Satellites to help track climate change
Green TechCharting iceberg thaw or the frequency of Al Gore in the news is one way of measuring how much danger the planet is, but a new European project could monitor our continent's climate from space and provide a boost in the fight against climate change.
The Global Monitoring for Environment and Security project (GMES) will eventually consist of five satellites -- or "sentinels" -- that will monitor different climate elements. The project has been jointly developed by the European Commission and European Space Agency and is aimed at generating data that will inform government policy on combating climate change and help plan for the effects of the changes already taking place. Each satellite would provide different data sets, such as ocean-monitoring information (temperature, color, level) and atmospheric data. Continue reading...
Sony announces greenwashed VAIO laptops
Green TechWhatever laptop you're using to read this post, throw it in the bin and go buy one of the latest eco-inspired Sony VAIO Graphic Splash editions. It's for the environment!
OK, maybe that's a bit harsh. It's just hard for us to swallow the green pill that Sony's pushing with its new VAIO FZ Eco Edition laptops, particularly when the touted environmental benefits look an awful lot like a sales pitch. "Slim design for minimum use of natural resources"? The FZ series isn't that much thinner than its competitors, and it seems unlikely that Sony's engineers were thinking about saving the rainforests when they designed the case. Continue reading...
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Valeswood launches hydrogen-powered bike
Green TechBirmingham-based environmental technology company Valeswood has released a hydrogen fuel-cell powered bicycle called the Pearl, which you don't need a licence or insurance to ride on the roads. The bike is a tiny commuter, with 20in wheels and a folding frame.
Powered by a 24v Pearl fuel cell, Valeswood claims it can reach speeds of up to 25km/h and go 100km without refuelling. For those who prefer the option of getting a bit of exercise, pedals are also included so the Pearl can be ridden like a normal bike. We wouldn't count on getting up much speed under human power though -- thanks to the fuel cells the Pearl comes in at a hefty 32kg. Continue reading...
Fujitsu Siemens monitor kills vampire power
Green TechVampire devices are a big source of power consumption in the home. The worst part is that they aren't even doing anything useful with all that power. Leaving your mobile phone plugged into the charger, putting your TV on standby -- these things add up to a lot of wasted electricity.
Turning things off at the mains when you're not using them is one way of avoiding this, but people often find it too much effort. Then there's the issue that some devices can't keep the correct time when unplugged or lose other settings, which also discourages people from pulling the plug. Intelligent design is the answer, and some devices are being slowly weaned off power drainage by designers.
Marvell chip cuts PC energy use
Green TechAmerican company Marvell has released chips for PC and laptop power bricks that will substantially cut down the amount of electricity required to run these machines.
The chips, a type of power factor correction (PFC) controller based around a digital signal processor, effectively determine the amount of power an application will need and optimise accordingly. They also try to keep peak current at the lowest level. Currently, inefficient computers can lose around half of the power through heat or in the AC-to-DC conversion process. Pick up that power supply connected to your laptop. Feel the burn! These chips will reduce it. Continue reading...
Google launches carbon footprint calculator
Green TechThe increasingly environmentally friendly and omnipresent Google has launched a carbon footprint calculator. There's plenty of those already available, though, so what has Google done to stand out from the crowd?
It's based on Google's personalised homepage, and features a slightly cheesy green and blue landscape theme. When you first visit, you're asked to fill in a questionnaire with all the usual topics on where you live and how you travel. Unfortunately, though, it misses out some important questions. For example, it asks if you own a car, but doesn’t ask how much you drive it. Someone who owns a G-Wiz but rarely uses it will be penalised as much as someone who drives a Hummer 100 miles to work every day.
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Electricity powered by human sewage?
Green TechTaking 'waste not, want not' to new heights, scientific research company Synthetic Genomics has devised a fuel cell that can generate water or electricity from the stuff that goes down your drain.
J. Craig Venter, founder of the company, which specializes in genetically manipulating microorganisms and creating new organisms for industrial tasks, made the announcement during the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. "We have biological fuel cells driven by bacteria that take human wastewater and make drinking water or electricity out of it," he said. "We've been designing a number of organisms to try to replace traditional processes." Continue reading...
Power-hungry Playstation 3 gets greener
Green TechThe power-hungry PlayStation 3 is set to become a lot more energy efficient, according to rumours circulating the web. Sony's current version of the games console uses a massive 200W -- twice that used by Microsoft’s Xbox 360, and a massive 10 times more than Nintendo’s Wii. However, a new entry model is being released that should use 135W, which is still high but certainly a step in the right direction.
The bulk of the power savings will come from the new processor, a more efficient 65nm chip. It requires less cooling, which means less noisy power-consuming fans are needed. Another welcome addition is a small battery to keep the time settings when the console is switched off, so now there’s no excuse to leave it on standby! Continue reading...
Lenovo's A61e bigs up green creds
Green TechFor any entrepeneurs wanting to reduce their carbon footprint, this Lenovo ThinkCentre A61e is the latest energy-saving business PC for green corps.
Billed as the company's "smallest, quietest and most energy-efficient desktop yet", the ThinkCentre and its packaging are made from 90 per cent reusable or recyclable materials. The processors are fairly energy-efficient -- you get a 45-watt AMD Athlon X2 dual core and AMD Sempron single core, 1 GB of RAM, an ATI X1200 graphics card and an 85 per cent efficient power supply. Continue reading...
The HYmini: wind energy for your mobile
Green TechMost wind power generators seem to involve some type of large and unwieldy apparatus, whether it be a windmill or giant kite. But why can't a hand-sized device be used to charge a single gadget? Well, apparently, it can.
The "HYmini" is a small charger that can power equally small gadgets, such as mobile phones and MP3 players, by using the energy of the wind it absorbs while attached to a car, bicycle or even a jogger. A HYmini attached to a bike's handlebars can add 15 minutes of power to a cell phone, according to Shiny Shiny, while one affixed to a car window will provide 40 minutes. So you could cancel out the energy used to power the MP3 player you use when jogging, by jogging. Nice. Continue reading...
Dixons opens doors to online Greenshop
Green TechElectronics chain Dixons started 2007 so well, pledging to ban energy-guzzling incandescent light bulbs by the end of the year and propelling itself to the top of Greenpeace's bulb league in the process (yes, the league really exists -- see here). Our excitement at the opening of a new online Dixons Greenshop, however, evaporated when we had a look round.
Skip over to the Greenshop and you'll find four categories -- laundry and dishwashers, refrigeration, entertainment, eco gadgets -- rounding up nearly 100 Energy Saving Trust-recommended products. So far, so good. Take a look in the laundry section, though, and you'll find the first four 'eco' products are tumble dryers. Even Hummer drivers with 100-inch plasmas left on 24/7 have disowned tumble dryers, so what are they doing in a Greenshop? There's also no option to filter the products by their EU Energy Label rating. Continue reading...
Greenpeace says iPhone ain't green
Green TechAmid all the hype about the new Apple iPhone, its green credentials were not really questioned -- until now. A report by Greenpeace, based on lab analysis, claims to have found toxic compounds and hazardous PVC contained in the phone.
Greenpeace, which previously organised the Green my Apple campaign, quoted Apple boss Steve Jobs as saying in May (following the campaign): "Apple is ahead of, or will soon be ahead of, most of its competitors" on environmental issues.
In a statement, Greenpeace said: "We watched closely when the iPhone was launched in June for any mention of the green features of the phone from Apple. There was none. So we bought a new iPhone in June and sent it our research laboratories in the UK. Analysis revealed that the iPhone contains toxic brominated compounds (indicating the prescence of brominated flame retardants (BFRs)) and hazardous PVC." Continue reading...
Solar cells on your Innocent smoothie?
Green TechMeet Konarka Technologies, a solar company that specializes in organic photovoltaics -- solar cells made from plastics. Its cells aren't as efficient or long-lasting as silicon, which is used in most roof-top solar panels. But they are lighter, flexible and can be added to a range of products, from gadgets to clothes (so you can charge your mobile or laptop on the go). The company has even suggested putting its plastic on soft-drink bottles in stores for advertising.
So when will we start to see this new generation of consumer-friendly solar cells? Konarka is now commercially prototyping its solar cells and expects to have products that use the films by late 2008, says Howard Berke, the company's chairman and co-founder. Continue reading...
Climate change hits SimCity Societies
Green TechIt's no secret that the oil industry has a less-than-sterling public image. BP Alternative Energy, a branch of UK-based oil titan BP, is hoping to help change that perception by collaborating with Electronic Arts (EA) on its virtual-world builder SimCity Societies, which will be released for PCs on 15 November in Europe and North America.
The BP-EA collaboration will focus on the traditional crux of the SimCity franchise -- money management. Players will be able to choose from a variety of energy sources while building their cities, but the cheaper resources will also produce the most carbon dioxide. City builders will have to keep an eye on the global-warming-inducing gas as their metropolises expand, because natural disasters will become more likely if the gas reaches a certain level. Continue reading...
Like Fairtrade chocolate? Play Choca Monkey
Green TechA new game is hoping to persuade you of the merits of chocolate and Fairtrade. We don't need any persuading on the choco-front either, but Choca Monkey might help you learn a smattering more about why fairly traded chocolate is so important to Ghanaian cocoa farmers.
Designed by school kid Grace Conium of Fulstor Manor School, the game promises to be a sideways-scrolling platformer in the tradition of Manic Miner, Mario and other greats. The aim: to save farmer's cocoa beans by killing the monsters trying to nick them, bigging-up Fairtrade en-route.
First look: Eco Creatures on the DS
Green TechDeforestation, pollution, global warming and industrialization -- no, not the agenda of the latest G8 meeting, but just some of the themes from Eco Creatures: Save the Forest, a unique real-time strategy (RTS) game for the Nintendo DS. We've been having a look, so here are our first thoughts.
It's a very quirky, heavily Japanese-style game with some interesting mechanics that will provide plenty of depth. The game doesn't use a typical RTS setup, where you have to select and command your units constantly. Instead of a mouse cursor or direct stylus control, you interact with the battlefield by controlling an avatar called Dorian, a big, dopey, yellow guy who's apparently modelled after the noxious durian fruit. The story goes that you're the only one who has the potential to save your lush magical forest from an evil corporation moving in on your turf, polluting left and right with its unstoppable industry. You have to amass an army of small, adorable forest creatures and take the fight straight to the bad guys to preserve your woodland paradise. Continue reading...
Life in an earthship
Green TechImagine maintaining a steady 70 degrees in your house high in the New Mexico desert, even as outside temperatures vary between 100 and -20, all without spending a penny on power. Can't picture it? Owners of an innovative type of housing known as earthships can. That's because earthships are specifically designed to be comfortable in any climate, even though they're entirely off the grid and made using a healthy supply of natural and recycled materials.
Earthships currently exist in every US state and in several other countries, but the Earthship World Community, about 15 miles northwest of Taos, New Mexico, is ground zero for this alternative form of dwelling. It's forbidding country: flat, arid, high-altitude and really hot in summer. And really cold in winter. As you head west on US Highway 64, you come across a collection of about 60 oddly shaped but wonderful-looking houses off the right side of the road. And you immediately notice one thing: each and every one of them is built into the side of a small hill. Continue reading...
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