Gettin’ Your Kicks On A Green Route 66

The U.S. highway system is broken. We’re barely keeping up with the costs of maintaining our roads and bridges. A gamble we lose at times, with tragic results. New materials and technologies have to be found to replace our current archaic system. Well, now hear this — (more…)

Helping The Environment On A Modest Budget

In 1738 English architect John F. Brondel developed the first flush valve toilet. Brondel’s invention utilized a valve to control the amount of water flushed with the simple push of a lever, making toilets more hygienic and allowed “out-house” toilets to be incorporated inside the home itself. Brondel’s innovations nearly 300 years ago have strongly influenced the bathroom as we know it today.

Fast forward to 2003, in San Francisco, California a new company incorporates themselves under the name Brondel Inc., in homage to John F. Brondel. True to the ingenuity of their namesake, the company has developed an innovative retrofit kit named Perfect Flush, to convert your conventional commode into an eco-friendly water saving dual flush model – yourself – in 30 minutes (15 minutes if you’re handy) – now for (more…)

We’ll Take This Texas T-Bone – Well Done – Not Rare

The Texas High Speed Rail and Transportation Corporation (THSRTC) is a not-for-profit corporation consisting of local transportation and elected officials representing cities, counties, rail districts and seaports along the South Central High-Speed Rail Corridor which have come together in a grassroots, collaborative effort to realize the first-ever high-speed inter-city rail passenger system and multi-modal transportation corridor connecting communities in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Lousiana, and Texas along the south central and Gulf Coast high-speed rail corridors. (more…)

Want Some Green Energy With That New Roof?

In 2007, Dow Chemical received $20 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop “building integrated” solar arrays for the residential and commercial markets. Which lead Dow to form the Solar Solutions business unit and invest more than $100 million in solar solutions.

This past October the company unveiled its product called Powerhouse Solar Shingles, which can be nailed to a roof like ordinary shingles by roofers without the help of specially trained solar installers or electricians. The solar shingles should cost 30% – 40% less than other solar-embedded building materials and 10% less than the combined costs of conventional roofing materials and rack-mounted solar panels, according to company officials.

The majority of solar technology today is built around silicon-based solar cells, Dow’s technology uses a much more cost-effective and durable PV material called CIGS (Copper Indium Gallium diSelenide). The new thin-film technology is incorporated into the product by over-molding the cells with a proprietary Dow polymer formulation, resulting in a unique product design that has similar reveal, weight, and installation practices as an asphalt shingle. (more…)

The Ability of Light to Produce Electrons, and Thus Electricity, Has Been Known For Over 100 Years.

At the Albuquerque, New Mexico’s Sandia National Laboratories, scientists have developed tiny glitter-sized photovoltaic cells that could revolutionize the way solar energy is collected and used. (more…)

Cooling The Parking Space With Sun Power

Started in 2005 Envision Solar, headquartered in San Diego, California, has a vision of a sustainable future and an end to energy poverty. Their mission is to invent, develop and build Solar Integrated Infrastructure & Building Systems (SIIBS), through cost effective design, fabrication and construction methodologies. Envision Solar has established a robust platform for building a worldwide presence in the solar and clean technology industries by offering numerous products and services in all major market sectors, including commercial, institutional and residential. (more…)

Supply and Demand – We Demand Green, They WILL Supply

The 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) ran from January 7 – 10, in and around the Las Vegas Convention Center/Hilton and The Venetian. Each year, the International CES attracts the “who’s who” of the technology and related industries, including executives from the entertainment, wireless and consumer electronics industries. More than 24,000 industry and corporate buyers use CES as a means to compare and evaluate new products.

CES’ “Knowledge Tracks”, are wide-ranging sessions conducted by experts in their fields who share their unique perspectives on where the industry’s headed and why. (more…)