The advent of the extremely popular Apple iPhone and its 3G-less cousin the iPod touch has created in recent years an avalanche of all matter of accessories. The vast majority of these are not eco-friendly in the least, leaving a greenie with little recourse. Now Novothink, a solar products company, is releasing its solar charging Solar Surge case for these two Apple products.

The Novothink Solar Surge, like other portable solar charging devices, is designed to harness the power of light around it and convert that into energy for mobile devices, in this case it being either the iPhone or iPod touch. Each case sports an integrated solar panel, which is designed to output 5.5V in 100 mAh in full sunlight. It is said, that for the iPhone model, two hours of “direct solar exposure” will let one talk for up to half-an-hour on a 3G network call.

image via Novothink

Power generated from the solar panel is passed along to be stored in an internal lithium ion battery. This battery is said to more than double the enclosed iPhone or iPod touch’s battery capacity. Special “smart charging” technology sends a charge to the mobile device as needed and stops charging when not needed.  For those times when solar charging is not available, a USB charging option exists as well.

Also of note on the technological side of this hybrid case charger are four built-in LED lights which indicate both if the available light source is enough for powering and also how much charge remains in the battery, as well as a special “solar planning” app available through the iTunes store. This app, when installed on the iPhone or iPod touch inside the Solar Surge, gives an idea of how much sun exposure is needed to keep up battery levels associated with usage patterns and the current weather.

Other features of the Solar Surge include USB syncing with iTunes when connected to a computer, touch screen access, a non-slip finish on the hard shell case design and speaker ports to prevent sound dampening. The Solar Surge for the iPhone prices around $80, while the one for the iPod touch is set for around $70.

You’ve heard us talk about smart grids a fair amount in the past few months here at EarthTechling. It makes you wonder – how fast is this technology actually being deployed? To this date not so fast, as one takes into account new survey data released by Microsoft at CERAWeek 2010 in Houston. The Microsoft Worldwide Utility Industry Survey 2010, in a nutshell, found that only “8 percent of utilities around the world have completed their smart grid technology implementations while 37 percent have projects underway and more than half haven’t yet started.”

It is said, according to Microsoft, that one of the big reasons behind this slow deployment is the “disruptive character” of this new technology. Utilities, given the widespread architecture of technology they have to deal with to deliver power, find that “the magnitude of change for everything from business models to systems is overwhelming, especially given utilities’ existing asset and technology investments combined with the need to ensure profitability and reliability.” They find themselves, despite these issues, to be pressured in the smart grid implementation direction “in the face of growing demand for electricity, political desires for a cleaner environment, and acknowledgement that a smart grid operating environment could benefit every utility company’s overall financial performance and efficiency.”

image via Microsoft

“As this study clearly shows, the disruptive nature of the smart grid revolution, and the innovations it brings, has caught many in the industry by surprise, including many utilities that already have embraced smart grid technologies,” said Jon Arnold, managing director for the Worldwide Power & Utilities Industry at Microsoft, in a statement. “ “Some incorrectly assert that the utility industry is unwilling to change, but the survey shows the opposite. It’s the magnitude of change to everything from business models to systems that’s overwhelming.”

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How do you build an electric hybrid bike without wires? By using the frame itself as a conductor. That’s the thinking behind the HMK 561 pedelec concept by German designer Ralf Kittmann.

It’s a powerful idea not only in terms of powering a bike, but reducing the amount of energy it takes to move the thing to begin with. That’s because the HMK 561’s innovative carbon fiber frame not only conducts electricity, it keeps the bike super lightweight. Which means that when you hit the hills, that electric assist on this bike (charged by regenerative braking) won’t have nearly as much work to do as it would with even an aluminum-frame.

image via Yanko Design

On this picture, you may note the strange absence of gears and chains. That’s not a Photoshop fail–according to Yanko Design, the HMK 561 system actually turns the wheels using a counter-turning axel rather than the familiar mechanism that loves to bite your pant legs and cover them with grease. It may sound far-fetched, but consider this: a prototype of the bike was exhibited in Cologne, Germany, way back in 2008.

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We all know that automakers are feverishly developing hybrid vehicles in an attempt to reduce our dependency on gasoline. But as long as gasoline is available and petrol-based cars remain prolific, that gasoline is going to be used despite all our efforts to wean ourselves from it. So, why not devise a more efficient method of consuming it? Transonic Combustion, a fuel efficiency startup company located in Camarillo, CA, submits an answer to that logical inquiry in the form of a fuel injection system that the company claims will improve gasoline efficiency by 50 percent when it is implemented in production cars by 2014.

According to Technology Review, a test vehicle outfitted with the new system received 64 miles per gallon during highway driving, rendering it reportedly more efficient than many gas-electric hybrids such as the Prius, which only gets 48 mpg on highways. Mike Rocke, Transonic’s vice president of business development, says the key to greater gasoline efficiency is heating and pressurizing petrol before injecting it into a combustion chamber. “This puts it into a supercritical state that allows for very fast and clean combustion,” explains Technology Review, “which in turn decreases the amount of fuel needed to propel a vehicle.” Transonic’s system also treats the gasoline with a catalyst that partially oxidizes it to enhance combustion.

Image via Transonic

Once fuel has been injected into the piston, heat and pressure cause the fuel to combust without a spark, resulting in fast and uniform combustion. The ignition can also be timed to occur at an optimal point, allowing the maximum amount of gasoline energy to be converted into mechanical movement.

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Part of the controversy surrounding the development of biofuels is that there’s only so much arable land on planet Earth–and with so much of the population of many developing countries going hungry, using that land to grow fuel to power industrialized countries poses some serious ethical dilemmas. But what if we found a way to create a biofuels supercrop, that could make highly efficient use of farmland? And what if the future of biofuels wasn’t on Earth? What it if was in space?

Those are some of the questions that will inform a new experiment at the International Space Station. According to NASA, the experiment, dubbed National Lab Pathfinder-Cells 3, is aimed at learning whether microgravity can help cells of the jatropha plant– known to produce high quality oil that can be converted into an alternative energy fuel, or biofuel–grow faster to produce biofuel, in a kind of highly efficient supercrop. Cell cultures of the plant recently accompanied astronauts on space shuttle Endeavour’s STS-130 mission in February, and were delivered to the International Space Station in special flasks containing nutrients and vitamins, where they will be exposed to microgravity until they return to Earth aboard space shuttle Discovery’s STS-131 mission, targeted for April of 2010.

image via NASA

“As the search for alternate energy sources has become a top priority, the results from this study could add value for commercialization of a new product,” said Wagner Vendrame, principal investigator for the experiment at the University of Florida in Homestead, in a statement. “Our goal is to verify if microgravity will induce any significant changes in the cells that could affect plant growth and development back on Earth.”

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Big things are happening with solar, in case you hadn’t heard. Recently, we covered the second largest solar plant in the US, beginning service this year in Florida. Now, we bring you Europe’s largest solar plant, slated for construction in northeastern Italy, near the town of Rovigo, and expected to be complete by the end of the year. 

This 72 megawatt photovoltaic solar electric plant will power 17,150 homes and avoid the production of 41,000 tons of CO₂ (equivalent to getting 8,000 cars off the road.) Like any solar project this big, it’s expected to create a lot of jobs, as well–in this case, 350 local construction jobs that will also help to build expertise in advanced energy technologies. 

image via SunEdison

The project is being developed by Sun Edison, a division of MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc., with the backing of Banco Santander; additional financial partners are expected to join the project before it’s all said and done. Prior to the Rovigo plant, the Europe’s largest solar facility was a 60MW solar farm in Olmedilla, Spain.

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Cell phone users who can’t seem to conduct a conversation without pacing the room and gesticulating wildly might benefit from swapping their current cell for Nokia’s eventual kinetic energy-based phone, which harvests the energy expended by marching and gesturing and uses it to continually top off the phone’s battery.

The idea of a kinetically charged phone isn’t unique, but Nokia’s approach to the technology, as detailed in a recently filed patent, is. According to Tree Hugger, the cell phone would contain heavier components encapsulated within a more durable frame. The frame would sit on two sets of rails: one allowing the frame to shift vertically, the other set allowing it to move horizontally. “As the user walks around or jostles the phone, the frame bumps against strips of piezoelectric crystals at the end of each rail and generates a current, which then charges a capacitor that keeps the phone’s battery topped off.”

Image via Jurvetson

Nokia admits that kinetic motion wouldn’t be enough to provide a full charge. Instead, their goal is to keep the battery alive a bit longer than usual. While one goes about the day’s activities–walking around, commuting to work, running errands–the constant motion of the phone would keep the battery chugging along until a proper charge could be provided.

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Without delving too deeply into the gory details, a lot more than waste is disposed of when one flushes a toilet: six to 12 liters of water are used every time a toilet is flushed. A more water-friendly commode for your abode as an option comes from Australian inventors Tom Trainor and Mark Hutton, whose Evolute toilet has been engineered to use up to 90 percent less water than conventional toilets.

Rather than send streams of water pouring into the bowl, the Evolute, which is still in the prototype stage, employs a rotating, cup-shaped metal sphere that prevents access to the sewer line at the bottom of the bowl. “The top of this sphere has a hollow bored into it,” says Gizmag, “creating a cup-shaped depression. Your waste runs into this cup, then when you flush the Evolute, the metal sphere is rotated upside down, releasing the waste into the drainage pipe.” As the cup flips back up, a single jet of water rinses out the cup while another stream rinses the sides of the bowl. The end result: one liter of water used per flush.

Image via Innoglobe

The Evolute also serves a role in cutting down on electricity: because the Evolute’s cup rotation and water jets are powered by the hydraulic pressure of the user’s water mains, no electricity is required, though electric motor options are available. According to Innoglobe, the Evolute is primed to provide water savings of approximately 50,000 liters per year, per installation.

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Imagine a world where you drive your solar-charged electric vehicle from your new solar home to the solar-powered laundromat before heading off to the solar-powered baseball stadium, where you’ll snack on chips baked with solar heat.

That’s the vision, in a nutshell, of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, three solar business executives and Environment America, according to a new release, which lays out a strategy for meeting 10% of America’s energy needs with solar power by 2030. Going well beyond the usual cry for more solar power plants, the new report, entitled Building a Solar Future: Repowering America’s Homes, Businesses and Industry with Solar Energy, calls for solar in residential homes, commercial buildings, farming, and transportation as well. 

image via Schott

“Americans today import oil from a desert half a world away, in the most unsettled and dangerous region of the earth, just to power a trip to the grocery store,” said Sean Garren of Environment America, in a statement. “It would be much easier and more secure to harness the heat and light that strikes our rooftops every day.” The report outlines a roadmap for helping America meet the 2030 goal that includes tax incentive and rebates, consistent standards for new construction and new financing tools. It also cites examples of innovative solar projects that are already making a difference–in Wal Mart stores, for example, at the Boston Red Sox stadium and at a Frito Lay chip factory in California.

We’ve seen some cool concepts for conserving water in the shower, but the Waterpebble is definitely the least obtrusive. Not to mention, kind of cute. Hence the tag: “your little water saver.”

This clever gizmo sits right in your shower drain where, according to Ecofriend, it measures the amount of water from your first shower and memorizes it, as a kind of benchmark. Thereafter, the Waterpebble flashes green when you start, yellow when you should be in the middle of your shower, and red when you really should be getting out. Each time you shower, the Waterpebble shaves just a little more time off your the schedule, helping you conserve water.

image via Waterpebble

Of course, there’s a limit to how little water we can use while still getting the job done–so it seems a little curious that the Waterpebble doesn’t have an ideal “eco-shower” time (i.e., a point where it will stop trying to get us out of the shower earlier). However, the company that manufactures the device states that it can be reset at any time, so perhaps when that red light starts blinking as soon as you’ve soaped up, it’s time to hit the reset switch.