Oh, how quickly the winds of fortune change direction. After receiving billions in tax breaks from a Republican-controlled Congress a few short years ago, Big Oil is sweating heavy over a new bill that would raise about $14 billion from petrol companies over 10 years and would shower about the same amount of money on new incentives for solar power, wind power, cellulosic ethanol and scores of other renewable fuels. Before you think this [...]
News like this must be giving coal companies ulcers. Actually, based on the number of solar breakthroughs that have been reported over the past year, a steady supply of Prevacid might be a great idea. Fossil fuel companies may have the money and political backing, but innovation and time are defenitely not on their side. Over the next several decades, as these developments leave the laboratory and become commercialized, purchasing a simple array to offset [...]
Something tells me that General Motors is not willing to play second fiddle on next generation vehicles. Toyota pretty much slapped them upside the head with the Prius and other fuel-efficient vehicles and the Detroit automaker is taking the lesson to heart with hydrogen. GM announced earlier this week that it has moved 500 fuel-cell engineers and scientists from the laboratory side of the company into the chain of command that actually produces cars. This [...]
My Xbox 360 is a little hungry when plugged in. According to tests, it consumes roughly 160 watts of power at any given time. This pales in comparison to the Sony Playstation 3 (which racks up 380 watts) but it's still a hog compared to previous consoles. Thankfully, beyond the occassional DVD and some epic battles of Gears of War the power hasn't been on that often. Still, it could be a [...]
The merits of beer have been heralded from the plays of Shakespeare to the roofs of frat houses. Almost all of us have sipped a cold one at least once (or several thousand) times in our lives. Have you ever given a thought, however, to that bottle in your hands? In a time when we're becoming more clever in creating dual-purpose functions from the most obscure of items, the beer bottle has found a new [...]
After writing an article a few weeks back about a city in China where almost every roof is covered in solar, I've come to realize that we're obviously not taking advantage of the square footage above our heads. Everything from collecting rain to growing produce to harnessing the sun could be achieved using our roofs. We're not there yet, but I'm hopeful that change is in the air. Helping my optimism along is [...]
I've covered several solar gadgets here on GO, but it's important to promote the value of some kinetic energy-based products as well. One such cool device that I found while stumbling the green web is the Eco LED Flashlight. Instead of having the shakes to produce energy (like most other eco-friendly lights out there) this product uses a zip cord. Simply pull the cord for about a minute — and voila! [...]
Image source: BusinessWeek.com With Beijing getting all spic and span for the 2008 Olympic Games, a host of ideas are being considered for the Olympic Forest Park, a multimillion-dollar, 680-hectare green space planned for the northern portion of the city. Besides serving as the venue for Tennis, Archery, and Hockey, the area will also include a massive man-made mountain and a lake in the shape of a dragon. Since Beijing is not the type [...]
Trafalgar Square in London is not known for its green credentials. For those of us that have walked its open expanse, there's very little organic material beyond the gum stuck to your shoe to tred on. Being a large intersection of foot traffic, it's naturally a stone and concrete affair. Starting today and continuing until tomorrow, however, Trafalgar Square is getting a green makeover. Over 2,000 square meters of living turf will be placed [...]
Talk about embracing the future! While China's environmental record won't get them off Santa's naughty list anytime soon (granted, they would probably take the coal), you can't say they don't have any interesting green projects going on at the moment. Take for instance the example of Rizhao, a coastal city of nearly three million on the Shandong Peninsula in northern China. Almost every single building or flat surface is covered with solar panels! Most [...]
