TreeHugger

Alguita's Journey to the Center of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:16:00 -0500

Photo via Drew Wheeler The Pacific Garbage Patch is drawing in quite the rush of explorers and scientists, from David de Rothschild to Project Kaisei and the research team's efforts to explore clean-up options. It's also drawing in Algalita Marine Research Foundation's research vessel the Alguita. The crew is ]]>...

Tsuru, Yamanashi (Japan) Finding Off-Grid Solutions To Solve Their Energy Needs

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:40:28 -0500

Photo: New Energy Foundation Small towns and communities all over the world are looking for solutions to their energy needs. Going off-grid is not just a choice for individuals, the way it sometimes seems here at Treehugger. No, you will never be able to live totally away from anyone else. Off-grid doesn't mean you are on your own, out there in the wilderness. Hey, not even Thoreau was able to achieve that kind of level of gridless living. You need to have good neighbours, or else. photovoltaic panels when "solar power" is mentioned, solar thermal must not be underestimated. One of the players in that field is Stirling Energy Systems (SES), who we've written about before when they set a new world re]]>...

In Defense of the Cow: How Eating Meat Could Help Slow Climate Change

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:27:44 -0500

Photo via stock.xchng by bouwm019 Should we be eating more beef in order to slow global warming? It sounds counterintuitive, but it may be so: Cattle could be part of the whole ecological equation to solving climate change and restoring healthy, bio-diverse ecosystems. I am a vegetarian, but I maintain there is a place for grass-fed beef on family menus—and pasture-raised cattle in global warming solutions. Cows can help more than harm if they are sustainably raised.]]>...

Using Augmented Reality to Change The Way We See Our Green World

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:17:07 -0500

The above video shows what augmented reality - taking in the real world on a device and layering computer generated data over it - could mean. Essentially, you can point your phone at something and the data for whatever it's seeing pops up on your screen. Here]]>...

WatCleaner Robot Is the Roomba for the Ocean

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:49:00 -0500

Images via JDF International Design Competition What might happen with the Great Pacific Garbage Patch if we were to sic an army of robot ocean scrubbers on them? This concept by Chinese industrial designer Ye Yao just might be the start of that very possibility. It's a robot that could detect the difference between trash, fish and oil, and clean up the junk from the open seas. ]]>...

Sugarcane to be Turned into Conventional Diesel Fuel at Brazil Biorefinery

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:43:00 -0500

photo: Cliff via flickr Brazil's widely know for running a whole heck of a lot of cars on sugarcane-based ethanol. There are lot's of problems to be pointed out in growing it, but sugarcane is one thing that the country definitely has in spades. Which is why Colorado-based Amyris Biotechnologies is opening up a demonstration plant in Campinas which will convert sugarcane into diesel fuel, ...

Italy's Trash Robot is a Real-Life Wall-E

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:51:06 -0500

mafia-run waste industry has turned some landscapes post-apocalyptic, scientists have proposed a new solution to picking up the trash: the googly-eyed Dust Cart robot. It may not solve Italy's garbage problems, but its inventors h]]>...

Stretchy Salt Discovery May Improve Desalination Processes

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:46:00 -0500

Photos via Sandia National Laboratories Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories and the University of Pittsburgh have found that salt can be stretchy, and not as brittle as previously thought, in the absence of water. This can affect not only our current desalination processes, but also how we look at cloud formation and ozone destruction.]]>...

Un-TreeHugger: Designer Spaghetti Measurer

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:05:00 -0500

Images via A+R The mantra of green is "Less is More" and that includes kitchen devices. Which is why this special designer spaghetti measurer is one of those things that makes me stop and ask, "Seriously? One more kitchen device that does something pointless?"]]>...

Gigantic Solar Plants in Nevada Slated for Fast Tracking

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:00:06 -0500

Image credit: NextLight Solar 407MW Solar PV Plants to be Followed by Many More The idea of utilizing deserts to generate solar power is an attractive one. Of course, they would come with their own ecological price, but some claim that solar power stations in a few deserts could power the entire world - and that's got to be an improvement on mountaintop removal and tar sands. Mike has already written about a Sydney Morning Herald report that “building baseload power using coal was much more expensive than focu]]>...

Micro-Hydro Power Picking Up Spead As More Rural Towns Want To Go Off-Grid

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:40:52 -0500

Photos from Agua y Tierra Network in Kochi prefecture, Japan Many rural towns and communities can benefit from hydroelectric power solutions, especially small scale projects that don't require massive investments. In Kochi prefecture, one town decided to go micro-hydro and install small power plants. They found that it took some effort, but after town meetings and a focus on education, people liked the idea of self-sufficiency and the environmental benefits. Hydroelectric power is Japan's largest energy resource, and these projects are a "small-is-beautiful" kind of deal that rings]]>...

Can Coral Reefs be Healed by Wave Power?

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:15:45 -0500

Oh buoy! Could this ocean energy converter save coral reefs? Photo from SwellFuel With almost half the world's coral reefs threatened with extinction and the rapid decline in the oceans’ biodiversity, according to a recent report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), it’s going to take more than cloning reefs to save the seas. Enter an ominous-looking little buoy. ]]>...

Climate Change too Abstract For You? Dengue Fever Could Spread to 28 U.S. States

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:44:18 -0500

In red are counties that have one of the 2 Dengue mosquito vector species. Blue are are vulnerable areas. Image: NRDC That's Pretty Concrete and Scary Matthew recently wrote a post about the climate change induced expansion of the tropics and the consequences of it. One of the main ones is the Northward movement of certain tropical diseases. The NRDC has just released a report on the subject (subtitle: "Mosquitoes Known t]]>...

Preserving Biodiversity Helps Prevent Disease Spread from Animals to People: New Research Spells It Out

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:25:00 -0500

photo: Jasja Dekker via flickr New Scientist shows us another reason why preserving biodiversity is so important: Preventing the spread of diseases from animals to humans. A new paper from scientists at Portland State University looks at the spread of the Sin Nobre Virus, otherwise known as the Great Lakes for water. In fact, the lakes comprise one-fifth of the world's fresh surface water supply and nine-tenths of the U.S. supply. That's why their survival is of prime concern. WaterLife is a film documenting everything impacting the lakes, from water abuse to invasive species, introducing viewers to some of the amazing people interacting with the lakes, as well as some very unique vantage points of the w]]>...

Evolt Bull1 MX: An Electric Motocross from Italy

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:12:07 -0500

Photo: Evolt A Dirt Bike Without the Noise and Fumes The Zero X is probably the electric dirt bike that has been getting the most attention lately (there's also the Zero S street-legal version), but others are tossing their hats in the ring. Evolt from Italy showcased its Bull1 electric dirt bike at the Milan International Cycle and motorcycle E]]>...

Panasonic Using Lasers for Faster, Better CRT Recycling

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:46:00 -0500

Photo via takomabibelot As of last year, 704.9 million cathode ray tube (CRT) televisions have been sold just in the USA since 1980, according to the EPA. 42.4% were estimated to still be in use. But when the switch to digital TV was announced, worry about the e-waste impact of many of those remaining TVs surfaced. Only 18% of CRTs were being recycled, but awareness has tightened over the last year thanks to groups like the Electronics Take-Back Coalition and their push to Foreign Policy Magazine Foreign Policy Magazine's latest issue lists a water quiz that not only tests your knowledge about water, but provides some startling statistics on worldwide water use. ]]>...

Community Votes To Become Australia’s First Bottled Water Free Town

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:15:23 -0500

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NASA Confirms Dramatic Thinning of Arctic Sea Ice - Multi-Year Ice Area the Size of Alaska Lost

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:10:00 -0500

Visualization of Arctic sea ice thickness in 2008. The white patches are 13-16' thick, deep blue are 0-3' thick. New satellite data from NASA confirms what research released a couple months of go said regarding the thinning of Arctic sea ice. Namely that it has thinned dramatically in the past four years and that for the first time in recorded history seasonal sea ice cover has replaced multi-year ice as the dominant ice ty]]>...

Japan Passes US and Becomes Biggest Market for Hybrid Cars

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:22:01 -0500

Photo: Toyota 8% of New Car Sales in Japan Were Hybrids in June Until June 2009, the USA was the biggest market for hybrid cars. But now Japan has taken the lead, in good part thanks to factors such as higher fuel taxes (gasoline costs about $4.50/gallon) and tax exemption for hybrids. 30,000 hybrids have been sold, a number that represents about 8% of new car sales in the country, and that's despite a 7-month waiting list for the Sajjad Lambe via flickr Having only received 25% of the  monsoonal rainfall normally expected by this time of the year Mumbai, India is experiencing "acute water shortages" for the first time in living memory, the BBC reports. This has caused city officials to reduce water supplies by 30%, impacting households as well as hospitals and hotels: ]]>...

New World Record Rooftop Solar Power Array be Built at Milan Trade Fair

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 09:20:00 -0500

Entrance to Fiera di Milano, photo: ...FX... via flickr Milan will soon be able to boast that it hosts the world's largest rooftop solar power array, taking the crown from Zaragoza, Spain and its 12 MW array on top of a General Motors factory. The new array will be built on top of the Hitaveita Suðurnesja power plant is the largest hot water generator plant where drilling for the geothermal fluid takes place. They drill as deeply as 2000 meters and the fluid's temperature is 243°C. The plant provides 17,000 people with hot water for centra]]>...

University NM - Taos Celebrates Energy Independence Day

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:58:00 -0500

Image via: UNM-Taos July 1, 2009 will forever be known as Energy Independence Day as the University of New Mexico - Taos is now officially 100% powered by the sun - the first community college in the United States to meet this goal.]]>...

London Gets 6 Hybrid Double Deck Buses From Volvo

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:30:26 -0500

Photo: Volvo Saving Fuel, Cleaning Up the Air, Reducing Traffic Six new hybrid double deck buses will provide service on Route 141 in London. The B5L Hybrid Double Deck is made by Volvo and uses the company's I-SAM (Integrated Starter, Alternator, Motor) technology, which was developed for use across the whole group's heavy vehicles. No specific figure yet on fuel economy, CO2, or NOx emissions, but a Volvo 7700 Hybrid Single Deck in Gothenburg has been showing better than expected fuel economy (around 30% improvement). London might show even better results since the stops are closer to each other.]]>...

Pickens Plans For Texas Wind Farm Scaled Way Back

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:40:20 -0500

Frances Maire's Portfolio, Best Laid Plans film poster. T. Boone Pickens, well known for oil and wind power development (and a Plan By His Name) still has to take delivery on a bunch of GE Turbines, but it looks like the Biggest Wind Farm Ever idea he had for west Texas came with the dust and is now gone with the wind. TBP indicates that his mega-wind farm plans fell through because the price of natural gas tanked. Could it]]>...

The 2010 Toyota Prius Hybrid Got a Bladderectomy

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:30:56 -0500

2010 Toyota Prius. Photo: Toyota Adieu Low-Emission Bladder Anyone with a working sense of smell who has been to a gas station knows that gasoline is volatile ("Over 147 million gallons of gas evaporate from tanks each year."). To keep evaporation to a minimum, the previous generations of the Toyota Prius hybrid were equipped with a special "bladder" gas tank that kept the fumes to a minimum by expanding and contracting with the fuel volume, minimizing the air gap over the fuel, thus reducing the fumes that can find their way]]>...

Can the Incandescent Bulb Be Saved From Energy Efficiency Regulations?

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:56:00 -0500

Photo via gregoriosz We recently talked about Obama's new lighting efficiency standards, and a couple years ago, the buzz was about new energy regulations with such strict standards that the incandescent bulb looked to be on the way out the door. However, the New York Times points out that thanks to these government energy efficiency regulations set to take effect in less than 3 years, the inc]]>...

Brazil to Build Solar-Powered Charging Stations for Electric Vehicles

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:45:38 -0500

Photo: Flickr, CC "Electric Vehicles" Mostly Means Electric Bikes, So Far... Petrobras, the semi-public Brazilian oil giant (the government of Brazil owns 55.7% of Petrobras' common shares with voting rights), has just built the first of what it hopes will be many electric charging stations. It is located in the Barra de Tijuca neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro because that area has the most electric motorcycles and bikes in circulation in the country.]]>...

Making Solar Panels Sustainably: Niagara Falls To Power New Solarworks Plant

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:03:12 -0500

Niagara Falls. Image credit:State University of New York What is the ultimate green solar panel? A true-green solar panel must have the following characteristics: design life of major components of equal length (functionality lasts as long as the shortest-lived component); renewable energy used to produce the energy-intensive materials as much as possible (silicon slices, backsheets, aluminum frames, etc.); green chemistry used to produce components and adhesives; and, finished panels eas]]>...

Play Lone Ranger With Plant-Fueled Horse (Tonto Not Included)

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:25:24 -0500

Photo courtesy of Coroflot Project Nomad is a mechanical vehicle concept by designer Jason Battersby. The vehicle--designed like a horse--can climb steep grades and even navigate rocks and boulders. Best part, it finds its own fuel. Using a built-in GPS system, the horse seeks out The Sydney Morning Herald; Credit Josh Darrah We have a thing for wooden gadgets around here, or at least sustainable wood-covered gadgets. They're prettier than plastic, and have that DIY appeal. Here's another perfect example of exactly what appeals to us - an iPod mini dressed up in the warmth of wood. ]]>...