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Photosynthesizing Solar Cells
Andreas Mershin, a researcher at MIT, has created solar panels from agricultural waste such as cut grass and dead leaves. Mershin says in a few years it will be possible to stir some grass clippings into a bag of cheap chemicals, paint the mixture on your roof, and immediately [...]
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Tulipa
The whole world is all about green these days, and I’m not talking about money. There has been so much talk and fuss about global warming and climate change recently, that we all need to be more conscious about using our resources. And personally, I’m worried what kind of world we’ll be leaving our children [...]
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Solar Power is now a viable reality in India.
While the passage of time makes solar cost competitive for many Americans right now, the question of cost competitiveness is not a simple one for solar. It depends on location, installation costs, and what kind of power solar is competing against. In Africa, solar has already become [...]
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A new way to print…or not.
At the 5th Opportunity Green conference held in Los Angeles November 10-11, new companies presented products and services in one-minute pitches for a chance to win Green Start-Up of the Year.
In a tight race with Kiverdi carbon recyclers, PrintEco Office pulled out in front at the last minute to take [...]
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Featured invention at the DaVinci Inventor Showcase 2011
The CozyTherm™ is an innovative, very low-cost solar heating system designed to cut heating costs by half or more. When coupled with a heat storage system in a properly designed structure, it may provide nearly all the heating necessary throughout the year. It can be used with new [...]
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A paper lightbulb?
Designer Tien-Ho Hsu has come up with a concept idea to reduce the amount of waste created by lightbulbs and their packaging. The solution, as this design presents, is emulsion-covered paper that glows when hooked up to an electricity source…
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Harnessing wast for power.
This concept design for a “microbial home” centered around a methane digester hub that feeds gas from your food into various appliances has a nice, bodgy, Rube Goldberg feel. We can call it methanepunk (not perfect, but better than “fartpunk”)…
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Pick it up then burn it up.
An Israel-based company called Paulee CleanTec has taken a page from your local funeral home when it comes to dealing with your pet’s unwanted business.
Instead of picking it up in a plastic baggie—which is just about the worst thing humans have ever lowered themselves to do doing—the AshPoopie simply [...]
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Self cleaning cloth.
This is laundry science at work. Researchers at the University of California at Davis have developed a compound that blends into cotton clothes and, when exposed to sunlight, destroys bacteria and toxins.
The compound is known as 2-anthraquinone carboxylic acid, or 2-AQC, and can be incorporated into cotton threads without the risk of washing [...]
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John Fleming and Tim Maxwell claim they can make ammonia for 75 cents a gallon.
John Fleming of SilverEagles Energy and Tim Maxwell from Texas Tech University, say they have developed a way to make ammonia that is cheap enough so that it could be used as fuel for cars. If their claims turn out to [...]
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Tulane University has applied for a patent for a method to produce the biofuel butanol from organic material.
Scientists have found one way that old-fashioned newspaper beats the internet. Tulane University scientists have discovered a novel bacterial strain, dubbed “TU-103,” that can use paper to produce butanol, a biofuel that can serve as a substitute for gasoline. [...]
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e-Paper goes a long ways at replacing current paper sheets.
The paperless office is a myth. We all still need to print stuff out occasionally, but a new form of e-paper may go a long way towards replacing the paper sheets we put in our printers and use once before recycling.
The new flexible e-paper is called [...]
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Kegs are a rollin’.
When Shannon and Colin Westcott decided to start Equinox Brewing in Fort Collins, Colorado, they wanted it to be a local, green operation. And that meant no keg deliveries by car or truck. So to save themselves a lot of back-breaking keg-carrying, the Westcotts teamed up with custom bike designers Yendra Built [...]
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Zoom, zoom, zoom on H2O.
While we are busy trying to create and market the perfect electric car, the Japanese have gone the extra mile and plan to mass produce a car which runs primarily on water. What do you think, will this car be a viable alternative to gas and electric vehicles?
Unlike other electric cars, [...]
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What kind of mileage does a wood gas vehicle get?
During the Second World War, almost every motorised vehicle in continental Europe was converted to use firewood. Wood gas cars (also known as producer gas cars) are a not-so-elegant but surprisingly efficient and ecological alternative to their petrol cousins, whilst their range is comparable to that [...]
