Category — Eco-Conscious Coaching

Driving over the solar panels

Every once in a while you come across an article or a statement that initially sounds really far fetched and unrealistic. I had heard some time ago that the Dutch had created a new approach to roads. They build copper tubes or plastic tubes into the roads when they are repaved. During the summer, water that is being pumped slowly through these roads as they are warmed by the sun and then pumped back down into reservoirs deep in the ground. In the winter the warm water can be pumped back through the same pipes to avoid ice on the roads and increase saftey.

Another cool technology usede pressure sensitive chrystals to geenrate electricity in high traffic areas, although I hadn’t herd that the mats used for this approach are strong enough to be driven over.

Today, I like to bring you another intersting idea recently published in teh magazine Popular Science and written by John Bradley:

The road ahead is paved with photovoltaics. That’s how Scott Brusaw sees it, anyway. His company, Solar Roadways, is embedding PV cells and LED lights into panels engineered to withstand the forces of traffic. The lights would allow for “smart” roadways and parking lots with changeable signage, while the cells would generate enough energy to power businesses, cities and, eventually, the entire country.

Each 12-by-12-foot Solar Roadway panel would produce about 7,600 watt-hours a day, based on an average of four hours of sunlight. At that rate, a one-mile stretch of four-lane highway could power about 500 homes. “If we could ever replace all the roads in the U.S., then, yeah, we would produce more electricity than we use as a nation,” says Brusaw, an electrical engineer who completed his first prototype panel in February with funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Brusaw’s goal is to get the cost per panel under $10,000. That’s roughly three times the cost of asphalt. But he wants to make panels that last three times longer than asphalt roads, which have to be resurfaced every 10 years in many places. “Then the cost is about the same,” he says. “But that’s just a break-even. We’re also generating electricity.”

The key to commercial viability will be the panels’ glass. It must be textured for traction, embedded with heating elements for melting away ice and snow, and able to survive years of traffic. “The toughest is going to be that fast lane on the highway,” Brusaw says, “where you’ve got a 40-ton truck, maybe with snow chains. It will have to be able to withstand all that.” At the same time, it has to be self-cleaning if sunlight is to reach the PV cells; Brusaw points to experimental hydrophilic glass that uses sunlight to break down organic dirt, and rainwater to wash it away without streaking.

Next up for Solar Roadways will be qualifying for Phase II funding, a two-year, $750,000 deal to develop a commercial plan for the panels. At the end of those two years, Brusaw would like to be ready for testing in parking lots, which he sees as the perfect proving grounds for the lights and the power-generation system. Directional arrows and parking lines could be reconfigured to deal with busy times, and the electricity generated could feed adjacent businesses. “I talked to the guy in charge of power for Wal-Mart,” Brusaw says. “Superstores are roughly 200,000 square feet, and parking lots are about four times that. I crunched the numbers for an 800,000-square-foot lot and told him how much power it could generate even if it was completely full of cars. It was 10 times the power they use.”

Brusaw wants to start smaller, though—on the scale of, say, a fast-food restaurant. A McDonald’s retrofitted with a solar parking lot could take itself largely or entirely off the grid or become a site for recharging electric vehicles (while the owners stopped inside for food, naturally). “Even the best electric cars have a range of about three hours,” he explains. “But if all I have to do is find a McDonald’s, I could drive from Idaho to the southern tip of Florida.” Improbable? Yes. But “Billions of watts served” would be a cool new tagline.

Today’s post is looking into the abilities to harness power from the ocean without destroying it, harming it, changing it significantly, or otherwise impact it. When looking at this approach, it becomes obvious that the current discussion about the Gulf oil spill and all the consequences our previous activities in the oceans have had are relevant.

Instead of using the ocean as our garbage collector, i.e. the plastic patch in the Pacific, the place we run the risk of spilling oil that we otherwise refine and burn to send the CO2 into the atmosphere from which it rains down onto the ocean together with other chemicals and harms its organisms. I addition, the CO2 leads to an increased speed in glacial melting, which I turn reduces the salt content of the oceans, potentially impacting many of the species living there.

Today I invite you to take a look at new options, including Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, Wave Action energy generation, the Wave-power-Station, which, if applied everywhere could cover 40% of current global power demand, and an idea now being put into reality off the North Sea coast of Germany – the Ocean Wind Park.

I hope you enjoy and learn from what the video shows and let many other people know about this and other content here. Please comment and let me know what you think

Through a forwarded post from Dr. Mercola, I am able to bring you this video, showing you what is possible already.
I trust you enjoy it

Axel Meierhoefer

Today we have a great guest post form Jack Lundee

Eco-conscious is a term that I’ve been hearing a lot lately. Specifically, people have been taking a more action-oriented approach at making this a better planet. But it’s not just the efforts of large corporations and collaborative units (i.e. – Doug Band and the CGI) on issues like renewable energy, sustainable crops, and fuel emission reduction; it’s actually the act of the individual that’s providing for a greener future.

For instance, there’s been great development work on eco-gadgets, or items that allow us to do everyday tasks, while remaining safe for the environment and the user. This would include the lessened usage of batteries; one such example is a usb wireless optical mouse that feeds off a battery-less receiver. Another fine example would include green rags, which have become a hit over the past couple of years. Biodegradable and highly efficient, these can be used to clean windows, wash cars, dry hands, etc…

Although, gadgets aren’t the only thing that have provided noteworthy support for the green individual; acts such as travel, trash dispensing, and cell phone usage have turned eco-friendly. Subsequently, heavy ideals like marriage have yielded to the go green message. In a piece labeled “Green Marriage Ceremonies,” Larie Pawlik-Kienlen describes ways in which to effectively make your marriage eco-friendly. She goes on to tell her audience to use biodegradable paper for invitations; recycle dresses; donate your wedding gown to a good cause; rent a hybrid vehicle for transport; set up an organic gift registry, and so on and so forth. Off the top of my head I can generally think of one major thing that would support such an initiative and that would be to hold the ceremony outdoors! Ultimately, I feel as if this makes for a splendid organic wedding!

Eco-conscious is become more widely used as green and everything surrounding it becomes more action oriented. Large civil construction companies and business already understand the important of green lighting and LEED standards, but it’s up to the individual to make a significant change in the way we live and view our planet. In light of this, I hope you’ll take the time to visit http://www.earthday.org/ to find out what you can do to support your planet.

By J Lundee - Follower of all things green and progressive.

Coaching has been around for some time now. I am not talking about the sports coaching, but coaching in business and as a profession to help other people. Though we are stills struggling to come up with common definitions, we can clearly state that it has established itself as a professional service available to individuals and organizations, for profit and non-profit alike.

Opportunity

For those people who are already coaches, like me, it is always a goal to become a better coach, gain more knowledge and provide a better service to the clients. At the same time, when coaching is the activity that put money in the wallet and bread on the table of the family, it is important to explore how to increase fees, find new combinations of services, potentially through webinars, teleclasses, group, coaching, etc.

When we explore part of the ever growing literature, here is some of what can be found:

As corporations recognize the need to retain good employees, the ability to develop coaching skills in managers becomes a necessity (Ellinger, Ellinger, & Keller, 2003; Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee, 2002; Hunt & Weintraub, 2002).  Three empirical studies have explored the role of a coaching manager in an organizational setting.  Using critical incident analysis to determine triggers and outcomes for coaching, Ellinger (1999) explored these incidents with managers within a learning organization to assess the overall impact of coaching as a performance improvement strategy

Olivero, Bane and Kopelman (1997) found that coaching when augmenting a training program increased productivity by 80%.  This finding supports the contentions made by Conger and Benjamin (1999) and Goleman et al.  (2002) that training alone is ineffective in sustaining behavior change.  While there were a number of potential explanations for the dramatic change in productivity, Olivero et al. (1997) contend that two coaching aspects contributed most to the change–goal setting and public presentation.  The coaches supported clients in setting goals that were challenging, measurable, assignable, realistic, and time-bound.  There was also a feedback loop for providing guidance to behaviors that were addressed in the training. 

Possibility

The benefits from coaching relationships are endless.  Though it may not happen instantly, those who have been in this life changing, but challenging, working relationship can attest to it.  The success of the coaching relationship may take months to establish, as well as gain the trust (Osborne, 2008).

However, the benefits of training programs are sometimes difficult to sustain when returning to work.  Managers return to their jobs and are confronted with the challenges and the day-to-day obstacles that prevent the application of the new skills. Issues can also arise when managers return to work and are faced with new or unexpected situations. 

 Admittedly, we want to be better than pure training programs and want for our students, clients, and coachees to have lasting changes in their life, their behaviors and their professions. To achieve these goals it would be wonderful to have a place all coaches could call home, could find what they need to improve themselves and use as a forum to discuss cases, get to know new approaches and tools and generally improve the profession. Some schools and organizations like ICF offer these forums, but they don’t really take care of the members because their focus lies in different areas. A partnership of professional and certified coaches has come together to develop and offer such a place for all coaches. The company is called Innovision Global. Though the new home for coaches is still under construction, you can already take a peak at what will be at http://www.innovisiongloballlc.com

Unlocking the Future

What we also recognized it the fact that coaching has been moving, like many tings, form the United States into the world, reaching the shores of Asia and especially Europe. The concept is better known and many individuals interested in coaching have taking certification classes with US coaching schools. In some cases some offerings are also available in the countries of the European Union.

With the transfer of the profession should come a transfer of modern technologies and the application of local languages. To make this possible, a team of certified coaches has come together and created “The Coaching Academy Europe”, one of the first organizations to offer interactive, online coaching certification training with Master Coaches present every minute of the training. Importantly, the system is licensed by one of the most successful coaching institutes in the United States and offered in local languages, beginning with English, German, and Spanish. In the long run the goal is to expand to man more languages. The developing website can be reviewed at http://www.coachingacademyeurope.com.

Classes will start in early October and allow established coaches to decide if they like to become master Coaches in the system. At the same time people interested in coaching can become certified for extremely affordable fees. Even the in-person option through traditional onsite training is offered in a compressed format, keeping cost low while quality of training and systematic consistency are high.

Togetherness

The graduates of ‘The Coaching Academy Europe’ are invited to join the new home for coaches at Innovision Global and learn for the best coaches and the best materials and tools as they build their businesses. At the same time the diversity and cultural mix will provide a global home for all coaches, rather than a place for US nationals. Together in training, certification, and through a common membership, we will be able to take the next steps in the development of the coaching profession.