Plant Power: How Photosynthesis May Be the Next Big Thing in Energy

While it may seem like technology out of a science-fiction film, plants may just be the next big thing in energy in the real world. Here is what we know about this new energy right now. Photosynthesis 101 That week spent covering photosynthesis in middle school was a long, long time ago, so here’s a quick refresher of the basics. …

Natural Gas – Clean Future Fuel or Wolf in Green Clothing?

Natural gas has been in the spotlight lately as the clean fuel of the future, but what do we know about this clean gas? We already use it in our home furnaces, water heaters, stoves, fireplaces, even some cars (CNG); but it is now becoming the energy of choice to produce our electricity. While it is a cleaner burning alternative …

Gulf Oil Spill Disaster

So by now everyone who doesn’t live in a cave has heard about the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Since the April 20th explosion of the offshore oil rig, Deepwater Horizon, an estimated 210,000 gallons of crude oil per day has been released into the waters off the coast of Louisiana. So far the slick has traveled …

Obama and Offshore Drilling

So I’ve been trying to figure out Obama’s decision to allow the end of the longstanding ban on oil exploration off the coasts of the US. In particular along the East Coast, from norther Delaware to central Florida, as well as the Gulf of Mexico and the northern coast of Alaska. Frankly it seemed to be a plain and blatant …

A Green New Year – The Eco-Friendly LED Times Square Ball

Last year the Times Square ball underwent a green renovation, replacing the old incandecent lightbulbs with 32,256 Philips Luxeon Rebel energy efficient LEDs. Not only does this allow for a greater savings in energy, it also provides countless patterns using 10 million different colors refracted through 2,668 Waterford Crystal panels. The ball also received an upgrade giving it 20% greater …

Google Spooks you into Saving Energy

Google is putting something really scary on their website, your energy bills. Calculate your energy costs, and what you can do about them. From energy going up the chimney, to energy leaching computer zombies, a few suggestions could exorcise your energy demons. Visit the site to get into the holiday mood, and save a lil’ change too. [via treehugger]

The Energy Seed – Light from Used Batteries

Used alkaline batteries are a bad thing when thrown in the trash. They leech toxic chemicals out into the landfills, oceans, streets, or wherever they are discarded. Here comes a beautiful (although optimistic) solution in allowing for easy system for recycling and efficiency from Sungwoo Park & Sunhee Kim. Most ‘dead’ batteries are just running too low to power our …