The European Union has more or less assumed the role of a leader in green energy generation. With ongoing multiple projects for clean energy generation, it does look possible that the 27 nation block will beat its green energy generation targets for 2020, and do that by a comfortable 20% margin.

The latest forecast suggests the the EU will have 20.3% of its energy in renewables by the end of 2020. The charge is being led by the current leaders, Germany and Spain. It is expected that Spain will beat its targets by 2.7 percent, while Germany will exceed its renewable energy targets by 0.7 percent. While pushing up renewable energy generation, these nations will also cover for EU countries that are unable to reach their targets. As an example, it is believed that Italy will miss its targets by 1 percent.

A spokes person for EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger says countries missing their renewable energy targets will have to make up for the same by buying surplus clean energy from other countries, or face legal action from the commission.

Source: Reuters

The San Juan island is all surrounded by water, but that obviously isn’t potable. Water coming from energy hungry desalination plants of course isn’t a very elegant solution, but a necessity for supply nevertheless. The Natural Balance House designed by Core Design Inc. intends to change this by harvesting water from the plentiful rainfall that the island is blessed with.

Beneath the house, the designers have made room for a 19,500 gallon cistern, which is accessible through a floor hatch in the master bedroom closet. The rainwater collected by the house’s roof flows through a filtration system and a UV disinfecting chamber to finally reach the cistern. The water thus collected is free from impurities and bacteria and is safe to drink.

The architects estimate that the roof will collect 47,000 gallons of water annually, and the house makes use of water saving fixtures and appliances to bring down average daily consumption to just 62.5 gallons. To give the structure more of an eco look, the sustainable home also includes 3,000 square feet of a green roof planted with native grasses and sedums.

Source: GreenDiary

Reduced business travel can have a marked effect on the environment, and all the technologies at our disposal today would mean that businesses wouldn’t suffer for lack of such travel. Probably with this in mind, Arkadin Global Conferencing has announced the launch of Climate Care day, a day when businesses large and small, are urged to replace business travel with remote meetings, for one day.

It may work well to encourage businesses to move towards remote meetings, and what is asked for the “Climate Care Day” could well be applied for most parts of the year, except when travel becomes an absolute necessity. Businesses could not only reduce their carbon footprint, but also save time and cut back on costs associated with such travel.

The Climate Care Day would be observed on March 26, a day ahead of the WWF’s Earth Hour. The day is supported by WWF and will, hopefully, elicit a positive reaction from businesses.

Design firm H3AR have come up with a “skyscraper” water tower for Darfur, Sudan as their entry for the 2010 Skyscraper Competition organized by Evolo Magazine. The tower would provide surrounding areas with one of the most important assets for humanity – water. The tower will pump water from an underground lake, and supply it to people living nearby. It isn’t just a water pump and tower though, the designers have made the structure a lot more useful.

With inspiration coming from the African savanna, more specifically, from the Baobab, the tower also includes room for a treatment plant, hospital, school and a food storage. Effectively, making the tower a hub for activity rather than a standalone structure.

Quite interestingly, the designers envision the tower as sustainable, with a very low carbon footprint. The construction would me mainly done through compressed bricks made of earth, cement and water. On a similar note, the heating and cooling of the tower would be handled by a water channel accessible to all users, while another water channel would cater to the kitchens and toilets inside the building.

Source: TheDesignBlog

According to recent figures, nearly 35 million inkjet cartridges are disposed in the UK each year. That’s nearly 28,000 tons of plastic and e-waste for the landfills every year. It is estimated that up to 70% of these cartridges could be reused for up to four more times, without having to touch the landfill at all. The plan is to reduce the number of such cartridges ending up into the landfills by roughly 10%.

Participating schools would be paid £1 for each reusable inkjet cartridge, and £3 for each reusable mobile phone. A number of celebrities have come up in support of the eco friendly initiative, which really does sound worthwhile.

The image you see above, is the not-too-good-looking pest, Gribble. The marine pest that troubled seafarers by chomping on ships and wooden piers may soon become valued because of its wood-eating capabilities. Researchers from Britain believe that the enzymes produced by the Gribbles and the energy rich sugars that are then produced may lead to the path of energy, with these pests converting wood and straw into biofuels.

Researchers have studied the digestive track of Gribbles, and found that they break down the cellulose in wood without relying on any sort of symbiotic bacteria. Cellulose is typically tough to digest, and most animals with a high plant diet rely on the symbiotic bacteria to break it down, not so for Gribbles. This is what makes them ideally suited, and possibly provide a way towards the industrial deployment of such biofuel projects. Researchers believe that the process could result in an easier, and possibly better way towards biofuels.

Source: DailyMail

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology is making use of a new form of road, and public transport to travel. Such roads and vehicles have shown up in a number of designs and concepts, but this appears to be the largest application of the technology. Basically, roads are paved with recharging strips that transfer electric energy to the vehicles passing over them.

The charging is done without any direct connection with wires, and the goal is achieved through magnetic connections, or as it is more commonly known, inductive charging. These strips are several meters in length and are placed along lanes and roads that lead up to intersections. As vehicles slow down over these points, “microchargers” are injected into them. These microchargers are much more efficient than the conventional charging process, and can charge the vehicles quicker.

The university is already making use of four prototype buses, and is in talks with the city of Seoul for implementation of the system. Electric vehicles can be made more efficient as they charge up quickly, and have to carry lesser weight in batteries.

Source: Reuters

Researchers at the University of Michigan have come up with a tiny solar power system, that could ostensibly keep itself powered for a long time. Theoretically, this could go on forever, but the batteries have to be replaced after a few years. The tiny system measures 2.5mm x 3.5mm x 1mm, with a volume of just 9 cubic mm, making it a lot smaller than conventional solar powered systems. The solar panel and battery are accompanied by an ARM processor that could actually get a few things done by the tiny system.

There are a number of cases where this system could be put to use, and there are some alterations that can be done to the system. For example, it could be made to rely on heat or kinetic energy in place of sunlight. Given the system’s high efficiency, it could work as a power source for pacemakers or be used in environmental sensors at a variety of locations. Commercial version of the system is already under development.

Source: Ecogeek

Over the past few weeks, we have been hearing a lot about IBM doing loads of green stuff, which is all good. Now, IBM and Stanford researchers have come up with a way that would allow for PET plastic recycling, and do that at much lower temperatures. Currently, PET plastics are downcycled, rather than recycled. Which is to say, that they are good only for a lesser use like carpets and clothing, and cannot be recycled again.

The new technology uses organic catalysts that are said to be highly active and better for the environment. These can chemically breakdown PET into monomers, that can later form polymers. As compared to the conventional method, low temperatures are required throughout this process, which eventually leads to closed loop recycling and low energy use. Considering that 13 billion plastic bottles are thrown away every year, this process holds a lot of environmental significance.

Source: TreeHugger

Proper insulation could go a long way in saving energy, but that isn’t easy to achieve, especially for large structures and buildings. The Media-TIC building designed by Cloud 9 architects could have a facade that would work well as insulation and save the building a lot of energy. Architect Enric Ruiz-Geli has designed an inflatable membrane facade for the building, which would help reduce energy consumption and lower its carbon emissions by as much as 37 percent.

The building will have four facades to serve for different levels of insulation. Longitudinal ETFE bags in the facade will be pumped with nitrogen when desired. Nitrogen, as a poor conductor, will provide insulation for the building by blocking the heat from the sun when required, and preventing internal temperature settings to easily escape.

These inflatable facades will generate their own power, by harvesting energy from the sun. To make the building greener, it will have a rooftop rainwater collection system. Water so collected will be used for landscaping and sanitation.

Source: Ecofriend