Alongside eco-friendly homes, even products and home appliances are chosen for a greener earth. Designer Giugiaro designed for Indesit Prime Range a range of extremely eco friendly built-in and free-standing appliances with pretty neat looks and advanced technical characteristics with the hopes to reduce consumption of resources but also giving great performance. First are the Prime fridges , a new class 'A+' models with 35 litres more capacity than normal ones. It will also an All-OK function provides optimum control of the state of food preservation in the fridge. The range’s dishwashers guarantee washing with water and energy consumption very low. The washing machines consume use lesser than 10 per cent energy than class 'A+' products and have a special Smart function that reduces washing time by up to 33 per cent. The stainless steel gas features a special double crown burner for good flexibility while cooking.

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Solar –powered housing developments aren’t a far reality. Many companies are taking initiatives to offer alternatives to support these projects as well. A company in Malaysia called ETI Tech Corporation is saying they want to be the first in the world to introduce a lithium-polymer based battery system for solar-powered homes. The battery will apparently be 100 per cent environment-friendly. It seems the company’s team dealing with this project has also set up a mock household to demonstrate how this one runs better than the typical lead acid batteries. The mock set had a TV set, a DVD player, three fluorescent lights and a fridge. The battery can more power with six pieces of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels as compared with 12 that lead acid batteries use. This is one of the company’s initiatives to eliminate harmful lead-acid battery use while supplying demand for renewable energy.

[Mmail]

Car pool was always used to save cost of fuel and time stuck alone in traffic. Zipcar came up with a fab idea for iPhone and iPod touch. It has released a new free application that will make interacting with the company's reservation service and vehicles better. The best feature is that the application can see Zipcar locations near you. It can also display a map and green pins indicate where the cars are. You can also search for cars using a zip code or a street address. You can search by time as well to see which cars should be available.

[Treehugger]

The winner for The 4th Bin Design Competition, a call for an electronic waste logo and recycling bin for New York City is the ‘Expand Recycling’ from the Netherlands. The design team consists of Lovisa Nersing, Giovanni Doci, John Kock, Marcel Schreuder, Niels Caris, Volker Pflüger, Christian Wiciok, Renze Rispens and Cornelia Einicke. It is intended to be stationed as the common recycling area for apartment and office buildings. A facility manager looks after the bin’s activities such as moving the recycling containers to the curbside or when it is full. A transmitter and a sensor in the bin alerts the recycling company when it is moved from the original spot and also helps in giving them the chance to customize the pickup routes and work more efficiently.

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The one electrical appliance that is most used these days in the corporate sector is the espresso machine. For those who like to have their cup of espresso but worries about all the electricity wasted, then the Presso Espresso is your answer to your prayers. It is a non electric, manual coffee maker, capable of producing the required pressure to make your cup of coffee. This machine is really intelligent as it uses energy only when you boil a cup of water and it is also made from recyclable polished aluminium.

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Well known home appliances brand Whirlpool has announced plans to produce one million smart clothes dryers by the end of 2011 which will be a quarter of its expected production by 2015. The smart dryers are expected to bring about lower electricity bills saving as much as $20 to $40 per year. The dryer will work in a smart system where it will power down during peak hours of energy use. The price of these are also not expected to be much more than the regular ones.

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MAYA Design has come up with a solar-powered interactive display for a “living building” under development at the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. It will use a powerful computer that will give details of the environment surrounding the building, which will be used as an educational center. This low-power prototype was developed by the company by using an electronic paper display developed by Cambridge, Mass.-based E Ink Corp. it hopes that the new design can engage its visitors with the kind of sustainable electronic display that is energy-intensive in conventional uses. The project is estimated to cost around $20 million and pursue standards of green design that go beyond a LEED platinum rating by the US Green Building Council.

[Bizjournals]

Saving electricity and opting to use solar power for lightning during nightfall is a trend that many are following. This is the SonUmbra solar-powered tree. It looks a lot like a tree with its branches and leaves and is composed of strands of light-emitting fabric woven into a lucent web of branches. The tree, designed by Loop.pH has a canopy with photovoltaic panels that captures light during the day. During night it shines brilliantly like a lit tree. This was showcased at this year’s London Design Festival. It is constructed from a light emitting fabric that is crafted into a lattice of electroluminescent fibers. It is a very interesting design.

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If you are classy enough to own a Louis Vuitton bag, then you should also be classy enough to think about the environment. If you are as inspired as Mark Farina, then you can upgrade your bag with a solar panel to charge your Louis Vuitton LV888 cellphone. What he did was use a flexible solar panel kit from Voltaic. The company has even posted a do-it-yourself instruction from Mark on upgrading the bag.

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We are always telling you guys how washing machines and dishwashers are the devices that consume the most amount of water in any household. Many designs have been coming up on how best to save water and protect our mother earth’s body water mass. The latest to join the bandwagon is Onis. Designers de Dietrich has introduced this dishwasher that is environmentally friendly and also cost effective when it comes to electricity bills. It uses very little water and does not use any detergent – instead it uses a combination of ultrasound and any type of acidifier such as vinegar.

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Science and engineering students have the most fun these days what with all sorts of insane, crazy and intelligent alternative ideas and products they come up with to save mother earth. One team of engineering students from Ohio State University kissed the wind at 300 mph recently with their hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle called - the Buckeye Bullet 2. It averaged 300.992 MPH, with a top recorded speed of 304 MPH, following in the footsteps of its predecessor, Buckeye Bullet, which was the first electric vehicle to break the 300 MPH barrier. This vehicle’s engine boasts 700 horse power fed by hydrogen fuel cells. The vehicle is a front-wheel drive. Inspiring model and excellent team. They are only now waiting for this to go official soon.Guess Jesse James is going to be shattered.

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This is a cool design – you can opt to have a breezy window during the clearer days or else shut it up and switch on the AC unit during summers. Italian company VentroVentilato has come up with this excellent system of simple double-or triple-glazed windows that incorporate a sensor-triggered fan. During winter, when the sun heats the air between the glass layers, the fan distributes the newly hot air into the room, providing heat. During summer, the heated air is conveyed directly outside the building. The company says that with this system, buildings will require far less powerful heating and air conditioning systems and thus helping in cost cuts.

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The best thing about aluminum cans is that it is pure joy to crush it. if you enjoy doing this as much as I do, then maybe you should take a look at this concept designed by Doug Wehrly for Zertronix. It is the Automatic Aluminum Can Crusher and is designed as a battery operated, automatic, aluminum, can crusher for domestic purposes. It works on a 18vdc power tool battery and can squash 40 cans on full charge. You can recycle the can to up to 40 per cent of their original volume. Fun! it is small and compact so you can take it along with you for picnics and beach barbecues as well.

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In many countries namely India, Africa, Indonesia, etc, the food is sometimes prepared outside using wood. As much as the food tastes awesome, the environment gets a little affected. So this design will be helpful although it is a far that to ever reach the mentioned countries. It is called the parabolic cooker concept – defined as the solution to avoid producing lot of CO2 when using liquid gas or wood while cooking. This uses solar power. The cooker heats rounding oil through solar energy and store the hot oil in an insulated tank that can store heat for days. You can control the movement of the oil in the heater or oven through certain valves. Useful, but is it really? It’s not like it can be common use in places like the Middle East, especially during summers. We will have to see.

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Electric cars, bikes, bicycles, buses, trucks, bulldozers – and now golf carts! If you like the greenery of a golf course because you genuinely enjoy environments, then you will maybe want to buy this - Mantys Electric Golf Cart where you can relieve yourself from carrying your golf bag about. This will be launched at the Golf Europe fair in Berlin this Sunday. It also features turf-saving tires, 18 kilometers per hour top speed, a range of 36 holes and holders for scorecards, cups, balls and tees. Interesting. No price given.

[Travelizmo]