The Green Athlete

Happy Earth Day!

Today is Earth Day and a day that can be the start of making little changes that can help limit our waste. A simple way and something you can do right now is go to www.catalogchoice.org/ and spend a minute filling out what catalogs you want to stop coming to your house. It is very simple and very easy. Why do we need all those catalogs in the mail when the internet is full of shopping. If you want to look for things to buy just spend time searching Google instead of reading a catalog you will through away as soon as you are done flipping the pages.
This is one simple thing you can do, but I encourage you to read some of the blog entries in this site or others and find other ways you can help. Please come back frequently as I will do my best to post new ways we can limit our carbon foot print.
Happy Earth Day!

Recycle your running shoes!

The Green Athlete and Chris Lieto are proud to partner up with a great non-profit organization called Soles for Souls www.soles4souls.org. We will be working with them along with the support of K-Swiss to do recycled shoe drives at the various events we are at this year. Next up - Wildflower Triathlon Festival! So if you are heading up to Wildflower next week, bring an extra pair of old running shoes to recycle. Look for the Green Athlete van, turn your shoes in and we'll reward you will a discount coupon for a pair of new K-Swiss running shoes!

Sungevity acknowledged by Fortune Magazine - 11 Great Green Ideas!

Berkeley startup Sungevity aims to do for the solar business what Dell did for personal computers: digitize the entire enterprise to cut costs and create a mass market. Enter your address on Sungevity's website, and satellite-imaging software zooms in on your home, calculates the roof's dimensions, selects appropriately sized solar arrays, and shows what they will look like installed -- while computing your return on investment. Once the order is placed, an off-the-shelf prepackaged solar array is shipped to the customer's door, and an installation crew is dispatched. "This changes the game," says
Sungevity co-founder Danny Kennedy.
-- Todd Woody

Sungevity Launches

Eco start-up company Sungevity is launching a new web application on Earth Day that will take the guess work out of solar panel installations. Enter your address on Sungevity's website and satellite-imaging software will zoom in on your home, calculate your roof's dimensions, select the right sized solar arrays and calculate how much money you'll save on energy costs.

Once you place an order, the site will ship one of five off-the-shelf prepackaged solar arrays and dispatch an installation crew to your door. An on-line database tracks local building and permit requirements and sends the necessary forms to you for you to fill out.

This is great news for everyone who has ever wanted to jump on the solar bandwagon, but was afraid to because of the headaches that come from any large home project. The system will also help make everything cheaper, since half of a solar system's costs are from installation hassles.

Unfortunately, the service is limited to California addresses right now, but if business is good, we could probably count on a nationwide roll-out in the near future. [Green Wombat via Wired]

The Sky is Falling