The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) which is part of the U. S. DOE has come up with a thin-film material that can be used in transparent solar panels. This breakthrough discovery may have far-reaching impacts. According to the LANL, “The new material is a semiconducting polymer spiked with ‘fullerenes’ – soccer-ball-shaped, cage-like molecules composed […]
Continue ReadingGoogle’s gone green. Everyone on the Internet should know this by now. As part of their Going Green at Google Initiative the world’s most popular search engine company has installed solar panels on top of their Mountain View, California campus and promoted plug-in hybrid vehicles. But, this week there are two more episodes of “Google […]
Continue ReadingJerseyville, IL about 44 miles north of where I grew up in Southern Illinois (and about the same mileage from St. Louis, MO) is getting the first LEED Platinum certified housing community. This cutting edge green community will be using solar panels and wind turbines to provide all power (meaning $0 utility bills). Not only […]
Continue ReadingThe world’s largest fuel cell built by Ballard Power Systems will be moving to the Eastlake Plant of Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp. The world’s biggest hydrogen fuel cell is rated at 1 megawatt and is called ClearGen, which is a utility scale generator. This will be a multi-year demonstration of the zero emissions capability of this […]
Continue ReadingIf you want to talk about a car that is full of crap then let’s talk about the Bio-Bug by Geneco. The makers claim the converted VW Bug runs of methane biogas that comes from the local UK waste-water treatment plants. Right on the side of the car it says, “Powered By Your Waste” and […]
Continue ReadingThe X Prize Foundation has leaked a few details about the Oil Cleanup X Challenge to help solve the impact from the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico. More details will be announced this Thursday at the National Press Club in Washington DC. The X Prize Foundation will be calling all scientists, engineers and […]
Continue ReadingSome people have theorized that the Hydrogen Economy would start in the small electronics marketplace and Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies has now done its part to make sure this dream is coming true. The Horizon MiniPak is a portable, reusable electronics charger that is based upon hydrogen technology. One simply inserts a HydroStik cartridge into […]
Continue ReadingOkay, there is something wonderful and tragic about technology at the same time. Sometimes I know that ignorance is bliss. Other times enlightenment is bliss. Many times I wish I could turn it off and on like a light switch. Since the BP oil spill in the Gulf Coast region has been such a huge […]
Continue ReadingThis week in Austin, Texas there will be an announcement of The Cars2Go program. It goes like this from the email I received: “This month, FastCompany identified car2go as one of the 2010 best and boldest ideas to construct the perfect city. It’s going to revolutionize the way we address our transportation needs in congested […]
Continue ReadingOkay, I’ll have to admit that sometimes I watch Huell Howser on TV talking about all the wonderful things that California has to offer. This past weekend he talked about straw bale houses which help conserve on heating and cooling bills as much as 80-percent over typical insulation. Since it is Earth Day 2010, I […]
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