Would you spend $13 on a pair of rubber slippers that start to rot away the second you open the packaging? It’s a feature most people would like to see on those aesthetically-challenged Crocs, but the O1Ms are from a Spanish company called One Moment and are made from a soft vegetable-based plastic that will completely biodegrade in just six months. More »
If there is one fashion affront that should never have been established, it would be the Crocs shoes, although you could also somewhat classify Lady Gaga under that particular category. Well, here is the One moment 01M biodegradable shoes where the namesake itself gives the game away, making it ideal for those who love all things that have to do with gardening. After all, these biodegradable shoes can be transformed into compost once you’re done with them, using it to fertilize the garden in the process. These are 100% biodegradable, and were specially created via an injection-mold process that is made from soft vegetable-based plastic.
The shoes feel as though they are made from rubber though, and come with an anti-slip sole which makes it able to hold its own even against rain and dirt. Even then, the eco-friendly material that it is made out of will encourage you to compost it instead of just tossing them away once you’re done. Definitely not something that you would buy many times over in your lifetime since shoes wear out what, once a year if you drive them hard throughout the day? You can shred the 01M shoes, or just chuck them into a compost bin where it will take approximately half a year before it is broken down completely. Would you be willing to fork out 10 Euros for a pair of these puppies?
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Sewage plants can double up as power stations, Animals sculpted from old CDs,
Apple gave eco-friendly computer fans a brief jolt this July after it backed out of EPEAT certification, only to restore most devices just days later. While we can’t say we’re completely shocked at the follow-up, EPEAT has confirmed that at least one “ultra-thin” laptop from Apple has just cleared the verification process. The as yet unnamed system is more likely to be a Mac that had already earned the recycling-friendly rating in the past, such as the MacBook Air, rather than a sudden turnaround for the MacBook Pro with Retina Display. The look wasn’t exclusively devoted to the Mac side, though — EPEAT cleared Apple’s computer as part of a wider test that also greenlit extra-thin portables from Lenovo, Samsung and Toshiba. We’ve reached out to get a more definitive list, but the approvals should ease the minds of those worried that ever-slimmer laptops are forcing us to give up our green efforts.
Filed under: Laptops, Apple, Samsung, Lenovo
Apple, other thin laptop makers pass latest round of EPEAT tests after summer mini-drama originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Oct 2012 08:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Your average e-bike is just a regular bicycle fitted with an electric motor. When the battery dies, you can just revert to pedalling so you’re not stranded. The new Footloose from Mando, however, takes a different approach. There’s still a set of pedals, but they’re used to power an alternator which generates electricity keeping the motor running. It’s like the bicycle equivalent of the Chevy Volt. More »
GM’s OnStar team would really like us to stay on the electric side of the Chevy Volt’s powertrain as much as possible. That’s the selling point, after all. Rather than simply preach green driving and hope for the best, the division is testing a new EcoHub app that reminds Volt drivers just how miserly their plug-in hybrids can be. Qualifying owners who opt in or subscribe to OnStar have the Volt’s energy usage costs compared to their home’s total electricity bill, showing how much cheaper it can be to avoid the gas pump. There’s more if money isn’t enough of a motivator — the app also builds in a counter that estimates how much gas Volt drivers are saving nationwide. The eco-friendly ego boost is currently limited to Android users participating in Pecan Street’s smart grid project in Austin, but long-term plans have the app reaching iOS and all Volt fans eager to justify their ride.
Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation, Mobile
Chevy Volt EcoHub app tells drivers how little they pay to charge, goads them into staying green (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Oct 2012 23:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Love Amazon’s renowned two-day shipping? How about organic eats and other miscellaneous environment-friendly products? If so, then today’s your very lucky day. Adding to the endless list of shopping sites it already owns, Amazon has just introduced Vine.com; a site which aims to be a one-stop web store for folks looking to snag anything from organic ingredients to beauty products like all-natural shaving oils and Kiss My Face foam soaps — and yes, as we stated earlier, there’s an option to get that speedy two-day delivery service. While chatting with Bits Blog, a Vine representative said the goal isn’t “necessarily about saving the planet,” but that his team does “feel the products are useful in that regard.” Currently Vine.com is live in beta form, though that doesn’t mean folks interested can’t go browse around and order some goodies — to do that, give the source link below a quick tap.
Amazon launches Vine.com for shoppers who live life on the ‘green’ edge originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 15:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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In what could be considered a relatively strange move, O2 has announced that an upcoming, unannounced HTC smartphone won’t come with a wall charger inside the box. According to the Euro carrier, this idea is part of a “simple vision” in which it wants “to take chargers out of boxes full stop,” adding that research has shown more than 70 percent of UK customers don’t have the need for such charger as they already own one with the same compatibility. The soon-to-be HTC device will, however, include a USB to micro-USB cable, so not everything will be completely lost. Now O2 didn’t give any fruitful details about which HTC handset it’ll be using to kick off the program, but we’ll let you know as soon as we find out.
Filed under: Cellphones, Misc, Mobile
O2 to sell upcoming HTC smartphone without a wall charger, says it’s part of a ‘simple vision’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 14:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
New technologies have a greater chance at being accepted and embraced when they’re easy to adopt. And to help the spread of solar power Sharp has developed a new see-through solar cell, allowing them to be used as architectural accents that blend into a building. More »
We’ve seen Apple’s North Carolina data center in various states of undress, but never before have we seen its associated solar farm looking so complete. That sure is a lot of solar panels. We’re not all that surprised though, with the intense thirst for energy from the servers that it feeds. In fact, initial reports indicated that — although impressive — the solar farm would still only be supplying 60 percent of the sites requirements. No fear though, as the remaining 40 is said to come from other equally eco-friendly sources. We’d be happy with enough to keep our iPad permanently juiced.
Continue reading Visualized: Apple’s 20 megawatt solar farm
Filed under: Misc
Visualized: Apple’s 20 megawatt solar farm originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 Sep 2012 06:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Whether you’re looking to minimize the amount of crap you own, reduce your footprint on the environment, or just don’t have enough money to buy nice things—you can find cardboard equivalents of almost everything you can think of. And besides being cheap, they’re easy and guilt-free to dispose of. More »
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