Because green technology never takes a holiday… here are this week’s finds.
Salting away solar power: Nevada Power has announced a 25-year deal to buy solar power from the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project, which will be “the nation’s first commercial solar power plant using salt storage to distribute energy after the sun sets…”
Satellites tracking groundwater: NASA’s GRACE satellites beam back data on deep water stores… and the recent data isn’t encouraging… (via Blue Living Ideas)
Interactive greenhouse gas emissions trends: The AP’s interactive map of global warming gas emissions by country is just one element of the stellar coverage they provided during and after the Copenhagen Climate Conference. (via EcoGeek)
Water footprints: Carbon gets all the press, but producing energy, regardless of the source, takes a lot of water… (via GreenTech Pastures)
Those speedy French: According to Cleantechies, France is about 30 years ahead of the US on high-speed rail development… c’est dommage!
Data centers, waste heat, and cathedrals: Helsinki’s Upsenki Cathedral will host a server farm for tech company Academica, and the waste heat produced will be channeled into the city’s district heating system. (via MNN)
Leak those leaks… via your iPhone: Seen waste, pollution, or inefficiency at a public space or business? The EcoSnoop iPhone app lets you report it to the world… (via Treehugger)
Happy holidays! Of course, share any finds you have with us below…
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.
Andrew Hearst previously talked about David Hockey’s iPhone paintings here. His Daily Mail link appears to be dead now, but I came across another article about the prolific artist and his new painting medium. Using the Brushes application he’s created gorgeous iPhone paintings that look like watercolors. The New York Review of Books’ Lawrence Weschler documents the process.
It is a lovely read. Thinking about a 70 plus year old painter finding a new way to express himself just makes me all giddy. And the thought of producing art and sharing it in real time, via email and text, without galleries involved, is very intriguing. An accompanying audio slide show is here.
Want your phone to sound like a woodpecker? Got’cha covered… that and more at this week’s green tech finds.
Scots get paid to recycle: British supermarket chain Tesco has been testing out Tomra recycling machines (which “pays” recyclers with reward points) at one branch in Edinburgh, and is so happy with the results that its expanding its offerings to another store… with more planned.
Research product sustainability right in the store:GoodGuide has released an iPhone app that “…lets you scan bar codes for what the guide calls “impartial” health, environmental, and social responsibility ratings of not only the products you are scanning but their companies, too.” (via CNET Health Tech)
Bricks, robot fish, and eco-warriors… this week’s green tech finds!
Find a green business… and a coupon:GenGreen Digital Media has just added a new feature to its Find Green iPhone app: coupons. Find a business that has what you want (and shares your values), and save some money in the process.
Online carbon reduction for builders: the Rocky Mountain Institute has just released Green Footstep, an online tool that allows builders to assess (and reduce) that carbon emissions of building and retrofitting projects.
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 EthernetTM 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).
Where do climate change and Sudoku come together? At your weekly green tech finds, of course…
What’s the best computer out there for a student in Cambodia? One that sips energy… and the Open Institute has installed 400 such computers for Cambodian students and teachers.
Water heats and cools new classroom building: Michigan’s Saginaw Valley State University showed off its new Health and Human Services building yesterday, which features the state’s largest aqua-thermal heating and cooling system.
Want to see what climate change might look like?Google Earth is launching a new series of layers showing “…potential impacts of climate change on our planet and the solutions for managing it.” See the introductory video (narrated by Al Gore) above. (via EcoGeek)
Because everything’s big in Texas: E.ON Climate & Renewables (EC&R) announced the completion of one of the world’s largest wind farms around Roscoe, Texas. (via CNET Green Tech)
California mandates cool cars: By 2012, the state has mandates that “vehicle windows must prevent 45 percent of the sun’s total heat-producing energy from entering the interior and the windshield must reject at least 50 percent.” (via Cleantechnica and Greencar.com)
Got flowing water? Make electricity!: The Hydro-Electric Barrel uses a simple design to make micro-hydro power generation more efficient. (via Blue Living Ideas)
Will “radical collaboration” produce the world’s coolest green iPhone app? That’s what 3rdWhale and GenGreen hope as the one-time competitors merge to form GenGreen Digital Media.
Got other green tech news? Let us know… share it in the comments.
Beer and gas? Sound like a National Lampoon movie… but it’s your green tech finds for the week.
Fart-powered fuel cells? Sort of… Danbury, Connecticut-based FuelCell Energy recently installed two fuel cell power plants at food processor Gills Onions that “…create electricity using old onions and a process that mimics how the human body expels gas”
Solar-powered parking: Austin, Texas is replacing traditional parking meters with “pay stations [that] are solar-powered, take credit cards, debit cards and coins, and will replace the 3,800 outdated single-space parking meters around the city.”
The St. Petersburg Times sent photographer Melissa Lyttle on an assignment to capture the “kitschy culture and places along the gulf beaches of Pinellas” using just her iPhone’s built-in camera for a very pleasing result. And as the paper’s editors pointed out, the New York Times recently published on their website a gallery of cell phone photographs submitted by readers. For more terrific iPhone photography check out the rather brilliant snapshots at Chase Jarvis, Fiona Conrad’s gallery documenting her life in New York City, and Lisa Wiseman’s photographs with what she calls “the new polaroid.”
THE FIFTY FOUR is a short little film created by Richard Hernandez entirely on his iPhone. He gave himself fifty four days to shoot fifty four images with his iPhone during his daily commute on the 54 bus in Oakland for this project.
From a green ride to a clean (hand-cranked) shave, it’s all here: this week’s green tech finds.
Beer and gas? Sound like a National Lampoon movie… but it’s your green tech finds for the week.
