sundance

You can pry the steering wheel out of Chevy Volt owners cold, dead hands (despite fiery rumors)

Heard about the Chevy Volt fires? Seems like you’re most likely to answer “yes” to that question if a) you’re a true car geek, or b) you get your news from right-leaning media. Conservative commentators have latched onto news about fires in two of the vehicles after test crashes as proof of everything from the immaturity of the battery technology to logical outcome of government investment in the auto industry. In response, General Motors has not only worked closely with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on its preliminary investigation, but also offered Volt owners loaner cars and even buy-backs to address potential concerns.

Can’t afford a hybrid? How about a car conversion?

Gone out to kick the tires, or perhaps test drive a Prius, Volt, or LEAF? In some areas of the country you may not have been able to find one; In those where you could, the sticker price may have you rethinking this whole “going green” thing. Even with various state and federal tax incentives, a new hybrid or electric vehicle will likely set you back over $20,000. So maybe this time you buy the conventional subcompact and hope the prices come down next time you’re on the car market?

Green tech finds: the Quirky edition, 8/25/11

Next week, the new series Quirky debuts on the Sundance Channel. We’ve featured lots of quirky ideas in the weekly green tech finds posts over the past two years, so in anticipation of the show I thought I’d go back to some of our most innovative (or, at least, most unusual) finds. And if you’ve just got to have the latest, we’ve got a few new ones, too.

Automotive cross-stitch embroidery

Lithuanian artist Severija Incirauskaite-Kriauneviciene incorporates delicate, cross-stitched floral patterns into common household objects like plates, lamps and (unexpectedly) car doors, which are particularly impressive. The effect is especially awe-mazing in the close-up photos.

Green tech finds (7/7/11)

Skiing down a Danish incinerator, seaweed for biofuels, and a solar unit that can save the lives of mothers in the developing world… your green tech finds for the week. The solar suitcase: Alexis Madrigal of The Atlantic takes a look at the WE CARE Solar Suitcase, a compact solar power unit designed specifically for [...]

Green tech finds (6/30/11)

A car designed by teenagers that gets nearly 2000 mpg, white roofs for New York City, and how your DVR is jacking up your electric bill… this week’s green tech finds.

• Puma’s “clever little bag” is biodegradeable: We mentioned Puma’s alternative to the shoe box back in April of 2010; PSFK reports that the bags will also be compostable (or, if you’re impatient, they’ll dissolve in water in a few minutes). (via Environmental Leader)
  
  
• The 2000 mpg car? OK, not quite… this design by students at Kingdown School in Warminster, UK got a mere 1,980 mpg. That was more than enough for it to win the Mileage Marathon Challenge at Mallory Park track near Leicester. (via Inhabitat)
  
  

Saddest dog portraits ever. Ever!

Martin Usborne’s photo essay of dogs left alone in their owners cars is a total heartbreaker for us dog people. You cat lovers can take your callous and cold indifference to another website. Kidding!

Green tech finds (2/17/11)

Plug in a wind turbine, get solar power at night, and charge your phone with water… this week’s green tech finds.

• Landfill gas power comes to Detroit: Waste Management of Michigan has announced plans to build two plants that convert landfill gas into electricity in the Detroit metropolitan area. Expected output: 24.8 megawatts.
  
  
• The solar panel that works in the dark: Full-spectrum solar panels aren’t new… but, up until now, they’ve been incredibly expensive. Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory may have hit the sweet spot… (via Cleantechnica and Greenwala)
  
  

Green tech finds (2/3/11)

warning signs from Susan Ngo on Vimeo.

T-shirts that detect pollution, wind power from transit tunnels, and solar power in coal’s heartland… your green tech finds for the week.

• The pollution-detecting t-shirt: NYU grad students Nien Lam and Sue Ngo’s Warning Signs t-shirts display either a heart or a pair of lungs that change color according to the levels of carbon monoxide in the air. Watch it work above… (via Green Energy News and @greeneconpost)
  
  
• All renewables by 2050? A brand new report from WWF claims we can get there, “…with only isolated residual uses of fossil and nuclear fuels.” (via Mail & Guardian Online)
  
  

Green tech finds (1/13/11)

From green tech at the auto show in Detroit to a potential standard for eco cell phones… your green tech finds for the week.

• Green tech in Detroit: Lots of green technology at the North American International Auto Show; The Street gives a run-down of seven developments worth watching…
  
  
• Crowdsourced environmental video: Dialogue Earth, an organization tied to the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment, has completed a pilot involving “crowdsourcing” environmental science video content (specifically on ocean acidification). See the winner above…
  
  

Green tech finds (12/16/10)

Plastic bottles you can eat, a tiny solar home, and hybrid street sweepers… this week’s green tech finds. Audi’s green history: You likely associate the phrase “green cars” with Toyota and Honda; Denis Duquet at The Car Guide thinks Audi should be on that list, also… More bang from your bike: Fandi Meng’s I-Green battery [...]

Fabio: the new face of the electric vehicle?

If challenged to do so, you’d likely have no trouble coming up with a short list of eco-celebs: Ed Begley, Jr., Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Woody Harrelson, and, oh yeah, Robert Redford may all to come to mind. But Fabio? Yep, the Italian superhunk who’s graced the covers of many a romance novel, and pitched butter substitutes, is adding his look (if not his voice) to a green cause: electric vehicles.

Connecticut teen promotes green driving to peers

While teenagers are less likely than ever to get a drivers license, there are still millions of sixteen and seventeen-year-olds that want to get behind the wheel. When they do, issues like fuel efficiency generally aren’t always at the top of their priority list…

Green tech finds (8/5/10)

NASCAR, bicycles, and recycled guns… your green tech finds for the week.

• It all started with the bicycle: Trade pub Mechanical Engineering sings praises to the bicycle… not only as an engineering breakthrough for its time, but also as a “platform” for other transportation developments.
  
  
• NASCAR goes solar: Well, sort of… the Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania now operates the tenth-largest solar farm in the US (and the biggest of any sports arena in the world).
  
  

Green tech finds (7/29/10)

Lots of vehicle news this week… from greener AC to electric vehicles for rent. Here are your green tech finds.

• A new model for solar cells — blowfly eyes: A team of researchers at Penn State thinks blowfly corneas could provide a viable model for solar cells (via Discovery News)
  
  
• Climate-friendly air conditioning for your car: GM plans to roll out a new air conditioning refrigerant in 2013 which performs 99.7% better in terms of greenhouse gas impact than current HFCs. (via Green Tech Pastures)
  
  

The view from extreme cockpits

Wired has a gallery of photos by Dan Winters of the cockpits and the pilot’s view of various extreme vehicles, from the supersonic SR-71 Blackbird spy plane (top speed: 2,193 mph) to the world’s longest cruise ship to a zero emission hydrogen rocket car that goes 199.7 miles per hour. They are all slightly more [...]

How to promote your new hybrid car: host a global warming debate

If you’ve ever been to one of the big auto shows, you know that big announcements by the car companies often have many of the makings of a rock concert. For its promotion of the new CT 200h compact hybrid at the New York Auto Show, Lexus took a totally different approach: it hosted a debate on climate change.

Green tech finds (7/2/10)

Summer’s here, it’s hot, and so, naturally, we’ve got lots of solar news in this week’s green tech finds…

• Fuel-efficient driving on your iPhone: Consumer Reports‘ new listing of smart phone apps for drivers includes Greenmeter, an iPhone app that “…monitors your driving and displays your car’s mpg, fuel cost, and carbon emissions.”
  
  
• Is that a secret for more efficient solar cells in your pants…? No, not a really bad, geeky joke: researchers at Cornell have discovered a specific molecule “in blue jeans and some ink dyes” that could be used to build frameworks for cheaper solar cells. (via Treehugger)
  
  

Car-free in the Sunbelt: is it possible?

If you live in New York City, San Francisco, Boston, or Portland, the idea of car-free living may not strike you as particularly unusual. Sure, plenty of people have and use cars, but urban density, public transportation options, and, in some cases, well-developed bicycling infrastructure may not make an automobile seem like a necessity.

But what about in Houston? Atlanta? Phoenix? Las Vegas? These cities developed around car culture. As someone who went without a car in one of them for a year (Vegas in ’95-96), I can attest to the challenges present. An article in today’s Dallas Morning News about car-free blogger Patrick Kennedy got me thinking again about these challenges… and looking to see who’s overcoming them by foregoing automobile ownership in these car-centric locations.

Next green car technology hub: Starkville, Mississippi?

If you’re a betting person, what university would you wager on for creating the next generation of cleaner vehicles? MIT? Cal Tech? Stanford? Turns out you may want to look a little further south… the student team from Mississippi State University took the flag at the second year of EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge.

Green tech finds (4/29/10)

White House solar panels, recycling your Xbox, and the top green cars… your green tech finds for the week.

• Plug-and-play solar… we’re getting there: Start-up Armageddon Energy is scheduled to release its SolarClover system, which can be installed by non-specialists, later this year.
  
  
• Finnish town joins the Concerto: The Concerto Initiative, that is. Lapua, in Western Finland, will participate in this EU-sponsored project to build local energy self-sufficiency and efficiency.
  
  
• Cape Wind a go?: After years of wrangling, the Obama administration has given a green light to the Cape Wind project… but the opposition is already threatening a lawsuit, according to the Huffington Post.

Top 50 cool movie cars

While Mr. Redford made riding a horse look good, a horse itself doesn’t necessarily provide much character unless it happens to be a “black beauty.” The car however, the mode of transportation that ultimately replaced the horse, is quite another thing. It lends itself to the big screen and can steal the limelight from its [...]

Green tech finds (1/14/10)

We’ve still got a ways to go until Spring, but we do have baseball and beer for you at this week’s green tech finds:

• A green Mercedes on the way?: We’ll have to see, but Daimler, the brand’s owner, says it plans to challenge BMW’s supremacy in the “green luxury” market by putting half of its $6.4 R&D budget for 2010 into green tech.
  
  
• Rainwater recycling comes to baseball: The Minnesota Twins’ new stadium will feature a rainwater collection and purification system. The water will be used for washing down stands and irrigating the fields (see the video above). (via CNET Green Tech)
  
  

Green tech finds (10/22/09)

From a green ride to a clean (hand-cranked) shave, it’s all here: this week’s green tech finds.

• Solar that doesn’t stand out: Or, not as much, anyway… Iowa’s Powerfilm has developed “thin, flexible solar sheets that can be integrated with architectural building materials.” (via Springwise)
  
  
• Eco wifi: Australia’s D-Link has announced its Green Ethernet^TM technology which “automatically detects link status and network cable length, then adjusts power accordingly.” It’s also allows a user to schedule wireless up time (like thermostats).
  
  

Green tech finds (10/8/09)

Cars, fuels, and internet-based power management for your home: our green tech finds for the week…

• Beyond carbon emissions: Clean Production Action and ChemSec have released a new report focused on “the advances that seven electronics companies have made when it comes to eliminating hazardous materials from their products.” (via ZDNet GreenTech Patures)
  
  
• It’s an honor just to be nominated: The LA Auto Show has announced the finalists for its Green Car of the Year Award, which will be presented at the show in December.