Archive for the 'environment' Category

How to kick the fossil fuel habit

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

A new book by University of Cambridge Prof. David J. C. MacKay aims to provide a roadmap for kicking our fossil fuel habit. “Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air” is available for free download in PDF form and is released under a Creative Commons license.
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EPA moves to plug major Energy Star leak

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

DeviceGuru recently reported on a reader’s discovery that his “Energy Star compliant” Sony HDTV was consuming 200 times its advertised standby power. Now, he’s back with good news: the Environmental Protection Agency has decided to plug this gaping energy-draining hole via a new release of its Energy Star TV specification.
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HDTV’s DAM pops Energy Star’s bubble

Saturday, February 7th, 2009

DeviceGuru recently reported on a reader’s so-called “Energy Star compliant” Sony HDTV that consumed 150 times its advertised standby power spec. After communicating with both Sony and the EPA, the reader eventually managed to put his insomniatic TV to rest. Here’s how.
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Energy Star or black hole?

Sunday, January 18th, 2009

DeviceGuru received an interesting email describing several less-than-satisfactory experiences with the power-saving modes of “Energy Star compliant” consumer devices. The writer’s observations suggest a pressing need to amp up regulations governing consumer electronics power management.
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Make a ‘green’ New Year’s resolution

Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

It’s time to start thinking about our New Year’s resolutions. If you’re one of millions who’d like to help fight global warming in 2009, the U.S. Energy Star initiative invites you to make a non-binding online pledge.
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Top-ten ways the world could end

Monday, December 8th, 2008

Has the recent financial melt-down got you feeling like your world’s coming to an end? CBC Radio’s list of the “top ten” ways life on earth could end might make you feel better about what’s still going right.
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Cellphones need to go green

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

Less than 5 percent of the more than 1 billion mobile phones produced annually end up being recycled or disposed of in eco-friendly ways, reports ABI Research.
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Car runs on compressed air

Saturday, November 8th, 2008

Air France and KLM have announced plans to conduct a six-month trial of a new zero-emission, compressed-air powered vehicle. The “AirPod” seats three, can do 28 mph, and goes about 135 miles on a tank of compressed air.
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Private firm plots robotic lunar expeditions

Thursday, October 30th, 2008

Astrobotic Technology has unveiled plans for a series of robotic expeditions to the Moon. The lunar rovers are intended to explore high-interest areas of the Moon’s surface and beam the data back to the Earth.
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Top 10 ways to save PC computing energy

Friday, September 12th, 2008

How many of us leave our PCs running all day long, even when we’re not using them? Despite the fact that today’s desktop and laptop PCs and their OSes provide extensive power management functions, most PC users don’t bother to use them to shrink their systems’ carbon footprints.
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Intel kicks off $400,000 techology contest

Tuesday, August 19th, 2008

“Technology is a tool to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges,” proclaimed Intel Chairman Craig Barrett at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco today. And with those words, Barrett launched a contest that will award $400,000 to the “most innovative ideas for applying technology” to global health care, education, economic development, and the environment.
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Solving global warming the open source way

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

An effort to rapidly reverse global warming is leveraging the collaborative methods of Linux and other open source software. Cquestrate aims to develop a cost-effective, “open” way to produce and introduce lime into the sea, where it will efficiently sequester dissolved CO2.
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Report warns of nanotechnology’s toxic risks

Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008

While nanotechnology promises to transform the fields of electronics, medicine, environmental remediation, and solar energy, the “nano boom” is not without substantial envirnmental risks, warns the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) in a newly published 30-page report.
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Join the Climate Protection movement

Tuesday, April 1st, 2008

The Alliance for Climate Protection (founded by Al Gore) has kicked off a project that aims to “ignite a movement” in the U.S. to solve the Earth’s climate crisis. The campaign will employ advertising, online organizing, and grassroots partnerships to mobilize 10 million supporters to demand “real solutions” from their government.
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Free report plots nanotechnology present, future

Sunday, December 16th, 2007

Wondering what’s happening in the exciting world of nanotechnology? A free 198-page report offers everything you could possibly want to know, and more.
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