Photo via the New Republic It's a widely held notion that politicians have long been in the pocket of Big Oil. And there's good reason for that perception: oil companies' huge campaign donations, vast lobbying power, and close ties to politicians have ensured that their taxes remain low , that hidden subsidies are around to provide extra funding, and that they receive preferential treatment in US energy policy. But there could be a new, ... View original post here: The Next Big Oil: Big Smart Grid?
So there really isn't anything that deep to this image. It's just a (more or less) life-sized blue whale eye. And on the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society site you can educate yourself/be mesmerized/ waste some time for a while staring at it while the entire life-sized animal scrolls across your browser window. Believe me, it's way cooler than you might think:... Read more from the original source: Ever See a Blue Whale Life-Sized on Your Computer? Now You Can
published March 25, 2011 and has No Comments
Photo: Michael Graham Richard A Bulb from the Future! It Looks Like it Belongs on a Spaceship The Philips AmbientLED 12.5-watt A19 LED lightbulb (quite a name!) is probably the favorite LED bulb that I've tried so far. It beats the competition when it comes to light output (800 lumens vs. 450-590 lumens for the other LEDs that I've ...
Read more...published January 17, 2011 and has No Comments
Image credit: Andy Butkaj , used under Creative Commons license. I got my electricity bill yesterday, and it was the highest it has ever been. I was delighted. You see we recently switched our ailing 14-year-old propane-fueled heating unit for the most energy efficient air-to-air heat pump we could get our hands on. While many UK heat pumps are ...
Read more...published January 10, 2011 and has No Comments
This is an awesome how-to from PCWorld . "I'm now walking around 1.1 or 1.2 miles per hour for eight hours a day. It's not just hundreds of miles--it's thousands of burned calories, too." Imagine, no more gym membership and a healthier life. We'd love to see someone further hack it so that walking on the treadmill powers (at ...
Read more...published January 10, 2011 and has No Comments
m-louis / Creative Commons The stag beetle is the largest terrestrial insect in the United Kingdom but finding the elusive species has always been a challenge. Conservationists fear that the beetle's numbers may be declining but without an accurate count of the population, no effective protection plan can developed. Fortunately, new research suggests that a simple solution—using everyday ginger—could ...
Read more...published December 28, 2010 and has No Comments
Image credit: Liz (perspicatious.org) , used under Creative Commons license. The British government has already faced court action over fuel poverty and the number of poor and elderly dying for lack of warm home. With much of the public debate around green housing now focusing on whether or not new homes will be zero carbo... Read the full story ...
Read more...published December 13, 2010 and has No Comments
Photo via antijoe The Faucher family in Deleware has an affinity for holiday lighting, or rather, an obsession. The family decorates their house with a whopping one million lights. If your jaw dropped open, we're right there with you. The total cost of their energy bill at the end of the month is an estimated $82,300. That's the cost ...
Read more...published November 16, 2010 and has No Comments
Photo: Hyundai Joining the 40 MPG Club (On the Highway, Anyway...) As usual with these types of announcements, I feel ambivalent: On one hand, it's not a major breakthrough, it's one more gasoline car (better to walk, bike, or take transit)... But on the other hand, it was only a few short years ago when car makers could only ...
Read more...published November 5, 2010 and has No Comments
Image credit: WK London , used with permission. We all know that energy conservation is good. And it is clear that solar can be a life saver in developing countries , as well as a great catalyst for improved school performance . But what if turning off the lights in your home or office could help someone in Africa ...
Read more...published October 21, 2010 and has No Comments
Photo: GE Global Research Nice Cross-Pollination We've all known for a while that light emitting diodes (LEDs) are the future of lighting. But at some point, it has to change from "future" to "present", and we're not there yet. But some of the remaining challenges are slowly being eroded away by various companies, including GE. They've just released information ...
Read more...published October 20, 2010 and has No Comments
The Leveraged Freedom Chair. Image Credit: MIT Mobility Lab At today's lecture "Facing New Challenges Through Design" as part of Barcelona Design Week , I had the pleasure to come across some more projects by D-Lab , presented by Victor Grau Serrat from MIT in Boston. Grau gave an inspiring talk about how design and creativity can lift people ...
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Contrary to previously held notions of how whale songs are shared between neighboring populations, a surprising study finds that whales living the same ocean basin are singing different songs. Read the original post: Study: Humpback Whales Living in Same Ocean ...
"The technology that we have here gives us a first-ever look at the Amazon in its full three-dimensional detail, over very large regions," says the study's lead researcher. Here is the original post: Lasers Used to Generate Remarkably Detailed 3D ...
