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Apple – Macbooks are Greenest Notebooks Ever

Nerd Grind — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:35:55 +0000

Apple has launched a new campaign, self-proclaiming themselves as producers of the greenest notebooks ever. The ad is mainly about their new unibody aluminum construction and glass displays that were one of the highlights at the most recent Macworld event.

Among other changes from standard notebooks, the new Macbooks have eliminated the use of toxins such as mercury that are found in other notebooks computers.

Apple also brags about the energy efficiency of their notebooks, claiming that they run on 25% power of a single lightbulb now that the LCDs are backlit by the use of LEDs.

Steve Jobs promised to eliminate all toxic materials from Apple hardware by the end of 2008.

Black and Decker LightsOut IR Gadget Turns Lights Off to Conserve Energy

Nerd Grind — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:07:21 +0000

Black and Decker will be releasing the LightsOut, an IR gadget that turns out lights when it stops detecting movement in front of it’s sensor. The device is fairly straightforward and mounts directly on to a light switch, as shown in the photo above. It’s battery powered and instantly turns the lights back on once motion is again detected. The unit also offers the ability to set the time for shut-off, so you can have lights go out thirty minutes after it stops detecting motion instead of just one or two. This could be useful for those that move very, very slowly. The company has yet to issue word on pricing. Click here for more information.

Philips Simplicity designs green street lamp

Nerd Grind — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 12:36:14 +0000

Never mind SUVs, everybody knows the real energy hogs of our modern culture. Street lamps. Those insipid gas guzzlers may look inconspicuous, but they are standing there all night every night. Ruining the world one flicker at a time. Philips Simplicity has had enough of that. They’ve unveiled their Light Blossom, a self-sustainable street lamp that is filled with energy-efficient LEDs. It powers itself via solar panels located on top of the lamp. You may have noticed it also looks like a surreal blossoming flower. Once they get enough of these on the streets the world will finally look like a Willy Wonka wonderland. Thank goodness for that.

Marvell Chip

Nerd Grind — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 16:19:34 +0000

Marvell has released chips for PC and notebook that determine the amount of power an application will need and will optimize accordingly.

Optimizing power cuts down on power consumption and, of course, global warming-causing greenhouse gasses. It seems such a small thing – our PCs adding to global warming, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that there are more than 10 billion AC-DC power supplies attached to computers out there. At least our electric bills might go down a bit.

Look for these chips in PCs in about a year.

Night Vision Keyboard

Nerd Grind — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:50:10 +0000

iKey has come up with LED backlit keyboards that are compatible with night vision goggles. They do stuff like this for the military, but it is also applicable in law enforcement and emergency medical operations that need and use night-vision.

Chemical Power

Nerd Grind — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 15:18:06 +0000

Though a long way from being commercialized, the new battery developed by Sony generates electricity using glucose, which is chemically broken down with enzymes. Apparently, you can power small electronics endlessly through a supply of glucose solution which you pour into the battery (I’m sure airline security will love that). While glucose-powered batteries are more environmentally friendly because they don’t emit carbon dioxide, at this stage of development, they’re not yet very practical. The output of a single glucose cell is 50 milliwatts; in the photo above, four cells are linked together to generate sufficient power to operate an MP3 player.

Cool, now if i can get a battery to run off my fat cells….now THAT’S an idea

Reee Chair

Nerd Grind — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 13:29:27 +0000

See this chair. Looks like a regular chair, feels like a regular chair and its even designed like a regular chair. What’s the big deal? This particular chair is made out of 100% recycled computer game console casings. A pli design it’s called the Reee Chair.

Awesome

1.3 Megawatt Solar Stadium

Nerd Grind — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 23:46:53 +0000

Switzerland is going green

The world’s largest solar stadium located in Bern, Switzerland began operation this week. The Stade De Suisse has 10,738 solar cells from Kyocera with an overall output of 1.3 megawatts of power. That equals 350 four-person households.

The additional bonus is reducing CO2 emissions by 630 tons annually.

Verdant Computing

Nerd Grind — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 14:58:10 +0000

Green Technology is a hot topic these days and the tech companies are scurrying to cash in on it. I am not deluding myself that they care about the environment, but rather, that they are going with the tide.

Regardless, Verdant Computing is making it easier for the average person to find environmentally-friendly tech purchases without a lot of time-consuming research. It plans to sell products that meet certain criteria like ease of recycling, energy-efficiency, eco-friendly packaging, and several others.

Electric Car War

Nerd Grind — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 15:33:08 +0000

Toyota has stumbled in the all-electric car race and now GM thinks it sees the finish line.

Because battery-safety problems, Toyota is delaying the plug-in, lithium-ion-based model until 2011.

Meanwhile, GM has just solidified a deal with Massachusetts-based A123 Systems to produce flat lithium-ion batteries for use in their future plug-in electric vehicles, like the Chevy Volt.

GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said, "I think that our No. 1 competitor has some problems with their technology, and I do think that it very definitely opens a window of opportunity for us to be first to market with a genuine plug-in hybrid."

May the best car win!

NerdGrind - How-to Computer Help - Tutorials - Tech and Gadget News » green

Apple – Macbooks are Greenest Notebooks Ever

Related posts:

Black and Decker LightsOut IR Gadget Turns Lights Off to Conserve Energy

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Philips Simplicity designs green street lamp

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Marvell Chip

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Night Vision Keyboard

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Chemical Power

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Reee Chair

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1.3 Megawatt Solar Stadium

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Verdant Computing

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Electric Car War

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