5 greentech developments to be aware of
Posted on 21. Sep, 2009 by annied in greentech, greentv news
A bit lazy and we promise to have more “real” content for you for the rest of the week. But this is great stuff!
1. Softwood gets hard:
Norwegian firm Kebony has figured out how to make soft woods into hard woods and do it doubly green: By recycling waste from processed sugarcane to cure softwoods, they may just save some rainforests at the same time. Sure, the wood is more expensive upfront, but it’s an investment because in the long-run it comes out cheaper: cane-resin treated wood doesn’t have to be retreated over it’s lifetime.
(Source: The Economist Tech Quarterly, 5-11 Sep 2009)
2. Launder with practically no water:
British company Xeros has figured out how to do laundry using nylon beads that electrically attract dirt to their core when washed with your laundry detergent of choice and just 1 cup of water. Even better: less water means less dry time means cheaper energy bills! Woohoo!
(Source: The Economist Tech Quarterly, 5-11 Sep 2009)
3. IKEA Solar lamp SUNNAN : buy one and one gets sent to a developing countries
Ok, so this really isn’t a tech story, but it sort of is in that it’s solar powered kind-of-way. (Yes, we know, there’s plenty to be said about IKEA being the pinnacle of consumerism and creating waste through providing goods cheap enough to replace all the time and packaging them in way too much packaging.) Want to buy one? Click here.
(Source: EcoTechDaily, 17 Aug 2009)
4. The Dutch adapt to climate change by NOT using technology
The non-use of technology is more important a technology story than the application of technology these days. Almost three quarters of Dutch economic activity takes place below sea-level and sea levels will rise 1 meter by the end of this century. But instead of adding mechanization and making plans that will have a carbon footprint the Dutch will create flood planes and wave breakers by adding sand offshore and expanding marshes and public spaces. Not only are they bracing for extreme weather events, they are greening their living space as well!
(Source: Ben Berkowitz, Reuters online, 4 Sep 2009)
5. Green your web activities with Supereco.com
Supereco.com has a new series to keep your eye on: green computing. Their starting post from this week features green printing software and webhosting.
Bonus: Green Jobs Czar Van Jones needlessly exited his job last week, much to your American bloggess’ chagrin (despite the republican party being in complete disarray and making fools of themselves in the media on a daily basis it is rather irksome they managed to make him resign). He sent some inspiring words to Grist yesterday: have a read.
click here to watch this week's green.tv wicked awesome tech news cast
If you like this post, you’ll love this week’s news brought to you by Verity and Barnaby at green.tv: