SUNfiltered

Green tech finds (6/18/09)

June 18, 2009

Deutsche Bank's online carbon counter Deutsche Bank’s online carbon counter

Phones, flashlights, and sweet solar-powered rides… all that and more in this week’s green tech finds.

Funding priorities: Is a national smart grid the best investment right now? Or would local micro-grids fed by renewable power serve us better?
More proof that teenagers do know it all: Fourteen-year-old David S. Dixon built “a street-legal quadricycle with a solar-powered electric motor” for a middle school project. (via Gas 2.0)
New Coke… bottle: The soft drink maker’s new PlantBottle incorporates 30% plant fiber, but can still be recycled with normal PET plastic. A step forward… or green “fluff?”
An environmentalist’s Jumbotron: Deutsche Bank’s Asset Management division has put up a real-time carbon emissions counter at 33rd Street and 7th Avenue in New York City. There’s also an online version.
No more dead batteries: The Light for Life flashlight costs a whopping $169, but requires no batteries, contains 3 LEDs, and can charge up in 90 seconds. (via CNET Green Tech)
The power-producing parking lot: British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s is testing out kinetic road plates that capture energy from cars passing over them. (via EcoGeek)
“Government 2.0″ at work”: San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom hearts the new iPhone “Ecofinder” app.
Foot-powered phone charging: Attendees at next week’s Glastonbury Festival will be able to charge their phones by a mini wind turbine powered by a foot pump. (via Springwise)