Author: gavril

Judging whiskey by its age has been an old practice. But a floor smelling of whiskey is unusual, unless you’ve dropped some from your glass while trying to negotiate the carpet. Whiskeys like Balvenie’s Doublewood for instance spend long part of their life in Whiskey Oak cases. This helps mellow the spirit while maturing. It also contributes to the vanilla spiciness, after which the whiskey is transferred to a Sherry Oak case. These cases in turn impart the whiskey’s fruity and honeyed depths. Well, after the whiskey’s out and ready to drink, the cases and barrels need disposing. So a U.K.-based firm, McKay Flooring Limited, came up with the idea of using this wood for flooring. This sure is a great way to recycle the wood. Just make sure visitors to your home don’t go sniffing at your floor though.

Source

Choppers are eye-catching, there’s no denying the fact. They sure make a whole lot of heads spin around and drop open quite a few jaws ever time a leather-clad, bearded, tattooed and muscled dude rides one around town. Well, now the environmentalists will marvel at choppers too, and not just because they look awesome and sound lovely, it’s because one of them has embraced eco-friendliness.

This unique “stilletto” chopper by Giant is a five speed bike with a brushless hub motor conversion. It power up using solar energy and runs on a 36 volt battery pack. The bike uses a solar panel array of 36+ volts and 10 watts. The bike hits 18 to 20mph quickly, enough for your cruising pleasure. The battery can also be ripped off the bike easily, and charged at home, just incase the sun decides to rest on particular days. And if that’s not enough, it has pedals too, incase you decide not to use any power but your own. A great design, the bike is sure to grab a lot of attention.

[Motorbicycling]

No matter how hard they try, data centers just can help being power hungry! And that’s what everyone realized from the Uptime Symposium 2010 recently held in New York. Virtualization and power management techniques have been thought of and used before. Even manure has been used to make up for HP’s hungry data centers, but all this never seems to satisfy their hunger, for power.

In early 2006, the U.S. Department of Energy predicted that data center energy consumption would double by 2011 to more than 120 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), which isn’t really surprising, taken that the electricity usage from 2005 to 2008 by data centers has been increasing at an astounding 11% annually. And after all the efforts put into making them a bit more eco-friendly, the power stations haven’t seized on gobbling up power, instead increasing the consumption. New technology and a whole lot more cooperation by users around the globe might just help decrease power consumption by data centers before they meet their doom.

[Computerworld]

Times are changing, swiftly, and the way we keep time is too. The U.S. military will soon have greener devices on their wrist, with Hewlett-Packards current development. These wrist-watches by HP will boast flexible display screens that will show up a load of information besides the time, including maps and strategic information to aide soldiers in combat. The watch, known as the Dick Tracy will use a plastic screen. Soaking in the sun will help power up the watch and have it ticking. The prototype of the watch will be up and functioning in a year by HP.

For starters, the U.S. military will use the Dick Tracy (named after the comic-strip detective with his awesome wristwatch) on a small group of soldiers first, who are bound to enjoy the technology, before spreading out to the entire force. The flexible plastic display, unlike the usual glass ones is also unbreakable, and can withstand the shocks of a battle field. Dick Tracy is yet another green addition for the U.S. military, this time in the form of wrist-watches.

[CNN]

Ever dreamt of a paper world with all your electronics made out of paper? You don’t need to be an origami fan to dream about things like that anymore. Paper electronics might just pop up in the future, thanks to the researches at Stanford University, who’ve come up with a technology to make this dream into a reality. Paper super capacitors have been stumbled upon by printing carbon nanotubes onto paper. These can be printed onto everything and involves the coating of both sides of a piece of paper with polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF).

The treated paper bonds to the super capacitor, just like ink and paper bonding and works efficiently, with minimal capacitance loss after 2500 charge-discharge cycles. If all goes well, the future might have electronic devices made of paper, that we can dispose of easily when out of use and recycle, keeping away the trouble of recycling e-waste that we face today.

[Inhabitat]

Now here’s something new and green to look out for. A leaf-shaped solar panel, that pushes the green factor further up on the visual scale, reminding you about just how eco-friendly solar power is. The world’s first leaf-shaped PV crystalline silicon solar panel, developed by Greendix is here. Custom shaped solar panels have never been heard of before, and having some of these on your rooftop is sure to be a whole lot more eye-catching than before. The technology used by the creators, Greendix, allows for custom shaped crystalline silicon panels.

The panels by Greendix are also available in a range of new colors, to suit the designer needs of your home. No longer do you have to compromise with those old rectangular shaped panels with their dull colors. You can now spice up the way you exploit the sun of its energy, with some of these. Greendix have a whole lot more lined up for solar panels like these. So the next time you decide to have solar panels up on your roof, make sure they’re not an eyesore, and use the Greendix one’s instead!

[Marketwire]

Yet another EV in the automotive market with a clean and green act, the Nido EV is here, by Pininfarina. This is the first baby to roll out of the Nido Development Program by the Pininfarina Style and Engineering Centre of Cambiano in Turin. The car is a prototype, and uses a 30 kW, 125 N·m (92 lb-ft) synchronous permanent magnet motor. To power this up, the Nido EV uses a 21.2 kWh, 278V Zebra Z5 Ni-NaCl battery. With a charge time of just 8 hours, the car has a drivable range of 140 km (87 miles). The needle goes all the way up to 120 km/h (75 mph) with just 6.7 seconds required to accelerate from zero to 60kmph.

The Nido uses a tubular steel frame and a structure adaptable to four different vehicles, a 2-seater, a 2+2, a pickup and a light van. Two more versions, a bit larger than the prototype will crop up too, one with a front engine and rear motor and the second with an electric front motor. The Nido EV is yet another green car for a greener drive.

[GreenCarCongress]

The awesome ASIMO humanoid robot does have a heart, a green one that is. The Honda creation recently waved the flags, at Honda’s Green Car Challenge in Romania. And that’s not all! ASIMO also cheered on the competitors, tirelessly throughout the competition and when all was done, the robot handed out the awards too! The Honda competition was a 300-mile long event with 18 finalists. To be awarded by ASIMO, cars were required to perform an exercise on conserving fuel.

To win, the competitors had to complete the entire distance on as little fuel as possible, in the shortest amount of time. The competition had Honda supplied vehicles, the Honda Jazz 1.4, Insight Hybrid and Accord 2.2-liter i-DTEC and little ASIMO to do the honors. Maybe robots are taking over the world, starting with green vehicle events.

[Autobloggreen]

Harnessing energy out of green sustainable sources is getting better and more efficient day-by-day. It’s now wave energy generation that will receive a push up, with Aquamarine Power’s Oyster 2. This wave harnessing machine converts hydraulic power to electricity. To be built in Scotland, the 800-kilowatt model will produce 250% more energy than previous models. Just like its predecessor, the Oyster, the Oyster 2 does not use underwater turbines or buoys for energy generation.

It uses pistons set into motion by ocean waves that create water pressure and pumps the pressurized water in an underwater pipeline to the shore, which is then used to juice up a hydroelectric generator. Off the coast of mainland Scotland, three Oyster 2 machines have already been installed. These will be connected to an onshore 2.4-megawatt hydroelectric turbine. 20 machines will be set up in the future by Aquamarine Power, which will help lighten up 12,000 homes, using waves.

[Cnet]

Fuel efficiency of a car could never get better than this. The car by Team Polyjule Polytech Nantes from France broke quite a few records with its astounding fuel efficiency, 4,414km on a single liter of fuel. The 2010 Shell Eco-marathon saw this incredible feat being achieved by the Prototype car that broke the “3,836 kilometers on a single liter of fuel” record set by ETH Zurich of Switzerland.

Racing day kicked off a day earlier at the Shell Eco-marathon event. The car also faced a bit of trouble, breaking down on the fifth trial run, though still managing to break the record. The Polyjule Team is made up of students from Polytechnique de Nantes, a third-level engineering school, and Lycée La Joliverie, a second-level institution, who aimed for perfection to chisel out this awesome fuel efficient vehicle. Hopefully, our day-to-day cars of the future drink this less.

[Shell]

Police cars are have gone from SUVs to Sedans to Hatchbacks. And now, to shrink them up a bit further, they turn into little four-wheeled contraptions, that somewhat look a lot like an infants pram. You top a pram with flashing lights, pedal power, five gears, a siren, full Hampshire Constabulary livery and a roll bar to protect the driver and you have a little “patrol car”, with a top-speed of 20mph, unlikely to catch up with a getaway car that easily. Anyways, this isn’t a serious step taken by the Police, it’s just a community project organized by local bobby Keith Waller, and it won’t be doing any chasing.

The car took 40 hours to build with help from children aged 13 to 16 from the Ringwood Comprehensive School. This explains the size factor. The tiny 6-foot long “patrol car” will take part in the British Pedal Car Grand Prix on July 11. The lovable Mr. Plod from Noddy’s Toy-Town is sure to love this cop car.

[Dailymail]

Ever dreamt of riding a dolphin, riding up and down the waves of the deep blue ocean? Well, now there’s a greener way to do that, without troubling dolphins. Part the waters for the Green Samba, a Personal Water Craft V 3.0 powered by electricity. This is the fastest sit-down PWC of its kind. The Green Samba’s handling and agility is far better than the usual standup-up PWC.

With a 65mph straight line performance and 260bhp, the Green Samba uses twin direct drive electric propulsion pods, keeping the hydrocarbons, CO2 and NO2 at bay. Besides being clean and green, this Samba is also noiseless, which keeps the marine life undisturbed. The Green Samba is sure to catch the attention of those who love riding waves and the Special Forces, who forever have been looking for silent crafts like these.

[Gizmag]

The Turanor is preparing for its journey around the world. And no, we aren’t talking about anything or anyone related to The Lord of the Rings. This Turanor is a solar powered yacht, greener then the technology in JRR Tolkein’s trilogy of supernatural creatures. The world’s largest solar powered yacht, the brainchild of skipper Raphael Domjan, is 30 meters long and boasts 536 square-meters of photovoltaic panels. That’s as big as two tennis courts. These photovoltaics will help the Turanor on its circumnavigation of the earth. The catamaran type vehicle costs a sweet $16 million and travels at an average speed of 7.5 knots.

The batteries can store enough power to last 72 hours, if the sun decides to ditch the journeymen on their way. The solar-powered giant took around 14 months of sweat and labor to construct. We wish it a Bon Voyage!

[CNN]

We all love that steaming hot cup of coffee every now and then. Well, just incase we can’t find a coffee shop around, the Kickstand crew have come up with a novel way of serving that hot cuppa, anywhere they please. The shop these guys have set up is powered by bicycles, and also transported by them. A mobile coffee shop, the Kickstand Coffee first set shop at McCarren Park in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The entire shop can be hauled around with just two cycles, with each cart weighing around 160 pounds. The bike-carts are also slim enough to negotiate terrible city traffic with easy, to make sure your coffee shop is set up nearby.

The shop has beans from Cafe Grumpy and Gimme! Coffee to offer, ground by hand. We sure would love to see more shops like these, perhaps a pizza shop with ovens powered by the sun!

[Inhabitat]

Geothermal energy production goes greener, with the use of a novel drill recently developed. Funded by Google.org, Potter Drill is busy developing the technology required to produce geothermal energy, harvested by capturing energy from hot rocks deep in the earth. Water is pumped deep into the earth, causing rock fractures, heating up the water, which is then pumped up and powers up turbines.

The drill is inspired by a jet engine, using super heated water to carve into rock, making harvesting geothermal energy a tad cleaner. Environmentalists have also been eagerly awaiting the harvest and use of geothermal energy on a larger scale than it is today. A clean and carbon free way to energy production, geothermal energy can help satisfy the power needs of the world today to quite an extent. Projects like these have already sprung up in Austria, Iceland and Germany, and are generating a whole load of green energy, from the earth’s core. Our planet earth does have a green heart after all!

[Guardian]

HP has never really thought of cow manure and their data centers at the same time before. The guys there came up with now to combine manure and the heat produced by data centers to create an economically and environmentally sustainable operation. 10,000 dairy cows in a farm, answering natures call, could help fulfill the power requirements of a 1-megawatt (MW) data center, with additional power to use on the farm too. The heat produced by the data centers can then be used to help with the anaerobic digestion of animal waste. A process like this produces methane, which can then be used to power up the data center.

A cow produces 20 metric tons of manure per year, and 55 kg in a day, enough to generate 3.0 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electrical energy. A farm with 10,000 cows producing manure is sure to power up a data center in future.

[HP]

Solar power is slowly but surely invading our lives, for a better future. It’s now toys that go solar powered, instead of draining batteries. The sun is ever generous and has been shining down on us for as long as humankind can remember. It was until a few decades ago that we learnt the use of solar power. And it’s time that we use it to power up our lives. Your kid will grow up to be a solar powered genius using toys like the T3 robot at a tender age. Get a hold of this. This solar robot is super cool and is something no kid, no matter how demanding, would ever get bored of. The robot can transform into two more shapes, a tank and a scorpion, and then back on its two feet.

Also, to put it together, no glue is required, keeping sticking problems at bay. And just incase the sun doesn’t show, you can simply expose it to a 50 halogen bulb to power up. Your child can learn the green way for just £13 ($18.6).

[Red5]

Castor beans and solar panels have had nothing to do with each other, until now. A firm known as BioSolar from California decided to unite the two for saving costs. Using a protective back-sheet for the solar panels, the installation costs of solar panels dropped low, taken that the sheet was made mainly from castor bean resin and is cheaper than the usual back-sheets. The ingredient, known as polyamide resin is made from castor beans.

A whole lot of companies out there are working on increasing efficiency of solar panels and solar technology. The cost too is increasing gradually. Companies like BioSolar discreetly are coming up with ways to help lower the costs of installing solar technology in our homes and the place we work, for a greener future with easy access to green energy.

[Cleantechnica]

You might have noticed your little goldfish, swimming round in endless circles, all day long. Schooling fish in the ocean do just the same, but a few hundreds do the rounds together. So what has a few hundred schooling fish moving round in circles and wind energy have in common? A motion that could enable us to harvest 10 times more energy using wind turbines. Researches at California Institute of Technology (CalTech) have realized that the motion of schooling fish if used in vertical axis wind turbines could increase energy production, 10 times more, in the same amount of space taken. Wind farms are space hungry, and a lack of space proves to be a huge hurdle.

Turbines placed too close lose efficiency because of the vortexes created by the turning blades. So, vertical axis turbines prove to be a much better alternative to the wind turbines we have today. Who knew fish moving round in circles could inspire with energy production!

[Treehugger]

Here’s yet another reason to have one of those shiny American Express cards with your name on it. Ford’s being generous to American Express users, and has slashed their prices into half, if you own a card like this one. A nice way to promote green technology, taken that, a American Express card can buy you a Ford Fusion Hybrid for half the price.

Now here’s something that might sound a bit disappointing. There are just two cars like these for sale, and you need to be really lucky to get one of these. Just click on the “I Want It” button when the car goes on sale, and if Lady Luck has a thing for you, the car might just be yours for half the price! The base model of the Ford costs $28,675, though a lucky American Express cardholder could have it for $14,337. So make sure you’re up and ready on the day of the sale, when the sale time will be released, and make sure you please Lady Luck in some way till then. Good Luck!

[Gas2]