For those who don’t know, currently used plastics are developed from petroleum products and are very difficult to recycle. However, IBM’s researchers co operated by some Stanford University scientists recently made a groundbreaking discovery. This discovery could help to make plastics that are plant based rather than petroleum based, thus making them more environment friendly. And that’s not all. This discovery could help to make plastics that are recyclable more than once. This would apply to all kinds of plastics ranging from the type used in car parts to the type used to make soda bottles.

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A 22-year study, which consisted of more than 6100 sweeps of the North Atlantic by using fine mesh nets, has revealed the existence of a giant patch of plastic rubbish just north of the Caribbean. This dump consists of materials such as bottle tops, toothbrushes and other such items of daily use. According to scientists, the size of this dump is comparable to the ‘great Pacific garbage patch’ that lies between Hawaii and California. These plastic patches are formed due to gyres. Gyres are areas with few ocean currents surrounded by areas with strong ocean currents. This creates a spinning vortex from which the plastic cannot get out once it floats in.

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Transport for London has installed the largest hydrogen fuel cell in its combined heat and power (CHP) power-plant. This power plant located, at the Palestra building in Southwark houses a UTC Power PureCell® 200 phosphoric acid fuel cell unit. This fuel cell is expected to create clean, low-cost energy on-site. This, US$3.7 million, power plant is expected to cut carbon emissions by 40% translating into a saving a US$ 40,000 every year. That is not all; this power plant also educates people passing by its building on the benefits of using hydrogen fuel cells, by using displays powered by energy generated on-site. It also uses the extra heat generated to regulate the temperature in the building. Apart from this, the building will generate 25% of its own energy requirement at peak times of usage and will generate almost 100% of its energy requirement at non peak times.

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Times Square has another feather to its cap when it comes to promoting green features. It is now sporting a new billboard promoting Best Buys electronic recycling program.

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With the sudden focus on e-waste this year, with people suddenly realizing the importance of disposing the electronics properly, we have just learnt that in the past year-2009, computers were the things that were most recycled around the globe. Surprised? Earth911.com is an environmental services company and the provider of the nation's leading Local Recycling and Disposal Directory, released the results of its 2009 Annual Recycling Report. The top of the lists are products such as computers, batteries and television. Apparently, ‘computers’ was also the highest searched item on the site for recycling purposes. This only goes to prove that when the environment is spoken of seriously, people do listen. That sure is good news, isn’t it?

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Miniature models always have my applause for them. This time it’s almost the entire city of San Francisco in a small-miniature version. The 2nd Annual Golden Gate Express Garden Railway is open at San Francisco’s Conservatory of Flowers. It features the landmark places of the city in it’s miniature version like the important buildings, train and other things. The best part is that the model is made of recycled materials. Isn’t that just too cool? The exhibition is open until April 18th. [Neatorama]

Africa, as we all know is a very under-developed region. Thousands of children are undernourished whereas the employment opportunities are also very meager. With the new concept of solar powered irrigation, the conditions there have become better there. Not only is there more employment opportunity because of the installation of the solar panels, but the irrigation allows for more and better quality of food to be produced within the country. This improvement has been seen in the sub-Saharan Africa. Interestingly, only 4-percent of the cropland in sub-Saharan Africa is irrigated, most communities rely on rain-fed agriculture. [ecofriendlymag]

Google has played its part in saving the environment and has showed interest in using cleaner technology before. And now, the company has decided on launching its own energy subsidiary called Google Energy. This is an effort by Google in its aim to achieve carbon neutrality. Formed on December 16, 2009, the Delaware based company publicized its intentions earlier this week to join the power game by buying and selling electricity in the market. This will help Google sell excess power to the grid and lower its energy consumption. Currently, the search engine biggie has a 1.6Mw solar arrangement at the Mountain View headquarters. Though there aren’t any fixed plans yet, Google has also planned to make renewable sources of energy cheaper than the useof coal. If all goes well, Google will help change the way the lights turn on.

[Fastcompany]

Accused of being a ‘green hypocrite’ for using a private jet to fly to the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit and giving the world a sermon on global warming, Prince Charles has decided to have his place of dwelling go green. The Prince has planned to install solar panels on roof of the 180 year old mansion, the Clarence House in London. These panels are anticipated to fulfill the heating and lighting energy needs of the building. However, officials state that no such modifications will be done if they harm the appearance of the century old building. This change would burn a £150,000 hole in the Prince’s pocket.

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This time around during the Vancouver Winter Olympics, do something more worthy rather than sitting at home and watching the games on TV. The non-profit group ‘United We Can’ is going to pay people $10 an hour to work for a four hour shift picking up cans and bottles from about 250 temporary recycling bins around downtown Vancouver. More than 70 residents of the Downtown Eastside are going to be engaged in the task ever since the city council has passed a grant of $50,000 to pay them for collecting the recyclables during the 2010 Winter Games. With so many visitors in the town during the time, it becomes an extra pressure to keep the city looking good, and also this way the non-profit organization can help provide work for those who make a living collecting cans and bottles on city streets. [cbc.ca]

Ceramic nanocoating is the new big thing in the green world. With the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies (RUSNANO) having thought about moving beyond just ceramic coatings on metal surfaces, the ceramic nanocoating idea is going to be applauded by many in the near future. Their more efficient process will replace toxic chemicals, heavy metals and other hazardous materials with much more sustainable anti-corrosion nanomaterials. Nano technology, as they prove is fast emerging as an important element even in solar power technology that enable to help keep solar panels clean with less amount of water, which in a way boosts the solar cell efficiency. [Cleantechnica]

Now even Dubai can hold up its head high when it comes to caring for the environment. With the whole Copenhagen summit on, it was high time everyone took energy saving and environment consciousness seriously. The Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry is now the first ever building in the Arab region to be globally recognized with green credentials. It has been the first building there to have achieved LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). Intelligently planned, the buildings efforts in going eco-friendly include reducing water and energy consumption by approximately 77% and 47% respectively between 1998 and 2008, leading to significant carbon emission reductions and accumulated savings of around seven million. Other efforts include recycling of paper, plastic and other electronic waste and free valet parking for visitors using fuel efficient vehicles. [Edie]

No matter how many conferences are held at the Copenhagen environment summit, no matter how much environmental degradation we face, no matter the ever increasing warnings and preaches to use less water, conserve energy, turning down the heat, reduce deforestation, driving small cars, it seems that the elite at Copenhagen itself have failed to practice what they have been preaching. The green-conscious conference is utterly buried in not just 8x11 white sheets, but the heavy cream-colored paper used in brochures and glossy red-and-yellow papers the United Nations uses to urge attendees to live a low-carbon lifestyle. Brochures are handed out by exhibitors from almost every NGO. These hundreds of pages are not even printed on recycled paper, nor do they use vegetable ink. Then there is the "Daily Programme," which comes in two parts every day. It tells you who is doing what, where and in which meeting room. Total pages on Tuesday: 56. The total Wednesday was 48, and everyone takes at least one. Do the math: 104 x 15,000 = 1.56 million sheets. And that's in just two days. It is appalling that in this electronic age, when almost everyone owns a laptop, why can’t things be done electronically over e-mails?

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The beautiful and massive Himalayas that spread across 1,550 miles through Asia harbor 10,000 glaciers. These majestic rivers of ice hold the third largest amount of fresh water on earth, and are source of water for the hundreds of rivulets across Asia. But sadly, over the years it has been observed that the ice clapped Himalayan glaciers have reduced by more than 20 percent. Scientists say that the rate of warming in the Himalayas has been about twice the global average over the last 3 decades. Previously the greenhouse gases were thought to be responsible for such an environmental change, but now scientists suggest that another more localized source of pollution emitted by industrial and other processes might be responsible for most of the melt. They say that Black soot is probably responsible for as much as half of the glacial melt and greenhouse gases are responsible for the rest. In conclusion scientists say more work is needed to pin down the relative contributions of black carbon and greenhouse gases. [LiveScience]

According to the recent study compiled by Germanwatch, a think tank, and the Climate Action Network (CAN), an alliance of environment pressure groups, the annual Climate Change Performance Index ranks countries based on their climate protection performance, comparing 57 industrialised countries and emerging economies. As per the study, China and US have been marked very poorly as far as their contribution towards protection of the environment is concerned. No country made it to the top three spots, while China and the US were ranked 52nd and 53rd respectively. Surprisingly, a developing country like Brazil was moved upward in the ranks for its cutting down deforestation by almost 50% in the last year. Saudi Arabia was by far the worst performer with a score of 28.7, ranking a distant last behind 59th-place Canada. [YahooNews]