We would like to thank all of you for sharing in our love of all things green, but it's time for us to change locations. Don't think of this as a goodbye, but a fresh start and a new home. In fact, our new address at EnviroMojo is your place to read and talk about the environment, with everything from alternative fuels to recycling to green energy.

Please feel free to comment and let us know what you think about the new format, as well as emailing any questions you may have. We like to think of EnviroMojo as an eco-friendly and eco-fun way for all of us to talk about the planet we love, and how we can work together to protect it.

What could be the largest solar cell project in America, Southern California Edison plans to place photovoltaic solar cells on 65 million square feet of California rooftops, with the ability to power 162,000 homes in southern California.

I'm intrigued to say the least, and not simply because a photovoltaic solar project of this scale is unusual considering how expensive the technology is. In fact, most large-scale solar projects involve solar thermal technology. I'm keeping my eye on this, especially since California's ambitious state mandate that 20 percent of California's electricity be generated from renewable sources by 2010. It will be interesting to see if other utility companies—and not just in California—follow suit.

"Perhaps the time has come to cease calling it the 'environmentalist' view, a though it were a lobbying effort outside the mainstream of human activity, and to start calling it the real-world view."

— Edward O. Wilson, Pellegrino University Professor Emeritus and Honorary Curator in Entomology at Harvard University, life-long and well-regarded naturalist and environmentalist.

Since when did hybrid vehicles gain Jetson status? Unreachable? In the case of hybrid vehicles, the basics tend to be muddled in with the complications people view as the primary reason not everyone can drive a hybrid.

Let's go with a few basics of the green car:

1. The gas-electric hybrid is your most common type of green car, attempting to merge reduced emissions and improve efficiency.

2. The electric motor is powered by batteries that recharge as you drive, assisting in acceleration and helping slow the vehicle down. In a sense, the motor is both an accelerator and a generator.

3. When stopped in traffic, the motor shuts the engine off until acceleration occurs.

4. The aerodynamics are re-tooled to maximize efficiency and minimize drag.

Now obviously there are finer and more technical aspects of the green car—this is but a mere scratch on the surface. Whether or not that means you should buy a hybrid is not the point here. Understanding how a hybrid operates (you don't necessarily have to plug them in to charge) is just as important. How else will you be able to debate your passion for green energy?

Besides, hybrids have feelings too ya know...

1. Your Car Purrs Like a Golf Cart
You are fascinated with the concept of a hybrid vehicle, and your's looks like Tokyo Drift met up with the Jetsons somewhere on the road to a Tron sequel. I can't really argue with 50+ mpg though, even if I accidentally drive by and ask for refreshment on my way to a tee time.

2. Your Favorite Cleaning Product is Baking Soda and Water
Which is a fantastic and simple way to scrub away the grime from last month's cook-a-thon you're gracious and considerate roommate forget to clean up. It's eco-friendly fun for every—wait, never mind. Going this one alone again huh. Well at least your good manners and cleanliness are good for the environment, even if your roommate is too busy watching Rock of Love to lend a hand.

3. You've Replaced Every Light Bulb in Your Home with CFLs
Compact Fluorescent Lights and their high efficiency are a great way to cut down on energy consumption, and you've accomplished this with a vengeance. Now if only you could replace the bulbs in your vintage Lite- Brite, then I'd commend you for your Macgyver-like prowess. 

4. Your Favorite Color is Green
Everything and I mean everything relates to your love for green. Not only are you way into green energy, green living, green cooking, green cleaning and everything environmental, you've also wiped eBay clean of Kermit dolls, figures, movies, socks, toothbrushes, scooters, roller skates and snap bracelets (don't know if these still exist, but why not).

5. Your Reading This Very Blog, Right Now
I couldn't help myself.

All kidding and ballyhooing aside, waking up and realizing just how green you really are is a fabulous thing. I wish all of us could take a few minutes out of each day to pay closer attention to our habits, and find simpler ways to bring the green in all of us to the surface.

Hanging plugs for hybrids above parking spaces is but one way that tech giant Google is trying to greenify the world, one step at a time. In a recent Palm Beach Post article, Google is rolling out the green carpet so to speak in an effort to not just claim a green business badge, but to further the cause of developing renewable energy into a viable solution to the cost and environmental effects of traditional fossil fuels. In fact, Google execs told a crowded clean energy summit earlier this month that the intention was to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to invest in clean energy projects.

In the city known for it's bright lights, dense traffic and cultural wow factor, New York City is adding an attractive label to it's eco-friendly repertoire. NYC is set to become the first U.S. city to require electronics recycling, rather than adding to the already overflowing city landfills.

What the city council calls "trailblazing environmental legislation" amounts to stiff fines if companies fail to meet specific recycling standards. New Yorkers introduce 25,000 tons of wasted electronics to landfills annually, which produce a large percentage of lead, mercury and other toxic chemicals.

By 2012, manufacturers are required to take back 25 percent (weight) of old TVs, computers, etc. That percentage will increase to 65 percent by 2018, but the city won't begin refusing to accept wasted materials until July 2010, so it will be up to companies to start the charge when the legislation kicks off in 2009.

That's right, I used a word that did not previously exist in the English language, but hey, can you blame a guy for trying to break the mold? Spending countless hours researching the world of green energy has its side effects. In my constant quest to champion renewable energy and its many tentacles growing and extending throughout the economic sector, I stumbled upon a very important program in the great state of Texas.

The Cynthia & George Mitchell Foundation recently announced a $6 million funding initiative to help combat global warming and air pollution while expanding and stimulating the Texas economy. The Energy Foundation—several donating partners from San Francisco—are teaming up to implement the funding initiative, which will support further development of clean technologies and policy development to spurn growth in the renewable market.

I thoroughly applaud the Mitchell Foundation for taking a stand against climate change, as well as reinforcing what I've always believed is the key to renewable energy standards in the U.S.—technology and economic growth.

Though it's one of the most important terms in conservation, a conservation easement isn't exactly a linguistic equivalent of a freebie. I'll be the first to admit that my mind landed on the term with an audible thud, but upon visiting the Nature Conservancy Web site, I learned it is really an interesting concept.

A conservation easement essential places restriction on a piece of property, protecting certain landowner rights and selling or donating a chunk of those rights. Most often the right to develop or subside that portion of land is give up, so to speak, and that particular piece of land is then protected from future development.

What is interesting about an easement is the ability to target very specific rights that are necessary to protecting from environmental damage—water quality for example. The landowner retains certain rights, and the easement is designed to work synonymously with the landowner so that any personal needs remain uninterrupted.

I ventured across an article from the Nature Conservancy regarding a sustainable project to protect 197,000 acres of the Great Redwood Forest in California (which happens to be 10 percent of all redwoods worldwide according to the Conservancy). Obviously the concern is the risk of deforestation and destructive building practices that could cause irreversible harm to the revered colossi.

A few interesting tidbits from the article:

• Humboldt County's tiny little milling town of Scotia is at the center of a bankruptcy case concerning the local timber industry. Scotia residents and the forest could share an intertwined fate once the ball gets rolling on the conservation project.
  
• Temporary protection is in place, but expires in 2050. The coalition of organizations are looking into a potential conservation easement, which essentially sells a portion of landowner rights to the Conservancy in order to prevent said landowner from offering developers chunks of forest to spin into a parking lot.

What is probably not immediately apparent is the underlying importance of such a project. Look, the environmentalist in all of us appreciates protecting the aesthetic beauty of historically important areas like the Great Redwood Forest. The renewable energy debate focuses much of it's time on energy independence, but keep in mind that deforestation is a significant contributor to increasing the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.