What’s cleantech? It’s often dismissed as a playground for solar panel and wind turbine makers.
But in fact, green technology startups and researchers and have transformed the field into a hotbed of innovation. From Facebook’s renewables-powered data center, to Nest’s iPod-inspired smart thermostat, cleantech pioneers are bringing their energy-saving techie passions home. And don’t worry, and those solar and wind are making big strides too.
Now’s the perfect time to catch up on what’s happening on the cleantech front. Click below for some highlights or can always follow ecoINSITE on Twitter for the latest updates.
BrightFarms CEO, Paul Lightfoot , has a new twist on the green roof theme. His startup plans to drastically reduce the time it takes to get vegetables and other produce from the farm to your grocers’ shelves — and improve the environment — by growing them on their rooftops. The eco-goodness doesn’t end at shorter [...]
Read more BrightFarms: Fresher, greener food is as close as your rooftop
Distributed computing projects are a great way to harness the power of PCs out in the wild to solve scientific mysteries, help find cures for tough diseases and even search for extra terrestrial life. Now you can add solar panel research to the list. According to this article in Wired, researchers behind the Harvard Clean Energy [...]
Read more Solar@Home? Harvard Clean Energy Project wants your PC
Proving that renewables and big-city data centers can coexist, Interxion is powering its London facility completely with power purchased from SmartestEnergy. Why doesn’t the colo operator just stick to energy efficient IT equipment and infrastructure? Interxion’s Managing Director for the UK, Greg McCulloch, hints at looming CO2 regulations. He states, in a company release, “We [...]
Read more Interxion, SmartestEnergy team for 100% renewables-powered data center
How timely. Just in time for a heatwave that’s slamming us here in East Coast of the United States, the pixelsmiths at One Block Off the Grid (1BOG) have a nice, stats-infused infographic. In Cool House, Fat Wallet, 1BOG examines the impact of AC on home energy consumption. And given how popular air conditioning systems [...]
Read more Infographic of the day: The high cost of keeping cool
LEDs have been in the news lately thanks to some advancements, deep price plunges and even some political drama. It’s all helping to heighten the lighting technology’s profile, but is it enough to make consumers sit up and take notice? Here are three stories that while loosely related on the surface, weave together to form [...]
Read more LED lighting market’s pieces finally falling into place
It’s happening… According to the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA), renewable energy production has surpassed that of nuclear power plants in the United States. According to the agency’s Monthly Energy Review report (PDF), the first quarter of 2011 saw renewable energy sources — classified as hydroelectric, geothermal, solar/PV, wind and biomass by the [...]
Read more Stat of the Day: Renewables beat nuclear in the U.S.
Shipping containers are revolutionizing data center construction. They have even sparked a neat, inexpensive, and often awe-inspiring, sustainable housing niche. Now one one firm is taking the container concept down a different path, one that’s in keeping with the “Future City” theme of the upcoming Little Tokyo Design Week in Los Angeles. Daiwa House Group [...]
Read more In case of emergency, EDV-01 is green containerized living
Nissan is airing a clever new ad campaign in support of its Leaf electric vehicle. The TV spots feature average Joes and Janes going about their lives using everyday gadgets. Instead of running on electricity, they’re powered by gasoline instead — complete with chattering little engines and bleak, soul-draining plumes of exhaust. The car maker’s [...]
Read more New Nissan Leaf TV ads skewer gas powered lifestyle
Video: GE Aviation has released a neat, time-lapse video showing a 7.2-acre solar installation go up at its Durham, North Carolina facility. The project is the company’s way of practicing what it preaches, so to speak. Power from its 9,072 thin film panels is governed by GE equipment like its Brilliance Inverter. All told, the [...]
Besides reducing carbon emissions from car travel and ending America’s love affair with the fuel pump, electric vehicles (EVs) can perform another important function: energy storage for renewable energy sources. GE’s new Txchnologist website has an infographic that illustrates how your (future ?) plug-in can one day become a pivotal piece of the smart grid [...]
This work by Pedro Hernandez is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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