sundance

Green tech finds: Recycled guitars and impromptu speakers

Cool concept cars and planes, speakers that turn ordinary objects into amplifiers, and the potential environmental cost of washing your jacket: this week’s green tech finds.

Honda’s very cool, very light electric concept vehicle: Unfortunately, “concept” often means we’ll never see one on the road. Still, Honda’s EV-STER (which rolled out last week at the Tokyo Auto Show, and is pictured above) shows the company combining electric power with light weight (through lots of body elements made from carbon) and sweet styling; maybe they’ll keep thinking this way as they work towards new production vehicles. (via Earth Techling)

Green tech finds, 9/29/11

Lots of green tech on wheels this week: Ford’s concept e-bike, Peugeot’s tiny electric car, and the Air Force’s big move towards EV adoption.

Ford getting into the bicycle business? Maybe: the company released an e-bike concept at the Frankfurt Auto Show. The frame weighs in at a very light 5.5 pounds, and the electric assist motor can run for 53 miles. (via Matter Network and Rodale)

The printed bicycle: The Aerospace Innovation Centre‘s bicycle concept on display at the London Design Festival is made from nylon and created by a process similar to 3D printing. The result: a lightweight frame that’s supposedly as strong as steel. (via Do the Green Thing)

Green tech finds, 9/8/11

Harvesting runner power, turning plastic back into oil and becoming a (virtual) upcycling magnate: your green tech finds for the week.

Charge your phone with your shoes: If you run or walk regularly, you’re creating mechanical energy that’s going to waste. The Instep Nanopower concept offers a way to capture that power and transfer it to electronic devices via wi-fi. (via Inhabitat and @EcoverUS)

Become a Trash Tycoon on Facebook: Tired of Farmville? Guerillaapps new Facebook-based social game Trash Tycoon (which is sponsored by upcycling company Terracycle) gives you the opportunity to build a virtual recycling empire. (via Crisp Green)

Green tech finds (11/18/10)

Gardening apps, high-speed rail, and electric vehicles made from electronic waste… this week’s green tech finds.

• Finnish culture meets green building: Traditional Finnish building involves a lot of wood, and the Luukku House design combines this tradition with solar energy, high-efficiency windows, and other “green” features. The design has won awards from both the Finnish Timber Council and Solar Decathlon Europe. (via Good News from Finland)
  
  
• Onsite composting for restaurants: GaiaRecycle’s new G-30H provides onsite composting for restaurants and schools… no need to have those food scraps hauled away (or — shudders — throw them in the trash).
  
  

Green tech finds (9/9/10)

A bee beard for David Cameron, subway energy harvesting, and using search technology to identify endangered species… this week’s green tech finds.

• The Wolverine solar cell: Researchers at MIT actually looked to plants, not the X-Men, when creating a solar cell that “heals” its own UV damage.
  
  
• Tweet for the honey bees: British marketing firm LBi has created a “twittition” (Twitter petition) to support honey bee populations in the UK. Each tweet added to the petition adds a bee to a “bee beard” on a likeness of Prime Minister David Cameron (shown above).
  
  

Green tech finds (8/26/10)

Hemp cars, pedal-powered submarines, and lots of wave power… this week’s green tech finds.

• Harnessing the surge: Finnish company AW-Energy is building a test plant in Portugal for its Waveroller concept, which “utilizes the so-called surge phenomenon found on ocean coasts.” (via Good News from Finland)
  
  
• More wave power: Ocean Renewable Power Company is testing out the wave power potential for the US Coast Guard’s station in Eastbrook, Maine.
  
  

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.

Green tech finds (12/10/09)

Another week, another group of green tech finds. First, a few more from Finland:

• Jen Boynton at TriplePundit discusses four game-changing technologies you’ve never heard of…
• Ian Thomson at Cleantechies gives his opinion of Tekes, Finland’s government agency for funding R&D and start-ups… I had a different take on this organization at sustainablog.

Green interior design: Durat

The Finns are renowned for their design aesthetic: while participating in Finnfacts‘ Clean Tech Blogger Tour last week, I spent a lot of time looking at buildings and features, and always noticed the clean, simple, sophisticated sense of design that characterized the built environment. Durat, a 19-year-old Finnish company, attempts to marry that aesthetic with sustainability principles: its polyester-based solid surface materials contain about 30% post-industrial recycled material, and are themselves fully recyclable.

Suntrica’s solar charger: not just cool and wearable

If you follow green gadgets at all, you may have already heard of Finland-based Suntrica‘s solar-powered charger for personal electronics. Numerous blogs wrote about the company and its products last May after the company won second place in the CTIA’s E-Tech Awards‘ “Green – Consumer Hardware” category, and nearly all framed Suntrica’s solar chargers as cool, cutting-edge, green consumer technology.

After listening to a presentation today from company VP of Sales Kenneth J. Jönsson as part of the Finnfacts cleantech blogger tour, I realized the company was meeting one of its marketing goals — receiving recognition from consumers with green values. That’s great… and I’ll definitely enjoy using the charger Suntrica gave to me. But I was even more intrigued by some of the other markets for which the company wanted to create value.

Green tech finds (12/4/09)

Something a little different this time around: I’ve been in Helsinki, Finland this week checking out cleantech developments with a group of other bloggers ( and many thanks to FinnFacts for bringing us here!). While I’ve been a little slow to get posting on the stories I’ve heard (stay tuned here and at sustainablog for those posts), several of my colleagues fought off the jet lag well enough to get started. A few posts from Finland:

• Karl Burkart at MNN and Ian Thomson at Cleantechies.com provide a bit of background on the Finnish cleantech sector.
  
  
• Jen Boynton at Triple Pundit gives us five fast facts about Finland, and offers some advice to Metso Corporation about sustainability and biomass as a fuel source.
  
  
• Hendrick Morkel at Arctic Start Up takes a look at Eniram’s efforts to cut shipping fuel use and emissions.