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.

David Hockney paints with iPhone

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 [...]

Green tech finds (11/27/09)

Thankful for green technology? So are we… here are this week’s finds.

• Fresh water + salt water = energy: Norwegian power company Statkraft opened the world’s first osmotic energy plant on Tuesday.
  
  
• Storage start-ups get federal funding: Big announcement of federal smart grid funding on Tuesday… and energy storage start-ups shared in the largess.

Green tech finds (11/19/09)

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)

Green tech finds (11/5/09)

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.
  
  

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 (10/1/09)

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 [...]

Green tech finds (7/23/09)

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.”
  
  

iPhone photography

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 [...]

Movie created using only iPhone

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. The Fifty Four from richard hernandez on Vimeo.

Green tech finds (7/10/09)

Techies rejoice! Here’s your weekly run-down of some of the cooler green tech stories out there…

• Free energy? There’s a ton of it out there — 7 quadrillion BTUs — in the form of wasted heat. The Department of Energy has announced funding opportunities for R&D on how to tap this massive source of energy. (via Cleantechnica)
  
  
• NYC — the wind energy capital? It seems counterintuitive, but the Carnegie Institution and California State University have found that high-altitude winds, which are concentrated over the Big Apple (among other places), “contain enough energy to meet world demand 100 times over.” (via Green Living Ideas)
  
  

Green tech finds (7/6/09)

If fireworks and gas grills didn’t feed your techie jones last weekend, here are some of the latest stories in the green tech world.

• Drive time: Danielle Brigada, social media guru at the National Wildlife Federation, just loves the ’10 Ford Fusion hybrid.
  
  
• Wearable lighting?: That’s one potential use envisioned by art students for GE’s planned “flexible, paper-thin lighting panels” featuring organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). (via OLED-info.com)

Green tech finds (6/25/09)

Elephant poop, chicken feathers, and iPhone apps… that’s the stuff of good green tech stories!

• Smart water: You’ve heard all about smart electrical grids… now Rotterdam, in partnership with IBM, is working on a smart water management system. (via Fast Company)
  
  
• Transformers 3 — The Solar Edition? No greenlights on the movie yet, but these cool 6-toys-in-1 solar-powered robots can introduce your kids to the wonders of solar power (via The Fun Times Guide to Living Green and Inhabitots).
  
  

A 24″ touch-screen iPhone?

In honor of today’s launch of the iPhone 3G S… this video, which purports to show a demo of a hacked Mac running the iPhone operating system using a giant touch screen, is a hoax, but it’s still fun to watch: The Unofficial Apple Weblog writes, “How’d they do it? It’s most likely just a [...]

Green tech finds (6/18/09)

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)
  
  

The amazing app wall at Apple’s WWDC

At this week’s Worldwide Developers Conference, where Apple announced the new iPhone models, among other things, a big array of monitors displayed an “app wall”–a giant matrix of iPhone app icons that pulse when they’re downloaded from the App Store. The effect is monumental and hypnotic. Visit AppleInsider for video of what the app wall [...]

Green tech finds (5/7/09)

In the spirit of Em and Lo’s “Naked News,” here’s a run-down of some of the latest green technology stories to come across the wires… not as hot, but definitely safe for work!

• Green on the go: 3rdWhale and Creative Citizen have developed a new iPhone app: the “Creative Solution” for sustainable living. Track your eco-friendly efforts, as well as the tangible benefits (savings of energy, water, and even money). Download the app for free. (via MNN)

David Hockney’s iPhone paintings

The Daily Mail tells of how the celebrated artist David Hockney has been creating mini-paintings on his iPhone and emailing them to friends.  Pretty tech-savvy for a 71-year-old: [via TUAW]

Five Tools for Tracking (and Lowering) Your Energy Use

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, [...]

Sign Up For Festival Updates

So you’re a fan of the Sundance Film Festival, but life’s just too hectic to open a web site every day.  Have no fear – we’ve got the solution for the Blackberry and iPhone crowd (or anyone else who likes to keep up to date).  Every day during the festival, we’ll be sending an email [...]