Articles by Sarah van Schagen

Seattle man invents rooftop wind turbine

Seattle inventor Chad Maglaque has a dream. A dream that he will one day be able to walk into a big-box store and purchase a rooftop wind turbine along with his giant jar of mayonnaise.

And surprisingly, his dream may not be so far off. Maglaque has actually put together just such a wind turbine, which he's named The Jellyfish, and he could soon be cashing a $10 million check to make many, many more. How? Maglaque submitted the design to Google's "Project 10 to the 100th" contest, which honors the company's 10th birthday by offering five innovators $10 million for simple ideas that could change the world. The categories for the contest range from energy and environment to health and education, and even a catch-all category for "everything else."

Of course, hundreds of thousands of other ideas have also been submitted, and Google folks are still narrowing down the top picks. But starting March 17, the public will be able to vote for their favorite idea out of the 20 semi-finalists. You can even ask Google to remind you to vote.

Art and environment panel discusses price of public art

I was staring out the window at the Olympic Sculpture Park's beautiful landscape when, about 30 minutes into a panel discussion about art and the environment, moderator Lucia Athens finally mentioned the elephant in the room -- or rather, the sacred cow.

It came in the form of a question thrown out to the panelists -- architect Tom Kundig, style expert Rebecca Luke, and artist Roy McMakin -- about a new bill that would cut the money funneled to public art projects (about one-half of one percent of state building funds). Proposed by Washington Sen. Steve Hobbs (D-Lake Stevens), who has said he considers public art to be a "sacred cow that should be put out to pasture," the bill would save the state $5 million in the next budget.

"Absurd" was Kundig's response. Stand back and look at the proportion, he advised; this bill doesn't look at the big picture of how much money is put toward other, more wasteful projects.

It's not just about the money, McMakin said. Public art is about culture, and it's about jobs. "Art is woven into the culture of the built environment around us."

Why should you care about this public art battle?

Adopting tougher emissions standards, new eco-label in Washington

California gets all the glory. As Kate mentioned, President Obama has ordered the EPA to reconsider a request from California and 13 other states to set automobile emissions standards that are tougher than federal standards. It's that "13 other states" phrase that should be most important to Puget Sound readers, as Washington is one of the bunch.

Along with Arizona, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont, Washington has pledged to adopt California's standards, which would aim to reduce vehicle greenhouse-gas emissions 30 percent by 2016.

So what has to happen here once the California waiver is OK'd? Well, technically, nothing. Once those stricter standards are approved for California, they'll go into effect here in Washington, starting with the 2011 model year vehicles (which you'll start to see on dealer lots next year). That is, unless state courts get involved. According to Sandy Howard of Washington's Department of Ecology, there are still some pending state lawsuits that could affect the overall outcome.

Well, if we can't force automakers to build greener cars, how about shaming consumers into buying greener cars?

From Foxx to Foxy

Zircon man Now, we ain’t sayin’ Jamie Foxx is a gold digga. But he ain’t messin’ wit no blood diamonds, neither. Get down boy, go ‘head get down. Photo: Monica […]