If you stay up to date on green design and architecture, you read a lot of posts about futuristic designs where no poster (except maybe the original designer) seems to have a clue whether the “project” has an actual client with a budget or is simply a designer playing computer games with his or her fantasies.
Chemical engineering researchers have managed to identify a new mechanism to convert natural gas into energy up to 70 times faster, while effectively capturing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2).
Turning waste heat into electricity seems to be a popular trend these days. Although we’re not quite as good at harnessing heat the way we do sunlight or wind, thermoelectronics is a promising field and provides yet another opportunity to go off grid without sacrificing the gadgets we love.
Tesla Motors recently unveiled some new options around its popular Model S electric sedan which could end up helping the vehicle get into the hands of even more would be drivers.
Before the world was wired, the day began and ended with the sun. Work had to be done efficiently so that not a moment of precious daylight was wasted. Now, with easy access to electricity, we light up the night so that life goes on, even in the dark.
Electric bicycles or e-bikes, are great cruisers. Don’t want to pedal up that last half-mile or more to get back home? Or go up yet another hill? No problem. Just turn on the electric motor, stop pedaling, and just focus on the road or trail in front of you.
I’ve always loved Voltaic System’s habit of slapping a solar panel on just about anything one could carry around during the day. Backpacks, tablet covers, or laptop bags all become doubly useful once they’re capable of powering the gadgets within.
Coral reefs are one of the most beautiful natural phenomena on our planet, but their purpose goes far beyond visual enjoyment. Did you know that coral reefs provide a living for over 500 million people across the globe?
Solar Impulse embarked this morning on its latest journey, departing the San Francisco Bay Area at dawn, heading toward Phoenix on the first leg of a trip that if all goes well will land the sun-powered airplane in New York City around the Fourth of July.
There’s significant progress to report on an idea that could transform electric vehicles from a potential grid destabilizer to a helpful piece in the energy storage puzzle.
Dwellings fashioned out of used intermodal shipping containers continue to spread into new places. Their spread is slowed by the resistance of many US cities to altering their building codes.
In a city better known for turning its rivers bright green every March 17, a new title has been bestowed upon an unassuming little stretch of pavement in the industrial Pilsen section of Chicago.
When we normally think of electric race cars we envision ones used for traditional racing around a track in a competition designed to generate a winner from a crowd of competitors.
In an ambitious project that looks like a cross between a green Millennium Falcon and a villain’s lair from a James Bond movie, France’s EuropaCity is nothing less than a self-contained underground city, only part of it sticks up from the surrounding landscape.
How does this sound to you? A V-12 hybrid powertrain which the gas engine pumps out 790 ponies while the electric motor blasts 160 for a total of 950 horsepower. Torque’s a near mind-numbing 627 lb.-ft. of low end acceleration. Zero to sixty?
The concept of the flying robot has rarely had positive connotations. Usually the very mention of the words “flying robot” or “drone” leads to talk about government intrusion or terrifying, secret high-tech warfare. Rarely does it conjure images of benign uses (or even mechanical best friends).
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered a low-cost, stable, effective catalyst that could replace costly platinum in the production of hydrogen.
