Another vote-getter in the Greener Gadgets Design Competition is Recompute, a sustainably-designed computer. The case is made of corrugated cardboard instead of multiple materials. The manufacturing process is non-toxic and only three major electronic components are included: a motherboard with processor and memory, a power supply and a hard drive.

To keep with the low-environmental impact of the Recompute, users can utilize keyboards, mice and other hardware from old computers by connecting them to the eight available USB ports.

Finally, the Recompute is made to be disassembled without tools so that the parts can be recycled appropriately and easily. The Recompute aims to be a fully sustainable computer from manufacturing to recycling at the end of its life. Best of all, it’s a working computer. Tomorrow we’ll find out if the audience thinks it’s worthy of the grand prize.

via Greener Gadgets

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“Awesome Mobility” is a name so kooky-yet-at-the-same-time-kind-of-catchy, that it could only have been conceived by our European friends (in this case a team from the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands). Same goes for the voice-over on the video below. But the idea itself is pretty cool. Seriously.

In a WIRED magazine article about Better Place, the author recalls a scene in which Shai Agassi and his gang scratch their heads over the question: where should the recharge cable be placed so that it won’t inconvenience the driver? It’s a pretty important issue when you think about it. Will it be on the side of the car? Will the driver have to squeeze through other parked cars to get to the recharge cable? If it isn’t easy, people won’t use it!

“Awesome Mobility” offers an answer. Park your car over a circle on the road; it doesn’t have to be a perfect park. A plug will pop up out of the ground, align with your car, hook up, and start pumping electricity. When you’re all filled up, it retracts back into the ground, and you drive off into the sunset.

What do you think?

Via ABG

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It’s been a while since we’ve had much to say about them, but low-power, tiny form-factor PCs are an EcoGeek staple. Some low-power PCs are designed as desktop replacements, with greater functionality, while others are designed for more specific tasks. The SheevaPlug is the latest example of a computing appliance that falls into the latter category.

Marvell’s SheevaPlug uses less than five watts under normal operation, making it more practical and efficient for use in an always-on application. It is about the size of a large power adapter wall wart and is designed to be plugged directly into an outlet. "Unlike other embedded devices in the home, it contains a gigahertz class processor to offer PC class performance. This makes it a viable alternative to a PC for any software service." Marvell supports a number of Linux distributions for development with the SheevaPlug.

The SheevaPlug has a 1.2GHz Marvell Sheeva™ CPU with 512MB of flash memory and 512MB of DDR2 memory. In addition to the power connection, it also has a Gigabit Ethernet port, as well as one USB and one Mini USB port, and a SDIO slot. That’s not really suited to serve as a desktop replacement, but it makes for a power sipping appliance with strong processing power.

The SheevaPlug is already being used for online file server devices such as the forthcoming Cloud Engines, Inc. Pogpplug, which uses a SheevaPlug and the user’s own external drive to provide a network connected, low-power file server that a user can access via a Web browser.

The SheevaPlug is also likely to make this level of computing more affordable. The developer kit from Marvell is only $99. As these devices get less expensive, other home-based applications for smart systems, including things like home automation and appliance controls, become more available.

Marvell

via: TreeHugger

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There’s a problem with oil rigs…once they’ve pumped all of the oil out from underneath them, they become gigantic, useless hunks of metal sitting in the middle of some of the most beautiful oceans in the world. So what do we do with all of them?

Well we’ve already seen people strapping wind turbines to them, to turn fossil fuel farms into wind farms, and we’re pretty big fans of that idea. But this year’s winner of the Radical Innovation in Hospitality award is taking that idea a few steps further. Yes, the oil rig will have a wind turbine, but the turbine will be used to power a luxury hotel that will sit on the off-shore island.

The hotel would have 300 luxury suites, a conference center, a roof-top infinity pool, a dive bell and (since there are no specific laws preventing it) a casino. What else could a modest millionaire ask for in a vacation spot?

Because it’s so expensive to hire construction crews certified for working on oil rigs, the hotel would be pre-fabricated on-shore, and then shipped in modular components to the oil rig.

To me, there are a few significant flaws to this plan. The first, of course, is that Katrina showed us just how vulnerable these structures can be. And while they would have plenty of time to evacuate, the Hotel would probably just be empty for all of hurricane season, and absolutely impossible to insure.

Second, this seems like a fairly unsustainable use of an unsustainable product. I’d rather we just strap a wind turbine to it and be done with it than constantly be helicoptering millionaires into the middle of the Gulf of Mexico.

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One of the popular design ideas isn’t a gadget at all, but a concept for a shared bicycle network with lots of green details. The Ubicycle Public Bicycle Program aims to solve the problems that have held other public bike programs in the past.

The program consists of solar-powered bike stations, smart-card readers the bikes themselves. The stations would be located conveniently in residential neighborhoods, near schools and downtown workplaces as well as near mass transit stops. The smart-cards in the program would work for unlocking the bikes and charging the user based on the length of time the bike was used. The same card could ideally be used to access buses and trains to create a full network of car-free options.

The bikes would be uniformly-colored a bright green to deter theft and include a built-in locking device. Solar power runs the stations so that they remain secure without being manned.

Bike programs have had varying degrees of success in the cities that have launched them, with theft and vandalism being major issues along with just plain lack of use. If this design could advance security measures and offer more convenient locations, especially linking to other mass transit, this program could really be effective.

via Greener Gadgets

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Microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) have been developed over the last few years as a way to produce hydrogen from food scraps and waste water. To put it very simply, the microbes feed on the waste and with the help of electricity and a catalyst, hydrogen is made. So far, expensive platinum has been used as the catalyst in this process, which has been effective, but the cost has held the technology back. Now researchers at Penn State have found a cheap substitute: stainless steel.

A piece of stainless steel works as a catalyst, but is only one-third as effective as the platinum, but researchers found that arranging the stainless steel in the form of a high-density bristle brush upped the hydrogen production to match and even exceed that of the platinum. The best part is that while the platinum part costs 15 cents, the stainless steel brush only costs 3 cents.

The researchers are still experimenting to find the best types and arrangements of stainless steel to maximize the hydrogen production, and even once those things are figured out, scientists will still have to discover a way to scale up this technology to be commercially viable. It seems daunting, but decreasing the cost will go a long way in allowing further progress.

via MIT Technology Review

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The objections to using LED lights as replacements for standard light bulbs because they are inconvenient is suffering another setback with the GeoBulb II. In a lot of ways, from the overall shape of the bulb to the screw-in socket fitting, it looks very much like a standard incandescent light bulb. But the GeoBulb is anything but standard.

The GeoBulb is brighter than a conventional 60 watt incandescent bulb (381 lumens versus 337), but, at just 7.5 watts, uses only one-eighth of the electricity. It is designed for direct replacement of incandescent or other screw-in base bulbs.

The GeoBulb is still pricey. A brief search turns up a street price of around $100. You can certainly get a trunkload of incandescents for that price (but you’d pay a trunkload of money for the electricity to run those bulbs). The electricity savings is going to take years before the payback on this bulb is reached, but the manufacturers are offering a 3-year warranty on the bulb, even if it is left on 24/7 (which, with 10 cents per kilowatt-hour electricity, should be enough to justify the payback to get this bulb).

via: LEED Pro

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The Greener Gadgets Conference is this Friday in New York City and your resident EcoGeeks will be there to bring you all the interesting details. Like last year, the conference includes a design competition among 50 green gadget ideas with the winner receiving $3,000 to develop their design. Voting has closed on the website, but there will be live voting at the conference to determine the winner. I’d thought I’d highlight some of the entries with the highest votes to give you all a sense of the innovation included this year.

First up, the Power Hog. This piggy-bank-style device aims to teach children about energy cost and conservation. The tail plugs into an outlet and any electronic device like a video game console or TV, plugs into the snout. Children deposit coins into the hog, which grants them 30 minutes of use. The dollar signs on the side of the Power Hog turn green when electricity is available and flash red when the time is running out. The coins are kept inside just like a piggy bank, so children are learning about the cost of electricity and about saving money.

The Power Hog is marketed to parents who want to teach their children that electricity isn’t a free, never-ending resource as well as those who want a clever way to limit TV time. The product is made from recycled materials and is 100 percent recyclable itself.

via Greener Gadgets

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NASA’s Earth System Science Pathfinder Project suffered a severe setback when the most recent satellite, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory failed to achieve orbit and crashed into the ocean near Antarctica not long after liftoff. The fairing surrounding the orbiter on the Taurus rocket apparently failed to separate, which prevented the vehicle from reaching its intended orbit.

The OCO was intended to specifically measure atmospheric CO2 levels in order to provide scientists with a better picture of what is happening in Earth’s atmosphere and collect specific information about carbon dioxide sources (where it comes from) and sinks (where it is pulled out of the atmosphere and stored). The OCO was to have collected 8 million measurements every 16 days.

To even out the measurements since CO2 levels fluctuate at different times of day, the OCO was intended to orbit the Earth in a "sun synchronous polar orbit" which would have the vehicle traveling from pole to pole in order to sweep the entire globe, and would take measurements at approximately 1PM local time across the entire planet.

Launching satellites is still a difficult process, and while space science vehicles have become commonplace, this event reminds us of the difficulty in getting vehicles into space. Unfortunately, the information about the atmosphere this spacecraft would have supplied will now be delayed by several years, at least. It is, of course, too early for NASA to have any plans about replacing the vehicle. But the information it would provide is important, and a replacement should be considered at the earliest opportunity.

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Ever heard of Suntech Power Holding? Are you sure? The Suntech label is stamped on millions of Solar Panels around the world. Now, however, the validity of that label has come into question. Yes Suntech Power Holdings is a Chinese solar manufacturing company and a world leader on the solar market but, if you [...]

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No, PG&E didn’t *actually* change its name, but they did announce a major plan to build 500 MW of solar power of their very own. And while it’s true that, in this context, “Solar” falls under the “Electric” category, it’s kind of amazing to think that utility juggernauts like PG&E (as well as Southern California Edison and Duke Energy and NRG Energy) - which were once fossil fuel behemoths – are now building solar power plants of their own.

The 500 megawatts will be broken up into projects ranging from 1 to 20 MW each, and PG&E (whose CEO, Peter Darbee, is pictured above) will sign contracts with smaller solar companies to do the actual building. That’s wonderful news for those solar companies, because their investments and funding are mostly drying up these days. The $1.4 billion that PG&E is planning on investing in this project could take care of that problem for the companies lucky enough to win contracts.

How is PG&E going to pay for it? Well, they will raise rates by about 1%, which means the average customer will see an increase of, on average, 32 cents. But it has also been pointed out that utilities stand to gain financially from the 30% tax credit that was offered for investments in solar technology last October. Why? Compared to utilities, startups have little income and pay little taxes – so there is little to gain from a tax cut. Utilities have tons of income, pay a lot in taxes, and as such can gain considerable by a 30% tax cut.

Utilities like PG&E also need to have 20% of their portfolio be renewable by 2010; another reason to start building solar.

If the project gets approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, it will be getting underway post haste. PG&E hopes the solar facilities will be operational by 2015, at which point they will be accounting for about 1.3% of the electricity the utility dishes out.

Like all green trends, let’s hope that what starts in Northern California spreads its way across the rest of the country speedily.

Via Earth2Tech, Greentech Media

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Wind power gets a fair amount of attention and credit in the renewable energy movement. In 2007, wind power trailed only natural gas as a source of new electricity generation in the U.S. According to the American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA) 2008 report, Texas continued to lead the nation with nearly 4,500 MW of installed [...]

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