Zilker Tree Lighting Ceremony

December 6, 2009 at 6pm

This year, Austin is going to scale back the normally spectacular Trail of Lights and concentrate more on family activities around the Zilker Tree. There will be two stages, Candy Land and King of Winter Stage (Zilker Hillside Park). Entertainers will take to both stages and provide holiday enjoyment. Dancers, musicians, storytellers, choirs, comedians, theatre troops, and more will fill the air with the festive sounds of Christmas.

Schedule

December 6th, 6pm – Zilker Tree Lighting Ceremony

~~~ Bring a New Unwrapped Toy for ages 12 and over for Blue Santa

December 6th – 31st, Beginning at dusk Zilker Tree Lit Nightly

December 12th, 6:30 pm – Zilker Tree Holiday Festival Fun Run

December 13th-21st, 6:00 pm – 10 pm, Zilker Tree Holiday Festival

Event Nights, featuring:

Going Green

GREEN MISSION

The Trail of Lights strives to provide a fun-filled family environment to celebrate the holidays while minimizing the environmental impact of our community event.

GREEN EFFORTS

Alternative Energy. More than 1 million lights and all vendor booths will be powered by Austin Energy using renewable energy.

Switch to LEDs. Thirty percent of the displays at the Trail of Lights will use LED light bulbs. LED bulbs use 80% to 90% less energy and will dramatically cut the event’s overall energy costs.

Single Stream Recycling. Single Stream Recycling services will be provided on-site. Recycling receptacles will be located next to trash receptacles and monitored by volunteer Environmental Ambassadors wearing brown smocks with glow in the dark recycling emblems.

Printed Materials. The Trail Guide is printed on recycled paper with soy based ink and distributed through the Austin American Statesman.

Green Vendors,. All vendors have agreed to use on-site recycling services to recycle all cardboard and grease waste. Vendors are also required to use products capable of being recycled through the Single Stream Recycling Program and eliminate plastic wrap packaging when selling items to patrons.

Coordinated Transportation Services. CAPMETRO offers round trip transportation from State Parking garages. Parking at the Trail of Lights is available, but discouraged. Generally, there is a 40 minute wait to get in and out of the Park and the parking fee to park on-site is $15 per vehicle as opposed to $3.00 per person for a round trip on the shuttle.

Special Needs Transportation. Electric golf carts will be available to transport all special needs patrons. Also, the kick-off parade will feature Santa’s sleigh drawn by horses.

We are now the proud owners of a black, 1994 Chevy 2500 Diesel 4×4 truck. We have named the truck, Beast 2, because we will be using it to tow Beauty, our travel trailer. The truck gets about 18 miles to the gallon, which is 10 miles to the gallon more than the original Beast, a 1987 Ford Club Van XL.

Click here to find biodiesel in the Austin area.

So now we have our dream vehicle, one that can run on biodiesel. Now, there is something new to think about, biodiesel mixtures. B20 is a mixture of 20% biofuel to 80% diesel fuel. This runs in your diesel truck with no problem. However, you also may find B99, almost pure biodiesel, for sale. There is nothing wrong with this fuel. You should download the following document and read it before using any mixture higher that B20.

Right click here and “save as” to download Use of Biodiesel Blends above 20% Biodiesel from the National Biodiesel Board (NBB), a national trade association representing the US biodiesel.

If you do not want to read it, here is Eileen’s summary . . .

There are biodiesel blends, like B99,which is almost pure biodiesel. These blends may cause some performance problems in colder areas. It is always good to measure the cold flow properties of a biodiesel blend to insure it will perform adequately for climate and altitude in which it will be used. With fuel mixtures above B20, cold flow properties can start to gel around 32 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. Care must be taken to be sure the blend will not gel and clog the fuel filter.

Petrodiesel leaves a deposit in the bottom of fuel lines, tanks and delivery systems over time. Biodiesel acts as a cleaning agent and dissolves these sediments. This can result in the fuel
filter becoming clogged and the need to change filters more frequently until the sediment is cleaned out. The cleaning action of pure or “neat” biodiesel may cause fuel filters to clog more often.

B100 will soften and degrade certain types of elastomers and rubber compounds over time, like natural or butyl rubbers. Blends of B20 or lower have not exhibited problematic elastomer degradation.

Industry experts recommend that biodiesel be used within six months of manufacture to ensure that the quality of the fuel is maintained.

Diesel engines convert the energy in biodiesel into work with same efficiency as petrodiesel, so fuel economy, peak horsepower and peak torque are directly related to the energy content of biodiesel. On average, B20 will have 1-2% less BTUs compared to petrodiesel, and B100 eill have 7-9% less BTUs per gallon than petrodiesel.

Due to the slightly higher viscosity and density of biodiesel, blends higher than B20 may cause more unburned fuel to pass the piston rings into the oil pan. Engine oil change intervals need to be shortened if using high blends of biodiesel. The viscosity and density of B20 and lower blends are very similar to that of the pure petrodiesel, so no changes in engine oil intervals are needed with B20 or lower.

Tags: biodiesel, b20, b99, biofuel mixtures, BTU in biofuel

Travis County Fairgrounds
October 20-21, 2007 Arts • Crafts • Engineering • Green • Music • Science

Maker Faire is a two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates arts, crafts, engineering, science projects and the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset. Creative, resourceful folks who like to tinker and love to make things are called Makers.

• During the faire, Calcars will convert a Prius Hybrid into a plug-in vehicle that gets 100+miles per gallon, which can be powered with any form of electricity.
• Blubber is new generation of a floating DIY robotic species with the capability to navigate autonomously and intelligently belong to a family of “Transitional Species.”
• Build Fantasy Creatures in 3D using just garden tomato baskets, papier mâché, plaster and fiberglass, molded by lots of little hands and your wonderful imagination!
• Botanicalls will demonstrate how thirsty plants place phone calls for human help whenever they need water, opening new channels of communication and promoting inter-species cohabitation.
• High-Tech Pumpkins made with electronics, robotics, and carving: a Cylon jack-o-lantern, a remote-controlled pumpkin Dalek and other high-tech squash.

Build, CRAFT, hack, play, MAKE.

Tickets for Maker Faire Austin available now!

Map to 7311 Decker Lane, Austin, TX 78724

Event Information: (512) 854-9200

Tags: arts, crafts, engineering, green, music, science

8th Annual Renewable Energy Roundup & Green Living Fair

September 28-30, 2007
Fredericksburg, TexasFor Information on Energy Roundup, Click Here

Included in Entrance Fee:

• Exhibits and demonstrations
• Speakers and workshops (view schedule of speakers)
• Fun learning activities for kids
• Musical performances
• Tent talks
• Live music
• New Belgium beer & ales for sale (made in wind-powered facility)
• natural, organic food cafe

Gate entry fee $10 for Friday or Sunday, $12 for Saturday or $20 for a 3-day pass (children under 12 free)

Four different threads for workshops and exhibits:

• Renewable Energy
• Organic/Sustainable Growing
• Green Building and Sustainable Living
• Water Use and Reuse

Tags: annual renewable energy roundup, green living, green building, sustainable growing, water conservation, Fredericksburg, Texas

You may watch Live Earth : Concerts for a Climate in Crisis on MSN. Select bands are being featured on the Sundance Channel. Look around your TV dial, some other independent stations may be carrying it as well.

The entire idea behind Live Earth is that, if we care about the Earth, which we should, we may each take small steps toward positive change. The impact of many small steps is HUGE. Do not think you cannot make a difference–you can!

If you would like more information about steps toward positive change that you may take, please visit my other blog, Endangered Spaces or the Live Earth site.

I would like to share a funny story with you.

When organizers for Live Earth concert where looking for venues (7 concerts on 7 continents on 07/07/07), they wanted to schedule a concert in our nation’s capital, Washington, DC.

They were unable to because of the objections of a small group of Republican lawmakers, led by Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe. Inhofe blocked a bipartisan resolution that would have permitted Gore to choose the Capitol’s West Front as a Live Earth concert venue. “There has never been a partisan political event at the Capitol, and this is a partisan political event,” said Inhofe in March.

So the native people of the USA stepped up and offered the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian as a venue.

From the website of National Museum of the American Indian:

Preserving the health of Mother Earth is the gravest responsibility of our generation. Taking up this challenge begins with a call to consciousness. . . . there is no more important matter before humankind today, we are honored to bring to the museum musical and cultural talent, and speakers from the scientific and American Indian cultural communities, in the spirit of the Live Earth message.

Back to the funny story:

Live Earth maintains that it is not a partisan political event but is supported by people of all political stripes. “The calvary didn’t ride to the rescue, the American Indians did,” Gore told CBS TV today.

Only in America . . .

Tags: Live Earth concert, Al Gore, SOS, American Indians