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Environmental
Plan to turn rooftops, walls and windows into cheap solar cells
By Jeff Salton
19:23 August 25, 2009 PDT
Cheaper solar cells – roughly one-tenth the cost of current day prices – could be available within three to five years thanks to a manufacturing procedure that uses nanoparticle ‘inks’ to print them like newspaper or to spray-paint them onto the sides of buildings or rooftops. Even windows could become solar cells thanks to the semi-transparent inks. 'Painting' solar cells on buildings has been an idea in the making for some time – Gizmag investigated the possibilities of 'solar paint' in 2008. Read More
NASA tests eco-friendly rocket fuel
By Jeff Salton
21:11 August 23, 2009 PDT
NASA and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) have successfully launched a nine-foot rocket to a height of 1,300ft using an environmentally-friendly propellant made from aluminum powder and water ice. The fuel, called ALICE, has the consistency of toothpaste with a high burn rate and achieved a maximum thrust of 650 pounds during this test. Read More
Defeating oil stains with water
18:13 August 19, 2009 PDT
While it’s true that water and oil don’t mix, water may soon be all a person needs to completely remove any trace of an oil spill - provided the surfaces are coated with newly designed polymer materials that would do away with harsh chemical detergents and solvents. And if you have ever been inconvenienced by fog on your bathroom window, car windshield, or eyeglasses, the same materials can be used as an anti-fog agent with similar eco-friendly benefits. Read More
Process to clean wastewater also produces electricity and desalinates water
By Darren Quick
00:05 August 17, 2009 PDT
Desalination plants generally employ one of two methods to produce clean water – reverse osmosis or electrodialysis. Unfortunately, both processes require large amounts of energy, but an international team of researchers has proven a process that cleans wastewater can also remove 90 percent of salt from brackish water or seawater while generating electricity. Read More
Reduce your Carbon skateprint: K2 Eco inline skates
By Paul Ridden
03:32 August 14, 2009 PDT
Undoubtedly a pretty environment-friendly way to travel, donning a pair of skates still leaves you with a bit of an eco-headache. With all that plastic and metal wrapped around your ankles, the skates themselves are a bit of an environmental let down - until now. Inline skate innovators at K2 skates have recently added another industry first to the company's catalogue of cutting edge developments. Not only are the boots and laces made from recycled plastic bottles but the wheel frame is made from one of the most sustainable materials on the planet, bamboo. Read More
Going Green: Standby savings in the home
By Paul Lester
01:38 August 7, 2009 PDT
Cutting down on unnecessary electricity usage has clear benefits for both the environment and your hip pocket, and devices that tackle the issue of standby power are an obvious place to start. Paul Lester takes a closer look at some of the current solutions on the market. Read More
New cavity design boosts light output for OLED devices
00:35 August 7, 2009 PDT
Scientists at SRI International have found an innovative design for organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) that makes use of cavities to enhance their luminosity and energy efficiency. The device, called a COLED (where the 'c' stands for 'cavity') was designed by Dr. Yijian Shi and employs a regular pattern of cavities, implementing a structure that generates as much as five times the light output of a standard OLED per watt consumed depending on the color being displayed. Read More
Solar blimp: Projet Sol'r to take on the English Channel
By Paul Ridden
17:02 August 6, 2009 PDT
A group of French students are getting ready to fly across the English Channel in the world's first solar powered airship. One hundred years after Louis Blériot won the coveted Daily Mail prize of £1000 by being the first to traverse the watery expanse in his 3-cylinder, 25 horse-power XI monoplane, the Projet Sol'r team will take to the skies in Néphélios, a 22 meter long airship capable of cruising at 30-35kph. Gizmag recently talked to one of the project's founders, Arnaud Vaillant. Read More
Gizcast #9: can Vertical Farming solve the impending global food crisis?
By Loz Blain
23:57 August 4, 2009 PDT
In this week's Gizcast, we're privileged to be joined by Dr. Dickson Despommier of New York City, who is perhaps the world's leading expert on Vertical Farming, a topic we've covered several times in the past few years. Dr. Despommier speaks with Loz Blain about the social, economic and environmental issues we'll have to face as the Earth's population jumps to 9 billion in the next 40-50 years. If we keep farming the way we are now, we're simply going to run out of land to feed ourselves - so the solution seems clear: we need to start bringing food production and agriculture into the high-rise age. The farms of the future, it seems, will be skyscrapers. Geoffrey Baird also joins us for a weekly roundup of top stories. Read More
Virtual co-drivers will make trucks of the future safer
By Jeff Salton
06:55 August 4, 2009 PDT
Trucks of the future could be equipped with an on-board digital co-driver to help the human behind the wheel, or even take over if the driver loses control. The HAVEit project (short for Highly Automated Vehicles for Intelligent Transport) has 28 million euros (USD$40 million) at its disposal and is aiming to develop an intelligent driver assist system that responds to both traffic conditions and drivers' needs. Read More
Canadian startup proposes nuclear fusion power plant at a bargain price
By Darren Quick
00:40 August 4, 2009 PDT
Nuclear fusion offers a completely clean method of producing vast amounts of energy. So far the major stumbling block for scientists has been creating a controllable fusion reaction that achieves “net gain”, meaning it gives off more energy than is needed to trigger it. But Canadian startup, General Fusion, is claiming it can build a relatively low-tech prototype nuclear fusion power plant within the next decade for less than a billion dollars. Read More
U.S. vehicle fuel efficiency has increased only 3 mpg in 80 years
23:50 August 2, 2009 PDT
Gizmag is always on the lookout for alternative means of powering vehicles and saving precious fossil fuels. But, in truth, the vast majority of us still drive exclusively petrol-powered cars. And the even sadder truth, outlined in a new research from the University of Michigan, is that the average fuel efficiency of a US vehicle has improved only three miles per gallon since the days of the Ford Model T. Read More
Vertical Landscapes: The only way is up for green cities
By Darren Quick
06:24 July 28, 2009 PDT
Demand for office and housing space in ever diminishing land space has led to taller and taller buildings reaching for the skies in cities around the world. This shortage of land in many cities has unfortunately also led to a scarcity of natural vegetation in urban settings. We’ve looked at several vertical-farming concepts - dedicated buildings that provide space to grow crops in city centers - but a new architectural system from Vertical Landscapes (VL) seeks to invite nature back into our cities on a broader scale. The architectural system transforms buildings into columns of vegetation to add a much needed touch of green, help clean the city air and possibly even produce small scale crops, all while retaining the building’s usual use for office or housing space. Read More
Biodiesel goes to the birds
By Darren Quick
23:47 July 23, 2009 PDT
Scientists in Nevada have found a new and environmentally friendly source of biodiesel – “chicken feather meal”, a delightful material that consists of chicken feathers, blood, and innards made from the 11 billion pounds of poultry industry waste that accumulates annually in the US alone. Read More
Texas to benefit from largest offshore wind concessions in the USA
By Paul Lester
18:56 July 23, 2009 PDT
The push for more dedicated use of renewable energies has been given a boost recently by Texas startup Baryonyx Corp, which has successfully procured the lease for what will be the largest offshore wind concessions in the USA. A total of 8,000 acres of land in Dallam County and 38,000 acres in the Gulf of Mexico will power ‘Tier4’ data centers by generating a potential 3GW of energy. Read More
Phoenix: Concept vehicle for a brave new world
By Jeff Salton
19:33 July 22, 2009 PDT
First appearing in the Michelin Challenge Design earlier this year, the Phoenix concept features an orbital omni-directional four-wheel-drive system which allows for several types of motion - apart from moving forwards and backwards, it can rotate around its own axis and move sideways. Read More
The Bedol Eco-Friendly Clock - just add water
By Mick Webb
21:07 July 20, 2009 PDT
Anything that flies the green flag is a welcome addition to the array of resource depleting devices in our homes. The Bedol Eco – Friendly Water Powered Clock is as environmentally sound as they come – literally just add water. Read More
Plantagon Urban Greenhouse concept
By Paul Lester
07:05 July 20, 2009 PDT
While perhaps not as architecturally ambitious as the Dragonfly concept we looked at last week, this urban farming design from Swedish-American company Plantagon has the same environmentally-friendly ambitions along with a distinctly eye-catching design of its own. Read More
Capturing more heat from low-temp resources to aid geothermal power
By Darren Quick
01:29 July 20, 2009 PDT
Geothermal power is cost effective, reliable, and environmentally friendly, but it has previously been limited to geographic areas near tectonic plate boundaries. New technologies, such as that employed in the Raser low-temperature binary geothermal plant, promise to expand the opportunities for geothermal plants. Now scientists at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have devised a method for capturing significantly more heat from low-temperature geothermal resources to further boost the possibility of virtually pollution-free electricity. Read More
CR-Z sports hybrid to hit showrooms next year
04:55 July 15, 2009 PDT
Honda has announced that the CR-Z sports hybrid will be available for sale in Japan from January of next year. First unveiled as a concept at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2007, the two-door sports hybrid is powered by Honda’s Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) system, which combines a small gasoline engine with supplementary power from a built-in electric motor. Read More
Nissan Dual Injector System for improved fuel efficiency in small-displacement engines
By Gizmag Team
05:24 July 14, 2009 PDT
July 14, 2009 Nissan today announced it has developed a Dual Injector system designed to improve fuel efficiency in small-displacement gasoline engines. The new fuel delivery system, claimed to be the first of its kind, uses an injector for each port rather than one per cylinder – speeding up fuel vaporization, reducing the amount of unburned fuel and reducing hydrocarbon emissions. Nissan will put the system into production vehicles beginning twelve months from now. Read More
TrickleStar aims to stop the standby power drain
By Mick Webb
19:09 July 9, 2009 PDT
One of the greatest wastes of energy in the household is standby power and here to combat this, is the TrickleSaver. With the ability to sense when a TV or PC is off and shut down any connected peripherals like games consoles or printers, TrickleSaver is looking to make “vampire power” a thing of the past. Read More
Recharge Electric mower helps keep your lawn 'green'
By Jude Garvey
23:22 July 8, 2009 PDT
There’s nothing like the smell of freshly-cut grass to bring back fond childhood memories of summer…alongside less fond memories of the sickly, sweet smell of mower fuel and the sound of cursing all over the neighborhood as people failed to get their lawn mower started. It’s no wonder that electric mowers have become so popular in recent times given they are easy to operate, quiet, require little maintenance and don’t strain your back (or your good mood) trying to start them. They are also much better for the environment than their fuel-guzzling two-stroke engine ancestors. The Recharge Mower offers all these benefits - and you don't have to push it. Read More
Shipping container to solar powered restaurant in 90 seconds? Meet the Muvbox portable restaurant
By Mick Webb
05:29 July 7, 2009 PDT
We have already seen the humble shipping container take on many guises ranging from pop-up hotel rooms to relocatable homes. Here to “cater” for the entrepreneur on the move is the Müvbox portable restaurant. This compact and mobile unit uncovers a fully operational kitchen in around 90 seconds at the touch of a button, and brings an eco-friendly ethos to the table to boot. Read More
Car share program launched with new Maya 300 electric vehicle
20:15 June 30, 2009 PDT
Baltimore has taken the environmental benefits of car-sharing programs a step further by launching one that features the all-electric, zero local emissions Maya 300. Powered by a lithium-ion battery, the Maya 300 seats five, can travel up to 120 miles on a single charge, has a top speed of 35mph and can be charged via a standard 110V household electrical outlet. Read More
Freedom Glen
- November 25, 2009 @ 02:47 UTC
