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Volkswagen has plans to produce a 1-liter car by 2010 that'll get a whopping 200 miles per gallon, making it one of the most fuel-efficient cars on the road. It's not going to come without its drawbacks, however, as reaching...
POSTED Friday, May 9, 2008
Last year we told you about Magenn's floating wind turbines— you know, the ones that look like Macy's Thanksgiving balloons. At that point, there were plenty of concept images, but no real life helium-filled Magenn Power Air Rotor System...
POSTED Thursday, May 8, 2008
Vanessa explores the idea of going "eco-sexy" with some green portables, including a hand-crank charger, a handheld wind turbine and, the emerald aphrodisiac, a backpack with a solar panel.
POSTED Thursday, May 8, 2008
The Brits are once more taking Singapore by storm, but this time with their snazzy, sustainable architecture. Firm Foster + Partners has plans for an over-1,600,000-square-foot (filling an entire city block), mixed-use structure that's completely decked out with green-friendly...
POSTED Monday, May 5, 2008
Apparently, the future of eco-friendly vehicles is the soap box derby racer. At least that's what Bentley's battery-powered Continental DC electric car looks like. Unlike a soap box derby racer, however, this guy can get moving at up to 40mph...
POSTED Monday, May 5, 2008
You're looking at the Greenpix Zero Energy Wall, a gigantic LED display that only uses as much energy as it gathers each day from the sun. It's been installed on the wall of the Xicui entertainment complex in Beijing, near...
POSTED Friday, May 2, 2008
We love environmentally-friendly housing, but there's no arguing that it can get very, very expensive. That's why we're so impressed by the new Dinkins Gardens building: it's Harlem's first "green" affordable housing. Named for the former New York City...
POSTED Thursday, May 1, 2008
Take a look at the Hy-Bird, a hydrogen-powered electric airplane that gets 10% of its power from the sun. Made of super-lightweight (and expensive) carbon fiber, there’s talk of this fuel-cell aircraft flying around the world this summer, and...
POSTED Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Bikes are an awesome way to get around, especially if you live in a city. They provide you with exercise, are free transportation (after the initial investment), and are totally environmentally friendly. The problem? It's pretty tough to transport anything...
POSTED Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Look, I'm all for sustainable housing and eco-building, but we've got to be sensible here. Spending $15 million on a house shaped like a bee hive because it's "eco friendly" is kind of insane. Sure, it's sitting on a beautiful...
POSTED Monday, April 28, 2008
Now that Earth Week is drawing to a close, let's see how much you know about the environment. Here's a quiz that will test your expertise on energy consumption, power sources, who's sucking up all the world's resources, and...
POSTED Friday, April 25, 2008
Your lights, air conditioning, electricity, gas — it all comes at a price. Whether you've settled in as a homeowner or you're still dormin' it up, the excess energy you use and the waste you don't recycle hurts more...
POSTED Friday, April 25, 2008
You've been babied by power outlets for far too long — if you want charged gadgets, then put a little elbow grease into it! The Hand-Crank USB Power Charger will work on most phones (and the rest, with adapters),...
POSTED Friday, April 25, 2008
When you consider that the average lifespan of most electronics devices is about three to five years, it's not surprising to hear that we junk about 2 million tons of e-waste every year. As we constantly upgrade our cellphones,...
POSTED Friday, April 25, 2008
By the time we have Earth Day in 2010, California will be generating 20% of its energy from renewable resources. Other states and countries are joining them, too; in most cases, that’s a huge increase from what they were...
POSTED Thursday, April 24, 2008
The New York no-parking space in this picture has been re-purposed by artist Natalie Jeremijenko into a "NoPark," a mini-public green space in the middle of the city. Most of the concrete in the space has been ripped up...
POSTED Thursday, April 24, 2008
When you think about cutting-edge environmental technology, an oil pump probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind. The SmartJack may not change that impression, but it does offer an energy-efficient, economical alternative to conventional regular see-saw beam...
POSTED Thursday, April 24, 2008
Want to put your laptop intro service for the good of environmental observation? The Quake Catcher Network in California is an effort by researchers to use the accelerometers built into most modern laptops to help keep track of seismic...
POSTED Thursday, April 24, 2008
It’s hump day! And so begins the third day of my off-grid blogging in observance of Earth Week here at DVICE. Translation: no wall sockets or municipal juice for me until Saturday. Due to rain yesterday, I had to...
POSTED Wednesday, April 23, 2008
If you were a city planner, what would you do about traffic congestion? Skymeter has an idea that might not be too popular with a lot of drivers: Charge people for the amount their cars pollute the environment. Using a...
POSTED Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The fact that “going green” has become this decade’s de facto cool global issue to support is a good thing. Whether it’s Al Gore winning prizes for his activism or nations around the world being forced to do their...
POSTED Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Want to save gas? Pack yourself into a tiny and lightweight car like this Space-Efficient Vehicle (SEV) designed by Ralph Panhuyzen and Steven van der Veen. It was another finalist in the 2008 Michelin Design Challenge, whose cars were...
POSTED Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Part of saving our environment relies heavily on figuring out new ways to process our natural resources in a self-sustaining, cost effective way. Dean Kamen, the man who brought us the Segway, has just such a solution in the form...
POSTED Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Buying a Prius or adding solar panels to your roof may seem like great ways to be nicer to the planet, but there's just one problem: they're damn expensive. When did going green get so pricey? The thing is,...
POSTED Monday, April 21, 2008
Spring is here. For most of us, that means shorts and sunglasses. For anyone with a pool, however, it's time to bust out the skimming net and get to work clearing leaves from the water's surface. The Solar Breeze...
POSTED Monday, April 21, 2008
Plastic bags are a popular villain in these eco-friendly times, what with them being produced by the million every year and left to sit forever and ever in landfills, never biodegrading. But that may not always be the case thanks...
POSTED Monday, April 21, 2008
Welcome to my first dispatch! Earth Week is off and running here at DVICE, and just like I promised, I'm going off the grid for five days. Yep, all week long I'll be getting my power from green sources...
POSTED Monday, April 21, 2008
Lighting the night with kerosene might bring back memories of your Coleman lantern on a camping trip, but for 1.6 billion people in the developing world it’s an everyday treat — an expensive, dangerous and dim everyday treat. d.light’s...
POSTED Monday, April 21, 2008
I hate to drop a word like electroencephalogram on you on a Friday, but you're looking at one. Designed by researchers at the Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre in Belgium, the headset provides biofeedback by measuring the electric impulses your brain...
POSTED Friday, April 18, 2008
Sure, it's fun to read about unfolding solar panels and portable wind-power chargers, but what would it be like to actually use this stuff? In fact, what would it be like if they were the only way you could get...
POSTED Thursday, April 17, 2008
When asked to design a building for a vacant lot in downtown Manhattan, the designers at Work AC went hog wild. They're local foodies, you see, which means that they try to avoid buying produce that's traveled from far-flung...
POSTED Thursday, April 17, 2008
We report on a lot of eco-conscious gadgetry around these parts. From solar cellphones to electric cars, it seems every week brings with it a piece of gear that has the high-minded goal of saving the planet, one renewable...
POSTED Wednesday, April 16, 2008
The sneaky folks over at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Wood’s Hole, Massachusetts have a three step plan to improve fishing. Step one: train fish to respond to specific sound frequencies. Step two: let fish go out into the...
POSTED Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Want to create a bike that runs on thin air? Talk to this guy, former sheepherder and current rocket scientist/inventor Jem Stansfield, who took a couple of air canisters normally used by firefighters for their breathing apparatuses, and lashed...
POSTED Wednesday, April 16, 2008
While there are some devices out there that can get juiced up by the sun using solar panels, that's really not all that convenient. What about when you're inside? When it's cloudy? There's got to be an even more convenient...
POSTED Wednesday, April 16, 2008
We've seen wind turbines attached to skyscrapers and flying like balloons. But until now wind turbines were always part of large, energy projects. You couldn’t attach one to your roof. That's starting to change. Companies like Skystream are making...
POSTED Tuesday, April 15, 2008
You may remember hearing about China's plans to control the weather during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing by attacking shady clouds with artillery and aircraft. Along similar lines, scientists in New Mexico decided to mess with thunderclouds, but...
POSTED Monday, April 14, 2008
Nothing spoils the tranquility of a day in the park more than some groundskeeper cutting the grass with a noisy, fume belching lawnmower. The parks department in Turin Italy has come up with a solution however, replacing their fleet...
POSTED Saturday, April 12, 2008
The setup certainly doesn't make it sound positive: The Redbird Reef off the coast of Slaughter Beach, Delaware is a dump site for retired New York City subway cars, and there are already nearly 700 of them on the...
POSTED Friday, April 11, 2008
You're looking at a pretty amazing idea for generating solar power: Solar Balloons. These gigantic, helium-filled balloons would be tethered to the ground and hoisted far up into the air, allowing them to generated electricity and send it back down...
POSTED Thursday, April 10, 2008
Sure, there are a lot of concept car designs floating around, but when Toyota cranks out a futuremobile, everyone remembers the Prius and stands at attention. This 1/X plug-in hybrid concept shaves off plenty of pounds to save energy,...
POSTED Thursday, April 10, 2008
This summer, you won’t need to suffer through another stinky car ordeal with this solar air purifier. Sure, there have been previous attempts at this idea, but this time it looks like it’s going to stick. For a mere...
POSTED Wednesday, April 9, 2008
This Isolé IDP-3050 is one smart power strip. It can detect your presence with its outboard infrared sensor. When you leave the room, it cuts power to six of its eight outlets, keeping those multi gigawatts from seeping out...
POSTED Wednesday, April 9, 2008
We all know that the current generation of light bulbs are woefully inefficient, sucking up juice and not converting all that much of it into light. So what are we going to replace them with? Well, we know there are...
POSTED Wednesday, April 9, 2008
The Rainpod, by designer David L'Hôte of France, takes a cue from ol' Momma Nature on how to water lawns: with rainwater. Working like a rain barrel, the conceptual Rainpod collects water in a large tank and, standing taller...
POSTED Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Half Johnny Appleseed, half doomsday machine, the colorful CV08 "suburb eating" robot is a massive hexapod that'll crawl across the urban landscape, destroying the houses and everything within them in order to replant trees. Each leg fulfills different functions,...
POSTED Monday, April 7, 2008
Parasols are good for more than just decorating those fruity tropical cocktails. For example, Parasolar, a design concept by Oded Shorer, has an easily carried case that opens up to reveal a cloth canopy with integrated photovoltaic panels. Neat....
POSTED Monday, April 7, 2008
Have ever thought that all of that heat being generated by electronic circuits could be put to good use, rather than just released into the atmosphere? A Swiss data storage company called GIB-Services thought it could, so when they...
POSTED Sunday, April 6, 2008
All of NICE Car Company's electric vehicles produce absolutely zero CO² and feature 100% recyclable bodies. The company serves London with a range of urban-friendly vehicles from electric scooters, cars and compact trucks, with a mindset that reminds us...
POSTED Sunday, April 6, 2008
Boeing has just completed the first successful flight of a manned hydrogen-cell battery airplane, paving the way for the renewable energy source to become the new standard in air travel. We're still a ways off from it becoming a...
POSTED Thursday, April 3, 2008
How tall is too tall? I guess we'll know once one of these crazy building concepts ends up getting built — if it subsequently falls down, that is. The Ultima Tower is a conceptualization by designer Eugene Tsui and...
POSTED Thursday, April 3, 2008
Our latest tale of convergence finds our two unlikely heroes, the air ionizer and the CFL lightbulb being forced to work together and achieve the ultimate bright and clean air household. The Viatek Ionic is a 15-watt light bulb...
POSTED Thursday, April 3, 2008
These Wind-Lit Solar LEDs are lovely little lights that get their juice from two renewable resources: the sun and the wind. Simply leave them hanging outside all day and they'll soak up the suns rays and store the energy for...
POSTED Wednesday, April 2, 2008
NASA posted up some harrowing news to go along with their daily photo: In a surprising and potentially troubling request, the new space station robot known as Dextre demanded that astronauts refer to it in the future as "Dextre...
POSTED Tuesday, April 1, 2008
For those of us propelling ourselves courtesy of our two feet, the Rhodes Car is the fancy way to get around. This four-wheeled human powered-vehicle is about as luxurious as it gets. You can make it even more versatile...
POSTED Tuesday, April 1, 2008
The Reactive Sparks art installation is a display by designer Markus Lerner that reacts to the volume of passing vehicles, turning those readings into wave-like visualizations that undulate across the face of the towers. It's positioned outside of light manufacturer...
POSTED Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Electric cars could soon be free. Well, free if you sign up for a six-year contract for batteries and charging, that is. A new company called Project Better Place aims to solve the biggest problems of electric cars —...
POSTED Monday, March 31, 2008
BMW has been hard at work on a prototype of a new super-eco-friendly vehicle, the Hydrogen 7. The hydrogen powered vehicle can also run on regular gasoline at the push of a button, recognizing that hydrogen isn't that easy to...
POSTED Saturday, March 29, 2008
Eco-friendly buildings are all the rage among high-profile architects these days. The latest example is the new Clean Technology Tower in Chicago, designed by Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill architectural firm. What makes the Clean Technology Tower stand out is...
POSTED Thursday, March 27, 2008
Solar energy has enormous appeal, but until now it’s been just too expensive. Maybe not any more. A Massachusetts startup called 1366 Technologies has created solar cells in its lab that company scientists are saying are 27% more efficient, bringing...
POSTED Thursday, March 27, 2008
When we hear the word "hardtack," we think of the Oregon Trail. Or 19th century sailing novels. Or maybe the Civil War. We also think, "ew." Hardtack was the food of poor, hungry travelers, long ago. It lasted forever,...
POSTED Thursday, March 27, 2008
Your surge protector is probably tucked behind the sofa. You know, out of the way. But what if your surge protector were instead ten times larger, red, and in the center of the room? You'd never be able to...
POSTED Wednesday, March 26, 2008
China's office of weather modification is gearing up to keep the sky clear during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. How will they do it? With planes, rockets and artillery. The weather will be closely monitored with aerial surveillance and...
POSTED Wednesday, March 26, 2008
You remember the Solio? That unfolding fan-shaped solar panel that charges up your cellphone, iPod and most other portables? Well, the gadget's getting a long-overdue upgrade: the Solio Magnesium Edition. Gotta hand it to the Solio guys — they...
POSTED Monday, March 24, 2008
The Power Cart, designed by Mouna Andraos, is an energy generator on wheels. Little more than a few boxes lashed together and strapped to a handcart, the Power Cart has a battery pack on the inside of it which is...
POSTED Friday, March 21, 2008
Taking long, lazy showers might be a great way to relax, but it's also a huge waste of water. Getting a friendly reminder that you're being a water hog is what this conceptual Eco_Drop shower is all about. The idea...
POSTED Friday, March 21, 2008
The AIR, or the Area's Immediate Reading, is designed by Preemptive Media and is on display at Eyebeam's exhibition space in New York City. It's a GPS-equipped handheld device that'll let you know everything you didn't want to about where...
POSTED Friday, March 21, 2008
Planning a road trip? The Microjoule can make the journey between New York and Los Angeles over three times on just one gallon of gas. Amazingly the Microjoule doesn't have any fancy tricks — it's just an aerodynamic, lightweight one-seater...
POSTED Thursday, March 20, 2008
This Wasup concept is a combo of a washing machine and a toilet, reusing the water that cleans the clothes in the washer to flush the toilet. It's a smart idea, as no one cares what's in the water they're...
POSTED Thursday, March 20, 2008
Nissan has unveiled its latest attempt to woo the environmentally friendly consumer with a "green" machine called the Denki Cube. The Denki Cube (in Japanese denki means "electric") sports a boxy hull (alien to the U.S. but quite common in...
POSTED Thursday, March 20, 2008
Moving gigantic cargo ships across oceans is no small feat, requiring a whole lot of energy to keep those propellers turning and the ships heading on the right course. There is one form of energy that's plentiful out at sea,...
POSTED Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Remember the Chia Pet? Jamie Wiek created the business-card equivalent. The Growing Business Card has all your usual phone/e-mail/address information, of course, with one extra feature: plant life. After dipping the card in water, some alfalfa or cress will...
POSTED Wednesday, March 19, 2008
If you were looking for a guilt-free alternative to plugging your gadgetry into a wall outlet to charge, then look no further — at least, provided you have some patience. The eMotion Solar PMP is a media player that'll...
POSTED Wednesday, March 19, 2008
While the University of Florida tries to figure out how to harness energy from the Gulf Stream without killing any manatees, a British company plans to drop 300 60-foot tall underwater energy-harvesting turbines into the deep waters off of...
POSTED Tuesday, March 18, 2008
While most of Detroit’s electric cars still spin on giant lazy susans at car shows as concepts, California’s Tesla Motors cranked up its assembly line yesterday for the company's ultra-sexy sports car in the U.K. Production should ramp up...
POSTED Tuesday, March 18, 2008
What will San Francisco be like 100 years from now? The History Channel sponsored a City of the Future contest for architects to show us their vision of Utopian metropolises from 2108, and the winner for the San Francisco...
POSTED Friday, March 14, 2008
I've never understood why some people feel that green friendly devices like wind turbines and solar panels are eyesores. We should celebrate those who embrace alternative energy, and I think it's cool when people think green. Still, some homeowner's...
POSTED Thursday, March 13, 2008
Meet the Waxpod, a new concept design from an exhibit called "UseLess" that encourages people to do just that. It's a hair wax container that comes with "refill pods." Additionally, it has room at the bottom to hold refillable...
POSTED Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Thanks to the brilliant minds at Sanyo there is now a product that challenges two of the biggest competing movements out there: fitness and being green with the regenerative lithium-ion bicycle. Just introduced for the Japanese market is this...
POSTED Monday, March 10, 2008
Let’s get away to the lake house for the weekend. If you don’t mind a long plane flight, imagine taking off to your own 2153-square-foot villa at the Hingarae Residences and Resort on Lake Taupo in northern New Zealand,...
POSTED Friday, March 7, 2008
While most eco-friendly buildings try to cut down or supplement their power consumption, there have yet to be any buildings that go so far as to generate more power than they consume. Not so with the Masdar Headquarters in Abu...
POSTED Thursday, March 6, 2008
While it would be all fine and dandy to get all of our renewable energy from romantic sources such as the sun and the wind, those two methods aren't efficient enough to get the job done. You need to supplement...
POSTED Thursday, March 6, 2008
You've gotta love the cahones that some architects have. I mean, designing a crazy building for a place where crazy buildings are the norm, such as Dubai, I can understand. But to design a crazy building that's meant to go...
POSTED Thursday, March 6, 2008
Ever hear of a wood-burning stove with a memory? That’s what Pi-Ko by Austroflamm has, but it’s not going to remember how hot it got yesterday — no, nothing like that — it retains heat and keeps radiating warmth...
POSTED Wednesday, March 5, 2008
You too can be an energy star with this illuminated concept designed by Efrain E. Velez for the Core 77 2008 Greener Gadgets Design Competition. Of course, as with any earth-saving measure, the Krank Lamp’s energy has to come...
POSTED Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Toyota’s being coy about iQ, its latest pocketcar that just rolled out in its shipping trim at the Geneva Motor Show. Clearly aimed to compete directly with the Mercedes-built Smart Fortwo car, the company’s not saying if iQ will...
POSTED Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Earthquake-expby jpnvideos If you've ever wondered what it feels like to be around during an earthquake but don't want to go through the actual danger of being caught in one, there's a fancy new truck touring Japan that'll give you...
POSTED Monday, March 3, 2008
Whenever you see a boat crashing through the waves, consider all of the energy it takes to do that. This was the thinking of Japanese inventor Yutaka Terao, as he developed the latest in a long running series of...
POSTED Saturday, March 1, 2008
The wind turbine in the video above is the standard 3-bladed model that helps harvest wind power as a renewable alternative to conventional fuel-based energy. It looks like the turbine got a bit more wind than it could handle, however,...
POSTED Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Sometimes the smallest measures make the biggest impact. These TOP waste bins are designed so that they can hook up to one another and form a more powerful trash-collection train — an easier way to sort garbage than if you...
POSTED Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Car maker Tata Motors announced the world’s first air-powered car last year for India, and now it’s going to be delivering a version to the U.S. starting in 2009 or early 2010. The company’s Zero Pollution Motors (ZPM) division...
POSTED Friday, February 22, 2008
If you’re from the South, you know that there’s hardly anything more plentiful than algae, especially on a quiet pond in the middle of nowhere on a hot late-summer day. Now all that green goo will be put to...
POSTED Friday, February 22, 2008
Would attractive design make you go green? Constructed to look like a flower, the Ravi solar generator has photovoltaic arrays attached to petal-like extensions. And, like a flower, it absorbs energy from the sun during the day, storing it in...
POSTED Thursday, February 21, 2008
Deep underneath some tall office buildings in Tokyo is a secret series of gardens, sprouting with healthy vegetables in the most unlikely of places. The whole shebang consists of six large rooms, each teeming with plants, all dedicated to both...
POSTED Tuesday, February 19, 2008
A Virginia Tech student has won the Greener Gadget Award for a clever LED lamp that gets all of its power from gravity, which is a seriously renewable resource. Working kind of like a grandfather clock that needs to be...
POSTED Tuesday, February 19, 2008
While a oil tanker cracking up off a coast somewhere always gets the big headlines, little oil spills all over the country cause the biggest headaches. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that there are about 200,000 abandoned gas stations across...
POSTED Monday, February 18, 2008
You know how you whittle and whittle away at a bar of soap until it's so small it eventually slides out of your hands and down the drain? If you had a Soap Bank, you'd save all of those slivers...
POSTED Friday, February 15, 2008
Yet again Dyson is involved in the process of integrating technology into a pre-existing process that seemed destined for retirement. Hanging clothes out to dry on a clothes line is an Al Gore-friendly way to dry clothes, but not...
POSTED Thursday, February 14, 2008
The Eco Media Player is a gadget that may take the whole environmentalist movement a tad too far. This is the world's first crank-powered MP3 and video player. This is a play on the original crank-powered AM/FM radios that...
POSTED Wednesday, February 13, 2008
I would have never imagined that a time in my life would come where I'd have to choose between two, very important movements. On one hand I can side with the insect-rights movement who wants ethical treatment of all...
POSTED Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Meet Bloom's Daylight "table lamp." Like this sun jar it collects energy during the day so that it can illuminate your room at night. In the morning the lamp looks like a potted plant— that flat "flower" on top...
POSTED Monday, February 11, 2008
A robotic underwater glider deployed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Webb Research Corporation keeps itself powered in a way that's bound to make Mother Nature happy while gathering oceanographic information — using changes in water temperature. Known...
POSTED Friday, February 8, 2008
The revolving door, now that is one heck of an invention! This door has been an active part of hotel and office life for decades and just now someone has though to turn it into a human hamster wheel....
POSTED Friday, February 8, 2008
The tragic and only crash of a Concorde airliner, Air France Flight 4590, marked the end of supersonic travel for some and, at the very least, a colossal step backward for others. Well, if you thought The Future was pretty...
POSTED Thursday, February 7, 2008
Here's H2GO, the first fuel cell model car that you can actually steer. Toy maker Corgi teamed up with Horizon, the company that pioneered the concept last year with its uncontrollable H-Racer, a $99 fuel cell toy (now available)...
POSTED Thursday, February 7, 2008
Who knows what the next day's weather will bring, but this Wireless 7-day Weather Forecaster will give you a fairly accurate estimation. This $199 device gets its National Weather Service data free from the same frequency used for portable...
POSTED Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Last week the Greener Gadgets Conference wrapped up with a design competition to make what else, a green gadget. The first place winner is the EnerJar, which was designed by Matt Meshulam and Zach Dwiel. The two took home...
POSTED Monday, February 4, 2008
Spotted at Panasonic's technology center in Tokyo, these street lamps combine solar power from a pair of panels on top that charge a battery during daylight hours, and a vertical wind turbine, to light up the area in an...
POSTED Saturday, February 2, 2008
Remington’s new PowerMower will make you the greenest mower on the block, and turn your neighbors green with envy. It’s a new cordless mower that uses battery power to give you an hour of clean-energy, guilt-free mowing. Of course,...
POSTED Friday, February 1, 2008
We were just wondering what to do with all these old cell phones, laptops, PCs and flat panel displays that have been accumulating around here in a steadily rising junk heap that seems to have taken on a life...
POSTED Tuesday, January 29, 2008
LED lights are far more efficient than standard light bulbs, using a half of the energy and burning five times longer than their rudimentary cousins. It's a wonder, then, that we don't see them used more. Ann Arbor, Michigan is...
POSTED Monday, January 28, 2008
The VW diesel station wagon I had in high school was the most unsexy car imaginable: it took about 5 minutes to warm up, rumbled like a farm tractor, and did 0 to 60 in about 2 minutes flat....
POSTED Thursday, January 24, 2008
Students at the University of South Australia have spent several years developing an environmentally friendly car that they call Trev: it's meant to be the ideal commuter vehicle. Trev is fully electric vehicle that uses 1/5 the energy of...
POSTED Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Plans are underway to build what is being called the "first sustainable city" in the United Arab Emirates. Masdar, which means "the source" in Arabic, will be nearly three square miles large, be walled in, house 50,000 residents and...
POSTED Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Sure, the idea for the Eco-cook may be based around energy consumption. By using one pot and convenient dividers, less energy is requires to cook food and less water is needed as well, which in turn saves the earth...
POSTED Monday, January 21, 2008
I'm almost positive there are parents out there who would like to box their kids up and ship them somewhere else, and the cardboard crib from the Little Fashion Gallery is kind of giving them an excuse. The crib...
POSTED Friday, January 18, 2008
We are all probably pretty well aware that we consume too much electricity, but it's tough to know just how much you're consuming and the best places to cut it down. The problem is that we don't have any way...
POSTED Monday, January 14, 2008
Voltaic Systems has been in the solar bag business for quite some time, but one of the only prior downsides is the inability to charge a laptop with a backpack's solar panels. The Generator is the latest in Voltaics...
POSTED Wednesday, January 9, 2008
You know how when a lot of people get together it starts to get really warm in that space? Well, researchers in Sweden are planning to take all of that errant energy and use it to power heating systems...
POSTED Monday, January 7, 2008
Yeah, you thought you were done being green. You know all of those lightbulbs you swapped out? Yeah, it may be time to trash them because there is a greener variety out there with the Motionbulb — a green...
POSTED Monday, January 7, 2008
The NRG Dock is a “personal solar charger” that will power your gadgets off the grid, meaning you can cut pennies from your electric bill as long as you don’t mind paying $500 for the dock first.
POSTED Sunday, January 6, 2008
A French pilot took the quest for green air travel another step forward with a successful, 48-minute flight of the Electra, a single-seater, wood-and-fabric aircraft. The light plane managed to traverse 30 miles in that amount of time and...
POSTED Friday, January 4, 2008
At what point is going green a bit too far? Maybe when you are swapping out your traditional and efficient lamps in favor of something a little more ridiculous like this tiny lamp. I start to wonder how much...
POSTED Thursday, January 3, 2008
Because we all know that global warming is caused by all those pesky doghouses that are belching out carbon monoxide and piling up in landfills, Sustainable Pet Design created Greenrrrroof. It's basically the same thing as any old doghouse...
POSTED Thursday, December 27, 2007
Recycling is a great thing to do, but do you know what's even better? Conspicuously recycling. Yes, if you're going to do something good, you'd better do it so everyone can see. I mean, that's the point, isn't it?...
POSTED Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Why purchase a generator for your compound when you could power your home or apartment building with a mini-nuclear reactor, built by a reliable, brand name company? Why indeed. Toshiba has designed what it calls a micro nuclear reactor....
POSTED Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Sooner or later someone was going to figure out if you want to make people feel good about saving the environment, you need to make something that can be used for everyday activities. The Solar Table seems to fit...
POSTED Wednesday, December 19, 2007
I have always thought that the tech nerds and the tree huggers were pretty much mutually exclusive groups. It seems however that there must be some people who identify with both camps, at least if Nigel's Eco Store expects...
POSTED Friday, December 14, 2007
It's easy to track the tidal movements of the ocean by looking at waves, but all of that energy is moved around under the surface of the water as well. Florida Atlantic University's Center of Excellence in Ocean Energy...
POSTED Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Most offices have a water cooler. In addition to being the best place around to discuss last night's episode of American Idol, it provides delicious water to everyone at the cubicle farm. It also, however, contributes piles of gigantic water...
POSTED Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Lots of people take issue with wind power systems. They're unsightly, loud, can be unreliable if the wind slows down, and their windmills kill innocent birds. A company called Magenn aims to change all that with the Magenn Air...
POSTED Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Food. We need it. It comes from seeds. But what if there's a nuclear war and all of our seeds get weirdly mutated? What if global warming kills off all of the world's cranberries? Most countries prepare for such...
POSTED Monday, December 10, 2007
A team from Southern Taiwan University of Technology has unveiled the first solar-powered wheelchair that frees users from having to worry about running out of power and getting stranded in the middle of nowhere. Because the wheelchair doesn't have...
POSTED Monday, December 10, 2007
Recycling isn't the only way to feel good about yourself with those stacks and stacks of newspapers sitting around. With winter rolling in it is time to prep those fireplaces. Rather than using inefficient wadded up newspaper in the...
POSTED Saturday, December 8, 2007
Designed to charge AA and AAA batteries on-the-go the Violetta Solargear allows you to be green while accruing style points. Winner of the Good Design Award, the Violetta Solargear draws power from the sun powering a set of batteries...
POSTED Saturday, December 8, 2007
The Smith Newton is the largest electric truck out there right now. I know what you're thinking — sure it's a zero-emissions vehicle so it minimally pollutes, and while that's all fine and dandy it'll never catch on. But...
POSTED Friday, December 7, 2007
Ski resort owners are starting to find that the lower down a mountain your winter oasis is, the more prone it is to the effects of a warming clime. It's still efficient enough for high altitude resorts, such as...
POSTED Thursday, December 6, 2007
This billboard isn't just a gimmick. OK, well, maybe it is. What I mean is that it's not joking; that solar panel is actually functioning and sending juice back to the grid. Not very much juice, mind you, but...
POSTED Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Remember when it was important for adults to teach children about drugs and sex early? I hate to say it, but those were the golden years. Now, drugs and sex has been replaced by a color, the color green....
POSTED Tuesday, December 4, 2007
To get your air clean and purified, you could always get some high-tech purifier that has fancy filters and fans and the like, but that doesn't seem all that natural. You should eschew the fancy-pants high technology and go with...
POSTED Tuesday, December 4, 2007
If you want to really get into saving the earth, you should be driving a diesel car, as you can pump that thing full of earth-lovin' biodiesel. You are? Great! Now you need to start making your own fuel. No,...
POSTED Monday, December 3, 2007
Having a hybrid is nice and all, but what about the kiddos? Without a drivers license, there is no way to show the world just how important the environment is. With a miniature solar-powered car, the kiddos can finally...
POSTED Saturday, December 1, 2007
Constantly trying to improve energy efficiency inside today's airtight houses makes the air stale, so homeowners are going to great lengths to freshen their indoor environments with high-tech heat exchangers and air purification systems. But French designer Mathieu Lehanneur...
POSTED Friday, November 30, 2007
This flower lamp is more than just a pretty piece of décor for your home. It actually reflects a little green in your household. The lamp is capable of "blooming," therefore allowing more or less light out, and changing...
POSTED Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Perhaps sensing that gadget geeks were tiring of being eyeballed thanks to their dead-giveaway solar-powered, device-charging backpacks, Noon Solar has chimed in with a line of stylish and environmentally friendly bags that just might redefine the sustainable-energy accessory category....
POSTED Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Powered by biofuel, the Koenigsegg CCXR is a new alternative fuel automobile setting out to show how eco-friendly designs can still have plenty of muscle. When building its new car, Koenigsegg made a happy discovery: the ethanol found in...
POSTED Monday, November 26, 2007
Sure you could wait a few months and get one of those fancy hydrogen fuel cell cars coming from Japan, or you could get some fresh air with the Pearl fuel cell bike from Valeswood right now. Instead of...
POSTED Wednesday, November 21, 2007
The Volitan, or the "Flying Fish," is a concept design for a boat that would run green over the great big blue. It harnesses both the power of the wind and the Sun, using solid sails and an array...
POSTED Thursday, November 15, 2007
Solar panels are an easy way to harvest some of the abundant energy the Sun has to offer, but there are a few obstacles keeping us from covering every building and surface we can with them. It'd be expensive,...
POSTED Thursday, November 15, 2007
I don't expect a lot of visitors if I ever end up at the Neptune Memorial Reef , but since I'll be dead let's assume that I won't notice. The Reef is an underwater graveyard for cremated remains, made...
POSTED Wednesday, November 14, 2007
With the ASUS Ecobook, the computer manufacturer is trying for a laptop that is as friendly to the environment as it looks — ASUS is shooting for the sum of the Ecobook's parts to be 50% recyclable. To reflect...
POSTED Monday, November 12, 2007
NBC Universal's Green Week is here, focusing on topics that affect the environment. All week long we'll be bringing you special stories to help get you on Gaia's good side. Electronics account for a bigger and bigger part of...
POSTED Friday, November 9, 2007
Why are there so many wind turbines becoming available lately? Wind energy is irresistible because it's so clean and cheap. But if the wind's barely blowing, we're just tilting at windmills. Even in a light 3.3-MPH breeze, this new...
POSTED Friday, November 9, 2007
Who says hybrid cars have to be ugly? Henrik Fisker, who used to design Aston Martins, has come up with a hybrid four door car that looks sporty, and will turn the heads of passersby as you drive down...
POSTED Friday, November 9, 2007
The Sony VAIO FZ "Graphic Splash Eco Edition" laptops come with nature-themed outer shells, but that environmental motif isn't just case-deep. Sony is teaming up with the 1% For The Planet fund, so 1% of the net Eco Edition...
POSTED Friday, November 9, 2007
That's assuming you're not watching TV while you're reading this. If you are, turn off your TV. Yeah, that's a hell of a thing to advise on a cable-TV channel site owned by a TV network. But said TV...
POSTED Thursday, November 8, 2007
NBC Universal's Green Week is here, focusing on topics that affect the environment. All week long we'll be bringing you special stories to help get you on Gaia's good side. Renewable energy is still just a small part of...
POSTED Thursday, November 8, 2007
If you're a fan of movies such as Bladerunner and Alien, the clean, energy efficient lighting that a system of LEDs can provide for buildings and corridors might cause you some dismay. What company would be crazy enough to...
POSTED Thursday, November 8, 2007
Carpet stained after the big party? Forget the steam cleaner — try using the microwave to clean it up. That's kind of the gist of this trailer-mounted microwave, invented by Dr. Chang-Yul Cha, founder of Cha Corporation in Wyoming. He...
POSTED Thursday, November 8, 2007
Benjamin, I want to say one word to you, just one word. Are you listening? Starch. Hawthorne, CA, based Cereplast is changing the world of plastics, creating a more eco-friendly version made from the starches in corn, tapioca, wheat and...
POSTED Wednesday, November 7, 2007
We're showing you lots of green gadgets this week, and a great example is the Windterra Eco1200, a wind turbine that can reduce your energy bill by $75 per month. Sitting up on your roof top, it doesn't matter...
POSTED Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Barefoot Motors created the all-electric Model One Earth Utility Vehicle by first understanding that a green all-terrain vehicle needs to be as powerful and useful as a regular gas-powered ATV. Since the company's based in Northern California, most of...
POSTED Tuesday, November 6, 2007
NBC Universal's Green Week is here, focusing on topics that affect the environment. All week long we'll be bringing you special stories to help get you on Gaia's good side. Plugging in your cell phone every night may not...
POSTED Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Having an energy efficient household doesn't mean you have to line your roof with solar panels. There are a lot of simpler ways to cut down on how much power your home needs to keep running — such as...
POSTED Tuesday, November 6, 2007
The Wind Shade Roof is a structure decked out with a bevy of wind turbines to power whatever it houses in climes where conventional energy can be hard to supply. Architect Michael Jantzen designed the structure to be able...
POSTED Tuesday, November 6, 2007
NBC Universal's Green Week is here, focusing on topics that affect the environment. All week long we'll be bringing you special stories to help get you on Gaia's good side. Every month you spend money on energy — it's...
POSTED Monday, November 5, 2007
Adults inhale and exhale on average 20 times per minute. Since you are already breathing, why not put those muscles to extra use by having them charge a USB device? Instructables has cobbled together plans to build your own...
POSTED Monday, November 5, 2007
The Mademoto Electric Cruiser has done the unthinkable and taken all of the beneficial purposes out of rollerskates, skateboards and other manual modes of rolling transportation. Thank of the Electric Cruiser as the front half of an electric moped,...
POSTED Monday, November 5, 2007
Did you know there's a division at MIT called the Smart Cities group? It's true, and judging by the designs the team puts out maybe we should just leave city planning to them from here on out. They have...
POSTED Friday, November 2, 2007
If the above photo of a "stretch Prius" looks Photoshopped to you, you're not alone. The image elicited hundreds of deriding comments on the PriusChat message board before the car's creator came forth and described how he "pimped" his...
POSTED Tuesday, October 30, 2007
One problem with high tech toys is that it's hard to square a love for power craving tech gizmos with an environmentally responsible lifestyle. Now a company called Miniwiz has a device that should make it possible to use...
POSTED Thursday, October 18, 2007
Plans are underway to implement a personal rapid transit (or PRT) system at Heathrow Airport, Britain that will ferry tired passengers from the main terminal to its car parks. The driverless, four-seater cars operate on a closed system so...
POSTED Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Citizens living in Oslo, Norway will be greeted by new trains at the station. Developed by Siemens Transport Division, the trains are said to give off 2.6 grams of carbon dioxide every kilometer traversed, which is a small fraction...
POSTED Tuesday, October 16, 2007
If you're one of those reluctant environmentalists, holding off on the solar panel array because it might make your home look like a NASA research base, help is on the way in the form of the Sphelar. Japan-based Kyosemi...
POSTED Tuesday, October 16, 2007
No one will complain that the waves are too weak in this pool. The engineers at HR Wallingford in Oxfordshire, Britain have built the world's first tsunami generator to help analyze the devastating effects the colossal waves can have....
POSTED Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Thanks to some new research done by MIT students, you might soon be using a lawnmower that gets its power from the grass clippings it cuts up as it does its thing. Am I blowing your mind? Sit down,...
POSTED Monday, October 8, 2007
Photos by by Ian Hardy The Big Apple is going green for New Year's. When the ball drops in Times Square on December 31st, everyone will be looking at a shiny new model that's twice as bright and consumes half...
POSTED Friday, October 5, 2007
You already know the usual suspects to replace oil: alternative fuels, solar power, as well as hydro- and wind-powered solutions. Well, add one more thing — paint. Special thermal insulating paint, applied inside of a structure's walls, might allow...
POSTED Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Imagine life without electricity. The lights go out. Your fridge turns into a petri dish. The Internet becomes an abstraction, a memory. And of course, no TV — ah, maybe there is a bright side! But apart from that,...
POSTED Thursday, September 27, 2007
Meet Lili and Oscar from United Pepper. These two little gems are constructed entirely from sustainable material that won't explode the planet and anger Al Gore to the point of no return. Lili happens to be an octopus and...
POSTED Friday, September 14, 2007
Antarctica is getting slushy, polar bears need a Coke to cool down, and everyone in Miami is keeping an eye on the sea level. Maybe Al Gore is right, and maybe he isn't. But no one can deny that...
POSTED Thursday, September 13, 2007
Fleethorse, a Dubai-based company, has designed a variety of horse-powered vehicles, like the bus shown here. These vehicles are a bit different that the carriages of days past because the horse directly propels the vehicle and charges up a...
POSTED Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Solar Water Disinfection, or SODIS is a simple sun-based system for water disinfection that's designed to help prevent waterborne diseases in developing countries. But SODIS is a slow process — it can take up to 48 hours for UVA...
POSTED Friday, August 31, 2007
Remember in Back to the Future II how Doc Brown overcame the plutonium problem by installing a "Mr. Fusion" in the DeLorean? Well, that might have seemed like a joke of some kind, or at least wishful thinking, but...
POSTED Friday, August 31, 2007
There's power to be found everywhere, from our footsteps to tornadoes. The trick is just figuring out how to harness it. Some German scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute have figured out a way to run electronics off of our...
POSTED Friday, August 17, 2007
Growing up, I used to live out in the middle of nowhere. At night, during the full moon, a kid could run all over the place without needing a flashlight thanks to our nearest celestial neighbor reflecting the sun's...
POSTED Friday, August 10, 2007
So much attention has been paid to hybrid cars, but the environmental benefits of a Toyota Prius will seem meek in comparison to Piaggio's pending line of hybrid scooters. The maker of the popular Vespa family of scooters is...
POSTED Thursday, August 2, 2007
There are a lot of pretty crazy concepts out there for ways to generate power more efficiently and without relying on foreign resources, but few of them match the pure insanity of tornado power. Yes, tornado power. The idea...
POSTED Tuesday, July 31, 2007
There's free energy floating around everywhere. The trick is figuring out how to harness it. Some smartypants at MIT are working on a special floor that harnesses energy from footsteps, turning your walking into lighting above your head. The...
POSTED Friday, July 27, 2007
Sure, you hear a lot about electric cars these days, but what about electric airplanes? Not so much. That doesn't mean they aren't out there are and a viable alternative to the status quo! Just take a look at...
POSTED Thursday, July 26, 2007
OK, this "going green" business is getting out of hand. We're all for developing eco-friendly engines for cars, but building the chassis out of wood just might be going too far. Good thing that this Wooden Supercar seems to be...
POSTED Thursday, July 26, 2007
Wind power is a proven renewable energy source with a track record that goes back centuries. Yet some ecologically myopic people hate the sight of them. Enterprising inventors offer a solution: Take wind power to the skies! Sky WindPower...
POSTED Thursday, July 26, 2007
This animated explanation of global warming from An Inconvenient Truth claims all of our problems can be solved by dumping large ice cubes in the ocean. It's not the only way ice can help save the planet — several...
POSTED Friday, July 20, 2007
Sure there are solar powered street lamps in some cities, but they don't hold a candle to the new Sharp LN-LW3A1 and LN-LS2A1 solar street lamps currently deployed in Japan. The lights can generate 1,800 lumens of light, and...
POSTED Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Maybe you haven't noticed, but world oil production is peaking and renewable energy sources are heating up along with the planet. Any improvement in solar (and wind) power is a big deal. So let's hear it for the latest...
POSTED Tuesday, July 17, 2007
What better application for solar energy than powering a golf cart? There's plenty of sun around, and many golf carts are already using an electric motor, so this Sunray Solar Roof Kit from Cruise Car makes it easy to...
POSTED Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Even though your electronic gadget may be in standby mode, it is still consuming electricity. That can be a lot of energy wasted waiting for you to unplug your fully charged iPhone. The Energy Saving Adapters by Gilles Belley...
POSTED Thursday, July 5, 2007
The Standby Energy Saving Kit is very simple is its concept and execution: Plug these modules into a regular outlet, plug your gear into the modules, and control all your equipment's power consumption via remote control. Now you can shut...
POSTED Monday, July 2, 2007
Putting a solar panel on a car isn't all that tough, as there's plenty of surface area that the sun hits on a car just waiting for panels. But what about a motorcycle? There's not much in the way...
POSTED Tuesday, June 26, 2007
If you're looking for the house of the future you just found it: the Wired magazine LivingHome is not just some design concept, its construction has already begun. There's an old structure on the house's building site that will...
POSTED Monday, June 25, 2007
High on a hill beside a neighboring city, a tower rises high above the dense woods below, its apex resembling a finely cut diamond. Sunlight reflects off it such that the tower glistens in the sky, twinkling like a...
POSTED Monday, June 25, 2007
In the open plains of the United States of America the wind blows, and it blows a lot. As pioneers crossed and settled the Great American Desert, they kept diaries and journals that tell tales of people going crazy...
POSTED Thursday, June 21, 2007
The UK has unveiled their model zero-emission home, a 2-bedroom abode that releases nothing harmful into the atmosphere. It does this by having enough insulation to keep in 60% more heat than the average home as well as by...
POSTED Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Scooters with solar panels look silly because scooters don't have enough surface area to hold solar panels. Hmm… what vehicle does have plenty of surface area? How about cars? Shouldn't they get solar panels first? It turns out solar...
POSTED Friday, June 1, 2007
Saving energy is all the rage these days. If you want to hop on the bandwagon (and honestly, who doesn't?), then you need to start examining your own energy consumption habits to see where you can cut them down....
POSTED Thursday, May 31, 2007
Don Dunklee manages a Rite-Aid by day. By night, he's a DIY maverick who built his own solar-powered scooter that gets him too and from work without the hassle of gasoline. When he rides it, the solar panels are...
POSTED Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Being a more environmentally conscious person isn't just about the big things like buying a hybrid car or installing a solar panel on your roof. Sure, those things are great, but they're also expensive. You can curb your energy...
POSTED Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Everywhere you go there's bound to be some light breeze or gust that can be used for more than flying a kite or lighting up a novelty device. The design firm of Waugh Thistleton thinks so, too, and has...
POSTED Friday, May 25, 2007
Outdoor lighting can often be difficult to blend into the greenery, and even harder to power, what with stringing cables or dealing with batteries. Designers Emi Fujita and Shane Kohatsu turned both problems into benefits by modeling their Corona...
POSTED Thursday, May 24, 2007
If killing plants were illegal, I guarantee I would be on death row right about now. Good thing I don't own any pets. For those lazy and careless types, Dr. Frog notifies you when the plants need watering. The doc...
POSTED Friday, May 18, 2007
A new skyscraper in Dubai