Image Source: Jalopnik
Hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles have been around for a while now but the concept of hydrogen-powered automobiles is a relatively new concept. We’ve yet to see a commercially viable hydrogen-powered vehicle.
However, Scottish and Southern Electricity (SSE) has agreed to test hydrogen-fuelled vans in an attempt to decarbonising its fleet of vans which regularly travel the length and breadth of the country. (more…)
Image Source: Tgdaily
Earlier in July, we saw a Swiss-built Solar Impulse completed the first ever 24-hour flight by a manned solar-powered aircraft, reaching a record-breaking height of 8,500m. Meanwhile, a month later UK engineering firm QinetiQ’s unmanned Zep hyr plane flew for 82 hours and 37 minutes above the US Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.
Now, the aircraft manufacturing giant Boeing has confirmed that it is working on a space-age plane design that could keep flying for up to five years using only solar power. (more…)
Image Source: Businessgreen
Last week we told you about Yahoo’s chicken coop-inspired green data centre that uses 100 percent outside air for cooling. Well, Capgemini UK is boldly claiming to have created the most sustainable datacentre in the world in Swindon, where the climate is apparently optimal for the fresh-air cooling system it has implemented. (more…)
This proof-of-concept version of the photoelectrochemical cell, which was used for laboratory tests, contains a photoactive solution made up of a mix of self-assembling molecules (in a glass cylinder held in place by metal clamp) with two electrodes protruding from the top, one made of platinum (the bare wire) and the other of silver (in a glass tube). / Image Source: MIT
Modern solar materials, which range from the rigid-silicon panels found on rooftops to the flexible, organic type that can be coated like paint onto surfaces, all degrade over time when exposed to sun and oxygen. The result of this damage is that the material’s ability to turn sunlight into electricity decreases over time. (more…)
Image Source: Yankodesign
As more and more people are adapting to green living, designers and engineers are realising they need to keep green living in mind when they design new products. Here’s a concept of the future of living from a team of 26 designers. This house effectively utilise renewable energy and resources and fully complies with the concept of reduce, reuse, recycle. (more…)
The Park Spark features a gas lamp fuelled by dog poop / Image Source: Gizmag
Last month we told you about a car that uses methane gas generated from the sewage-treatment process. Well, here’s another interesting project from an American conceptual artist Matthew Mazzotta who would like to see the dog poop fed into digesters that use it to produce methane gas, which is then used for fuel. The project/installation — called Park Spark at a dog park in Cambridge, Massachusetts — features a lamp that lights the park at night, powered by nothing but dog doo. (more…)
Reverse Vending Machines give users cash for their empties / image source: Gizmag
Recycling companies are coming up with innovative ways to pay the people for recycling their empties. In one such initiative, a Reverse Vending Machine (RVM) — that takes in empty recyclable bottles and cans, and gives out cash in return — have been introduced at the Centro Hollywood shopping mall in Adelaide, Australia.
The empties recycling process starts with users placing their empties in the RVM’s feed unit. Each bottle or (more…)
Inkjet and toner cartridge recycling is considered as a relatively easier and simpler way to raise funds for schools. Good news for the schools that recycle printer cartridges is that GreenTech now pay up to £12 for each empty printer cartridge.
According to a recent research study, an average school can use 300 printer cartridges per year. So, if a school decides to recycle printer cartridges, it can earn up to (more…)
Image source: cleveland.com
Some of us don’t recycle the recyclable items often enough and show lethargic attitude when it comes to taking out the recycling bins and send the recyclable items to the recycler. Well, citizens of Cleveland, Ohio, will have to face $100 (£64.85) fine if they do this anymore with, so called, ‘smart’ recycling bins.
The Cleveland city government is aiming to launch a large number of “smart” recycling bins equipped with radio frequency identification (RFID) chips and bar codes which will keep track of how often residents take them to the curb starting from next year. (more…)
A wind turbine / image source: ecogeek
A problem with normal wind turbines is that they can’t generate power or electricity when the wind is not blowing to a certain level, however, this could change with the introduction of a hybrid wind turbine that can run on natural gas or biogas when there is no or low wind.
According to Ecogeek, a US based company Hybrid Turbines Inc. is working on a system “SmartGen hybrid gas-wind turbine” that enables wind turbines to generate energy at “periods of low wind, by turning the turbine with compressed air generated at the base of the tower from a turbo-compressor that is run on natural gas or biogas.”
The most interesting thing is that (more…)
