January 2008 Archives

Deploying wireless access in the developing areas of our world is fraught with complications. You name it -- lack of infrastructure, spotty or non-existent power grids -- and you can bet that adventurous technologists will encounter it.

And it doesn't help that you have to lug around hefty solar panels to get remote villages and schools networked. That's why a start-up, Green WiFi, is thinking small in a clever way when it comes to harnessing the sun's rays.

Wi-Fi Planet's Amy Mayer explains:

The solution emerged from puzzling out the question of power management. How they did that, Baikie [Bruce Baikie, founder, Green WiFi] says, is by designing what they call an "intelligent charge controller." It conserves battery power for as long as possible, including reducing the load when demand is low and when the sun goes down. That means the APs can run on a solar panel that is about one foot square, he says, while standard panels are more like three-feet square. The charge controller, called the GW-ICCM, can talk back to the router via an Ethernet connection to relay how much power the battery has. Four different stages of power management allow for efficient consumption. The controller was about a year in the making, Baikie says.

Yay smart power management!

Green WiFi's first testbed gets installed this spring at Honolulu Community College. We're looking forward to seeing how it goes...

In Japan, these cute little fellas will keep an eye on pollen counts and relay the data to Weathernews in Tokyo which will map out the trouble spots via the Internet. Ask allergy sufferers and they'll tell you that excessive amounts of pollen are a special kind of pollution unto themselves.

If and when they revolt -- the robots, not the allergy sufferers -- please use an appropriately sized bat, thanks.

In Cambridge, MA, however, it's a Wi-Fi networked project called CitySense that can really change the way cities deal with air pollution but acting as a testbed for urban-scale sensor networks. Comprised of 100 sensors packed with 802.11 a/b/g transmitters, the first implementation of these units will help to monitor weather conditions along with air pollution.

Meant to be attached to light poles and public buildings, they're bound to look more utilitarian than their kawaii pollen-sniffing counterparts.

Sci-fi blog io9 has the details.

2007 was a banner year for cleantech funding. But now that the economy is taking a beating, it's only right to worry that 2008 will mean lean times for start-ups.

What Will a Recession Mean for Cleantech? - Private Equity Hub

There are those who argue that, in a recession driven in part by high energy costs, alternative energy generation and energy/ water/ materials efficiency plays can look even more attractive. This argument suggests that cleantech markets can be somewhat counter-cyclical, and that government stimulus plans could provide a short-term boost to startups. Furthermore, the argument goes, the stark challenges facing incumbent energy and resource markets could prompt venture and project finance investors to turn even more to cleantech as they run away from other tech sectors more affected by a downturn.

Cleantech IPOs take a swim in U.S. waters - Cleantech.com

Two cleantech companies took the plunge onto the New York Stock Exchange today, amid a tumultuous market and shaky support for green technology in the U.S.

Altairnano Onboard With Navy - Earth2Tech

Reno, Nev.-based Altairnano’s (ALTI) ceramic lithium-ion batteries, dubbed “Nanosafe,” are different from other nanotechnology-based lithium batteries, like A123’s, in that Altairnano has replaced the traditional materials with nano-structured ones that can offer 100 times more surface area and don’t lose their ability to charge.

Being Al Gore - Inc.com

In some circles, being named a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is more highly prized than, say, an Oscar, an Emmy, or a Nobel Peace Prize. Well, Al Gore doesn't have to choose, now that he has joined the storied Sand Hill Road venture capital firm as a partner investing specifically in green companies. We asked a group of entrepreneurs running green companies where Gore should look for deals.

Growing Up Green - Forbes

Intel is enjoying its perch atop the EPA's Green Power Partnership list, and rightly so.

The program calls for organizations to lower the carbon footprint of their U.S. operations by either generating green power on-site, implementing efficient power systems or purchasing renewable energy certificates or any combination of the three. In Intel's case, deriving less than half of its power from renewable sources was enough to earn it the top spot.

Here's what Intel has to say...

Our purchase of renewable energy certificates (RECs) amounts to 1.3 billion kilowatt hours of energy a year. The EPA estimates this has the equivalent effect of eliminating CO2 emissions for more than 185,000 automobiles or the electricity needed to power more than 130,000 average American homes annually.

This purchase places Intel at the top of EPA's Green Power Partnership National Top 25 list, as well as the top of the Fortune 500 Green Power Purchasers list. The Green Power Partnership program encourages voluntary green power purchases to reduce the impact of conventional electricity use.

The list provides a great snapshot of the impact renewable energy is having among U.S. businesses. In it you'll find PepsiCo, the US Air Force, Whole Foods, Cisco, Staples and NYU. It's particularly fun to scan the 100% Green Power Purchasers list, where mom and pops, houses of worship and even ski resorts mingle.

Remember that eco-themed Nintendo DS game from a while back? Yeah, me neither.

Still, that's not stopping Majesco from wooing the environmentally conscious gamer with Eco-Creatures: Save the Forest. If you want a taste of the real-time strategy title before shelling out your hard-earned $29.99 plus tax, you can drop by any one of the 10,000 Nintendo DS Download Stations nationwide from now through May and give it a spin.

Please, try not to snicker too loudly as you read the following rather compelling pitch...

"We are excited that Eco-Creatures now joins the ranks of Cooking Mama, Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends and Cake Mania as a phenomenal game launching with the support of a great demo available through the Nintendo kiosk program," said Gui Karyo, Executive Vice President of Operations, Majesco. "We are confident that anyone who tries Eco-Creatures will be compelled to pick up the full version once it ships and help save the world from ecological disaster."

Cooking Mama FTW! Yes, saving the environment finally ranks right up there with Home Ec...

Seriously though, the screens don't look bad at all and the video hints at some fun. So, if you're looking for a kinder, gentler, cuter alternative to Advance Wars for your strategy fix, this may just be the ticket.

Eco-Creatures: Save the Forest goes on sale March 4th.

[via Kotaku]

Cool looking hardware, right?

Cisco made a splash yesterday with its Nexus 7000 switching platform for data centers. Besides a new OS, NX-OS, and baking in all sorts of storage- and security-related goodness, Nexus 7000 also has the potential to lower energy costs while only setting you back $75K (starting price) when it ships later this year.

This article in Forbes explains...

Consolidating those three networking systems into one Ethernet network translates into a quick 5% to 8% energy saving in a company's data centers, according to a Bernstein Research report on Cisco's new switch. But the Nexus 7000 really gets interesting, says Yankee Group analyst Zeus Kerravala, when it's combined with another revolutionary IT innovation: virtualization.

Today, virtualization allows servers to be converted to software "images" that can be consolidated and hosted on a single physical server, increasing a data center's efficiency by about 25%, Kerravala estimates. But in combination with a switch like the Nexus, virtualization could mean cooperation between multipurpose servers across cities and time zones.

You can read the rest here. The author even managed to work in a Star Trek reference.

Truly, a geek at heart.

We' ve mentioned high-efficiency power supplies for desktops and towers. But what about servers, storage systems and appliances?

No fear, companies like ColdWatt are addressing the data center market and trying hard to attain 90-Plus, if such a thing is possible. Today the power supply maker announced that clustered storage vendor Isilon Systems is dropping ColdWatt’s 650 Watt power supplies into their new gear.

According to a press release, here's what swayed Isison:

"Because ColdWatt's power supply is double the power density and significantly higher efficiency than our previous solution, we were able to deliver our new X-Series storage nodes that provide up to 60 percent improvement in throughput for data write and random access while saving approximately 18 percent of overall power consumption," said Brett Goodwin, vice president of Marketing and Business Development, Isilon Systems. "This reduction in power translates to real savings for our customers where they can either lower their electric bill or add more storage with a smaller power footprint in energy constrained environments."

If the graph in this product spec sheet (PDF) is to be believed, efficiency hovers comfortably above that of 80-plus power supplies. Nice!

Thanks Dan!

Engadget brings us the story of 16-year-old Andrew Angelloti and his converted 1988 Mazda pickup that gets 40 miles per charge and reaches a top speed of 55 MPH. No speeding tickets!

It's no Tesla, but it's a fantastic start.

His next project is a 1992 Toyota Tercel. Engadget's title for the post sums it up, "...reminds us of our wasted youth." And be sure to check on Andrew's progress via his blog.

Ah, there you are...

Many months ago -- an epoch in Internet time -- we posted this cool little maps.amung.us traffic widget (bigger map here). We felt it was time to dust it off and try to light up more of the map.

Drop us a comment and let us know where you're from!

- Pedro, in NYC

Those old servers, computers, and TVs have to go somewhere. Unfortunately, they don't always find their way to a recycling center like the one pictured above. Instead, they usually end up in parts of the world that are ill equipped to handle the release of toxic substances when those devices are dismantled.

National Geographic investigated the situation for its January 2008 issue and they found scenes that would evoke utter outrage here in the U.S. Take, for example, these salvagers in Accra, Ghana, for whom health and environmental concerns take a back seat to making a living.

Mensah and his partners—friends and family, including two shoeless boys raptly listening to us talk—buy a few computers or TVs. They break copper yokes off picture tubes, littering the ground with shards containing lead, a neurotoxin, and cadmium, a carcinogen that damages lungs and kidneys. They strip resalable parts such as drives and memory chips. Then they rip out wiring and burn the plastic. He sells copper stripped from one scrap load to buy another. The key to making money is speed, not safety. "The gas goes to your nose and you feel something in your head," Mensah says, knocking his fist against the back of his skull for effect. "Then you get sick in your head and your chest." Nearby, hulls of broken monitors float in the lagoon. Tomorrow the rain will wash them into the ocean.

Catch the rest of the article here and be sure to give the accompanying gallery a look.

[via The Post - Ohio University]

Pingdom has collected some fine images of tidy network cable runs. Not necessarily green, though it undoubtedly aids in airflow and cable management.

Feast your eyes here.

[via Boing Boing Gadgets]

'Tis better to repair than to replace. At least, that's the ethos many DIYers live by.

And why not? With some basic tools, a couple of bucks and an eBay account, even geeks with modest electronics skills can get their gear back to like-new working order. Except for those shiny new Apple gadgets.

Apple has been rolling out recyclable hardware that's mostly free of harmful chemicals, but EcoGeek has discovered that the company's quest to remain ever so stylish has put the kibosh on repairs.

Hank Green, in speaking with Brett Mosley of BuyMyTronics.com, gleaned this disappointing news...

The new generations of iPods and the iPhone are not designed to be opened. Because the Nano, iPhone and generation 6 "Classic" bodies are metal to metal the body gets completely trashed upon opening. In the Nanos and Shuffles, parts are actually soldered together, eliminating the possibility of simple repair. So, for me, it will be harder to fix these, increasing repair costs and diminishing their resale value after they have been repaired.

Far be it for me to tell companies how to design their products, but this sort of forced obsolescence is a bit extreme. That said, I'm investigating how to keep my 5th gen iPod alive and kicking for years to come.

[via Treehugger]

Been a while, hasn't it? Discovering a crossroads between technology and eco-friendliness is a thrill for me. And when I find it in an unexpected place -- office/facilities management in this case -- I am doubly intrigued.

We've pointed to tips on greening your office and/or datacenter before. And while these measures are undoubtedly good for the environment, you're pretty much on your own when it comes to making it happen.

Well, here comes software to the rescue!

PeopleCube, makers of office scheduling software, have baked in some nice energy saving options into their Resource Scheduler product (version 8.1). In a chat with John Anderson yesterday, CEO of the Framingham, MA-based firm, he revealed some juicy new features that allow the company's platform to act as "a carbon dashboard that will interface with the building management system."

It works like this...

Over at ServerWatch, Paul Rubens pondered if Microsoft will do to VMware what it did to Netscape. Today, the IT sphere is buzzing with news of changes to Windows Vista's virtualization policy and Microsoft's acquisition of Calista Technologies.

Should VMware worry?

BusinessWeek points out why VMware's unlikely to be throwing in the towel just yet, or in the foreseeable future for that matter.

While there's little doubt the market will continue to grow, Microsoft's offerings might not be good enough yet to substantially erode VMware's lead, says IDC's Humphreys. That's because it doesn't include some key features, notably the ability to switch from one running server to another, a feature that VMware has offered since 2003. "For a lot of customers, that's a prerequisite--a ticket to the dance," Humphreys says. [IDC analyst John Humphreys]

It also helps that VMware is synonymous with virtualization. Just sayin'.

Gadgets and cars...

For techies, there is no more powerful combination. For environmentalists, they are a bane.

This year, two prominent trade events, CES and the Detroit Auto Show, promised to bridge the gap between eco and geek camps and help solidify the sizeable overlap between them. This "greening" made headlines, but will it make a difference?

In the case of the Detroit Auto Show, automakers were big on promise (and green paint) but came up short on impressing industry watchers. The New York Times brings us this observation:

This year's overreaching theme had to be green. Automakers desperately tried to make converts by rolling out a woozy parade of concept cars designed to run on renewable fuels like ethanol as well as less plausible dream machines that consume hydrogen or recharge from a wall plug.

There is some definite progress, but the steps are generally smaller than automakers were preaching at the show or the breathless headlines would have you believe.

Though they cite some progress, slapping some green decals on a Ferrari somehow fails to convince. Shocking, but true.

Imagine not watching just one DVD on a transatlantic flight, but three full-length movies with plenty of juice left after you doze off.

That's the tantalizing picture of the near future researchers at Stanford painted with a study published in Nature Nanotechnology.

See, silicon has the potential to outperform carbon used in the anodes of lithium-ion batteries. The problem is that silicon has proven way too fragile.

Until now.

Chemist Yi Cui and his team grew silicon nanowires that do not disintegrate as they absorb and release lithium. Stanford News Service explains:

Silicon placed in a battery swells as it absorbs positively charged lithium atoms during charging, then shrinks during use (i.e., when playing your iPod) as the lithium is drawn out of the silicon. This expand/shrink cycle typically causes the silicon (often in the form of particles or a thin film) to pulverize, degrading the performance of the battery.

Cui's battery gets around this problem with nanotechnology. The lithium is stored in a forest of tiny silicon nanowires, each with a diameter one-thousandth the thickness of a sheet of paper. The nanowires inflate four times their normal size as they soak up lithium. But, unlike other silicon shapes, they do not fracture.

A patent application has been filed. Let's hope we start seeing this battery technology soon.

I've envied Eric Grevstad over at Hardware Central for the review units he's been showered with over the years. Needless to say, he's put some pretty sweet gear through its paces.

Luckily, not every gadget is a winner and knowing this has made it easier to draw a paycheck from the same company. But today, while perusing the archives, I entered full-tilt nerdrage mode.

You see Eric reviewed the lean, green Asus Eee PC (what MacBook Air?). And if that weren't enough of a dagger through the heart, he dares extol its virtues.

The Eee's Intel Celeron M 353 processor -- a 900MHz single-core CPU with a 400MHz bus and 512K of Level 2 cache -- was obviously chosen for its frugal 5-watt thermal design power instead of its screaming speed. But the solid-state disk helps the Asus feel peppy enough when loading and switching among programs; the bulky OpenOffice.org loads in 15 seconds. Nobody's going to edit high-resolution video on the Eee, but everyday applications feel perfectly fine and responsive.

Gah, make it stop!

Making matters worse is the final indignity: a perfect score.

Wait a minute... You're probably thinking that The Green Guide is hardly new.

True, but National Geographic, which bought the site last year, is turning the bi-monthly newletter into a consumer-centric quarterly print mag.

For a cool $4.95 you'll be able to indulge in some eco-friendly buying tips and class up your coffee table when it launches in March. mediabistro.com FishbowlNY (also in Jupiter's orbit) and MediaWeek have more.

Worth the read? If you promise to recycle it afterward, then yes.

OK, it's no Sun/MySQL bombshell, but this collection of stories still deserves your attention.

VMWare, riding virtualization wave, buys Thinstall - VentureBeat

Desktop virtualization is considered the next wave of virtualization. In Thinstall’s case, it lets companies put applications more rapidly on PCs, and then pull them off again without trace.

Venture capitalists raise $34.7 billion, the most since 2001 - SF Gate

Clean technology, social networking and Internet video are all areas that are "frothy," said Todd Dagres, a general partner at Spark Capital in Boston. In some cases, he said, "investors are funding features rather than companies," but he predicted that some interesting companies will emerge in these areas.

NanoGram Takes Lasers to Solar - Greentech Media

The funding will support the Milpitas, Calif.-based business apply its nanoscale techniques to other industries, such as lighting. The financing also will help NanoGram build solar panels using nanomaterials.

European VC investments fall in 2007 - EE Times

The only sector showing real growth is Cleantech, which continued its "remarkable" growth rate, breaking the Euros 200 million barriers for the first time, attracting a total of Euros 206 million of disclosed venture capital in Q4 2007 compared to Euros 196 million the previous quarter.

Morgan Buys Stake in 'Green' Investor - CNNMoney

So slim, so pricey...

The MacBook Air elicited a "meh" from analysts and probably won't have folks lining around the block à la the iPhone. Still, there's some good news.

Tucked in Engadget's exhaustive coverage of Jobs' keynote was this little nugget.

"There's a few things we've done on the environmental side. It's enclosed in a fully aluminum case -- it's easily recycled, highly desirable by recyclers. It's our first mercury and arsenic-free display. All of the circuit boards are bromide and PVC free. We're very happy about that as well... the retail packaging is 50% less volume, this helps a great deal in energy expended in transporting and disposing the materials."

Woot!

Although I still won't buy one, it's nice to know that they've done some Greenpeace-proofing. It should buy Apple a reprieve. Until they find out about the non-user-replaceable battery, that is.

Update: Wired reports that Greenpeace is not easily placated.

We like to think that energy efficient servers and prudent management over our network infrastructures could help us save on electrical usage and cash. It turns out that the biggest slice of the data center power consumption pie is air conditioning.

Network World paints a not-so-pretty picture about what it's costing companies to keep those server farms chilled.

Numerous studies exist on power consumption in the data center. An Emerson Network Power study broke down data-center power usage this way: 50% for air conditioning, 26% for servers/storage, 11% for communications equipment, 10% for power-distribution equipment and 3% for lighting.

They recommend arranging data centers using the tried and true hot/cold aisle method. Failing that, dialing up the thermostat a bit also helps. After all, you shouldn't have to wear a parka to venture into those racks of servers. The folks over at Yahoo don't.

The first signs came when Tesla Motors' founder, Martin Eberhard, was ousted. Now it looks like the purge or "stealth bloodbath" is accelerating, which is never good news, start-up or no.

It also doesn't help that missives like this from new hires and ex-employees are showing up at Tesla Founders Blog:

The atmosphere at Tesla Motors has been suffering for the last couple of months as the new management have slowly squeezed the life out of engineering. The way in which the layoff/reduction-in-force/firings have been handled is one almighty clustercabbage. In a stroke of pure genius, the two HR folks were the first to go, leaving nobody to turn out the lights. Only after they left the building did they realize that now there was nobody to write the termination letters. Like I said, pure undiluted genius.

Say it ain't so :(

That's the number of data centers managers that are greening up their operations. Actually, it's a decidedly un-green stat if you ask me...

bITplanet's Jennifer Zaino brings us this sobering report.

A recent report from Symantec found that only one in seven data center managers have begun to implement a green data center. But the time may be coming when going green becomes more of a requirement, and less of a choice.

In the face of rising energy costs, that time seems to be creeping closer by the minute. Oh, and if you're wondering just how much data centers consume, get ready for more astonishing news:

Domich cited reasons for the state of data centers today, citing figures from APC and MGE that add up to an environmentalist’s nightmare. They show that a typical medium-sized data center uses 177,000,000 kW-Hr of electricity, 60 million gallons of water, 145,000 pounds of copper, 21,000 pounds of lead, 33,000 pounds of plastic, 73,000 pounds of aluminum, and 377,000 pounds of steel.

Looking at it this way really drives the environmental impact home. Imagine all of the energy and resources required to scrounge up, mine and/or manufacture that much material in the first place.

An environmentalist’s nightmare, indeed!

The Chevy Volt, which is set to roll onto American roads in 2010, has been met with cautious optimism so far. But a spectacular new laptop fire in South Korea has apparently been raising safety questions for the vehicle. You see, the laptop and its battery were manufactured by LG, one of two companies behind the development of the Volt's battery packs.

Edmunds.com Green Car Advisor tells us that concerns over thermal runaway in lithium-ion batteries, which the Volt will have in spades, has caused at least one automaker to hold off on the technology.

Recurring incidences of lithium-ion battery fires in laptops is what led Toyota Motor Corp. to delay introduction of the new battery chemistry for its hybrid-electric vehicles – most notably the best-selling Prius – it was reported earlier this year.

But the Volt – and by association, its potential battery suppliers – is particularly under the microscope because of GM’s full-speed-ahead charge to develop the flashy plug-in hybrid in record time.

This has also affected the airline industry. Starting New Years, the TSA instituted new rules for carrying spare lithium-ion batteries for your gadgets in checked luggage.

Luckily, it appears that battery packs from Compact Power, an LG subsidiary, and A123 Systems are different from laptop batteries in some fundamental ways. And new, more automated manufacturing processes will minimize the most common cause of exploding batteries: contamination.

Update: Wired's Autopia blog reports that GM has been stress testing early versions of the Volt's batteries and so far things are looking good. Thermal runaway doesn't appear to be an issue thus far.

How did Gizmodo help lessen the carbon output of this year's CES?

They spared our atmosphere at least a few... um, milligrams of CO2 by shutting down displays using one of those IR gadgets that turn TVs off.

While company reps were presenting.

So childish, but you know you'll be clicking here to watch what transpired. It goes to prove that it's only funny when it happens to other people. I have a feeling press passes will be harder to come by at next year's CES.

If I can't get in, I'm blaming you Giz! Oh, and if you ever do that to me -- should I end up a gadget shill, that is -- I'll fire one of these into your eyes.

No, really.

Speaking of greenwashing... The FTC is looking into the CO2 offset business.

Why?

It seems that in order to get you to book a flight, buy a car or squander your life's savings on a laptop, companies have been offering carbon offsets in the form of tree plantings and the like. Businesses also are buying credits to bring their data centers and general operations into karmic balance with nature and please the fickle gods of marketing.

Naturally, the FTC is concerned that these programs, which are starting to bring in tens of millions of dollars, are ripe for abuse.

The New York Times reports:

The F.T.C. has not accused anyone of wrongdoing — neither the providers of carbon offsets nor the consumer brands that sell them. But environmentalists say — and the F.T.C.’s hearings suggest — that it is only a matter of time until the market faces greater scrutiny from the government or environmental organizations.

“Is there green substance behind the green sparkle?” said Daniel C. Esty, director of the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale University and author of “Green to Gold,” a book about how companies use environmental strategies to their advantage. “The carbon market is a leading example of the challenge of making sure that when people put their money into what they hope will improve their planet, that there is real follow-through.”

Call me cynical, but I think I hear the sound of thousands of saplings being furiously thrust into the ground amidst yells of, "Hurry, before the feds get here!" Let's hope, though, that this is a business that doesn't have to worry about FTC oversight.

Meh-ed by this year's "green" CES?

Well, perk up because the Greener Gadgets Conference kicks off February 1st in New York City. And just in time for those CES wounds to mend (scorched retinas, abused eardrums, emaciated wallets...).

Presented by Inhabitat and Marc Alt + Partners, the event will explore "the business case for the greening of the consumer electronics industry" and bring together some pretty influential names.

In addition to speakers from Sony, HP and Intel, there will be a healthy mix of voices from a variety of disciplines like One Laptop Per Child's CTO, Mary Lou Jepsen, Photographer Chris Jordan and Jeff Omelchuck, EPEAT's Executive Director.

A look at the conference schedule reveals a keynote delivered by Chris Jordan to be followed by presentations on product design (OLPC), product lifecycle, energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Visit the Greener Gadgets Conference website or click on that handsome graphic on the right for more details. If you're thinking of attending, snag an early bird discount by January 15th, a scant 6 days away.

See you there?

Besides taking a taking a manufacturer's word for it, determining a product's "greenness" can be tough. Does an incremental advance or a minor bump in efficiency merit a green label? What if it sips power but was made under environmentally abhorent conditions?

To help consumers spot greenwashing -- which for a double dose of irony can involve astroturfing by PR minions of the shady variety -- SBNOW is pointing readers to EnviroMedia Social Marketing's Greenwashing Index. Here, visitors can comment on the authenticity of the messages behind green advertisements and rate them.

It's a young site with a smattering of content, but they're off to a good start. Give it click or two for some insight into how marketers are navigating this era of environmental awareness, for good or ill...

EcoGeek blogs CES, OLEDs take baby steps into the mainstream and Panasonic talks up conservation - a mammoth 150-inch plasma notwithstanding.

An EcoGeek at CES 2008 -- Day 1 - EcoGeek

When Dell asked me to guest blog for them at the Consumer Electronics Show 2008 in Las Vegas I knew I was in for something interesting... a show for an industry renowned for planned obsolescence, held in a city that leaves the lights on every night, and shoots off fountains in the desert...seems like a weird place to unveil a new thrust in their green campaign.

Green CES Profile: Horizon Fuel Cell - Earth2Tech

Still, it’s hard to tell if Horizon possesses the kind of game-changing technology that it seems fuel cells need to really break into mainstream usage. Their technology pitch seems heavy on “we can do these things” without much emphasis on how their fuel cell technology will overcome the oft-noted difficulties in the space.

OLED TVs Shine at CES - PC World

The TVs are based on OLED (organic light emitting diode) technology that uses an organic material which emits its own light, the secret to its slender design. LCD TVs (liquid crystal display) require a backlight, but OLED TVs don't. Removing the backlight means companies can make much thinner, lighter flat screen TVs.

Update: AnandTech has some shots of Samsung's super-thin, 31-inch OLED prototypes. Let the drooling commence... (Thanks Ralf!)

CES Live: Panasonic, Sharp and Toshiba start recycling program - The Tech Talk Blog - San Jose Mercury News

The company announced that it will team up with Sharp and Toshiba to create a joint venture recycling company to provide recycling services for all of the companies’ products.

And finally, I find it funny that the company that made a massive 150-inch plasma is talking up conservation.

Panasonic Goes Green - International Business Times

"We removed lead elements from all our products in an effort to make the whole world environmentally friendly," said Toshihiro Sakamoto, President of Panasonic AVC Networks. "We are making products that can easily be recycled."

Sony and Playstation 3 owners have been delighting over the weekend on the news that Warner is no longer on the fence and siding with BluRay. This leaves the Toshiba and HD-DVD camp with a minority of studio support.

If only Microsoft had included HD-DVD in its PS3-outselling Xbox 360 things would have been different, cry critics. What's curious is that Microsoft, Netflix/LG and Apple are making moves toward sidestepping the format war altogether, and in a strange twist, doing it in a greener way.

They're all looking beyond physical media at online delivery.

Even Toshiba, hardest hit by Warner's defection, seems to be getting the message. Or, at least, the company's consultants do. The Wall Street Journal reports:

Now, Toshiba will have to focus more on other areas that can help broaden its consumer-electronic presence, such as technologies that copy movies directly onto USB flash drives. Those are tiny sticks that consumers can just plug into their computers, or in the future, directly into their TVs.

"You're going to see that hard drives and reusable flash are much more economical and green" compared to DVDs, says Warren Lieberfarb, a consultant to Toshiba and former head of home entertainment at Warner Bros. "You don't need packaging." He sees portable drives as an interim technology that will last the five or 10 years it takes for online movie distribution to rise to the fore.

Bill Gates famously said that this is the last physical format war. In light of recent events, he may be right.

Remember Meraki?

Now the company that's sprouting community driven, occasionally solar-powered Wi-Fi mesh networks is tackling a big new project, one that even Google and Earthlink couldn't bring to fruition. They're planning to roll out free Wi-Fi across all of San Francisco by the end of 2008 and without a bruising fight at city hall.

Wired.com Epicenter informs us:

Google and Earthlink hatched a similar plan for a municipal Wi-Fi project last year that ultimately fizzled. However, Meraki believes that by bypassing coverage for the public safety sector, relying on volunteers, and installing dozens of wireless gateways on rooftops it can rapidly roll out coverage.

It also helps that they got a $20 million Series B infusion. Naomi Graychase at Wi-Fi Planet has more on the news, along with a heaping tablespoon of background for context. For instance, did you know...

The San Francisco project, dubbed "Free the ‘Net," was launched as a trial last year and eventually served roughly 40,000 people in a two-square-mile portion of the city. In the test area, Meraki says the network identified and worked around more than 20,000 sources of interference, and still delivered almost 1Mbps of access to every user.

Reportedly, several among the thousands of repeaters will draw power from the solar kit we covered all those many months ago. Neat!

Update: Just got word from Meraki that solar powered repeaters are *definitely* in the plan and that they will number in the hundreds. Thanks Erika!

You would think that IT departments, packed to the rafters with futurists and true tech believers, would be the first to welcome virtualization with open arms. Not so!

It's easy to attribute this resistance to cultural inertia or an undercurrent of "one bitten" pragmatism, but it goes deeper. This great Slashdot discussion, sparked by the results from CIO.com's Virtualization in the Enterprise Survey, keeps touching on some common themes: control freaks, dysfunctional personnel and turf wars.

Add a dash of self-interest and job preservation, and what you have is high drama before the dry erase marker even hits the whiteboard.

First, the survey. It's an interest read in and of itself. For instance, while servers first pop to mind when it comes to going virtual -- and rightly so -- respondents also gave storage and desktops a healthy showing.

Where You Use Virtualization

Servers or Data Center 85%
Storage 37%
Desktops 34%
None of the above 8%

They were able to select all that apply, obviously. Nonetheless, those that couldn't find a use for virtualization were in the clear minority. (OS/software testing maybe?) Plus, there's more insight on cost, pain points, and in-house vs. consultants.

However, it's the juicy office politics that really got things going at good 'ol Slashdot.

Comments and opinions abound. My favorites involve IT veterans and managers that lord over their fiefdoms. Naturally, they still provide a vital, yet niche, function so they have a stranglehold on IT. In short, the classic story of the old guard flummoxed by the new reality.

Fun!

Green is the theme at CES this year, a message that seems directly at odds with pushing over 27,000 new gadgets. Even so, some exhibitors are making a real effort this year and not just by jumping on the plant-a-tree bandwagon.

Traditionally, much of the emphasis has been placed on what happens after that new TV, computer or iPod enters your life. You're asked to recycle it (and its packaging) responsibly and power it up only when you're really using it.

So it's good to hear that companies are starting at the design phase when it comes to all that delicious gear we crave. Dean Takahashi at the San Jose Mercury News takes a look at the scene.

The exciting thing is that companies are doing something about the problem. A Toyota Prius, for instance, offers dashboard advice about how you can drive and consume the least amount of fuel. The Wattson helps you measure how much energy your products consume. Hewlett-Packard shaved enough metal from the design of a line of desktops last year to potentially save the equivalent of an Eiffel Tower in metal.

The company has had a "design for the environment" program for decades and it also monitors its vast network of suppliers to assure that their factories comply with environmentally friendly principles, said Pat Tiernan, vice president of social and environmental responsibility at HP.

He also mentions Green Plug, an organization that wants to free us from all of those non-standard power bricks and chargers. Anything to put an end to all that wall wart jockeying on my power strips!

CES will be hosting a Sustainable Tech Zone this year and one of the exhibitors is Voltaic Systems, makers of solar backpacks. Wired's Gadget Lab has the skinny (a.k.a. the specs you care about) on their latest offerings.

The environmentally-conscious gadget hound will appreciate that each bag ships with 12 adapters for a wide variety of devices -- cellphones, PDAs, cameras, and so on. Like a camel storing water for a desert journey, Voltaic's bags siphons surplus power into a Lithium-Ion battery that outputs at 3.5 volts (some cellphones), 5 volts (USB devices, cellphones, PDAs), or 7.2 volts (iPods, larger digital cameras).

They've also switched to greener manufacturing methods for better all-around eco-karma. Breathe easy; no cows were harmed in the making of this bag! Just old soda bottles.

Sounds nice, but the price of admission ($200) seems to be eternally perched over the affordable mark. That might explain why even in NYC (lately home of the Apple Store grand opening of the month), I can count on one hand the times I've noticed someone wearing one.

When I'm less poor, perhaps.

2007 showed all the signs of a watershed year. With solar taking the lead, will things heat up in '08?

Green investments are gaining momentum - Orlando Sentinel

If a green-oriented fund doesn't have good returns, it is because the portfolio manager is not performing, and not just because it is green, Patsky said. Leave the fund but not the concept, he said. [Matthew Patsky, co-manager of Winslow Green Growth Fund, lead manager of Winslow Green Solutions Fund]

PowerSecure reportedly makes acquisition - Cleantech.com

A source close to the company told Cleantech.com PowerSecure closed a transaction today, acquiring a smaller company of an unspecified type.

Attracting Venture Capital in 2008 - BusinessWeek

We think there's going to be much additional focus on clean-energy technology. A lot of funds are being raised in that sector and there's been a shift in perception. It's not just "greens" who are promoting clean tech these days, but also military and conservative people who are increasingly aware that we're getting more of our oil from very unstable regions of the world.

VC Predictions for 2008 - Entrepreneur.com

Chances are you've been inundated with lists of resolutions and forecasts for 2008. Now the National Venture Capital Association offers predictions that could help you in the coming year. The association asked its members to make predictions for the venture capital industry in 2008 in its annual survey. VCs predict high growth in the CleanTech sector, an improving IPO market and a decrease in venture firms.

Cleantech roundup: Martin Tobias out at Imperium, solar’s grand future, and more - VentureBeat

There's no rest for geeks still reeling from the holiday season as January 7th brings gadget nirvana in the form of the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to Las Vegas. While there are sure to be plenty of greener tech toys, the event organizers are taking steps of their own to help offset some CO2.

According to this post on the official blog by the manager of CEA's Environmental and State Policy Communications, Kristina Taylor Duggan, some of those steps include:

In partnership with Discovery Channel’s Planet Green network (launching soon), we’re making CES carbon neutral by working with CarbonFund.org. CarbonFund will invest in energy efficiency, renewable energy and reforestation projects to offset the emissions created by every inch of CES space, all show freight, the shuttle buses and 600,000 hotel rooms will be offset via investments. (In fact, we’re quite proud to say that CES will be the largest carbon neutral tradeshow EVER!) <-- ALL CAPS, in case you doubt their seriousness.

Post-consumer recycled paper with soy ink will be used for all attendee literature.

All light bulbs, batteries and electronics used will be recycled.

More conference sessions dedicated to the environment, the Sustainable Technologies TechZone in South Hall and the Emerging Countries Program, which also focuses on sustainable development.

Catch the full list here. And if you do wind up going (lucky you), Silicon Alley Insider's Peter Kafka offers some tips on surviving CES, keeping a firm grasp on your sanity and not catching the plague while you're at it.

There's some buzz surrounding IVY, a concept external hard drive by Irene Joris, Linda de Valk and Bram van der Vlist that lends some visual appeal to an otherwise mundane little storage appliance.

Packing on OLED on its face, it generates a pattern as more data is fed into the unit. And since the pattern is governed by the files copied onto it, each graphic is unique (unless a drive is perfectly cloned, perhaps?). Plus, you'll be able to tell if it's time to purge some files at a glance.

I hesitate to label it "green" unless they use hyper efficient disks to offset the power draw of the screen, even if it is meager. In any case it's pretty cool and I wouldn't mind seeing it go into production. Which is to say, I'd buy one.

[via Gizmodo]