Lisa Katayama

Solar trees forecast a future where gadgets are charged on beaches

If our gadget dependency continues to worsen, this could be what our beaches will look like.

[via Yanko Design]

Steven Leckart

TMBG: "Electric Car, The New Machine"

They Might Be Giants' new kid's album "Here Comes Science" features this catchy, pro-EV ditty.

I'm not a parent, but I'll admit I'm digging this...

Steven Leckart

What's This Guy Driving?

The Tri-Magnum is a fuel-efficient, reverse trike built from a motorcycle, usually a Kawasaki KZ900 or Honda Gold Wing. As evident by the design lines (not to mention the driver's 'stache), this three-wheeler was developed decades ago. However, you can still buy inventor Robert Q. Riley's $95 guide on how to build your own Tri-Magnum for $3,500, not counting the motorcycle.

Since the early 1980s, Riley's refined his reverse trike design quite a bit. The XR3 plug-in hybrid is essentially a re-tooled version of the Tri-Magnum.

After the jump, check out more photos of each vehicle...

READ THE REST

Steven Leckart

DIY Low-NRG Fridge: Coolest Ice Box Ever?

Tom Chalko built this low-energy refrigerator out of a chest freezer. He rigged it with a SparOmeter that measures power consumption (bottom left) and a $40 external thermometer (top right) with a battery-operated internal relay that cuts the power at a set temp.

Says Tom:

In the first 24 hours my new chest fridge took 103 Wh (0.103 kWh) of energy. About 30% of this energy was consumed during the initial power up and re-arranging of the fridge content. The room temperature varied from 21oC during the day to 15oC at night. The fridge interior temperature was kept between +4o and +7o C. The fridge compressor was working only for about 90 seconds per hour. When the thermostat intervened - the fridge consumed ZERO power. The only active part was a battery powered temperature display.

Results of my experiment exceeded all my expectations. My chest fridge consumes as much energy in 24 hours as a 100W light bulb does in just an hour. Not only it is energy efficient. I have never seen a fridge that was SO quiet. It only works 90 seconds or so every hour. At all other times it is perfectly quiet and consumes no power whatsoever. My wind/solar system batteries and the power sensing inverter simply love it. With my new chest fridge I have power to spare and I can use it to warm up my house in winter with a heat pump. I wonder why no one has ever thought of a chest fridge controlled by a digital thermostat...

Instructions are available at Build It Solar (links to PDF).

[via Home Design Find]

Steven Leckart

Review: GMT Solar Lantern [Verdict: Works]

The SL900 is a relatively-lightweight, dead-simple-to-use lantern that sports two solar panels, LEDs and a 6V 4AH sealed lead acid battery. You simply leave it in direct sunlight while hiking, hanging or whatever, and it will charge up enough to provide at least 2-4 hours of nocturnal glow.

At about 12" x 7", the SL900 isn't the most packable torch ever, but for car camping, it works great. I've used it on two car-based camping trips this spring/summer, and have very very minor complaints. One little issue is the fact the top opens indiscriminately, i.e. the top cover hatch tends to open all the way due to a frisky hinge. Thus, if you're trying to position part of the solar panel so that it gets optimal, direct sun at certain times of the day, you won't always achieve your goal — in other worse, you'll need to brace the top against a rock or, more likely, wedge the carrying handle against the back of the panel to hold it at the perfect sun-kissed angle.

All in all, that's a pretty minor complaint. The lantern is $85 (a bit pricey), weighs just 7 lbs (not totally unreasonably), and works well (it should, for that kind of money). After an afternoon of charging, we wound up getting 2 hours with the lamp on high, then another hour or so with the lamp set to medium/low — and while it was not exactly a task light, the lantern provide enough visibility to cook desert, make our way around the camp site, etc.

It's worth noting higher-end solar lanterns include AM/FM, 9-watt fluorescent bulbs, and stobe light features, to name just a few perks. Eh, spending more than $85 — let alone $75 — on a lantern seems potentially gauche. Also, before any solar charging, you'll need to give the lantern a full charge from a standard wall outlet/power source. So, if you're thinking of going off the grid completely with this thing, well, sorry.

Steven Leckart

HOWTO: Build A Milk Crate Toilet Composter

The folks at Homegrown Evolution, authors of The Urban Homestead, put together a great guide for creating one of these "humanure" Johns out of a five-gallon bucket, milk crate, seat, cable ties, and some scrap wood.

Assembly is straightforward and requires only basic tools, including a jigsaw or keyhole saw.

If you're going to try preparing poop-manure, be sure to read up beforehand.

If you're not interested in compost, this badboy could also make a fine emergency toilet.

Lisa Katayama

Ikea's colorful, altruistic solar-powered desk lamps

IKEA's solar-powered Sunnan desk lamp is cute, costs only $20, and doesn't use any electricity. A full charge will give you about four hours of light. Even better, for every Sunnan lamp sold since June, IKEA claims it is shipping one for free to kids in Pakistan via UNICEF, so those who live without electricity can study at night. That's nice!

Product page [IKEA]

Steven Leckart

Cyclist's Golf Caddy

If you're going to play golf on a huge piece of property that soaks up water, fertilizer and electricity &mdash without growing food or anything tangible &mdash you might as well do something to make yourself feel better about it.

$199 via Clean Air Gardening

Steven Leckart

Greenpeace Declares Nokia Super-Green, Nintendo Not-So-Much

Greenpeace released its annual eco-rankings of electronics manufacturers. And the winner is... NOKIA, which scored a 7.45 out of 10 (10 being green-tastic). The whole report is worth a gander, but here's the highlights, which I recommend reading to yourself in a Howard Cossell voice.

Bad news: Apple finished towards the middle of the pack with 4.7/10.

Apple fails to score top marks on this criterion because it uses unreasonably high threshold limits for BFRs and PVC in products that are allegedly PVC-/BFR-free. The company needs to be commended for running a bold advertising campaign highlighting the green credentials of its MacBooks. Apple still needs to commit to phasing out additional substances with timelines, improve its policy on chemicals and its reporting on chemicals management.

Worse news: Nintendo brought up the rear with 1/10.

The company has banned phthalates and is monitoring use of antimony and beryllium and although it is endeavouring to eliminate the use of PVC, it has not set a timeline for its phase out. It continues to score zero on all e-waste criteria. On energy, Nintendo loses a point due to a second year of increases in greenhouse gas emissions, despite a commitment to cut CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gases by 2% over each previous year.

How will any of this affect sales? I'm guessing not too much. Feel free to disagree.

[via EcoGeek]

Steven Leckart

Review: GoBe Solar Briefcase & Power-Hub

As soon as I stumbled on the Provo Craft's GoBe system at Maker Faire, I was dying to get my hands on one. I'm an optimist, but one who's been disheartened by the dearth of consumer-ready chargers that can handle the output necessary to power any device larger than a cell phone &mdash and even the ones that claim to charge phones don't always work so well.

The GoBe is a terrific device for luxury car campers or, perhaps, touring cyclists willing to trade off-the-grid power for extra weight. There are two components: a 12-lb. solar panel and 9-lb. power hub with AC, DC and USB outputs. Not especially lightweight, but comfortable to manhandle since both parts feature integrated handles. The GoBe is advertised as taking about 10 hours to fully charge, which was roughly my experience when I recharged my battery at home after camping with it (note: you must charge the power hub via wall socket before using outdoors for the first time).

While camping, we used our GoBe to handle one basic task: power a travel-size iPod dock. Which it did mightily. Normally the device would run on AAs, which aren't exactly a hassle to carry (plus, there are obviously packable solar chargers for reusable AAs). However, there was something extremely satisfying about powering our tunes via solar charger. Plus, after 4 hours of charging the meager device, there was plenty of juice left &mdash I think about half. And that's kind of my main complaint: think.

I haven't played with a solar charger that is 100% perfect. And this one isn't either.

The power hub's three indicator lights are helpful, but not nearly enough. Green = a full charge (or close to it). Red = little or no juice. Yellow = ??? ...I realize including an LED displaying watts and volts consumed wouldn't be practical power-wise. On the other hand, having to mentally calculate your power usage isn't so fun, especially if you're using the power hub while it's simultaneously charging.

I'm told the GoBe can expand the life of an average laptop battery anywhere from 3 to 6 hours, which is potentially great, but also a great reminder of the disappoints that continue to plague all things solar. There can be so many variables, least of all whether you're getting solid sunlight, so that range could be a bit disconcerting if you were really relying on this thing for power on a regular or semi-regular basis. i.e. this is clearly not something I'd exclusively count on to write my novel in the bush.

For car camping, though, it works well, since you don't have to carry batteries or pull any power from your car's battery. Should you have to power up your cell phone, GPS, camera, etc., you've got more than enough for charge-triage. And, provided you're camping somewhere with unobstructed sunlight (we did not), you won't have to reposition it throughout the day (we did).

Two more caveats: You get AC, DC and a USB port, however, if you neglect to bring a standard USB, for instance, you'll only be able to use a two-prong plug. Not a deal breaker, but I sure would have loved a typical U.S. Type B three-prong outlet. Yes, an adapter costs $5 at Radio Shack, but that's one more thing for me to carry, keep track of, and, let's be honest, lose.

Lastly, the thing is WHITE, which looks nice and modern, but will get dirty faster than a broke, drunk sorority girl at a $10,000-prize mud wrestling contest.

Now some bad news: The GoBe costs $350 (plus $45 for shipping). Not cheap, but not all that terrible considering a car inverter built just for a MacBook costs $150, only charges one device, and will drain your parked car's battery.

Joel Johnson

Photo: Wind Harvester props are huge

Joel Johnson

Solar panels on phones make me happy, no matter how useful they may actually be

The Samsung E1107 "Crest Solar" is not a Hollywood-grade whitening toothpaste, but instead a nice little low-end phone with a solar cell in the back. An hour of good, clean charging will give the user five or ten minutes of talk time. Fantastic stuff.

You won't ever see it in North America because of the limited frequencies on which it operates, but it should show up in much of the rest of the world. [via Treehugger]

Joel Johnson

Whoa there, Sun Chips: Ingeo corn plastic not suitable for backyard composting

NatureWorks (a subsidiary of Cargill), makes "Ingeo", a bioplastic spun from lactic acid generated from corn sugars. It's the same stuff used by Sun Chips to make their new "compostable" bags that will be released in 2010. It's exciting stuff, and I support the notion, but the commercial (linked above) is misleading about how you'll be disposing of Sun Chips bags.

According to NatureWorks' FAQ:

Can I throw Ingeo™ biopolymer into my backyard compost?

Ingeo™ biopolymer should be composted in industrial compost facilities, which contain the right managed combination of temperature and moisture. Therefore, it is not recommended for use in typical backyard composting due to the lack of high temperature and inconsistent conditions.

Joel Johnson

The prettiest anthill

Robin Sloan:

I think the conversation about "The Earth Is Hiring" sensitized me to this point: Watching the trailer for Home, I couldn't help but think, "Oh, I get it. The beautiful shots are the ones without humans."

Joel Johnson

Anecdote as Data: Dimmable CFL light bulbs don't quite work right yet

My house is lit primarily by sunken floodlights. Putting in a bulb that doesn't fill the fixture looks trashy, and the incandescent bulbs burn out quite frequently. I found a GE R40 CFL floodlamp in a local drugstore that could even be dimmed. It was expensive—$20, although Green Electrical Supply them sells for $8 plus shipping—but if it could last for a couple of years, I'd still come out ahead.

I screwed it in and turned up the dimmer switch in my kitchen. The bulb flickered, but ignited. Not bad! I could deal with a little flickering, especially since I rarely ever kept the light at its lower settings.

But then I went to turn it on and off again, there was a pop, and the CFL bulb broke completely. Looks like CFL and dimmers still aren't a great combination.

Joel Johnson

San Francisco's solar-powered bus shelter

That there's a solar bus shelter, it is, the first in San Francisco. Mike Chino took a look:

Situated at Geary and Arguello boulevards in the Richmond District, the new bus shelter features an undulating solar roof that calls to mind both the hills of San Francisco and a seismic wave (this is earthquake territory after all!) The roof is constructed from an innovative 40% post-industrial recycled polycarbonate material embedded with thin-film photovoltaic cells, and the steel structure is composed of 75% recycled material. The shelter also features a pushbutton update system, more room for transit information, and is expected feed back energy into the city's electrical grid.

Joel Johnson

Convert documents to toilet paper in the comfort of your office

What office worker wouldn't love this machine from Tokyo's Nakabayashi company, which converts regular office paper into toilet paper. The $95,000 machine, which is designed to be kept in an office, coverts 1,800 sheets of A4 paper into two rolls of toilet paper, which seems really out of whack, buy maybe Japanese toilet paper is much thicker than our flimsy Western 2-ply.

You wouldn't wipe your ass with a report like this—but you could.

Steven Leckart

Electric-Powered VW Bus Photobooth

Portland, OR-based photographer Soren Coughlin-Glaser runs a mobile photobooth out of his bright orange VW-EV bus. Cool stuff, but even cooler is that he re-built the e-bus mostly himself using 24 6V golf cart batteries.

Soren's blog doesn't provide full-on step-by-steps, but there are schematics, as well as lessons learned with regard to blown connections and brake woes.

Sadly, all those set backs pale in comparison to this full-on meltdown:

After the jump, find out what happened and check out some close-up pics...

READ THE REST

Joel Johnson

Eve Ensler and "Rape-Free" Gadgets

In the Congo, explains Eve Ensler, militias use rape to fracture communities and the threat of sexual violence to coerce slave labor to mine coltan (a colloquial name for columbite-tantalite ore) which is used to produce capacitors that power cell phones, iPods, and other gadgets.

"We create those atrocities through our consumption," says Ensler.

She is proposing that electronics manufacturers and their customers—us—began to concern themselves with the notion of "Rape-Free" products in which the raw, mineral components of consumer electronics are traced back to sources that can be verified to have procured them ethically. (She allows that "Rape-Free" is probably not a moniker that would be comfortable plastered on boxes and signs.)

It's without a doubt one of the most horrible but compelling things I've heard in a while. I've been considering a parallel notion lately about the shocking rate we're using a limited mineral supply to make what are essentially disposable bits of gadgetry. While I don't doubt that every effort will be made by profit-driven corporations to develop ways to produce goods even if rare minerals are fully depleted, the gulf between now and a future where minerals can be safely reclaimed and reused is fretfully wide. [via Treehugger]

Joel Johnson

iUnika Gyy: Inexpensive netbook with integrated solar and bioplastic body

The disposable computer is here.

The "Gyy" netbook from iUnika may have less computing power than many modern cellphones, but it weighs just a pound and a half, has a chassis made from biodegradable cellulose, and wears an array of solar panels on its top that can charge up its battery. All this for a projected price of $180, available "this summer".

It won't be completely disposable, of course. Heavy metals in the electronics will still need to be reclaimed and reprocessed. But built-in solar and bioplastic casing makes this several steps in the right direction. I want one—and as soon as I learn to read Spanish I'll see if I can pre-order. [via Inhabitat]

Joel Johnson

Insulation and packing material made from rice hulls and fungus

Scientific American profiles the creators of "Greensulate", an organic insulation made from rice hulls, recycled paper, and fungus:

They incorporated three basic ingredients in a solution of water and hydrogen peroxide: mycelium mushroom roots; perlite, a glassy volcanic mineral used by farmers to aerate soil; and recycled paper. They poured the mixture into a seven-by-seven-inch (17.8 centimeters) plastic container and stuck it under a bed in their apartment (Greensulate must be kept in the dark while it is growing). The mycelium fed off the natural sugars in the recycled paper, causing it to grow, tightly bind the perlite, and take the shape of the plastic container. The perlite created small insulating air pockets within this new rigid, beige-colored panel, which they then baked at 110 degrees F (43.3 degrees C) to remove all water from the finished product and assure that mold and spores do not photosynthesize. Bayer and McIntyre also experimented by replacing perlite with rice hulls, which form similar air pockets. The rice hulls are roughly 10 times cheaper than perlite. Greensulate panel of any size can be grown in five to 14 days, Bayer says, and will last for the life of the building in which it is installed. Manufacturing space should come relatively cheap because all Bayer and McIntyre need is someplace big and dark. "It could be an old Kmart," McIntyre says, "or even an abandoned mine shaft."

Steven Leckart

Eureka 2.0: collaborative urban prospecting

Last week our pals at Gizmodo stumbled on an Instructables project for hacking a metal detector with a hydrocarbon sensor. The goal: use it to find oil you can extract and sell for $$$ OR locate underground toxins, so you can try to sue whoever put them there (win win, if you ask me).

When I spoke with project founder Col. Jon Cohrs a few days ago, he was racing to finish assembling another 5 detectors for the Futuresonic festival in Manchester. But why?

READ THE REST

Joel Johnson

Cardboard Animal Trophies, for the big game hunter who prefers to mail-order

Cardboard Safari makes laser-cut cardboard animal head trophies suitable for wall-mounting, each available for $52 (plus shipping). They're made from recycled cardboard. I'd proudly display any one of them on my wall, but I'd only feel most ethically in the clear if I dressed and skinned my own boxes. [via Animal]

Joel Johnson

Video: "The pizza box of the 21st century"

It's nice that when I order a delivery pizza I'll no longer have to ask for extra sanctimony.

Joel Johnson

Visualizing the power grid

NPR has built an interactive graphic detailing the United States' power grid. [via Flowing Data]

Joel Johnson

Earthmate compact fluorescent bulbs come with their own mailer

"Earthmate" compact fluorescent light bulbs come with their own postage-paid mailer so you can send back burnt-out bulbs to manufacturer Waste Management. (A company which has really been getting into the Green game lately, I've noticed, with sites like ThinkGreen.com and big ads in magazines talking about the wildlife that lives next to their landfills.)

There's a price, of course: Four bulbs cost $34. As Treehugger points out, Home Depot will sell you 14 bulbs for $40—and let you recycle in-store.

Joel Johnson

Earth Angel, a hand-cranked vibrator

British retailer LoveHoney is selling the "Earth Angel", a battery-free wind-up vibrator. Four minutes of cranking will bring you 30 minutes of vibrating.

It's a gasp-inducing £65, though, which is a lot of batteries. [via Gizmodo]

Joel Johnson

Go Green: Use Last Year's Model

Here's an Earth Day action I can get behind: Last Year's Model, which encourages you to buy good gear—and then just use it. It reflects my own preferred method of consumption, which is to spend a little extra to get something that is exactly what I want, then try to use it for as long as possible. (I often fail, but I'm better than I used to be.)

I've got an HDTV that I bought two years ago that should hold me for years. My Canon Rebel XT DSLR, just back from a cleaning, still has more functionality than I ever use. My Kindle 1 still supports words. My iPhone 3G is doing great until they come out with a new one in June which I will instantly buy. (Moderation!)

There's a panic that I feel when something I own doesn't quite perform as I'd like it to, which sets off an escalating and enjoyable process of shopping and comparison, fueling daydreams of how wonderful my life will be with my New Thing. I've been trying to replace "Purchase" with "Projects", though, so that I've always got a few things that are in a state of repair.

My turn signals stopped working in my old BMW yesterday while I was driving back from the hardware store. (I was shopping for a reel mower, which I ended up buying from Amazon after comparing prices in-store with my phone, although I'd needed to go out there anyway for more charcoal and fertilizer.) I caught my brain spinning up, spitting a litany of excuses why I should go buy a new car: I need at least one reliable vehicle; it's a good time to buy a car, with interest rates very low; the Nissan 370Z exercises the corpus cavernosum.

But I'd bought Ruby in part because I knew she'd break down and I wanted to learn car repair. So I pulled into the garage, ran upstairs to spend 30 minutes reading the BMW 2002 FAQ forum, priced turn signal replacement parts on eBay, and went back to pop open the hood. I took out the #6 fuse, wiped it on my pants, and put it back in. The turn signals work just fine now, and I just saved myself $35,000.

Joel Johnson

On the Aptera 2e production model

Chuck Squatriglia for Autopia:

We won't see a production model for another couple of months. It will be a little more square when viewed from the front, a concession made to increase interior room and allow the windows to roll down. That's a smart move, because the car we drove could be called "cozy" and the windows don't open.

The engineers have reworked the battery pack, which is located in a sealed compartment under the seats, to move it forward and shift the center of gravity toward the front. Wilbur says the production car carries 70 percent of its weight on the front wheels, which "is excellent for traction and handling." They also brought the front wheels eight inches closer to the body and raised the ride height a bit.

Despite the tweaks, the car became more aerodynamic, and Wilbur says the production car will have a drag coefficient of 0.15. That will make the 2e the most aerodynamic production car in history, topping even the General Motors EV1.

Xeni Jardin

Yoga "Eco Mat" Review: PrAna Revolution (Attention-Conservation Verdict: I Dig.)

I have practiced yoga on and off since I was a teenager, but in recent years, more off than on. Recently, when friends, colleagues, and family all seemed to be pointing out with greater frequency that I seemed particularly stressed (read: a total pain in the ass to be around), I made a commitment to switch that back to "on." It's been pretty great. I'm happier. The more I practice, the more centered I feel, physically, mentally, emotionally. And, the less of a total pain in the ass I am.

Yoga isn't about the accessories, and I loathe the idea that you have to have just the right gear, just the right teacher, just the right whatever to practice. You don't. But a good mat can really help. So when I got back into the groove of regular practice, I checked out a bunch of different mats -- from the ultra-thick black ones, to the "towel" kind folks like to use with "hot yoga," to the thin cheap synthetic ones. I have a stack of 8 of them sitting in the corner in this room, as I type this review.

But I've found my favorite now -- the just-released Revolution "eco" mat by PrAna.

It's sticky enough to help grip your fingers, palms, soles, and toes when you're doing balance poses -- and, truly, every pose involves some element of balance. It's 30" wide, much wider than standard mats. A better fit for taller yoga students like myself. It's lightweight enough that I can carry it comfortably on my back in the cool little carrying sack they sell. It's thick enough that I don't feel the need to add extra cushioning during practice on poses that can be hard on the bones. It's made of all-natural materials, so I'm not investing in future landfill cruft. The sticky part took a little getting used to in poses where I tend to drag the tops of my feet accross the mat in transition from one asana to the other, but now that I've been with it for a few weeks -- I don't know, it's like sleeping in a nice new bed, or moving into an awesome new home. It's familiar now, and just feels like an extension of my body.

I recently met PrAna creative David Kennedy, a friendly surfer who pops a mean Adho Mukha Svanasana. We practiced together (it was one of the most enjoyable BB review demos I can recall). I asked him to talk with us about some of the engineering considerations that went into the mat's design.

His reply follows, after the jump.

READ THE REST