Hasta La Gadget!

Ikea has stopped selling incandescent light bulbs, making it the first major retailer to do so. Though it won’t be the last, as the The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 will force all retailers to do the same between 2012 and 2014. Ikea, apparently, is just ahead of the game.

“Ikea is committed to integrating sustainable practices into our range and business practices,” Ikea’s US president Mike Ward said. “As the largest home furnishings store, we are constantly looking at ways to help support our customers with every day environmentally responsible solutions that will improve their lives. Eliminating incandescents is just one simple way for Ikea customers to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gases.”

The store will offer a range of alternatives, including LEDs, CFLs, halogen lamps, and even solar powered lamps, all of which are more energy efficient when compared with traditional incandescent bulbs. The retailer is well known for its environmental initiatives, having experimented with both solar power and geothermal power for some its stores.

Via Engadget

Both the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt were released this past December to much fanfare. But how much did they actually sell? As it turns out, not so much.

The Volt sold somewhere between 250 and 350 vehicles over the course of the month, while the Leaf did even worse, with reportedly less than 20 cars sold. The main reason for these minuscule sales numbers is the supply. Both manufacturers are slowly producing vehicles, and gradually introducing them into new markets.

Naturally, both companies expect much better numbers in 2011. GM expects to sell around 10,000 Volts this year, and 45,000 in 2012. Nissan, meanwhile, will be producing around 50,000 Leafs a year. Still small numbers when compared to other popular cars, but the demand is clearly growing.

Via NPR

Toronto was once now as a progressively green city, but under new mayor Rob Ford that appears to be changing. For the worse. Ford’s most recent move is to reconsider the five cent fee on plastic bags, which is aimed at curbing wastage and is being adopted by cities across the globe. Italy recently decided to ban plastic bags all together.

“All of a sudden the five cents is really becoming a sticking point with people and it wasn’t really before, so I want to get rid of it,” Ford told the National Post. “I’m going to change how it’s being implemented right now, put it that way. How we’re going to do it, I’m not quite sure, but we’re definitely going to review it. Because spending five cents and just putting it in the pocket of businesses doesn’t make any sense to me.”

But this seems to ignore the main point of the fee, which is to reduce waste, discouraging shoppers from using bags in the first place. Understandably, not everyone agrees with Ford. “We think anything that reduces plastic use is a good thing,” Franz Hartmann, executive director of the Toronto Environmental Alliance, said.

If you’re curious about whether or not using an electric razor vs a disposable one is better or worse for the environment, the good folks at Slate have you covered. And as it turns out, there really isn’t that much of a difference.

Because while electric razors by their nature use electricity, disposable have a number of different concerns to worry about. There’s the carbon footprint of the razor as its created, shipped, and sold, as well as the hot water used while shaving. According to Slate, the difference amounts to a measly 14.9 pounds of carbon dioxide per year. Or, the equivalent of having a light bulb on for less that an hour. So not a big deal.

What is a big deal though, is shaving in the shower. According to the report, three days of shaving in the shower wastes as much energy as an entire year of shaving at the sink.

When it comes to wind energy, NASA is taking to the skies.

Aerospace engineer Mark Moore has received a $100,000 grant from the federal government to research various types of airborne wind turbines — everything from turbines attached to floating blimps to kites. So what makes the sky better than ground? According to Moore, there’s a lot more power to be had.

“At 2,000 feet (610 m), there is two to three times the wind velocity compared to ground level,” he explained. “The power goes up with the cube of that wind velocity, so it’s eight to 27 times the power production just by getting 2,000 feet (610 m) up, and the wind velocity is more consistent.”

Via NASA