Wouldn't it be horribly convenient if there were a company who's mission was to organize all the world's information.  OK...it also might be a bit scary, but Google's mobile maps is great for car, drive and air quality. 

Just turn on your cell phone, connect to Google Mobile Maps and look at all the main roads.  If it's green it's clear, yellow it's congested, and red it's halted.  You immediately how to get where you're going without wasting gas idling in stop and go traffic. 

Via InformationWeek

War, huh....what is it good for?  Energy efficiency?  Not usually.  But in the war between LCD and plasma displays, that's exactly what we're getting.

The flat-screen television market is booming.  The most energy efficient thing to do would be to watch TV on your old 15 inch LCD monitor, but the big-screen hotness is, for some, too difficult to resist.  The next best thing is a direct competition between two flatscreen formats.  Plasma and LCD.  Right now, the two technologies are in a dead heat.  Though LCD TVs and plasma screens currently operate in slightly different markets (plasma's are bigger) they consume about the same power per square inch.  (You might hear that plamsa's consume way more, but this is just because they're usually much bigger.)

As consumers start to ask questions like "Is this TV really going to use more power than my refirgerator?" and getting a less-than-satisfying shrug/nod from the salesperson, efficiency is becoming a hot item.  Both LCDs and Plasmas have become around 25% more efficient in the past year alone using while simultaneously becoming cheaper.  That is the power of a format war.  Neither of these technologies is going out without a fight.

For now, the EcoGeek recommendation remains at LCD.  They use slightly less power and, even more importantly, last longer, so you won't have to replace it so soon.  With either screen, always unplug at the source to prevent vampirism, buy a smaller set, and turn down the brightness when you watch at night (you can cut power use by as much as 50% by doing this, and you won't even notice if the ambient light is low (saving further energy.))  And always demand to know the power consumption of any product you buy. 

I'm about to go geeky pretty hard here, so be warned. There's actual news just below this and more on the way, so just scroll if you get overwhelmed. But, in the spirit of fun and extreme nerdiness, I've just completed an analysis of Star Trek episodes in search of environmental themes.

Actually, I can't say that I completed an analysis, 'cause, really, I know the plots of Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes pretty well. Mostly I just thought about it for a while.

The Star Trek future is largely an environmentally neutral one. Science and technology have allowed us to solve a great number of environmental problems, and the moral scope of our species has begun to encompass all life, not just human life. It's a wonderful world where climate change isn't a problem, we have no need for fossil fuels and population pressures no longer affect planets.

But even in the Utopian future of Star Trek, environmental problems do arise.

More after the Jump

An online video contest from Western Wind Energy is promising $10,000 to the best pro-wind power video.  It's reminding us of the ill-fated Make Your Own Tahoe Commercial contest that GM put on a while back.  Except... this is environmentally friendly, and there are way fewer trucks and way more girls in bikinis.  All in all...I like this one a lot better. 

Using technology to promote green technology is good buisness.  And winning $10,000 by making a "Wind Blows" video is even better buisness.  Good luck to all y'all video makers.

Greenwash: To improve the public image of a corporation by funding environmental initiatives and public relations.

Here and now, EcoGeek asks an uncomfortable question: Is greenwashing a bad thing? When BP changed their name to Beyond Petroleum and began to spend twice as much money than any other energy company on renewables should we call them greenwashers and disparage their progress, or should we thank them. There is no doubt that public relations spurred BP in its rebranding. And, yes, the company still does awful dirty things (especially in Alaska) but we at EcoGeek are strong believers in the principle of multiple causes.

To say BP overhauled their brand, their mission and restructured their entire corporation solely for public relations is far too simple-minded. Greenwashing has multiple causes. Among them are public relations, long-term and short-term economics and concern for the environment. That's right, I said it, Concern for the environment. As much as the corporate world seems cash-crazed and heartless, there are still people running these things. And, occasionally, people care.

Wal-Mart just went through a green-up with pep-talks from Al Gore and audits from the Rocky Mountain Institute. This is the kind of thing that will make some folks hop up and down and scream "Greenwashers!" But, the truth is, when Wal-Mart puts compact fluorescent lightbulbs on sale, the world notices. They're doing it because it's making them money, it's saving them money, it's increasing brand loyalty and, maybe, because the Waltons come from a long line of traditional (hook and bullet) conservationists.

When call Wal-Mart and BP greenwashers, we punish them for doing the right things. When they're guilty, which they often are, we need to rub their faces in it. But when they change the way their companies operate and, thus, change the world, we have to say thanks. We have to shake their hands and print their press releases because, otherwise, they'll have one less reason to green-up. And we want them to have as many reasons as possible.

The World's Larges Laundromat contains 153 washers, 147 dryers, and 36 water-heating roof panels.  Tom Benson, owner, says he did it for purely financial reasons, but his customers thank him daily for helping the environment.

Heating water is a wasteful business, and laundromats need a lot of hot water.  The solar system is a basic solar hot water heater, just a bunch of flat black panels with water running through them, no fancy photovoltaics needed.  Every year, Tom Benson's laundry saves about $25,000 in energy costs thanks to solar heating. 

Though the cost of the system will be generating excess cash in five years, and Benson's Chicago locale is by no means ideal for solar, very few laundromats have embraced solar water heating.  But as energy prices continue to climb, laundromat owners will likely follow Benson's example.

Via USA Today

Up to 10% of a city vehicle's fuel is burned while idling and thus pretty much wasted.  Some newer vehicles, particularly hybrids and the Toyota Vitz have intelligent idling systems that turn off the engine when it's not needed and start it back up quickly and efficiently when it's time to move.

A small Japanese volunteer organization has created the iStart, a device that will, I think, retrofit any existing vehicle with an intelligent idling system.  Unfortunately, it is entirely unclear how the device works, how it is installed, and what it actually does because I cannot speak Japanese.  Their English translation is linguistically fascinating, but it's not much technical use. 

I'm fairly certain that the device shuts off the engine upon idling and then immediately turns back on when the foot is lifted from the brake.  In terms of the efficiency of the restart, I can say nothing, but it probably averages out to be more efficient than it would be without the device.  The iStart costs $490 and can be installed in under an hour.  The people at the site are confident that you'll get your money back in gas savings within the year.

To end, I'd like to share a note from the end of the iStart FAQ:
It is and becomes a present to the descendant because the small consideration that it is made who to be is you.

I couldn't agree more.

Via Hugg

But calculating the value of services that the environment provides us has become a useful tool. And, though some greens may cry and say that nature shouldn't be valued in dollars, I say that it can be valued in many ways and dollars have their place.

So, hats off to Robert Costanza who, in 1997, calculated the services the Earth provides humans to be worth roughly 33 trillion dollars per year. Wham! Take that global economy! You think you're so big with your billions of dollars in trade revenue...try 33 trillion a year, and it's not even trying.

Costanza and crew have just embarked on another, even larger project. They hope to make it simple for anyone in the world to determine the economic value of any particular place on the planet.

"Land use planners, county commissioners, investment bankers, anyone who is interested," Cosntanza said, "will be able to go on the Web, use our new models, and be able to identify a territory and start getting answers."

They've got a huge base of experts working on the project already, along with an $860,000 grant. In terms of fees, getting paid $860,000 to appraise something worth roughly $33 trillion is a pretty harsh deal. But, then again, we're not in it for the money are we Mr. Costanza.

Via PhysOrg

Depending on what kind of geek or how geeky you really are, you may or may not appreciate this. You've got to be pretty geeky to get excited about an archive of free, paperless, downloadable comic books stretching from 1930 to 1980.

We are that geeky.

The current archive of 2861 comic books hosted at AIBQ.com include Green Lantern,  Justice League and, of course, Korak Son of Tarzan. While these don't represent the true cream of comic greatness, there is a lot of history and hours of reading pleasure avaiable here. Now, all of these comics are still under copyright by DC, and the people who run AIBQ say that they want to digitize DC's entire library through 1980 (just DC, not Marvel, darnit.)

So far, they've gotten away with it because it's simply not worth the fuss. These comics aren't earning DC anything, and DC isn't planning on re-releasing any of them...ever.

The books are for educational purposes only, of course, and you need to download a special sequential image archive viewer to read them, but it is well worth the time. Sometimes a geek needs to find some ultra-geeky roots in an ecogeeky way. Thanks AIBQ.

Via Digg

This weekend, pigeons wearing tiny backpacks will roam the skies over Northern California. It’s not a manifestation of pet personhood, it’s a science project. The backpacks, equipped with smog sensors, GPS and a cell phone, gather air pollution data during the flight which is submitted - in real time - to the PigeonBlog website.

As the pigeons fly about, the sensors gather information on oxdizing gases, such as Nitrogen Oxides and Volatile Organic Compounds, as well as reducing gases, such as Carbon Monoxide, Carbon Dioxide and Hydrocarbons. On the MAP section of PigeonBlog you can follow both the sensory readings and the flying trajectory superimposed onto a satellite map of the area the pigeons fly over. The site also provides information about the composition of our air, common pollutants and their known health effects as well as the EPA’s Air Quality Index and the current state of air pollution in the United States today.

The real scientist behind the project is Beatriz da Costa who is an Assistant Professor of Arts, Computation and Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. She brainstormed the idea as a playful way to get people thinking about the health hazards of smog and as an alternative way to participate in environmental air pollution data gathering.

Da Costa's entry was inspired by a century-old photo of a homing pigeon wearing a tiny spy camera designed by the German engineer Julius Neubronner. She and her team of two graduate students spent a year developing the bird sized packs that weigh a tenth of a pigeons body weight and cost about $250 each. The airborne expedition is part of ZeroOne San Jose, a weeklong showcase of technology and art.

For those of us who live in places without central air, but with triple digit temperatures, there are few solutions to sumer-time night-sweats that don't include drippy, inefficient window boxes. 

Well, China isn't moving beyond the window unit, but they are making them better.  A Chinese institute has just released a remarkably simple device that takes the condensation from the cold part of the air conditioner and uses it to mist the hot part of the air conditioner.  This simple use of coolant that would otherwise be wasted can increase the efficiency of a window unit by more than 8%. 

From the Shanghai Daily.
"The device is attached to an air-conditioner by a series of tubes," (no...not the internet, an actual series of tubes,) "which collect condensation drops. The water is pumped to the device, which turns it into a fine mist that is sprayed on the back of the air-conditioner, cooling it down significantly. The device is expected to cost about 100 yuan (US$12.50), researchers said."

It's one thing to know how much energy you're consuming at any given moment, it's quite another to have a GridPoint system installed in your house.  Both of GridPoint's devices (the Connect and the Protect) save you money by peak shaving.  For example, the GridPoint system will store electricity during off-peak hours when electricity can be as much as 10 times cheaper.  Then, during the day, when most people are using electricity, that stored energy powers your house and you don't have to buy the expensive juice.  This, of course, assumes that your utility company charges extra for peak use, but, as energy gets more expensive, this will become more prevalent. 

Both GridPoint systems are built around a series of batteries and a Pentium computer which is both a client and a server.  The GridPoint computer constantly checks your household energy use and the prices the utilities are charging and decides when to store energy, when to do nothing, and when to pump electricity into your house.

More after the Jump