Eco Factor: Lighting system powered by solar cells. You might be having tens of emergency lighting systems and torches, but in case of a power failure, they are either hard to find or are mostly out of batteries. Solar-powered lights do well when it comes to charged batteries, but they too like othe...

From Nikkei BP Nikkei Business Publications recently announced the results of a survey conducted with engineers in Japan's manufacturing industry on the current global recession. They were asked hard questions about the impact of the recession and measures to cope with it. I am a little surprised th...

What's Sunday evening without a little Ty Pennington and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition?  I don't catch it every week, particularly if the Dallas Cowboys are on, but the program is a juggernaut for helping people in real need.  So we caught news that ABC was planning a green show for April 6 and w...

For a clean, safe, energy future Thomas R. Blakeslee of the Clearlight Foundation repeats a recent chant made famous by the GOP (Grand Overspending Party): “Drill, Baby, “Drill. However, this is the Californian, not Alaskan, version, so get back you Forces of Darkness. He recommends that...

I have specifically left this post separate from the others, because it needs a full post of its own. We have been led to believe that coal fired power plants are what amounts to the main cause in what will amount to global catastrophe. The only real catastrophe that will result will be when ill inf...

You know what I hate? Rhubarb. Never liked it. Also, when batteries die. Or a beloved family pet. *sniff* Focus, GW, focus. BAAAAAATTERIES! Designed by Knut Karlsen, the SunCats are basically a set of old NiMH rechargeable batteries wrapped in a flexible Photo Voltaic cell created by the Institute f...

The mobile phone industry plans to introduce a universal charger as part of a drive to improve its previously patchy environmental record. The plan from industry body the GSM Association (GSMA) is just one of a raft of "green" announcements at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Not only will it mea...

Electrical Power Generation Chart for January 2009. Chart from U.S. Government Energy Information Administration. (EIA) PART ONE OF TWO PARTS These two posts will be along the lines  of ‘told you so’, only I’m getting in early. What I wanted to do was to actually create a ‘b...

President Barack Obama, in his inaugural address to the packed crowds on the National Mall in Washington DC, told his rapt audience that America needed a "new era of responsibility" to deal with both the financial and environmental crises his new administration faced. After a stammering through the ...

Abu Dhabi announced at a summit of world leaders on renewable energy yesterday that it would become the first petro-driven economy to make a significant commitment to renewables – and it is partly thanks to Prince Charles. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi, has decreed...