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March 15, 2021
Topics: transportation, farming, hemp, EV, energy, environment, housing, education, cyberattacks
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(PLEASE TAP IMAGES and COLORED TEXT)
We're so pumped to announce that the winner is: **LECTRIC BIKES** This is a family- and BFF-owned business that has partnered with us to give a FREE ELECTRIC BIKE to one of our readers. Yes, it's that beauty in the photos above. Spring is almost here and this $900+ value giveaway can be yours by simply sharing this newsletter with 5 or more other folks (tap green text to share with others). The more referrals, the greater your chance is to win the bike!
Product Highlights
- Easy step-into frame design
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- Rear rack and fenders
- Integrated front and rear lights
- High performance LG swappable battery pack
- Up to 45+ mile range
- LCD computer display
- 160mm Tektro disc brakes
- 7 speed Shimano freewheel
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 The skies are the limit for 2021 and beyond! Urban Air Mobility, or UAM, is the concept that includes vertical takeoff-and-landing aircraft (VTOL). This evolution of helicopter flight is now being hatched, and it uses electric power and batteries, so it's called: eVTOL. NASA gave $5.8 million to UC San Diego to create electric-powered flying taxis that will be safer, quieter, cleaner and more efficient. Eventually, customers will use a smartphone app to hail a ride and wait to be "lifted up" (dare we say transported??) from a "taxi stand."
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🚀Ready to be up in the skies a bit longer? How about a suborbital trip into space? Virgin Galactic has already pre-sold more than 600 seats on SpaceShipTwo. Like most things, the prices are outrageous in the beginning — remember the initial price tag on flat-screen TVs? Brace yourself. Seats on SpaceShipTwo currently cost $250K each. Maybe by 2030 the price will be easier on the digital wallet!
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 Supersonic flight would be the middle step to eVTOL and suborbital travel, and it picks up where the Concorde left off. The company leading the effort to travel at the speed of sound (Mach speed) is Boom. Cruising at a Mach 2.2 speed (1,687 mph), a flight from NYC to London on their XB-1 aircraft would only take 3.5 hours. The trip could very possibly use biofuels, which are made from plants or waste materials. A giant leap for mankind is definitely underway.
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🇫🇷Qairos Energies is a French startup that uses hemp to make methane and hydrogen. With $23 million invested to use locally sourced hemp biomass as biofuel, Qairos is remediating the soil while producing clean energy. The company uses pyro-gasification, a technology that requires high heat, oxygen and biomass, to convert the hemp into a gas, CO2 and heat, which will produce electricity and natural gas. Leave it to the French to cook up something spectacular.
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🇮🇹Italy is also finding a friend in hemp, not only to remove heavy metals and hydrocarbons from the soil, but to use hemp to make a complete bioplastic supply chain. This is a challenge, but this ancient civilization brought the world great architecture and divine food, which leaves little doubt that it will attain this goal. Meanwhile, Horimasa in Japan has been in their bioplastics groove for over 14 years. Hemp is the universal solution to so many problems.
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♠️Haven't heard of Aptera yet? It's the San Diego EV company that created Paradigm, the sleek two-seater above. The body is made of a composite of Kevlar, carbon and hemp, which is already used in race cars for strength. It's the first solar electric vehicle. How does it work? Well, on the surface of the car there are 180 integrated solar panels that make solar energy. This amazing technology allows the Paradigm to travel up to 1,000 miles on a single charge. And the car is as fast as it is cool looking: 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds, with max speed at 110 mph. With over 7,000 reservations and preorder sales that total over $250 million, Aptera's Paradigm ($25,900) and Paradigm Plus ($46,900) are going to make science sexier than ever!
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🌏Thermal insulation for buildings is mostly made from fiberglass, and currently only 0.5% of thermal insulation is made from hemp. In an effort to take market share, a Netherlands-based company, HempFlax, the biggest industrial hemp grower and processor, purchased a German insulation company called Thermo-Natur. Since 1993, HempFlax has been pioneering the uses of hemp, and this one meets the bulls eye. Hemp insulation versus fiberglass insulation is going to be a huge game changer, and as they like to say at HempFlax, Nature Wins!
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🏡In Tampa Bay, close to the University of South Florida campus, a marvelous tiny house village is making dreams come true. Escape is the manufacturer of the eco-friendly tiny homes. Phase One, called The Village, consists of ten homes, and guess what, it is already sold out. Phase Two, called The Oaks, is currently under construction. This sounds like the beginning of a beautiful new housing type. Cue the National Association of Home Builders and Building Code authorities to get this wonderful new housing type in the books. We need this more than ever.
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🏢The International Energy Conservation Code for 2021 will put the US on a trajectory to achieve net-zero carbon emissions from commercial buildings. Currently, 40% of US greenhouse gas emissions is a direct result of buildings. The new conservation codes will guarantee a reduction in the carbon footprint and help stop climate change. Both residential and commercial buildings will become greener and more efficient this year. Better efficiency and less carbon emissions will do a lot to heal our planet.
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🥕Vertical Harvest has a fresh idea to integrate underserved urban populations with vertical farming, jobs and housing all rolled into one. The prototype started in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and is set to kick off next in Westbrook, ME, Philadelphia, PA and Chicago, IL. Co-founders Nona Yehia and Caroline Croft Estay are passionate about making the world a better place, and they did something about it. Their model improves lives and it is fully adjustable to meet the need for jobs, safe housing and fresh local produce, required of any type of underserved population. Beneficial changes that target multiple problems are a growing trend; please, hop on board.
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🖥While cyber security may not seem like a particularly "green" topic; we are all operating in a computerized world, and we are all connected in interlocking digital systems. The SolarWinds cyberattack warrants an extra long blurb, as does the hack on Microsoft's Exchange Server email, but for now, what is truly needed to avert this type of crisis is cybersecurity talent and an army of software engineers. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts 30-33% growth in this field through 2029, and salaries range from $120K- $200K annually. This may be your cyber-hero calling. Why not investigate this fresh career path?? The greening of your personal economy IS a green topic.
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Thank you to Fly Soul Shoes for sponsoring today's newsletter. Fly Soul uses plant-based materials to make your feet and our environment happy. Please, check out their comfy and fly shoes. AGREEN1 readers save 15% with code AGREEN15.
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🎓A college education has become both necessary and ridiculously expensive. Roughly 42 million Americans, or one in every eight, has student loans. In Q3 of 2020, the national student loan debt reached $1.7 trillion. But help is on the way: Massive Open Online Courses. While MOOCs have been around for about a decade, they have matured enough to gain academic respect and the pandemic really proved their value. In fact, one of the largest MOOCs, Coursera, is going public. In early March, they filed an application with the NYSE under the ticker symbol: COUR. The platform has 77 million learners and more than 4,000 courses from 200+ schools and businesses. It offers accredited bachelor's and master's degrees, certificate programs and single courses. Perhaps a cybersecurity or software engineering career awaits you on the Coursera platform.
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