The show this week was at an earlier time slot, 4 pm Arizona time.

It’s a end-of-the year show, but instead of doing a wrap-up, we asked our new correspondent, Adam Aston, to talk about the stories, that he saw as being big trends in 2011.

1. Renewable Energy and the rise of natural gas and fracking. Natural gas has gotten so cheap, that it could knock out the price of wind energy

2. Electric Vehicles, and what the shift to EV will be the ‘killer app’ of the smart grid

Our guest, William Carey talked about the volume of how 2 billion golf balls being produced; they have nowhere to go when they are no longer in use. Interestingly, the USGA which governs the weight, size and the dimples on the ball, does not say what ought to go inside of a golf ball. There tends to be nasty stuff inside a golf ball, and many don’t know this.

Translated: There are heavy metals inside a golf ball!

His company, Dixon Golf, manufactures the high performance golf ball called the Earth Ball. (There are ‘Wind’ and ‘Fire’ balls too!) Interestingly, it performs better than the traditional golf ball.

But how do you recycle a gold ball. Listen to how they turn used golf balls into playground equipment, and even a putter!

I asked William about reclaimed water being used by golf courses, and like to point to a recent article on the subject by Green Living magazine.

Fascinating conversation with William. Here is the podcast of the show. You could also find this and past podcasts on iTunes –just search for ‘Your Triple Bottom Line.’