Another plan for a large wind power generation facility has arisen and this time it’s in a state that’s never been mentioned before on Things Are Good: South Dakota, USA. South Dakota is now considering a plan for creating the world’s largest windfarm!

Clipper Windpower of Carpinteria, Calif., intends to erect enough wind turbines in several South Dakota counties to produce up to 6,000 megawatts of electricity, said Bob Gates, the firm’s senior vice president of commercial operations.

That would be eight times larger than the biggest wind farm in the world, a 735-megawatt FPL Energy facility with 421 turbines stretching across three Texas counties.

It’s not shocking to discover that the top 5 most fuel-efficient vehicles in the USA are hybrids, in fact it’s good to see that they are leading the pack. Recently, a blogger went to the Environmental Protection Agency’s website and created a handy list that orders the cars based on fuel-efficiency.

FreeRice is a site that will improve the world and your mind. The site gives you a word you need to define and if you get it right you have successfully donated rice to a hungry person somewhere in the world!

FreeRice has two goals:

1. Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

Thanks Craig!

Princeton University is looking into the details of using biofuels in jet airplanes. The research team will examine what fuel mixture provides the best efficiency and how engines can be designed to better burn the fuels that they are bound to create.

Alternative energy sources, if designed appropriately, also could significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses released in creating and burning jet fuel. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, aviation is responsible for around 10 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions from transportation in the nation, or roughly 2.7 percent of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions. The second research program, supported by NetJets, augments Dryer’s fundamental MURI work and brings in additional expertise from the Princeton Environmental Institute to develop “greener” alternative fuels.

No, this isn’t a long rambiling post kind of yarn, as the OED says that yarn can mean “a long or rambling story, esp. one that is implausible.” I mean yarn as in “a spun thread used for knitting, weaving, or sewing.”

Yes, that’s right, today’s Blog Action Day post is about yarn and how people who are into spinning thread can help the environement too.

The Hook and I blog has a list of ten things that yarn enthusiasts can do, here’s number nine:

9) Use your stash. Not buying new materials is probably the best way to reduce our environmental impact. It’s hard for me to say this–I love yarn companies and the people involved, many of them have strong environmental missions themselves, but it can’t be avoided that lack of consumption is better than consumption when it comes to the environment.