green

Dodge, Ford, Mazda, and Toyota nominated for Green Car award

Each year, Green Car Journal names its Green Car of the Year at the Los Angeles Auto Show. For the upcoming award, the field has narrowed down to five contenders, each using technology to achieve high fuel economy.

Here are this year's nominees:

Dodge Dart Aero Ford C-MAX Ford Fusion Mazda CX-5 SkyActiv Toyota Prius C

The Aero version of the new Dodge Dart uses aerodynamic components, low rolling resistance tires, and a grille shutter to get 41 mpg highway from its turbocharged 1.4-liter engine. However, its combined city/highway fuel economy is only 32 mpg.

Ford gains … Read more

EPEAT finds MacBook Air, other laptops meet 'green' standards

An environmental standards group that rates electronics for their environmental friendliness cleared five ultrathin laptops as conforming to its "green" standards, including Apple's MacBook Air.

The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) announced Friday that its investigation of notebooks sold by Apple, Lenovo, Samsung, and Toshiba met the group's review criteria and as such were in compliance with its "green rating." Specific areas of concern for the government-backed group included whether products were upgradeable, whether upgrades could be accomplished with commonly available tools, and whether materials such as batteries could be easily removed.

"… Read more

Forget iPhone purple haze, now there's the green glow

The iPhone 5 appears doomed to suffer from glitches involving different colors.

Following the "purple haze" issue found in some iPhone 5-shot photos, some users are now complaining of a "green glow" found on the display. The green glow is described as appearing on the edge of the screen like plasma bleed, and occurs when the phone is woken out of sleep mode. The Guardian was the first to point this out, citing complaints from a number of different forums.

The green glow supposedly appears for just a split second, but some users complained that the … Read more

Record-breaking NFL tweeter celebrates end of ref lockout

Green Bay Packers guard T.J. Lang celebrated the end of the NFL referee lockout today, a day after his candid tweet broke a retweet record.

Lang tweeted one last jab today to mark the return of the officials to the field:

"Good to see the regular refs coming back! I'm sure the scabs are disappointed they have to return to their jobs at footlocker," he tweeted today.

Lang's original tweet, which read "F--k it NFL. Fine me and use the money to pay the regular refs," stirred up plenty of commentary yesterday. It … Read more

Google to use wind energy for Oklahoma data center

Google is going green at a data center in Oklahoma.

The search giant announced today that it has signed a deal with the Grand River Dam Authority to transition the energy supply for its Oklahoma data center to wind energy. According to Google, the supply will be powered by 48 megawatts of wind energy from the Canadian Hills Wind Project in Oklahoma. The Project is slated to come online later this year.

Although Google has signed deals in the past to use green, renewable energy, it's the first time the company will take it from a utility provider. In … Read more

Sharp reveals see-through solar panel

A see-through solar energy panel announced today by Sharp -- primarily designed for balcony railings and skyscraper windows -- offers an uncommon alternative energy solution and sense of privacy in a single package.

The semi-transparent black solar panel launches in Japan on October 1, and delivers a solar power conversion efficiency of about 6.8-percent with a maximum output of 95 watts. While the low conversion rate seems lackluster comparative to the 10- to 20-percent efficiency standard these days, few see-through solar panel options exist commercially. Overall panel size stands at 4.5-feet wide by 3.2-feet tall and sports … Read more

Twitter founder says influence is in retweets. NFL player shows why

When Green Bay Packers guard TJ Lang let loose a couple of F-bomb-laden tweets last night in the wake of the Monday Night Football refereeing disaster that cost his team a victory, his posts were quickly seen by far more people than followed him on Twitter.

Lang's two tweets, one which read "Got f---ed by the refs.. Embarrassing. Thanks nfl," and the other, "F--k it NFL. Fine me and use the money to pay the regular refs," were pure frustration at having lost the game to the Seattle Seahawks, likely due to a missed call … Read more

The Oree keyboard is a wireless wooden wonder

The aesthetics of the modern keyboard reminds me of the U.S. car industry several years ago: uninspired.

Enter the Orée wooden keyboard, nearly made in full out of Mother Nature's greatest asset. French entrepreneur Julien Salanave came up with Orée and works in collaboration with a small design team in southern France to produce the wooden Bluetooth 3.0 wireless keyboard. … Read more

GM cancels future hybrid truck and SUV models

According to a report at GMInsidenews.com, GM will cease production of the Two-Mode hybrid versions of the Chevrolet Silverado, Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Sierra, and GMC Yukon. The company has decided to axe upcoming generations of these hybrid trucks due to low demand and out-of-control costs.

GMInsidenews.com suggests the move is unusual so close to the vehicles' 2014 launch. However, modest fuel economy gains over the non-hybrid versions likely contribute to slow sales. Overall fuel economy in most applications is between 20 mpg city and 23 mpg highway.

There is still hope for the next-generation Cadillac Escalade hybrid, which … Read more