These days everything is just a click away. Almost everything! Be it buying, selling or even recycling. Just type recycling cell phones in a search machine and watch out for the endless results. A significant surge in the number of websites providing this service has led to this boom on search machines. Since the awareness for recycling mobile phones has seeded amongst consumers, this business of getting rid of cell phones in a responsible manner is benefiting all, including our planet. Apart from doing their bit for environment, consumers are also lured to recycle their cell phones to gain some cash benefit too. Along with the cell phones, it is also essential to recycle the batteries that charge them up. As these batteries are short lived then the cell phones, they play a major role in feeding e-waste heaps. They need to be disposed off with care equally. Currently less than 3% of portable batteries in the UK are recycled. BatteryBack provides a FREE treatment and recovery service for all portable batteries. Even WasteCare takes care of Battery recycling with great responsibility.

DuPont Packaging and Industrial Polymers is releasing flexible and rigid sheets that will heighten protection for PV materials, increasing panel life expectancy even further and contributing to a reduced cost-per-watt on solar panels at the market level. The two new products are PV5300 which are protective sheets for solar cells, according to the company, are five times tougher and 100 times stiffer than typically used PV ‘encapsulants’. PV5200 sheets are tough but flexible and enable faster, more efficient panel production and longer product life.

[Calfinder]

As part of its eco-friendly initiatives, Toyota of South Florida will be donating 310 trees to the American forests. To celebrate Earth Day, Toyota of South Florida pledged to donate one tree for every car sold in the month of April to American Forests, a world leader in planting trees for environmental restoration. Cars sold included the Corolla, the Camry, the Yaris, the Matrix, the Solara, and the Scion XD which are all vehicles available at Toyota of South Florida that provide more than 30 highway miles per gallon. Now with such giants making such huge leaps towards saving our environment, let us also be encouraged to make our own contribution. What good is the world if the snow caps perish?

[PRWeb]

A US government report says that by 2030 carbon pollution will grow by 40 percent, much of it to come from China and India. Their growing economies will prove the biggest threat to the atmosphere which is facing huge concerns of depletion. According to the report there will be substantial growth in the use of renewable energy sources such as hydropower, wind and solar, the report said. But it also said overall growth in demand will require continued reliance on fossil fuels, especially oil and coal. President Obama is taking this quite seriously and thank God for that keeping in mind all the ice caps of Greenland that is decreasing as we type. Congress is considering legislation that would reduce greenhouse gases by 17 percent by 2020 and about 80 percent by mid-century and Obama has called for mandatory limits on greenhouse gases. An international conference is scheduled for December to try to work out a treaty requiring such emission reductions.

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This is an exciting new solution that enables action driven citizens to improve and share environmental best practices. Bluetooth wireless devices will be used in combination with mobile phones for first large scale deployment in Paris. Air pollution is one of the most important factors affecting the quality of life and the health of the increasingly urban population. Currently the data of different pollutants measured at different stations in a city are typically aggregated to a single number. Air pollution is highly location dependent, especially in the vicinity of traffic chokepoints. The miniature wrist worn solution leverages geolocation chips and mobile technologies. Such devices transform mobile phones into measurement instruments using Bluetooth communication. Sensaris provides mobile centric solutions bases on geolocations, wireless communication and low power.

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Ascent Solar Technologies and Bye Aerospace are jointly developing an unmanned aerial vehicle that’s intended to use a combination of solar power and stored electricity. Ascent Solar will be supplying flexible thin-film photovoltaic modules designed for Bye’s drone christened as the Silent Sentinel. Bye will be using a Williams International FJ33 turbofan that will draw its electric power in lithium-ion powered battery. The Silent Sentinel is intended for military surveillance purposes but can be used for civilian purposes like forest fire watch, aerial photography, power line inspection etc.

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Though it looks like a four-legged, six-winged creepy-crawly, this robot in action is a solar-powered Trilobot. Completely powered by solar energy, this robot is fully autonomous and able to control it's own energy acquisition. Watch it move over all sorts of terrains with ease! Made of steel and including a solar engine, it measures 10" x 7 1/2" x 3 1/2".

Video after the jump

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The most annoying thing about a party is the disposable plates that are strewn all over your front yard. Designer Andrea Ruggiero from New York may have been extremely frustrated with this issue because his invention seems very practical and possible. He displayed the 'UFO' (unidentified feeding object) is a mono-use disposable plate ‘indisposed’ – an exhibition which invited designers to address notions of disposability in everyday products. It is made of a unique composite of blended bird seed, potato starch, guar gum, and a seaweed-like binding agent and are highly resistant to wet foods, vinegars and sauces, yet completely biodegradable, non-toxic, and vegan.

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Making electric cars isn’t enough; constant up gradation is required to convince people that this actually works. Swiss auto company GreenGT will be launching a fully-electric vehicle that is ‘heralded to be the most powerful and cutting-edge electric race car ever built’. It will be designed with the famous Le Mans race in mind and will boast two 100-kw electric engines that provide 350-400 horsepower and a top speed of 171 mph. A svelte green supercar is also being developed to compete in the 2011 race.

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After the electric and hybrid models and also a few solar ones, now the focus is slowly shifting on air-powered vehicles. It is still at the initial stages though as engineers say that the energy required to power air-compressors in air-powered cars is massive compared to using that energy in an electric battery instead. But with recession, we are looking at not just an environment friendly option but also pocket friendly. CEO of Zero Pollution Motors has developed its own compressed-air car that it hopes to bring to U.S shores by 2011. Air-powered cars work by using an air compressor to pressurize air in the car’s tank. When the car is driven at low speeds, the air is released, pushing the pistons up and down as in a conventional gasoline engine without the need for gasoline to provide combustion. At higher speeds the ZPM uses a small conventional motor to heat up the air in order to release it more quickly, as well as to compress more air to extend the range of the car.

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Not just bark but also bite is required when you take the giant leap in making eco-friendly devices and products because it is a serious matter. Pure has hence announced that its Energy Saving Recommended radios are officially certified to use less energy than an energy saving light bulb. Apparently running four Pure Energy Saving Recommended radios will use less electricity than one low energy light bulb on for the same time. Officials of the Energy Saving Trust's says that an Energy Saving Trust accredited digital radio is the most efficient way to listen to DAB digital radio and we would encourage anyone enjoying the fantastic content that digital radio provides to move across to one of these radios which uses less electricity and is better for the environment.

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Next time you break open an egg for meal, please don’t throw the shells in the bin. Here is an innovative use of the egg shells. Gomhi has used his creative skills to cut the egg shells with uber-precision and transform them into Eggshell loudspeakers. Read it out in the designer’s words itself- ‘Handcraft loudspeakers using chicken eggshell as cabinet. They sound narrow, but I'm pleased about the result.

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Remember that boat that was made of 12,500 plastic bottles called Plastiki and how David de Rothschild, the founder of Adventure Ecology, was making preparations to steer his plastic sailboat towards the floating landfill in the Pacific Ocean? Well, it is finally ready to set sail. The final design has the Plastiki made out of 12,500 2 liter plastic bottles tied to a structure made out of Self Reinforcing Polyethylene Terephthalate (SRPET) weighing around 9 tons plus the weight of the crew of six people. The boat will also be up-cycled later on but we have no news into what. Nonetheless, the boat is expected to sail from San Francisco to Sydney in August.

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There were the washing machines and now it is the dishwasher. Electrolux has launched its eco-friendly dishwasher designed by Alexey Danilin helping save a lot of water usage. This new creation will only need one glass of water a month and you can use it constantly without any detergents. The idea is great but will it really clean all the grease, oil, food particles and remains on the utensils? It isn’t easy to wash them after a good soak so washing it without any soap is going to raise eyebrows. But then again they have car washing techniques without the use of water so this couldn’t be so bad.

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The most nostalgic thing about the bygone era is the radio transistors. All kinds of it, the record ones, the huge big boxes, the juke box, everything was just so cool. With technology and a concern for the environment, the Solar and Hand Cranked AM/FM Radio is just a really cool device. It is a small green box with a handle that can be cranked. At daylight you can charge it and at night, you can listen to all the music you wish. Powered by the sun’s rays it will play for seven hours when fully charged. On rainy days you can use the hand crank. Turn it for just one minute and the radio will play back for about thirty minutes. All this at just $24.95.

[Redferret]