This year, the Super Bowl is all set to go green and has come up with ways to be the greenest NFL championship ever held! Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium and the Super Bowl Host Committee have worked together to turn the Super Bowl super green. With the Lucas Oil Stadium going green with 100% recycled toilet paper, water preservation faucets, CPI lighting, natural lighting and ventilation. Recycling will be kept in mind this Super Bowl with strategically placed recycling bins around the stadium and in hotels, restaurants and in residential areas. Also, the Project Plug-In initiative by the Super Bowl Host Committee has helped set up and fund two charging stations for electric cars at the stadium’s parking lot.

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It is a known fact that LED bulbs use lesser energy to power up than the conventional bulb and using these help shorten electricity bills substantially. Now, Toshiba has unveiled two new LED lamps, a daylight-running lamp and an incandescent lamp with brightness levels of 600 and 485lm respectively. These LED lamps matchup to the brightness levels of a 40W incandescent light bulb and use just 7.4W of power. These are the first T-type (cylindrical) LED lamps by Toshiba and will be included in the E-core series.

[techon.nikkeibp]

Solar energy soaking systems could soon get cheaper and could work as a boon for developing nations who have no connections to electricity grids whatsoever with this new development that featured in the Scientific Reports a short while ago. Researchers today are working on creating a chemical that can be mixed with green plants to create a paintable biophotovoltaic material that could harness the energy of the sun! Without the need of sophisticated laboratory equipment and the like, this material could very well be painted on the roofs of houses in developing areas, helping people living there generate energy from renewable sources like the sun! A mix-up of biology and electronics, the chemical helps use the photovoltaic abilities of plants for the betterment of humankind.

[cnet]

Airbags are one of those things that can never serve the same purpose twice. Once deployed, these life saving bags of air that prevent a driver’s face from crashing into the steering wheel on impact are cut out and replaced. So, instead of tossing the material from used airbags into trash-cans, the guys at MariClaro recycle it all into trendy backpacks. Based in Toronto, the sustainable design company makes fashion accessories and apparel from recycled materials. This backpack in particular is made from 99% recycled materials and takes up to three weeks to make. However, the $300 price tag might seem a bit too hefty on one’s pocket, though we applaud the idea behind this recycle-reuse idea.

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Remember the Silver Surfer who showed up in the Fantastic Four flick? This vehicle we just stumbled across could make for the perfect ride for the planet destroyer, if he ever did chose to jump off that gleaming surf-board and chose to drive instead. Called the SPV (solar powered vehicle), this futuristic contraption on wheels is powered by solar energy and uses flexible thin-film modules on its aluminum structure to power up. By designer Omer Sagiv, the SPV is sleek and shiny as ever and is seriously energy efficient too. However, its sheer size and uniqueness doesn’t really make it for an ideal way to travel to work, particularly on a rainy day!

[tuvie]

The EPA pulled out yet another list of some of the greenest businesses out there, and the result this time seems to be pretty fascinating. Walmart, earlier ranked 15th for green energy purchases has moved up to the 3rd spot on the newest list by the EPA. With 872,382,088 kilowatt-hours of Walmart’s energy being sourced from biogas, wind power, or solar power, the retail giant has made it pretty clear that it means green. First up on the list however is Intel Corp, followed by Kohl's Department Stores for the maximum green energy purchases when it comes to businesses.

[treehugger]

K-TOR has come up with an innovative way to help you workout and create some green juice too. Behold the Power Box! This efficient contraption is portable and can be carried to work or used at home. Essentially a charging device that uses pedals to charge up your gizmos including tablets, smartphones and media players, the K-TOR Power Box sports outlets enabling you to simply plug in your device adapter and have it juice up as you pedal away to glory. This works as a fantastic way to exercise your legs and burn some calories in the bargain too. Measuring 4.5 x 4.5 x 8.75 inches and weighing in at just 4 lbs. (1.8 kg), the Power Box is your answer to an eco-conscious healthy living.

[gizmag]

BMW’s Zentrum Museum has now gone greener than ever with the automaker completing a one-of-a-kind solar installation that will completely power up the facility. Spending a whopping $500,000 for the same, BMW installed 400 solar modules in front of the museum, each capable of soaking in 240 watts worth of solar juice. The installation generates about 96,000 watts, enough to power up the sprawling 24,000-square-foot facility. And that’s not all. BMW has also installed three electric charging stations to juice up electric cars at the museum and we applaud the automaker’s efforts to go a darker shade of green.

[goupstate]

You’d expect a structure as humongous as this to gulp down more electricity than a couple of apartment blocks. This installation at the Ghent Light Festival in Belgium by Luminarie De Cagna however proves to be shockingly energy efficient. Using a total of 55,000 LED bulbs, this cathedral of lights sports majestic renaissance arches and is a treat for the eyes indeed. Towering 28 meters high, the installation makes use of just 20 Kwatt/h of energy, making it a one-of-a-kind visually pleasing piece of art and innovation that keeps the environment smiling, without stamping out ugly dark carbon footprints.

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London will now play home to greener taxis, beginning with two Renault Fluence Z.E.s that have finally been commissioned and authorized for hire. These cabs by Climatecars are low on carbon emissions and are the future of green taxis in London. The taxis are available at the same rate as conventional gas-guzzlers, though hiring these instead does the environment a favor. The taxis in particular sport a 115 mile range on a full charge and are comfortable enough to suit all the expectations you’d look for in a taxi! A better alternative to the iconic black London cabs that have been known to spew out enough smoke in the environment to create little trails of clouds behind them, these green taxis make public transport in London cleaner.

[thegreencarwebsite]

Hip Hop has been accused of ruining people’s vocabulary before. However, the pumping thumping music that usually lacks the need for great lyrics does have its benefits too. Those deep and heavy bass notes for one could pretty much help power these new implantable sensors being developed at Purdue University. These biomedical sensors uses acoustical waves and particularly those of lower frequencies found in house, hip hop and trance music. The researchers found hip hop to work best however, and these implants could pretty much change the way we live in the near future.

[inhabitat]

Nissan chose to go green with its delivery system this time and seems to have made an efficiently green choice by using a solar powered ship to deliver its Leaf vehicles throughout Japan. Called the Roro ship, this vessel is partially solar-powered and uses 281 solar panels. Complete with light-emitting diode (LED) lighting to save energy. The Roro can carry up to 1,380 cars at a time. The ship will make the 1,100-mile from Oppama Wharf near Yokohama to the southern Japan island of Kyushu. The ship has about 18% lower Co2 emissions than a convention ship of its size with the panels helping save up on more than 1,300 tons of fuel annually!

[green.autoblog]

General Motors has come up with a great way to further give your Chevrolet Volt a greener shade. Using the OnStar navigation system, Volt owners will now be informed just when their utility companies use renewable energy sources for power generation, notifying one in regards to the ideal time to recharge the car. Currently working with utility firm PJM Interconnection, GM’s OnStar users will be notified what percentage of a grid's power supply is coming from renewable source, helping them regulate their car-charging activities as per peak renewable-energy time. Generally for wind energy, PJM suggests the 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. timeframe. A clever way to recharge your Volt with green juice from the comfort of your home-charging-station, this move could help decrease your car’s carbon footprint substantially.

[autoblog]

In an attempt to provide for a better service in the Big Apple, New York’s Bike-Sharing program is now asking city dwellers to suggest places where the Bike-Share stations should be ideally located! The new program will bring a whopping 10,000 bicycles to the city, with stations set up in and around Brooklyn and Manhattan. The final and exact locations however still need to be determined and the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) will host workshops where citizens can show up and suggest the exact locations that’ll ideally suit these stations. A simple yet fantastic way of ensuring every New York City dweller has his or her say in the setting up of these stations, we applaud the NYC-DOT for the effort.

[treehugger]

Travelling around the world is remarkable indeed. Travelling around the world, solely powered by solar energy however is more than just a super human feat! SolarWorld, the largest U.S. solar panel manufacturer, has now sponsored a sun-powered car that will attempt a journey across the globe, feeding on solar juice only. Called the SolarWorld Gran Turismo (GT), the project was set up jointly by SolarWorld and Bochum University of Applied Sciences in Germany. The car in question is a two-seat sports car powered by roof-integrated solar cells and completion of the feat will be rewarded with an entry in the "Guinness Book of World Records" for the longest distance covered by a solar car. We wish the SolarWorld Gran Turismo (GT) a bon voyage and all the success it deserves!

[marketwatch]