Zerofootprint already helps corporations and governments in evaluating and reducing their carbon emissions through various methods. It also helps households through innovative technologies such as this one. This new TalkingPlug is for corporations or households (or anyone with electrical sockets) and will have an initial price tag of about $50. The price may go down considerably if it can make the product on a larger scale.

How does it work? What are its advantages compared to Google’s PowerMeter and other similar up and coming technologies?

Read more of this story »

Graphene is an extremely low density material, almost an atomic-scale chicken wire made of carbon atoms and their bonds. It has been the focus of much research because of its exceptional electrical, mechanical and optical properties. It holds great promise in renewable energies.

Among the so far underutilized advantages Graphene offers are that it is fifty times stronger than steel, and it has five times the conductivity of copper, with only one quarter of the density.

Read more of this story »

Just the other day, I wrote that it was a great time to go solar, especially due to the great rebates and discounts on solar technology. Apparently, I jumped the gun and was a few days early. A new report by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab — “Tracking the Sun II: The Installed Cost of Photovoltaics in the US from 1998-2008” — shows a significant decrease in solar costs over the last ten years and shows that now is a great time to go solar.

Read more of this story »

That’s because his plan; detailed in Recovery Through Retrofit simply makes the very successful Berkeley First municipal tax assessment financing a Federal program, called PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy), funded nationwide through the Recovery Act.

Read more of this story »

If you do solar estimates in Berkeley, you start feeling left out that you don’t estimate solar roofs in San Diego. Rebates for our whole state are decided based on optimum solar conditions. That optimal spot? Southern California.

So if you go solar in Berkeley and install the exact same kilowatts-worth of solar panels as someone in San Diego, you won’t get as good a state rebate from your utility.  They just have better sun down there, and it’s the standard by which all other sun is judged—at least by the California Solar Initiative’s Expected Performance Ratings.

We’ve made up for that by inventing new ways to lower solar costs—like One Block off the Grid (1BOG)— which aggregates homeowners into groups to reduce solar costs.

But now our own San Francisco-based 1BOG is taking aggregated solar purchasing to sun drenched Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Desert Hot Springs and Coachella - the very places that already qualify for the best rebates per kilowatt in the state!

Read more of this story »

I can identify three main ones, but they seem to be getting addressed more and more by a wide variety of parties — public, private and non-governmental. So, what is left?

Read more of this story »

A major new survey has revealed that nearly 50% of all US consumers would consider buying a ‘green’ cell phone, but only if key factors such as the price, features, and performance were equivalent to other phones.

According to the poll of 1,000 American adults carried out by ABI Research, just 7% would be willing to pay a premium to go green, a figure that may cause cell phone companies to think deeply before investing heavily in environmentally friendlier models.

Speaking about the findings, industry analyst Michael Morgan said, “These survey results mean that almost half of those surveyed were at least committed in principle to use of a green handset. However the public is largely uninformed about their availability: only 4% said they were ‘very familiar’ with green handsets.”

Read more of this story »

The new green-themed Reclaim made by Samsung is more than your standard phone with slick green branding — though there’s a bit of that too.

What’s green (or blue), smaller than a deck of cards and will remind you to unplug the charger from the wall after charging? The Reclaim, the new green-themed smart phone made by Samsung for Sprint, is loaded with a bunch of green content, a handful eco-conscious accessories and an attention to sustainable packaging that make it more “green” than most other phones out there.

But you can’t just slap a case made from forty percent corn plastic, dip it in green paint and call it green, can you? The folks at Sprint sent me the new Reclaim so I could answer those questions myself.

Read more of this story »

We can do something about the fridge by buying an Energy Star rated efficient one, but until now, inexplicably, clothes dryers have not been rated under the Energy Star program.

You have to wonder why there has been so little move to improve energy efficiency in the second biggest energy guzzler in most homes…in a nation that uses 25% of the world’s energy.

Here’s a company that can make a clothes dryer 50% more efficient with a heat exchanger. Hydromatic. So why has their idea not been incorporated into clothes dryers?

Read more of this story »

A new tool in Google Earth shows you the “effect” of climate change in your area.

Using Google Earth, you can look at climate effects under three different scenarios — 1) Confronting Climate Change — “with Al Gore”, 2) IPCC High Emissions Scenario, and 3) IPCC Low Emissions Scenario. Other new tools let you examine other aspects of climate change and how to adapt to climate change.

Read more of this story »

Attaining an EnergyStar rating is crucial for companies creating home electronics and appliances if they want to appeal to the eco-minded or cost-conscious consumer, which these days can be found in virtually every North American and many European households. New standards have just been released (on September 3rd) that encourage television manufacturers to reduce their carbon footprint and the size of their screens.

Read more of this story »

Here’s a very good example of simple tech that works efficiently. Because hot air rises, cool air falls down. So if chilled water is carried through tubes at the ceiling, it sucks hot air from a room; sending down the cooler air. Simple tech is often low carbon technology too.

Read more of this story »

That’s what motivated a team of MIT students to find the way to make the cheapest solar power station out there. Mass produce it for the home user and market it under their own new start up RawSolar.

Sure, it melts steel. But even more practically for the home owner, it makes steam in a flash:

Read more of this story »

If you live in one of the states now sweltering through heat waves; even more frequent sweltering days are in your future as a result of climate change.

But it’s not only your children’s children who will suffer heat waves more often. Your property values in these states will also sink over time as your neighborhoods heat up to unlivable levels over the next decades.

A/C will be a necessity. But adding a heat recovery system will at least cut those losses to your home values:

Read more of this story »

Is Al Costa pulling our leg? The CEO of Delaware-based Alkol Inc. says he has a system that will convert your car to run on E85 in about an hour.

“Flexing” your vehicle with the Alkol conversion system will allow you to use one of those high-ethanol pumps, which contain a mix of 85 percent ethanol, as opposed to the normal 10 percent mix in conventional gasoline. You won’t need a brand new shiny vehicle with one of those “Flex Fuel” badges either.

How does it work? Does it work? Is it like one of those quick-fix radiator sealer bottles that high school kids used to pour into their old jalopies?

Read more of this story »

Read more of this story »

If you want to cut your carbon footprint, you can ride your bike a little more. If you want to cut it even further (from all that exhaling while pedaling), meet the EniCycle. This one-wheeled ride has a range of just under 19 miles on a charge. But it recharges when you ride it downhill (if you dare).

Read more of this story »

Labor Day will soon be upon us, and with it, the unofficial end of summer. Back to school time. Summer is the season for camping, getting out of the city and getting a little dirty in the woods. Some folks like to tent it. Some folks like a travel trailer, with their own bathroom (my wife included).

But one problem with campers is how much they weigh, the large vehicles needed to tow them and frequent trips to the gas station. Travel trailers are getting lighter and lighter, however, and easier and more affordable to pull. Take a look at the latest entry, from EverGreen (like the tree) in Middlebury, Indiana.

Read more of this story »

Editor’s Note: Michael Brito is a social media strategist at Intel. You can find him roaming the intrawebs on Twitter, Facebook or his social media blog.

Climate change is upon us, indeed; no need to argue that point. But how on Earth are we supposed to react to its affect on food production, water resources, ecosystems, energy demand, insurance costs, etc?  Current research suggests that the Earth will warm over the next century and the rate of warming is steadily increasing. So the question needs to be asked, “What are we doing to prepare ourselves for these changes and how can people easily get involved in affecting positive change?”

Recently, Intel officially launched Progress Thru Processors; a new Facebook application that uses idle PC processor power for projects that are geared toward life changing research such as finding cures for deadly diseases and combating climate change.

Read more of this story »

The summer of 2009 has been cooler than usual in the Midwest, but Mother Nature can still pack a punch.

August has seen some 90-degree days in places like Michigan.

When it get this hot, some people like to stay inside in front of the air conditioner (based on recent Twitter and Facebook updates). But it doesn’t have to be this way.

The air conditioner, I mean.

A “whole house fan” that uses the attic for venting can keep your home cool with less electricity (and for less money) than modern-day air conditioning.

Read more of this story »