Yes, your refrigerator, washer, and dryer may be Energy Star certified, but any good you’re doing is offset by your DVD player, TV and computer. That’s the simplified version of a new International Energy Agency report that says white goods—refrigerator, washing machines, etc.—are a lot more energy efficient than they used to be, but that consumer electronics—computers, TVs… → Read More
Everyone loves solar power, right? It’s basically an infinitely renewable resource — at least for as long as any of us care — and it’s free. FREE! Why, I remember making and using solar powered hot dog cookers back in Boy Scouts; and people a lot smarter than me have been planning things far more sophisticated than a hot dog cooker. Take Solaren, for example. They’re hoping to work with Pacific… → Read More
Oops. Apparently all the computers in the US that are rarely, if ever, shut down at night account for almost $3 billion in wasted energy costs and “may emit up to 20 million tons of carbon dioxide.” → Read More
Asura just opened the first-of-its-kind thermal energy plant in California, which should generate enough electricity to power some 3,500 homes. The best part is that this plant, which is named Kimberlina, is merely a proof of concept of sorts— the real plant, to be constructed by 2010, will generate enough electricity to power, like, 120,000 homes. The idea is dead simple: you’ve got… → Read More
Panasonic today announced [JP] it developed the world’s smallest fuel cell for use in notebooks, reducing the size of its predecessor by 50%. The new model is sized at 270cc, which makes it as small as existing lithium ion batteries used in notebooks currently on the market. Panasonic says the fuel cell will be positioned at the underside of notebooks and provides about 20 hours of power… → Read More
Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes. For $22.99 you can charge four USB-powered devices plus another regular DC-powered device in your car. It’s only $22.99 – roughly the cost of one or two device-specific DC adapters. Since just about everything charges via USB nowadays, this is a pretty obvious choice for any gadget fiend who spends a lot of time on the road. Car Charger with 4 USB Ports and 1… → Read More
Some feel-good news for your enjoyment, this time about how wind power can save the planet, or something. It seems that for the low, low price of less than two cents per day, the U.S. would be able to generate something like 300 gigawatts of electricity using windmills. That translates to an 11 percent reduction in natural gas consumption, saving 4 trillion gallons of water every year, and a 25… → Read More
Go downstairs and check out your power meter. It’s probably spinning frantically. Why? Because you’re blowing electricity out of your home theatre set-up and home office like a fiend. Don’t worry: I’m doing it to. We all are. It’s the cost of staying online and entertained these days and, sometimes when I’m in the basement, I kind of get a twinge of… → Read More
Straight out of the University of Texas at Austin comes the world’s most powerful laser. I just assumed that most lasers were very powerful, but apparently the great state of Texas has the best one until someone else can come along and build an even more powerful laser or mounts this same laser to a shark’s head. → Read More
People who wear lab coats somewhere in Illinois (Argonne, to be exact) have reportedly developed a lithium-ion battery that’s capable of storing 30 percent more energy while at the same time being safer than current lithium-ion batteries. What’s more, the technology has been licensed to Japanese laptop battery manufacturer Toda Kogyo, so we might actually see these batteries in… → Read More
[photopress:2070049523_385bca185b_o.jpg,full,center] In the 1960s most of America assumed that by 2008 we’d be driving nuclear-powered cars around. Even in Back to the Future the Delorian was powered by Mr. Fusion. But alas, anyone can tell you that we’re still chained to oil-powered internal combustion engines, just as we have been for 100 years. But a new material scienticians have… → Read More
I said “cable-laying,” get it? Anyhoo, if you’re in the market for a huge remote controlled submersible robot that weighs 50 tons and can bury oil and gas pipes at the bottom of the ocean, look no further than the Ultra Trencher 1 by a company called SMD. It uses propellers to submerge itself to depths up to a mile and then uses ninja-like high-pressure “jet swords”… → Read More
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic airline will conduct a test flight at the end of the month wherein a Boeing 747 will fly from London to Amsterdam using an 80/20 blend of conventional fuel and biofuel, respectively. The plane will carry no passengers but will be “the first time a commercial aircraft has flown on biofuel,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle. → Read More
Man oh man, do I miss Snickers. When I worked in an office, I used to eat one (and only one) each day. Yum. Now that there’s going to be a Snickers bar infused with caffeine, taurine, and B vitamins, I’m going to have to seriously reconsider starting up my Costco membership again. → Read More
That’s Mavericks, a world class big wave spot in Half Moon Bay. Oil prices are getting out of hand. Wind and solar power are somewhat unpredictable and apparently they ‘cost too much’. A few weeks back I saw Southland Tales and the movie was about the end of the world and all this other crazy stuff. What was intriguing about the film other than Sarah Michelle Geller being a porn… → Read More
Continuing with Biggs’ “down with Big Oil” mantra from earlier today, check out this suspicious (and yes I know, old old old) video that I originally heard about on Opie & Anthony. It’s a news report of a man who supposedly invented a water fuel cell capable of powering all sorts of vehicles. The catch is, he was mysteriously poisoned before he get his device on the… → Read More
As someone who sits at home in front of a computer all day every day, I can — like Richard to Tommy in Tommy Boy — actually hear myself getting fatter. So the thought of sitting all day every day in an apparatus that forces me to expend energy in order to provide power to my lifeline to the outside world and device by which I earn money for food, shelter, and clothing is intriguing to… → Read More
Sure, you could build your own similar device for far less than $4.4 million (Australian) but would it look nearly as awesome as the vest that the bad mamma jamma on the left is wearing? My position is “no, it would not.” The aforementioned money was given to Australia’s national science agency as a grant in the hopes that it could develop an “electrojacket” that… → Read More
A few TV manufacturers and broadcasters have joined forces to develop 10 minutes of boredom as a standard way of measuring energy use. Apparently energy consumption varies based on the genre so the clip combines all of them into one including soap operas, sports, and nature programs. It would be assumed that porn uses up the most energy and as a result we encourage everyone to cut back and go… → Read More
Neon signs will always looks cool when one is inebriated, but what happens when these signs get old and die? They go out to the deserts of Las Vegas, where they remain still in time forever. Some are beautiful, some are ugly, all are old and overused. Quite beautiful actually. Neon Graveyard [Cool Hunting] → Read More
Across the pond at the University of Southampton, a teeny-tiny generator powered by ambient vibrations could be the next big thing for pacemaker-packing patients. The less-than-one-cubic-centimeter device is said to be 10 times more efficient than current devices and eliminates the need to change out the batteries, something that’s long-been a tricky task. In a pacemaker, the device would… → Read More
Jadoo Power Systems announced today that it has received a contract to develop advanced fuel canisters for use with hydrogen fuel cells. Using a proprietary digital interface technology called N-Stor, the new canisters can utilize a chemical hydride derived from ammonia borane. This process drastically reduces the weight of the new canisters, making it ideal for space objectives. Jadoo → Read More
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
Boston, MA
Disrupt Europe: Berlin Hackathon
Berlin, Germany
