With depleting oil reserves and swelling energy costs, it is time to hunt for alternatives that assure power in abundance. Solar powered and wind powered villages and towns aren’t new concepts. But energizing much larger areas like big states and countries with sun’s energy is a bright thought! And Ben Bova, president of the National Space Society, intends to revive Nicola Tesla’s theory of wireless power. He hopes that the to-be president of the United States commissions a $1 billion solar power satellite for NASA. The satellite would harness energy directly from the sun and broadcast it back to a receiver on Earth using microwave frequencies. Unlike the solar power generators that are currently set up, this kind of satellite is estimated to power up millions of homes with non-stop flow as it will not be affected by cloudy or rainy days. Also the source is not exhaustible and the process will involve no wastage or emissions.
Though humans are doing their bit to change the current non-eco-friendly scenario, the world’s most famous doll is also set to do her bit for our globe. Found in every girl’s toy chest, Barbie is undeniably a reflection of current cultural trends and issues. And to motivate kids from a tender age to make a green statement, Mattel has teamed up with Wal-Mart for an eco-friendly program dubbed as ‘Give Back with Barbie Cares‘. Scheduled for 8th of this month, this in-store program will call out for all the Barbie lovers to bring in their Barbie dolls. These donated dolls will be used in a pilot program that will explore the possibility of toy recycling. And for every doll, Mattel will donate a new doll to a local children’s hospital, up to 100,000 dolls. Also donors can capture their early green acts by getting clicked at the venue with Barbie and receive a coupon to print a free 4×6″ photo from the Kodak Picture Maker that same day.
The New York City is in news for reasons not so green! The much pursued proposal of turning the signature yellow NYC cabs to green has come to a halt. A federal judge has dared to defy Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s intentions of running eco-friendly yellow cabs on the roads by 2012. Though Bloomberg is fuming with anger and New York with pollution, it is the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade that has filed a lawsuit against this green move. This trade association claims to represent a quarter of the city’s cabs and they justify their stand by stating that the hybrids aren’t safe enough for use as cabs, which take a beating on city streets. However the judge in question, Paul A. Crotty, did not rule on the safety issues. He admitted to agree with the plaintiffs that only the federal government has the authority to enforce fuel efficiency standards.
Coming up with innovative ideas to harness alternative energy is the latest fad. And the latest ingenious attempt is the Bionic Energy Harvester. Designed by the researchers at Simon Fraser University, this device is actually an orthopedic knee brace that can be worn to assist ailing knees. Being absolutely light in weight, this wearable device can actually harvest energy as its helps in moving about with ease. A pair of such a brace can extort up to 13 watts of power. Practically speaking, one minute of walking will generate about half an hour of talking on a mobile phone. Though such an invention may not appeal to common man, it is certainly a boon for those who are dependent on such braces.
Akin to Midas’s golden touch, folks with a green thumb can turn anything in to a green product. An eye to see green in every discarded or cast off stuff is all that is needed to earn a prize for the best ‘Best out of Waste’ product. Strannik from Russia is gifted with this knack and here is his red hot recycled creation. This dude has transformed the used fire extinguishers in to outstanding functional loud speakers. A must have for a fireman’s den, such speakers will ring out a person’s passion for fighting fire and also love for music. Though lots of expertise is required for such a DIY modification, these red hot fire extinguishers will put out all the strenuous pains by doling out foot taping tunes. Roll over for more images….
It is time to turn to another planet as our globe is facing the trial of being fiercely overpopulated. Overpopulation in turn is leading to disappearance of reserves and resources. In spite of all the attempts to save our earth and its natural wealth, the future doesn’t seem to be promising. WWF Living Planet Report 2008 sums up that the world is heading for an environmental credit crunch! Thanks to the never-ending human demands that are stripping this planet of its natural treasury at alarming rate. Pushing aside the ongoing global financial crunch, its time to wake up to the non-reversible damages that humans have incurred upon their own livable planet. James Leape, the director general of WWF International rightly states that “Reckless consumption is endangering our future prosperity.” The report also pinches us with a terrifying fact that if our demands on the planet continue at the same rate, by the mid-2030s, we’ll need the equivalent of two planets to maintain our lifestyles.
The concrete jungle is packed with buildings and towers that barely leave any space for your green dream abode. This necessitates the need to move out of the terrestrial boundaries on to the blue waters in the well-designed eco-friendly houseboats. Designed by confused-direction and christened as Schwimmhaus, these eco-friendly house boats are intending to float on the German waters in the coming spring. Comfortably spacious to house a bachelor or a couple, this house on water consists of one bedroom, a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom. Spreading out to14m in length and 3m in breadth, Schwimmhaus rises to 4m above the water level. Still in conceptual stages, this house boat boasts of a green roof and other zero emission features. Another green feather on its hat is that the boat is crafted out of recycled wood from an old farm barn.
Reverse back the budget-killing reality of spending money to run a car with the latest concept of earning money off the same car. Bless Stein who has come up with this idea of powering the national grid with the electricity generated from the electrical vehicles (EVs) when not in use. This ground-breaking concept is dubbed, vehicle to grid (V2G). It is based on the fact that most of the cars are not being used and spend about 90 percent of their time motionless. Such an income generating scheme is boon for folks who walk to work or make the best of public transport and let their cars rest in garages.
In India, a petroleum firm is all geared up to serve purified water at the company’s gas stations. A green twist to this simple venture is that the water sold will actually be a byproduct of hydrogen fuel cells. Based in Mumbai, Bharat Petroleum has come up with this innovative plan to make ‘green’ purified water available to almost every corner of the country. It is estimated that for every 1,000 MW of energy, about 1 million metric tons of clean water will flow out. Now that’s some thirst-quenching information as studies state that about 1,600 Indians die every day as a result of water-borne diseases.
Rolls-Royce is seriously considering building electric versions of its cars, probably as plug-in hybrids, the company’s new CEO, Tom Purvis, says the company needs to prepare itself for much-tougher inner-city CO2 legislation, and believes that the near-silence of electric propulsion, and the fact that full torque is available from a standstill. Having just driven the new electric Mini, Purves was ‘bowled over’, raving about its power delivery and quietude. He now thinks such a powerplant would be perfect for his own brand as well. Purves also envisions a future where traditional combustion-powered cars might be banned outright from city centers – not an unrealistic idea, given London’s current congestion charge and the vehement opposition to larger vehicles in the UK and Europe. When we observe how their owners use cars, you soon see that they do either huge open-road mileages, or relatively small distances in urban areas, Purvis believes that an electric Rolls-Royce would be ideal for the second category.
