April 1st 2008 is Energy Wasting Day this year. Here is Dan Power that will teach you how to waste the energy and increase carbon emissions in his mission to fry the planet.

Energy Wasting Day…. Are we kidding? Of course we are!

They want to make people aware that if we were to change our habits just a little bit it would help our world a lot. It’s an April Fool’s Day campaign meant to make everyone conscious that we can do something to change the world we live in.

“Together is a campaign which gives you easy ways to fight climate change. We work with our partners, some of Britain’s biggest brand names, to bring these solutions to you. And we show you how the little, smart things you do can add up to a big difference in the fight against climate change.”

Polar bears? Who cares?

WE DO!

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If you were to make your own burger at home or buy a real one, with real meat, after 7 days it would definitely have some sort of fuzzy white spores on it.

Matt Malmgren is the guy that has its own burger museum. It all started in 1989 when he bought two burgers, ate one and forgot about the other in his jacket. A full year passed before he noticed that he has a “one year old burger”, but this wasn’t the big surprise. The fact that he burger hadn’t decomposed, looked and smelled the same as 12 months before, was.

His friends thought he was kidding so he had to do something about it. He bought more burgers and stacked them in his basement where he has the biggest burger museum in the world. Is McDonald’s the place where you’ll have lunch today? Here’s what I’m talking about

via Celsias

A new technology that promises to deliver ultra-efficient plasma light-bulbs, better than LEDs was developed by Luxim of Sunnyvale, California. At the size of a Tic-Tac this tiny lightbulb can provide as much light as a street lamp.

The technology seems to be simple, at least for them. It’s partially packed in a dielectric material, has argon gas inside and a component called “puck”. The process goes like this: electric energy is being sent inside, the puck acts as a lens and heats up the argon gas up to 6,000 degrees Kelvin which in return gives off ultra-efficient bright light similar to the spectrum of sunlight.

Using 250 watts, it achieves 140 lumens per watt which is way above the standard lightbulbs and even high-end LEDs that will get 15 to 70 lumens per watt.

“A key advantage is that the energy is driven into the bulb without any electrodes, so you don’t need any electrical connections to get the energy into the bulb,” Luxim CEO Tony McGettigan explained to ZDNet.

What you see is the “world’s first eco-friendly premium spirit” produced by McCormick Distilling, America’s oldest continuously operating distillery. The 360 Vodka is trying to enter the ultra luxury vodka segment with this motto but from the begining I’ll have to say there are other brands like Purus or VeeV to compete with.

However getting back to the 360 Vodka, you should know that unlike competition it’s made of regular non-organic grains and the production process was improved to reduce volatile organic compound by 70% and sulfur dioxide emission up to 99%. There are things we can really appreciate. The bottle. 85% it is made of recycled glass, the logo is blown directly into it and the labels are made of 100% PCW paper and uses water based inks.

Impurities are removed in a four times column distillation process and then everything is filtered again, five times through a granulated charcoaled coconut shell filtration process.

We appreciate a new eco-friendly vodka brand on the market, but I don’t think the “world’s first eco-friendly premium spirit” tag is appropriate. Still love the commercial pictures, though.

via Inhabitat

Gas mowers put out as much smog as 40 new cars this is why mowing the lawn is some kind of a problem if you care about the environment. Since the scythes may not be the best idea (injuries) for many of us, here is what you can do, the old fashioned way.

via GroovyGreen

The Danube Delta is the second biggest delta in Europe and the best preserved on the continent with an approximate surface of 5,165 km². This includes both the Romanian and the Ukrainian part of the delta, as well as the UNESCO world heritage site where 23 natural ecosystems measuring 2,733 km² are strictly protected.

It’s a unique exotic land in Europe, with over 1,200 species of trees and plants and the largest fauna (over 300 species of birds) of the continent. It’s also heaven for for fishermen with more than 45 freshwater fish species; you can catch the Danube herring, or sturgeons which are renowned for their expensive caviar.

Enough talking, because we have 23 great images that will speak for themselves.

Common pelican in the delta

Lotus on the water

Very old oak at Letea

Sontea Channel in the Danube Delta

Small lake

Airborne pelican

Kids having fun in the Danube Delta

The upper Danube Delta

Flowers on the water

Flooded village

Flooded pasture

Hyla Arborea in the Danube Delta

Boat on channels

Fishing boat

A fishery

Bulrush harvesting

Main transportation : boats

Lots of green

Reed

Dalmatian pelican family

Sunset over the Danube Delta, near Mahmudia

The Danube enters the Black Sea, journey almost over

The end

Photos copyright : Jarosaw Pocztarski, FOREVER CARDON, mugh, onnufry, tonica, marius, S-Yun, marius_zh, la Tanti Tina and the Danube’s Biosphere Region website.

A new non-crowned “mpg king” is set to stir the market a little bit. Started as an experimental vehicle, the Microjoule was built by a team of students from the French Technical School, St. Joseph La Joliverie and managed to get the first prize at the Eco-Marathon, last year. This happened because the alien-like race-looking single-seater car (phew) that runs on gasoline is able to do 7,148 miles per gallon. No kidding.

The Eco-Marathon, which Shell hosts each year, is “an educational project that integrates the sustainable development values with driving as far as possible using the least amount of energy”. Gasoline, diesel, liquid petroleum gas, ethanol, compressed natural gas, hydrogen or solar powered cars are going to compete once again in 2008 at Nogaro from 22 to 24 of May.

From 1992 since when the Eco-Marathon first came to Europe, the Microjoule managed to steal the first prize each and every year and managed to break the world record 6 times. Wish I could see this kind of efficiency on other series cars, too.

This year’s G8 Summit will be hosted on the island of Hokkaido in Japan. One of the most interesting gatherings will be the climate change summit on July 9, where 16 leading countries - the Group of Eight plus Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, South Africa and Mexico - are invited to attend.

The countries mentioned above are responsible for more than 80 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions. Talks will include carbon dioxide emission targets by 2020,  and rumors say this year’s summit is going to be the largest in history.

Source

by aslaugsvava
If last month Virgin Atlantic tested a Boeing 747 running with 80 percent normal fuel mixed with 20 percent biofuel, but Continental Airlines wants their own piece of the pie.The company  partnered with Boeing and GE Aviation to demonstrate in the first half of the next year (2009)  an aircraft running on bio-fuels. From what I understand it’s going to be bio-fuel only and if the test will be successful Continental Airlines will be the first major US carrier to use biofuels on flights.

“Exploring sustainable biofuels is a logical and exciting new step in our environmental commitment” said Mark Moran, vice president of operations at Continental Airlines.

I/we all hope these are not just test meant to increase their popularity among people that care about the environment. - via - BusinessGreen

Japanese yachtsman Kenichi Horie, decided to go from Hawaii (Honolulu Harbor) to Japan in a 7,000 km (4,400 miles) journey on the deck of his wave-powered boat Suntory Mermaid II, Reuters reported. His catamaran-like boat has two wings in front that will convert energy using the vertical motion of the waves in a movement similar to a dolphin’s kick.

This is how the 69 years old Japanese got the idea of building his boat.

“Twenty years ago while sailing, an accident broke my main mast which actually fell in the sea. The boat kept rocking and I thought how great it would be to actually harness the power of those waves to push the boat forward.”

Horie mentioned that the idea of taking this journey is to make people aware of his invention and the fact that we can enjoy a really “green” travel solution. The boat, which was built by a team of Japan’s Tokai University, is going its reach destination port of Hino, after two and a half months. It is as fast as the human walking pace, he said.

We can only wish him luck and no whales incidents or something similar.