GET-ting KIDS OUTDOORS:

An Eco-friendly Scooter that Grows with the Child:

Micro Kickboard®

Here is a 2-year old with her MINI2GO for toddlers.

By N.R. Mallery

We recently became aware of Micro Kickboard®, a neat, award-winning, eco-friendly company that provides great scooters so kids can get outside for some exercise and parents can have the satisfaction of buying something worth spending money on.

One thing that caught our attention is the green practice they call “Reduce to the Max.” In keeping with the practice, they use the best materials for strength, endurance and longevity, yet their products are lightweight. The sustainable designs use modular construction, so every part is replaceable. Their products use minimal materials, all of high quality that can be maintained virtually forever. Even their shipping policies reflect a desire to reduce waste, using less packing material and keeping them out of the waste stream.

Micro Kickboard offers a scooter that grows with a toddler taking him or her up to five years with one product. A toddler starts with sitting on a removable seat that can be used as a storage unit. The handle extends to accommodate the growing child’s height.

We had the opportunity to try a Deluxe mini Microboard with a four-year-old neighbor boy. As you can see by the smile on Bodhi’s face, he is having a lot of fun on this model that is designed for children from two to five. This neat three-wheeled scooter has some great features. The turning mechanism incorporates a safe lean-to-steer design. The brake is engaged simply by pressing on it with your heel. The wheels are smooth, quiet, and non-marking. The deck is flexible and made with reinforced fiberglass. The handlebar can be adjusted for height as the child grows and makes the scooter easy to carry. Other models accommodate ages from five to 12, eight years and over, and teens and adults.

This is a great way to get kids outdoors – having fun and exercise that helps to develop balance and coordination used in many sports. The scooters are great while camping, on bike paths, at home or in your neighborhood.

Micro Kickboard® is the US distributor for Micro brand scooters and is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The owners work with the world-wide headquarters for Micro-Mobility in Zurich, Switzerland. This innovative company was founded in1999.

Four-year old Bodhi from Bradford, VT enjoys the Deluxe Mini
MicroBoard Scooter model. Courtesy photos

The original version of the scooter was actually designed for an adult. The story behind the creation of the first Micro scooter starts with Wim Ouboter, a young inventor living just outside Zurich. He regarded his favorite lunchtime sausage shop, the Sternen Grill, as too far to walk but too near for a car or even a bike. Recalling the scooter of his youth, he and his wife, Janine, set about designing a foldable scooter large enough for an adult. The resulting Razor scooter triggered a worldwide boom starting in 2000. (Read more in Wikipedia: Kick scooter: folding scooters.) Wim and his team went on to create many other award-winning innovations in the years that followed, and continue to do so today. The CEO of the company, Hans-Peter Bolliger was the early innovator in the sport of freestyle riding (also known extreme or stunt scooters) and today he leads the global Micro team, one of the top teams in the world!

Today they offer scooters for every age, starting with the MINI2GO for toddlers right up to the business world with an electric version called the eMICRO ONE, a folding electric hybrid scooter that uses the power of the electric motor and your own kick/push power.

Read more at www.microkickboard.com, or call them at 888-236-5657. See the discount coupon for GET readers in their ad on page 39. Stay tuned for more from this earth-friendly company, in future issues of Green Energy Times.

CAPTIONs:

1. Four-year old Bodhi, from Bradford, VT enjoys the Deluxe Mini MicroBoard Scooter model.

1. Here is a 2-year old with her MINI2GO for toddlers. Courtesy photos.

from Green Energy Times http://www.greenenergytimes.net/2016/04/15/get-ting-kids-outdoors/
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This thingCharger Thing

The thingCHARGER is handy in the kitchen when needing to read a recipe at the same time as charging. Courtesy photo.

By Ticia Y. McGean

I sometimes feel a twinge of guilt loving a piece of inanimate technology, but then I get a text message from my daughter with a silly photo attached, or I am out with my adorable niece taking videos of her antics, or I say something starting with “I wonder” and then don’t anymore thanks to the magic of Google. I don’t want to waste paper (or risk losing the boarding passes, as I am wont to do) and love using the e-tickets to get on the plane, in the movie, play, show etc. I love not needing books that also waste paper, as I use my Kindle app to read all of the time, even at night without keeping my husband up. I love that I have a flashlight immediately when I need it. I love getting my email and other notifications and being able to immediately respond, or track my family on flights. I love that my niece and my mom get to do “facetime” even though they are 3.5 hours away, and she knows her Mamu (Gramma) immediately. I could go on and on (and yes, I do also enjoy using it as a phone, sometimes).

But the key issue here is that the phone only works if it has a charge. In a house with three smart phones, there used to be a scarcity of chargers, but no more! This thingCHARGER has really made a difference, and it does not ever get lost. We really enjoy the versatility of it, too. It has come in very handy in the kitchen, when I need to read a recipe at the same time as charging. It is handy to have the ability to switch both the charger type, as well as the orientation of the charger, with just a push in of the button. Conveniently, the other plug adaptor is stored on the inside for when iPhone friends come to visit.

There are only two issues that we have noticed.

One is that some phones do not have their plug in the middle, as is the case with my husband’s phone. The port for his phone is on the side, so we have to put a penny under it to not make it shift, so that it will work.

The second is something my brother and his wife experienced while living in an older building where the outlets were all sideways and down near the floor. The thingCHARGER really needs to be up on the wall or a counter. They moved to a newer home and are now able to plug it into a wall socket where it works perfectly.

Oh, we also love the USB ports on the bottom. Now we can have all the charges going on! 

Learn more about these neat new thingChargers at thingCharger.com.

Ticia McGean is the Manager of Product Development for Map Info Pro at Pitney Bowes.

from Green Energy Times http://www.greenenergytimes.net/2016/04/15/this-thingcharger-thing/
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Massive solar-powered garden towers to spring up in Tokyo

Read the rest of Massive solar-powered garden towers to spring up in Tokyo

from Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building http://inhabitat.com/massive-solar-powered-garden-towers-to-spring-up-in-tokyo/
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3D-printed replica of Syrian arch destroyed by ISIL now on display in London

Massive solar-powered garden towers to spring up in Tokyo

Read the rest of Massive solar-powered garden towers to spring up in Tokyo

from Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building http://inhabitat.com/massive-solar-powered-garden-towers-to-spring-up-in-tokyo/
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3D-printed replica of Syrian arch destroyed by ISIL now on display in London

New Hampshire Camp and Appalachian Mountain Club Lodge Go Solar

A 13.52 kW of solar on Copper Cannon Camp’s dining hall in Bethlehem, NH will reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by over 14,000 pounds annually. Photo: Revision Energy

By Green Energy Times staff

Outdoor recreational facilities in the northeast are taking on the solar challenge. Two in New Hampshire are noteworthy. Both were built by ReVision Energy, which has offices in New Hampshire and Maine.

Copper Cannon Camp

A 13.52-kilowatt (kW) array went on the roof of the Copper Cannon Camp’s newly-constructed dining hall in Bethlehem, NH. The solar array will offset about 15,500 kilowatt hours (kWh) of the camp’s electricity and reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by over 14,000 pounds annually.

Copper Cannon offers tuition-free summer camp for children in need. Peter Christnacht, the camp’s executive director, said, “As a teaching tool, it will be a great educational opportunity. We want to incorporate aspects of it in with our farm-to-table garden plot and conservation activities.”

Copper Cannon plans to have campers monitor the power usage and provide daily updates on production and consumption as a learning experience. Christnacht hopes that doing so will help the campers become “able to connect the dots with energy generation and energy consumption.”

Copper Cannon Camp is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. It abuts the White Mountain National Forest. It offers traditional summer camp activities but also focuses on themes that encourage continued learning, healthy lifestyles and building social capital.

The Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) moved further toward its goal for reducing its carbon footprint by installing a 73.2-kW solar array outside AMC’s Cardigan Lodge in Alexandria, NH

Appalachian Mountain Club

The Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) moved further toward its goal for reducing its carbon footprint by installing 240 solar electric modules and seven inverters outside AMC’s Cardigan Lodge in Alexandria, NH. The 73.2-kW, fixed ground mount is located next to the lodge, which is adjacent to Cardigan Mountain State Forest. The system was installed last December.

The grid-tied array was installed by ReVision Energy and is owned and operated by IGS Solar. The system was financed through a Power Purchase Agreement, which allows AMC to buy renewable power at a price below usual grid retail cost.

The array is expected to generate about 87,000 kWh each year. This reduces carbon dioxide emissions by the amount released by burning157 barrels of oil. The reduction is equivalent to the amount absorbed by 15 acres of pine trees.

Through group net metering, Three Mile Island Camp on Lake Winnipesaukee also benefits from the solar array at Cardigan Lodge. AMC will receive credit for the excess it produces and plans to share a portion of the credit with the camp.

AMC has a long history of minimizing environmental impacts in its operations. It has a goal of reducing its total carbon footprint 80% by 2050. Paul Cunha, AMC’s Vice President of Outdoor Operations, said, “The solar array is an important step in the effort to reach that goal by replacing carbon-emitting systems with sustainable, renewable energy systems.”

A number of AMC’s cabins, huts, and lodges have been recognized for environmental leadership. Eight in New Hampshire’s White Mountains have off-grid power. In Maine, the Gorman Chairback Lodge is one of only a handful of backcountry facilities in the nation to be LEED registered.

ReVision Energy is seeking organizations to form more partnerships. “The PPA is a powerful and innovative tool that allows towns, schools and non-profit organizations to install state-of-the-art renewable energy systems at no upfront cost that will generate clean energy and produce cost savings for decades and decades,” Jack Ruderman, Director of Community Solar Initiatives, said.

from Green Energy Times http://www.greenenergytimes.net/2016/04/15/new-hampshire-camp-and-appalachian-mountain-club-lodge-go-solar/
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