Category Archives: Other Stuff
The moment we step on a foreign soil, we buy a new SIM card for our cell phones. And Orange has announced it green plans to cut down on the amount of waste generated with this habit. Though it sounds very trivial issue, the trend of receiving new SIMs for an upgrade or new contract does leave its share of carbon footprints on our planet too. Orange has become the first European mobile operator to introduce mini SIM cards to support our environment. How will it help? Till now the new SIMs come embedded in a credit-card sized plastic wrapping. However, only ten percent of the material is used for the plug-in SIM. The rest of the 90% of the card’s plastic is waste. But the new mini SIM cards will halve the amount of waste generated in providing customers with new SIMs by embedding two SIMs in each credit-card sized item during manufacturing.
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This is a restaurant that is unique. It is called the Muvbox portable restaurant which is a shipping container normally and when you are hungry, you can transform it into a solar powered restaurant. And they understand hunger as it only takes 90 second for this turn into a fully operational kitchen at the touch of a button and it takes 15 minutes for complete installation. The Muvbox concept also has an environmentally friendly floor constructed from recycled tires and the roof contains two solar panels which enable the unit to be up to 40% self sufficient in terms of energy use.
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Nokia has retained its top spot in the quarterly green electronics yet again. The Guide to Greener Electronics released by Greenpeace has awarded this honor to Nokia for its comprehensive plans to eliminate toxic components and a massive recycling program with over 5000 phone recycling collection points. Samsung was the close second for producing PVC-free LCD TVs and minimizing the overall amount of toxins. Sony Ericsson moved up from the fifth place to the third for improving its energy efficiency.
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It may sound gross to some, but Gerardine Botte of Ohio University claims to have found a way to extract hydrogen from urine. Most of the hydrogen currently available is extracted by reforming natural gas with steam and this process is rather energy intensive. Botte claims that it requires much lesser energy to extract hydrogen from synthetic urea or real human urine. Considering the abundance of urine available on our planet, scaling up this process will increase the amount of hydrogen generated and also solve the eternal problem of sewage treatment.
[Autobloggreen]
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If you live a green life then it makes sense to leave this planet also the same way. And if you haven’t done much for your planet when alive then here’s your last chance to earn a green point. RIP in a coffin crafted out of banana sheaf. Ideal for those who seek natural burial, the Banana coffins are not a burden on our planet. They are quickly biodegradable and within six months to two years the coffin biodegrades. Offered by Ecoffins, they are naturally are better for the environment than cremation. Just a queer thought- Will the coffin emanate a sweet energetic aroma and energize the dead back to life again? Just a stress buster thought!
[Theres a Blog in my soupAnd Ecoffins usa]
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Now you can mow your lawn without coughing up or waking up your neighbors. The Recharge Mower is a rechargeable electric ride mover that makes 50% less sound and has no emission unlike conventional mowers. It can be charged using any normal wall socket and an overnight charge of 10-12 hours can run this mower for 3 hours. Recharge Mower uses three electric motors with a drive motor of 900 watts. It also has three sealed battery placed at the center of the unit for added stability. The mower’s 27” dual cutting blades have five cutting height.
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The engineers at the University of Leeds are working on an entirely new range of armored vests that are made from cement. The vests are a combination of super-strong cement and recycled carbon fiber materials. This combination makes the vests very strong and effective against almost all types of bullets. It is still at an early stage and is being developed at the School of Civil Engineering at the University. It is good enough for security guards, reporters and even aid workers who are working at hot spots.
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When one is obsessed with saving energy he becomes really obsessed. Hence is the case with this particular high-tech house in California. It helps to shed energy by automatically cutting power to its array of high-end electronics. What happens is that when all the electronics are turned off, the phantom load of electricity that home electronics normally use are not drawn at all. In this house the phantom electricity load has been cut by a third by using energy-efficient electronics and automating them to power down completely.
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A research that was presented at the 13th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference could eventually help overcome some of the hurdles to using hydrogen fuel in cars, trucks and other machinery. This is organized by the ACS Green Chemistry Institute which is a non-profit organization devoted to promoting and advancing the discovery and design of chemical products and processes that eliminate the generation and use of hazardous substances in all aspects of the global chemical enterprise. The research states that carbonized chicken feather fibers have the potential to dramatically improve upon existing methods of hydrogen storage and also in future it could pave for the practical development of a truly hydrogen-based energy economy.
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Competition is a must for every business. And this holds true for the cola giants Coca-Cola and Pepsi too. It’s not only the race to deliver the best taste but also the need to go green that is worth a mention. Today PepsiCo has opened its first overseas “green” plant in China. Part of $1 billion plan, the state-of-the-art beverage facility at Chongqing is the first green beverage plant ever built in China. It will help PepsiCo to annually reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 3,100 tons; water usage by 100,000 tons; and overall energy use by four million kilowatt hours compared to the former Chongqing plant. Fitted with more than 35 water and energy saving designs the plant utilizes the world’s most advanced technology. It also includes an environmental management system that monitors water and energy use on every production line and every piece of individual equipment in real time. Such an eco-friendly plant will help to reduce water consumption by 22% and energy consumption by 23%. Roll over to read about how these targets are achieved…….
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