eco-friendly
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Electric Mercedes-Benz coming in 2010
Unlike Audi and friends, Mercedes has actually had its eye on non-gasoline burning vehicles for some while. According to a recent interview, Daimler's chief executive was quoted as saying that an "electric Smart [was planned] for 2010," and he continued by asserting that an electric Mercedes model would be arriving "the same year." Sadly, he didn't budge when pushed for pricing details, but he did note that cost would depend greatly "on whether it sells the batteries or leases them." Heck, there was even a mention of a fuel cell car in 2010, but we'd prefer to keep our hopes and expectations well beneath the stratosphere.[Via BenzInsider]
Enclosed electric motorcycle is green and ghastly
Yeah, green in more ways than one. That abomination you see pictured above is unsurprisingly kind to Mother Earth, but we'd venture to say that most Americans wouldn't be caught dead driving it... until gasoline hits $10 or so per gallon, that is. Designed by pioneering students at Saint Thomas Academy with the help of a $10,000 InvenTeams grant from the Lemelson-MIT program (among other donations), this enclosed motorcycle hums along courtesy of a battery-driven Briggs and Stratton ETEK electric motor. Currently, the bike can scoot about for 40 miles and reach 60 miles-per-hour, and there's even a GPS unit thrown in to keep you headed in the right direction. Heaven only knows if this thing will see production, but given the way things are trending, we'd place our bets on yes.[Via AutoblogGreen]
Green Plug starts small, signs on Westinghouse
Remember Green Plug? That universal connector we detailed last month which aims to replace wall warts and help Mother Earth out in the process? Turns out, said outfit has just landed its first real believer as Westinghouse committed to using the smart power technology. Even Darwin Chang, Westy's CTO, admitted that his firm "wasn't the largest, but somebody has to be the first." Chang is hoping that utilizing said tech will help it cut costs by eliminating the need to ship power adapters with its wares, but we'd say that's being pretty optimistic. Really, the only way that will go over well is if hordes of other firms jump on the (currently desolate) bandwagon in short order -- any takers?[Via PCWorld]
Nintendo responds to Greenpeace (again)
Greenpeace has had it in for Nintendo for quite some time now. Despite the Wii being the biggest thing since sliced bread, they've taken up the position of the minority in opposing the system. No, not because of its features or games, but because of Nintendo's supposed lack of caring regarding our environment.Following the latest blow struck by Greenpeace, Nintendo has responded with, well, basically what they did last time. "Nintendo has not been badly rated by Greenpeace," said a Nintendo spokesperson. "Greenpeace chose to conduct a survey and produce a report, which graded companies upon the voluntary submission of information." Nintendo went on further to say that they "fully comply with all the necessary EU Directives on the Restriction of Hazardous Substances aimed at environmental protection and consumer health and safety. Furthermore, in order to ensure our products are safe for use by young children we also take into consideration the standards applicable to toys."[Via CVG]
Greenpeace disassembles consoles, checks toxin levels
Greenpeace is at it again. In disassembling the three major home consoles on the market, they came to some interesting conclusions regarding each system's toxic ingredients. Now, we'll save you all of the specifics if you're the kind of person who just wants to know the bottom line: the Wii beat out the Xbox 360 and PS3 for having the least amount of toxic chemicals within it. For the rest of you, check out some interesting details that Greenpeace found out, which have been organized by bullet-point for your convenience: The PS3's AV cables contain phthalates up to 21.2 percent by weight, as well as "the highest level of bromine found in all components tested from all three consoles" in the housing of the cooling fan, which comes to 13.8 percent by weight, as well as low levels of bromine in the controller The Xbox 360's power cable contains phthalates up to 27.5 percent by weight, as well as low levels of bromine in the controller The Wii has phthalates 12.5 percent by weight in its internal housing, along with no beryllium
Valeswood's Pearl: the hydrogen powered bike
Listen -- we know you want to do your part for the environment, but you don't have to wear jean shorts while doing it. By all means, take a gander at the Valeswood Pearl hydrogen-fueled, power-assisted bicycle, which motors up to 15 MPH and takes you about 80 miles before you need to juice the batteries. When you're finished with all the hard labor of pedaling, the bike folds up neatly and can be tucked away in the trunk of your 9 MPG SUV. If you're the eco-centric cat or kitten that we think you are, you're not going to be too miffed about that $4000 price tag, and we're sure the only kind of short you'll be rocking will be of the organic hemp variety. We wish we could say the same for the chap in the photo.
MacBook sleeves use no synthetic materials
Today is Blog Action Day, and thousands of blogs have committed to writing eco-friendly posts. We're doing our part, too.Check out these MacBook sleeves from Wrappers. They contain no synthetic materials at all (a rarity among laptop sleeves). The interior and exterior are made from cotton, and the whole thing is padded with cotton felt. You have your choice of navy, coffee bean or neutral for the exterior. Plus, you needn't worry about scratches since there are no hard materials used at all.They cost £20.00 (plus £3.50 p&p - about $28US as of this writing). Pick one up!
Bringing the power of the sun to the DS Lite
Do you ever stop and think about the resources that power your electronic lifestyle? Sometimes we look around at the stack of consoles and the computers and think, well ... maybe someday we should cut back a little(yeah, right). Well, the folks at Tom's Hardware are looking for ways to incorporate solar power in their gaming consoles, and we applaud their efforts. Apparently, they made a solar-powered Wii that wasn't fully dependent on the sun, and that just didn't seem good enough. They wanted something that really demonstrated what could be done to bring solar power to gaming, so they needed a different device. The answer? The DS Lite. We applaud their choice. You can, too -- just head on over there and watch the video.
