Most people in New York City have the impression that throwing loose trash on top of a pile of garbage bags means it will get to the dump, and that once at the dump it all magically decomposes to become one with the earth, Styrofoam* and all. Not quite what happens…

And the city itself isn’t doing too much to help this general lack of sanitary conditions. Below is what NYC thinks is an acceptable receptacle for outdoor trash in an urban environment.

The clever airholes successfully allow the slightest gust of wind to blow the lighter trash out onto the ground, allowing room for the remaining trash to quickly fill up the can to the point of not being useful anymore. And that “Keep New York Clean” slogan on the side (another variation is “Can It for a Greener Planet”) really seems to be working on the public’s psyche. Genius!

Said no one.

Philadelphia may not be able to beat us in baseball, but they sure know how to recognize a winning trash can design!

At (May ‘09) press time:

The city is rolling out over 500 solar powered, compacting garbage cans. The bins can hold about eight times as much waste as a normal garbage can, and are estimated to save the city close to 12 million dollars over the next 10 years.

How come “the greatest city in the world” can’t get a handle on the waste it produces? Bloomy may preach green, but he needs to start from the (trash-covered) ground up. Seriously, in London you can’t even FIND a trash can, but you also won’t find any garbage on the street. I suspect those Brits must squirrel it away in their jumper pockets to use later at compost tea time.

Regardless – you need to do more than simply can it, New York, you need to compact and compost!

*There may be hope for Styrofoam yet.

NYC trash can photo from darthmojo
Solar powered trash can from PSFK

In a bid to be the new, not-even-finished-yet Fresh Kills, a plan to build an alternative-energy theme park on Ward’s Island was signed off on by ol’ Bloomy. And of course it was brought to us by the same quality newspaper who recently printed a completely “green themed” issue with the front page headline “WE’RE SCREWED!”…The New York Post:

Wind reigns at city’s green ‘power park’

By JEREMY OLSHAN

Last Updated: 7:58 AM, October 14, 2009

Posted: 2:56 AM, October 14, 2009

In a grab for even more “power,” Mayor Bloomberg is about to harness the sun, the wind and East River tide.

The city just inked a deal to build an alternative-energy theme park on Wards Island, a complex of solar panels, wind and tidal turbines that will generate enough juice to power 100 homes. Intended to educate New Yorkers on the potential of going green, this demonstration project will generate only a tiny fraction of the energy possible with the technology, Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe told The Post: “We hope it will prove the worthiness of the island as a location for alternative energy generation,” he said. “We hope it can demonstrate this is a cost-effective way to capture the free energy of wind, sun and tides — and a great way to reduce our carbon footprint and our dependence on oil and gas.”

Project designer Natural Currents Energy Group, which is working on various renewable energy efforts around the country, said the Wards Island project has been tentatively dubbed Renewable Energy Park. Four 100-kilowatt tidal turbines, each 6 feet by 8 feet, will turn the wild currents of the East River into electric current; A 140-foot-high wind turbine, which will come only 60 feet from the base of the bridge, will be the most visible feature of the plant; Eight hundred square feet of solar panels, producing a total of 5 kilowatts, are mostly for show, and will not generate anywhere near the power the wind and tidal turbines do, said Roger Bason, president of NCEG.

Funded by a $990,000 grant from the US Department of Energy and $1.4 million from the city, the new green-power plant will be located on the southern tip of Wards Island near the Robert F. Kennedy (Triborough) Bridge. The electricity generated will be pumped into the Con Ed grid and will help offset the cost of lighting the park, including the Icahn Stadium on attached Randalls Island, Benepe said. Because of the complex web of government agencies controlling Randalls and Wards islands, and the effort to raise the funds, it has taken years to work out the details of a project first floated in 2006. But now that the contract is signed, it should be fully operational in two years, Bason said.

The solar panels will be ready the soonest, followed by the wind turbine and then the tidal ones. The New York City power plant could be a showpiece for the technology and could help Bloomberg move forward with his 2008 proposal to install wind farms atop buildings and bridges, Bason said. “This is a demonstration, and a very timely one,” he said. “We will have a visitor’s kiosk where people can see all the plans and learn how the various technologies work.” Based on some estimates, the East River alone could be harnessed to provide between 3 and 5 percent of New York’s power needs, Bason said. Wards and Randalls islands are an ideal location for the demonstration because the currents through Hell Gate are notoriously powerful, and it is an open area for sun and wind, Benepe said. “But it’s unclear to us if the devices can stand up to the currents of Hell Gate. Some experimental work was done and they did not,” the Parks commissioner said. The Parks Department is also exploring a wind turbine at Fresh Kills Park on Staten Island, and is working on other similar green projects around the city, he said. jeremy.olshan@nypost.com In a grab for even more “power,” Mayor Bloomberg is about to harness the sun, the wind and East River tide.

The city just inked a deal to build an alternative-energy theme park on Wards Island, a complex of solar panels, wind and tidal turbines that will generate enough juice to power 100 homes.

Intended to educate New Yorkers on the potential of going green, this demonstration project will generate only a tiny fraction of the energy possible with the technology, Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe told The Post.

“We hope it will prove the worthiness of the island as a location for alternative energy generation,” he said. “We hope it can demonstrate this is a cost-effective way to capture the free energy of wind, sun and tides — and a great way to reduce our carbon footprint and our dependence on oil and gas.”

Project designer Natural Currents Energy Group, which is working on various renewable energy efforts around the country, said the Wards Island project has been tentatively dubbed Renewable Energy Park.

Four 100-kilowatt tidal turbines, each 6 feet by 8 feet, will turn the wild currents of the East River into electric current.

A 140-foot-high wind turbine, which will come only 60 feet from the base of the bridge, will be the most visible feature of the plant.

Eight hundred square feet of solar panels, producing a total of 5 kilowatts, are mostly for show, and will not generate anywhere near the power the wind and tidal turbines do, said Roger Bason, president of NCEG.

Funded by a $990,000 grant from the US Department of Energy and $1.4 million from the city, the new green-power plant will be located on the southern tip of Wards Island near the Robert F. Kennedy (Triborough) Bridge.

The electricity generated will be pumped into the Con Ed grid and will help offset the cost of lighting the park, including the Icahn Stadium on attached Randalls Island, Benepe said.

Because of the complex web of government agencies controlling Randalls and Wards islands, and the effort to raise the funds, it has taken years to work out the details of a project first floated in 2006. But now that the contract is signed, it should be fully operational in two years, Bason said. The solar panels will be ready the soonest, followed by the wind turbine and then the tidal ones.

The New York City power plant could be a showpiece for the technology and could help Bloomberg move forward with his 2008 proposal to install wind farms atop buildings and bridges, Bason said.

“This is a demonstration, and a very timely one,” he said. “We will have a visitor’s kiosk where people can see all the plans and learn how the various technologies work.”

Based on some estimates, the East River alone could be harnessed to provide between 3 and 5 percent of New York’s power needs, Bason said.

Wards and Randalls islands are an ideal location for the demonstration because the currents through Hell Gate are notoriously powerful, and it is an open area for sun and wind, Benepe said. “But it’s unclear to us if the devices can stand up to the currents of Hell Gate. Some experimental work was done and they did not,” the Parks commissioner said.

The Parks Department is also exploring a wind turbine at Fresh Kills Park on Staten Island, and is working on other similar green projects around the city, he said.

This could be just a political move by Bloomberg to vouch for a project that may or may not every get off the ground. But hey, if it does come about, at least someone may learn something in the middle of their otherwise gluttonous, consumer-filled day!

Tidal turbines from TreeHugger

The Porta Hedge was one of the artworks included in the United States Botanic Garden’s outdoor exhibit over the summer. I may not have noticed it because of it’s incredible camoflauge…

The Porta Hedge is an artificial, mobile alternative to a natural wall. The exterior is constructed from recycled artificial Christmas trees, and when combined with the prerecorded bird song that plays from the exterior, many people have a difficult time distinguishing it from the real thing. But what really distinguishes the Porta Hedge from your average hedge is its concealed interior study…

…which offers a library of field guides, peek holes, a rooftop observation hatch, and a birdcage for those who prefer to observe.

I think Butch needs one of these as a writer’s retreat. Hannukah present!

Top 2 photos from 700 Evergreens, bottom illustration from Dartmouth.