You might want to start saving those eggshells from your breakfast, they could help make hydrogen fuel.

While you’re probably not going to be able to make it at home, Engineers at Ohio State have been using eggshells  to soak up carbon dioxide in a hydrogen-producing reaction. They explain that excess carbon dioxide has been a major problem, and have found that when the eggshells are ground-up, they can absorb carbon dioxide. The process is explained as follows:

That brought them to eggshells, which mostly consist of calcium carbonate — one of nature’s most absorbent materials. It is a common ingredient in calcium supplements and antacids. With heat processing, calcium carbonate becomes calcium oxide, which will then absorb any acidic gas, such as carbon dioxide.

The eggshells absorb up to 78% of the carbon dioxide, being the most effective carbon-dioxide absorber to date. The best part, eggshells are a 100% green material. No complicated or dangerous chemicals, no emissions. It’s a massively plentiful resource too, according to the ENN article, nearly 91 billion eggs were produced, which is about 455,000 tons of shell, that’s a heck of a lot carbon-sucking power!

Researchers came upwith another benefit of the shells as well, in order to use them for hydrogen production, that filmy layer on the inside of the shell has to be removed. They developed an organic acid to accomplish this and collect the collagen. This collagen can fetch big bucks , so in addition to producing hydrogen, we’ve got a great money maker too.

With hydrogen looking to become a major source of fuel in the near future, we could very well see eggs becoming pretty valuable, or maybe we’ll just have to sort our garbage for eggshells too!

…oh, and apparently eggs are good for you or something too….

via ENN

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 Is green the first thing your think of when someone says “Wal-Mart”? Probably not, but the company is hoping to change that.

Wal-Mart is testing out what it calls it’s “high efficiency” superstore. It’s aim is to use 20 less energy in these stores and thus help to reduce some of the emissions generated by Wal-Mart’s city-block sized ultra-stores.

Wal-Mart is focusing on two aspects of it’s stores, it’s air-conditioning/heating and it’s refrigeration. These two systems work in a brilliantly designed symbiotic system. 100% of the heat rejected from the refrigeration system is piped into the heating system, where it is converted into usable energy. This design also reduces the amount of copper piping used.

The impressive thing about Wal-Mart’s green initiative is the scope of it. Wal-Mart has so much money available to them, they can afford to take chances on new green products. They are testing out brand new products we’ve covered here, such as waterless urinals and LED lighting.

There is a huge variety of other technologies used throughout the store to increase efficiency. They are using special quick-response doors for sealed sections such as the garden center, and skylights to help light the store.

One of the coolest improvements is motion-driven lighting on refrigerator cases. They use LED lights that only turn on when a customer approaches, then quicky turn off then they leave. Pretty cool!

These initiatives are expected to reduce the energy consumption of each store 20%, which is a heck of a lot when you think of how much energy these stores much use.

To celebrate the opening of the first of these high-efficiency stores, Wal-Mart is giving away 21,000 energy-saving CFL bulbs to seniors and low-income families.

Many eco-bloggers have dismissed Wal-Marts attempt at going green, but I for one welcome the change. Wal-Mart might not be the ideal picture of a green company, and there’s no doubt they contribute to a lot of the problem, but they are also the biggest retailer to date to embrace and test green technology.

It’s quite possible that more companies will start to look at green technologies if Wal-Mart’s experiment is successful, and whether Wal-Mart is doing all this for the right reasons or not, being more energy efficient can’t be bad!

via Green Technology

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 There’s no doubt nanotechnology is the future. Nano-sized machines assembled at the cellular level have the potential to increase efficiency, accomplish tasks previously thought impossible, and maybe even generate energy.

One of the problems with nanotechnology is a power source. Batteries do no work at that scale. Nano scientists have developed what’s called a “nanowire” to solve this problem. Made of a piezoelectric material, the nanowire is able to harvest mechanical energy. When deformed, voltage is produced. This can used to power nano machines.

Now I’m not an expert in nanotechnology, so forgive me if my interpretation is a bit naive. It seems to me that if this nanowire is capable of generating electricity, however small the voltage, it should be able to be multiplied enough to create something of use.

These nanowires create 0.3 attojoules (”less than one quintillionth of a joule”). Obviously we would need an incredible amount of these to create anything useful, but it seems to me that there is a potential that these nanowires, working in unison, could create usable electricity.

We just might be able to power your iPod by harvesting tiny amounts of mechanical energy.

Obviously this technology would be a long way off as nanowires are still a very young technology, but every day nanotech seems to change our views of how technology can work.

Could this be a future green power source? I invite anyone with nanotech experience to chime in on the subject, is it possible?

via ENN

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 This is the Volta G/T, from the very specifically named Electric Vehicle Company of Boulder County, Colorado.

The Volta is a fully electric scooter design for short commutes and urban living. Many cities offer free parking for scooters (including Toronto, my hometown) and while you might be using a bit more electricity to charge it, you’ll be saving loads of gas money, never mind the convenient benefit on never having to pay for parking.

Other than looking really, really cool, the Volta features what’s called “Smart Ride”. This system allows you to opt for more power, or more range.

The Volta has a top speed of about 110 kph, and a range of over 100 kilometers. The Smart Ride features allows you to optimize your ride for speed or range, using either the performance or economy mode.

The Performance mode allows riders faster speeds, up to 110kph, for those scooter speed demons out there. On the other side, the Volta has an economy mode. The economy mode opts for more efficiency, allowing riders to travel farther, about 110 kilometers, at a slower speed.

To assist with range, the Volta also features regenerative braking, which helps charge the battery during braking.

This is a pretty nice scooter which would be great for urban living, where most trips are rather short. Free parking in many cities is a huge benefit, and not having to worry about gas prices is  indispensable.

Head on over to the Volta’s website where you can get more information about purchasing and pricing.

via AutoblogGreen

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Well it seems the green trend is percolating all the way down to the beer industry.

You’ve no doubt read about New Zealand’s Green Man eco-beer, but if beer imported from New Zealand is a little rich for your blood, there’s another option a little closer to home.

The Sierra Nevada brewery of Chico, California is aiming to 100% off-grid. Currently, they are running on fuel-cells, which account for about 75% of their power usage. They’ve been installing a brand new solar system however, and plan to be 100% off-grid very soon. In addition to solar power, they have several other green initiatives in place.

Already a model of sustainability, the brewery also focuses efforts in recycling, heat recovery, carbon-dioxide recovery, water conservation, energy efficiency, and byproduct recycling.

Wow, I have to say I’m impressed. Drink a beer and save the environment at the same time? What could be better?

Check out their environment page for more info. They’ve got a fantastic outline of all the green aspects of their brewery.

via Treehugger, Sierra Nevada Brewery

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 There’s a lot of buzz around hydrogen fuel-cells, but until now it’s been mostly focused on cars.

Chinese company “Pearl Hydrogen” is aiming to bring fuel-cell technology to the already green realm of bicycles. Why mess with an invention that already boasts one of the greenest methods of transportation? Sometimes you need a bit of motorized help.

This fuel-cell bike has a range of up to 100km, and a top speed of around 25km. Pretty good for a bike. It’s a little expensive right now at $2600, although that’s about the same as other motorized eco-bikes we’ve reviewed. The company claims they expect to reduce this price by up to 80% however, bringing the price to just over $500. Not bad.

These motorized bikes are fantastic methods of transportation, and with hydrogen fuel-cells, are 100% green as well. Hydrogen is a bit hard to find at the moment, as there is little in the way of distribution, but Pearl Hydrogen claims they have a distributer set up to sell hydrogen to it’s customers.

If the price really does come down to around $500, we could finally see a motorized bike that could gain some mass adoption. A lot of people will not likely want to give up their cars completely, but if you can make the majority of your short and medium length trips on a bike, you’ll be saving a huge amount of money in gas, and saving tons of emissions as well.

Now I’d like to see a fuel-cell powered Shopcycle, then almost all of my trips could be green!

via Treehugger, Green Options

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EcoStreet posted a great article on how to get ready for winter using green products. Now that winter is almost here it’s time to really test how eco-friendly you are. It’s a lot hard to bike to the corner store in -10 degree Canadian winters!

This article has some great tips on how to save on your energy bill in the notoriously expensive winter months. Heat is valuable and you’ll want to make sure your house is properly insulted. EcoStreet talks about Cavity Wall insulation, Loft Insulation, Draught Proofing, and Double Glazing. Check their post for information but these are some great tips to conserve heat in your home.

Conserving heat is incredibly effective at reducing your energy usage during winter. A lot of energy is spent on replenishing wasted heat; heat that is lost to cracks or windows.

EcoStreet also has some easy tips to save some money if you don’t want to go to the trouble of re-doing your house’s insulation (or if you’re renting and can’t). Three simple tips can help you save a bunch: turn your thermostat down, turn your water heater down, and close your curtains at night.

A Great product they covered in this post was the low-energy Biobulb. It’s a full-spectrum CFL bulb that creates a natural light, which can be a godsend in the dark, cold, winter months.

Check out their post for all the green winterizing tips.

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Ever thought your network could go green?

Well no doubt most people have routers or switches in their home, and due to the always-on nature of the internet, these devices are always on, and always sucking power. While it’s unrealistic to get everyone to turn off their network at night, D-Link has released a line of switches that intelligently reduce power consumption whenever possible.

D-Link’s new line of switches reduces power consumption by up to 44%, with no drop in performance.

It achieves this by intelligently deciding how much power is needed by the devices it’s connected to. For example, shorter cables need less power to receive a signal then longer cables. The switches figure out how long the cable is, and reduce power accordingly.

While I’m not sure how much electricity switches use, they are one of those devices we leave on all the time. These switches only eliminate wasted power as well, which is sure fine by us.

Good job D-Link!

via Geek.com, PCPro

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The Aptera is a new type of super-efficient vehicle from Aptera Motors of California.

The Aptera, which means “wingless” in Greek, is a super fuel-efficient vehicle, rated at a whopping 300mpg! It’s a hybrid diesel/electric vehicle, and is lightyears ahead of today’s hybrids, which in comparison, get a measly 35-45mpg. The Aptera is about 10 times as efficient!

How is this efficiency accomplished? Magic mostly, and a whole lot of engineering brilliance. Weight and wind resistance are huge factors that affect efficiency, and the Aptera has been carefully designed to optimize every aspect of the design to boost efficiency.

The Aptera weighs only 850 pounds (compared to the Toyota Prius at 2,890 pounds). This is achieved through what the company calls “Panelized Automated Composite Construction”, which basically means composite materials are use extensively instead of steel, cutting down on weight. Using only three wheels also cuts down on weight, and partially covering the wheels cuts down on wind resistance.

The Aptera can only hold two passengers, but with an insane 300mpg rating, you can always make extra trips.

In addition to the an amazing efficiency rating, the Aptera also features an innovative air conditioning system. It’s solar powered. This means that even on hot days when your car is off, the air conditioning can run and keep your car comfortable. Knowing first hand how brutal a car gets in the middle of July, this alone would be a great selling point!

In terms of safety, the composite material is super-strong, providing support in a collision. It also features a 360-degree viewing angle, accomplished through rear-mounted camera.

The Aptera has some impressive performance stats as well. 0-60 in about 11 seconds, and a top speed of 95mph. Costing only $30,000, it’s perfect for the average eco-conscious consumer.

The Aptera was created in response to the X-Prize Foundation’s Automotive eco-competition. Having moved on from space, the X-Prize put up $25 million for the first vehicle to reach 100mpg. At 300mpg the Aptera has a great shot at winning

Check out Aptera Motors, and the Aptera Myspace Page

via AutoblogGreen, San Diego Union Tribune, popsci , Wired, Automotive X Prize

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Toyota has made some great progress with fuel-cell vehicles lately, and it’s just tested the newest version of it’s next generation fuel-cell vehicle, the FCHV.

The hydrogen fuel-cell car has a reported range of a whopping 480 miles! In tests, it was able to make a trip from Osaka to Tokyo, a 350 miles trip, and finished with 30% of it’s tank left.

While a lot of this range is based on a large tank (about twice as big as it’s predecessor), Toyota has made great strides in efficiency as well, improving 25% over the previous model.

A 480-mile range is a great advancement in fuel-cell vehicles, as it approaches the range of modern hybrid car. Just doing some quick math, we see that a 45mpg 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid, with a 12.3 gallon tank, has a maxiumi potential range of about 553 miles.

So it appears hydrogen has finally reached the efficiency of modern gas vehicles. Now that the technology is finally here, the infrastructure is now the biggest hurdle to a consumerized version, but we’re on our way!

via Engadget, Reuters

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