Scientists are working with a small type of bug that does something amazing. It eats waste and excrete’s crude oil. Pretty damn amazing. Now sure, the idea of ‘renewable oil’, while pretty amazing, does nothing for the environment. It doesn’t cut down on pollution, it doesn’t help global warming. However, it does cut down on drilling for oil, which can disturb habitats, so that’s a start.

It’s also great to know that it’s possible to create oil, rather than just mine it. Maybe, just maybe, this could help keep gas prices down until solar is widespread.

Scientists find bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol - Times Online

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So it looks like electric vehicles are finally hitting the mainstream. Engadget is reporting that the Chevy Volt will be priced at only $40,000, much cheaper than something like the Tesla! So, at an affordable price, would you buy one?

Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid priced at $40,000 - Engadget

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We’ve covered a whole bunch of wooden things in the past. There’s definitely a certain something to wood-covered technology, and bornrich brings you a list of 12 really cool wood based products. Check out the wooden sportscar! Yeah! A Sportscar!

Top 12 Wooden Creations You Would Love To Spend Your Money On - Born Rich

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This is the Philips Eco TV. Debuted at CES 2008, it detects the amount of ambient light and adjusts it’s backlight to compensate. By using less backlight when it can, the Eco TV takes another small step into making our devices as efficient as possible.

Philips’ Eco TV sips power, saves rainforest - CES 2008 - Consumer Electronics Show - CNET.com

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We’ve covered tire pressure monitors before, and we’ve told you how properly inflated tires can save buttloads on fuel costs. Well, in the future we can forget all about that. Meet the TWEEL!

businessshrink.biz » Blog Archive » With underinflated tires eating up gas, where is the TWEEL?

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Hello all you ecogeeks!

Just want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas from ecogadget!

(and a Happy Holidays to those who don’t celebrate Christmas)

Have a great day and a I hope you got some great ecogifts!

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I’ve blogged about phantom power before, the power that devices use even when they’re off. This phantom power can add up to a huge drain on the power grid and can cost you money on your power bill.

Other devices like the ecostrip will shut off power automatically, however there is an even simpler solution:simply unplug whatever devices you’re not using!

Of couse, this isn’t always as easy as it sounds. Some powerbars like to grab onto your plugs like their life depended on it. The “Easy Plugs” by Yoo-Kyung Shin is an easy and ingenious solution. Plug in your devices like normal, but simply push down on the side of the powe bar and the plug will pop right out.

Easy and quick to unplug your devices!

Of course this is just a concept, but I’d sure like to see this kind of system implemented as standard in powerbars. Could help promote unplugging!

via Yanko Design

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We cover a lot of energy efficient products and other gadgets that can help you reduce your energy consumption, but how much money can you actually save by living a greener life?

We decided to find out.

We’ve all received high energy bills and wondered where all that electricity went. Fortunately, a lot of it is actually wasted energy! Why is that fortunate? Because it’s easy to eliminate.

You don’t have to be ultra-conscious of your energy to reduce your consumption, in fact, you can save about $350 per year in only 5 easy steps!

Here’s ecogadget’s list of 5 easy steps that will reduce your energy consumption:

Read the rest of this entry »

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Pools can be a great way to spend a hot summer day, but all those chemicals used to clean the pool and the energy used by the pool pump are not the best for the environment.

The Solar Breeze is a pool cleaner that hopes to make your summer pooling experience a bit more green. The Solar Breeze is a pool skimmer with two solar panels on its top, allowing the skimmer to run off 100% free energy. It even stores extra energy in its onboard batteries, allowing it to run at night or on a cloudy day.

The Solar Breeze also eliminated the need for a pool pump, which often amount to as high as about two-thirds of a pool’s maintenance cost. It helps to reduce the amount of chlorine you need to use, as the Solar Breeze is constantly at work keeping the pool clean. It can reduce the cost of chlorine by about one-third.

The Solar Breeze works like the almost like a robotic vacuum for your pool. It will swim around your pool, filtering the water and dispensing chemicals. It will detect obstacles and manoeuvre around them, so there’s not even a need to take the kids’ toys out before a cleaning. It works in all depths as well, since it has a super-shallow draft structure.

The Solar Breeze is nice and compact as well, measuring 23″ x 20″ x 6″.

Overall the Solar Breeze is an easy, cheap, and green way to keep your pool clean. It will help you save money on energy costs by eliminating the need for a pool pump, as well on chemicals by reducing the amount of chlorine you need to keep the pool clean. The Solar Breeze’s solar panels mean you don’t even have to worry about batteries or charging the unit either!

 via EcoGeek, OnlineSolarPanels

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Well, we all know we’ve got to recycle, but not many people really enjoy it. You’ve gotta trek out to the recycling bin, you’ve gotten stack cans carefully if you don’t have enough space, and you have to find a special way to fit paper, plastic and cans into the same box!

Well the ecopod attempts to help you solve some of your recycling woes.

The ecopod sits inside your house, saving you a trek out to the recycling bin. While you could keep a recycling bin next to your garbage can inside, but if you have a lot of soft drink cans or something similar, you run the risk of attracting bugs. The ecopod keeps all cans in an enclosed space inside the unit, so anything leftover in the can won’t attract bugs. This alone will help a lot of people recycle.

As for space? Well, the ecopod is a compactor, meaning any cans or plastic inside the unit will be quicky and satisfyingly crushed into a thin sheet, perfect for stacking in your recycling bin or taking in for reimbursement.

As for anything recyclable other than metal and plastic, the ecopod features several removable storage bins in the top, all your recycling can reside in one unit.

Ecopod’s manufacturer claims the ecopod will prevent about 130 billion cans from reaching landfills. While I’m not exactly sure how they calculated this number, I can definitely see this appliance encouraging people to recycle.

The ecopod is a great response to some of the problems many people have with recycling. It has a great design and would look right at home in your kitchen. It’ll store your recyclables inside, giving you easy access, and then compact them down for easy stacking in your recycle bin.

Well, we all know if it’s not convenient, many people simply won’t do it. The ecopod helps to make recycling a lot more convenient, so who knows, if this catches on we’ll likely see a lot more people recycling.

Read more at the ecopod site.

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