Sonia Renthlei:

In what is a new twist, researchers are claiming that one of the ways to reduce CO2 emissions may be to produce pure carbon dioxide. The claim applies to factories that rely on fossil fuels. If pure CO2 is produced, then greenhouses gases – once isolated – could be captured and buried in the earth’s natural reservoirs. It’s believed that such a procedure will reduce the emission of greenhouse gases from energy sources like coal and natural gas. This will help to minimize the contributions fossil fuels make to global warming. It’s important to note that the experiment doesn’t seek to find alternative means of energy but to continue to utilize fossil fuels without the need for large levels of pollution.

Oxygen-separation membranes

Read the full story

Sonia Renthlei:

The capital city of Seoul in South Korea looks to be taking the bull by the horns in its quest to provide proper power supply to its citizens. In September of 2011, the country was hit by blackouts, affecting millions and even leading to the resignation of its minister holding the portfolio of energy affairs. To offset any chance of a similar incident occurring again, the city has decided to construct 29 hydrogen-based fuel cell power plants in the next two years.

Hydrogen fuel cell power plant in seoul

Read the full story

Pratima Kalra:

We were first introduced to Fisker Atlantic sedan at the New York Auto Show this year. Although the extended range plug-in hybrid was to start production in mid 2013, leaked internal documents reveal that it has been delayed by one full year. For the company, the production of this car is the next logical step because the Frisker is smaller and more affordable in comparison to its predecessor the $100,000 plus plug in hybrid Karma. It is comprised of a gasoline engine that generates and sends power to the centrally mounted batteries that power its electric motor.

Leaked Fisker Atlantic documents

Read the full story

Surbhi Sharma:

The bike club located in Hainan, a province in Southern China is a bike stadium devoted to pedaling. Designed by NL Architects who belong to Amsterdam, is a bicycle pavilion will be a roof top pedaling showground. It will be buoyed by a glass-enclosed cafe at the zero level. It is a design proposal custom-built by VANKE for a pavilion in Southern China. Due to tropical climate it is essential to have this form of an elliptical imprint structure which provides a shade to the perimeter seating. The well-designed upward arch of the eaves brings to mind the form of the traditional and functional pagoda.

Bike Pavilion by NL Architects

Read the full story

Sonia Renthlei:

Fuel cells offer us a way out of our petrol and oil worries and offer consumers an alternative to fossil fuels. But what has stopped us from switching over entirely to fuel cells is cost and technology. With a view to furthering the development of efficient fuel cell-based components, the European Technology Initiative’s Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking or FCH-JU will be providing much-needed financial help towards the development of hydrogen solid-state containers. The funding, which amounts to 2.3 million Euros, will go to the Bor4Store project which envisions building storage containers based on boron hydrides.

Bor4Store-Project

Read the full story

Sonia Renthlei:

Portraits created out of paint, stone, ink, pencil and even coffee stains are some of the art mediums we’ve been made privy to over the years. The ability of artists to create beauty using the deftness of their hands in harmony with their minds and emotions provide us mere mortals with a sense of awe and inspiration. And, while all deserve the highest praise, this next project could very well receive the highest marks for sheer ingenuity. English artists Dan Harvey and Heather Ackroyd have created stunningly accurate portraits from living grass using nature’s own photosynthesis phenomenon.

Photo-Realistic Living Grass Images by Ackroyd and Harvey

Read the full story

Sonia Renthlei:

Germany multinational corporation, Siemens, has been working to make ‘eHighway’ systems a reality. The system combines hybrid trucks with overhead electrical wires that enable the heavy vehicles to run on electricity. The technology has already been tested in Germany to successful results. Now, the corporation is looking towards the United States, Los Angeles and California to be precise, to test its systems which will greatly benefit the regions that see a high level of transit.

eHighway electric lines to power hybrid trucks in LA

Read the full story

Mridul Jerath:

Alternate energy options are growing with each day and while the most popular form seems to be solar power; wind energy is catching up fast with latest developments. Modern wind turbines and new ways to tap into off-shore wind energy and even high altitude wind power means that it is no longer undependable and can produce energy that is close to being a constant power source. A group of researchers projected a stimulating plan that would take the wind energy and convert it into an alternate source of power.

East coast wind grid gets a go ahead

Read the full story

Pratima Kalra:

Reasons for switching over to solar power are aplenty, especially for the Mid Atlantic states, where the sun’s power is available in abundance. The government is willing to extend all possible support and policy makers are also devising methods to encourage large scale production of the same. In the past two years the regions capacity to generate solar energy has almost doubled and presently it stands at one gigawatt capacity, equivalent to power one million homes.

Mid-Atlantic Solar

Read the full story

Surbhi Sharma:

Solar Print, the company behind the next generation printable solar cell knowledge had announced they will showcase its independently motorized wireless temperature and humidity sensor at an retrospective event. This exhibition – The European Energy Harvesting & Storage Exhibition was held in Berlin on 15-16 May, 2012.

SolarPrint Dye Sensitised Solar Cell Technology

Read the full story

B.Sameer Kumar:

Different automakers seem to have different perceptions towards hydrogen fuel cell technology. While some believe that it is too early to experiment with this clean and emission-free source of energy, others are eager to drive forward and be among the first that will revolutionize the way we commute on the roads of tomorrow. Mercedes-Benz seem to be among the later as they are reportedly working hard on integrating fuel cell technology into their cars and reports suggest that Mercedes could very well launch a vehicle that will carry the clean energy source as early as 2014.

Mercedes-Benz Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars

Read the full story

Surbhi Sharma:

Today with increasing global warming and increasing awareness of other environmental hazards, more and more people across the world are focusing on harnessing natural sources of energy like wind energy. Wave power is a renewable source of energy and is available in abundance. Wind energy provides clean fuel which is environment friendly and does not produce greenhouse gases. And to capitalize on its greener attribute, we have been utilizing ocean waves for centuries.

marine homes to be powered by wave energy

Read the full story

B.Sameer Kumar:

It is one thing designing all those fancy apartments and studios and a whole different thing when it comes to putting in a bar in a submarine. To celebrate the 250th anniversary of Arthur Guinness signing the 9,000-year lease on St. James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin, Guinness wanted someone to design a very special bar for their special submarine. The task was accomplished by London based Jump Studios as they successfully managed to design a bar inside the deep sea vessel that met both the luxury standards and the look that was befitting of Guinness and the safety standards that come along with such a venture.

Guinness Deep-Sea Bar by Jump Studios

Read the full story

Surbhi Sharma:

Our eyes are our world. Loss of sight can be a dreadful experience for any one. To combat this challenge, a retinal implant or a bionic eye has been developed by scientists at Stanford University in California. It is powered by light as compared to present day implants which are run on batteries. This device uses a unique pair of spectacles to shaft a stream of light into the eye. This sends signals to the implant helping the patient to see. This will also eliminate the need of wiring and other necessary accessories. This wireless implant will help in creation of vision for blind patients and also for patients suffering from retinal or visual disorders.

Light-powered bionic eye

Read the full story

B.Sameer Kumar:

Till scientists do find a viable commercial alternative that will work on a large manufacturing scale, Platinum continues to remain one of the most important constituents of a hydrogen fuel cell makeup. In what is an ironic twist to the fuel cell story, while the material used to generate hydrogen in a fuel cell, water, is available abundantly and is as good as free, the perfect catalyst for this reaction, Platinum, is one of the most expensive metals on the planet. Anglo American Platinum, the world’s leading producer of Platinum, decided to show their faith in the hydrogen fuel cell technology by using the first fuel cell-powered mining locomotive at Amplats’ mines.

Fuel Cell Locomotive

Read the full story

B.Sameer Kumar:

When we think alternate sources of power, we think of solar and wind power. And if pushed, we tend to think of tidal power and hope that clean energy generating ideas like a hydrogen fuel cell will take over in the coming decade or so. But not many of us give a thought to geothermal energy. The huge amount of heat that is contained within the earth’s crust and comes from the core that drives this planet on. But how about tapping into another source of energy that is much like geothermal power, but is actually available far more widely and is a lot more easily accessible?

sewage as geothermal energy

Read the full story

B.Sameer Kumar:

We are no experts when it comes to discussing equipment that is used by oil companies and we surely do not know much about what actually happens on an offshore rig when it comes to extraction of crude oil. But one thing we do know from watching the events of the past is that these working conditions are highly volatile and even a small mistake can cause both damage to equipment and human life on a large scale. Not to mention the environment in the area. Stotler Company recently demonstrated the prototype of their solar-powered accumulator and this piece of equipment apparently helps the oilfields in protection against blowouts.

prototype of a solar-powered accumulator

Read the full story

Sonia Renthlei:

A Jaguar that harvests piezoelectricity? That’s right, designers Hussain Almossawi and Marin Myftiu have conceptualized a modern version of the famous Jaguar E-Type that set the bar high for sports cars in the 1960s. Though not endorsed by Jaguar itself, the XKX concept is a design study into how the next generation model of the classic E-Type could be. Unlike the conventional E-Type that ran on fuel, the XKX will make use of piezoelectricity harvested from energy produced by air friction.

jaguar XKX concept by hussain almossawi + marin myftiu

Read the full story

Christina Pinto:

Alago Alba, living in a marginalized village in the North Eastern region of Kenya, provided for her family by turning to renewable energy. Her village lacked a workable connection to an electricity grid and like many Kenyans; she could not afford the high costs of obtaining a main connection.

solar powered phones in Kenya

Read the full story

B.Sameer Kumar:

Seems like the solar revolution is spreading across the globe at a rapid pace with regions that were previously not too ‘hot’ on solar power now turning towards this clean energy source. And with growing awareness and how planet-friendly measures tend to both bring in some good PR and save a penny or two in the long run, business groups are turning towards clean power more and more. While groups like Greenpeace still complain about how it is still not ‘enough’, we are more than happy to see the trend of big corporate houses adopting alternate energy, even if it is at their own pace.

Walmart to install solar panels on 27 stores in Mass.

Read the full story

Sonia Renthlei:

EV veteran Chip Yates has been tinkering around with electric vehicles for years now and has recently decided to put his expertise to use on electric-powered airplanes. The American isn’t interested in setting records for flying the fastest e-plane, however; rather, he wants to reinvent how such aircrafts are thought of and modify existing trends to enable long distance flights.

Flying Drone Batteries

Read the full story

Sonia Renthlei:

Bamboo has been used for decades in South Asia owing to its abundance, eco friendly features and fast growth. In Vietnam, this plant holds even more significance in culture. It symbolizes the Vietnamese soul, home and the spirit of Vovinam, the country’s form of martial arts. It is only fitting, then, that architect Vo Trong Nghia and his team used bamboos to construct an exposition booth in the 2012 Vietnam Architecture Exhibition.

Bamboo Booth 2012 by Vo Trong Nghia

Read the full story

Surbhi Sharma:

Matra, which is one of the largest producer of Light Electric Vehicles and DBT which is one of the largest electric vehicle charging infrastructure organizations in Europe, are helping the eco-friendly scooter drivers to go green. DBT and Matra have paved a path to go green for e-bikes and e-scooters by launching a battery swapping station in Los Angeles – referred as the Bat’Lib system. It is a cupboard like system that clutches and charges nine batteries in one go. In order to get a new charged pack, one slot is always kept available to receive the discharged pack. These packs can be bartered for empty packs in fraction of a second. These packs weigh 16 pounds and are about the size of a loaf of bread.

Bat’Lib battery-swapping station

Read the full story

Sonia Renthlei:

Garden planters aren’t just containers for planting flowers and plants. They’re decorative too and can be used to deck up a boring space. Planters also don’t have to be purchased from stores and can be made by oneself. While most are as large as or larger than flower pots, some are classified into the micro category. These are tiny little holders used to contain succulent plants. They can be used to decorate walls, tables or exteriors and make for perfect gifting items.

Wine Cork Micro-Planters

Read the full story

Sonia Renthlei:

The power of the sun doesn’t seem to be confined to cars, homes or even boats. The stylist behind pop sensation Lady Gaga’s eye-popping meat dress has announced that he will launch his fashion label named Formichetti in mid-2013 that will include solar-powered garments. The novel idea will see wearers of the clothes being able to charge their cellphones while on the go.

Lady Gaga’s stylist to launch `solar-powered` clothing in 2013

Read the full story