CleanTechnica

Australian solar physicist John Cook of Skeptical Science has created a nifty little iPhone app that includes numerous climate skeptic arguments as well as the science-based counterarguments to those (since we are all tired of the misinformed myths about climate science but normally can’t cite scientific articles and data off the top of our head).

Read the rest of this entry »

Clever boffins over at Imperial College, London, have announced their intention to kill off the battery once and for all.

They’re working on a $4.5m project to develop a lightweight material capable of storing electricity.  The carbon fibre based polymer resin is already patented and will be light enough to form the casing of anything from MP3 players to car bodies.

In addition, unlike batteries the substance’s performance won’t degrade over time because the electricity storage and release doesn’t rely upon a chemical reaction.

Read the rest of this entry »

Just on the heels of Apple’s Smart Home Energy Management System, Apple has gone and filed for a patent to reinvent their ubiquitous iPod line using solar cell technology.

Transparent, or semi-transparent, solar panels would partially cover the device. If one or more of the solar cells are obstructed from light, other panels on the device will kick in to ensure a constant source of power. The device also have a standard battery in times of complete darkness. Read the rest of this entry »

Energy efficient light bulbs are cool already, but they are getting a whole lot cooler. The new LED EcoBulb by Seokjae Rhee raises the green bar with innovative features to save more energy.

Read the rest of this entry »

There are large steps and small steps that can be made to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution. I think these solar electric vehicles are something in between, but definitely something to start using!

The Solar Electric Vehicle Company creates innovative electric shuttles (i.e. large golf carts) for universities, resorts, stadiums, governments, shopping malls, airports, arenas, medical centers, etc. that combine electric vehicle (EV) technology with solar power technology. Looks like a good combination.

Not only that, but these vehicles are FREE!
Read the rest of this entry »

The City of Dezhou in China has successfully bid to host the 4th of a biannual series of world solar conferences, and will do so in the largest building ever to be almost entirely powered by solar in the world. It has over 800,000 square feet of space inside.

Nearly all of the energy use inside the giant building is solar powered. Green building techniques such as advanced roof and wall insulation reduced the energy requirements of the building by 30% (below comparable buildings) and the solar arrays on the roof provide 82% of the remaining energy.
Read the rest of this entry »

You don’t have to get a credit check to buy electricity from a utility. Now you don’t need one to buy your very own solar power supply either. A company in New Jersey is offering a solar PPA to homeowners to buy cheap power off their roof with no credit check.

Not only does this put paying a solar bill on an even playing field with paying an electric bill, but US Solergy is offering this arrangement for 25% of utility rates in the state. After a small down payment, their residential solar power purchase agreement enables homeowners to buy their electricity for $0.05 per kilowatt-hour in a state where utility electricity costs $0.20 per kilowatt-hour.

How can they do that? Isn’t solar more expensive than utility electricity? Well, no, actually, solar is cheaper. Read the rest of this entry »

I.V. equipment dots the landscape of countless movies and TV shows like E.R., House, and Grey’s Anatomy, so it’s no suprise that the ubiquitous little baggies account for a sizeable chunk of plastic medical waste from U.S. hospitals.  Now a company called Hospira, Inc. has come up with a new kind of I.V. container that could cut about 20 million pounds of that waste annually.

The company’s basic innovation is simple: its VisIV “green IV” containers are made from a multilayer plastic film that eliminates the disposable wrapper required to protect conventional IV containers from moisture.  The first generation of VisIV products was introduced in 2006 and was quickly adopted by almost 25% of U.S. hospitals, and the company has just announced a new, even more sustainable tweak to its formula.

Read the rest of this entry »

The use of nanoparticles in consumer products could have hidden consequences for human health and the environment, but researchers in the U.K. have at least found a way to help remove the molecule-sized pollutants from wastewater treatment plants.

Scientists from several U.K. research centers teamed up to examine silica, a common nanoparticle.  They found that nanoparticles coated with a detergent would interact with other matter in the sewage to form a sludge, which settles out and can be removed fairly easily.  But that does not necessarily mean that a more sustainable future is in sight for the widespread use of nanoparticles in consumer products.

Read the rest of this entry »

A burst of new business at the end of 2009 put Germany close to adding a record of solar power to the grid, according to the head of Germany’s BSW solar industry association, Carsten Koernig. He estimates that in this year alone; it will be very close to 3 Gigawatts.

While he is not sure what the final end-of-year number will be, he is sure of one fact. It can’t be over 3 gigawatts, simply because there is no more capacity than that in the pipeline.

German supplies have completely sold out. Demand for parts, especially, and equipment such as inverters has outstripped supply. Germany’s very consumer-oriented feed-in tariff legislation makes it profitable for any homeowner to install panels on their roofs to supply the grid – - and so they do just that.
Read the rest of this entry »