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Posts with tag environmental

Engadget

Eco-Friendly Dubai Pyramid Concept Could House 1.1 Million

by Darren Murph, posted Aug 26th 2008 at 2:16PM


As we learned from 'Wall-E,' people with half a mind for themselves probably won't be kosher with living with 1.1 million or so other inhabitants within a pyramid. That being said, there's always the brainwash approach to getting 'em in there, and if hordes of people were ever filed into the conceptual Ziggurat, Mother Earth would surely appreciate it.

The 2.3-square kilometer building would be able to house over 1 million people and be "almost totally self-sufficient energy-wise." By tapping into the planet's renewable resources, designers assert that it could practically be carbon-neutral, and given that transport within the machine would be connected by an "integrated 360-degree network," fuel-burning cars would be pointless. As with most things in Dubai, this one seems larger than life, but if the Burj Al Arab is any indication, there's at least a minuscule chance this thing comes to fruition. [From: World Architecture News via Inhabitat]


New Supersonic Passenger Jet - The A2

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Feb 5th 2008 at 3:13PM

New Super Sonic Passenger Jet - The A2
What's big, green, and flies through the air at incredible speeds? No, not the Hulk being carried by Superman (we know, comic dorks, one is DC, one is Marvel, relax), but the new A2 supersonic jet.

Dubbed the "son of Concorde", the jet will revolutionize air travel if it ever takes flight. The large, windowless vehicle looks more like a missile than a passenger plane -- and moves more like one too. The aircraft will reach a top speed of Mach 5 (Go Speed Racer!), twice as fast as the now-retired Concorde supersonic airliner, and can fly from London to Sydney, Australia in under 5 hours -- less than quarter of current flight times. Even better, the engines will run on liquid hydrogen, meaning the only exhaust will be water vapor and nitrous oxide, so the carbon footprint of the jet will be negligible.

On a slightly random note, it appears that someone at the Daily Mail has a bit of an obsession with 'The Thunderbirds.' This is the second article in two days to reference the campy, action, puppet show. Weird.

From Daily Mail

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Emission-Free Jet

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Apr 19th 2007 at 4:41PM

The Hyfish, a hydrogen fuel-cell powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), made its maiden flight over Switzerland recently. The small jet hit a top speed of 200 kph (roughly 124 mph) and even managed some acrobatic maneuvers. Right now the craft is merely a prototype, but we're sure to see a military application in the near future, especially with the engineers claiming that 15-30 hour flights are within reach.

With Earth Day quickly approaching, it's also worth noting that hydrogen fuel-cells are a zero emission technology -- meaning they release no pollution or green house gases. If this technology is successfully scaled to commercial airliners, it would have an immensely positive effect: Aviation is attributed with being responsible for 4-9% of the human impact on global climate change.

from Engadget

Earth-Friendly Tech

by Phillip Crandall, posted Apr 19th 2007 at 5:45AM

Earth-friendly Tech
Earth Day is upon us. Sure, we could bring you to tears with frightening figures about our rock's climate crisis, but we think it's more helpful to show you the coolest innovations happening in the realm of eco-friendly gadgetry, and hopefully inspire you to stop and think about the products you purchase in the future.

Most of the electronics in your house probably already have the ENERGY STAR sticker slapped on them -- in fact, if they don't you should replace them. ENERGY STAR is a voluntary labeling program that was launched by the EPA in 1992 to promote the use of energy-efficient products. According to the ENERGY STAR site, in 2006 alone the program saved consumers $14 billion on their utility bills.

The gadgets we feature here go way beyond simply being ENERGY STAR-compliant. Some are flat-out hippie-like.

Sony Reader

Earth-Friendly TechReading books may be good for the old vocab, but it's murder on Earth's forests. 'Digital books' have been around in one form or another for a few years. But where those systems use old-school CRT or LCD displays, the Sony Reader ($390) uses a technology called E Ink, which doesn't require battery-power to maintain its image and does an incredible job of replicating the look of ink on paper. The result is eBooks, which you read right on the handheld Sony device. Once you've soaked up the vast catalog of thousands of eBook titles -- everything from Hemingway to Rhonda Byrne's 'The Secret' -- you can use the Reader to enjoy newsfeeds, photos and MP3s.


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