New PC concept from designer Luis Luna make the desktop appear more appealing visually,and give it the ability to offset at least a small amount of the CO2 it produces during its lifetime. The design gives a smoother look to the desktop as a sleek circular package. The center of this circle has a cavity to hold some soil, and provide enough ground to grow small plants.

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The US government laboratory in Los Altos is saying they will have nuclear power plants smaller than a garden shed that will be able to power 20,000 homes within five years. The mini reactors will

1. be factory-sealed
2. contain no weapons-grade material
3. have no moving parts
4. be nearly impossible to steal
5. be encased in concrete and buried underground.

The technology is licensed to Hyperion, a New Mexico-based company which will start working on the first firm orders within five years. Hyperion says, “Our goal is to generate electricity for 10 cents a watt anywhere in the world for a community with 10,000 households, that is a very affordable $2,500 per home.”

The first 100 firm orders have come from the oil and electricity industries for which they will set up three factories to produce 4,000 plants between 2013 and 2023. The first confirmed order is from TES, a Czech infrastructure company specializing in water plants and power plants. ‘

The reactors, only a few meters in diameter, will be delivered by truck and buried underground. They need refueling every 7 to 10 years. The 50-year-old design has proved safe even for students to use. No countries are expected to object to plants on their territory.

“You could never have a Chernobyl-type event – there are no moving parts.” Never! Wrong word.

Meanwhile, Toshiba has been testing 200KW reactors measuring roughly six metres by two meters to fuel smaller numbers of homes for longer or that could power a single building for up to 40 years.

Source: Guardian (Image courtesy of philippe leroyer)

I probably should have studied harder when I was in science class, but I seem to remember that all plants thrive on CO2. Even so, Ota Florticulture Auction Co., which is Japan’s largest flower wholesaler, is planning to market a series of arrangements made up of potted plants that gobble up large amounts of CO2.

There’s always someone wanting to capitalize on the green movement, why not a flower company, too? Ota will market carbon offset plants for homes and offices that come in pots that combine six kinds of plants such as the orchids and cacti, even at night and the company says each plant arrangement will trap 4-10kg of CO2 gas each year.

The price for having someone buy a plant to do what the plant would do anyway is going to be ¥8,000-40,000 ($85-$425). Watch for the plants to come on sale by Thanksgiving. – via Nikkei (sub needed)

Images by Rosberond, cobalt123

Drax, a major energy companies in the UK has revealed that it plans to build three biomass stations in the UK, at a cost of £2 billion. All of the biomass stations will run on biological waste from forestry or industries such as woodchips, straw, sunflower seeds, peanut husks and agricultural products such as sugarcane, hemp or willow.

Drax power station at midnight

As the prices of fossil fuels are continuously on the rise, this effective step will provide an enormous boost to UK’s target of producing 20% of its energy from renewable resources by 2020.

When ready, the three biomass stations will produce 15% of Britain’s total energy, to suffice 2million homes. They will be built in collaboration with the engineering giant – Siemens, with two of the plants going at Hull near Yorkshire while the third venue still remains undecided.

However there is slight concern over the sustainability of these stations because it is being felt that we might “sacrifice” plants for fuel, rather than eating them. With food, soon to be major problem, that’s a tough decision, don’t you think? – via Telegraph

Image courtesy of yorkshiregeek

Built on the last remaining green space in the city center, ACROS Fukuoka (Asian Crossroads Over the Sea) is an amazing building in Fukuoka City, Japan. It got our attention because it preserves the green space as much as possible, thanks to its stunning design.

On one side it has glass walls and looks just like a conventional office building that looks onto the most important financial street of Fukuoka, while the other side is an enormous green roof (a garden roof) with some 35,000 plants that step down floor-by-floor, in a stratification of low, landscaped terraces into a park.

Argentinian architects Emilio Ambasz & Associates are those with the vision, the looks and actually the whole idea.

Reaching up to 60 meters above the ground, the green roof is responsible to keeping the whole building at lower and constant temperature levels, which will obviously lead to less power consumption.

Many people in the area visit the terrace roof (the gardens) for meditation, relaxation, or for escaping from the congestion of the city. Others are here just for the grand belvedere that provides an incomparable view of the bay of Fukuoka and the surrounding mountains.

These are all great reasons to consider the ACROS Fukuoka a great green architectural success in Japan. Why can’t we see more of these buildings as a solution for a common urban problem? Anyone to call mr. Trump?