Are you worried about the eco-impact of all that tossed confetti at your upcoming nuptials? Or maybe you don’t want to have to pay someone to clean it all up. Either way, just opt for Niko Niko’s new Throw & Grow eco-friendly confetti. Made of a biodegradable paper-like material shaped like little blossoms, the confetti is filled with seeds that will eventually sprout into a patch of wildflowers. More »
You’d assume that a foosball table made from 100 percent renewable materials—cardboard and wood—would be best suited for college frat houses on a limited budget. But even with a handy cup holder, the odds are the Kartoni would be soaked in spilled beer after just a couple of games, destroying its structural integrity. More »
Nerf showed the world that toys made from soft foam could survive a kid’s abuse for weeks, even months at a time. But guns and arrow-launching cannons aren’t particularly educational. So if you want your kids to learn a little something while they play, consider these foam Volta Racers which run on the power of the sun. More »
What you see above might be just a concept at this point in time, an idea that has yet to be tested and proven successful, but assuming it actually takes off in due time, it could very well prove to be one of the modern engineering marvels that the world should emulate, especially the Danes who seem to be extremely obsessed with clean energy. The image above depicts a wind turbine that works without any blades, and heck, in order to take things a little bit further, it does not even come with any moving parts.
Designed by Dutch architecture firm Mecanoo, it is known as the electrostatic wind energy converter (EWICON) prototype, where it is currently on display at Delft University of Technology. Relying on “particle movement” to generate energy, you can be sure that a bladeless energy generator would in turn, have very little to do with noise pollution, and the tired world would certainly be able to do with a far quieter world, don’t you think so?
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Detroit Electric SP:01 Is One Mean Electric Sports Car, Denmark Derives 25% Of Power From Wind, 
Opponents of windmills cite the dangers the spinning blades post to birds, the risk of damage due to storms, and the maintenance required to keep all those moving parts running smoothly. But what if a windmill lacked blades and didn’t move at all? That’s the idea behind the Delft University of Technology’s EWICON which looks more like a modern piece of art more than an eco-friendly source of energy. More »
Solar cells are a good thing, as they do their bit to make sure that the world is able to survive on renewable energy, but manufacturing solar cells are not exactly the most eco-friendly method of getting things done due to the kind of toxic waste that is a by-product of the entire process. Well, researchers from Georgia Tech and Purdue might have stumbled upon the Holy Grail, where they managed to create, what is potentially, green technology’s most renewable resource to date. We are referring to solar cells made from trees, now how about that? Not only that, these will be recyclable in something as normal as regular tap water.
Bernard Kippelen, director of Georgia Tech’s Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics, said, “Organic solar cells must be recyclable. Otherwise we are simply solving one problem, less dependence on fossil fuels, while creating another, a technology that produces energy from renewable sources but is not disposable at the end of its lifecycle.” Amazing! These solar cells are capable of converting 2.7% of the energy which it receives into electricity, a figure that was previously unheard of where organic materials are concerned.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Freeride E-Speed Electric Motorcycle, Ocean Cleanup Array Invented By 19-Year-Old Could Remove Over 7m Tons Of Plastic, 
It’s supposed to be an hour when everyone conserves energy by turning off the lights and other superfluous power drains. But apparently Paramount is still not up-to-speed on what Earth Hour is all about since over the weekend it celebrated the event by sending 30 quadrotor drones into the air, forming the Starfleet insignia to promote the upcoming release of Star Trek Into Darkness. More »
Based on the latest reports, the company once chided for making too large an impact on Mother Earth is now claiming that a full 75 percent of its energy is being sourced from renewables. Apple’s chief financial officer, Peter Oppenheimer, informed Reuters this week that all of its data centers — including the gargantuan facility in Maiden, North Carolina — are now fully powered by renewable energy from onsite and local sources, while three-fourths of the energy used by the whole company is pulled from green sources. For those wondering, that includes solar, wind, hydro and geothermal, and the 75 percent mark is a stark 40 percent uptick from just two years ago. As for what the future holds? According to Apple: “We won’t stop working until we achieve 100 percent throughout Apple.” Alrighty then.
Source: Apple
Unless you’re completely snobbish about only consuming bottled water, this cute silicone cup—crafted in the shape of a leaf—will let you enjoy a drink without having to get your mouth anywhere near a tap, faucet, or bubbling spring. And it’s just $12 and washable, so you’ll never have to feel guilty about asking for a disposable cup again. [Connect Design via Holycool] More »
The world is slowly making the switch over to electric power, and while some mass transit systems have been powered by electricity for a while, it’s usually delivered through overhead cables that connect to the buses and trains at all times. However, Korea is moving away from overhead cables in favor of wireless power to its mass transit vehicles.
Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have ended up making major strides in powering mass transit systems over wireless protocols. The systems are called On-line Electric Vehicles (OLEV), and are actually already being tested on Korean roads today. If all goes well, they may switch to the new system permanently.
The technology uses inductive charging to wirelessly transmit electricity from the ground to coils underneath the floor of electric vehicles. The ground has embedded power cables that transmit electricity to the pick-up coils. So far during testing, engineers have recorded an 85% transmission efficiency with the cables and coils.
The technology is similar to what Utah State University is currently doing. Back in December, they introduced an inductive charging technology that involved the same wireless method, which would allows city buses to quickly charge up while waiting at a bus stop, an initiative that would cut down the amount of fuel needed drastically.
[via Txchnologist]
Korean mass transit moving towards wireless power is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
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