Technology

Put Your Leftovers in Your Car

- Adam Clare

wow!It seems like that neat engine, which is powered by trash, in that car from Back to the Future is almost real! Researchers at UC Davis have found a way to turn leftovers from meals into biogas that can be used to generate electricity or make fuel. That in itself is not revolutionary, what is though, is that they found an effective (cheap) way to do this on a large scale.

The machine will use leftovers from restaurants to make energy, thus making it also a waster-diversion program to boot.

“The Biogas Energy Project is the first large-scale demonstration in the United States of a new technology developed in the past eight years by Ruihong Zhang, a UC Davis professor of biological and agricultural engineering. The technology, called an “anaerobic phased solids digester,” has been licensed from the university and adapted for commercial use by Onsite Power Systems Inc.”

Kite Power

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

Wind power is nothing new, but a power plant that can produce as much power as a nuclear reactor is. Imagine a spinning top that uses kites to rotate and that, in turn, generates an electrical current. Researches in Italy have done just that, they have created KiteGen.

“KiteGen’s core is set in motion by the twirl of the kites; the rotation activates large alternators producing current. A control system on autopilot optimizes the flight pattern to maximize the juice produced as it sails on night and day. A radar system can redirect kites within seconds in case of any interference: oncoming helicopters, for example. Or small planes or even single birds.

Research by Sequoia Automation, the small company near Turin heading the project, estimates that KiteGen could churn out one gigawatt of power at a cost of just 1.5 euros per megawatt hour. That’s nearly 30 times less than the average cost in Europe of 43 euros per megawatt hour.”

Cell Phones get Greener

- Adam Clare

Cell phones are a huge contributor to that problem of e-waste and the cell phone makers are aware of this. Now the phone makers are going to do a little something for the environment by checking what goes into their phones. The companies are looking into removing toxic chemicals and improving recycling and proper-disposal programs.

The consumer can curb the amount of energy that the cellphone uses. New cellphones will tell the user that the battery is charged and that the phone should be unplugged thereby conserving energy.

“If 10 percent of the world’s cell phone owners did this, the group’s final report said, it would reduce energy consumption by an amount equivalent to that used by 60,000 European homes per year.”

Dell Commits to Clean Up

- Nikki Slabbert

ewaste

Ever wondered what happened to the old computers bits and mobile phones you threw out? Each year tons of discarded technology quietly disintegrates in landfills or gets melted down, releasing toxins and chemicals into the environment. After a two year campaign by Greenpeace, several companies have agreed to remove the chemical content of their hardware. These companies include the likes of HP, LGE, Nokia, Samsung, Sony and Sony Ericsson and now Dell has joined this list of environmentally conscious hardware providers.

By removing toxic chemicals, these companies make their hardware easier to recycle and take responsibility for the impact their products have on the environment.

A recent survey showed that most consumers would be prepared to pay more for computers that were chemical free and had no negative impact on the environment. Hopefully, the bigger names missing from the list will pay attention and endeavour to meet the needs of consumers by providing environmentally responsible hardware.

TechSoup pro searching

- Adam Clare

Jane Anderson writes to tell us about a neat article at TechSoup:

Search Engines Help Nonprofits Raise Funds, Get Publicity

“I found this article in techsoup and have started using the search engine at work daily. It’s such a great idea and I’m suprised it wasn’t around sooner!”

From the article:

“Two search engines offering such services are GoodSearch , which funnels 50 percent of its ad-generated revenue to various nonprofits each time one of their supporters types in a new search term, and Google, whose Grants program allows nonprofits to spread their messages to a wider audience by providing them with free advertisements that show up alongside Google search results.”

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