A modified version of the English Caterham Seven recently achieved a new benchmark for a modified street car at the Shell Eco-Marathon – an astounding 131 miles per gallon. Axon Automotive, with the support of Energy-Efficient Motorsport (EEMS), achieved this feat using the combination of an extremely aerodynamic custom body, low rolling resistance tires, and hypermiling techniques.

The Shell Eco-Marathon, held annually in Rockingham, England, is a slightly different kind of road race. Contestants must complete seven laps of the track within 40 minutes, while maintaining a minimum of 15 MPH, and compete to see who can do it using the least gasoline, diesel, LPG or hydrogen. While this “race” might not jump-start the adrenaline of dyed-in-the-wool NASCAR fans, it certainly piques the interest of driving enthusiasts with a soft spot for the environment.

Says Dr. Steve Cousins, leader of the Aaxon Automotive team: "We are showing that careful driving and relatively simple modifications to conventional cars can lead to significant fuel savings. Significantly the Caterham 2R was the only car in the competition that was molded from a road-legal vehicle."Caterham cars are sold both in finished form from the dealership, and in a kit form the do-it-yourself mechanic can assemble at home. Legendary for their super-car performance on a shoestring budget, their chassis might be a good place to start if you've been considering building your own earth-friendly vehicle.

via AutoBlogGreen

At 7:30PM last Saturday, Sydney turned off it's lights.  Referred to as Earth Hour, it is the beginning of a year of activities in which the World Wildlife Fund and The Sydney Morning Herald hopes to reduce Sydney's greenhouse gas emissions by 5%.   More than 65,000 houses and 2000 businesses participated in the event, including notable sites like the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. During the hour, electricity use for Sydney dropped over 10% preventing over 24 tons of carbon dioxide release.

Their website housed information on special activities to do in celebration of the lights out period; the offers ranged from stargazing to speed dating by candlelight.  However, the organizers main focus was to get others involved in solving the climate crisis and to show them that small, everyday actions can have an impact. 

Other than promoting voluntary individual involvement, they worked with government and businesses to get building and office lights turned off.  They noted that efficiencies and reduced light use in Australia's commercial sector alone "could reduce lighting emissions by 70-80%".

For more information check out the Earth Hour website. They're also offering "the world’s only useful screensaver", which encourages users to turn off their computer and counts kW usage as well.

Ships are currently required by maritime law to be store plastic waste onboard until they can be emptied at port. Unfortunately, not all plastic waste is properly disposed at port and it ends up in the oceans. By creating different types of biodegradable plastics, the scientists hope to replace all varieties of plastics used on cargo ships and eliminate the problem of plastic ocean waste. 

Ironically, dumping plastic in the oceans will need to be legalized before their product can be legally used. They have some time however since the biodegradable plastics are still in development, as tests need to be done to see if they will degrade in different ocean environments. 

Via TrendHunter

When you're good to me, you're real good, and I think that's very sweet. But sometimes you hurt my feelings and even scare me. You treat your workers poorly, make communities less interesting and encourage car-culture and blind consumerism more than almost any other corporation. But I can't help, despite myself, loving some of the things you do.

Like last year when you forced all of your suppliers to decrease the amount of packaging they use, that really was very sweet of you. And then, just the other day, when you flexed those beautiful muscles of yours again, and required all of your electronics suppliers to fill out score cards ranking their products "energy efficiency, durability, upgradability, and end-of-life solutions"

God I love the way you say upgradability.

But it's more than just your gorgeous global muscles that I love. Sometimes I really believe that you love me too and that, deep in your heart, you want to protect me.

Like when you gave me that promise ring, and said that you'd decrease fossil fuel use by 30% in just three years. And then I heard you had been asking around to see if you could afford a really expensive solar-power project... I can't tell you how that got my heart racing.

But now I wonder if you're just selling CFLs to make a quick buck, and whether you even notice the mercury they all contain. And it's been months since I heard anything about those solar panels you were going to buy me. So what's it going to be, Wal-Mart. I like you, I can't help it, but I can't stand all these mixed messages.

There's no doubt that your power turns me on. But I'm no floozy, and I'm not gonna be just another PR campaign. I'm willing to give you an occasional boys-night-out with your buddy mass-market-efficiency, but I need to know that when you come home at night, it's me that you really care about. And if you're not willing to commit to that, then it's over!

You may think you're big and strong, but just try to continue expanding your profit margins with every one of your Florida stores under water.

Love,
The Environment

Unfortunately, most of us just don't have huge...tracts of land. The solution, however, may soon be within reach with the help of modular wind turbines. While other small wind turbines we've featured have decreased the footprint considerably, these modular turbines can fit just about anywhere, be arranged into any shape, and can pull power from the air even in very low-wind environments. Wind speeds as slow as 2 m/s will start the juice flowing.

The miniturbines are already for sale, but it looks to me like mass production could easily bring down the price considerably (from $150 for 8 miniturbines.) But even now, only one square meter of miniturbines will produce 131 kw/yr in a 5 m/s wind environment. Most houses, though  will be able to find quite a bit more than 1 square meter, and in higher wind areas, these little guys could easily shave hundreds off home energy bils with a truly simple and elegant design that won't even disturb the neighbors.

Via: Inhabitat

Biodigesters take advantage of the energy that is naturally present in animal waste and kitchen trash. As these waste products break down, whether in the ground, a compost heap, landfill, or biodigester, they release methane, a potent greenhouse gas. 

Biodigesters trap the methane before it becomes a problem and stores it for heating and cooking. This way, biodigesters can provide a sustainable substitute for propane, kerosene, and firewood. For those families that have to buy their fuel, a biodigester can save them hundreds of U.S. dollars every year. For those that cut trees down for firewood, a biodigester will save them time and help to prevent deforestation

Apart from providing fuel to the family that uses it, a biodigester is also a source of high quality organic fertilizer.  Disease causing bacteria, such as E. Coli, are killed inside the biodigester.

Introducing this simple technology reduces pressure on natural forests, provides free high quality fertilizer, reduces food borne illness due to E. Coli, improves health and saves money. It's not too often that we hear about a win-win-win-win-win technology.

Link to a National Public Radio Podcast on AIDG work in Guatemala.

Via AIDG

The Narrow Motor Company, who is making the car, expect it to be adopted as a delivery vehicle, which I see as an excellent market. And while they have big dreams, they don't expect to sell more than 5,000 a year for the first few years at the rather steep price of $10,000.

Via: Envautomental

If you're handy with a soldering iron, you can do it yourself, check out Tom's Hardware for more.

The Portasol Tracker system is motorless and uses no electricity. Instead, it uses a hydraulic system powered by the sun heating a fluid to create the pressure to drive the tracker. It is ideal for small installations, where spare current to run a tracking motor is a serious drawback.

"The device works by absorbing heat from a combination of increasing ambient air temperature and direct solar radiation to provide an expansion of a liquid at a controlled rate. Increasing hydraulic pressure drives the mechanism until sundown when the liquid cools and contracts allowing gravity and a small spring bias to return the array to the morning position."

There are several different versions, including a two-axis system that will also adjust to solar altitude according to the season. According to a company contact, the system will function in cold weather and in conditions of as much as 60 to 70 percent overcast.

The inventor is appearing on an Australian reality TV show for inventors. There are other eco-friendly projects there as well, including several projects dealing with water purification in various forms. Check the sidebar list of related inventions in the category 'Ecological.' This is an Australian product, and may not have North American distribution yet. But if this works as well as the developers claim, it's likely to be useful for many small solar applications, and we expect they'll start supplying them to the northern hemisphere soon.

via: o2 network mailing list site: Portasol Trackers

Motorola has just become the "first major cell phone manufacturer to redesign all its mobile phone and accessory chargers" to be Energy Star certified. Over 1 million tons of greenhouse gases would have been prevented in 2006 if every cell phone sold in the US had an Energy Star charger, equaling the emissions of over 200,000 cars.

With Motorola recognizing climate change as "one of the greatest challenges facing the world today" hopefully other cell phone manufacturers will follow suit soon. Cell phones already are extremely energy efficient anyway and benefit from any design changes to make them even more so, making it a pretty smart decision for other manufacturers to get certified also. Motorola deserves some extra recognition for redesigning their chargers also, since the immediate benefits are not for their phones, as much as for the environment.

Via: TreeHugger and Full Press release

Imagine if your local waste-water treatment plant was a power plant too.

Researchers at Penn State have successfully created electricity from wastewater using naturally occurring bacteria. The technology works using microbial fuel cells. While this method of creating electricity is not new, cost has stalled its use for large scale electricity production.

The scientists overcame this problem by using a carbon fiber brush as the surface for the bacteria to colonize instead of carbon fiber paper, which is much more expensive. This switch more than doubled the electricity production. Other cost savings came from using modified versions of membrane tubes that are already used in wastewater treatment, and switching expensive platinum catalysts for cobalt-based catalysts. 

These changes bring microbial fuel cells closer to a practical and sustainable energy source. The best test case "produced 18 watts per 260 gallons of water" with greater than 70 percent charge efficiency. Electricity is typically used to clean water, so there is an overall savings from the natural cleaning done by the bacteria, in addition to the electricity it produces.

The researchers state that "the design of a wastewater treatment reactor could be as simple as a large tank with the brushes and [modified membrane tubes] inserted into the same tank." 

Trash has been the hot topic in regards to energy production, so I am glad other resources, like waste water, are not being overlooked. By the look of things, microbial fuel cells are just on the horizon of achieving one of the ultimate eco-goals: turning necessary waste into useful products.

Via: Penn State Live