Water filters today tend to keep you anxiously waiting while they get on with their job, to provide you with clean germ-free water. Give a few years in the future, and you just won’t have to wait so long for a sparkling clean glass of water to quench your thirst. A new nano-material was developed recently that purifies water 80,000 times faster than purifiers today, killing 98% bacteria. Water filters in the future will use cotton dipped in nano-sized silver wires and copper tubes. The filter was developed by researchers at the Stanford University which conducts a charge of electricity used to block bacterial flow. If the bacteria choose to remain stubborn and cling on to the filter, the silver in it kills them off. For now, researchers are figuring out ways to develop these filters using lighter materials and at cheaper costs.

More...

Well, if you live in Portland and plan to take your dog for a walk, rest assured, the experience is bound to be a whole lot different. Fido’s Indoor Dog Park, located in Southeast Portland, an industrial area, offers a place to take your canine friend for a walk, complete with artificial grass. The place is almost one-third of a football field, around 13,000 square feet. It’s more of a resort for canines, and includes a self-dog-wash area, private meeting rooms for owners, a coffee shop, wireless Internet access, a pool for dogs, and eight dens for canines who wish to stay there for a night. And yes, this one makes an effort to be sustainable too, with products in the retail store sourced locally, nontoxic paints used, ozonated water in pools with 98% less chemicals, grass made of recycled materials and natural cleaners to clean up urine, Biozyme. The poop is collected in biodegradable bags and plans to use the waste for compost are currently under the hammer.

More...

Tokyo can now proudly flaunt its own solar powered motor-assisted bicycle stand! The newly opened station near Sakura Shinmachi Station on the Tokyu Den-en-toshi Line is the second of its type in the locality. The first one opened up sometime ago near Sakura Josui Station on the Keio Line, and with the stand at Kyodo Station on the Odakyu Line, around 100 motor-assisted bikes can now be rented out, all powered by energy from the sun! For 300 yen a day, users can pick up these bikes. To charge them up, the solar cells at the stands use solar power to charge up some large-capacity Li-ion rechargeable batteries. This energy is then transferred to the bikes Li-ion rechargeable batteries when hooked in.

More...

And then there are those times when we need to heed natures call, and a decent place to do so isn’t really in sight. So, we could probably use the Poosh, or maybe even the X-Runner by designer Noa Lerner. If you still haven’t realized what we’re talking about, get a hold of this… a mobile toilet! No running water? No problem! All you need is this barrel like contraption, into which you do your business and the trade it all in for some energy, which could be anything from cooking gas, warm showers or electricity. The barrel is nano-coated and can be used for an entire week without you needing to empty it. And no, a weeks poop isn’t going to stink like there’s no tomorrow.

More...

Answering natures call isn’t that easy for people around the globe as it is for us. Not everyone in the world has a proper access to acceptable levels of sanitation. At times, in extreme poverty and far flung areas, people simply use the ground for reasons similar. So, designers YoonHee Kim, Hannie Yu, Eunjung Choi, Mark Whiting, and Prof. Sangmin Bae have come to their aide with this innovative solution to sanitation. The toilet seat, known as the Poosh is basically a portable toilet. The Poosh is a bucket mounted toilet and works great with low smell, and an easy to use toilet seat that fits most bucket sizes. When in use, it opens automatically and closes when you;re done. This helps reduce all that nasty smell and health risks too.

More...

Now rainwater harvesting seems to be a pretty good and green idea. But using a table to do the same seems just as out-worldly as fitting on solar panels and a wind turbine to your picnic table and bench. Simon Davies came up with this idea to design an outdoor table that’s capable of rainwater harvesting. Taken that you’d use this one in your garden, it makes perfect sense, with the table harvesting the rainwater and storing it for later gardening uses. The table is made from mixed polymers and the top surface channels the water. You can detach the table top from the lower tank too. And when needed, the water flows out from a tap at the bottom of the table.

More...

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]

If you love the environment and happen to visit Finland, make sure you drive across the green road that will stretch from Turku on Finland's southwestern coast to Vaalimaa near the Russian border, a whole 130 kilometers (81 miles) of eco-friendliness. The project will basically have the highway transform into a route providing ethanol produced from regional waste, biofuels and electricity. The idea was originally conceived by the municipality of Loviisa. The highway will be the first of its kind in the world and an example to others. It will include systems like smart lighting that will switch of lights in unused areas and adjust lights according to the weather.

More...

Not a lot of space outside to grow your own garden? Well, you can do so indoors instead, with Pocket Grow’s LabBox. This currently is the world’s smallest automatic hydroponic system and uses some pretty cutting-edge technology for that. Plants as we know require loads of light and all of natures loving care to grow and survive. The LabBox does just that, using an automatic drip irrigation system. It is also equipped with energy-efficient LED lights and an enchanting purplish blue glow that will sure keep your plants happy and increase the aesthetics of your room. A fully contained terrarium, the LabBox makes certain that your little green friends live a happy and content life, with all the care nature would give them.

More...

New York Bellevue Fire District No. 9 station’s firemen sure have a lot less to worry about, especially when it comes to power management and the carbon footprints they’ve been leaving behind all this while. And that’s because the fire station is now adorned with a crown of photovoltaic panels that are busy soaking in the sun and generating some energy for the firefighters and their station. This huge installation was funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and uses 140 panels rated at 200 watts each producing more than 23 kilowatts of electricity. The firefighters hope this will do away with the stations power consumption by at least 14%.

More...

Ever wondered who cleans all those parts of a Mars Rover and keeps it shiny, sparkly, clean and dust-free? There certainly aren’t any car-washes on Mars. The Rovers just clean themselves up. Using sensors and systems that detect dust buildups and get rid of them, a Mars Rover makes sure it keeps itself dust-free. Scientists now think a similar technology can be used to keep our solar panels back here on earth clean and maintenance free. This of course will also help increase their efficiency. The system uses an electric charge that keeps away dusts from solar panels. Developed by Dr. Malay Mazumder for NASA, these will help keep clean solar panels, most of which are located in dusty deserts.

More...

Its time the world realizes the need to plant more trees. We’ve just been chopping them up all this while. And there sure doesn’t seem to be a better way to plant trees than sit back, relax, and have your robot do your bit for the environment. Designer Anna-Karin Bergkvist came up with this four-legged robot, who loves the environment just as much as you do. It steps carefully through foliage while planting, using its extendable planting arm and planting head. It also makes sure trees aren’t chocked to death by vines using hot steam to get rid of them. This robotic planter plants seeds in bio-degradable barriers that keep away pests until a stage where the plant can fend for itself and grow into a tree.

More...

Americans have been scratching their chins and chewing their pencils hesitant and confused as to how exactly energy can be conserved. According to a recent survey, people usually overlook the energy saving features of appliances, and have a poor perception of technology like this. People have a lack of knowledge regarding issues like the environment and need to be educated on the subject. For an American today, switching off a light is the best way to energy conservation. What he hasn’t focused on yet is the fact that the light can be energy-efficient too! In the survey, the people interviewed were asked a good way to save energy. Around 55% said grounding their cars seemed best, while just 11.7% spoke of energy efficient cars!

More...

This family sure isn’t having any happy times by their pools side. They prefer using it for something green instead! Living in Mesa, Arizona, the family of four has converted an old swimming pool in their backyard into a greenhouse, designed and built by them! Named the Garden Pool, this greenhouse is home to all kinds of vegetables and herbs, chickens and tilapia fish too! The family started work on the pool somewhere in 2009, and have completed before the expected 2012 deadline. The Garden Pool gives them 8 fresh eggs a day, unlimited tilapia fish, organic fruit, veggies, and herbs 365 days a year! This obviously decreases their grocery bill. The family is still working on it to make it greener, incorporating a solar power system, water conservation, biofiltration methods, and loads more.

More...

The red LED has broken a record now, turning out to be more efficient than any other diode that operates at the same wavelength, after having its efficiency raised by up to 30% by Osram Opto Semiconductors, creating a high-performance red light-emitting diode. Usually used in the vehicle taillights and brake lights, illuminating buildings, warning lights, and to generate one of the base colors in small projector, red LEDs with higher efficiency are capable of emitting a higher light output at the same level of power consumption. To some extent, this helps save space too, taken that fewer LEDs are needed. The red Golden Dragon Plus LED developed emits at a wavelength of 615 nanometers (nm) and delivers 119 lumens of light per watt at a current of 350 milliamperes with a high efficiency of 44%.

More...