The Plugless Power system is supplied by Virginia-based Evatran, which plans to be selling the wireless charging kit as an aftermarket option for the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf by the end of this year. Hertz has a diverse fleet of EVs that currently includes these two models.

The wireless charging system is intended for both fleet and home use with a consumer price tag of $2,500. The solution will be deployed initially in low volumes and will include wall-mounted screens that guide drivers to park their EVs properly over the charging unit.

[via AutoBlog]

I don’t use the word “crap” lightly, as it’s Ioannis Ieropoulos, a roboticist at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, who uses the term in a description of the robot. This isn’t the first prototype created by the lab, but it does share it’s name. Ecobot has been the name of this project since the first iteration, one equipped with a microbial fuel cell that allowed the robot to be powered by E. coli bacteria as it fed on refined sugar. The second bot was Ecobot-II and was able to work with sludge microbes to break down all manner of nasty things: rotten apples, dead flies, and prawn shells amongst them.

But then came the the problem of what to do with the waste – there’s always waste somewhere or another! As these two first iterations started to eat more and more, their lack of a way to get rid of waste had the food they’d eaten poisoning them – death ensued. So the Ecobot-III was born, and the pooping began. This robot is also called “BREADbot” – Bio-Regulation and Energy-Autonomy with Digestion. As Ieropoulos notes:

“EcoBot-III is a robot that collects its own food and water from the environment. It performs the task we design it to do, and at the end of the day, it gets rid of its own waste. It literally craps into its own ‘litter’ tray.” – Ieropoulos

This robot is gaining some big interest from such names as NASA who are taking special interest in the robot if it truly is able to work by breaking down human feces (amongst other things, but mostly that) as such a robot could play a big part in future space travel missions should then include human companions. As far as sticking around Earth, John Greenman, microbiologist at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory had the following to say:

“Robots that eat biological fuels could find enough fuel almost anywhere. There is organic matter anywhere on Earth — leaves and soil in the forest, or even human waste such as urine and feces.” – Greenman

As the project started in 2002, moved up to Ecobot-III in 2010 and hits the next level soon, so too do we move closer to the Circle of Life edition of poobot – Ecobot-IV. The Ecobot-IV model is in the works now and will both be shrinking in size significantly and will be gaining much more power from each bit of waste by boosting the stacks of microbial fuel cells. Now feast your eyes on the nastiest robot on earth as it’s presented by the scientists and engineers that produced it:

[via Mother Nature Network]

The new Smart Grid API that OnStar is pushing will do several things for drivers of the EVs and plug-in hybrids that will make charging smarter, cheaper, and easier on the environment. The APIs will offer things like demand response, time of use rates, charging data, and aggregated services. The aggregated services solutions interesting and is intended to allow companies such as Google that operate large fleets of electric vehicles to control the charging simultaneously.

The charging data offers details that the utility companies can use to determine potential load scenarios for a given area where multiple electric vehicles might be charging at once. The time of use rates will allow the owner of the electric vehicle to see exactly how much the electricity would cost them at a specific time. The demand response feature would also allow the utility companies to manage energy use for Volt drivers allowing the driver to save money on energy costs and allowing for more efficient use of the electric grid. I don’t see a lot of companies hopping on the development bandwagon for the Smart Grid APIs at this point since only the Volt is compatible right now.

The central unit to which all other units transmit uses a total of two watts of power, this compared to the same necessity for a PC being 150 watts tells you instantly how green this system is aiming to be. Each sensor is placed at a different point in the field, and each point is then read and interpreted to tell the farmer if he or she needs to take care of that piece of the field. Once the wireless units are prepared by HHI, they’ll also be able to communicate with one another, bouncing signals back and forth and comparing values as they go.

This solution will also be able to register noises so that farmers can be aware of physical dangers that sneak through the fields on a daily basis. Everything from wild corn-eating animals to robbers aiming to take apart sprinkler systems for the copper to sell, there’s always someone or something out there. Hopefully this system will be coming to the market in an affordable fashion as well as a timely manner – let’s see some detecting this autumn!

[via Fraunhofer]

This new business will be run by Young-ha Lee as Chief Executive Officer and Hidenao Kawai as Chief Operating Officer. Lee has expressed his excitement for the birth and growth of the company and the joint venture has been very vocal about how his recent role as CEO and president of LG’s Home Appliance Company has brought him in on Japanese corporate culture via his station between 1986 and 1990 well enough that he’ll be a fine selection for this new venture. Lee spoke thusly on the situation:

“Human use of water has increased more than 30-fold over the past three centuries but less than 1 percent of the world’s fresh water is readily accessible for human use. LG and the Hitachi -– two of the most diversified companies in the world — will combine their resources to developing innovative solutions for the world’s water problems.” – Lee

Certainly an encouraging project, and with Hitachi’s power in advanced R&D and water-related industries tied with LG’s manufacturing and technology backing them up, we’re looking at company that’ll certainly have s strong start. This group will be focusing on manufacturing and selling water treatment equipment at the start. This includes Engineering, Procurement, and Construction of water treatment systems and O&M for water treatment facilities. This project will center around drinking water and sewage treatment facilities as well as wastewater treatment facilities, and will be researching and developing water treatment technologies for all of them.

Chevy is boasting that it is the first automotive manufacturer to place these labels on vehicles in an attempt to allow the buyer to see how green the vehicles are in manufacturing, driving, and recyclability. Chevrolet is calling the stickers Ecologic and all the claims made by the stickers will be verified by an independent third-party agency called Two Tomorrows. That company is an agency that provides auditing and assurance services to companies that are pushing environmental processes and initiatives.

The new stickers will be split into three sections with one section called Before the Road, one section called On the Road, and one section titled After the Road. The first section will talk about the vehicles manufacturing and assembly processes. The second section will talk about fuel saving features such as engine technology and aerodynamics. The third section will talk about how the vehicle can be recycled after it’s no longer usable on the road.

[via Forbes]

It doesn’t seem so strange when we look at the infrastructure inside the building, you can see straight away what attracted Google to the location. The old paper mill has a massive underground tunnel that runs from inside the building to the Gulf of Finland where it slurps up cold ocean water. That cold ocean water was originally used to cool a steam plant inside the paper mill. Google wants to use that massive tube that runs into the Gulf to grab cold ocean water to help cool the massive array of servers that will be inside the building.

The cold ocean water will be fed to a heat exchanger to cool the hot servers, which would help make this a green facility and keep all the servers inside the building running at a frosty temperature. The underground tunnel to the Gulf, which was the big selling feature for Google, spans 450m and tunnels through solid granite bedrock. Before making the purchase, Google sent robots with cameras through the long tunnel to ensure that it was in good condition. The old paper mill was previously owned by Finnish pulp and paper maker Stora Enso. The company closed the mill in 2008 citing poor profits. Google has previously eyed cold climates to place its data centers so it could use the frosty climate for cooling and reduce the power needed for cooling servers inside the locations.

“When someone tells you we’ve selected the next data center site and it’s a paper mill built back in 1953, your first reaction might be: ‘What the hell are you talking about?,’” says Joe Kava, Google head of datacenter operations and construction. “‘How am I going to make that a data center?’ But we were actually excited to learn that the mill used sea water for cooling…. We wanted to make this as a green a facility as possible, and reusing existing infrastructure is a big part of that.”

[via Wired]

If the team is able to hit more than the 215mph mark, they will own the land speed record for the diesel truck classification, including trucks that burn traditional diesel fuel. The first attempt by the Greenspeed team to take the record will be attempted at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. The team is using a modified 1998 Chevrolet S-10 truck.

The truck already broke the 98mph record for vegetable oil-fueled vehicles this past November by putting down a top speed of 139mph on a dry lakebed in El Mirage in the Mojave Desert at a Southern California Timing Association Race. The goal of the Greenspeed team is to prove you don’t have to give up performance to go green.

The term “stock car” originally meant that the vehicle was the same model as what any regular fellow or lady could purchase from the lot. Over time there’ve been some changes to the sport of Stock Car Racing that have given a bit of a change to that unspoken rule, allowing the model on the track to be quite a bit different from its showroom equivalent. With the 2013 Ford Fusion comes a racing car which mirrors its production car. Director of Ford Racing Jamie Allison had the following to say on the subject:

“We wanted Fusion to be the car that helped return ‘stock car’ to NASCAR. I think fans, when they see the car, are just going to smile and cheer. It is going to re-engage them with the sport and make the sport better because there is just something natural about seeing race cars that look like cars in their driveways.” – Allison

This is not the first time that Ford has simultaneously released both production and NASCAR versions of a car at the same time. The first time this occurred was back in 1968 with the Ford Torino, then the most recent was in 2006 with the first Fusion. The 2013 Fusion is identified by its redesigned silhouette and its easy to spot front end grill. This car will feature five different powerplants, that being three gas, one hybrid, and one plugin-hybrid, as well as two transmissions and FWD/AWD options.

Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge, and Toyota have been allowed by NASCAR to remodel their race cards to allow them to be more “brand identifiable” for upcoming races. The other three automakers have not yet revealed their models of choice.

[via MotorAuthority]

This type of technology doesn’t come cheap, as you can see, but what we’re getting here is more than just a simple bit of science fiction made real. The Powertrekk actually takes the hydrogen in water and turns it into electricity with myFC’s “FuelCellSticker” technology. The group myFC is a fuel cell technology company that specializes in solutions for powering portable electronics, and will certainly be a team to watch in the coming years for mobile devices. The device works by converting hydrogen into electricity with a Proton Exchange Membrane by the name of PEMFC – the PEMFC sits between a cathode and an anode, the latter reacting with the water and the hydrogen gas separating into protons and electrons. The membrane has the protons conducted to the cathode while the electrons move along a circuit and – poof! Electrical current charges your device.

The “Powerpukk” fuel pack (the $12 bit here) will eventually wear out because of this process, but is 100% recycle friendly so you can keep that smile green! The battery that’s charged is able to move a current of 1500mAh over an hour and will work fine connected to your mobile device just so long as it’s got compatible charging requirements. For example an iPhone will work, but a tablet of most any size will not work. We’ll be looking to test this device out in the coming months – get wet!

[via Electronic Products]

Of course it’s a bit more complicated than that, but the point of it is this: while the world is pushing you to buy new electronics, new automobiles, even new furniture, you have the option to use one piece and turn it into the other. This 1968 Vespa sprint had a lot of potential that its owner, known only as “Reinventing Wheels”, brought out with a bit of spit polish and a whole lot of ingenuity.

So here’s my question for you, ladies and gentlemen: when you’re done with your old bit of technology and find that noone on eBay wants to buy it, what do you do? Look for the goodness that still exists within it, of course. What’s an old Android device good for when you’ve moved on to a new smartphone? Connect to your Wi-fi and use it as a remote control! How about your old iPhone? It’s an iPod Touch! That’s just getting lazy though – get tough! Turn your old car into an entertainment center in your basement why don’t you?

BONUS: as Jesus Diaz of Gizmodo says – this is a perfect time to say “ciao!”

[via Reinventing Wheels]

Across the entire earth there’ve been over twice the amount of Leaf cars sold by Nissan compared to what’s been sold here in the USA. These numbers are counted started at the launch of the vehicle back in December of 2010. Nissan Leaf Marketing and Sales Strategist for Nissan North America Brendan Jones had the following to say on the subject:

“From a Leaf perspective, 2011 was a great year and very positive for the company. [10,000 sales] is more EVs than have been sold in the United States — and 20,000 globally — than all the other OEMs combined throughout the world. So that’s an outstanding achievement.” – Jones

Two things to consider when thinking about this. First, the not quite so electric 2012 Prius V wagon sold 8,399 cars in 10 weeks by the end of 2011 according to GreenCarReports. Second, this is the first time a mass-produced “mainstream” electric car has been sold at the numbers Nissan is reporting for the Leaf. Is it positive, or a bad sign? You decide!

[via GreenCarReports]

Apparently, 34 different Japanese companies signed off on the green auto design horror. Geeks from the Japanese Keio University were also involved in the project. Someone at some point had to look at this car and realize the design left something to be desired. Ugly aside, the car has some decently impressive specifications.

The goal was to get an EV that has a long driving distance, and the designers have at least been able to do that. They claim the car will go 190 miles at about 60 mph on a charge. The battery pack is a 24.5Kw unit. The car is also going to hit the streets as a production vehicle next year.

[via Dvice]

The CEC says that these power-sapping chargers waste as much as 60 percent of the electricity they consume. Many of these chargers also continue to draw power from an outlet even when a device is not attached. There is an estimated 170 million of these so called “vampire” chargers and they account for up to 13 percent all the power used in California.

The CEC believes that this new regulation can save enough electricity to power 350,000 homes. It’s expected to save residential and commercial electricity customers a total of $306 million each year. The new standard will take effect February 1, 2013.

[via IntoMobile]

The investigation on the safety of the battery in the Volt remains open at the moment, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does have a statement up on their website that notes the changes “should address the issue.” Those owners of the Volt right this moment should know that what they’ve done here is to create a set of changes that, to you, would be voluntary “enhancements” that you’d not necessarily have to come in and make, but that you certainly could if you wanted to.

Currently there is no recall in place on the battery nor on the car itself, and as Mary Barra, General Motors’ senior vice president of global product development, said:

“We are choosing to go the extra mile to ensure our customers’ peace of mind. [These changes will make the car] even safer, because the Volt is safe.” – Barra

Crash tests with the new system in line have yielded positive results, these including no intrusion of the battery and no coolant leakage, two concerns the commission had in the investigation thus far:

“The results of that crash test showed no intrusion into the vehicle’s battery compartment, and no coolant leakage was apparent. The preliminary results of the crash test indicate the remedy proposed by General Motors today should address the issue of battery intrusion.” – National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

So take heart, owners, you’ll more than likely be able to get this physical upgrade for free once it’s active, and those of you who plan on owning the vehicle in the future, likely this safety addition will be in place.

[via NYTimes]

It sounds interesting even if the design is not that attractive to my eyes. The XC60 has 350 hp on tap and using a button on the instrument panel the driver can opt to put the car into one of three available modes. In Pure mode, the car operated on the battery alone. The driving range on a full charge is 35 miles in urban traffic. Hybrid mode uses the gasoline engine and the battery for a combined US rating of 50mpg.

The total range in hybrid mode is up to 600 miles. The final mode is Power where all the grunt the car can muster is used. In this mode, the vehicle uses the 280hp from the turbo four-cylinder engine along with the engine’s torque of 280 lb-ft and the power from the electric motor. That electric motor is rated at 70hp and 148 lb-ft torque. The gas an electric power together pushes the car from 0 to 60 mph in 5.8 seconds. A full charge for the 12kWh battery pack takes 3.5 hours on 220V. The vehicle also has electric 4-wheel drive.

The name of the car has hybrid in it, so the thing would have an electric motor or motors in there somewhere along with battery packs. I would assume that all the details on the concept would be coming at the Detroit show kicking off January 9.

The car isn’t going to be all about fuel economy either. Lexus does say that the hybrid drive will be for performance and fuel efficiency. Several sports cars are using hybrid systems today to supplement the combustion engine for greater performance. Electric motors provide lots of torque for their size.

Reducing phantom power is a good idea, but this PumPing Tap outlet concept is something that I can’t get behind. I can only imagine how irritating it would be to have the outlet pop your devices plug out of the socket each time you turn it off. This would be especially irritating if that socket was behind a desk or couch.

The concept has a blue light around the outside of the plug when something is plugged in and using power. When the power draw stops, the ring turns red. Ten minutes after the plug is red a little circle pops out of the center of the outlet and pushes the plug out to stop power draw.

[via Yanko Design]

Like any good environmentally sound group of manufacturers do, this group of workers takes Christmas lights for what they are: materials that can be used to make products! What they do is take the lights untangled into small enough sizes that they can be tossed into the shredders they’ve got on hand. When they are shredded, they’re turned into millimeter-sized particles and mixed up with water until they’re made into a mud-like substance that’s sticky enough to be near solid. Yuck! Then the fun really begins. As Adam Minter of The Atlantic regales:

“As the table shakes, the heavier flecks of copper (from the wire) and brass (from the light bulb sockets) flow in one direction, and the lighter plastic and glass (from the insulation and bulbs) flows in another. It’s the same concept that miners use when panning for gold, and the results of this updated, age-old technology can be found at the far end of the water tables: baskets of roughly 95% pure copper and brass alongside baskets of insulation and glass. The contaminated water, meanwhile, flows into a recovery system, where it’s re-circulated, over and over, through the recycling system.” – Minter

Does this seem like a job you’d like to have, smashing down Christmas lights with the resulting Christmas dust floating around the air for you to breath in as you create a lovely future in which all the strings are turned to slippers? I hope so! Taking the technology to recycle here on its own is what we hope to take away as a positive as we do not forget that it’s impoverished ladies and gentlemen whose job it is to do the tossing. Merry Christmas and a happy lights toss, everyone!

[via MIC Gadget]

The boxy EV has a range of 84 miles, which will obviously depend on the driving conditions. Without that fast charge option, you will need six hours to charge the battery using 220V. The electric motor is a 50kW unit powering the front wheels. The beast will rocket from 0-62mph in 15.9 seconds.

The EV Ray has 123 lb-ft of torque, which as is common with electric cars is more torque than the 1.0L combustion engine powered flavor offers. Kia plans to build 2,500 of these little EVs. The catch is that they are all slated for government use in Korea so you won’t be able to get one.

[via Autoblog]

The RS version of the Sonic only comes in a five-door body and it includes the MyLink infotainment system standard. That allows the user to navigate their smartphone for driving directions and more on the radio display. The car can be had in 6-speed or automatic versions. The RS version has a new front fascia with new fog lamps, RS grill, a different rear fascia, and a new rear spoiler.

It also sports new rocker moldings and a new mirror carp finish. The wheels on the car are unique 17-inch five spoke designs and it has a returned sport exhaust with a chrome outlet. The car also gets a lower and stiffer suspension and a host of interior upgrades specific to the RS design. The Sonic starts at $14,995; exact pricing on the RS version should be unveiled next month. We have talked about the turbo Sonic in the past.

The new $94 million investment is the first in the US that Google has made that is designed to create energy for the grid instead of panels mounted on individual rooftops. All together, the four solar projects can create 88MW of power, which is enough electricity to power 13,000 homes. Google invested in the new projects along with investment firm KKR and Recurrent energy.

The remaining money needed to fund the four projects is being provided by SunTap Energy. SunTap is a new venture that was formed by KKR for solar project investments in the US. Google plans to continue investing in clean energy in 2012.

One of the best features about the Focus EV is that the car can charge in half the time it takes the Leaf to charge fully. Ford claims that the Focus EV needs only a bit more than three hours to charge fully on a 240V charging system. Nissan rates the Leaf for a driving range of 100 miles.

Ford says that the focus EV will be good for 70 to 100 miles on a charge depending on driving style. The environment plays a roll in how far an EV can drive as well. The Focus EV will sell for $39,995 making it about the same price as the Volt and over $5,000 more expensive than the Leaf EV. Ford will have a tough time with that price. Dealers in California, New York, and New Jersey are taking pre-orders on the Focus EV now.

[via Freep]

What you’ve got here is a body with two integrated flaps, all of this folded from a single piece of paper. This paper is glued to a single circular base, and the paper will be waterproofed in a similar manner to cups you see at the coffee shop on the daily already. Ideally, Herman says, he’d like to get them made of cellulose-based plastic so they could be composted, but we shall see. This concept will, if made and executed correctly, save retailers one whole heck of a lot of money.

“There are important variables ranging from the required modifications of existing cup-making machinery to long-term contractual arrangements between manufacturers, distributors, and retailers that will all influence the rollout timetable.” – Herman

Herman notes that the cup’s iconic shape along will “perform priceless PR” as it shows the company using it is committed to working on green initiatives and environmentally sound solutions to everyday problems – like how to keep one’s coffee for drinking on the go. We’re crossing our fingers and toes that this project takes off, as the lids of coffee cups are something we’d gladly see go the way of the dinosaur — or better yet, the way of the recycled plastic, never to be seen again (in its original form.) Save the environment by folding!

[via FastCoDesign]

Nismo has taken the Leaf and hopped it up with cool style in a new concept. The Nismo Leaf concept has style changes with a full body kit, lowered ride height, and LED front lighting. This is the second Nismo concept we have seen in a few months. The last was that awesome Juke with the drive train from the Nissan GTR underneath.

The body kit is said to improve the aerodynamics of the Leaf and provide more down force. The car also gets 18-inch wheels. The drive train is untouched with the same performance and drive range as the standard Leaf. Nissan has also announced that it is taking orders for the normal Leaf in more markets. The new markets include Delaware, Indiana, Louisiana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.

The HEV will also use a seven-speed dual clutch transmission that Honda is developing. It will also have two rear motors with one powering each wheel along with a gasoline engine in the front of the car and an electric motor for the front wheels of the car. At low speeds, the rear electric motors will drive the car.

When more force is needed the front electric motor will kick in, and if that isn’t enough the gas engine will then fire up. One of the coolest things is that the electric motors will be able to change what direction the power is driving the rear wheels from forward to reverse to help the car turn. That means when turning right the right rear electric motor will turn backwards and when turning left the left rear electric motor will reverse. The gas engine the car is a 3.5L V6 with direct fuel injection.

[via Techon]

The Volt has been having its share of issues of late with fires after crash tests. Still it is one of the only cars of its type on the market today. The car is technically an EV with a gasoline generator that is used to power the batteries when they run out of charge. The problem is that the economy when the generator is operating is much less than when the car is on battery power.

Researchers at the University of Maryland have developed a new type of fuel cell that might be able to replace that gasoline generator in the Volt and similar vehicles in the future. The gasoline fuel cell is a much smaller alternative than the generator in the Volt today and it uses normal gas for fuel rather than hard to find and store hydrogen. The special fuel cell can also run on diesel or natural gas as well.

The cool part is that the team of researchers has been able to reduce the operating temperature of the fuel cell from 900 degrees to about 350-degrees. That temperature reduction makes the gas fuel cell much cheaper to build. The fuel cell also produces a lot of power for its size and to generate the same power that the Volt’s gas generator makes the fuel cell would need to be only 10cm on a side.

[via Technology Review]

Honda has a new concept scooter that would get you to and from work using battery power over short distances. The concept scooter is called the motor compo. The little scooter is under 3-feet in length and height. The concept scooter is designed to fit easily into the micro commuter vehicle concept that Honda came up with.

The idea is that the scooter will be carried in the car to get the driver across that last mile if they need to park far away. Then the driver can get the scooter out and ride it to their final destination. The thing folds up small enough to carry it into an office or home too.

[via DesignBoom]

The only road leading to the pile is an unnamed dirt road. The investigation into the environmental concerns of having that many tires in one place was turned over to the state. The investigation resulted in an indictment for one man from Easley, SC.

The local and state authorities fear that other than the concerns to the environment the tires could also be a breeding ground for mosquitoes. I can only imagine that there are hoards of snakes and other things that I don’t want to deal with living in the massive pile. A Florida company called Lee Tire has been contacted to remove the tires and they expect to have the place cleared by the end of the year. I searched for the location on Google Maps but couldn’t find it; if you find the coordinates let us know.

[via WLTX]

The study on this proposed solution to all of our energy problems was billed as “the first broadly based international assessment of potential paths to collecting solar energy in space and delivering it to markets on Earth via wireless power transmission” – quite a mouthful! This study noted that government funding would be needed to get the project activated and sustained as private-sector funding doesn’t work so well with such “economic uncertainties” and time lags involved in development. This project notes that the space solar power solution would be a long-term energy fix for Earth that would include a potential for “essentially zero” terrestrial environmental impact.

The study’s environmental impact bit is according to the National Space Society advocacy group who is set to hold a news conference in Washington this week to publicize the 248-page IAA report. According to the plan, one satellite would be launched, then another, then eventually batches of satellites capable of collecting solar power would be in geosynchronous orbit around the equator. Each of these satellites would be collecting sunlight for up to a full 24 hours a day across their up to several kilometer wide bodies. Power would be converted to electricity onboard and sent to Earth by lasers or large microwave-transmitting antenna.

Once the power was sent to Earth, it would be fed into a power grid where it could be distributed to all the kids playing Xbox and Playstation and everyone reading their favorite book Ender’s Game by the lamp in the middle of the night.

[via The Vancouver Sun]

That 5.9 is a three spot gain for HP making it the greenest around. Dell is second with a score of 5.1, a rise of eight places, but Dell still scores poorly on green products. Nokia is at 4.9, down two places from its previous top spot. Apple ranks at 4.6. Philips takes fifth with a 4.5, Sony Ericsson is sixth at 4.2, and Samsung takes the seventh sport at 4.1.

Rounding out the top ten are eight place Lenovo at 3.8, Panasonic at ninth with 3.6 and Sony at tenth with 3.6. It’s not clear how with the same score Greenpeace decided which of those two landed at what spot. The lowest scoring firm on the Greenpeace list is RIM at only 1.6 in the 15th spot. Apparently, RIMs poor placement has to do with failure to disclose environmental factors.

You can see in the photo here that the wind farm in the area circled in yellow is distorting the weather radar making it impossible to tell if the storm indicated is real or turbulence from the massive windmills. According to the USAF, the wind farms also interfere with military radar and create a hole in coverage that makes it impossible to identify incoming aircraft.

The military has traditionally blocked wind farms from being placed near their radar installations. However, Senators in Oregon eventually forced the military to allow the installation of a wind farm near a radar station. The reason the military allowed the wind farm to go up was that MIT devised processors and a special algorithm that could remove the noise from the radar allowing it to functional normally. The MIT fix simply tells the radar to ignore signals in a small area. That fix won’t work for weather radar though.

[via Fox News]

Samsung isn’t simply doing this out of the goodness of their own hearts, but it’s nice to see initiatives like this appear to be so close to real action in the world. This project is in place as a result of CSR requirements — Corporate Social Responsibility, that is, and thus far the project is set for greater Africa. For the betterment of Africa too, if I do say so myself. This project will yield units that are both easy to transport to remote areas and able to withstand inclement weather.

The first version of this project’s units are 40-foot shipping containers equipped with rubber solar panels. These panels are able to power the classroom within for up to 9 hours each day and can retain power for up to 1 and a half days without any new sunlight. Inside the unit there are, of course, a whole slew of top of the line Samsung products such as the Galaxy Tab, a 50-inch electronic board, solar powered netbooks, and more.

Inside the first unit is a refrigerator, UPS, a router, Virus Doctor air-purification, Wi-fi enabled camera, and of course a file server. This file server works via a 3G connection and will house the entire South African school curriculum. Sounds like a pretty nice little unit, wouldn’t you say? Certainly seems nicer than the one-room schoolhouses of the generations before us, that’s for sure.

[via Samsung]

The reshaping will involve changing the slope of the land so that the large solar farm can be installed. Apple is big on green energy and the power company that provides power to the large data center right now gets its electricity from coal and nuclear plants. Other Apple locations are 100% powered by renewable energy and green is big to Apple so the solar farm is on the agenda.

The solar project is being called “Project Dolphin Solar Farm A Expanded” that Dolphin project name is reportedly the codename for the billion dollar data center constructed in Maiden. According to the plans, the solar farm will have multiple gravel roads to access the panels for maintenance. For now, there is no information available on how large the solar farm would be. Apple can fit lots of solar panels on 171 acres.

[via Charlotte Observer]

The ad the company has reads, “Well kept 20 bedroom platform for sale. Panorama sea view and plenty of room for a helicopter.” Right now, the platform is drilling away in the North Sea in the Veslefrikk field. That field is running dry and will be closed in a couple years. The company is thinking that rather than just scrap the platform, which is still functional, it will sell the thing.

This is where the odd comes in. According to Scand Kitchen, the platform can be purchased for 13 pence, but the buyer has to move it. At first, we thought they were serious about the price and this was a bit of a joke on the sellers part. It does appear that the platform is legitimately for sale, but we think the 13p part is the joke. The seller will consider just selling parts off the platform such as the jacket, which is apparently the part that goes under water. Still, you could become your own king if you have the loot it would take to buy this platform and move it somewhere.

CREE has announced that it has been part of the first LED lighting project in China. The project saw more than a million CREE LEDs placed along highways that total over 10,000 streetlights. The CREE LEDs were used along nearly 75 miles of roads. The lights were installed along four different highways and inside one tunnel.

The lighting was installed by Kingsun Optoelectronic Co. Ltd, a lighting company in China. The lights installed were 270W and 300W Apollo LED luminaries. The new lighting is expected to save 60% in electricity costs.

Nissan has announced that it has greatly improved the fuel cell design with its new next gen fuel cell compared to that cell unveiled in 2005. The massive improvements in the new cell were achieved with a new membrane Electrode Assembly and a new separator flow path. The improved power density of the new Fuel Cell Stack makes it 2.5 times more powerful than the 2005 version.

Nissan gives the fuel cell a power output of 2.5kW per liter. Nissan also used a new single row lamination inside the fuel cell that makes the overall size of the cell reduced by more than half compared to conventional cell models. The platinum parts inside the cell have also been reduced making the cell much cheaper. Nissan claims the new fuel cell costs one-sixth as much as the cell made in 2005.

A new chewing gum is out that has gone high tech and will come off anything your kids might stick it on. It will come off the bed or even from under the table thanks to tech that allows it to mix with water. Normal gum won’t mix with water hence it stays sticky over the long haul making it hard to get off sidewalks and other places.

The Rev7 gum will absorb water and turns into a fine powder in a matter of months. If you need to get it off something before the months it takes to turn into powder, it is supposed to be removable from just about any surface easily. I wonder if it will come out of hair more easily too.

[via Treehugger]

All you’ll need to do is pay a monthly charge of $9.99 after purchasing the devices you need to hook your whole house up, and connections you shall have! There are three different equipment packages you can choose from (listed below), and the monthly price appears at the moment to be the same regardless of your choice. You’ll be able to do all sorts of stuff like flipping on and off the lights in your kids rooms while you’re not there to drive them nuts and watch them through your networked cameras to see all the fear in their eyes when they think its ghosts!

You can get energy monitoring gadgets as well, thermostats, adapters to control appliances, and a sensor that can be placed on the circuit box to measure electricity use throughout the whole of your home. There’s remote door locks, again, advanced level cameras that can pan and tilt on command and get installed outdoors, window and door sensors, and light sensors.

The three kits available are thus:

Verizon Home Monitoring Kit – $69.99
• Gateway Device
• Indoor Camera
• Indoor Light Module

Verizon Energy Control Kit – $169.99
• Gateway Device
• Appliance Switch 110 Volt
• Smart Thermostat
• Energy Reader – Free ($99.99 Value)
• Remote Control

Verizon Home Monitoring and Control Kit – $219.99
• Gateway Device
• Indoor Camera
• Appliance Switch 110 Volt
• Smart Thermostat
• Indoor Light Module
• Energy Reader – Free ($99.99 Value)
• Remote Control

And again then the monthly $9.99. Seem like the deal for you?

The car will use battery systems from A123. These battery systems are advanced nanophosphate lithium-ion battery packs. The full details on specific markets, range, quantities, and pricing will be announced at a later date. I would expect the car’s range to be somewhere close to what the Nissan Leaf offers.

“The Spark EV offers customers living in urban areas who have predictable driving patterns or short commutes an all-electric option,” said Jim Federico, global vehicle chief engineer for electric vehicles at Chevrolet. “It complements Chevrolet’s growing range of electrified vehicles, including the Volt extended-range EV and the 2013 Malibu Eco with eAssist technology.”

“Our global demo fleets continue to provide insight into the needs of electric vehicle customers living in urban environments,” said Federico. “The Spark EV is another step in Chevrolet’s plan to provide customers with a variety of electrification solutions to address the lifestyle and transportation needs of people around the world.”