Eco Factor: Modular and sustainable furniture system for outdoors.
Designed by Mitch Crawford the Infuego offers a stylish, trendy and green alternative for outdoor entertainment. The modular furniture system is ideal for garden environment and is aimed to promote social interaction with exciting seating positions and a sculptural centre piece offering warmth, light and security into the twilight hours.
Eco Factor: Energy-efficient batteries by Hitachi for electric and hybrid cars.
Hitachi has claimed to have developed a new lithium-ion battery that tops its previous versions by 70% in output density. The batteries are intended to be used in next-gen electric and hybrids making them reliable, fast and efficient at the same time. The batteries will undoubtedly cost more than any other battery being used presently, but will make electric cars more practical.
Eco Factor: Crop protector powers itself using solar energy.
Protecting farmlands from animals using scary objects is a thing of the past and inventors are using the latest advancements in technology to do the same job in a more refined way. The Digital Scarecrow designed by KyungRyul Lim & Miyeon Kim is one such gadget that detects animals using an infrared ray sensor eye with a 16,529-square-meter range.
Eco Factor: Fireplace fueled by denatured ethanol.
Winters are still months away, but we believe that there is never a wrong time to buy the right thing for your home. Designed by Marc Philipp Veenendaal, the “Fusion” fireplace is one such product you’ll be interested in possessing even if this day is the warmest so far. Complementing its name, the Fusion fireplace merges style with function, creating a smart and modern accessory for your green interiors.
Eco Factor: Hybrid Hummer H3 does 100mpg..
Hummers are known to be polluters and with its monstrous size, fuel-guzzling engine and the materials involved make it one of the most un-ecofriendly rides. However, Raser Technologies is trying to better the image of this monstrous SUV by adding its E-REV power train plug-in electric engine which that generates 268hp, a 40 mile all-electric range and a fuel efficiency of over 100mpg.
Eco Factor: Zero-emission PCM material is recyclable and green.
Dry ice is not a new constituent in shipment particularly of perishables and other goods that need to be kept well below their freezing temperature. It is now being considered a threat to the environment and some shipments have been restricted because of the use of dry ice, which emits carbon dioxide. Entropy Solutions, a Minneapolis-based thermal technology development company has introduced a new variant of its patented PureTemp™ renewable phase change material (PCM) that is being touted to be a true alternative of dry ice, because of its ability to maintain a consistent payload temperature of -40°F.
Eco Factor: World’s largest solar power tower plant.
The world’s largest solar power tower plant developed by Abengoa Solar has begun operation, after a successful three-day testing period. Called the PS20, the solar power tower plant surpassed the predicted power output during the tests which further validated the high potential of power tower technology.
Eco Factor: Portable device to harness and store solar energy.
Developed by design students at the Indian Institute of technology, Kanpur, the PhotoCYL is a portable device inspired from plants. The leaves are made from thin film Cadmium Indium Gallium Di Selenide (CIGS), which converts sunlight into electricity. This device can be placed near a window in home or office. The leaves are mounted on a telescopic support, and can be unfolded to start charging. The telescopic support works as the stem and supports the leaves. The battery located in the bottom works as the roots to store the energy.
Eco Factor: Children’s website teaches the art of environmental conservation.
Australia-based Sharon Lowe has created her very own internet ecosystem aimed to offer kids a fun way to learn the art of environmental conservation. Called the Habitat Heroes, the webpage has been designed in a simple manner and encourages kids to perform simple tasks, which are beneficial for the environment. Sharon is working along with established charities such as Greening Australia and PlayPumps International and kids playing Habitat Heroes could silently support these causes as well.
Eco Factor: Foot-powered generator for your portable gadgets.
Without a charged battery, your portable electronic gear is nothing more than small chunks of trendy looking plastic. Having a discharged cellphone in the middle of nowhere frustrates one and all. We’ve been regular in showcasing some green ways to charge your cellphones and other portable devices, but Instructables has a great DIY for all those who want to test their creative skills. The DIY lets you convert your shoe to a renewable energy generator, which can be used to charge any portable gadget including your DAPs and cellphones with your movement. Check out the complete DIY instructions at Instructables.
The French word for poppy flower is Coquelicot. The brand name for sexy sustainable footwear is Coclico. This Coclico, named after the coquelicot, is not to be mistaken with the 16th century Renaissance composer from the Netherlands, Adrianus Petit Coclico. Using veggie tanned leather, FSC certified wood and cork, non-toxic water-based paints, recycled foam beds, and lead free buckles, Cocolico is the line to keep your eyes on now, in the future, and in the video above.
Eco Factor: Recyclable computer saves energy.
The recent advancements in technology are making gadgets smaller, efficient and more powerful. Chip and hardware manufacturers are racing against time to develop the smallest circuits which could be used to power the most efficient computers designed to take the load of our future needs. Avery Holleman is one such designer who believes that computers of tomorrow will be completely different to the boxes which we are accustomed to. Avery is the designer of a stunning computer system called the Napkin PC.
Eco Factor: Trashed nails transformed into a bench.
We all know that twisted and unusable nails in your pathway can be a serious problem both for your feet and your car’s tire. Nobody wants to bleed or see a flat tire right in the morning and knowing that it was all because of your carelessness frustrates you even more. Artist Jay-Hyo Lee collects all those twisted nails and places them right under your butt, of course in a more comfortable and aesthetic manner.
Eco Factor: Concept speakers powered by solar energy.
Designed by Pekka Salokannel, the Gramo Speakers are just what you need to green your musical life. The speakers are powered by three layers of photovoltaic panels that are incorporated onto their surface. The solar panels charge the built-in battery pack, allowing the user to use the speakers even after sunset.
Eco Factor: Zero-emission concept motorcycle powered by hydrogen.
Adding style and function to the famous 1970s-80s Honda CB Series, designer Igor Chak has designed the 2015 Honda CB 750, which is a green beast controlled by the most sophisticated technology. The bike has been designed to run on a four-cylinder liquid hydrogen engine emitting nothing more than a few drops of clean water.
Eco Factor: Energy-efficient LCD monitors.
Eizo Nanao Corporation has announced two LCD monitors, the 23-inch FlexScan EV2303W and the 20-inch FlexScan EV2023W, that are among the world’s first monitors to receive the just-announced TCO Displays 5.0 certification. They are also the first EIZO products to achieve EPEAT Gold status. The monitors come with unique motion sensors that turn off the monitor when no one is viewing it.
Eco Factor: Car powered by ecofriendly fuels.
With electric cars confronted by speed and operating range issues, car manufacturers are looking toward other possible sources of fuel that should be green, but shouldn’t hamper the performance and agility cars are known and loved for. Lotus Cars is making sure that its cars don’t go slow in a bid to go green, by making use of other green fuels including ethanol and methanol.
Eco Factor: Cooker powered by solar thermal energy.
Researchers are on their toes to develop ingenious and high-tech solutions to battle the energy crisis. While state-of-the-art green technology is an utmost necessity for a better future, low-tech devices and gadgets also have an important role to play. Recently we saw an inventor winning $75,000 as prize money for a solar cooker that costs just $5 and now we have another solar cooker that costs more but ensures that you never undercook your food.
Eco Factor: Water saving shower curtain makes sure you don’t waste much.
A shower after a hectic day is definitely relaxing, but shower too long and you’d end up wasting too much water, which could have been used elsewhere. We’ve regularly showcased some brilliant ideas to keep you from showering for hours, but the “Spiky” shower curtain seems the most practical one. Designed by Elisabeth Buecher, the “Spiky” shower curtain comes with spikes which inflate after 4 minutes of shower time.
Eco Factor: Gadget charger harnesses solar and wind energy.
Earlier this year we saw Kinesis debut their K2 solar and wind powered charger, which was all set to green the portable gadget market. Soon to realize the importance of a backup charging mechanism, the company has rolled out their next-gen portable gadget charger the K3. Unlike its predecessor, the K3 doesn’t just depend on renewable energy, but its lithium battery pack can be charged using the conventional grid electricity.
Although everyone secretly loves hitting up those free continental breakfasts at business-class hotels – this being the only manner in which most otherwise staid adults can get their hands on novelty cereals without this being known to one’s peers – sending a dozen branch managers to Dallas or some such place to conduct presentations at one’s corporate mothership has never been a particularly cost-effective business tradition nor a particularly eco-friendly one. Better to pick up some croissants and take advantage of the information age with Great America Networks Conferencing, a fine little firm that lowers the cost and expertise barriers once inherent to video conferencing.
Aside from offering all of the fundamentals that companies have come to expect from such services, GAN’s web-based software also provides users with a wide range of nifty features for use in their webinars (which is either the best or worst neologism to come about in recent years); most of these tools appear to be simple enough that even the most techilliterate (we can make up words, too) presenters can not only conduct face-to-face meetings from thousands of miles apart, but also present documents and other visual aides in a manner far superior to simply sticking a piece of paper up to the camera and asking it it’s in focus. Users can, of course, import Powerpoint presentations; other features include a nifty “whiteboard” with which participants can collaborate via doodle, as well as the ability to annotate videos in real time. The software also allows for easy recording of sessions, the storing of documents online for easy and consistent access, and the use of emoticons (essential for those with inexpressive faces). Better than many of its competitors, GAN enables up to twelve video feeds to run simultaneously on the screen.
GAN also offers a purely audio-based conference system for use on those occasions when visuals aren’t needed or participants are particularly ugly. Among other things, this option provides the services of a human operator who can greet all comers and moderate question-and-answer sessions.
Both the video and audio conferencing systems are available without subscription or other commitments, with charges being based entirely on duration of usage.
Today Wyatt spent six and half minutes playing with an empty box. I sat staring at the minutes ticking away on my cell phone, lifting my eyes occasionally to catch him sticking his head in the box, attempting—and failing—to climb into the box, finally turning the box over and banging it again and again like a conga. Six and half minutes is an incredibly long time for a 14-month old, especially one who lately seems to have the attention span of a goldfish. And as I watched my kid squeal with joy while smacking the cardboard with his tiny palms, I wondered why adult humans are driven to buy their offspring truckloads of shiny, flashy plastic toys when they are so obviously satisfied with a more simple alternative.
W certainly likes it simple. Though his toys include a singing, dancing plastic monkey that spits six plastic balls out of its plastic monkey mouth there are few amusements that can pull him away from exploring an empty box or his other favorite activity—dropping spice containers (he’s partial to dried oregano and ground nutmeg) into a Tupperware container. But push a few wooden, multi-colored, donut-shaped rings in front of him and he’ll be hit with a steely focus as he works to slide them onto a wooden stick. And roll a red, green or blue wooden ball toward him and he’ll race to place them in their circular slots on a thick wooden box. Try as he may, W cannot resist the clean lines, the clear colors and the age appropriate challenge of his Plan Toys. And I can’t resist the smooth rubberwood (sourced from rubber trees that no longer produce latex) and the non-toxic dyes and glue. It’s become clear that I’m fairly obsessed with Plan Toys. They can be safely licked and chewed—W must taste each toy thoroughly before he can play with it—are an ideal weight and texture, fit perfectly into little hands and look sharp when set on a shelf. Who needs a singing monkey?
A hundred years after being overtaken in popularity by its gas-powered counterpart, the once-ubiquitous electric car looks set for a comeback as auto firms in China, India, and the U.S. demonstrate new, more practical models for release over the next few years. Less noticeable but similarly swell are the parallel advances that have been made in recent years within the realm of the electric motorcycle, which is quickly coming into its own as a viable option for urban transportation sans the gasoline.
In this case, the company to watch may very well be Zero Motorcycles, a California firm that’s shattering industry barriers with its Zero S model. Whereas many electric vehicles are still widely knocked for their less-than-ideal performance in terms of speed and acceleration, the Zero S goes from zero to 30 in less than two seconds, which is great for those occasions when you’ve just got to be going 30 miles an hour within two seconds of a given moment. The model’s atypical speed advantages derive in part from its equally atypical design; incorporating aircraft-grade aluminum frames and such things as cylindrical swingarm cross tubes, the Zero S weighs in at a relatively light 225 pounds. Nonetheless, it also features full torque across the board and exceptional throttle response.
Even as the bike manages a performance comparable to its gas-guzzling cousins, the Zero S is an electric through and through, capable of powering up at any standard outlet and making use of a lithium ion battery. As such, the bike produces less than one-eighth of the pollution per mile and only a hundredth of the nitrous oxide than does a standard chopper. It’s also extraordinarily quiet, which may upset purists of the sort who live to rev their engines and do whatever it is that makes the engine sound like a .243 going off next to one’s eardrum, but to hell with those people anyway.
Price-wise, the Zero S clocks in at just under $10,000. Zero plans to have demo models available in dozens of cities across the U.S. and Europe in the near future and is already shipping to buyers across the globe.
Eco Factor: Ecofriendly fiber cladding for FIFA World Cup Stadium.
Boogertman Urban Edge & Partners Design has developed new fiberC glassfiber concrete panels for FIFA World Cup Stadium, which they state is a greener alternative to fiber cement panels or aluminum sheets. The stadium, referred to as The Soccer City Stadium, is under construction in the suburbs of Johannesburg, and cladding would complete in 80 days.
Eco Factor: Zero-emission race car powered by electricity.
The Swiss Show of Renewable Energy and New Technologies, Energissima, is expected to host some cool new ways to generate power and keep your carbon footprint minimal. Green GT has started it all with an all-electric race car capable of hitting a speed of 170 mph using two water-cooled 100KW electric motors.
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