Green Tech

Stick these solar cells on your phone or whatever else

What if everything around you had the potential to generate small amounts of energy?

We've seen flexible, even stick-on photovoltaic cells before, but these decal-style solars are compact and fun.

In a recent article in Scientific Reports, Stanford University mechanical engineering assistant professor Xiaolin Zheng and colleagues describe thin-film solar cells that can be peeled and stuck anywhere.

The researchers manufactured them on a reusable silicon and silicon dioxide wafer and then stuck them on paper, plastic, and window glass.

The original cell efficiency of 7.5 percent was maintained, and the manufacturing uses existing processes and materials. That … Read more

Phantom fighter: MeterPlug reports electric use in dollars

It's cold. I'm sitting here with a heating pad on my desk chair. I use it all the time, but I have no idea what its real impact on my electric bill is. The same goes for my LED Christmas tree and the glowing smartphone charger I leave plugged in all the time. The big mystery around the cost of electrical appliances could soon be cleared up if a little device called MeterPlug hits its fundraising goal on Indiegogo.

MeterPlug plugs into an outlet. You then plug your appliance directly into the MeterPlug. The gadget reports energy usage over Bluetooth to an app that translates the draw into actual dollars. You can manually enter your local electricity prices or use the app's average for your country.… Read more

Gravity powers new lamp for developing countries

It's easy to take our electric lights for granted. Many people in developing counties don't have the luxury of electric grids and have to rely on kerosene lamps to brighten the night. Kerosene costs money and breathing the fumes is dangerous. A new light powered by gravity could be a superior solution to lighting needs.

GravityLight doesn't need to be recharged through solar cells. It doesn't use batteries at all. It's powered by the same force that keeps our feet on the ground. A weight attached to the light takes 3 seconds to lift up, but provides 30 minutes of light as it descends. … Read more

ReCycle bicycles made from all-recycled aluminum

Bike riding is already a more environmentally conscious pursuit than driving around in a car, but you can really take it to the green extreme with a bike made from 100-percent-recycled aluminum. ReCycle is working at raising funds on Kickstarter to put its first full run of bikes into production.

There are some nice design tweaks that make the ReCycle bikes stand out. The usual seat tube support is gone. Two of the models have belts rather than chains. The eco-friendly aspects go beyond the use of recycled aluminum. The bikes also have saddles and grips made from cork. … Read more

Giant CO2 spheres invade NYC

With its many pedestrians and subway users, New York seems like one of the greener cities in the U.S. But it still produced a gob-smacking mountain of carbon emissions in 2010.

In the vid below from graphics firm Carbon Visuals, the 54 million tons of CO2 is illustrated as a mass of spheres that tower over the city, engulfing its buildings.

Some 75 percent of the pollution came from buildings, with the bulk of the rest from transport, according to the firm, which used city data. … Read more

Floppytable makes floppies relevant again

Here's a generational test. Look at this table. What do you see? If you see a weird-looking coffee table, then you're young enough to have no idea what a VHS tape or landline telephone is. If you see a floppy disk, then you should probably spend the $930 it takes to get a Floppytable for your living room.

The Floppytable is anything but floppy. It's made from hot-rolled steel and stainless steel, making it much stronger than the plastic originals. The table is nearly 28 inches wide, 18 inches deep, and 26 inches tall, so you won't be able to cram it into the floppy slot on your ancient PC.… Read more

Swedish town introduces light therapy to bus shelters

In Umea, Sweden, the forecast for Thursday is partly cloudy with a 10 percent chance of precipitation and a high of 25 degrees Fahrenheit. As I write this in dark and damp Portland, Ore., Umea doesn't sound so bad.

But the city, located some 400 miles north of the already northern Swedish capital Stockholm, is for most of the day this time of year cloaked in darkness, with the sun rising at almost 9 a.m. and setting just after 2 p.m.

So the local energy company Umea Energi has begun installing phototherapy lamps in 30 bus shelters … Read more

Microsoft speaks poop to power

The more data centers are built, the more power is consumed.

The more power is consumed, the more people rely on that power.

The more we rely on the grid, the more chance there is, perhaps, that something will go wrong.

The more we become reliant on the cloud, such a calamity will annoy more people who are desperate to, um, watch Netflix or stare at Instagram.

Microsoft doesn't want to risk taking any verbal dung from you on such matters, so it announced today that it is building a data center powered by, well, waste matter.

Yes, your Microsoft cloud uploads could soon be powered by your own personal downloads. … Read more

A3 E-tron previews Audi electric car

Ever since 2009, Audi has been showing off enticing electric cars under the E-tron name, its brand for any electrified power train. I finally got to drive one during a green industry conference in San Francisco, but it was a far cry from the original sporty-looking E-tron concept. However, the A3 E-tron looks a lot more like a car that Audi would put into production.… Read more

Pee power! African teens create urine-fueled generator

In a stroke of ingenuity that could have proven handy during Hurricane Sandy, four teenage African girls have come up with a urine-powered generator.

Duro-Aina Adebola, Akindele Abiola, and Faleke Oluwatoyin, all 14, and Bello Eniola, 15, collaborated on the invention, which they claim generates one hour of electricity from one liter (about a quart) of urine.

The pee-powered product made its debut at Maker Faire Africa in Lagos, Nigeria, this week. A post on the Maker Faire Africa blog describes the generator's workings in the following words: … Read more