WikiLeaks and the first amendment

I was listening to a tech podcast debunking the story about how Twitter may be blocking WikiLeaks from being a trending topic, and the discussion switched to how the witch-hunt of WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange is an important one to watch, primarily because it can set a precedent for the future of ethics in journalism, and more importantly, freedom of the press, a right protected by the First Amendment. I couldn’t agree more. On more than one occasion, newspapers like the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and others, have published classified documents obtained from various sources. Why is it different this time around when WikiLeaks does the same? In fact, a 1971 Supreme Court ruling explicitly protected the right to freedom of press for The New York Times and The Washington Post. And since when does a statement from a senator revoke the web hosting service that Amazon provided to WikiLeaks? Why don’t other hosting companies do the same thing to revoke the web hosting services for the New York Times or some other newspaper when the papers do the same thing? Why are we having this WikiLeaks witch-hunt? Look, if Assange committed rape, then by all means let him be prosecuted. He currently made bail in the UK and will be chilling there for Christmas. But this whole conversation about bringing him to the US to face treason and being sentenced to life in prison is simply absurd. The guy didn’t perform some covert operation to break into a government office to steal classified documents. He simply provided a tool for people to leak sensitive information, the same way sources give sensitive information to the New York Times or the Washington Post. Obama ran on an “open government” platform. The administration has done a much better job in being transparent on a lot of things. If leaked documents present a threat to the administration, then the people that took these sensitive documents and dropped them off at WikiLeaks are the ones that need to face appropriate charges. The US government needs to simply say “Ok, we did say all the things in these documents, and we apologize,” and move forward. Find the source of the problem, whether it be bad policies, unhappy government employees, or whatever inside your organization stops you from sleeping at night. Stop going after a prized media tool that provides transparency to the masses on many issues that others want to keep under the rug. After all, don’t we want the First Amendment to be a right in every corner of the world?

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Pinot, Bruschetta, and Lions, Fires & Squares EP through my eardrums

As the July temperature cools down and daylight battles night, I find myself at home with a simple dilemma. What’s for dinner? On a whim I top off some bread with olive oil, diced tomatoes and herbs, throw it in the toaster oven, and pour myself a glass of chilled Pinot… all performed to the sounds of Lions, Fires & Squares accompanying me in the background. That’s the title of the upcoming EP by the talented jazz vocalist, hip hop lyricist, spoken word extraordinaire, and smart chicks heavy hitter Carolyn Malachi. Starting with an African savannah-themed intro, the EP transgresses into the smooth, soothing, and romantic sounds of Orion, elevating lovers into a carefree flight, asking for more than just another relationship, yearning for something new, different, exciting, but most importantly genuine and righteous. The singing turns into a shower of words near the middle of the track, skillfully merging soulful vocals with strong lyrics, reminiscent of Floetry, but unique on its own right. The EP includes another remixed version of this track. Influences from her trip to South Africa can be heard with the upbeat track Textual, featuring the country’s popular rapper HHP (Hip Hop Pantsula, aka Jabba), and by the words in her lyrics on the Dumela track. Textual is a versatile, funky, party track with a masterful lyrical delivery by HHP that brings it home. Carolyn teasingly drops a hint of jazz by morphing one of the hooks into a vocal piece and brings it back to the normal hook we’re used to, thus covering peaks and throughs in this diverse musical wave. This track also has a more upbeat club remix version for the dance floor savvy. The mood shifts in Dumela, a very powerful and uplifting piece. It starts slow with Carolyn singing to a little girl going through hardship, then the vocals rise with words of empowerment and wisdom, molding the girl into womanhood. This track also gave me the interpretation of South Africa’s youth forging the country to a new direction, but that could just be due to such common themes in my blog posts, . Overall, this EP continues to be dynamic like her previous work. For those that are familiar with Carolyn’s past, you’ll notice that this production skillfully infuses jazz and electronic music. If asked about which track is my favorite, I’d have to go with Orion, but like any other Malachi production, this one leaves me anxious for more. A release party for the Lions, Fires & Squares EP will be held at the U St. Music Hall on July 30th at 7pm. Check Carolyn’s homepage for tickets and other details, and I definitely hope to see you there.

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A Car For Christmas? Leaf vs Volt | Sobuka Blog | Clean Energy and Green Tech News & Events | Solar Installations | Wind Energy RECs | Energy Audits | Green Remodeling | Green Financing

Nissan Leaf

The Leaf is Nissan’s leading environmentally-friendly, affordable, family car. It is a trend setting type of engineered battery car. Its battery pack estimated at (£6000) which is $8,896 raises a lot of interest as well as reasonable pricing that is drawing tons of reservation. The Leaf is a tough competition with the Chevy Volt  in terms of  driving range.

The argument among Nissan fans is whether the Volt is a true EV.

The Leaf has been designed to be self-sustaining. Annual car maintenance does not apply to this vehicle except yearly brake pad inspection, and its navigation system is globally connected especially to find re-charging stations. The Leaf offers more with its new technology and afford-ability with all things considered which include pricing for 5-car seater, driving range, and up-keep.

Good:

• This is a real EV. A 100% electric car
• 8 Year with a 100,000 mile warranty
• $349 Lease program
• Federal, state, and other credits can knock off significant $$ on this vehicle

Other things about the Leaf:

• Like any EV, after 100 miles, your car is dead. Theses are your options; plan your schedule with an electric station in mind for emergency cases, charge your car at home as you would do with your i-phone before you sleep at night, and/or simply be aware about your driving situation by planning your trip accordingly.
• Price: $32,000
• Weight: 3,500lbs

Chevy Volt

The Chevy Volt is a car that can run up to approximately 40 miles emissions free. However thanks to its range-extending gas generator, it produces enough energy to power the Volt for hundreds of miles. The body of the Volt is slightly bigger than the Prius with a modern look and feel interior. The Volt has a nice on board system that keeps you up to date with your fuel capacity, letting you know if you are running on electric or gas.

Good:

• Goes up to 40 miles on pure electric. After that the gas kicks in extending it to more miles.
• 8 Year with a 100,000 mile warranty
• $349 Lease program
• Federal, state, and other credits can knock off significant $$ on this vehicle.

Other things about the Volt:

• Is this a true EV or a suit-up Hybrid? The controversy remains… On 40 miles, one can say it’s an EV. The rest of the way, it appears to function as a superior Hybrid to my opinion, powered on gas. My guess is as good as yours…let the controversy remain.
• Price: $41k
• Weight: 3,700 lbs

Summary

Hopefully other manufacturing car companies can follow suit and compete to bring the best of clean energy to the United States as well as getting back to leading in manufacturing, which interprets as more long lasting green jobs. Interesting enough there is mention that the Leaf will be produced in Tennessee (currently in Japan) in the next two years. Not that’s a good start.

Article References, Pictures, and more Information: Battle EV Supremacy, Nissan Showing New Leaf, & Toyota Hybrid Recall? No. Chevrolet Volt Display.

Tags: car incentives, chevy volt, nissan leaf

This entry was posted on Friday, December 24th, 2010 at 1:23 am and is filed under Featured Content, Green Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Are you taking public transportation? | Sobuka Blog | Clean Energy and Green Tech News & Events | Solar Installations | Wind Energy RECs | Energy Audits | Green Remodeling | Green Financing

For the past two and a half years, John has been commuting back and forth from Washington DC to Baltimore, a 100 mile round trip. Until one day home, John got into a car accident. (Don’t worry he was not hurt.)

After the accident, he was trying to figure out how much he would save by just taking public transportation, a much cleaner alternative than driving.
So one day he drafted the following questions along with his responses to analyze the cost of public transportation vs driving. The follow is his analysis:

1.) What time does my job start and end?

John’s response: 8am to 4:30 pm.

2.) Are there bus routes, rail, or combo-metro routes leading from my home to work?

John’s response: Yes. I can take the DC metro, bus F4, from Prince George’s Plaza Station to New Carrollton Station (MD). Then from New Carrollton, I can take the Marc Train to Baltimore Penn Station.

3.) Is the cost of driving a new car effective anyway?

Cost of Driving:

1. Cost of comprehensive insurance per month: $200.00 (before the accident)
2. Cost of fuel per week given 100/mile day commute: $40.00
3. Cost of monthly parking pass: $110.00
4. Other factors for John to consider:

• Purchase a minimal, new reliable car: $vary
• Maintenance and service on new car: $vary

Total monthly cost to work by car, not including vehicle purchase or M/S: $390.00

Cost of Public Transportation:

1. Monthly transit pass (Bus + Rail + Marc included): $250.00
2. Other factors to consider:

• ZipCar: Rental for $7.00 an hour for after work activities.

Total monthly cost for John to take public transportation to work: $250.00

This is a difference of $140.00 that John would save if he rode public transportation.

Have you carefully looked at your own commute from a financial perspective? How much would you be saving or spending?

Tags: DC Metro, MARC, New Carrollton, Prince George's Plaza, SmartTrip, ZipCar

This entry was posted on Friday, December 31st, 2010 at 1:14 am and is filed under Environment, Featured Content. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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people need to do the math to see if it's worth the convenience...

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The solar Power Purchase Agreement: a simple way to go solar | Sobuka Blog | Clean Energy and Green Tech News & Events | Solar Installations | Wind Energy RECs | Energy Audits | Green Remodeling | Green Financing

Several months ago, we wrote a blog highlighting the solar lease as a way for people to get a solar installation without incurring any upfront costs. Today we are introducing you to the solar Power Purchase Agreement, or sPPA: another viable alternative for getting solar panels without any upfront costs.

What’s a sPPA?

Ok, you do want them solar panels on your home or office building but you don’t like the upfront cost. You also don’t want to lease them like we mentioned above. That’s where the sPPA option comes in.

With this alternative, you let the solar company put panels at your site, but you do not pay for the installation. You simply pay for the electricity that these panels generate.

The Benefits

Because you don’t technically own the panels, you save a boat-load of cash by not paying for the installation or maintenance. The cost of the electricity from these panels is usually the same amount or lower than what you were already paying PEPCO or BG&E, or whatever utility company you have. Your contract with the solar company will state what the agreed rate per kilowatt-hour is. This rate will usually go up by 1% to 5% per year, but it is designed to remain below the typical annual rate increases from your utility company. Your contract with the solar company usually lasts about 6 years, and at the end of the contract, you can agree to another contract, buy the solar panels, or get them removed.

Here’s an example. Imagine you signed a sPPA contract 6 years ago, in 2004, for solar panels that generate 20% of your home’s electricity (you still pay the regular utility company for the remaining 80%). Let’s assume your household uses an average of 1000 kW-hours of electricity per month, and if we use the 2004 average US national rate of 8.95 cents/kW-hour, your total electric bill would be $89.50 per month. In January 2005, the average national electricity rate went up to 9.45 cents/kW-hour, but your sPPA rate goes up by 1% according to your contract, to 9.04 cents/kW-hour. If we do the math, you now pay $75.60 for 80% of your electricity (800 kW-hours) to your utility, and $18.08 for the remaining 20% (200 kW-hours) to the solar company. That’s a total of $93.68 for January 2005.

Now we’re in 2010, reaching the end of your 6-year contract, and how much have you saved so far? If you never got solar panels, then you spent a total of $8,854.80. However with the sPPA model, you spent a total of $8,633.31. Your total savings over the the last 6 years are $221.49. Wait, did you just say that’s not a big deal? Let’s give you a couple more reasons:

• the utility’s electricity rate (red line) jumps up in an unpredictable fashion, while the sPPA rate (green line) is predictable because your contract tells you exactly what you’ll be paying over the 6 years of solar power. Knowing your electricity cost in advance is a huge benefit for planning and budgeting.
• over the 6-year period, you prevented your utility company from generating 14,400 kW-hours of unclean electricity, because you had your own clean version to use. That’s the equivalent of 11.7 metric tons of CO2 emissions, or in plain English: you stopped 2 cars from emitting pollutants for a year.
• Let’s not forget the “I got solar panels on my roof” statement you can use freely at every cocktail party; that’s some major cool points right there…

Just remember this: the whole thing cost you nothing to setup. You simply chose a different path to get your electricity and become a good citizen of the environment.

The “Bad”

There’s nothing bad about going green, hence the quotation marks. However here are the changes that you might have to deal with by going solar with a PPA model:

• you will not cash-in any of the government tax credits or state rebates for using solar, because you don’t own the panels
• you will not be able to receive cash for any solar Renewable Energy Certificates (sRECs), again because you don’t own the panels
• if you are short-term leasing your place, the lease may prevent you form getting a PPA because you need  at least 6 years for the contract. In addition, your landlord may not want you to make changes to the property, so your solar panels may not be installed in the ideal location, if any at all
• you may save money by buying the solar panels outright, especially if you consider the government-backed incentives
• your property taxes may go higher if your property gets reassessed after the solar panel install
• taxes and other surcharges by your utility company may take up the amount of money saved, so you may not save anything financially

Ok, now that you have a picture of the good and the “bad,” please remember that you are doing this not just to save money, but to help the environment. What’s next? Why not explore the different solar installation types? And as always, let us know if you need FREE quotes for a solar installation from our list of wonderful contractors.

Tags: power purchase agreement, PPA, solar

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 21st, 2010 at 4:17 pm and is filed under Featured Content, Green Financing, Solar Energy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Our favorite green gifts | Sobuka Blog | Clean Energy and Green Tech News & Events | Solar Installations | Wind Energy RECs | Energy Audits | Green Remodeling | Green Financing

As the entire Sobuka staff scours the interwebs and malls in search of gifts for loved ones, we decided to do a blog on some of our favorite green gifts. These aren’t just great gifts but they are also excellent for the environment. Well, without further ado, here they are in no particular order:

Plan Toys Eco Town – What’s the best way to prepare our kids for a green future? By educating them of course! …or letting them have fun with play sets like this eco-friendly town. The Eco Town features green technologies like solar panels, a wind turbine, and a grey water system (grey water is indoor waste water that doesn’t include toilets). The play set comes with cars, a doll house, and trains. Kids are exposed to the concepts of public transportation, biking, and recycling. It even has a charging station for electric cars… we’re kinda jealous (via Treehugger).

Windstream Bike Power Generator - If you’re living in the DC metro, you know how cold it is outside.Some die-hard bikers still hit the streets, but what to do for the rest of us? Enter the Bike Power Generator. This cool gizmo easily hooks up to the back wheel of your bike and generates electricity while you’re pedaling in your garage or condo, picturing a warm spring breeze running through your face. The result? hopefully a nice workout, and enough electricity from the generator’s 12V battery to power your TV (via Treehugger).

Citizen Eco-Drive Watch (His/Her) – The Citizen Eco-Drive watch for him or her is a beauty and guess what, it’s eco-friendly as well. This watch really doesn’t use a traditional watch battery because through a solar panel under the dial, it can convert light energy from the sun or any other light source into electrical energy. The electrical energy is then stored in a special energy storage cell and the charging is done in a more efficient manner than was ever before thought possible. In addition as an added benefit to the environment, the energy cell contains none of the chemicals used in ordinary watch batteries.

Zipcar Gift Certificate – The “Zipcertificate” is an awesome green gift because you can surprise someone with “wheels when they want them”. Zipcar is a sustainable car-sharing transportation solution that promotes green consciousness. Zipcar contributes to fewer cars on the road which means less congestion, less pollution, less dependence on oil, and cleaner, fresher air to breathe. Drive around town in style and green at the same time. A perfect combination.

LED TV – A Light Emitting Diode (LED) TV is a super gift not only for the person you are giving it to but also for the environment. They are the most efficient type of flat-panel TV’s available today because they use less energy than a Plasma TV’s or a standard Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) TV’s. The average plasma uses 301 watts, the standard LCD uses 111 watts, and the LED version uses 101 watts.

GNC Eco-Friendly Stainless Steel Water Bottle – This water bottle is a great gift for people you know who live at the gym, an avid runner or friends who just love the environment. It’s made from food grade, high quality stainless steel; it’s 100% recyclable and dishwasher safe. In addition, it will eliminate the need for buying packaged plastic water bottles which simultaneously saves you money and help the planet.

And it’s a wrap! Do you have any favorites? We’d love to hear from you so please let us know!

Tags: christmas, Green Gifts, holiday gift guide

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 14th, 2010 at 11:57 am and is filed under Featured Content, green products. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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cool gift ideas

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Going Green. Keeps Roofs Green. | Sobuka Blog | Clean Energy and Green Tech News & Events | Solar Installations | Wind Energy RECs | Energy Audits | Green Remodeling | Green Financing

Going Green. Keeps Roofs Green.

Posted on November 30th, 2010 by admin

We would like to congratulate Shelley from Boston, MA, our big winner of November’s Green Photo of the Month contest, with a $50 prize! Shelley was in Baltimore for work and she realized that the Fairfield Inn she was staying at was a LEED-certified hotel. In fact, it is the first LEED-certified hotel in Baltimore! LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system.

The picture depicts the hotel’s green roof and skylight for natural sunlight. Green roofs are an efficient way for absorbing rainwater, providing insulation, and helping to lower urban air temperatures to combat the heat island effect.

Thanks to everyone that participated in our contest. Keep them pictures coming for the next one!

Tags: Fairfield Inn by Marriott, green building, LEED Building, November Photo Contest

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 30th, 2010 at 7:00 pm and is filed under Featured Content, Green Photo of the Month. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Congrats!

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