Nixon has been helping us keep time for the past 11 years and it has just realesed its first solar powered watch. The Volta is the name of this stylish looking wonder. It sports a semi-transparent dial that allows sunlight through to the solar panel below which charges the watch's battery. In fact, any light source is enough to charge this watch, even the florescent lights in your office will suffice. The watch is available in a custom molded polyurethane band with locking looper or a double stitched Italian leather band option. Both of them look really great and I can’t decide which one to choose from!

[Designboom]

Most part of Holland is under sea level and most houses constantly face the problem of flooding. The Citadel residential concept seems like the perfect solution to this problem. This concept embraces this water problem instead of struggling with it. It is a residential floating complex, which is a part of the "New Water" complex. The floating design enables the complex to rise, along with the rising water levels and thus avoiding flooding the houses. It even has a floating road with a boat dock to anchor up to 60 units. The Citadel will also turn out to be energy efficient as the water around the complex will help to keep the houses cool and reduce the power used for cooling. It’s a very interesting concept and it may work really well in cities with constant flooding problems.

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The Zero DS motorcycle from the start up company Zero Motorcycles is now available in the United States. So now Americans can ride on-road and off-road with zero carbon guilt. Apart from the lithium-ion batteries, the entire motorcycle is made from 100 per cent recyclable materials. The motorcycle has a range of 50 miles per charge and can be charged from any standard 110 or 220-volt outlet. It has a top speed of 55 miles an hour and can be yours for $9950.

[Cnet]

Track officials said they are going to announce the project with a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday, two days before the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 at the track in Long Pond, Pa. Pocono Raceway will be hosting two Nascar Sprint Cup races each year. This will be unique and will put them in a league of their own. About 40,000 photovoltaic panels are to be installed on 25 acres of land across the street from the racetrack, which was being used as parking lots. Once completed it will generate 3 megawatts in spring 2010.

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Intel, PepsiCo and Whole Foods Market ranked Nos. 1, 2 and 3, respectively, on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's list of top green power purchasers among the Fortune 500. This was released in the report last month. The report is on companies, colleges and government agencies that purchase or generate the greatest amount of renewable energy in the country and also participate in the Green Power Partnership program. The annual purchases by the 50 top buyers total almost 12.3 billion kilowatt-hours and represent more than 70 percent of all the clean power commitments made by participants in the Green Power Partnership program.

[Reuters]

Powcell is all set to launch a light powered sleeve to charge mobile phones. This sleeves slides easily behind the phone and continues to power it. It is designed such that it looks like an integral part of the phone, and when the sleeve is taken out, it continues to charge through light. This charge is used to power the phone when it’s placed on the sleeve. this sleeve can be a saving grace when your phone is out of battery during that crucial business call.

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We all now how annoying it is when the cell phone or camera batteries die at the most crucial time! So, Kodak has come up with a solar solution for this eternal problem with a series of portable solar chargers. The first charger in this range is the Kodak Solar Charger KS100-C+2, which produces enough power to charge a mobile phone, run an iPod or music player for 33 hours and take up to 200 digital camera pictures. Priced at $58 this charger takes 28 hours in sunlight to charge fully. Hence, Kodak has also provided an option to charge this device through USB for about 14 hours.

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Dentist Chan Wilkhu has installed 48 solar panels on the roof of his Merritt Island office. After this, he is watching his power meter run backwards with absolute glee! This project cost the dentist $78000 for installation but with tax rebates and selling energy to FPL the project cost him $12000 approximately. This system will be able to pay for itself in the next 3-5 years. The 10,752-watt system is sufficient to run his entire office and considering they work for just four days the remaining energy can be sold back to FPL. He uses power company’s services only on cloudy days now and the solar energy reserve is used to pay back FPL.

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Germany is not behind the rest of the world with regard to eco-friendliness. Citi’s new Data Canter in Frankfurt has been awarded the first LEED accreditation ever in Germany and the first ever for a data center building. We all know that the energy used in data center buildings is much higher compared to other commercial buildings. This eco-friendly building has a sustainable design that brings a significant change in this buildings data consumption without compromising on operations.

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Calculators are essential, even though we have all gone techno and our brains are almost trying to be dormant with the gadgets doing its work. Dell has released a new energy savings calculator aiming at helping businesses determine the energy use of their computers systems, and a broad portfolio of Energy Star 5.0 compliant desktops, workstations and portable computers. It is called the Client Energy Savings Calculator. It allows businesses to assess and optimize the power consumption and the potential energy savings of their client infrastructures using Dell OptiPlex, Vostro and Latitude systems and provide customers with an estimate of annual energy consumption and energy costs for the system they own or plan to purchase.

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Since it is very important these days for you to be extremely green and eco-friendly, BMW took one huge stride further than the rest by building an energy-efficient production plant in Munich, Germany. The plans started in 2003 when BMW set out a design competition for a new building and distribution center. The new center, BMW Welt, designed by architects Coop Himmelb[l]au, has come out as something much more than satisfactory. It features sinuous curves and a gleaming façade and efficient solar heating and natural ventilation systems. It has five thematic blocks: Hall, Premiere, Forum, Tower, and Double Cone, where areas have been reserved for car production, exhibition space, restaurants, shops, and even a business center.

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August 2 is the date when Nissan is planning to release a slate of electric vehicles. Along with the Nissan will be announcing the iPhone application that will allow owners to monitor their car’s battery level. It is designed to be used by the owners when they are away from their vehicle. This application will allow the user to know how much charge is left in the battery, the nearest charging station and also the approximate price for the fill up. The program will also allow the users to turn on their air conditioner or heater remotely to make the car more comfortable before they get in. this system is still in prototype stage but it is still slated to be unveiled on Sunday.

[Leftlanenews]

The Ape Calessino is a beast of a machine that needs 422cc diesel engine to power it up and get it going. Amazingly, the Italian scooter manufacturer has unveiled the all electric version of the Ape Calessino three wheeler! The new Ape is powered by a lithium ion battery pack and an electric motor that reportedly allows for a range of up to 75 kilometers. A full recharge will only take less than four hours. The battery pack is also claimed to stay good for 800 recharge cycles. Well saving the planet does come at a price because this is slated to be priced at around Euros 19,900 which is well over US$ 30,000 and that is excluding the Value Added Tax.

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This is interesting. It’s a plan to fly from one place to another powered by sunlight. A Spanish company Turtle Airships is working to build a luxurious solar-powered aircraft which can take passengers from New York to Paris. It will be powered by lightweight photovoltaic cells and designed to rest on land or water. The first aircraft prototype will be propelled in two nontraditional ways. The outside of the ship will be covered with Cadmium-Indium-Germanium (CIG) photovoltaic cells, picked for their light weight. The cells should generate enough power to move the aircraft at around 40 mph in average conditions, or at around 70 horsepower. A diesel drive train will generate the rest of the power, and ideally the designers will look to an adapted hybrid electric model for that.

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A company in the western state of Gujarat, Ahmedabad Municipal plans to use new Rs 50 crore waste conversion project to obtain carbon credits. They signed a contract with Japanese integrated waste management company Creative for a $10.4 million project to convert waste in eco-friendly fuel pullets which are expected to be used to fuel power plants throughout the city. Ahmedabad Municipal plans to provide 800 metric tons of solid waste daily for the project, which is expected to be recycled at a rate of 90 percent. The project is expected to start in 14 to 16 months. The company is responsible for the civic infrastructure and administration of the city of Ahmedabad. The city produces 2,300 metric tons of solid waste a day.

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