Energy Efficient

In spite of the technological age we live in it is reported that one-in-five people on this planet still don’t have access to clean drinking water. To help correct this imbalance, a new, energy-efficient desalination plant with an expected production capacity of 30,000 cubic meters per day will be built in the city of Al Khafji, Saudi Arabia, to serve its 100,000 people. Known more for its computers, IBM has joined forces with KACST (King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology) to build the plant that will be powered by ultra-high concentrator photovoltaic (UHCPV) technology - a system with a concentration greater than 1,500 suns. Read More

The NTF 4.0, a car built by a team of students from Laval University in Quebec, Canada, achieved an astonishing 2,487.5 mpg (US) a week ago at the 2010 Shell Eco-Marathon Americas in Houson, Texas. The feat earned the team the $US5,000 grand prize in the Prototype category, in which fuel-efficiency can be achieved through designs that are... well, that are as radically streamlined and lightweight as possible, really. The combustion-engined NTF (any ideas what that stands for?) was by no means the only impressive vehicle at the event, however. Read More

MSI has announced U.S. availability of its Wind U160 ten-inch netbook which is less than an inch thick and is claimed to squeeze some 15 hours from its 6-cell battery. The netbook also offers smooth action video rendering thanks to an 8ms response time, 802.11n WiFi and is only MSI's second product to feature Intel's energy efficient Pine Trail Atom N450 processor. Read More

Just as consumer cameras continue the shrink, so too are cameras designed for military and other commercial applications. The latest is a compact 3D imaging camera launched by Boeing that is designed to be deployed on a wide range of platforms, including unmanned aerial and ground vehicles. The cube-shaped camera is one-third the size and uses one-tenth the power of most comparable cameras. Read More

The Joos Orange personal solar device is an affordable, durable, and waterproof energy source that can be charged by a USB, works in low-light conditions and offers up to 20 times more energy when compared to existing personal solar devices. It delivers more than two and a half hours of cell phone talk time for every hour it has been charged and its polycarbonate case has been encapsulated in urethane ensuring that it is rugged enough to be used outside for many years. The battery can generate enough power to fully charge six standard cell phones or four smart phones and the unit is expected to retail for less than US$100. Read More

Are you sick and tired of spending valuable time commuting to work and enduring peak-hour traffic and road rage? Well now that most people have access to mobile phones, email, video conferencing and the Internet - the dream of trading in an office job for working from home can become a reality. However, separating work from home life can sometimes be difficult. That’s where the Pod comes in – it might look like an enormous coconut has landed in your garden, but this is a unique garden office that is energy-efficient and environmentally friendly, plus it gives you a designated space in which to work. Read More

Toshiba, was waving the green flag at CES this week in announcing that its E-CORE LED lightbulbs will soon be available in the US market. An E-CORE bulb has a life expectancy of 40,000 hours, which is 40 times longer than traditional incandescant lightbulbs and at the same time it reduces CO2 emissions by 85 percent in comparison. Read More

It’s obvious that car manufacturers working to provide consumers with environmentally friendly vehicles must deal with power, weight, and space constraints to make the next generation of automobiles a reality. What isn’t so obvious is that manufacturers of in car systems will also need to address these constraints, which is the reason Bose has been working on a new sound system that utilizes a proprietary design to produce a system that is 30% smaller, 40% lighter, and uses 50% less energy than conventional Bose sound systems, while still delivering premium, high-quality audio. Bose will debut its Energy Efficient Series sound system in the Chevy Volt, which is set to hit showrooms in 2011. Read More

The WaterMill from ElementFour is an atmospheric water collection device for the home that produces up to 12 liters of clean drinking water each day using only air. Once the drinking water is ready for consumption it can be fed directly to your sink, an existing bottled water system, your refrigerator, or a custom dispenser. Read More