Toilet systems get smarter and greener with innovations like the NoMix. This system in your bathroom apparatus helps separate urine and solid waste. This helps make the work of municipal waste plants easier and produces more methane to generate electricity. It also helps make the task of extracting phosphorous and nitrogen easier which can be used as fertilizers. Studies and surveys in 7 European countries have shown that around 75−85% of users are well satisfied with the NoMix’s designing, hygiene, smell, seating and comfort. 85% people have considered the use of these fertilizers as a good idea and 70% would purchase such food.

More...

Now here’s a piece of furniture that lets you exercise, work and lounge at the same time! This contraption was an entry at the Ideation Award 2010. Known as the “Go” this device was designed by Rizki Tarisa. Besides all its “at-one-place” features, it also uses human power to generate electricity. All you need to do is pedal the exercise bike, burn up those extra calories in your body and generate power. The Go let’s you entertain yourself while exercising too. You can browse the Internet and listen to your favorite tracks at the same time in the same place. This awesome invention in a chair lets you fulfill all your entertainment, work and physical exercising needs in one place.

More...

If you’ve always dreamt of looking like a little fairy, here’s an environment friendly energy generating way to do so. The Dandelion Wearable Windmill is more than just a set of fans that you can wear. Designed by Mary Huang and Jennifer Kay, this portable windmill is made out of 99% reclaimed materials. Its tiny circuitry converts wind energy harnessed by the blades into light energy which is emitted by tiny white LED lights in the prototype. The energy harnessed can also be used to power up a small device like your cell-phone or an mp3 player.

More...

A solar power plant built on the roof of a hanger is in fact a great way to reap energy from the sun, taken that it is exposed to the sun and has a large surface area. That’s exactly what happened at the Le Castellet International Airport in the South of France where the Solarquest power plant on the roof of the H5 hanger was inaugurated. Airport president Claude F. Sage states that this is yet another step taken towards a greener environment, after the environment friendly hotel recently built near the airport. According to director of the airport, Gérard Neveu, the airport needs to make itself fit enough to welcome the bust business planes with environmentally minded private jet travelers.

More...

Developing products that use solar energy as an alternative to conventional sources of energy is the ‘in’ thing. And the ‘light tree’ does just that. It is a street light which is made to look like a tree. It consists of nanotube solar cells which are used to generate light through ultra-bright LEDs. These solar cells absorb energy from all types of light waves during the day to provide enough energy to the LEDs during the night. However, the light tree is very different from any other concept which uses solar energy. The street lamps have water inside them. This water acts as a conductor for the light emitted by the LEDs placed at the base along with being used nourish the seeds which are placed at the extremities of this tree-like structure.

More...

Capitalizing on the global warming situation in the Arctic sounds alternative and China is making efforts to do so. The Arctic is navigable during the summer months due to which, resources can be accessed easily, which is why the Chinese government is allocating more resources to the Arctic. The region boasts of 90 billion barrels of oil that have never been accessed before and countries like Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the U.S. are debating as to who will control the frozen shipping routes. According to studies, the Northern Passage will be ice-free and accessible between 2010 and 2060. This will help cut travel costs by 40 percent. Unlike the other debating countries, China however does not have Arctic coasts and is not part of the Arctic council. Due to this, the country has no sovereign right on the waters of that region.

More...

Miami will proudly boast the worlds tallest building, if all goes as planned. This super tower known as Miapolis will be 183 meters higher than the Burj Khalifa. Designed by KOBI KARP, the building is a “city within a city” and will use futuristic cutting edge sustainable technology making it the world’s largest LEED-certified structure. To be built on Watson Island, the 160-floor eco-city will house entertainment zones, and amusement park, restaurants, and observatory, a 792 room hotel, 1000 apartments and a whole lot of space for shops and offices. Miapolis will be powered 60% by wind energy and will also use a green roof, greenhouse gas management systems, water desalinization, waste water management, electric trolleys and a whole load of other features packed in to make it the world’s largest green eco-friendly structure. The eco-city will also help revitalize downtown Miami by creating 46,000 construction and 35,000 permanent jobs for the locals.

More...

Imagine wearing a jacket that would tell you if the area you were entering was too polluted. This fantasy is made true by Industrial design students, Genevieve Mateyko and Pamela Troyer at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Canada, who have designed the “Detectair” jacket. Although this concept has been realised previously by inventions such as the ‘Breathless Corset’, which could detect if the amount of CO2 present around you was too high, the DetectAir is a step ahead of its competition. Detectair gauges the presence of other toxins such as alcohol, benzene, ammonia, nitrogen oxide along with carbon dioxide in the surroundings. It indicates the levels of these toxins by using an arrangement of LEDs that looks similar to human lungs and branches of blood vessels along with using small vibrators placed inside the jacket.

More...

The amount of data generated from various electronic devices is growing exponentially and storing this data is not the only problem faced by the digital world. Checking its validity is also equally important. Although accumulating data is a very difficult job, checking its validity requires more time and resources. However, in a recent record breaking experiment conducted by IBM researchers on the fourth most powerful supercomputer, 9 terabytes of data was analyzed in less than 20 minutes. This activity, which normally would have taken a day to be completed in the same system, was carried out by implementing a new method for checking the integrity of data designed by IBM researchers. That’s not all. This method used only 1% of the total amount of energy that would normally be required. Analysis of data is required in all fields ranging from traffic and water management to financial planning, and this method will be able to provide models with greater efficiency and accuracy.

More...

The Eilat-Eilot Renewable Energy Conference saw a whole load of ways to renewable energy. A solar powered camel sounds weird, but then again, the idea is practically the best way to help spread renewable energy in far flung places. So how does this technology work? Just drape a solar panel on a camel’s back, instead of an oriental shawl. Solar towers by Aora will also see the light soon. The one outside Kibbutz Samar is one of these technological marvels that use mirrors to reflect the sun’s rays to heat compressed air, which drives a turbine. 30 meters above ground, each tower generates 100 kilowatts of power and two of these are enough to juice up the whole of Kibbutz Samar. The tower can also switch from solar energy to fossils fuels on a cloudy day. A huge solar panel used to power electric cars was also displayed by Shai Agassi's ‘Better Place’ company.

More...

Whenever there is talk of the high requirement and usage of energy, we only think of gas-guzzling automobiles and large factories. We fail to consider the amount of energy spent in cooking food which, taking into account the ever-growing population, cannot be neglected. Philips has designed the Green Cuisine kitchen which lets you keep track of the amount of energy spent in the kitchen. It gives you information about the amount of energy spent for various purposes in the kitchen through surface screens and multiple sensors.

More...

Old wine in new bottle holds true for the new look of Luxurylaunches. All set to elevate the LUXURY quotient and mesmerize every luxury-seeker in this all-new avatar, Luxurylaunches promises to bring the best of every bit of opulent news to our reader's attention.

The interiors of these houses that might be the future of the way we live sure looks like it has been carved right into a marshmallow. But don’t try biting into the walls, since they aren’t going melt into your mouth. So what’s that colorful thing on the wall? It is the latest technological breakthrough being used in housing designs now known as DuPont Corian. Sculpted and chiseled by Canadian designer Karim Rashid, this sustainable housing concept is an organically shaped home and boasting every facility a modern home does, using DuPont Corian as the basis. The material is made with environmentally sustainable bio-sourced components and recycled products and is available in a whole load of colors to choose from. Designer Karim Rashid will show off this brainchild of his at the Milan Design Week 2010.

More...

How many times have we bought a power strip only to realize that it has either too few or too many sockets to accommodate our appliances? Well this new Multi Tab power strip by Soon Mo Kang might just be the solution we required. This unique power strip is made up of detachable tabs, which means that you only have as many sockets as you require and you can increase or decrease the number depending on your wish! This power strip not only eliminates the common problem of number of sockets but also takes care of problems like unplugging a single device while others are connected and identifying which plugs are for which device. Its tabs are designed in such a way that a tap on its top unplugs the device connected. Moreover, it has stickers which help to know which socket contains which device along with energy efficient LEDs which help to know if the power is on.

More...

Now Bill Gates too wants the earth to be a greener, cleaner and a more environment friendly place to live in. the big shot in the IT industry wants cleaner and cheaper energy. He stated the fact that carbon capture and storage and nuclear as well as wind and solar is the need of the day. Setting the clocks to 2050 as a deadline to reduce carbon emissions to zero, Bill Gates has also outlined a tight innovation and deployment timeline of 20 years to innovate and 20 years to deploy these innovations for future use.

More...