HP Gets Gold for Going Green

While Dell has received a fair amount of attention for their green work, HP has been taking steps of its own. HP just released the RP5700 desktop PC and achieved the EPEAT’s first Gold rating. EPEAT is a rating system run by the Green Electronics Council that evaluates the environmental impact of computers, notebooks and monitors. Think of it as LEED certification for computers.

So far 12 desktops have achieved Bronze, 70 have Silver and now HP has the only Gold. The Gold standard requires products to meet the minimum requirements and 75% of optional criteria. HP took the biggest initiatives in the areas of "reduction/elimination of environmentally sensitive materials" and "Design for end of life", which includes eliminating use of PVC and other toxic materials and a minimum of 90% recyclability or reusability.

With the government backing the EPEAT, requiring 95% of government electronic purchase to be recognized under this system, hopefully consumers will follow suit and look for computers that are greener. More optimistically, I hope other manufacturers get jealous enough to start making some Gold standard computers themselves.

Via Inhabitat

Electric SUV Drives Cheap, Charges Quick

Travel 130 miles for $3 in an SUV? Yes you can… Altairnano has achieved it with an electric SUV presented directly to their shareholders. The company partnered with Phoenix Motorcars to create the SUV, called the Phoenix, using Altairnano’s batteries, which can recharge in as little as 10 minutes.

They plan to target fleet use first until recharging stations become more common. However they already are in talks with Pacific Gas & Electric to create a network of charge stations that would allow users to "top off batteries during a coffee stop." While at home, 220 volt outlets commonly used for clothes dryers or stoves allow a charge in around five hours.

We reported on Altairnano’s batteries being used in the ZAP-X and it looks like they are trying to get out vehicles of their own. Either way, lets get some of these on the road, or at least one for me to drive.

Video after the jump

Reno Gazette-Journal

Via: MetaEfficient

Cell Phones: Repair or Replace?


Americans throw away over 125 million cell phones per year. Even more strange,  we have over 500 million retired cell phones sitting around our homes awaiting disposal.

This not only is an expensive and wasteful habit, it represents an avalanche of e-waste which will hit our landfills sometime soon when we collectively realize its time for spring cleaning. Cell phones are complex assemblies containing the toxic metals lead, cadmium and berillyum plus a fire retardant that actually may retard the user.

So the question becomes, when these little buggers go on the fritz, what do we do? Search out the nearest trashcan? Or try and save ourselves the hassle of trying to lie our way into warranty protection, or the expense of just buying a new phone.

A friend of mine has repaired his phone several times…he even rode is bike over the thing, but somehow brought it back to life. Check out Jim Rees’ web page devoted to repair of his cell phone. If Jim can do it, we can too.


And then there’s this article from Lance Ulanoff who gives tips on how to repair things. Read the article and laugh, because most of the time Lance is fixing broken items in under 5 minutes. Is the “broken” cell phone in your drawer really beyond repair?

We can create an infrastructure for repairing cell phones, we just have to invite a few hundred DIY cell phone repair techs from China to work over here for a few years. They could open kiosks at malls, “Cell Phone Repair While U Wait”. Not quite as slick as the new iPhone, but a heck of a lot cheaper.

Via: EcoIron

New Material Reflects Absolutely Nothing


Many optical technologies such as camera lenses, solar cells and light emitting diodes depend in part on light being efficiently transmitted through a medium. Reflections are are a waste of that precious light.

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), in Troy, NY, and semiconductor maker Crystal IS, in Green Island, NY, have developed a new type of nanostructured coating that can virtually eliminate reflections, potentially leading to dramatic improvements in optical devices.

The researchers showed that they can prevent almost all reflection by "growing" nanoscale rods projected at specific angles from a surface. The material stops reflections from nearly all the colors of the visible spectrum, as well as some infrared light. As a result the total reflection is 10 times less than it is with current coatings.

Applied to a solar cell, the new coating would increase the efficiency by a few percentage points. LEDs, already one of the most efficient ways to produce light, could also become much more efficient. A remarkable 40 percent improvement could be seen in LEDs, where a large amount of light generated by a semiconductor is typically trapped inside the device by reflections.

Via: Technology Review

Replacing Batteries with WiTricity


Researchers at MIT led by Prof. Marin Soljacic have accomplished what Nikola Tesla envisioned over a century ago – the efficient wireless transmission of electricity. Dubbed ‘WiTricity’ (for Wireless Elecricity) by its inventors, it is the first wireless transmission of power to improve on the efficiency of radiant electromagnetic devices, which send energy indiscriminately in every direction, while not requiring direct line-of-sight like lasers.

WiTricity works on the principle of magnetic coupled resonance. The MIT team built matching copper coils to precise specifications, so that when power was applied to one coil, it produces a magnetic frequency – in the MHz range, since you wanted to know – which causes the other coil to vibrate up to 7ft (over 2 meters) away. Meanwhile, other elctromagnetic fields, such as those surrounding computers, cell phones, and human beings, remain largely unaffected.

The scientists were able to light up a 60-watt bulb that had "no physical connection" with the power-generating appliance. "It was quite exciting," Soljacic said. The process is "very reproducible," he added. "We can just go to the lab and do it whenever we want."

Aside from the implications in clutter management (who wouldn’t want to get rid of that tangle of wires behind the desk? Ugh!) there’s a green component, too – imagine a world without the need for batteries and their weight, inefficiency, short life span and toxic chemicals. Current battery technologies are around 80-90% efficient at best, losing energy through heat and self-discharge; WiTricity is currently capable of about half that, but for a proof of concept that’s pretty darn good. The group envisions a product which could supplant batteries in cell phones, Roombas, laptops, and other household items which require frequent charging.

via Linux Insider and MIT News Office

Joker’s Car In The Upcoming Batman Film, The Dark Night

Making a short detour from our everyday-car spy images, we discovered this scoop photo on the movie website, Latino Review. According to the author, Joker will use the purple-colored 30’s pick-up truck in the sequel of Batman Begins, “The Dark Knight” which is due for release in July 2008. True or not, the pick-up looks so out of place and messed up that we couldn’t imagine anyone else driving it but Joker.

Via: Latino Review

Car And Driver Gets First Look At Mercedes’ Upcoming GLK-Class Lineup

At a press event in Kitzbuehl, Austria, Car and Driver met with the head of Mercedes passenger car design Hans-Dieter Futschik to witness firsthand the Mercedes’ newest addition to its SUV family: the GLK-Class. Although taking photos of the model wasn’t permitted, a number of details of the model have been revealed, well ahead of its premier which is currently scheduled to take place in the second half of 2008.

Mercedes Dealer Attempts To Charge 6,500 Dollars To Remove A Pebble From Moonroof

Going through our inbox this morning, a reader by the name of Will tipped us off to a video posted on Wise Bread, one which provides an amusing look at a Mercedes dealer which attempted to, either directly or indirectly, screw a customer. It’s a seven minute video, so if you don’t have time to watch it, I’ll give you a quick summary. A Mercedes owner was having trouble with his moonroof, so he took it to a Mercedes dealership for a repair estimate. The dealership informed said Mercedes owner he needed a new frame, etc., and that the cost would be about 6,500 bucks. Owner then took his Mercedes to another repair shop, after which he was informed that a small stone lodged in the moonroof was the cause of the malfunction, a repair which was carried out with the help of a tweezers at the cost of 143 dollars.

New Transformers Clip Shown On Jay Leno’s Tonight Show

Transformers star Shia LaBeouf, aka “Sam Witwicky” appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and apart from the usual chit chat we also saw a clip from the movie featuring Sam trying to hide the Autobots in his backyard from his father. We heard that Michael Bay’s movie would have a few funny scenes, but if they’re like this one, we’d rather someone take them out before the film hits cinemas worldwide on July 4th.

A Look Into The Future: Mercedes Presents Details Of Their Forward-Looking Safety Concepts

As evidenced by the host of safety features found on their current model lineup, Mercedes is clearly a company focused on improving driving safety, whether it be in the event of an accident or by preventing an accident altogether. But have you ever wondered what the future holds in store for driving safety? If so, Mercedes has published a press release today detailing their forward-looking safety concept.

Volkswagen Beetle to be revive into a new car

Volkswagen is set to revive the beetle and make it a new-generation rear-engined economy car.

It was reported that the new entry-level, tiny four-seat Volkswagen is the brainchild of Ferdinand Piech, chairman of the Volkswagen board and grandson of original Beetle creator Ferdinand Porsche. According to other reports, The new Volkswagen vehicle will have its engine mounted on top of the transaxle, driving the rear wheels, but a water-cooled radiator up front, shifting from the classic Beetle theme.

The engines of the new car are said to be a TSI (turbo/supercharged) three-cylinder petrol unit and an ultra-economical diesel. A two-cylinder petrol engine has also been suggested for developing markets.

There were also reports that three different wheelbase lengths will be offered for the Beetle. One type will include a 130″ model that will go to the US. There will also be and two body-styles. One a retro hatchback and the other a conventional saloon. This new car is designed as a rival for the Renault Logan, Fiat Palio/Albea and other economy cars sold in poorer nations.

The US-market retro hatch is predicted to cost at $10,000 to $14,000. It will also be available to Europe to compete with the Fiat 500, new-generation Ford Ka, Peugeot 107/Citroen C1 and suchlike. It was also reported that power steering will not be included, since the car will be small and light enough for this not to be necessary. It will be incorporated with all necessary modern safety features such as ABS, stability control, airbags and so on.

There’s no word yet on a name for this car but some reports have suggested it will be called Lupa.