Green prototypes for new cars have been showing up a lot recently.

The i-Blue is Hyundai’s most recent entry into the hydrogen-powered group. The i-Blue uses hydrogen fuel-cell technology and is 100% emissions free.

Just look at thing too, I’m finally starting to think the future is almost here! From other cars like the telsa roadster and the nissam mixim, it’s evident that big car companies are putting a lot more effort into green technologies.

“The i-Blue is Hyundai’s first-ever model designed from the ground up to incorporate fuel cell technology, marking a tremendous leap forward for our R&D program,” said Dr Hyun-Soon Lee, President of Research and Development. “Our engineering team has successfully designed a more compact fuel cell vehicle, while still realising the safety, comfort, convenience and driving range of a traditional internal combustion engine vehicle.” – AutoblogGreen

via AutoblogGreen Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 9% [?]

Whether it’s been a long day at work, or you’re chillin’ in the backyard on Labour Day today, there’s nothing like a nice cold beer.

But can you green your beer?

As a matter of fact, you can!

Green Man brewery in New Zealand brews 100% organic beer, but if you don’t want to order beer all the way from New Zealand, try buying locally brewed beer.

If you’re lucky there will be no preservatives normally used in beer shipped long distances, and it will taste a lot better. You’re also saving emissions used from transporting beer, as well as helping the local economy.

via TreeHugger

Popularity: 13% [?]

How much of a pain is it to get a drink of water from a tap without a glass?

Some people make a bowl with their hands, some try to bend over and lap it up, but either way, you’re letting a lot of water go wasted down the drain.

That wasted water can really add up, especially since this water need not be wasted.

Enter the faucet fountain. This little attachment goes right on your tap. When it’s off, it doesn’t affect the water flow at all, but switch it on and it turns your tap into a fountain, just like in your old highschool!

Makes it a lot easier to get a drink of water, and you don’t have to waste anything trying to make that tiny bowl out of your hands

via TinyLiving

Popularity: 24% [?]

This is Nissan’s latest electric prototype, dubbed “Mixim”. This vehicle is fully electric, with lithium-ion batteries, and two sets of “supermotors”, giving the Mixim four-wheel drive.

The Mixim is among many electric cars we’ve seen recently, most notably the Tesla Roadster features in this year’s INDEX awards. All these eco-friendly cars seems to point to a growing green trend in the automobile sector, and could clear the way for alternative-energy cars to become mainstream in the near future.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 13% [?]

An effective and easy method to improve mileage in your car is to ensure your tires are properly inflated. This will increase the performance of your tires as well. Unfortunately, it’s something not a lot of people do very regularly

Between 1994 and 1998, the number of respondents who had checked the tire pressure of their most frequently used vehicle in the month preceding the survey dropped by six percent. In 1998, 67 percent of respondents checked their tire pressure six or fewer times each year. Of these, 35 percent checked tire pressure three or fewer times, and less than a third of the respondents checked their tire pressure 10 or more times in the year preceding the survey. -Natural Resources Canada

Luckily all US 2008 cars will be equipped with a tire pressure monitoring system, or TPMS to make it sound cool.

This is great news however, as the system will tell drivers when they need to inflate their tires via a small warning light. It’s great for us lazy drivers who don’t particularly want to check tire pressure every week.

“Starting in all 2008 models, autos sold in the U.S. will be equipped with a TPMS, or tire pressure monitoring system. When your tire pressure is low, your car will automatically warn you by lighting up a signal on your console.” – Treehugger

via Green Family & Treehugger

Popularity: 14% [?]

When you’re not using your monitor, it goes to sleep. When your digital camera’s battery is charged, it goes into standby. Sleep, standby-low-power, whatever the mode is called, almost all of today’s electronics have a lower-power mode which cuts down on electricity, but leaves it in a ready-to-use state.

These modes, while they use less power than leaving something on, still use power. In fact, many electronics will still use electricity even when not turned on. The result? A whole lot of wasted electricity.

Well, here comes the super-intelligent, power saving, crime fighting, Smart Power Bar. The smart power can detect the difference between a device in use, and one that’s in standby mode. It stops standby devices from getting power, unplugging them, in essence.

This can save you tons on your electricity bill, and can help reduce emissions from power plants. Even if you’re not super-eco-friendly and keep your electronics to a minimum, there’s no sense in wasting electricity.

One Click Power – Smart Power Bar: £29.99 (about $63 Canadian) from Nigel’s Eco Store

Popularity: 24% [?]

If you think solar power is all about powering traditional lights with renewable energy, have I got a surprise for you. Scientists have just perfected a way to store light in bottles! Now you can carry around a light with you just like you would a jar of say, sugar. As long as there’s daylight, you can keep re-filling this magical jar.

Okay, so its not magic, and it’s not a new scientific breakthrough, it’s just solar power with a little human touch. The Sun Jar Solar Light has solar cells in the jar which suck in solar energy and charge the batteries. Then the batteries power some orangey-yellow LED lights in the dark. With a little frosting on the jar to hide all the circuitry, you get a jar that just glows at night.

Very inviting, and one of the best and simplest green designs I’ve seen yet.

via Nigel’s Eco-Store

Popularity: 15% [?]

Are you a fully-obsessed eco-nut? Are you 100% off the grid? Do you only eat local, organic, vegan food?

Well there’s a lot of products on the market to feed the need for green, and make your life eco-friendly…. but what about your afterlife? Surely you can’t green death…

But you can!

Enter the ecopod, a revolution in coffins (an area that had been somewhat stagnant for the past hundred years).

The ecopod is a coffin make from 100% naturally hardened, recycled paper. Now you can go as green as you lived, perfect for the ultimate return to the planet.

ecopod: £769.00 (about $1623 Canadian) from Nigel’s Eco Store

Popularity: 15% [?]

How many gadgets are plugged in around you right now? Chances are, there’s an iPod, Digital Camera, Cell Phone, Video Camera, Battery Charger, and a whole bunch of other devices and chargers. It’s okay, I do too, but these gadgets do take up a lot of electricity.

The Solio Mobile Phone & iPod Solar Charger is a compact solar panel array that you can use to charge your devices. That’s right! Completely green electricity for a techno-gadget world.

I did find it rather odd that a product called an iPod charger would need a separate kit to charge a modern iPod, but it’s still a pretty cool product.

Other than simply charging your iPod at home however, there’s a great use for this product on the road (car or bike) to keep these devices charged when you can’t plug in. Ever run out of juice halfway through or drive? Just use the sun!

It is also rather expensive, at £49.95 (about $105 Canadian) from Ethical Superstore but that’s what you’ll be paying for many alternative-power gadgets until the technology improves. Solar is still in it’s infancy remember!

While the price-tag makes it a bit impractical, it’s great to see more eco-friendly products, and this shows these types of products are becoming mainstream.

via Ethical Superstore

Popularity: 18% [?]

Well in a move I would not really expect from Sony, they seem to be embracing green technology. Sony announced on Friday that they have developed asugar-based battery. Not only is this battery eco-friendly, but it can generate enough power to power an mp3 player and portable speakers. Watch your AA do that!

“Sugar is a naturally occurring energy source produced by plants through photosynthesis,” Sony said in a statement.

“It is therefore regenerative, and can be found in most areas of the earth, underlining the potential for sugar-based batteries as an ecologically-friendly energy device of the future.”

-Reuters

It’s great to see a huge company like Sony embracing green technology, and hopefully this will be the start of a trend among big business. Until then, good job Sony!

via Keetsa! Blog

Popularity: 20% [?]