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by William Atkins
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The X-PRIZE Foundation announces a $10 million competition, sponsored by Progressive Insurance, for production-ready, super-efficient, 100 miles per gallon (or equivalent) cars that are also low in carbon dioxide emissions.
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by Stan Beer
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Researchers at MIT and Texas Instruments have designed a new chip that they claim could be up to 10 times more energy-efficient than the current generation. The power consumption in the new chip is so low that devices using them may even be able to be recharged by human body heat.
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by William Atkins
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Scientists, engineers, and architects at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge) are working on the "City Car," a rechargeable, two-passenger vehicle that promotes socially responsible transportation in heavily populated and pollution congested urban centers.
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by Stan Beer
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Australia's Commonwealth and Industrial research Organization (CSIRO) and Monash University in Melbourne have developed a chemical process that turns common green waste into a stable bio-crude oil. The reasearchers claim the energy is renewable, greenhouse gas neutral and eliminates the food versus fuel debate.
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by Stuart Corner
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The CSIRO has developed a revolutionary 'UltraBattery' for use in hybrid petrol/electrical vehicles that combines supercapacitor and conventional lead acid battery technology into a single unit. It is able to deliver the benefits of both technologies and with much lower cost and longer life than a conventional battery.
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by Stephen Withers
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Having taken some stick for allegedly poor environmental practices (though that was as much about communication as actual performance), Apple has played up the green aspects of its latest model.
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by Stan Beer
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A secretive power storage startup that claims it has developed a revolutionary super battery based on ultracapacitor technology may wipe the smirks off the faces of skeptics by signing an exclusive deal with defence giant Lockheed Martin. News of the Lockheed deal with Texas based Eestor also sent the stock of Canadian electric car maker Zenn Motor Company soaring because it has an exclusive license to use Eestor ultracapacitors in small electric vehicles.
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by William Atkins
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The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has shown that switchgrass can be grown without replacing existing crop lands, can produce five times more energy than what it takes to grow it, and can be environmentally friendly.
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by Stuart Corner
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How often do you print out draft documents at high quality, wasting toner, or one-up instead of two-up, wasting paper, because you forget, could not be bothered or didn't know how to set up the printer? Well, now there's an easy way to do all these things.
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by Stuart Corner
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An international body representing manufacturers of brominated flame retardants has hit out at Greenpeace for its campaign to stop their usage, claiming they save many lives. However serious concerns remain and some major manufacturers are moving to eliminate them.
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by Stephen Withers
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The Green500 list reranks the well-known Top500 list of the world's fastest supercomputers according to the number of floating-point operations delivered per watt, and IBM Blue Gene systems take nine of the top ten spots.
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by William Atkins
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Fuel cells are being developed that use hydrogen. However, hydrogen is expensive because it needs platinum, a precious metal, to break down the hydrogen atoms. But, hydrazine hydrate uses cobalt or nickel, which are much cheaper elements.
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by William Atkins
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"New Scientist" magazine reports that a few citizens of Sweden are heating water from sunlight in the summer by running it through pipes as part of rooftop solar heaters. Then, they store it and use it in the cold winter months.
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by William Atkins
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Synthetic fuel made from simple sugar found within fruit, honey, berries, root vegetables, and other materials could be more efficient than corn (ethanol).
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by William Atkins
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A comprehensive study will research whether the tides in San Francisco Bay can be used as a zero-emission, renewable electric power source for the citizens of San Francisco County.
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by William Atkins
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According to the Worldwatch Institute, solar power has become the fastest growing energy source as the key ingredient, polysilicon, becomes more available; and as China begins to emerge as a low-cost producer.
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by Stan Beer
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A new US report has concluded that using wind turbines for generating electricity will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by carbon dioxide (CO2) slightly but would not help reduce other air pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides that cause smog and acid rain.
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by Adam Turner
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Batteries powered by anything sugary - even flat lemonade - could run gadgets up to four times longer than conventional lithium ion batteries.
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