{mosimage} It's cheap, non-toxic, and we've got plenty of it. Why not find a way to use it. Some crazy scientists at Singapore's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotech have managed to harness the power of urine to create a substantial amount of electricity.

Light bulbs are horribly inefficient at converting energy to light (touch one sometime, if you need a reminder.) They also force us into giving lights a very specific role in our homes. Light either comes from a lamp or a ceiling fixture. I know it doesn't seem all that annoying, since we've never lived any other way, but it's rather unfortunate that, in the day of iPods and 2mm thick flash drives, we still rely largely on bulky bulbs to light our homes.

{mosimage}So a team of scientists just developed a product that may solve these problems: The Organic LED. Two layers of phosphorescent diodes and one layer of fluorescent diodes releases white light much more efficiently than tungsten bulbs. These diode layers are only 10 nanometers thick and, when unpowered, are completely transparent.

We've just opened the door to lights that live inside our windows. Why have light fixtures at all anymore? As light stops coming through the windows (y'know, because of that whole sunset thing) the windows will just start producing their own light. Of course, only in rooms where you're currently spending time. I can't wait.

Of course, I'll have to wait, as Organic LEDs are currently very expensive and have never been mass produced. But it's good to hear that this century-old technology might finally meet its superior.

Via SciAm

{mosimage}Holy...Crap... The machine I'm using right now gobbles up between forty and sixty watts (depending on how much I'm asking it to do for me). The power needed to power my three hard drives, two optical drives, and two CPU's make my machine a power hog, I'll admit it.

Sun Microsystems has just released a desktop client that consumes four watts, less than a typical night lite. Of course, the Sun Ray 2 doesn't exactly have five drives and a dual core processor. It's a desktop client, used for logging into a server where software is run. That server, of course, requires power, but it can also be used by hundreds of clients at once. The reduction of power for people using Sun's Global Desktop Software is significant.

The Sun Ray manages quite a punch out of this tiny package, and can display on two 1920x1200 monitors simultaneously for a ridiculous combined resolution. Of course, two 1920x1200 definitely constitutes power-hogging, but sometimes even an ecogeek needs more screen.

The Sun Ray is less useful for us home users, of course, because none of us have servers running that we can log into from our Sun Rays. But someday, maybe we will. The low power, low cost, and simplicity of these desktop clients might make them eventually marketable to lower-end PC users. And that might make the power drain of the personal computer movement much less noticeable.

Via Yahoo and Sun

Spotted at TreeHugger

{mosimage}ost of my fossil fuel footprint is airplane travel. I've worked out how to avoid those pesky old cars (small town, work at home, etc). But if I want to go see my mom, or attend my brother's bachelor party, I'm certainly not going to walk to the South East United States. Planes eat up the kerosene, and there's not much we can do about it. Lifting tons of over-sized carry-on bags into the air requires an enormous amount of energy.

I'm still wrapping my head around this but, apparently, Hunt Aviation has fugured out how to use the same force that works so hard to keep airplanes on the ground, to lift them into the air. The Gravity Plane does just that. First by filling itself with helium, gravity pulls the heavier air all around underneath it. Then, the plane sucks it's helium back into its tanks, and uses gravity to propel it downward and forward. If it ever needs another boost, it just fills up its internal helium chambers again, and climbs.

The gravity plane requires NO FUEL, just the power of the earth's gravity, which is, by any means, considerable.

Nothing is burned, it makes virtually no noise and can land without the need for long runways. I imagine that all this climbing and gliding will make for a somewhat slow ride, but probably faster than driving. The gravity plane would, of course, be massive, with one zeppelin under each wing. But, if it proves a viable form of transportation, I could finally go to North Carolina to visit mom and come home with a clean conscience.

Via Damn Interesting

Video of the Gravity Plane 

{mosimage}A majority of Americans now say that they'll be interested in purchasing a hybrid vehicle when they replace their next car. The news comes from a Gallup poll that also shows Americans are also doing their best to cut back on the amount that they drive. I hate to say it but, I don't really mind when gas prices go up, at least people make smarter decisions.

The problem, of course, is that lower income people are forced to make those decisions far before the upper class is. The majority of people who make more than 50 k a year still haven't cut back on the amount that they drive. The good news is that people of all income levels are interested in hybrid cars.

Here's one for EcoYuppies:

"You eat free-range chicken, and organic vegetables when possible. You may have tried soy milk and Green Tea. You know the benefits of eating healthy food, yet many of us still surround ourselves with toxic products, and use appliances with 1920s technology, when there is an alternative."

Yeah. Well. I don't necessarily do all of that stuff, but I would like to not have toxic stuff around me.

The Eco Handyman, based in Boulder, Colo., pitches himself as a green alternative to the... Regular Handyman, I guess. He's listed a few eco-friendly project ideas on his site . He also answers questions (occasionally, it appears) here .

 

Of course, he's just one member of the Boulder Green Building Guild which is just one member of Greener Building , a resource that'll help you find all of the energy- and environment-friendly building materials you could want for when you start nesting and/or breeding.

Having already collected delicious, swampy methane gas in the swamps at Lyndhurst, N.J., since 1987, the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission is setting its sights on more renewable energy growth .

 

Yesterday the commission dropped a press release saying they'd add 5 Megawatts' worth of solar panels as soon as possible, and have set a goal of securing 20 MW worth of renewable sources by the year 2020, possibly including "solar, tidal, wind, geothermal and other sources of renewable energy."

 

One other obvious (but oft-overlooked) benefit:

 

 

Jobs! Who couldn't use a job? So. If you want to be happier, healthier and cleaner, keep your eye on the want ads for a gig in a New Jersey swamp. 

 

Next step for Jersey: get the Bonj, a guy who may already have a green streak, to start playing wind-powered concerts. And here's a link to give him the idea or ask him why he doesn't already do it.

In any case, this relationship marks the first real effort to get eBooks into the American mainstream. Trees everywhere should wait to heave their relief until we see how well they sell. But I'm gung ho, I already own one of these pretty E-Ink eBooks, and I can't understand why the rest of the world doesn't yet. (except that, yes, I had to order it from Japan and all of the instructions are in Japanese and the DRM was so horrible that I had to hack the firmware to make it functional.) So, yes, this new version has a much better chance at becoming an iPod for books.

 

Via GizMag 

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Honestly, I've considered doing this before, but placed it above my personal level of expertise. Someone, or a group of someone's in or around the University of Toronto has figured out how to hack the construction signs and is using them for environmental messages. Not only the ones shown here proclaiming “Don't Drive” and “Take Your SUV Back to Detroit” but also advertising a campus event on sustainability.

I'm impressed.  Rumor has it that a campus activist group, Cars Off Campus, is responsible. But I sure hope no one gets in trouble for that rumor.

 Check out this Movie of the signs in action.

 Via TreeHugger and Spacing

 Photos and Movie by Kevin Braken

 

We're used to dealing with resistance to change. Sometimes there's good reason, other times, not. The record industry's stats for 2005 are out and, SHOCK!, CD sales are down. But downloads are up.  From 144 million last year to 554 million units. The numbers show that the America's recording industry is recovering, but the recording industry is still crying foul, fighting the digital revolution with the stubbornness we've come to expect from the suits.

{mosimage} 

So they hate us for downloading their music. They're angry because they no longer have control over us. They can't create the next LP, the next 8-track, cassette tape or CD and force it on the consumer. It's out of their control because there's nothing left to create.

And when there's nothing left to create, everyone, including nature, can heave a sigh of relief.  Nothing has to be physically produced or shipped, musicians get paid for what they produce (music) not what the record companies produce (CDs) and consumers have more of what America's recording industry really needs: Power.

The only ones suffering, of course, are the record companies. The internet took the plastic out of CDs and the power out of the recording industry.  Almost everyone can celebrate.

 Via Ars Technica