ecoGizmo
Scotland announces $20 million Saltire Prize for clean energy innovation
April 29, 2008 The Scottish Government has offered the world’s biggest ever cash prize for innovation in the field of renewable marine-based energy. It is hoped that the £10 million (US$20 million) award will not only contribute to the global energy problem, but will help bolster Scotland’s own clean energy sector which already accounts for 16% of the nation’s generated electricity. Read More
Californian housing estate gets solar as standard
A new housing estate, with solar power to be included as a standard feature in all homes, has been officially opened in San Bernardino County, California. Opened on Earth Day, ‘Harmony’ is a planned residential development and a collaboration between CenterStone Communities and Petersen-Dean Roofing Systems that will lower residents’ utility costs by up to 50%. Read More
eSolar announces funding boost for scaleable, pre-fabricated solar plants
April 22, 2008 eSolar has raised $130 million in funding for the deployment of its solar thermal power plants. The scaleable, pre-fabricated power plants are designed to cut construction costs and deliver renewable energy solutions tailored to the needs of particular communities. Read More
Energy-positive wind powered rotating skyscraper set to begin construction in Dubai
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Dubai has well earned its reputation for architectural extravagance and excess. Not a cent has been spared as various developers vie to produce the biggest, the most stunning, the most luxurious and the most outrageous projects ever undertaken. And while this next project is right up there in terms of luxury, exclusivity and head-spinning architectural genius, it adds a fascinating extra dimension - the ability to generate ten times as much power as it will use. Each floor of Dynamic Architecture's wind-powered rotating skyscraper is a single apartment with the ability to rotate independently, giving residents the ability to choose a new view at the touch of a button - quite a party trick. Wind turbines between each floor will generate a vast surplus of electricity capable of powering the whole surrounding neighborhood. Construction is set to begin soon in Dubai, with a second tower to follow in Moscow and numerous other sites around the world being considered. Read More
AeroVironment awarded patents for wind-power system
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April 14, 2008 A name familiar to Gizmag readers through its achievements in the field of Unmanned Aircraft Systems, AeroVironment is also a developer of efficient electric energy systems, an area in which it has been awarded a series of patents relating to its "Architectural Wind® Building-Integrated Energy Generation System" - a system which takes a new approach to harnessing wind power using low-profile turbines designed to maximize electricity generation by taking advantage of the way wind flows over certain types of buildings. Read More
Capturing carbon to create greener plastics
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April 10, 2008 Chemists are investigating ways to use carbon dioxide removed from smokestack emissions to make a raw material for the production of DVDs, CD-ROMs, beverage bottles and other products made from polycarbonate plastics. Read More
Philips' energy efficient street lighting cuts city energy consumption
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April 10, 2008 Streetlight systems are expensive for cities to operate and maintain. They also use a lot of energy — representing almost 40 percent of a typical city’s electricity spending. Echelon Corporation announced at the 2008 Light+Building event in Frankfurt that Philips Lighting, one of the world’s leading providers of lighting systems, has built its new Starsense street light telemanagement system using Echelon’s LonWorks platform, which uses Echelon’s power line transceivers to communicate between lighting fixtures and Echelon’s i.LON SmartServer to provide Internet access and local monitoring and control. It is believed Starsense can deliver energy savings of over 40 percent, reducing cities’ energy bills and carbon footprint. Read More
Power Utility launches energy saving software
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South Jersey Gas is now offering its customers the ability to manage their energy consumption, practice energy efficiency and reduce their energy costs using a free web-based service. Developed by Aclara Software, the new service gives customers access to energy information relating to their utility bills. Read More
Versatile HYmini wind and solar portable charger
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April 8, 2008 HYmini is a handheld portable electronics charging unit that uses renewable wind and solar sources to top up its power. The device can recharge most 5V appliances, including mobile phones, MP3 players, iPods, PDAs, and digital cameras. Read More
World's fist commercial scale tidal energy generator nears completion
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Bristol based renewable energy company Marine Current Turbines has completed the first installation phase of the 1.2MW SeaGen Tidal System at Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough - a site chosen for its combination of fast tidal current and ability to provide shelter from bad weather which may hinder the construction process. It is expected that the breakthrough power plant will be operational around mid-year with its massive 16m diameter twin rotors harnessing the tides to produce the equivalent amount of energy it takes to power 1000 homes. After its final assembly at the Harland & Wolff dockyard in Belfast, the crane barge “Rambiz” positioned the 1000 tonne structure onto the seabed 400m from the shoreline where it will be secured by four pins drilled to a depth of around nine meters. Read More
Self-powered eco-switch for hotel rooms
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April 4, 2008 This card-operated wireless switch from Echoflex Solutions offers the hotel industry a solution for reducing energy waste by in unoccupied rooms. Read More
Solar cells created with inkjet technology
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April 3, 2008 Using FUJIFILM’s cartridge-based Dimatix Materials Printer (DMP), Konarka Technologies has demonstrated the world's-first fabrication of highly efficient solar cells using of inkjet printing technology. Read More
Brazilian traffic lights turn green
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April 1, 2008 Many of us are being encouraged to make the switch from power-hungry incandescent lights to more eco-friendly illumination technologies like LEDs. In proof that this simple process yields big results, a Brazilian project which saw all of the incandescent-based traffic lights in a Sao Paolo suburb replaced with LUXEON LED-based lamps has delivered estimated energy savings of USD$240,000 and reduced municipal energy consumption by 1340 megawatt hours per year. Read More
BigBelly solar-powered garbage compactor
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Able to compact gallons of rubbish with a single gulp, the BigBelly solar trash compactor cuts public garbage collection emissions by up to 80 percent and operates for an entire day on the equivalent energy it takes to make a piece of toast. The compactor is the only on-site solar-powered trash compactor currently available. Read More
Could paint be the next solar breakthrough?
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March 31, 2008 Researchers at Swansea University are developing a new way to integrate solar energy into building construction by applying a type of flexible solar-cell paint onto steel cladding. Read More
Record 65 million square foot solar panel installation for California
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March 28, 2008 California’s biggest electricity utility, Southern California Edison (SCE), has launched a project which will account for the largest solar cell installation in the United States. A massive 250 megawatts of advanced photovoltaic generating technology will be placed over 65 million square feet of roofs of Southern California commercial buildings – enough power to serve around 162,000 homes. Read More
Octillion announces NanoPower solar window production breakthrough
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Octillion Corp’s NanoPower Window technology can convert existing glass windows into solar power generators; an unobtrusive, easily installable and updateable solution for residential and commercial buildings. Octillion has recently announced a plan to improve the deposition of silicon nanoparticles on to glass – a key step in making the technology mass-producible.
London's mile-high vertical village
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March 18, 2008 One of the key challenges in urban architecture over the next 50 years will be figuring out how to squeeze vast numbers of additional people into urban areas that are already extremely crowded. London, for example, will somehow have to deal with a projected 100,000 extra inhabitants every year until 2016. The current plan of building new "commuter towns" on the city's outskirts causes a raft of problems - but architecture think tanks are working on ambitious solutions that go vertical instead of horizontal in search of space. Could 100,000 people be comfortably housed in a single structure? Could one building realistically be a whole new town, with schools, parks, public squares and hospitals? Read More
New Toronto waterfront development will have a “future proof” energy centre
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March 18, 2008 Waterfront Toronto, a 2,000 acre area of largely publicly owned land, is one of the largest urban developments currently underway in North America. As part of the project, a 3500 square meter District Energy Centre is under development which will consist of an interconnected network of underground pipes which that be extended to every area in each of the waterfront precincts. The plant will initially be powered by natural gas but the design will incorporate the necessary features for easy conversion to more sustainable, alternative fuel sources when they are approved for urban use. This "future-proof" system will make the new waterfront neighborhood a more efficient and sustainable user of energy in years to come. Read More
Largest wind power transmission project in U.S. underway
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March 12, 2008 Generating power from clean energy sources is one thing, but green energy still needs to find its way to the consumer. In a boost for the State's wind power transmission infrastructure, California’s biggest electric utility Southern California Edison (SCE), has begun construction of the largest project of its type in the United States. Once complete, the project will have the capacity to transmit 4,500 megawatts of electricity from wind farms and other generating companies in the State. Read More
Raser Technologies announces two new geothermal energy projects
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March 7, 2008 Raser Technologies has committed to two new geothermal projects, bringing its total project count to seven and representing 70-75 megawatts (MW) of power projects initiated since April 2007. Read More
Microturbines to reduce emissions in NYC
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March 5, 2008 Installation of microturbines has been completed in New York with the aim of providing clean energy and reducing the City’s residential and commercial carbon emissions. MicroTurbine systems, developed by Capstone, have been installed in four locations around the City and are fueled by clean burning natural gas, and emit very low emissions.
Daylight savings is found to waste energy
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March 5, 2008 For decades, conventional wisdom has held that daylight-saving time reduces energy use. Now a university study of a unique situation in Indiana has provided compelling evidence challenging that view. Daylight savings may actually waste energy. Read More
Bourne Energy's RiverStar: a fresh approach to hydropower
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March 5, 2008 Hydroelectric dams produce little-to-no emissions and draw energy from a renewable resource, but they are still plagued with the inherent problems of all large-scale power plants: they’re costly to build and maintain, land intensive, and have negative environmental consequences. That’s why Bourne Energy believes the future of hydropower, and the solution to global energy demand, is in small generators that harness power from river currents. The company's RiverStar power modules collect kinetic energy by passing the water through low RPM turbines that don’t harm aquaculture. The units can be cheaply mass-produced, and require no construction on river bottoms, allowing them to be installed quickly and inexpensively even in areas inhospitable to development. Read More
The eco-friendly Green Cell mobile phone battery
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February 29, 2008 The award winning Green Cell battery design concept is a universal format cell phone battery that's safe, environmentally friendly and can be recharged or replaced at a local vending machine. Read More
Cellulose ethanol commercial demo plant for Montana
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Construction has begun on an integrated cellulose and starch ethanol commercial demonstration facility in Montana, USA. The plant is being built by AE Biofuels, an energy company focused on developing next-generation ethanol and biodiesel production from both non-food and traditional materials. Read More
Plans for 280 megawatt solar plant in Arizona
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Plans have been unveiled for a whopping 280 megawatt (MW) solar power facility in Phoenix, Arizona, making it one of the world’s largest. The Solana Generating Station, to be run by Arizona Public Service (APS), will produce enough energy to serve 70,000 customers when operating at full capacity. Read More
The gravity powered floor lamp
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Gravia uses a slowly sinking weight to charge 10 high-output LEDs, which fire into the acrylic lens and create a diffuse light output of 600-800 lumens, roughly equal to a 40-watt incandescent bulb. The LEDs are activated only a few seconds after the process begins, and the entire operation is silent. Read More
Architecture students think outside the box to design low-cost, less-waste housing
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A non-profit organization has given architecture students a chance to learn about the practical, hands-on elements of their future profession whilst exposing them to the benefits of building low-cost, sustainable housing using materials sourced from the local area. Since 2000, DesignBuildBluff and graduate students from the University of Utah’s College of Architecture & Planning have designed and built energy-efficient, inexpensive houses using natural building methods and materials made of recycled products and locally salvaged waste or by-products. Read More
Office depot breaks ground on first "green" store
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February 20, 2008 Office Depot plans to open its first "green" LEED-Certified Store and the company recently celebrating breaking ground on the Austin, Texas site. The store will be the most energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly store in Company's North American retail chain and is due to open in summer 2008. Read More
Global Warming Solutions plans hybrid solar plant
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February 18, 2008 Research and development has commenced to create a new type of solar power plant employing technology that would allow it to produce electricity even during periods of no sunlight. The solar plant will use LETG (Light Electric Thermal Generator), a hybrid solar and thermal energy technology that generates energy by heating up liquids that circulate on the surface of a solar panel.
Human bodies turn up the heat
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February 11, 2008 A new environmentally friendly building to be built in Stockholm, Sweden, will harness human body heat from commuters at the neighboring railway station. The idea is to harness the heat generated by the 250,000 people who pass through Central Station each day using heat exchangers in the ventilation system.
US$15 billion alternative energy investment for Masdar Initiative
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February 5, 2008 Following on from last year's announcement of plans to create the world’s first world’s first zero carbon, zero waste city as part of the Masdar Initiative, the Abu Dhabi government has committed a US$15 billion to help explore, develop and commercialize clean energy sources. Read More
California’s 5 megawatt Solar Farm receives final approval
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February 4, 2008 Cleantech America Inc. has received formal approval from the California Public Utilities Commission for its CalRENEW-1 solar facility. Due to begin operation in the spring of 2009, the plant is the largest utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) solar facility being developed under California’s Renewables Portfolio Standard program. Read More
CC Medico’s Air Launcher nozzle eases aerosol can recycling
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February 1, 2008 In an era where the need to reduce, reuse and recycle is a the top of the agenda, any innovation that helps in this regard is a welcome one. In providing a solution to the specific problem of recycling aerosol cans, Tokyo-based company CC Medico has developed the Air Launcher JET Alpha nozzle, a new type of aerosol nozzle which is easily removed and separated from the can by hand, which makes recycling the cans much easier.
