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Up to now, nappies, adult incontinence and feminine hygiene products (AHPS) have been one of the few remaining household items that got straight to landfill or incineration facilitites. AHPs do not belong in landfills. They take 500 years to decompose, they contain human waste and we can salvage the raw materials.
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Paving stones which generate electricity simply by being stepped on could soon be powering their way on the the high street. The green slabs, which contain a light that gets brighter according to how much energy is stored, are designed to ‘flex’ less that 5mm when walked over. Although this movement cannot be detected by pedestrians, it is enough to generate electricity.
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With Apple selling hundreds of million iPods worldwide, the potential for Ewaste in huge. They don't last forever, and tempting new models are always just around the corner. There are alternatives: used or broken iPods could be sold on eBay, where hundreds of Apple's music players are listed for sale for parts or refurbishing. But many consumers can't be bothered with finding out how to list a product, and don't want to deal with potential customers.
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Wind turbine conjures up the image of three-rotor design on hill-tops and, increasingly, out to sea. These machines work well in high wind speeds and relatively smooth airflows: the technology matches the conditions where they are sited. The remoteness of these locations has allowed ever larger turbines to be built, generating significant amounts of electricity.
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Heating hot water can be 40% of your energy use. Your A/C unit makes excess heat in the process of cooling your home. Why use energy twice, if you can reuse it? Now there's an environmentally friendly way to generate hot water by capturing the wasted heat from a central air conditioning or refrigeration system.
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Hundreds of thousands of tons of watermelons are lost every year. They are grown and then left in the ground because of superficial imperfections. About 20% of each annual crop is left in the field because of surface blemishes or because they are misshapen; currently these are lost to growers as a source of revenue. Due to imperfections, bad spots, or weird shapes, these watermelons are left in the field and then ploughed right back into the ground.
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A company based in Los Angeles, announced a potential breakthrough in getting oil from pond scum. One big difference from the spate of recent announcements in the algae-sphere: Origin’s new technology promises a better way to “milk” algae to extract their natural oils. Other approaches involve genetically-engineering algae to excrete hydrocarbon-like liquids' and cost is still a huge issue for algae-to-oil operations.
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McDonald's is one of several chains exploring green store design. Wal-Mart and Target are revamping their stores to conserve energy. Subway has opened its first stand-alone LEED-certified restaurant in the state in Chapel Hill. A brand-new McDonald's restaurant about to open in North Carolina will be the chain's first in the nation to offer free car charging in its parking garage.
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As we all know, batteries don't last forever. And when the flashlight dims you may be left with a double handful of toxic heavy metals to get rid of somehow. Until very recently mercury has been the main villain, but in addition to mercury, other hazardous metals such as lead, cadmium, chromium, and silver lurk in those little cylinders.
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There are plenty of reasons for people to try to reduce their carbon footprint, ranging from savings on their energy bills to doing the right thing to save the planet. Working on the premise that there's nothing quite so persuasive as cold, hard cash, a new website aims to add a financial incentive by awarding consumers credits for their reductions and then converting those credits into cash.
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