Google has launched a stats offensive to prove its carbon-neutral status, adding a "The Big Picture" section to its Google Green pages that claims a month of using the search giant's various services only amounts to 3hrs light from a 60W bulb per user. The company's data centers use less than 0.01-percent of the world's electricity - something that's actually still pretty mind-boggling, if you think about it - thanks to a combination of renewable energy sources like solar and wind, and more creative building design.
Read The Full Story
- Join in on SlashGear’s WIMM Spring Developers Project!
- The PS Vita Will Be Sony’s Last Portable
- Why I Don’t Want to Imagine A World Without A DVR
- SlashGear 101: Windows 8 on ARM
- SlashGear 101: Android@Home
- Motorola DROID 4 Hands-On and Unboxing
- Nokia Lumia 800 White official: Hands-on
- Switching between Android 4.0 ICS and iPhone 4S
‘earth friendly’ Stories
Google details green credentials
Apple suppliers environmentally poor claims Chinese report
Apple has been accused of using Chinese suppliers guilty of "systemic pollution," with a group of five non-governmental organizations alleging that the Cupertino company was uniquely unresponsive among those contacted in an attempt to minimize production-led pollution. According to the report, published by the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs among others, Apple "[takes] advantage of the loopholes in developing countries’ environmental management systems" the Financial Times reports, although Apple has denied that some of the companies the document claimed it worked with are, in fact, suppliers.
Read The Full Story
Nissan blasts Top Gear for misleading Leaf EV critique
BBC motoring show Top Gear has been accused of purposefully sabotaging the performance of Nissan's Leaf electric car, in an attempt to make the earth-friendly auto look less reliable in a TV segment. While in the road test, outspoken host Jeremy Clarkson was shown running out of power in the Leaf, miles away from a recharging point, Nissan says that subsequent review of the data the car collects indicates that the test was begun with the batteries at just 40-percent and that Top Gear intentionally drove in circles to further reduce that charge.
Read The Full Story
Climate-change skeptic funded $1m+ by fossil fuel firms
Documents obtained by Greenpeace US allege that one of the most prominent climate change skeptics, Dr Willie Soon of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, has been on the big oil payroll to the tune of more than $1m, casting doubts onto the neutrality of his research. According to the investigation, ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute and Koch Industries are among the coal and oil industry heavyweights to bankroll Dr Soon's projects, with the suggestion that every grant he has received since 2002 was from their coffers.
Read The Full Story
HomePlug Powerline networks electric cars from Audi, BMW, more
We usually associate HomePlug products with straightforward ways to spread your internet connection around the house using mains cabling rather than WiFi but, if the Powerline Alliance has its way, your future hybrid or all-electric car may also be using the system to talk to your power supply. Audi, BMW, Daimler, Porsche and Volkswagen have all thrown in with the HomePlug Green PHY (GP) profile for electric vehicle charging, enabling Earth-friendly cars to integrate with the smart grid.
Read The Full Story
Apple’s eco-cred slated in Greenpeace data center report
Apple has been named the least green of tech companies in a controversial new Greenpeace evaluation, due to its use of energy from coal-fueled power stations. The league table – which ranks Yahoo! as the greenest company, followed by Google and Amazon – is part of Greenpeace’s “How Dirty is Your Data?” report that will be released today. It suggests that Apple’s new North Carolina data center – expected to be the epicenter of new MobileMe and cloud-based services – will triple the company’s electricity consumption.
Greedy TVs put on notice
Whether you’re convinced by 3D or not, buying into the HDTV market has never been cheaper. Retailers are slashing sticker prices across the board – you can grab a 32-inch LCD online for well under $300 – but soon those stickers are going to become more complex as longer-term costs come into focus. Consumers may not realize it, but a huge chunk of what an HDTV costs them isn’t just the initial purchase price, but the electricity that set sucks down.
UN Treaty Would Recognize “Mother Earth’s” Rights
Bolivia, which has enacted its own "Law of the Rights of Mother Earth", reflecting the beliefs of the indigenous people of that country, is seeking to bring those principles worldwide with a United Nations treaty. The treaty, in draft at this time, would give Mother Earth the same rights as humans, including rights to life, water and clean air, the right to repair livelihoods affected by human activities, and the right to be free from pollution.
\
Read The Full Story
Eco-friendly Superbus gets UAE trial [Video]
The allure of public transport is so often undermined by the scent of urine and dawdling performance, but the only people soiling themselves in the Dutch-made Superbus are likely to be those over-excited by its eco-friendly turn of electric speed. Capable of accommodating up to 23 passengers and still hitting 155kph (96mph), the lengthy carbon fiber and fiberglass vehicle is headed to Dubai next month.
Read The Full Story
OS GSR-110B portable generator uses flexible solar panel [Video]
A Japanese company has developed a highly portable backup generator which uses a flexible solar panel to fit 40W of power into a 3kg package. The OS GSR-110B combines a 24W internal rechargeable battery with a 16W solar panel that pulls 1.2m from the side of the unit.
Video demo after the cut
Read The Full Story
Voltitude folding electric bike packs Swiss style [Video]
We're big fans of folding bikes here at SlashGear, ever since reviewing Sinclair Research's seriously small A-Bike, but an electric boost to our feeble geeky legs is always welcome. Swiss firm Voltitude is promising just that, a compact bike that can fold and unfold in seconds and which uses a 9.5Ah Li-Poly battery good for up to 18 miles.
Video demo after the cut
Read The Full Story
NASA Glory satellite suffers inglorious crash landing
A wet, unsatisfactory ending for NASA's Glory this morning, after a rocket casing malfunction saw the environmental observation satellite likely land in the South Pacific rather than reach orbit. According to the space agency, "the fairing, the protective shell atop the Taurus XL rocket, did not separate as expected about three minutes after launch." The same issue occurred on another launch two years ago, though NASA is quick to point out that the system has been successful many times.
Read The Full Story
REVIEWS
VIDEOS
- POPULAR STORIES THIS WEEK
- Temple Run for Android postponed, still coming this month
- iPad twin-tier pricing tipped to topple Android rivals
- iPad 3's biggest boost will be its massive resolution
- Google "next-gen personal communication device" in testing
- Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 pricing set for disaster
- Mattel Hover Board prepped for 2012 holiday release
- Facebook post causes man to shoot daughter's computer: video
- Apple picking iPad 3 showcase apps in final launch prep
- RECENT COMMENTS
