Usually, the annual MacWorld keynote speech always brings in some goodies for the eco geeks. This year they managed to please everyone by announcing that new battery in the all-new 17-inch MacBook Pro is now 60% more efficient.

The battery is expected to run for more than 8 hours on a single charge, allows more than 1000 charges (that’s like 5 years) and is recyclable. It sure sounds green to me, but there’s more to it. It also got an EPEAT Gold award for being arsenic, BFR, mercury and PVC free.

Other than these, there’s also a smart chip within the battery that deal with each cell to make adjustments to the current for each cell, making it last three times longer than the industry’s standard. And did we mention that the battery is just as thing and just as light?

Though the user is still not able to change the battery itself, we think Apple has taken a big step forward. Don’t you?

Photo via Gizmodo : Live @ Macworld

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Solar energy is making such giant strides forward that it would be no surprise if in the next decade or so we all completely convert to solar power. For now though, each day is proving to be a new adventure for those working with and following the power of the sun.

The new arena that is being touched by solar power is the field of submarines as Swiss company BKW is all set to build the world’s first solar powered submarine.

Spending most of the time underneath the water, it won’t sport solar panels itself, but the docking station will. It will feature 30kW solar panels that will fully recharge the submarine’s batteries while docked.  Dubbed Project Goldfish, the submarine will be capable of carrying 20-30 passengers and two crew members, at a depth of up to 300 meters across Lake Thun in the Swiss Alps.

When required, the solar platform will be automatically hooked up with the sub via GPS.  There’s also a zero-emission solar-powered shuttle that will  ferry passengers to and from the shore and the boarding platform, making it completely eco-friendly trip.

The project is expected to be operational by 2012. - via CleanTechnica

Covering a distance of over 3700 miles in air, purely powered by biofuel is something that even the aviation industry would be proud of. But UK’s Skycar Team is trying to do that in a car with a giant fan, a powerful engine and a parachute.

Skycar is probably the most exciting green vehicle that is waiting to make it out on to the streets sometime in the future and the fact that it is not just a concept, but the real deal is something that is far more alluring.

Skycar will aim to prove its potential with a flight of over 6000 Km from London to Timbuktu. They use a lightweight Para-Wing that is filled by a huge fan built into the back of the vehicle to achieve theoretical airspeeds of 100 mph and thanks to a light-weight chassis it seats two people and goes some 3000 feet high. The distance to be covered is a daunting and probably a fitting challenge to Skycar as a successful journey will prove its true worth.

The car converts from flight mode to ground mode and vice-versa in just 3 minutes and can run completely on biofuel when needed (for ground, it can run on ethanol using a Yamaha R1 engine).

This is truly one eco-journey that we wish the very best as the success of Skycar could usher us into a clean new era where we just lift up from the traffic of rush hour and fly home ala Jetsons style! Check out the gallery after the break. (more…)

Cement companies in Japan are getting in on cutting down on CO2 emissions and hope to help their counterparts in China and India do the same. The Japan Cement Association is taking the lead by sending engineers to China and India to produce estimates for how much CO2 can be decreased.

Japanese cement makers are working with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to publish on the Internet ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at cement plants for free, and some of them are :

1. power-efficient pulverizers
2. mechanisms for recycling waste heat from baking furnaces
3. using the recycled heat to generate power and heat up raw materials

And some quick facts -

• Japan produces 70 million tons of cement annually, the 6th largest producer of CO2 among Japan’s industries.
• China and India together make up about 50% of the world’s cement output.
• Some 5,000+ cement companies in China produce 1.1+ billion tons of cement.
• Some 500+ Indian companies produce 150 million tons.

If these guys can save some gas, it’ll make a difference. And, for once, Japan is leading.

Source: Nikkei (!sub required) - Image courtesy of ykanazawa1999

If you are in search of an energy efficient but smart looking replacement for your CFL light bulbs, then you can end your hunt here. Frog Design has come out with an innovative LED bulb which is shaped like the conventional bulb instead of a LED, and what is more interesting is that it lasts for a good thirty years.

This high-powered LED uses less power and has a brighter light quality as compared to the CFL and since it is in the ordinary bulb shape it can easily be fit into any light socket.

The heat released by the bulb is absorbed by its aluminum base thereby giving it the long life that it promises to have. Whether the Frog Design’s LED will live up to its expectations is yet for us to see. - via CleanTechnica

Here’s another new discovery towards the green revolution! Rolls Royce has come up with a brilliant modified version of an open rotor propeller plane installed with a less noise making engine as opposed to its original loud engine.

The engine has been tested with results showing a remarkable cut down on greenhouse gas emissions to 30% and also a great save on fuel costs as compared to the modern turbo jet engines.

Although CO2 from airplanes is barely 2-3% of the total global emissions, the rate of travel has gone up by 6-7% with the airline travel efficiency making improvements of only 1% a year. As solar planes are not being thought upon in the near future, the propeller plane is a feasible option for increasing travel efficiency and cutting down on fuel consumption.

Apart from Rolls Royce, General Electric, Pratt & Whitney and Snecma are also venturing upon the open rotor propeller plane. - via GreenDaily

Image courtesy of Moritz Josch

According to Yvo De Boer - Head of the UN based Climate Change Secretariat - the global financial crisis is going to speed up the efforts being made by many countries to cut down on global warming, a process that is slowly leading us to destruction.

He elaborated that, instead of side lining the issue of global warming because of the credit crisis, it could be used to create a policy that would attract the private sector to make investments in clean energy projects.

De Boer also emphasized that this was a more feasible decision rather than spending all available funds on trying to rescue the world from the credit crisis. If this were to be done, it would automatically affect the developing countries that were being funded by the rich countries.

As these developing countries play a key role in saving the ecological environment, it would be a drawback to ignore their problems. Without their efforts we cannot manage to save our world, therefore the previous idea is a better plan to tackle the financial crisis.

However De Boer assured that the credit crunch had so far not affected the Kyoto Protocol neither did they foresee any such developments taking place.

Image courtesy of elston