Riding a bike and working out are smart things to do, but drinking water from a plastic container exuding chemicals many believe to be harmful is about as smart as riding a bike in high heels.

There’s a whole lotta controversy going on vis-a-vis Bisphenol A (abbreviated BPA), a chemical that mimics estrogen and thus, opponents claim, could induce hormonal responses. BPA leaches out of certain plastic bottles very fast when exposed to hot liquid, studies say.

So if you leave a plastic bottle full of water in your car on a hot summer day … well, get the idea? In the interests of “better safe than sorry,” some folks are avoiding bottles made from certain types of plastic.

If you (understandably) don’t want to use a glass bottle when biking or hiking or working out at the gym, cuz it might break, CamelBak (those awesome folks who make soft water containers for cyclists to wear on their backs) has come up with a BPA-free water bottle. Check it out! (Photo: faster panda.)

Geothermal energy supplies some 3 percent of California’s energy, so it’s always surprising to us what a low profile it has. Generating energy from the steam arising from the bowels of the earth, the amount of pollutants produced by this form of generation is minimal. Santa Rosa-based ThermaSource LLC, a geothermal drilling, engineering and consulting company, has raised $93 million over the past two years, including $41 million last month. It expects to double employment, from 200 currently to more than 420 by the end of the year, as it expands operations in California and Nevada, and moves into the Caribbean. 

In a feat of modern-day alchemy, methane generated by garbage rotting at the Altamont Landfill near Livermore will be converted to clean fuel for garbage trucks at a $15.5 million onsite facility starting in 2009. How cool is that?

This is a great example of a positive cycle: Those fumes that create the all-too-familiar nasty aroma of garbage will be cleansed and cooled to 260 degrees below zero, turning them into a liquid used to power the trucks delivering garbage to the landfill.

Houston-based Waste Management Inc. and Linde North America, a subsidiary of a German company, are working together to create the system. Hundreds of garbage and recyclable collection trucks dumping garbage at the site will run on the clean fuel, the companies said.

The novel approach will mean fewer greenhouse gases will be released into California’s air, both from decomposing garbage and vehicle emissions, to the tune of 30,000 tons per year.

A Linde-designed system will suck pollutants out of the gas and cool it to 260 degrees below zero, turning it into a liquid. Waste Management will use the liquefied natural gas in its own trucks, possibly also selling some of the fuel.

The system could go into action as soon as next year if it’s approved by Bay Area air quality officials, the companies said. (Photo: bucklava.)