Eco Factor: Self-sufficient outdoor habitat for camping industry.

Mostly all campsites are far from cities and require fuel-eating generators to bring illumination after dark. Industrial designer Benjamin Charles is out there to help the camping and the hotel industry with semi-nomad structures that are almost self-sufficient.

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Eco Homes: Leav – A solar-powered shelter for avid campers

TH!NK (with the cute exclamation point in place of an ‘i’) hasn’t been the loudest name in electric cars, and perhaps that contributed to them entering bankruptcy protection last December. But in Norway (where Think is headquartered) earlier this week, Think’s reorganization was approved, and the company is on track to resume production.

One of the new investors in Think is the Finnish company Valmet Automotive, whose production facilities will be used to produce the car, alongside the Boxster and Cayman models they build for Porsche. Think is also reported to be looking for a location in the US where they can produce the car for the North American market.

The TH!NK City is a two-seat, battery-electric car with a top speed of 100 kmh (62 mph) and a driving range of 170-200 kilometers (105-124 miles). With its small size - slightly over 3 meters (10 feet) long - and range constraints, not to mention calling the vehicle “City”, it is definitely targeted at urban commuters. Think has showed other models, such as the Th!nk Ox Concept Car, and according to the company, has a 2 + 2 configuration forthcoming which will allow urban parents to bring their children along. This will add to the growing variety of electric vehicle options that are becoming available.

via: Detroit News

New research has come out that indicates watermelon could make a good biofuel additive.  Now, I know you’re immediately cringing because watermelon is a food crop and that spells disaster, but the good news is that no one is proposing that we start taking over arrable land with watermelon patches.

It turns out that 20 percent of every annual watermelon crop is unused because, well, it’s ugly.  Misshapen or bruised fruit doesn’t sell, so farmers leave them in the field and take a loss.  Those extra watermelons could be processed for their juice, which could then be made into biofuel.

What makes these disfigured melons biofuel-worthy?  Watermelon juice contains seven to ten percent directly fermentable sugars or easy ethanol.  While the juice would have to be almost triple concentrated to be the sole feedstock in a biofuel, it would make a great additive to other biofuel blends that need to be supplemented or diluted.  Farmers could process the juice on-site and use it as an alternative fuel or sell it to biofuel-makers and make revenue on what would usually be wasted fruit.

Of course, a feedstock’s potential to make ethanol isn’t everything.  We’ll have to see how watermelon-blended biofuels perform compared to other feedstocks and gasoline to know if harvesting their juice is worthwhile.

via Biotechnology For Biofuels

DailyHomeRenoTips.com was the first to write about innovative home products such as the Solaris self-propelled cordless electric lawn mower with the solar charging option, EZ Snap exterior solar shades, CanSolair Solar Max 240 solar air heater, solar charged outdoor Christmas lights, and more.

As we approach the fall and winter seasons, we are looking for innovative consumer products for the home which we can use and write about to inform our audience.

These can be new products which help keep a home warm in the winter or cool in the summer.

They can be new products which help reduce electricity consumed in the home.

Your new product can also be one which has nothing to do with home energy or clean water conservation; rather, it can be one which saves the household time, effort, money or solves some every day issues or inconveniences in the home.

So, if you are looking for some added publicity for your new home product, just send a quick email to Dan@DailyHomeRenoTips.com with information about your energy or water conservation or renovation / maintenance product for the home.

But, remember; we write about our experiences. So, if you have an inferior product which does not live up to its claims as we use it, we will write about it.

Better Place, the start up that wants to bring electric car charging and battery swapping stations to the masses, has announced a partnership with Tokyo’s Niho Kotsu taxi company.  The taxi fleet will be the first to go all-electric with swappable batteries.

The partners will commence on a pilot project using Better Place’s infrastructure in January 2010.  The project’s battery-swapping station will be located in the Roppongi Hills area of Tokyo.

Tokyo is a perfect location for this project since Japan has already proven itself as electric and hybrid car friendly.  The Prius is the number one car in the country and the Insight and iMiEV have had great success as well.  Also, other fleets have started to make the change to electric cars, including the Japan Post.  It seems the country is ready to fully embrace electric vehicles, but for that to happen, the infrastructure has to be in place.

Better Place needs this project to have positive results.  The company just revealed that batteries for its swapping stations will cost almost $12,000 each, at least for the next few years until battery production ramps up.  In order to acquire enough batteries to get their swapping stations in place, the company is going to need good press and good investers.

via Earth2Tech

Not to go against Elvis Costello, but it turns out that digital music, not radio, is a sound salvation, at least when it comes to fighting climate change.

A new study conducted by researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Stanford University confirms what we already assumed:  downloading music cuts energy consumption and CO2 emissions compared to shopping at your local record store.  Digitizing wins again.

The study found that buying digital music results in a 40 to 80 percent reduction in energy use and carbon emissions compared to distributing CDs, and that factors in the energy used to download the files over the Internet.  The study compared four different ways of obtaining and listening to music, listed from most energy intensive to the least:  buying a CD in-person at a record store, buying a CD online, downloading an album and then burning it to a CD (both with and without a jewel case) and downloading an album and listening to it digitally.

There were some situations that blurred the lines.  If you walked to the music store instead of driving, that would equal the energy and emissions of downloading and then burning an album to disc, meaning the driving to the store is the worst part of buying music in person.  Also, if the album size is 260 MB (compared to the standard 60 to 100 MB) or more, then that would equal the energy and emissions of buying a CD online because of the extra energy needed to download it.

So, the moral of the story is:  download your music and keep it on your computer or iPod.  Luckily, that’s what most of us are already doing.

via Earth2Tech

BYD’s e6 crossover electric vehicle is coming to American showrooms in 2010, thanks in part to Warren Buffett.

Alexandra,
You’ve written about SIGG as being a good brand bottle to use in the past. What are you going to do now that they’ve admitted to using BPA in their bottles? I’m not sure what to do with the ones I have.
Best,
Sally (mom of three)

Dear Sally,

Thanks for the question. Crazy, right? But not entirely unexpected. It’s been known for a while now that SIGG goes after any consumer group (EWG, OCA etc.) that infers their “proprietary” liner content contains BPA. They have also released reports proving that there are undetectable levels of BPA in their bottles. Why would they test for it and release reports about it if it weren’t in there? Consumers who prefer total transparency and want to avoid plastic have long preferred stainless steel bottles to SIGG’s lined-with-a-secret aluminum. …

Eco Factor: Lamp made from recycled zip ties.

We all buy a large number of gadgets and appliances for our homes each year and throw away all the packaging material that ends up clogging the landfills and polluting the ecosystem. Avid DIYers have always found many of those materials interesting for their new projects. Designer Charles Parsons has a similar mindset and has designed a stunning piece of art from zip ties.

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Eco Arts: Repurposed zip tie lamp makes trash glow

Tesla is busy celebrating its first month of profitability, and it’s clear that something about their model is working. The simple idea of making electric vehicles a luxury, instead of a 20 mph city car, has been a boon to the entire idea of EVs. The question is, can Tesla bring down the price while increasing the practicality of these cars?

That’s the goal of the Model S. It isn’t going to be for everyone, with a base price of nearly $60,000. But it’s a good step down from the roadster’s $100,000+ pricetag. Tesla recently announced that the Model S would be taking on the practicality angle too, with a model that got a 300 mile range, roughly the same as a gasoline engine. Of course, there would still be no quick fill-up at the end of those 300 miles, but it’s better than the 100 mile range that most EVs are promising.

However, in a New York Times blog post today, Jim Motavalli said that Tesla’s financial officer, J.B. Straubel, admitted that to do that they would need a 85 to 95 kW/h pack, and that he wasn’t concerned at all about creating such a battery. Tesla is building its own batteries now, and while they started off just fusing together laptop batteries, their technology is getting pretty advanced.

But, still, the Chevy Volt’s battery pack is one of the most advanced in the world, and it is 16 kW/h and costs around $8,000. Motavalli at the New York Times asked around and officials at both Ford and Aptera told him that such a battery would weigh almost 2,000 lbs and cost as much as $40,000.

Of course, Tesla isn’t planning on building the car with existing technology, but they do seem much more optimistic about how quickly battery technology will progress. Though, one thing is clear, the version of the Model S that has a 300 mile range is going to cost a hell of a lot more than the version that gets a 165 mile range.