Indian students design an air-powered motorcycle

Posted in Automotive by Conner Flynn on May 11th, 2009


The air-powered bike you see in the video above was designed by a team of engineering students from India. To help combat the ever-increasing pollution levels in the atmosphere, they designed themselves a working model that runs on air rather than gasoline.

Sure, it will only cover 18km/h. But at least this bike isn’t dirtying the air. It only emits Oxygen. This bike runs on air and emits air. That’s an eco-win all around. Now if they can just figure out how to get more out of it…

Giant snakes to power 50,000 UK homes

Posted in News by Conner Flynn on May 7th, 2009

Giant snakes to power 50,000 UK homesGiant snakes powering homes? What is this, the Flintstones? Are we to play our non-vinyl granite records with bird beaks? Man, I hope not. But as it turns out, reptiles are a good source of energy. Not real ones. Fake snakes. A company called Checkmate is using these creatures to help provide cheap and clean power for up to 50,000 UK homes within five years.

The company is testing 200m long rubber devices which would be tethered to the sea bed and are designed to swim against the current and produce up to 1MW of power each. The waves cause a bulge to ripple down the length of the snakes and power turbines at the tails.

Loewe Art SL HDTV claims to be the greenest of them all

Posted in HDTV by Conner Flynn on May 7th, 2009

Loewe Art SL HDTVIf you are the environmentally friendly type, the Loewe Art SL HDTV has just been introduced and you’ll want to check it out. It’s touted as the greenest HDTV from the company to date. And it doesn’t sacrifice specs and design.

This 1080p LCD display comes with an Eco Mode that lets you control how much power it uses and the automatic light dimming uses up to 20% less than when it runs normally. In standby mode, the Loewe Art SL sucks just 0.7 watts. As you might expect, these power saving features don’t come cheap.

WindCube 60kW rooftop wind turbine debuts

Posted in Generator by Shane McGlaun on May 6th, 2009

windcube-sbGenerating power by free methods is the Holy Grail for the green power movement. For consumers it could one day mean that we get power for our homes and gadgets for free from the sun or the wind. Wind power is controversial because the massive wind turbines are ugly and make the area where they are installed look bad to some people.

A company called Green Energy Technologies has announced a new wing-generating power plant that is designed to be fitted onto the roof of a building. The WindCube can be installed in singles or as a pair. A single unit generates 60kW of power while a dual unit generates 120kW.

Fuji EnviroMAX eco-respectful batteries available in retail chains

Posted in Batteries by Shane McGlaun on April 30th, 2009

fujienviromax-sbAs most readers of The Brick, I am a big gadget hound which means I always seem to be in need of batteries. For some of my gadgets, like digital cameras, I prefer plain AA or AAA batteries over rechargeable. That way, if I run out of juice away from home more power is but a flick of the battery door away.

Fuji has announced that its EnviroMAX eco-respectful batteries are now available in retail chains across the country including Ace, Tru Value, and ACO Stores. I guess eco-respectful is sort of like eco-friendly. Then you can be respectful without being friendly so who knows.

Eizo’s FlexScan monitors activate when you are near

Posted in Displays by Conner Flynn on April 23rd, 2009

Eizo's FlexScan monitors activate when you are nearIt’s a good idea. Not just because it’s cool, but also because it’s green. We’re talking monitors that activate or deactivate based on the mere presence of humans. It’s almost alive. Or may seem that way. It’s how Eizo’s 20-inch FlexScan EV2023W-H and 23-inch EV2303W-T roll. They’ll save you energy and money. And maybe help you shed some of that some of that green guilt.

The built-in motion sensor on the monitor switches to standby mode when a human is not detected for 40 seconds. Aside from that, both of these monitors are pretty typical. You’ll get 1600 × 900 native resolution, 178-degree viewing angles, and a 3000:1 contrast ratio for the EV2023W and 1920 × 1080 native resolution, 160-degree viewing angles, and a 1000:1 contrast ratio for the EV2303W.

Lime green PSP coming?

Posted in PSP by Conner Flynn on April 12th, 2009

Lime green PSP coming?Sony won’t be happy until we have PSPs in all of the skittles colors. They love to dish out candy-colored PSPs. The next mouth watering color may be lime green, if this image is accurate.

It was supposedly leaked from inside a Sony factory. But hey, they may have just been having some fun. Who knows. May be just a prototype. The question is do you want a lime colored PSP? Or is it too much? Ready to taste the rainbow?

Hitachi delivers fast and energy efficient enterprise hard drive

Posted in Hitachi by Shane McGlaun on March 24th, 2009

hitachiultrastar-sbSaving a few watts by using a more energy efficient hard drive isn’t high on the list of priorities for most businesses and your average computer user. The savings in electricity for most of us won’t offset the cost of replacing a hard drive. However, for large data centers saving a few watts per hard drive can equate to millions of dollars.

Hitachi has announced its latest energy efficient hard drive aimed at the enterprise market called the Ultrastar C10K300. The drive spins at 10,000 RPM and connects to servers via an SAS interface. The drive has a 2.5-inch form factor helping to save space in crowded server environments.

iPhorest: Plant a tree from your iPhone

Posted in iPhone Accessories by Conner Flynn on March 23rd, 2009

iPhorest: Plant a tree from your iPhoneThis is a pretty neat application. It allows iPhone users to plant a virtual tree from their phone while simultaneously activating the planting of a real tree. Originally showcased at TED, the app is now available to the masses on iTunes.

The real trees are planted by the Conservation Fund, and they will begin with the restoration of a vulnerable wildlife habitat along the Gulf Coast. It’s sponsored by Ecolife Apparel, makers of cotton “green” underwear, and was developed by iPhactory.

Dell whips out green 24-inch LCD

Posted in Dell by Shane McGlaun on February 26th, 2009

Dell G2410 LCDOne of the biggest places that you can save on your power usage in your home or business is by cutting off devices like TVs and PC LCDs that draw power even when they aren’t being used. Dell has announced a new 14-inch LCD that has features for green power savings.

The display is called the G2410 24-inch Wide Green Flat Panel monitor. Typically, 24-inch LCDs have a resolution of 1920 x 1200, but dell cuts the G2410 back to 1920 x 1080, plenty for full 1080p movies and content. However, the gamer out there will be disappointed by the lack of full resolution.

Western Digital launches 2TB Caviar Green hard drive

Posted in Western Digital by Conner Flynn on January 27th, 2009

Western Digital launches 2TB Caviar Green hard driveWestern Digital has finally launched the industry’s first 2TB internal hard drive today in the US. It’s the highest capacity single HDD in the known universe, dubbed the 2TB Caviar Green. It’s available now for $299. The 3.5-inch platform drive includes 32MB of cache and is based on WD’s 500GB per platter technology with 400Gb/in2 areal density.

HotHardware had a sneak peek at the drive and has some benchmark results: The WD managed to hold its own against the Spinpoint F1 and Barracuda 7200.11.

Hybrid Flash Light keeps batteries charged and out of landfill

Posted in Green Gadget by Shane McGlaun on December 10th, 2008

Hybrid Flash LightI don’t know what it is about flashlights and kids. My daughter has every toy a 4-year-old could want and as is the way of the world, she would rather play with a box or my flashlight than all the toys in her room. That means that every time I need my flashlight I have to search her room for it and when I find it, the batteries are usually dead.

A new green flashlight called the Hybrid Solar Light uses solar cells to keep the battery charged. The battery is able to store energy for a claimed three years. Light output from Hybrid solar Light is not that strong at 40 lumens, but it will work in a blackout or to look under the couch for your remote. Water resistance to 80 feet is promised as well.

Natural Year Phone for stoners

Posted in Concepts by Conner Flynn on December 8th, 2008

Natural Year Phone for stonersThis concept takes green to a whole new insane level. The Natural Year Phone concept from designer Je-Hyun Kim makes sense since most of us replace our cellphones at least every two-years or so. A phone constructed mostly of all natural material like hay would certainly be Earth Friendly.

That natural material just happens to look a lot like pot. You may also notice that a piece has been broken off. No doubt destined for the bowl of some homemade pipe. All I can say is that if you want to use this phone, don’t leave it laying around anywhere near your stoner friends.

Greenpeace’s Green Scorecard

Posted in News by Conner Flynn on November 25th, 2008

Greenpeace’s Green ScorecardIt’s that time again. Greenpeace has released their new Guide to Greener Electronics. Compared to last year, there are many changes. Some you might expect, some you may not have foreseen.

Some manufacturers went up on the scale, while others went down. Nokia is the standout at the top, right at the 7 out of 10 mark, but poor Nintendo… The Big N is once again stuck at 1 out of 10. How did Apple fare? They fail once again and drop to the 14th position out of 18 companies.

UPS goes label free with new printer

Posted in Printers by Conner Flynn on November 13th, 2008

UPS goes label free with new printerThis thing may look like an X-Man accessory or strange sci-fi gun that straps on your arm and sucks your precious lifeforce with every round it fires, but no, as cool as that would be, it’s just something UPS is using so they can get all label-free. It’s HP’s Handheld sp400 All-in-One, which scans barcodes and prints sorting info directly onto boxes with quick-drying ink. No paper labels are required at all. UPS has been testing it out at a shipping center in Orlando, where they reportedly used it on 40,000 boxes with not a single error. Of course there was that one guy they pants in order to tattoo his butt cheeks, but that doesn’t count.

This device alone will make the company much greener. It will replace several larger, less green pieces of equipment like a giant thermal printer, PC, monitor and scanner. According to UPS the company will save 92,456 hours, 1,338 tons of paper and 3,807 tons of carbon emissions a year. That’s pretty big.