Designed by Joh Minhoo, these solar powered swimming goggles come fitted with an LCD panel. Dubbed, My Pace Goggle, this pair is ideal for those who are keen to improve their speed and timing. Ideally a coach supervising the swimmer can inform him/her only after the lap is over. But with this innovative green pair of goggles, the swimmer can keep a track of time and speed while swimming only. This will be a boon for those keen to improve their performance without delay! It is possible as the panel includes an electronic watch and track recorder, which beam timings and certain stats in the peripheral view of the swimmer. All this is aptly designed so that it will not obstruct the swimmer's view while in action.

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Since Friday most of us are glued to news channels on television or over internet to grab the latest on nature’s fury over Japan. Sitting far away in different corners of the globe, many are keen to extend a helping hand. But HOW? Here are a few trustworthy options that we have listed down which are just as simple as texting from any part of the world. Such small gestures will make a difference!

· Red Cross - Use your cell phone to text-message REDCROSS to 90999 to make the $10 donation, or visit the Red Cross.

· Salvation Army – Operating since 1895 in Japan, the Salvation Army is currently providing emergency assistance the needy. Text JAPAN or QUAKE to 80888 to make a $10 donation or donate online at here.

· Save the Children – This organization is accepting donations for its Children's Emergency Fund. You can text “JAPAN” or “TSUNAMI” to 20222 to donate $10 or visit Save the Children.

· Mercy Corps - Text “MERCY” to 25283 to donate $10 or visit Mercy Corps to know more.

· International Medical Corps - A donation of $10 will be accounted to your mobile phone bill when you Text MED to 80888.

· GlobalGiving - Text JAPAN to 50555 to donate $10. This Washington based organisation is providing relief and emergency services to victims of the earthquake and tsunami.

· Google - They have launched a Person Finder service to search for the missing and also post an update about their status. This service is available in Japanese as well as English and provides information of ‘already found’ people.

· Facebook – Folks at Explore.org are donating $1 for every “Like” of the “Dog Bless You” Facebook page, up to $100,000.

· iTunes - Apple has created a donation page in iTunes to donate $5 to $200 to the Red Cross.

You can help us by sharing this information by tweeting about it, liking it on Facebook or simply mailing it to your family and friends. It is advised to donate to recognized charities and aid organizations only.

Marriott International has been keeping pace with the green revolution and is working effectively to lead it. The company has officially listed that they have reduced their energy consumption by 11% and greenhouse gas emissions by 10.7% since 2007. This progress only strengthens ambition to achieve their goal of reducing 25% energy and water consumption per available room by 2017. This is stated in a global report and Marriott has qualified as the first major U.S.-based hospitality management company in it.

[Hotelsmag]

Google is escalating up the green path by funding many eco projects. Along with Good Energies, and Marubeni, Google has lately invested in the Atlantic Wind Connection project. This will help shape up a 350-mile power transmission backbone linking wind turbines several miles offshore with sites along the United States East Coast. The costs of the backbone project are estimated to be $5 billion and it stated to power up about 1.9 million households with almost 6,000 megawatts of energy. Though Google is offering 37.5% of the project’s development-stage funding, it is calculated to be just a fraction of what is ultimately required. Trans-Elect, the company that is executing the project, plans to complete it almost a decade later in 2021 by commencing the construction in 2013.

[Cnet]

The weight and the bulk of the battery in electric cars have been the focus of concern for the automakers especially when a futuristic designed car moves to the production stage. However Volvo has zoomed past this hurdle with its latest move of designing a car’s whole body to work as a rechargeable battery. Volvo is the only automaker along with seven other European institutes that has taken part in this three year project at London’s Imperial College to develop the technology. Though this one is also a concept yet, the car body is shaped to be made of a composite blend of carbon fibers and polymer resin that can store and charge more energy than conventional batteries. The carmaker also claims that the weight of the car can be reduced by 15 percent with such a material, which adds on to its green portfolio.

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Though an e-book is considered to a green alternative to printed newspaper, BenQ intends to make it greener by unveiling a solar powered e-book reader. Unveiled at its 2010 Global Distributors' Meeting, Taiwan, the BenQ K60 e-book reader with a built-in PV power supply will be launched in 2011. Though this product has hit the production stage, the company also lured keen consumers with a solar powered notebook concept. This green notebook is designed with a PV panel built on the external surface of the cover. Hope such a sun-feeding notebook gets a green signal to hit production too!

[DigiTimes]

Sanyo Electric has teamed up with public transport operator, Ryobi to installed solar cells on the roof of a city bus, dubbed Solarve, in Japan. Sanyo claims that this is the world's first solar-cell-equipped public bus. Ryobi has developed this green futuristic bus to commemorate its 100 year anniversary. All set to start rolling on the streets of Okayama from next week, the solar powered roof of Solarve will illuminate the LED lights inside the bus. A total of 798 watts from Sanyo’s solar cells will power the interior lights and when sun shies away, the storage batteries of the bus will take over. Much expected from the land of rising sun!

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Plastic vehicles will soon replace heavy metal based trucks to clear waste in UK. In a bid to reduce their own carbon footprint a Kent based waste firm, Verdant, plans to introduce eight plastic trucks which in turn will drive to save up to 11 tonnes of carbon per year. Manufactured by Linktip, these trucks will help to save about $3,900 worth fuel per vehicle per year. At the same time these 'polybuilt' vehicles can ship up to twice the load compared to current traditional waste-carrying trucks. Weighing just 3.5 tonnes, these vehicles are based on either Mitsubishi Canter or Mercedes Sprinter chassis and sport a tipping rear body made of polypropylene plastic. Smart way to keep our environment as well surroundings clean!

[Greenbiz]

Clayton Homes’ i-houses apparently didn’t hit it off well last year and hence the company is back with an upgraded version dubbed, i-house 2.0. This new "plug and play" dwelling spreads out over three bedrooms, two bathrooms and flexible indoor-outdoor space. With an expanded butterfly roof, this larger prefab model may lure eco-buyers this year. Though there is no official word on the pricing for i-house 2.0, you can have a look at the video of the lay out provided by Clayton.

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Apple is not transparent about its green moves and hence turned down UK’s first green cellphone ranking system. Though other big brands like Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung have signed up, Apple has shied away. O2 has launched the scheme which intends to cover 93% of the devices used by its clients. Based on their environmental footprint, the cellphones will get a rating of zero to five. It will judge right from the use of raw material to manufacturing process and packaging. Features like energy efficiency, recyclable and long-lasting will also have an impact on the ratings. Though Apple is not citing clear reasons to avoid being a part of this green ranking, the company is taking green shade under its environmental reporting online. However note that Sony Ericsson Elm tops the rating as the most sustainable mobile phone with 4.3 out of five.

[Treehugger]

Back in 2009, we reported about hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle Buckeye Bullet 2 breaking records. This time again Buckeye Bullet 2 has set new records but in a battery-powered avatar. Teaming up with Monaco-based electric car manufacturer Venturi , Ohio State University team has replaced the fuel cells with lithium-ion batteries. This boosted the average speed to 291 mph which is a new battery-powered vehicle record. Expect such a green beast to hit the roads in 2011!

[Engadget]

The guys at Washington DC are sure striving hard to keep their city clean and green, and the streets sparkling. The SmartBike program, the first of its kind in the United States, a bike sharing program, is all set to expand and grow. To be based on Montreal’s Bixi, there will soon be ten times more stations and bikes in this program. Currently, the SmartBike program has just 120 bikes and 10 stations, though the new initiative will extend to 1,100 bikes and 114 stations, spreading around the district and into Arlington County too. The costs of memberships will double up too, increasing from the current $40 to $80 for a year.

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Making a little craft flower isn’t the only way to reuse and recycle pencil shavings now. You can make an eraser out of it too! Pull your jaw back on and get a hold of this. Designed by Hao Gin Weng, Siang Yin Ke, and Che Hao Li, this little machine uses the shavings from a pencil to make erasers. Now there are a few doubts as to how exactly would bits of wood combined with lead help erasing pencil marks off paper, but the designer has thought about that too while putting this baby together. So all you need to do is, draw out a picture, then somehow break the pencil point, stick it into the sharpener, turn the crank, have a sharp pencil, and an eraser too!. A great way to put to use all those bits off wood shopped out of your pencil by the sharpener. This indeed is the best way to recycle, at your study table. Source

Ever wondered what would come between the A1 and the A3? Well, Audi now have the new A2, waiting to be unleashed. The new A2, unlike all the other A series cars will be a green and clean one though. The car will be a fuel electric vehicle, to give the BMW Megacity and a similar Mercedes-Benz a bit of competition. The previous A2 was phased out by Audi five year ago and used an aluminum space frame construction. The new A2 however will use traditional steel, to instead of aluminum, due to costs. The car will also borrow some of its styling from the older version, meaning that it might retain its tall one-box design structure and narrow tracks. Audi is sure to take the EV industry by storm with the new A2. Source

The automobile industry is slowly but surely turning towards the greener horizon, with green designs, cars and technology being developed on a regular basis. Well, Sanyo has made its mark in the Guinness World Records now with some of their electric vehicle technology. Sanyo pepped up a Mira EV, powered by a Sanyo lithium-ion battery, and set out to break the world record for the longest drive in an electric vehicle on a single charge. And that’s exactly what happened, with the car travelling 1,003.84 kilometers without charging the battery. The Japan EV Club drove 555.6km last month on a single charge, from Tokyo to Osaka. This time the distance was doubled, using a Sanyo lithium-ion designed by 8,320 cylindrical lithium-ion batteries. The Mira EV ran for 27 hours at a speed of 40km/h, completing the journey and breaking the record. An awesome efficiency indeed, hopefully our future electric cars go this far on a single charge. Source