ecological

3D-printed car saves money, energy

It wasn't long ago when 3D printing was a really cool concept we liked to daydream about. Now, it's gearing up to change our lives. We've seen 3D-printed buildings, portraits, organs, prosthetics, food, couture, a moon base, and even a pen for all your creative and repair needs. What's missing?

3D-printed transport, of course.

That, however, could change if engineer Jim Kor has his way. Heading up the team behind 3D-printed electric car Urbee, Kor has more than 35 years of experience in designing automotive, bus, rail, agricultural and heavy mobile equipment, as well as civil … Read more

Google wafts $200M to Texas wind farm

Google has made a $200 million equity investment in a wind farm in West Texas that it says produces enough juice to power more than 60,000 homes in the U.S.

In a blog post today, the company said that the 161-megawatt Spinning Spur Wind Project in Oldham County boasts 70 Siemens wind turbines of 2.3 megawatts each, which started operating on a full-time basis just before the end of the year.

Built by developer EDF Renewable Energy, the facility has contracted its output to SPS, a utility serving Texas and New Mexico.

Google said in the post: &… Read more

City of San Francisco to stop buying Apple computers

The City of San Francisco won't be buying Apple computers anymore because the company pulled its products from a green-electronics certification registry, the Wall Street Journal reported today.

City officials told the Journal that employees of the city's 50 agencies won't be able to use city funds to buy Apple laptops or desktops because Apple removed those products from a voluntary registry of green electronics called EPEAT.

San Francisco's chief information officer, Jon Walton, told CNET that the change is due to an established policy requires the city purchase only EPEAT-certified desktops, laptops, and monitors. While … Read more

Apple bows out of program for environment-minded products

Apple has decided to stop participating in a major program devoted to the production of environmentally friendly products, reportedly saying that its design direction is no longer in line with the program's requirements.

Late last month, Apple told the nonprofit EPEAT group that the company would no longer submit its products for green certification from EPEAT and that it was pulling its currently certified products from the group's registry.

According to The Wall Street Journal's CIO Journal site, 39 of Apple's products had received EPEAT's green stamp of approval, including laptops such as the MacBook … Read more

The most toxic cars on the road

Hundreds of chemicals, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFR), are used in automotive interiors. These chemicals are used to make plastics flexible, make fabrics fire-resistant, and contribute to that "new car smell." But they're also associated with birth defects, impaired learning, liver toxicity, and cancer.

To find out what chemicals and their amounts are used in cars, researchers at Ecology Center, which publishes the consumer awareness site Healthystuff.org, tested 11 components in more than 200 vehicles from the 2011 and 2012 model years using an x-ray fluorescence analyzer. The test scans a … Read more

Gore tweaks climate call with '24 Hours of Reality'

Climate change activist, former vice president, and near-president Al Gore will present a 24-hour live Webcast--"24 Hours of Reality"--on September 14-15 that's meant to counteract what a statement about the event calls misinformation on global warming.

The Webcast consists of 24 back-to-back screenings of a new multimedia presentation by Gore, introduced live by presenters in 24 different parts of the world, and in 13 different languages. It heralds a new focus for Gore's nonprofit Alliance for Climate Protection, which is changing its name to The Climate Reality Project. Reads a statement on the Reality Project's Web site:

This campaign comes at a critical time. As the impacts of climate change are growing more prevalent, so is the resistance to finding the truth and implementing solutions. Just like the tobacco companies that spent decades in denial that smoking causes cancer, oil and coal companies are determined to sow denial and confusion about the science of climate change, ignore its impacts, and create apathy among our leaders. This event is the first step in a larger, multi-faceted campaign to tell the truth about the climate crisis and reject the misinformation we hear every day."

… Read more

Cell phones causing decline in bee numbers?

A recent scientific study suggests that bees are significantly disturbed when mobile phones are used in close proximity to the furry critters. The study may shed light on why the bee population is in decline globally.

As bees can communicate through sound, the experiment at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology observed any changes to the noises the insects made when active mobile phones were placed in their hive. The results were quite worrying.

Read more of "Cell phones causing decline in bee numbers?" at Crave UK.

On the hunt for green-tech game changers

To borrow a line from science fiction writer William Gibson, the future of green tech is already here, it's just not very evenly distributed.

Today is Earth Day, a good time to consider how the technology meant to preserve our environment and natural resources is progressing. If you consider individual green products, whether it's plug-in cars or home solar panel leasing, the impact on the giant scale of the energy industry is quite small. Hybrids, never mind plug-in hybrids, are less than 2 percent of total sales, and renewable energy is about 10 percent of electricity generation, with … Read more

Tree house living, the next green thing?

Many traditional societies have partaken tree house living. And some of us had tree houses when we were kids. Now a New York-based nonprofit is promising a tree house for future high-tech, low-impact living.

The group is terreform.org. In their own words, "Terreform is a nonprofit organization and philanthropic design collaborative that integrates ecological principles in the urban environment."

Terreform says it is close to making its first sale. Zoning regulations and building codes may present a problem. Walls that grow and change shape?

Like any self-respecting tree, the Fab Tree Hab would collect rainwater. The walls … Read more