Green Tech

The Denver Zoo is rolling out a motorized rickshaw that has been converted to run on animal droppings. It might help save a bundle.

Imported from Thailand, the tuk-tuk is about 20 years old, but it has been given a new lease on life from engineers at the zoo.

The electric three-wheeler runs on gasified pellets made from animal poop, as well as trash produced by zoo visitors and staff.

A heater on the back of the prototype vehicle turns the pellets into syngas, which is used to generate electricity to power the tuk-tuk. … Read more

SolarCity has rapidly grown to be one of the largest solar installers. Now it's applying its financing model to energy efficiency.

The company today announced the availability of energy-efficiency loans that homeowners can use to finance home upgrades and defray upfront costs.

SolarCity's main business is solar, installing photovoltaic panels and offering homeowners leases under which they pay a monthly charge rather than actually purchase the panels. Two years ago, it bought privately held Building Solutions to expand into services and get access to that company's software.

SolarCity has started offering home efficiency assessments to its solar … Read more

The inherent frugality of a hybrid car might make you think of a no-frills driving experience. But luxury automakers have learned the win-win nature of an electric-assisted power train.

Infiniti, Porsche, and BMW devised their own takes on the hybrid car, fitting these fuel-efficient systems into full-size sedans and SUVs. Lincoln borrowed a hybrid system from sister brand Ford for its own midsize sedan, the MKZ. And Lexus even transferred the Prius hybrid power train into a luxury hatchback.… Read more

To get more light in a tight spot, solar panels should be three dimensional, according to a study detailed today.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology published a paper in the journal Energy and Environmental Science this week which found that building a solar array with panels at different angles can significantly improve performance. The best improvements were in cloudy conditions, in winter months, and in locations far from the equator.

Using simulations and small test structures, the group found power increased between two to 20 times compared to a set of flat panels. In initial tests, though, it … Read more

During a day spent torture-testing Volkswagen performance models in the Santa Cruz mountains, I took a time out to drive the eGolf, the electrical vehicle based on the Golf hatchback. Volkswagen just kicked off a test program in the U.S. with 20 eGolfs spread around the country.

I got a look at the eGolf last month in Volkswagen's Electronics Research Laboratory (ERL). The car uses a 26.5 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack to give it an estimated 93 miles in range. … Read more

What if instead of recycling old printouts, you could simply "unprint" them and re-use the paper?

Researchers at the University of Cambridge say it's possible--and that ultimately, widespread adoption of the practice could not only save trees but significantly reduce climate-change emissions from paper manufacturing and recycling as well.

The university reported yesterday that Julian Allwood, leader of the Low Carbon Materials Processing Group at Cambridge, and doctoral student David Leal-Ayala had successfully used lasers to remove toner from paper without significantly damaging the paper.… Read more

There is a dearth of tech products that can also double as accessories for fictional serial killers. If Hannibal Lecter was as into jogging as he was into human consumption, he would have definitely been sporting the Aire mask to power his iPod.

The idea behind the mask it that your breath charges your small electronics. The mask contains small wind turbines that convert your huffing and puffing into renewable power.… Read more

Startup Twin Creek Technologies is attacking the cost of solar by getting more bang from a wafer of silicon.

After four years of work, the San Jose, Calif.-based company today is coming out of stealth and introducing its product, a machine designed to slash the cost of solar cell manufacturing. The company claims its Hyperion system cuts the cost of making a solar cell in half and brings total production cost from about 85 cents a watt today to around 50 cents.

Hyperion is now being evaluated by leading solar manufacturers and the company expects to have a number … Read more

President Obama has called for an "all of the above" energy strategy, ranging from taxpayer funding for electric vehicles to more drilling for oil and natural gas. The goal is to get a greater contribution from domestic renewable-energy sources, such as the sun and wind, yet maintain cheap domestic energy from traditional fossil fuels.

"We're not going to be able to just drill our way out of the problem of high gas prices," Obama told a North Carolina crowd on March 7. "If we are going to control our energy future, then we've … Read more