Daily Archives: December 19, 2008

Image from Shifting Baselines

Over at Shifting Baselines, Jennifer Jacquet, a PhD student at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Fisheries Centre (who is working with the renowned Dr. Daniel Pauly), writes about a new study on which she was the lead author, entitled “Hot Soup: Sharks Captured in Ecuador’s Waters” (sub. required). She and her colleagues f

Photo credit: Peakware

We already know that glaciers in South America, the Arctic, the Himalayas and East Africa are melting at a swift clip. Now we have some news from Mexico. At a recent meeting of Latin American climate scientists, geophysicist Hugo Delgado of Mexico’s National Autonomous University presented data showing that the glaciers a

You probably have heard the news that Barack Obama will have two more top notch scientists who have advocated for strong limits on greenhouse gas emissions on his team: Oregon State University marine biologist Jane Lubchenco to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and physicist/environmental policy expert John Holdren of Harvard and the Woods Hole Research Center to be Assistant to the President for Science and Technology.

Photo via Good Clean Tech

Looks like there are going to be greener ways to charge up AA and AAA batteries, and it’s not just a concept.

Energizer is going to debut a solar powered battery charger at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show.

Not the solar powered ship itself, but a car carrier from Nippon Yusen KK, who developed the ship. Photo: NYK

Although it’s being billed as Japan’s first solar powered cargo ship the amount of renewable energy onboard is so small that I frankly find it laughable. Although the Auriga Leader, a freighter capable of carrying 6,400 automobiles, does have 328 solar panels on board they produce only 40 kilowatts of power, a figure which is a mere 0.2% of the ships overall energy usage. Here are some more details:

We write often how LEDs will change the way we look at lighting; how we will build them into the fabric of our houses, and how they will change the way we use light. Here is one of the first transformational ideas that show where they might be going. The Philips LivingColors lamp has four LEDs (two red, one each blue and green) that can be mixed and adjusted with a hand-held wireless colour wheel. You can adjust spectrum, saturation and intensity. It draws 50 watts max and is projected to last ten years.

You could maintain a guest room, or you could have Stay at my Home, designed by Nichole Lehner and Luzia Kälin of Designasyl, who write:

In our opinion, hospitality is a very important virtue. “stay at my home” is a series of objects for the good host. It enables him to install a comfortable overnight stay for his guest.

Photo via Clearly Ambiguous

The Smart Meter industry is really taking off. That means tech firms that want to solidify contracts in the UK are starting to have to duke it out.

An (expected) upcoming mandate will require a smart meter to be installed in every British home, so the tech companies involved in the industry now have the need to begin talks about the resulting run on contracts

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Richard Frankland of Manchester’s FKDA has developed a small but complete little housing unit that is much more than a shed.

“The idea of creating such a small living environment came from the growing reports of people being forced from their homes unable to make their current mortgage payments, and turning to living with family, in garden sheds and even in cars.”

photo: Jeff DelViscio

Whether its in the form of a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system, some form of carbon pricing is essential to stimulate development of the low carbon technologies which will reduce dependence on fossil fuels and stimulate economic growth, a new briefing from the Institute for Policy Integ