Recent African Civil War Not Linked to Climate Change

photo: Humanitarian and Development Partnership Team in the Central African Republic via flickr About ten months ago a report came out claiming to link recent upsurges in African civil war to changes in climate change, and predicting that there would be 50% more conflict in the coming decades. [...]

UK Biofuels Target Should Be Reduced to Protect Tropical Forests: Government Climate Advisors

There's a growing body of evidence that land-use conversion in the tropics, driven in part by biofuels, negates many of their benefits. Photo: Craig Morey via flickr. The UK government's own climate advisors have recommended that current biofuel targets for transport of 10% by 2020 are too high, given concerns about their impact on tropical forests. [...]

Peugeot to Lease iOn Electric Car for €499/Month in France

Photo: Peugeot Aimed Mostly at Fleet Buyers at First Peugeot has released some details on its iOn electric car, which is based on the Mitsubishi i MiEV. In France, the leasing price will be of €499 (about $643) for five years, and this includes: the vehicle and its battery, a 5-year warranty covering the battery and electric power train, servicing and maintenance for five years or 50,000 km (31,000 miles), specific electric assistance, and Peugeot Connect, Electric Driving (smart... [...]

Could Subway Trains Generate Power with Regenerative Braking?

Photo: Flickr, CC Could Save Millions of Dollars Per Year Vehicles without regenerative braking are throwing away a lot of energy every time they brake (movement is converted into heat via friction on the brake pads). Hybrid and electric car address that problem by capturing as much of that energy as possible and converting it into electricity, and the same might be about to happen to subway trains with the added twist that it would be tied to the (smart) power grid. [...]

Why "Gandhi of Water" Rajendra Singh Is Traveling the Length of the Ganges River

Image of Rajendra Singh in the documentary Flow via Mongrel Media Considered the Gandhi of water issues, Rajendra Singh is an activist about to begin an incredible walk in order to bring attention to India's water problems. Starting on October 1st at the threatened Goumouk glacier in the Himalayas, the head of the Ganges River, he will travel along the river's length to its mouth at the Bay of Bengal. [...]

fonte: | source: feeds2.feedburner.com/treehugger/science-technology

Armoire Dressed In Fallen Birch Skin: Sawkille Co.

Photo: Chris Kendall via The New York Times Gleaming like arboreal wayfinders on a dark night, birches are trees that definitely stand out from the forest crowd. Birch bark was traditionally used for paper, clothing and construction; it also has medicinal properties, so it's not too far a stretch to see them utilized in a decorative sense too, like in this gorgeous birch-skinned armoire by Rhinebeck, NY-based furniture designers Sawkille Co.... [...]

Weird Solar Device of the Day: Solight Concept for Indoor Plants

Image via Yanko Design A new concept design by Lee Ju Won is the ultimate middle man. It sticks to a window to harness the power of the sun to run LEDs that provide light to potted plants that sit under it. Um, what's wrong with this picture? ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Plumen Proves We Want Weirdly Shaped Light Bulbs

Image via Plumen A couple years ago, we told you about a concept light bulb called Plumen

House-in-a-Can Recycles Grain Silos Into Housing

All images via Austin-Mergold Grain silos, made from corrugated and galvanized steel, are among the cheapest and most efficient enclosures one can buy; that's why Bucky Fuller played with them during World War II, with his Dymaxion Deployment Units. Updating the idea, Geoff Manaugh of BLDGBLOG brings us Austin + Mergold's House-In-A-Can, recycling these grain s... [...]

Awesome New Two-Way Bike Lane on Prospect Park (Video)

We Need More Separated Bike Paths The video above shows the transformation of Prospect Park West in Brooklyn. The addition of a two-way separated bike lane has had a calming effect on traffic, making the area safer for pedestrians and cyclists, and the extra-safety of the new bike lane is attracting lots of new cyclists of all skill levels. [...]

fonte: | source: feeds2.feedburner.com/treehugger/design-architecture

Mini, Smart, to show electric scooters in Paris

Both Mini and Smart released sketches of electric scooters the companies plan to show at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. Originally posted at The Car Tech blog

Ferrari's hybrid future

Ferrari Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo talks about a future Ferrari supercar. Originally posted at The Car Tech blog

GM Ventures invests in battery start-up Sakti3

General Motors' venture capital arm takes a stake in next-generation lithium-ion battery company Sakti3, which is developing solid-state rechargeable batteries.

Nissan Leaf replaces Lance Armstrong with bear

A new TV ad for the Nissan Leaf, launching in Thursday's NFL season debut, offers the idea that polar bears, sad that their home is melting, want to thank humans for driving a Leaf. Originally posted at Technically Incorrect . [...]

Electricity use curbed by pricing? Not exactly

A Washington, D.C. pilot program reveals interesting data about the way U.S. consumers might respond to smart meters and peak usage plans.

fonte: | source: news.cnet.com/8300-11128_3-54.xml?tag=rtcol;about

Will Incandescent Bulbs Go Away?

The "last major GE factory making ordinary incandescent bulbs in the United States" is set to close later this month. Most incandescent bulbs will be banned from sale in the US in 2014, and many other contries have enacted similar bans on incandescent bulbs within the next few years, as well. But while the deadline has been set, and the manufacture of incandescent bulbs is set to end in a couple of years, there is a growing market for specialty incandescent bulbs. Against all reason though, bare filament light bulbs are spreading as a trendy fashion in restaurants, as was noted in the New York Times earlier this summer: ...they hover in groups of two and three. [...]

Toyota Protecting Pedestrians By Making Prius Louder

  Toyota has begun offering a speaker system to customers in Japan that makes a whirring sound similar in volume to a regular car engine that will alert pedestrians of your quiet car's presence.  The device is available for the most recent generation Prius and will be offered for any new hybrids from Toyota going forward.  Drivers can buy the system for about the equivalent of $150. The speaker was designed to protect pedestrians, especially blind pedestrians, who may not hear the car when it's traveling at low speeds and only running on the electric motor. [...]

450-MW Biglow Canyon Wind Farm Completed

Oregon has really committed to wind power development.  The 450-MW Biglow Canyon wind farm in northern Oregon has been completed and more large projects are in the works. The $1 billion wind farm was built in three phases over the past two and a half years.  It is comprised of 217 turbines and covers 25,000 acres in Sherman County. [...]

Philadelphia Subway Feeding Braking Energy to Grid

When a subway train pulls into a station, it produces two things:  a loud screeching sound and lots of kinetic energy.  The Philadelphia subway is putting that second thing to good use by capturing the kinetic energy produced when trains put on the brakes. A 1.5-MW regenerative braking system will be installed along the Market-Frankford line, which has the highest ridership in the city.  A huge battery will capture the kinetic energy that will then be used by trains accelerating out of the stations, stored for future use or fed to the grid.  The Southeast Pennsylvania Transportation Authority will have the option to either use the power produced or sell it to the local utility. The trains already use regenerative braking on a smaller scale but half of the energy is lost as heat.  This pilot program is aiming to dramatically increase the power captured. The project should be completed by next spring and could save the transit authority $500,000 in energy costs.  If all Philadelphia stations were outfitted with the system, energy consumption could be cut by 40 percent. via Wired Autopia. [...]

Senate Legislation Proposes $1.5 Billion for Energy Storage Tax Credits

Three U.S. senators have introduced a bill to promote electric grid energy storage projects. The Storage Technology of Renewable and Green Energy Act of 2010 ("STORAGE 2010 Act") would provide tax credits worth as much as $1.5 billion for grid storage projects. In addition to providing credits for utility scale projects, the bill also has provisions for businesses and homeowners who want to have on-site energy storage, whether or not they also have on-site renewable energy generation of their own. [...]

Efficient, Green Carry-On Luggage

Whether your next trip takes you to another continent or just the town next door, you’ll want the right carry-on bag for the job. We’ve picked four of the best choices that combine functionality with eco-friendly construction. And remember, materials and manufacturing are only half of what makes a travel bag environmentally friendly. [...]

The Most Efficient Public Swimming Pool In The U.S.

A community swimming pool called the Richmond Plunge has just opened in Richmond, California, and it may be the most efficient swimming pool in the country. The Richmond Plunge has many efficient features: it’s heated by solar collectors, it’s entirely chlorine-free, and the building is powered by solar panels on the roof. [...]

Organic Men’s Summer Clothing

Looking sharp while beating the heat is only half the battle when it comes to choosing summer clothing.  Many of us like to choose clothes and fabrics that are as healthy as possible, both for ourselves and for the environment. Here are some of our top picks for men’s organic summer clothing.  You can feel [...] Related posts:Women’s Wool Shirts For Summer As the summer approaches and the weather turns warmer, wool... Organic Women’s Clothing — Looks You’ll Love to Wear In the past, the idea of organic women’s clothing was... Ultrafine Yak Wool Clothing: Efficient Khunu is a start-up company that aims to be the... . [...]

Best Solar LED Lawn And Garden Lights

Since LEDs are an efficient light source and draw far less power than traditional bulbs, they are perfect for off-the-grid applications where solar cells charge a battery that powers the lamp. Large-scale applications of this concept include LED road lane markers, but smaller-scale projects like lighting your lawn or garden are perfect uses for them [...] Related posts:Top Mountain Bike LED Lights Under $300 LED systems are natural choice for mountain bikers given their... Efficient, Eco-Friendly Lawn Care April showers might bring May flowers – but they also... World’s First 100% Solar-Powered Stadium A couple of years ago, we wrote about a 1.3... . [...]

Best Baby Bike Seats

Every parent loves to bring their kids along with them for bike rides, and baby bike seats allow them to do this easily. Today, baby bike seats are fitted with suspension systems to keep your baby from rattling. Also, the locking mechanisms are more capable of attaching these baby bike seats to any style of [...] Related posts:The Best Bike Trailers The best bikes trailers are very useful for transforming ordinary... New Longtail Utility Bike: The Madsen kg271 Here’s a rare find — a new longtail bike. [...]

HP Design-for-Environment

Since 1992, HP has focused on specific environmental issues through their Design for Environment (DfE) program. Read on to discover the DfE program's three priorities and how these priorities are achieved.

HP surpasses its Environmental Goals and sets tougher targets for 2011

HP has now set itself a new goal - to reduce the energy consumption and associated GHG emissions of all our products to 40 percent below 2005 levels by the end of 2011.

Green Enterprise World Forum: Get full conference passes worth £750

We are delighted to offer you a full conference pass, worth £750*. Register today and get inspiration on how to address your latest issues, advice from real-life end-user case studies and practical examples. The show will take place from the 29th June - 1st July 2010, with the Green Enterprise Forum conference taking place on the 1st July.

Lexmark study demonstrates benefit of responsible printing behaviours

A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) recently commissioned by Lexmark International, Inc. (NYSE: LXK) has shown just how significant the benefit to the environment can be by recycling a used toner cartridge.

Lexmark and Ipsos survey shows paper waste on the increase

According to Europe-wide research the number of pages printed in offices across the continent remains high at 31 pages per employee per day and has changed little in recent years.

Il cloud computing è realtà, però…

Ormai si rischia quasi di essere monotoni: il cloud computing vive la sua fase di prima maturità, di concreta applicazione sul campo. Il percorso di evoluzione delle infrastrutture It, già segnato dalla server consolidation prima e dalla virtualizzazione poi, è pronto a cavalcare il computing a nuvola. Non solo sulla carta e nei proclami del [...]

C-Tech la community internazionale di Fujitsu

 C-Tec è una community internazionale di circa 3000 iscritti, lanciata da Fujitsu ma a cui partecipano quasi totalmente partners, clienti ed esperti It che si confrontano ogni giorno sugli aspetti più tecnici e tecnologici di prodotti e servizi IT. La community è nata per mettere in comunicazione gli ingegneri che sviluppano prodotti e soluzioni, con utenti che [...]

Da oggi Fujitsu anche in podcast

 Da oggi abbiamo anche una sezione dedicata ai podcasts che vengono registrati in casa magre (Germania), in inglese e indirizzati a coloro che sono curiosi o appassionati di tecnologia e business e non hanno tempo di tenersi aggiornati o informarsi durante le ore di lavoro. Facilmente scaricabili, i podcast possono essere ascoltati mentre si è in [...]

DDC Conversations si evolve in Tech4Green

 Coloro che seguono da tempo il nostro blog si saranno sicuramente accorti della nuova veste grafica e del cambiamento anche nel nome. DDC Conversations si trasforma in Tech4Green. Più ricco di contenuti multimediali, più immediato nella fruizione dei contenuti e più semplice nella navigazione. Lo abbiamo trasformato in E-Magazine per permettere anche a ‘contributors’ esterni a [...]

Nuova Campagna Pubblicitaria per Fujtisu Technology Solutions

Fino a fine mese Fujitsu Technology Solutions sarà in comunicazione con una nuova campagna pubblicitaria su stampa, internet e radio. La campagna si compone di due soggetti, uno legato ai notebook LIFEBOOK e l’altro ai server PRIMERGY. Due prodotti diversi legati però da un messaggio comune, la cura dei dettagli che in Fujitsu fa la [...]

Climate Savers Computing : 32 millions de tonnes de CO2 économisées

Le consortium Climate Savers Computing estime que l’industrie informatique a réduit ses émissions de CO2 de 32 millions de tonnes depuis 2007. Problème : il ne sait pas compter. Lire la suite

Cisco acquiert Arch Rock

Smart Grid. Le géant des réseaux compte s’appuyer sur la technologie d’Arch Rock pour parfaire son protocole de communication sans fil pour compteur intelligent (smart meter) basé sur IP. Lire la suite

Deux nouvelles avancées pour GHG Protocol

Plus de 60 entreprises viennent d’achever la première vague de tests des deux derniers standards de comptabilité et de reporting des émissions de gaz à effet de serre publiés par le GHG Protocol : le « scope 3 » et l’empreinte produit (Product Lifecycle Accounting). Lire la suite

Fortis économise 500.000 kWh par an en éteignant la lumière

En reliant son réseau téléphonique interne au système de gestion technique du bâtiment, les salariés de la banque peuvent rallumer une pièce éteinte par l’automate qui gère l’éclairage. Au total, la banque Bruxelloise a pu économiser plus de 4h30 d'éclairage chaque jour. Lire la suite

A lire : système d’information et développement durable

Bien que très hétérogène cet ouvrage est le premier à tenter de présenter l’ensemble des facettes des TICs durables. A lire autant pour alimenter sa réflexion que pour passer à l’action. Lire la suite

The Path to Becoming A Solar Power Broker in Korea

SunEdison said Friday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with a provincial government in South Korea to install 400 megawatts of solar panels, a sizable project considering the country’s market shrank dramatically following a cut in incentives.

Does Google Instant Mean More Energy Use?

Google has long been conscientious about their energy use. But with their launch of Google Instant -- their super fast, interactive new search -- I couldn't help but wonder if the search engine giant didn't just crank up their energy use.

Sakti3 Scores $4.2M From GM Ventures, Itochu

Lithium-ion battery developer Sakti3 and General Motors announced the latest step in their ongoing dance today, and it's a big one for the 3-year-old startup: GM plans to invest $3.2 million in Sakti3 through its new venture capital arm, GM Ventures.

New Nissan LEAF Ad: Cute Animals, Hugs and Electric Cars

The new Nissan LEAF ad has all the requirements that tug at the heart strings: cute animals, hugs, warm fuzzy feelings and an electric car.

Report: BrightSource Energy IPO Likely in 2-3 Years

BrightSource Energy is close to securing approval from the California Energy Commission for its first commercial project to build a solar thermal power plant, and it’s lined up a hefty federal loan guarantee. Is it time for it to go public?

FrontlineSMS at The Feast ’09

I’ve always maintained that the greater the distance between an ICT4D ‘problem’ and the problem solver, the greater the chance of failure. The difficulty here is that quite often the problem and the resources available to fix it are in different places, and available to the wrong people. While ‘we’ – those who rarely fully [...]

Ideas vs. execution: A personal history

“An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea” - Hindu Siddharta, Founder of Buddhism (563-483 B.C) Like most people I’ve never been short of ideas. Short of good ones, perhaps, but never plain old ideas. As we all know, though, ideas alone [...]

FrontlineSMS goes MMS!

It’s been three long years since the idea of supporting multimedia messaging (MMS) within FrontlineSMS was first raised by a handful of users. About a year later, the Hewlett Foundation stepped in and funded its development, excited by its potential in health, agriculture and governance, among others. Today, we’re excited to finally announce MMS support [...]

Restricted mobility

On my travels it’s not unusual for me to find a dozen or more Village Phone operators in a single village. It’s also not unusual to find them with pretty-much the same phone, quite often the same price plan, and the same signs and posters. And just to rub it in, their shops and kiosks [...]

Mobile community: The holy grail of m4d?

Last week I wrote a post on the difficulties of running a “mobile for development” – or m4d – project. I tried to make it challenging, and was hoping to stir up some discussion around the merits of mobile-initiated development projects versus development-initiated mobile projects. You can read that post here. Unless you’re one of [...]

Martin Scorsese Picks the Best Gangster Movies

Yesterday Martin Scorsese, the legendary director, listed the 15 gangster films that shaped the way he has portrayed crime on film (Goodfellas, Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, etc.). Scorsese watched these films as a youngster and young director, during his big moment of influence. The first film (The Public Enemy) came out in 1931, and the last [...]Martin Scorsese Picks the Best Gangster Movies is a post from: Open Culture. [...]

Bob Dylan in a Google Instant

Google Instant rolled out this week, backed by a promotional advertisement (right above). Fans of Bob Dylan will instantly recognize the footage: A young Dylan flipping hand-drawn cards to the tune of “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” an iconic scene from D.A. Pennebaker’s 1967 documentary, Don’t Look Back. [...]

Gaga-Inspired Opera

It’s getting hard to dismiss the cultural influence of Lady Gaga, especially when you see the Gaga phenomenon inspiring György Ligeti’s satirical “anti-anti-opera” Le Grand Macabre staged at The New York Philharmonic this summer. In this clip, we encounter Gaga-inspired costumes and performance as we watch Gepopo, chief of the secret service, telling Prince Go Go [...]Gaga-Inspired Opera is a post from: Open Culture. [...]

Big Thinkers: A Look Back

Back in 1999, ZDTV launched Big Thinkers, a weekly cable TV program that featured half-hour interviews with thinkers on the bleeding edge of science and technology. The show didn’t have the longest run. But it did manage to shine the spotlight on some important minds – Michio Kaku (theoretical physicist), Sherry Turkle (MIT psychoanalyst), Lawrence [...]Big Thinkers: A Look Back is a post from: Open Culture. [...]

The Partially Examined Life: A Philosophy Podcast

This post comes to us via Wes Alwan, an occasional contributor to Open Culture. A year-and-a-half ago, an old friend found me on Facebook and offered me a writing job and participation in a podcast. I took him up on both. Mark Linsenmayer and I had been graduate students in philosophy at the University of [...]The Partially Examined Life: A Philosophy Podcast is a post from: Open Culture. [...]

How Big Oil will stop my children from driving electric cars | Sam Arie

A lot of money is at stake: if we all switched to electric, oil companies would stand to lose everythingI would like an electric car. It would be quieter, nicer to drive and cheaper to run than my petrol car, and it could produce up to 75% less CO2. But the chances are I am not going to get one, and nor will my children when they grow up.One reason is that the Department for Transport can no longer afford to help me buy one. [...]

BP oil spill: the official Deepwater Horizon disaster timeline. As a spreadsheet and visualised

BP's report into the Deepwater Horizon oil well disaster contains a detailed timeline of events. Find out how the data shows what happened when• Get the dataBP's report into the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion has exposed deep failings in the company's operation, categorising eight key failings.BP admitted today its managers on the Deepwater Horizon missed key warning signs in the hours before the explosion aboard the oil rig, but an internal investigation put much of the blame on other companies involved in the well.A 234-page report described eight main causes for the blast, which killed 11 men and created an environmental disaster. [...]

UK 'heat pumps' fail as green devices, finds study

Badly installed heat pumps would not be recognised as renewable energy under proposed European standards, says the Energy Saving TrustGovernment plans to subsidise green heating are challenged today by the largest ever field study of "heat pump" devices in the UK, which reveals 80% perform so badly they would not qualify as renewable energy under proposed European standards.The report, from the Energy Saving Trust, reveals the prevalence of badly installed heat pumps that are consequently under-performing. [...]

HSBC predicts bigger growth for low-carbon cars than renewables sector

Low-carbon vehicles will be a bigger global market by 2020, according to the bank's report for investorsLow-carbon vehicles, such as electric cars, will be a bigger global market by 2020 than renewable energy, such as wind and solar power, according to a report by HSBC bank.The report predicts that 8.65m electric vehicles and 9.23m plug-in and hybrid electric vehicles will be sold globally in 2020, up from around 5,000 and 657,000 respectively in 2009.When fuel-efficiency measures and switches to lower-carbon transport such as trains and coaches are included, the report for investors predicts that the market will be worth $677bn (£440bn) a year in 2020 – up from $113m in 2009. [...]

Pakistan flood aid pledged, country by country. Visualised data

Pakistan needs millions in aid following the floods. Find out which countries have donated what so far - and where the funding gaps areGet the dataFloods have decimated Pakistan: the number of people suffering could exceed the combined total of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the United Nations says.Final figures are still to come. [...]

Shifting from data to action

I’d love to see implementers and tool-providers shift away from data collection and towards creating local action. Here’s my reasoning: 1. Especially in the case of mobile technology, data can be a byproduct of action – e.g. clinicians and community health workers can use mobile phones to coordinate patient care, use identifiers, and produce a longitudinal [...]

Altruistic artists to the rescue

Sometimes, people just pull through for one another. Less than one month ago, I flashed the designers’ bat signal with a meager attempt to draw out some use cases for FrontlineSMS:Medic. A team of talented artists stepped up to the plate and hit a home run: Design & Concept: Jennifer Noguchi & Momoko Okihara Facilitated by Raina [...]

Drawing out use cases

More than a few times, I’ve been asked for a visual representation of FrontlineSMS:Medic’s use cases. I can always flip through photographs and tell stories, but there is demand for a more graphic and ‘networked’ explanation. I took half an hour today to sketch out a few – many others were left out – in [...]

FrontlineSMS:Medic at PopTech

Pop!Tech has published the presentations from this year’s Social Innovation Fellows, and I thought I’d share the 5-minute talk on FrontlineSMS:Medic and the Hope Phones campaign. The fellowship program challenged us to rethink our presentations, impact models, financial sustainability, and media strategy — making sure we left with a ‘way forward’ and a community of [...]

Pop!Tech, playlists and a new place

I’m behind on blogging, so this is an attempt to catch up by combination. Maybe the alliteration in the title makes up for the randomness of this post… maybe not! Last week I found out who will be joining me in Camden for the PopTech Social Innovation Fellows Program, and they’re an inspiring bunch. I’m ready [...]