Sundance Channel

Green tech finds, 9/22/11

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 18:10:28 +0000

Roads that charge your electric car, biofuel from orange peels, and sucking CO2 out of the air - your green tech finds for the week. Look out, Volt! The plug-in Prius is here: Car hackers have been converting the Toyota Prius into a plug-in hybrid (like the Chevy Volt) for years. The Japanese automaker has finally gotten in on the trend and released a plug-in version of its popular hybrid for the 2012 model year. That's it above. (via Greenwala) Charge your electric car while driving it: The concept of "electrified roadways" that could charge electric vehicles while they're moving has been around for decades, and Japanese researchers may have now come up with a viable model. "Electrified metal plates are buried under roads, which 'up-convert' energy via a radio frequency to a steel belt inside a car’s tires, as well as to a plate sitting above the tire." (via smartplanet and @greenamericatv)

Green tech finds (8/11/11)

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 18:27:35 +0000

Lots of news on the car front this week, plus electronic paper, and a (partially) green-powered STAR TREK theme park in Jordan (yeah, Jordan). Lotus' wine and cheese-powered car: Okay, not exactly, but the British automaker's Exige 270E Tri-fuel concept can do 0-60 in under four seconds on ethanol made from "undrinkable wine (whew!), whey (a byproduct of making cheese), and surplus chocolate." Check it out in action above. (via The Discovery Channel) Ford getting into the solar business? Kind of. They're partnering with SunPower to offer future buyers of the company's planned electric vehicles a rooftop solar system that could power the car completely on renewable energy.

London Activates 10 Low Carbon Zones

Sundance Channel — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:43:28 +0000

Low Carbon Zones across London sprang to life this week to help residents, schools and businesses go green, save money and create job opportunities at the same time. The Mayor of London awarded each of the 10 zones a share of three million pounds to fund the program that aims to cut city's carbon dioxide emissions 20.12 percent by 2012.

Five Tools for Tracking (and Lowering) Your Energy Use

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:29:25 +0000

Trying to keep the Carbon Cops at bay? Or, just want a lower electric bill? These five tools will help you identify the energy hogs in your life… and put them on a diet! ENERGY STAR@Home: This interactive web tool takes you on a tour of a typical American home, points out the energy guzzlers, [...]