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Photo credit: Jeffrey Smith, AnnArbor.com

As renewable energy becomes more popular and affordable, companies all around the world have begun to use it. The latest instance is the Arbor Brewing company, who has decided to make two of their locations run on renewable energy. Not only is the company decided to find a new way of creating energy, but they have implemented several different strategies to be more efficient with the energy as well.

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By Ubergizmo. Related articles: New spray-on batteries could revolutionize energy storage, Portable solar power source is perfect for emergencies,

Renewable energy has been one of the most researched topics ever since gas and oil prices have begun to rise and people have paid attention to their effects on the environment. Making your home run on renewable energy can be quite challenging and in some instances (very) expensive, but a research team at Rice University has just discovered a way to make it a lot easier to create energy and even store it.

Imagine being able to take a bottle of substance and spray it on a wall of your house. Then the sprayed substance converts the sun’s energy into renewable solar energy and even stores it for you. Rice Universities researchers have come up with the designs to this and possibly many other types of spray-on batteries.

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By Ubergizmo. Related articles: New battery electrode could last 40,000 charge cycles, NEC’s new battery technology said to last twice as long,

LED technology shone brighter than the summer sun this week as artist Bruce Munro unveiled plans for his largest lighting installation ever — a field of thousands of LED flowers that will spring up next year at Australia’s Ayers Rock. Best of all, the entire installation will be powered by solar energy! We also saw Rice University flip the switch on its new Epiphany Skyspace — a green-roofed pavilion that’s topped with a brilliant blue canopy of light. If you’re still not convinced that LEDs are the future, we recently produced two videos that are sure to show you the light — check out our interview with five professional lighting designers on today’s state of the art LED bulbs and watch as we give Inhabitots editor Julie Seguss a light bulb overhaul that shaves over $400 off her utility bills. And if you’re ready to make the switch, check out our guide to 24 gorgeous green lamps that look great with LED bulbs.

This week saw some exciting new developments in the realm of renewable energy. First, a group of scientists in the UK developed a new energy-harvesting device that attaches to the joint between the thigh and shin. The device could be used to power monitors and mobile devices, to name a few possible applications. Meanwhile, scientists from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have invented a new toilet that turns human waste into electricity while reducing the amount of water needed for flushing by up to 90 percent. That’s what we call, win-win!

Continue reading Inhabitat’s Week in Green: energy-harvesting toilet, LED lightbulb overhaul and a floating, solar-powered resort home

Inhabitat’s Week in Green: energy-harvesting toilet, LED lightbulb overhaul and a floating, solar-powered resort home originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Jul 2012 20:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sustainability seems to be quite the buzzword these days, and Sony knows that one cannot make leaps and bounds in technological advancements while sacrificing the future. Four new concepts have been unveiled by Sony which hope to contribute to a more sustainable future, and you can get a better idea on what Sony is doing with the four concepts being presented in the video above. If you are one who watches videos later after reading the story, these concepts will involve a blend of ground-breaking ideas, inventions and models, and are the product of the FutureScapes project.

FutureScapes is run by Sony and Forum for the Future, where this open collaboration project is a magnet for futurologists, thinkers, authors, technologists, sustainability experts, vloggers and the public who want to set their imagination free to wonder just what life is like in the year 2025 – assuming we haven’t wiped ourselves out in a nuclear fallout beforehand, of course.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Sony Mobile says Xperia S Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich update has issues, Sony Xperia Neo L arrives at the FCC,

We’ve seen more than a few energy monitors, but how many of them offer a pretty light show on the side? The EnergyBuddy — first unveiled as a prototype at CES but just now inching toward a full launch — is a complete home energy-tracking system brought to you by Cali-based startup FutureDash. Starting at $99, it keeps tabs on users’ energy consumption with a square-shaped gadget that connects to your network via WiFi or Ethernet. The square glows red, yellow or green depending on how much electricity you’re guzzling, and you have the ability to specify what qualifies as acceptable usage.

Naturally, the EnergyBuddy has a few peripherals in tow. A sensor installed at your electrical panel communicates with the rest of the system, and so-called Smart Plugs let you track the energy consumption of individual devices. The iPhone, iPad and desktop apps also offer some pretty in-depth stats, including dollars per hour spent on energy and a chart detailing consumption throughout the day. FutureDash is currently pushing the product on crowd-funding site Indiegogo, and though availability is TBD, you can take a peek at the system in our hands-on video below.

Joseph Volpe contributed to this report.

FutureDash EnergyBuddy hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jun 2012 18:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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