Raleigh, N.C. — North Carolina State University students hope that retrofitting a gasoline-powered car with an electrical engine sets a new standard for vehicles in the Triangle – and wins some prize money.
They are competing in the national Eco Car Challenge to convert a General Motors vehicle into an electric, hybrid or fuel cell vehicle without sacrificing its quality.
Last year, the team of about 30 N.C. State students designed an all-electric drive train.
"What we're moving towards is electrification of the automobile, where we'll just have electric motors providing power to the wheels," said Terry Gilbert, the team's faculty adviser.
Recycle and get a $50 HT gift card...
If you live in the City of Raleigh and recycle each week, you could easily be in the running to win a $50 Harris Teeter gift card. The city has partnered with HT and Coca-Cola to present a contest to encourage residents to recycle.
The "Recycle and Win" contest will start Nov. 3 and run for six months. City residents living in single-family homes will receive a mailer from Coca-Cola that teaches the do's and don'ts of proper recycling and includes a special sticker. If you place that sticker on your green city recycling bin and put your bin out like you normally would, you may win one of those gift cards.
Press Release
Raleigh, October 15, 2009: The Center for Environmental Farming Systems
(CEFS) and Burt's Bees are pleased to present Will Allen as the 2009
Sustainable Agriculture Lecturer. Allen is the founder and CEO of Growing
Power, Inc., and is the recipient of a 2008 MacArthur Fellowship, commonly
known as a "Genius Grant." He also was recently featured in an appearance
in the movie Fresh.
In the world of urban "food deserts" - areas with limited access to fresh,
affordable foods - convenience stores, fast-food chains and liquor stores
reign supreme. The two-acre Growing Power farm in downtown Milwaukee is
Raleigh, N.C. — A north Raleigh fire station has a new roof that doubles as an above-ground garden.
Engineers
started Wednesday on the new roof at Station 9, at 4465 Six Forks Road.
It is designed to be environmentally friendly as it will substantially
reduce storm water runoff. About half of the rain will stay out of the
gutter and be absorbed into the plant system.
Because the system absorbs rain so well, designers said the owners will not have to water the roof.
Bad news for those of you still growing tomatoes: the late blight
that has been wreaking havoc in the mountains has made its way to the Piedmont.
I diagnosed my first case this morning. You can find all the details on
Cooperative Extension’s Growing Small Farms website at http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/chatham/ag/SustAg/cropproblems.html
If you hope to keep harvesting tomatoes, it’s a good idea to
start scouting your fields every couple of days to inspect for this disease.
See photos and get control recommendations on the GSF website. The next few
days are supposed to be cool and wet which are optimal conditions for the
spread of this disease.
When I first started working as an Extension agent in North
Carolina 10 years ago, I was surprised that there were not more CSAs in the
area. As a graduate student in Florida, I had helped start a CSA and enjoyed
having a working share which allowed me to work on a local organic farm. When I
did my first CSA workshop in Chatham County in 2002 we had about 30-35 CSAs in
the entire state. I just updated my list of NC CSAs last fall (see http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/chatham/ag/SustAg/csafarms.html)
and we now have about 100! I see tremendous interest in
and potential for this model and think it is past time to do another
The National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (NLGMA) is
coming to Charlotte.
A coalition of the biggest players in the national market for processed leafy
greens has asked the USDA to issue the NLGMA as a means to “minimize
microbial contamination of fresh leafy green vegetables in the growing and
handling processes, enhance the overall quality of fresh product in the marketplace,
and boost public confidence in these commodities. “ Proponents of local,
organic food argue that the agreement would do just the opposite because it
would lead to further concentration in the leafy greens industry into a few
August 31 and September 15, 2009: Pollinator Conservation Workshop and Garden Tour
Pittsboro, NC