Sundance Channel

Green tech finds (6/2/11)

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 21:22:39 +0000

Mini electric Hummers, solar-powered prisons, and the climate risk posed by biodegradable products... this week's green tech finds.

Autodesk meets sustainability: Design/engineering software suite Autodesk has now added a tool that allows users to generate environmental impact assessments of their creations.
Biodegradable products may not be climate-friendly: Turns out that biodegradable disposable tableware and such may have a real downside -- the creation of methane in landfills (most of which aren't set up to capture the potent greenhouse gas). (via @conservationval)

British biogas plant producing energy from sewage

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 17:45:38 +0000

As you can see in the picture above, the landscape of Didcot, Oxfordshire is dominated by cooling towers for coal and oil-fed power stations. Not the cleanest of energy sources, but, as of today, Didcot is contributing to greener energy generation in Great Britain as the home of the country's first biomethane station that produces gas from sewage.

Green tech finds (5/6/10)

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Thu, 06 May 2010 18:24:04 +0000

Seed-laden packing boxes, energy capture from sewage, and the power of pokeberries (pictured above)... your green tech finds for the week.

Electricity to gas: German researchers are experimenting with converting excess power from renewable energy sources into methane. This creates a means for storing this energy in a manner that could be used with existing natural gas infrastructure.
Pokeberries to power: New solar cell technology under development by Wake Forest University’s Center for Nanotechnology and FiberCell, Inc. makes use of dye from pokeberries to increase the cells' ability to absorb sunlight. (via Calfinder and Smartplanet)

Feds to Eliminate One-Quarter of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in 10 Years

Sundance Channel — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:00:46 +0000

President Barack Obama today announced that the federal government will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 28 percent by 2020.

Green tech finds (10/15/09)

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:42:26 +0000

Today is Blog Action Day, and this year's topic is climate change. As such, today's finds will all relate to technology aimed at addressing this threat... enjoy!

A no-brainer: Engineers have found one simple approach to addressing the release of methane into the atmosphere: seal natural gas well leaks.
Sketching up energy management: Buildings are one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. The open-source tool Open Studio can now be plugged into Google's SketchUp (a 3D modeling tool) to account for energy usage in the building design process. (via CNET Green Tech)

Solar hot water, biogas raise living standards in Cairo’s “Garbage City”

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:45:31 +0000

"Trash into treasure" may be a mantra for some eco-minded artists, but for people who dwell in slums around the world, it's a method for survival. Philanthropist and UCLA Ph.D. student T.H. Culhane believes that the mindset of reuse that exists in one such slum, Cairo's Garbage City, could be the means to raising the standard of living for its 20,000 residents.