Look at this environmentally-advanced mama jama. It’s called the Aquaduct, and though many are referring to it as a bicycle, it’s got three wheels. That, my friends, is a tricycle. Forget semantics, though, because the Aquaduct not only gets your from Point A to Point B (and occasionally Point C), but it also filters cruddy crap-water into delicious drinkable water using an onboard… → Read More
Lenovo’s got six new LCD monitors to add to its ThinkVision line. Each uses 30-60 percent less energy than ThinkVision LCDs from the past and some of the packaging uses 65 percent recycled materials. → Read More
The energy debate isn’t going away anytime soon… if ever. Two of the big topics are of course, foreign oil and global warming. We want it here, we want it cheap and we want it clean. The Air Force (as a large fuel consumer) is trying to paint coal as a solution. → Read More
A company in Belgium called United Pepper is behind a line of USB devices that are assembled in a fair trade-certified factory in Vietnam. The devices include a USB webcam called Lili (seen above) and a USB hub called Oscar (seen here). On top of being made in a factory with fair wages and working conditions, the devices themselves are made from environmentally-friendly materials and packaged in… → Read More
Green marketing may be hitting a saturation point. At least, I’ve come to think that at some point it will. Is it now? I don’t know. It just seems to me that all marketing pushes eventually run out of gas. I would hate to see Green-thinking fall away as just another fad, because advertisers shoved it down our collective throat. → Read More
For the past two weeks hydrogen fuel cell cars have been lighting up the nation’s highways on a cross-country trip designed to showcase the emerging technology. This last weekend, they rolled into the Los Angeles Coliseum completing their trip that started in Portland, Maine. Not only was the demonstration designed to be a positive reinforcement about the road-worthiness of the cars, but… → Read More
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is doing his best to make the city as green as possible. He’s so obsessed with this fad (going green) that he wants to install windmills in strategic locations around the city, chiefly along the Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island coasts; skyscrapers and bridges could also see them. They’d be expected to generate as much as 10 percent of the… → Read More
Do you have eco guilt? That is, are you anxious that the planet is slowly dying like in every JRPG ever because of human activity? If that’s the case then Samsung has a phone for you. The E200 Eco is the company’s latest “eco-friendly” cellphone. What makes it so friendly to the environment is that its outer case is made out of bioplastic, a material that’s derived from corn. → Read More
A study in the small Dutch town of Hengelo is conducting field research by the University of Twente to determine if a new type of concrete can reduce acid rain. Concrete paving stones are laced with photosensitive titanium dioxide. When used to pave highways, the additive reacts with sunlight and the nitrogen oxide particles emitted by car exhaust, thereby forming nitrates. The testing is being… → Read More
Here’s a panel I attended at the recent Pacific Crest Technology Leadership Forum in Vail, Colorado. There were two experts on the panel: Steven Kalland, Director of the North Carolina Solar Center and Gregg Rothschild, Chief Counsel and Deputy Chief of Staff of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. I found this presentation to be very interesting and informative – kind of a behind the… → Read More
It’s no secret that the technology industry consumes a lot of power. All that energy usage creates tons of carbon dioxide emissions. And it’s not just the large data-centers and server farms sucking up all the juice. Your very own home computer is contributing too. When you consider the average settings on home computers, its not surprising how much power they consumes. Studies have been known… → Read More
Panasonic’s “Eco Technology Center” sits in a little town outside of Osaka, Japan and is unique in that it’s one of the only recycling centers that has an on-site research and development lab and allows public tours. Check out the above video to see more. In Japan, the Home Appliance Recycling Law (HARL) was passed in 1998 and then fully enforced by 2001. The law calls for end-of-life home… → Read More
Here are a few more strange and wonderful inventions from the Far East – this time from the Panasonic Center in Osaka, Japan. First up is a dead-ass silent washer/dryer combo, which I thought was pretty amazing. It’s a washer and dryer in the same unit, so you can pile all of your unmentionables inside, then set it and forget it. When it’s all done, your clothes will have been washed and… → Read More
Here’s a handful of doodads and gizmos that may or may not interest you. Among them; a cool feature called “Intelligent Auto” that’ll be found on new Lumix digital cameras, a giant plasma TV with an SD card slot for instant digital photo gratification, a Surface-like touchscreen tabletop (apparently Panasonic’s been doing that stuff since long before Microsoft), a see-through… → Read More
Hey everyone, Doug Aamoth here in Tokyo checking in on Panasonic’s “Eco Ideas” initiative. Here’s a video tour of a prototype house containing various environmentally-friendly and technologically advanced features that Panasonic is aiming to make into reality by 2010. Throughout the week, I’ll also be checking out some cool plasma TVs, fuel-cell batteries, smart appliances, and more. → Read More
Today Sharp unveiled a prototype of a 26-inch LCD Aquos TV [JP], which is solely powered by solar energy. The company said one day, their solution might bring television to all the 1.6 billion people on earth who don’t have access to electricity. Sharp’s new green TV uses half of the power existing LCDs need. In comparison to the power consumption of the 28C-PB500 [JP], a CRT TV Sharp… → Read More
The UK and Norwegian governments are getting set to launch a $215 million project designed to “curb climate change by preventing deforestation” in the Congo Basin, according to BBC News. Part of the project involves a satellite-mounted high definition camera capable of capturing a 55 mile-wide area of the forest in one fell swoop. A single pixel can capture about ten square meters from 400… → Read More
Get right the hell out of here. What would you say if I told you that there’s a company in the UK that’s trying to get a washing machine to market in 2009 that uses only one cup of water per load and doesn’t need a dryer? The washing machine is called the Xeros and it “uses thousands of reusable plastic chips to remove and absorb dirt,” according to MetaEfficient. One cup of water and… → Read More
Dave Zatz of Zatz Not Funny! recently took a disposable Flexplay DVD for a spin and, although he’s “publicly poo-pooed the idea of disposable DVDs,” Zatz found that disposable DVDs might be able to gain favor with frequent travelers. He grabbed a copy of Disturbia for $6 before boarding a recent flight and was actually able to use the DVD past its 48-hour expiration limit (the discs are… → Read More
Is your cubicle located on top of a pile of garbage? If so, you might want this USB-powered air purifier. The product’s manufacturer, Brando, says “We are surrounded by polluted air every day. Wherever you may be, you will be breathing in the nasty polluted air.” Gee, that’s inspiring. So what should I do, Brando? Got any bright ideas? “This USB Ionizer Fan with Aroma… → Read More
Hooray for the environment, maybe! REI, the outdoor retailer (“rei” is also “king” in “Portuguese,” but pronounced like the English “hay”), will place solar panels on 11 of its stores in the western U.S. The panels will generate as much as 35 percent of the stores’ energy—isn’t that great! As a (reluctant) city person, I have no… → Read More
I’d be willing to bet that there are very few people out there who don’t have an old Motorola StarTac in a kitchen drawer or a pale, yellowish 14-inch CRT monitor in the basement or a sticky, dusty keyboard under the bed. I’m just like you — probably worse. I have gadgets from the Reagan administration that are serving no good purpose other than to take up space in my… → Read More
So the Internet is freaking out because of this Wired story detailing an Apple, Inc. complaint against the City of New York and its new “green” Apple logo. Because Apple, the company, is represented by an apple, the fruit, Apple, the company, believes that the new logo, which is part of the city’s “green” awareness campaign, will confuse the market. It sure will! In… → Read More
[photopress:xeroxtools.jpg,full,center] Xerox, the textbook definition of “metonym,” wants to guilt-trip you into ditching your [apparently] environmentally devastating printer for one of its own, which are powered by sugar and spice and everything nice. To further its goal, the Norwalk, Conn-based corp has released a slew of online tools to help you determine how much you’re… → Read More
[photopress:360vodka.jpg,full,center] Environmentally friendly vodka? That’s nice. Now every time you beat up your liver you’ll be helping save the planet. 360 Vodka, which has nothing to do with Microsoft’s video game console, comes to us from McCormick Distilling, which claims to be one of the oldest distillers in the U.S. It comes in a bottle that’s made from 85 percent… → Read More
[photopress:greenpeacestill.jpg,full,center] How could a company that makes this hate the environment? Greenpeace still hates Nintendo. The environmental organization has once again turned its sights on the Wii maker, which it ranks at the bottom of its latest Guide to Greener Electronics. Unlike last time, when it gave Nintendo a zero rating in all nine categories it rates, Nintendo earns itself… → Read More
[photopress:appletoxicten.jpg,full,center] Apple hates the environment? Condé Nast seems to think so, placing the company on its “10 Worst Corporate Polluters” list. Interesting, then, that Condé Nast accepted Apple’s cash, despite its hatred of the environment, to advertise the MacBook Air on pages two and three of March’s Portfolio magazine. That’s kinda odd, no? → Read More
[photopress:thetango.jpeg,full,center] The Tango The New York International Auto Show starts later this week, but the best in show may not be something from BMW or Ford. (I hope you laughed at that.) A car contest is being held that’s sponsored by the X Prize Foundation, the same group responsible for that earth-to-the-moon contest. This particular contest aims to spur people to create an… → Read More
[photopress:lifecar.jpg,full,center] A hydrogen-powered sports car will be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show that begins on Thursday that’s expected to go from 0-60 mph in seven seconds. (It tops out at about 90 mph.) The car, called the Lifecar and based on the Morgan Aero-8 (look at me, talking like I know anything about cars), has a range of 250 miles. It’s being touted as a… → Read More
Faculty members at the University of Delaware have built an electric car that’s capable of selling back excess stored energy to utility companies depending on the demands of the electrical grid. "A car sitting there with a tank of gasoline in it, that’s useless. If it’s a battery storing a lot of electricity and a big plug that allows moving power back and forth quickly… → Read More
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