After an array of solar windows flourished in the solar market, new transparent photovoltaic-glass windows from Rainbow Solar are  here to make their mark. In a recent study done by the NTUST (National Taiwan University of Science and Technology), the windows have proven their efficiency through energy savings of about 50%. Now, that seems a practical option!

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After electric cars that have created hype in the automobile industry, it’s the bike now. GPR-S is an electric motorcycle manufactured by a small electric vehicle spare-parts company Electric Motorsport. The bike comes with an elective speed charger which can charge it up within 1.5 hours, which would otherwise take up to 4 hours using an on-board charger.

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Now have an environment-friendly travel. In what can be treated as a step towards government’s endeavor to fight pollution by vehicles, Volvo announced the launch of its new entry into the diesel-electric hybrid bus market. The hybrid Volvo 7700 is a 12-meter low-floor city bus that gets up to 30 percent better fuel economy and emits 40 to 50 percent less nitrous oxide and 30 percent less carbon, the company said. In addition, a smaller engine and nearly a third of the bus’ components are developed in-house by Volvo.
The hybrid Volvo 7700 uses “parallel hybrid” technology which allows the bus to be powered by either the electric motor or the diesel engine or both at the same time. I-SAM, the company’s hybrid technology, plans to use the same technology in its trucks and construction equipment after the buses go into mass production in 2010. Though the hybrid bus weighs more or less the same as a diesel-driven bus, it has a better weight distribution, which allows the hybrid bus to take more passengers than a comparable diesel bus. As a result, the bus’ performance is enhanced and fuel consumption is reduced.

According to a report by United Press International, the first of Volvo’s hybrid buses will begin testing on city streets in London and Gothenburg, Sweden, later this fall. Volvo is believed to start delivering hybrid diesel electric buses to customers in 2009 with mass production beginning in 2010.

Via igreenspot

We had been hearing of it unofficially for some time now, but finally Toshiba has come out with the actual schedule of the fuel cell-powered mobile devices. Releasing in March 2009, the new mobile devices will be equipped with a methanol fuel cell that gets charged with a dedicated cartridge. However, there will be a second built-in-Li-ion battery that will provide a strong back up.

Hear hear the cartridge can make space for around 50 ml of 99 per cent methanol which can charge a mobile phone 10 times. Priced at 700 yen, the cartridge has already become hot property but Toshiba is planning to reduce the cost price further down to 100 yen. A wise move as it will increase salability manifolds.

The big Toshiba plan is to use these fuel cells in digi cams, lappy etc as well. And the best part is, the cartridge being designed will be of a single type and will be compatible with many devices.

Via nikkei

With the benefits of Windmills come common concerns like the whooshing sound that regular turbines produce, as well as their divisive visual aesthetics. Keeping in mind the volatility of the speed of wind in the urban environment, the QR (Quiet Revolution) has been designed. A new type of wind turbine intended to address both of these issues, Quiet Revolution’s QR5 Vertical Axis Wind Turbine, or VAWT for shawt, is smaller, quieter, and way better looking than your typical windmill, plus it should produce the equivalent of its £25,000 price tag in clean energy within 15 years or less. The elegant helical (twisted) design of QR ensures a robust performance even in turbulent winds. It is also responsible for virtually eliminating noise and vibration.

At five metres high and three metres in diameter, it is compact and easy to integrate, and with just one moving part, maintenance can be limited to an annual inspection.

Though the energy output will vary according to the wind speed but is likely to be between 6,000 and 10,000 kWhrs on a typical site. And if that wasn’t all, according the usage of such windmills will also lead to reduction in CO2 emmisions.

Via trendir

With the West in a water crisis, it’s not surprising to see a machine that pulls water from ambient air at West Coast Green. Though not an innovation, these machines require a lot of energy which has been dealt with by Element Four who have addressed the issues of energy use for creating water. The unit uses just 300 watts; a relatively low amount for these machines, the Watermill senses its environment and acts accordingly.
The Watermill checks its environment every three minutes to determine the dew point and keeps itself operating at just a few degrees below that dew point. This way, it maximizes efficiency of the energy it uses to operate by maximizing the amount of water it can pull from the air 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
It can pull an average of 13 quarts of water each day, which is plenty of potable water for an average family of four. The water is essentially distilled, but a filter can be added to restore organic minerals if the user wishes.

And if that wasn’t all, a solar powered version of the machine is in the works and will be available in about six months. So, this one is sure to tackle the water needs and the environmental issues with utmost efficiency.

Via geekologie

Imagine you making an effort and 70% of the energy getting wasted. That’s the plight of your engine which blows about 70 percent of the energy it creates straight out of the tailpipe in the form of heat. As Eric Mattessich realized the truth, he marched on the journey to make power plants more efficient to work on hybrid cars by adapting the kind of heat-recapturing mechanisms. Though not an absolute innovation, Eric’s design is certainly a better packaged one as the size has been worked upon.

The mechanism uses two turbine generators; in the first, the pressure of escaping exhaust spins the turbine to generate electricity. The second uses waste heat from the exhaust to turn water into steam; the steam powers the generator before traveling into a condenser, where it turns back into water and starts the loop again. Both turbines feed electricity back into the hybrid system’s batteries for a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions and a 20 percent more efficient vehicle.

In the pipeline, Mattessich is working on a prototype and applying for a patent. With this he is also looking for an automaker interested in testing by incorporating the system into new cars thereby realizing the efforts put-in in working on the noble cause.

Via inventorspot

Scientists at Oxford University are all set to take the legend of Einstein a step forward by working upon the 1930 invention by Albert Einstein to develop an environmentally friendly refrigerator which they claim will run without electricity. Determined to fight the repercussions of modern fridges that emit greenhouse gases called freons and as a result damage the environment, the Oxford team is developing appliances that can work without electricity and thereby reduce the gases. Motivated by contemporary newspaper reports of a Berlin family who had been killed when a seal in their refrigerator broke and leaked toxic fumes into their home, Einstein and his colleague, the Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard patented an absorption-type refrigerator which has no moving parts and requires only a heat source to operate.

The machine is a single-pressure absorption refrigerator, similar in design to a gas absorption refrigerator. The refrigeration cycle uses ammonia, butane and water, has no moving parts, and does not require electricity to operate, needing only a heat source, e.g. a small gas burner besides taking advantage of the fact that liquids boil at lower temperatures when air pressure is lower.

The forgotten fridge alongside being greener also is better fit for rural areas where there is no electricity. The modus operandi is that by introducing a new vapors above the butane, the liquid boiling temperature decreases and, as it boils off, it takes energy from the surroundings to do so which in turn makes it cold. Pressurized gas fridges based around Einstein’s design were replaced by freon-compressor fridges partly as they were not very efficient.

Electrical engineer Malcolm McCulloch at the University of Oxford is reviving the design and is looking into solar energy to kick start the process, though in future the team will also experiment with different types of gases to improve the mechanism’s efficiency.

Via popsci

Imitating nature, this may be called!! With Lianne van Genugte designing an automatic functioning device which lights up with the sun, technology seems to be going the nature way. Intertwined with flexible solar cells that receive power from the sun during the day this device provides shade to its owners or to portions of a house in need of protection from heat or bright light. This innovation has been selected as one of 64 finalists for the Golden Eye, the top award for which is to be given at Dutch Design Week in mid-October.
Though this is a step ahead towards optimum utilization of natural resources, it has its respective loop-holes. Automatic switching may lead in wastage of accumulated energy when not required. Besides this, it also requires a battery to store solar energy to reserve all the power for illuminating the nights followed by cloudy days.

Also such a solar guzzling shade can be utilized to power up few household gadgets. Like a flower opens to the sun, this device opens at daylight and closes at dusk.
Via EcoDesign

One of San Francisco’s most exciting green projects, the construction of the new California Academy of Sciences building, has finally come alive. Designed by renowned architect Renzo Piano in collaboration with engineer Rana Creek, the building is topped by an undulating, functional and HUGE living green roof of 2.5 acre. Not only does this roof provide all the sustainable benefits that living roofs bring to a structure, but it is also visible from within the exhibition spaces, connecting inside and out, and engaging the context of San Francisco’s flora-filled backdrop.

All set to open to the visitors from 27th September, this new Academy Building houses an aquarium, planetarium, and exhibition spaces. Aside from its green roof, the building is a feat of institutional green building, using some of the most cutting-edge energy efficiency strategies, daylighting, possible biofuels, and water reclamation.
The architectural design of the new Academy responds to the Academy’s mission, history, and setting. Inspired by the natural world, nature becomes part of the building itself. Its taken ten years and great vision to unify the Academy’s twelve buildings into one notable structure, standing in the middle of the city’s Golden Gate Park.

With 60,000 photo-voltaic cells covering a glass canopy that frames it, the 410,000 sq ft compound involved a cost of US$500 million. See it ones and you’d acknowledge, it’s WORTH IT!!
Via luxury-insider