachers.
He’s holding their attention… even after lunch.
“Too many volts, too many amps, you’re being cooked, literally inside.”
Then he pulls out the face shield and the big orange gloves.
“Now, as a technician, we’re going to need some new tools. These are
lineman’s gloves – people up on telephone poles? That’s what they wear.
That’s what we’re going to wear, same thing.”
LaHaie says electricity can get through even a tiny pinhole in the
gloves… so you have to be careful.
There’s also a big shepherd’s hook you’re supposed to have on hand.
Just in case you have to save your buddy from being electrocuted by a
live battery.
Joe Hart had his eye on that shepherd’s hook. It’s not the kind of
thing that helps sell a guy on hybrids:
“I’m an internal combustion guy, a technician, but you’ve gotta embrace
change and you’ve gotta accept the fact that we’re going to move from
an oil society at some point and I want to be there when it happens, I
want to be ahead of the game rather than trying to catch up.”
Hart might not have much of a choice.
Instructor Kurtis LaHaie says even new internal combustion cars are
getting more complicated. Let alone hybrids:
“If you don’t keep up, you’re going to fall by the wayside. The old
backyard mechanics, they’re very hard to maintain these cars, they’re
very sophisticated. This is just the next level for them to get into.
There’s room for everybody but I think the guys who take the lead in
this, especially now, will take the lead in the future and will do very
well.”
(Sound of grandfather clock chiming)
Mechanic Mike Beukema is hoping that’s true. After a long career at a
dealership, he’s just opened his own shop specializing in hybrids.
Right now, it’s a little lonely for him.
“I’m the service writer, the person that answers the phone, the person
that fixes your car, and person that collects your money – so I am, I
guess, everything here right now.”
Beukema says with any luck, that won’t last too long. He sees his shop
getting big enough that he can quit fixing cars himself. His dream is
to hire guys fresh out of trade school and train them to be experts on
hybrids and other cars of the future.
A US company has a new contract to work on batteries that many people hope will power the next generation of hybrid vehicles. The GLRC’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:
Transcript
A US company has a new contract to work on batteries that many people hope will power
the next generation of hybrid vehicles. The GLRC’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:
Lithium-ion batteries are used in some cell phones, laptop computers and other products.
US automakers and the Energy Department have just given Johnson Controls and a
French firm a two year contract.
They want to work on getting lithium-ion batteries in hybrid vehicles. Johnson controls
will try to improve battery power in low temperatures, reduce manufacturing
costs, and boost safety. Project director Karen Bauer says the batteries hold promise:
“Lithium is gonna be overall a lighter weight solution, so improved fuel economy. And
in addition, lithium is really an enabler to the plug-in hybrid electric vehicles that are
getting a lot of press today.”
But Bauer says it might may take five years before the batteries are ready to use in cars.
Solar panels aren't just for rocket scientists anymore. Consumers are now starting to use solar and other alternative energies to power their homes. (Photo courtesy of NASA.gov)
With no power lines in sight, one western Pennsylvania couple lives pretty much like the rest of us. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Ann Murray has this story of a home “off the grid”:
Transcript
With no power lines in sight, one western Pennsylvania couple lives pretty much like the rest of us. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Ann Murray has this story of home “off the grid”:
Ted Carns is busy hanging art in the foyer of his house. While he holds a picture in place against the wall, he plugs in an electric drill.
(sound of drill)
Ted and Kathy Carns’ entire two-bedroom house uses electricity powered by the sun or wind. Their rustic stone and plank home sits on top of a steep wooded hill, miles from the nearest neighbor.
“There’s no water, there’s no soil, there’s no public utilities up here. So everything that we designed, you have to keep in mind, was done in this harsh condition.”
It’s taken the Carns twenty years to design and expand their alternative energy system. Ted, a self-described scrounger and handyman, has found many components through flea markets and friends. In fact, Kathy says their off-grid system began with a gift of shoebox-sized batteries.
Kathy: “Somebody gave us a bunch of batteries-nickel cadmium batteries. And then we started thinking about how to recharge the batteries. Thinking wind. The windmill came first.”
Ted: “It took me eight climbs to install the new windmill, I had a different one up there. The bottom of the tower I built.”
Murray: “How tall is that?”
Ted: “Seventy-six feet.”
(sound of chimes)
The metal tower now looms over the house, outbuildings and organic garden. As the wind whips the chimes at its base, the turbine blades whirl and drive an alternator to generate electricity. The electricity is stored in a bank of batteries.
Murray: “Is the wind consistent here?”
Carns: “Winter good. Summer not. Then in summer the solar panels kick in. So it just sort of balances out.”
The Carns’ rooftop solar panels accept sunlight into silicon chips and convert the light into electricity. Because it’s sunny today, Kathy can run their specially manufactured clothes washer with solar energy. First, she pushes a button on the living room wall and a red light starts to blink. The light indicates that stored electricity is being converted from a DC to AC current.
“That means the house is on 110 power. Turn the water on and then just… It’s on.”
The Carns also vacuum when the sun shines or the wind blows. They run their TV, stereo and lights off 12-volt DC batteries, much like a car. They heat their water with solar energy in the summer and wood in the winter. And warm their house with a wood stove. They also capture air from underground and use it to refrigerate food and cool their house. All told, Ted and Kathy have spent about 3,000 dollars to upgrade their alternative energy system. Ted says, except for burning wood, the system is nonpolluting. He believes it’s also pretty much hassle free.
Carns: “There’s no inconvenience that we’ve seen… There’s maybe two or three days that we don’t have ample hot water. The nice thing about that is that it – you never stop appreciating the conveniences because periodically for a very short time sometimes you have to do without.”
Perez: “More and more people are discovering that they can power their homes and small businesses using solar and wind.”
Richard Perez is the founder and publisher of Home Power Magazine. Perez says states are doing far more than the federal government to encourage the residential use of renewable energy.
“There are tax credits, there are rebates, there are buy-downs. Every state has a slightly different scheme but most states have some sort of financial incentive for installing small-scale renewables in your home.”
Perez says homeowners don’t have to wait wait for government support to set up a system. Ted and Kathy Carns agree.
(sound of plates and silverware)
As the couple gets ready for dinner, Kathy says they want to inspire the many people who come to see how they live off-grid.
“We have a friend who has a solar lawnmower now. We have friends in Philadelphia that took some solar panels; it’s not their total system, but it’s a little part of their system. If we get enough company and enough people have been here, it sort of branches out, and goes off.”
An estimated 180 thousand households in the United States generate some or all of their own electricity. But alternative energy systems aren’t for everybody. For people who are downright afraid of technology or inconvenience, life off the power grid isn’t a real option just yet.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Ann Murray.
A one-size-fits-all phone charger could cut down on the electronic waste generated by cell phones (Photo by Shawn Allee)
