environment Archives – The Green Optimistic

The Environmental Impact of Food Waste

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 13:21:20 +0000

Up to a third of all food produced is wasted, though that food could easily feed the hungry. This percentage varies. For example, up to 80 percent of food is lost in production due to pests and food that rots because they lack refrigeration. Food waste also wastes the resources used to produce food. Let’s […]

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Agricultural Soil Impacted by Fracking Chemical Spills

Courtney Lepping — Sat, 04 Jun 2016 20:19:24 +0000

Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) chemicals sometimes end up where they’re not supposed to be: in agricultural soil. Toxic biocides, surfactants, corrosion inhibitors, and slicking agents are some of many types of chemicals used to extract oil and gas from shale and rock. The chemicals aid in extraction, but what happens after a spill? Scientists from Colorado […]

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Food Waste Fast Facts – Why is Food Being Wasted

Natalie Pullen — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 05:40:12 +0000

. What is food waste? Food waste is food that is thrown away, lost or uneaten. The reasons for food waste are numerous, and occur at the various stages in the food supply chain from production, processing, retailing to consumption. In low-income countries, most loss occurs during production, while in developed countries much food – […]

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Clean Energy Won’t Need Battery for Storage, Say Stanford Scientists

Annika Tostengard — Sat, 12 Dec 2015 15:49:45 +0000

Stanford scientists recently revealed a study supporting the idea that the United States could generate all of its power using clean energy technology. Not only is it possible to run the country off electricity, battery storage will not even be necessary to compensate for the intermittency fo energy sources like wind and solar. The scientists […]

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Clean Energy Sources Will Provide 26% Electricity by 2020

Annika Tostengard — Fri, 09 Oct 2015 04:47:12 +0000

Despite the push for clean energy sources over the past couple years, it is still easy to get discouraged by climate change. There is still so much we have to do and it still seems so far away. We all know that a couple of wind farms or solar panels aren’t going to do much good. However, […]

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San Francisco Parklets: Tiny Parks Replace Parking Lots

Annika Tostengard — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 04:56:59 +0000

San Francisco has a reputation as an eco-friendly system, and their parklets program demonstrates their commitment to green living. For the last five years, the city’s business owners have been busy turning ugly parking lots into gorgeous, tiny parks. Some are just a few plants, while some have places to sit down and relax, but […]

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6 Worst Sports for the Environment

Annika Tostengard — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 10:15:06 +0000

Modern life is hard. Without exercise, health suffers, but what do you do if your favorite physical activity hurts the environment as well? Luckily, most of these sports are only harmful at the professional level, or in places where lots of people are participating at once. The following six sports are some of the most […]

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How the Chinese Tackle Air Pollution With Hydrogen Trains

Annika Tostengard — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 18:52:02 +0000

In China, commuters in Qingdao can now arrive to work on board a bright orange tram that runs entirely on hydrogen and emits only steam. As China’s smog grows more thick, leaders across the country are turning their attention to new green technology. Qingdao is not the only Chinese city with a hydrogen-powered tram system. […]

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Oil Spill Costs BP $18.7bn

Annika Tostengard — Fri, 03 Jul 2015 05:03:52 +0000

The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill happened in 2010, but BP has only now reached a settlement with the Department of Justice. The agreement states that BP owes $5.5bn to the United States as outlined in the Clean Water Act, and that this money will be paid out over fifteen years. BP must pay $7.1bn […]

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Beijing to shut its last major coal plant down next year

Satya Sivani — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 05:32:10 +0000

Beijing, the capital of China is leading the country in a fight against pollution. Next year Beijing is going to close the last of its four major coal power plants. China, The world’s factory is facing a serious environmental threat due to pollution. It is now the world’s biggest emitter of green house gases. The environmental […]

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China Removes Mountain Tops to Allow Urban Expansion, Poses Incredible Environmental Risks

Mila Luleva — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 17:33:40 +0000

Deforestation is a problem known for years. We all have heard or read at least one story of people across South America and Africa cutting trees without permission and control in order to turn the area into either agricultural land or a village, or simply use the timber. But if you think that this is the […]

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How Environment vs Economy Could be a Win-Win Situation

Benji Jerew — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 15:31:23 +0000

Every time someone, whether it be scientists, the federal government, or environment activists, suggest that we need to cut emissions and reduce pollution, the other side of the argument is always, “but it’ll ruin the economy!” The short answer to that retort is, perhaps reflected best in the words of Elon Musk (regarding hydrogen fuel […]

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Australia to Ban Environmental Campaigners From Exposing Anti-Green Businesses

Mila Luleva — Mon, 07 Apr 2014 18:35:11 +0000

When it comes to choosing between making profit and protecting the environment, which one would you go for? Although to most of us the right answer is more than obvious, big companies, supported by politicians, are willing to sacrifice the future of the planet for their own personal benefit. What is worse, their actions might […]

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Corporate Partnerships With Environmental NGOs Lead to Weaker Environmental Activism

Mila Luleva — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 17:59:52 +0000

Partnerships between environmental NGOs and corporate giants have become increasingly popular over the past few years, but analysts argue that instead of promoting environmentally friendly living, such relationships only boost production and consumption, while weaken the power and influence of environmental activism. In an article published in The Conversation earlier this week, Genevieve LeBaron has […]

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Bill Gates’ Views on Health, Education And Technology

Mila Luleva — Sat, 10 Aug 2013 16:47:56 +0000

Since its inception, the ‘Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation‘ has invested more than $26.1 billion in various health and education campaigns, with efforts directed towards both developed and developing nations. With more than 1,100 employees, the aim they have is to provide a solution to some of the world’s most pressing problems. It is known […]

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Environmental Action is Good for Business, WWF Study Says

Benji Jerew — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 08:43:45 +0000

No responsible business does anything without considering what it’s going to do to their bottom line, including environmental responsibility. According to a study completed by the World Wildlife Fund [WWF] and the Carbon Disclosure Project [CDP], US corporations can act to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by a mere 3% annually. By doing so, they […]

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Filming Fast and Furious 6 Was Actually Greener Than You Thought

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 27 May 2013 17:41:37 +0000

Little over an hour ago, I just came from the Mall – I went to see Fast and Furious 6, as the trailer was nice and hoped of some electrics along the way. Then, when my eyes hit the poster while waiting to get in, I saw the Top Gear logo. “Green cars my a**,” […]

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NASA and the Environment: 10 Eco-Projects They’re Involved In

Mila Luleva — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 19:04:49 +0000

With climate change becoming one of the most widely discussed and pressing problems in recent years, protecting and caring about the environment has become the main goal of many major organizations and governmental agencies. One such agency is NASA. Opposite to common beliefs that exploration of the Earth surface is their main aim, NASA has […]

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Technology to Clean Oceans of Plastic Debris Developed by Student

Mike Sandru — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 19:25:09 +0000

Boyan Slat, a 19-year-old Aerospace Engineering student at TU Delft designed a device that could clean the ocean from plastic trash. The concept called Ocean Cleanup Array, combines long floating booms with processing platforms,which can collect and separate trash. Plastics are one of the main ocean pollutants, adding tones of harmful chemicals every year and […]

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The Impact of the Ozone Hole on the Environment

Mila Luleva — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 18:23:36 +0000

Carbon dioxide already released into the atmosphere will have influence on temperatures and climate patterns for many years to come, even if emissions are brought down to zero right this moment. The perfect example for this is the ozone hole over Antarctica. Although the problem that caused it seemed small at first, the consequences are […]

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Regulating Geo-engineering Measures Against Climate Change

Mila Luleva — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 07:29:14 +0000

Over the past decades, climate change is increasingly becoming present at almost every agenda list of most global political and environmental meetings. Unfortunately, policymakers and politicians somehow fail to agree on a common strategy, while the impact is becoming stronger and more visible. Scientists have decided to take the matter in their hands by introducing […]

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Environmental Performance Affected by Ethnicity and Religion, Study Claims

Mila Luleva — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 07:44:40 +0000

Research at University of East Anglia (UEA) has found that countries with diverse ethnicity or religion do not try to improve their environmental performance. In addition, the lead author of the study, Dr Elissaios Papyrakis, a senior lecturer in UEA’s School of International Development and a senior researcher at Vrije Universiteit, in Holland, claims that […]

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Infographic: Public Transportation is Better for Your Health and the Environment!

Benji Jerew — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 19:42:52 +0000

When considering your daily commute, have you ever gone beyond the financial or environmental aspect of your choices? We already know that taking public transportation eliminates carbon-dioxide from the atmosphere and that it saves nearly $10,000 a year for the average American. The cost savings could be way more when you consider the health benefits […]

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Top 10 “Save the Environment” Ideas

Mila Luleva — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 16:22:11 +0000

It is a very well-known, sometimes even unfortunate, fact that people who care about nature and the environment, are considered let’s say different. Thankfully, in the last few years we notice an increasing tendency towards taking better care and protecting the beauty and state of what surround us in our day-to-day activities. To help those, […]

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Could Synthetic Microbes Clean up the Environment?

Benji Jerew — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 00:09:38 +0000

Natural resources are not always renewable, petroleum for example. Raw petroleum can be refined into at least twenty different commodities, including gasoline, diesel fuel, paraffin, sulfur, propane, and petrochemicals, which are further refined to produce commodities such as polyester, polyethylene, and polyvinyl chloride, among others. The chemical industry, in light of depleting natural resources, needs […]

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Paper Assesses Energy Development’s Impact on Wildlife

Janina Lazo-Cruz — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 07:58:23 +0000

Scientists from Colorado State University’s Warner College of Natural Resources, George Wittemyer and Joseph Northrup, have published a paper assessing the impact of booming energy development on wildlife and proposing mitigation strategies and a more collaborative research to achieve a thorough understanding between the energy technology and wildlife. In their research paper entitled, “Characterizing the […]

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Research Shows How Trees Adapt to Sequester Carbon Efficiently Even in Low Light Conditions

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:36:49 +0000

A team of Czech researchers have recently published a paper that shows how forests adapt to various lighting scenarios and how those plants living inside dense canopies in jungles succeed increasing their carbon intake even in cloudy conditions. The paper has been published in the British Ecological Society’s Functional Ecology. Although one would normally think […]

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Nuclear Power Surpassed By Renewables In 2011

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 19:08:39 +0000

While some political forces in the U.S. still press for funding more nuclear power more, renewable energy production has exceeded nuclear during the first three months of 2011.

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Ratio Between Black Carbon and Sulphates in Atmosphere Crucial to Global Warming

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:12:31 +0000

Black carbons are emitted from diesel exhausts and burned biomass and are considered an environmental and health hazard all over the world. Besides the fact that they favor global dimming, black carbons also attract heat.

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Research: Postponing 5 O'Clock Tea By 1 Hour Could Offer Huge CO2 Savings

Ovidiu Sandru — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 08:01:19 +0000

You surely remember how it's like in winter: you wake up, it's dark, you turn the lights on. When you go to work, there's finally more light, but when you return at around 5, say, it's dark again, and you feel like you've been missing the whole day. But that's not the point. The idea is that you consume much more electricity and resources if your schedule doesn't match the daylight.

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New Enzyme Allows Plants to Consume More CO2 and Save Water

Mike Sandru — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:53:15 +0000

Scientists at the University of California San Diego have discovered new plant enzymes that can allow plants to save water while consuming more CO2 from the atmosphere. The enzyme causes the plants to react to CO2 and change how they use their pores and by modifying the enzyme, scientists believe that could be developed more CO2- and drought-tolerant crops.

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E85 Ethanol Increases Pollution and Risk of Human Diseases

Cristi — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:03:43 +0000

Researches from Stanford University have recently published a study on ethanol fuel and its influence over human health. Compared to pure gasoline usage, ethanol increases health problems because of cancer-chemical formation.

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Novotech's System Generates Renewable Energy from Asphalt

Mike Sandru — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:55:06 +0000

Scientists at Novotech and two Massachusetts universities are working to create a new system that could channel heat from asphalt and other paving materials into clean and usable energy.

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Toyota Launching EV Charging Station at Tokyo Motor Show

Cristi — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:45:31 +0000

This year's Tokyo Motor Show was dominated by the Nippon market, Alpina and Lotus being the only foreigners with a stand at the show. Big companies like Daihatsu, Honda, Toyota, Suzuki, Nissan and Mitsubishi presented a lot of new concepts and hybrid or electric cars.

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Oceanlinx Prepares to Deploy 2.5MW Tidal Power System Near Sydney

Cristi — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:22:19 +0000

Engineers are performing the last tests and measurements before the grid-connection off the coast of Port Kembla, near Sydney. The system will be generating about 2.5MW by harvesting air pressure that will turn a wind turbine.

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Precision Nanoparticles Technology to Revolutionize Solar Cells

Cristi — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:35:50 +0000

The chemists from the Idaho National Laboratory and Idaho State University may have found the gold mine of solar energy efficiency. They invented the manufacturing of a highly precise and uniform nanopaticle that improves solar cells and further spurs the growing nanotech revolution.

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SEADOG Uses Waves' Own Power to Desalinate Sea Water

Cristi — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:05:40 +0000

A company called Renew Blue, Inc. will use wave power to run a desalination plant in Freeport, Texas. The resulted water will be finally put into corn-based biodegradable plastic bottles. The SEADOG power system is made from a buoy which puts in motion a piston mechanism that rotates a water wheel to generate electricity.

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Meteosat Used to Detect Faulty Solar Panel Power Stations

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:28:18 +0000

Italy is known for its plans to develop photovoltaic power as one of their main sources of energy. Having such a wide experience in solar power harvesting, several issues arise regarding the solar panels' maintenance. Every PV plant has a sensor verifying the quantity of light arriving at its location at any given moment during the day.

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Prius Plug-In Hybrid (PHEV) Present at Tokyo Motor Show

Cristi — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:02:05 +0000

A long time ago, Toyota Motor Corporation has started its green thinking trend with hybrid cars which revolutionized fuel consumption. Now they found a way to combine electric vehicles with hybrid ones and they presented their concept just days before the Tokyo Motor Show.

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Redox Flow Batteries: a Quickly-Charging Alternative to Li-Ion?

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:31:21 +0000

Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology (ICT) in Pfintzal, near Karlsruhe, propose an alternative to the lazily-charging Lithium-Ions: the redox flow batteries.

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New Method of Guiding Light Through Polymer Helps Solar Cells Get Cheaper

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 06:21:58 +0000

New research is paving the pathway towards better and more efficient solar cells, as University of Florida chemists have invented a method of "hacking" the molecular structures of the materials the solar cells are made of, in order to gain a maximum transfer efficiency from them.

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New Ceramic Material Makes Fuel Cells Capable of Using Normal Fuels

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:28:40 +0000

Researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology have invented a new type of ceramic material that could widen the uses of SOFCs, so they could also be used with a wide range of liquid or gaseous fuels, without the need of separating hydrogen or cleaning them.

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Reducing Coal CO2 Emissions with Chilled-Ammonia Technology

Cristi — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:32:52 +0000

The coal based power plant located in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin in Kenosha County called Pleasant Prairie Power Plant has generated approximately 1,226 MW of electricity in 2006, being one of the largest generating stations in Wisconsin.

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NASA to Make Its Future Rocket Fuel From Water and Aluminum

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:46:47 +0000

At first, I found it surprising, but when I did some research and had a second though about it, I learned that when NASA or any other space agency launches a space ship, it consumes about 773 tons of ammonium perchlorate, and releases some 230 tons of hydrochloric acid immediately after launch.

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IAV to Release On-the-fly Charging System for Electric Cars in 3 Years

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:08:54 +0000

A German supplier of electronics and powertrain design to most of the major automakers for the last 25 years gives a solution to both the battery and the car manufacturers. The company is called IAV (Ingenieurgesellschaft Auto und Verkehr), and their solution is to charge the electric cars on-the-go through electromagnetic induction.

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The Sea Snake: Scotland's 750kW Wave Powered Project

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:47:58 +0000

Scotland built a 180 m tube they call "The Sea Snake", that will capture the waves' movements and energy and transmit it via subshore cables to the land.

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The Napa Winery Making Hydrogen from Grape Wastewater

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:20:14 +0000

Napa Wine Company in Oakville found an interesting way of producing hydrogen by using the winery's own wastewater, using naturally-occurring bacteria and a small amount of electricity to extract hydrogen the organic material they usually throw away,with a generator the size of a refrigerator.

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Israel Highway Equipped With Pilot Piezoelectric Generator System

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:18:16 +0000

Yesterday morning, the Hefer intersection along the old coastal road of Route 4 in Israel was the place where a piezoelectric generator was put to the test and generated some 2,000 watt-hours of electricity. The setup consists of a ten-meter strip of asphalt, with generators lying underneath, and batteries in the road's proximity.

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IBM Chooses Lithium Air Batteries for 500 Miles EV Range

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:57:57 +0000

IBM, through its "Big Green" - "Battery 500" project, aimed to produce a battery for an electric car that would be able to carry a family-sized sedan up to 500 miles, spotted the lithium-air (STAIR) invention as its goal, and predicted that they could improve the STAIR battery further with the nanoscale semiconductor manufacturing techniques they possess.

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Helix-Shaped Vertical Wind Turbines Will Power GSM Towers in Africa & US

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:36:53 +0000

Too often, regardless of the energy sources being used, the GSM transmission towers' power fails, because of various reasons: theft, heavy rain/snow, disturbances in the grid lines. Helix, a San Diego-based wind company, is working on a wind turbine that is designed to power base stations in hard to reach, remote locations from Africa and the US.

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New Electronic Circuit Cooling System Offers Brighter Electric Car Perspectives

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:45:24 +0000

Researchers from Purdue University discovered precisely how fluid boils in capilary cooling sytems, and that by designing a system by using those rules they got a much more efficient heat transfer between the object to be cooled and the liquid.

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New Nanostructure Film Reduces Solar Cells Reflection for Better Efficiency

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:55:36 +0000

Oregon State University engineers have innovated a new nanostructure film technology that they can deposit on any surface and reduce the reflectance of light. Their technology should perform better and have a lower price.

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Fraunhofer Develops New, Easy to Make High Efficiency Solar Cells

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:06:01 +0000

Yet another efficiency record has been established for mass-producible solar cells: 23.4%. The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) from Germany succeeded to manufacture a single-crystal silicon solar cell of a thin p-type semiconductor layer residing on an n-type semiconductor substrate. The solar cell's area is 2x2cm.

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Cheap Nanotube Sensors to Detect Toxins in Water

Mike Sandru — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 18:08:56 +0000

A research team at Stanford has developed a new inexpensive sensor chip made with carbon nanotubes, being capable to detect rapid traces of TNT and poison in rivers, reservoirs.

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New Oregon Based Electric Three-Wheeler Getting 190 MPG

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:11:19 +0000

An Oregon-based company, Arcimoto of Eugene, designed their fully electric vehicle capable of reaching no less than 190 mpg, if we take mpg as an energy reference.

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Battery Wizard Can Recharge Your Non-Rechargeable Batteries

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:55:29 +0000

The Battery Wizard is a new gadget that tries to re-enable batteries otherwise good to be thrown away. Of course, rechargeable batteries are always handy and ready to be charged, but for ages I've known that trying to charge a normal, single use battery ended up in an explosion.

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Converting Deserts Into Forests Would Stop Global Warming

Mike Sandru — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:02:15 +0000

Researcher Leonard Ornstein has come up with a simple plan to stop global warming. He proposes that turning Sahara and the Australian outback into vast, shady forests, could draw down about 8 billion tons of carbon a year, nearly as much as people emit from burning forests and fossil fuels today.

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Small Autonomous Cleaning Robot Makes Ships Faster and Fuel Efficient

Mike Sandru — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:10:42 +0000

The US Office of Naval Research (ONR) has recently conducted tests with a unique ship hull grooming robot called the Robotic Hull Bio-inspired Underwater Grooming (HULL BUG) tool.

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Geobacter Microbe Produces Electricity From Mud and Wastewater

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 21:04:39 +0000

Derek Lovley, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently experimented with a microbe named "Geobacter", who loves to live in sediments and mud, and whose hairlike filaments can produce electricity from the muddy environment it loves to live in.

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Geothermal Efficiency Boosted Up to 30% by Newly Discovered Liquid

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:12:06 +0000

Scientists from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, WA, announce they developed a new type of heat extracting liquid that could absorb much better the heat coming from the hot water in the geothermal wells.

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Efficient Electricity Production from Onion Juice

Cristi — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 08:00:34 +0000

The future life style is quite different than we could imagine right now. Many experts predict that we will not need to transport our energy around the world as it will be produced in our community.

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Waste From Beer Factories Turned into Energy

Cristi — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:05:13 +0000

Wolfgang Bengel and his partners have found a way to efficiently recycle the waste grains and wastewater and use them to fuel the beer factories.

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DIY: Rick's Cheap Solar Panel Installation Powers His Home

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:03:18 +0000

A lot of people want to be green in using energy but they don't know where to start, or they don't have enough money/time at their disposal to actually start making something useful.

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Cheap Printable Batteries Designed for Low Consumption Applications

Cristi — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:37:57 +0000

A team of researchers from Fraunhofer Research Institution for Electronic Nano Systems ENAS in Chemnitz and their colleagues from TU Chemnitz and Menippos GmbH have recently developed a printable battery which is environmentally friendly as it contains no mercury.

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Biodegradable UFO-like Plates for Cleaner Picnics

Cristi — Sat, 30 May 2009 19:02:08 +0000

UFO (Unidentified Feeding Object) plates are picnic plates which can be disposed after usage by launching them into the bushes, exactly like a frisbee. The most interesting thing about these plates is the fact that they can provide food for birds, squirrels or rodents.

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Eliica – Eight Wheeled Electric Car Trying To Beat The Speed Record

Mike Sandru — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 06:19:38 +0000

A team of Japanese technicians from Keio University have built two electric cars trying to beat the speed record on such vehicles. Each of the cars with a bizarre design, has eight wheels and is powered by Lithium-Ion batteries. Each of the eight wheels is driven by an 80 hp electric motor.

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Energizer to Release Their First Portable Solar-Powered Battery Charger

Mike Sandru — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 16:18:00 +0000

This gadget looks like a clamshell cellphone, where the keypad section is replaced by battery slots and the display by solar panels. Some features of this battery-charging gadget will be...

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Mercedes Benz BlueZERO – A Trio of Green Concepts

Mike Sandru — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:47:01 +0000

Mercedes-Benz announced the BlueZERO concept which will be presented at the Detroit Auto Show, in January. Three different models will be available, all based on the Class B model, including the fully electric BlueZERO E-Cell featuring a lithium-ion battery that offers it an autonomy of up to 200 km, a 100 kW electric engine (equivalent to 136 horsepower) and a maximum torque of 320 Nm.

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RSi Solar: World's First Transparent Solar Glass Window

Mike Sandru — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 06:33:09 +0000

The company called RSi Solar has announced that they've created transparent, photovoltaic glass window. What is amazing is that these solar windows could generate 80 - 250 watts each, depending on the size.

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Bakersfield`s First Solar Thermal Power Plant Launched Last Week

Mike Sandru — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 05:55:02 +0000

Last week in Bakersfield, California, was launched the first solar thermal plant in nearly two decades. This plant will focus sunlight on tubes that contain water, a different process, compared to other solar photovoltaic systems that convert sunlight into electricity.

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Sewage Could Be a New Way For Cheap Hydrogen

Mike Sandru — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 06:51:36 +0000

In the field of hydrogen fuel cell production, Oregon State University researchers have discovered that sewage can produce cheap hydrogen. In comparison with traditional electrolysis technology, sewage can produce hydrogen at a lower cost.

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Fuel Cells to Become a Viable Business Only 15 Years from Now

Mike Sandru — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:10:45 +0000

Vehicles based on hydrogen fuel cells are still 15 years away to becoming a viable business for manufacturers, informs Reuters. In the best case, the manufacturers will be able to sell only two million electric vehicles based on fuel cells until 2020, according to a study conducted by the National Research Council. This figure represents less than 1% of the cars located at that time on U.S. roads.

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The New York Taxi Fleet to Increase with 300 Hybrids per Month

Mike Sandru — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 10:02:53 +0000

New York authorities hurry to increase the city fleet taxis with a rate of 300 new hybrid cars per month, announced mayor Michael Bloomberg. Currently, there are already over 1,300 hybrid taxis in the city, each making a saving of $ 6,500 per year. Bloomberg intends to complete 127 of green initiatives to the end […]

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Ze-O: Very Cheap European Electric Car

Mike Sandru — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:06:54 +0000

The british company Nice Car will present next week at the Auto Salon of Great Britain, in world premiere, the little Ze-O, an MPV-type vehicle, fully electric, available from the next year for families with a lower budget.

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Toyota Prius Will Have Solar Panels by Next Year

Mike Sandru — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 14:58:32 +0000

Toyota Motor Corp. announced that it will introduce an air conditioning system based on solar energy to the new Prius models next year. General Motors (GM), on the other hand, will launch the small environment-friendly Chevrolet Beat.

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OneCAT – the car that runs on air!

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 07:57:33 +0000

Remember an older article about a small company, called MDI, who had a plan in building a car that runs totally on air? Now they did it. OneCAT is a five-seat car, with a fiberglass body, weighting about 350kg and costing about… 4800$! And that’s cheaper than any car (maybe except the recent car from […]

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