Green Tech

Do you know where or how to recycle that old TV or computer? If not, you're not alone.

Around 12 percent more people used the Web site Earth911.com last year than in 2008 to find out how to recycle their used items, according to a report (PDF) released Monday by Earth911.com.

The company offers a searchable database at its Web site where you can type the name of a product like computers or cell phones along with your ZIP code and receive a list of local stores and facilities to drop off those items for recycling.

Among

France-based Areva, best known for its work in nuclear power, said on Monday it has acquired concentrating solar-power start-up Ausra for an undisclosed price.

The acquisition will expand Areva's business interests in renewable energy, which already include biomass-based power and development of offshore wind, according to a representative. Areva builds equipment for operating power plants and provides construction and maintenance services, but does not sell electricity to utilities directly, she said.

"Ausra will bring to Areva proven technology and an experienced management team. And Areva will bring market and financial strength and experience in construction, operations, and maintenance," the more

Electric-car services company Better Place has announced deals in Israel with corporate fleet operators and a gas station company, steps toward launching a nationwide network for all-electric cars next year.

Ninety-two companies in Israel plan to host charging stations for Better Place electric cars, the company said Sunday, and a gas station operator will host battery switching stations.

With the deals in place and support from the Israeli government, Better Place projects that it will be operating a nationwide network of thousands of charging stations by 2011, according to reports.

During a press conference, Israel-born Better Place CEO Shai Agassimore

If you've ever dreamed of sticking all that paperwork on your desk where the sun don't shine, a Japanese machine can turn it all into toilet paper for you.

Appropriately named White Goat, this device designed for the office can take regular letter-size paper or shreds, including that sales report you cursed until you were blue in the face, and transform it into nearly pristine rolls of white tissue.

White Goat was developed by Oriental Co., a small shredder maker based in Kiryu City, north of Tokyo, which says it's the first product of its kind in more

WASHINGTON--More than scientific breakthroughs, the U.S. needs to deploy existing green technologies faster to keep pace with China and other nations, people in the renewable energy industry said this week.

At the Renewable Energy Technology (RETECH) 2010 conference here, the subject of national competitiveness in the burgeoning clean-energy industry was a frequent topic. The concern is that the U.S. is lagging because of wavering policies, complex permitting, and a skittish financial community.

"We're still pretty good at invention or discovery but in terms of deployment, we're losing ground. In fact, you could say we suck," said more

What's an enterprise software company doing getting into sustainability? After all, the environmental footprint from software production pales in comparison to resource-intensive industries such as power generation or even running data centers that deliver Web services such as search.

SAP is trying to get ahead of the curve in environmental sustainability strictly for business reasons, according to Peter Graf, who last March was named chief sustainability officer at the Germany-based software heavyweight.

SAP's customers are businesses, which need to comply with regulations, such as reporting greenhouse gas emissions or tracking hazardous substances it may use.

But that's more

The Transaction Processing Performance Council has released a new benchmark called TPC-Energy for measuring how much work computers get done for a given amount of energy.

The move reflects the growing concern with power efficiency given environmental issues such as carbon footprint and financial issues involving the cost of electricity for running computers and cooling data centers.

The group already has developed a variety of server benchmarks: TPC-C and the newer TPC-E for database performance and TPC-H for data warehouse performance. TPC-Energy in effect does a little extra math on those tests to yield a "watts per performance" score, the

Utility companies around the world will spend $21 billion by 2015 to improve cybersecurity for the world's electrical smart grid, according to a report released Thursday by Pike Research.

As the industry has increasingly built up smart grids to better control and regulate electrical power, the threat of cyberattacks has become a greater concern. Dangers ranging from terrorist attacks to hackers to accidents to natural disasters could cause substantial damage.

To better safeguard the grid, utilities will spend a total of $21 billion over the next five years. The business segment that services this market will likely see revenue more

WASHINGTON--The most well-known obstacles to installing wind turbines are complaints over their visual impact and the potential for bird and bat deaths. But conflict with radar systems have derailed over 9,000 megawatts worth of wind capacity--nearly as much as was installed in the U.S. last year.

"We're not going to put up more wind (in many locations) without conflict because radar systems and wind systems love exactly the same terrain...which is where the wind is at," said Gary Seifert, a program manager for renewable energy technologies at the Idaho National Laboratories, during a presentation at the more