In the home

The push for energy-efficient lighting in the developed world focuses on replacing wasteful incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents and LEDs. In developing regions, however, kerosene lanterns still bring dim nighttime light to an estimated 1.6 billion people.

Off-grid lighting is a growing area of focus for social entrepreneurs eyeing opportunities for "green" technologies in developing markets.

Engineers, start-ups, nonprofit groups, and venture capitalists involved are working on portable flashlights and fixtures powered by solar panels and even bicycle-like pedaling contraptions.

Safe and affordable lighting can be key to development efforts in poor communities. With better light, people … Read more

SPICEWOOD SPRINGS, Texas--When Joe Wheeler built his new house here in 2001, he was told that it would cost $10,000 to drill a well, and that he wouldn't be able to drink or bathe in the water. Undaunted, he turned to the old-fashioned idea of rainwater collection to solve his water problem.

Wheeler talked to people who had experience with rainwater collection, and eventually installed what was available on the market at that time, so-called first-flush technology. The first-flush system he had installed sent the first, dirty batch of water from the roof into a diverter tube, and … Read more

I never thought tech devices that consume relatively little energy, such as external hard drives, can actually be optimized to consume even less energy. Apparently, I was wrong. Case in point: the Guardian MAXimus external hard drive enclosure from Newer Technology.

The device is the company's first effort into "Green" storage. It features triple interfaces: FireWire 800, FireWire 400, and USB 2.0 and it supports up to 1TB of storage space in RAID 1 (mirrored) configuration. Utilizing the latest technology in energy efficiency, the Guardian MAXimus provides a 15 percent power savings and consumes up to … Read more

If eco-friendly features replace the endless stream of thinnest, smallest, and lightest "in the world" claims on the technology market, we'll be very happy campers. And for that reason alone it's worth mentioning the latest boast from LG about its new computer monitor.

The Korean company says its "Flatron W2252TE" is "the world's most energy-efficient monitor," according to our cousins across the pond at SmartPlanet. The 22-inch widescreen LCD, which is headed for the U.K. market, supposedly uses 40 fewer watts to operate than do comparable monitors--an energy saving of … Read more

I guess this is what Disney would consider edgy: the company has reportedly acquired Ideal Bite, a "sassy" eco-focused e-mail newsletter that explicitly states it's "not for readers under age 18." The price was about $15 million, PaidContent reported. That's a lot smaller than Club Penguin, which Disney acquired for $350 million last year.

Ideal Bite is small even as far as e-mail lists go--it's no DailyCandy--but its demographic was likely of interest to a buyer like Disney. The site's median household income is $82,000, press materials state; the median … Read more

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--City governments' response to climate change ranges from cutting-edge distributed energy to adding more bike lanes and trees.

Climate change experts from four cities--London, Toronto, Chicago, and New York--spoke about the connections between sustainable urban design, energy, the economy, and human health on Monday at the Mass Impact Symposium, organized by the Boston Society of Architects and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The cities' climate action plans, some of which have yet to be fully rolled out, call for aggressive goals to measure, reduce, and monitor greenhouse gas levels--on the range of 50 percent to 80 percent in … Read more

Aggressive plans to expand renewable energy in San Francisco moved ahead Tuesday as the city's lawmakers approved grants to help homeowners, businesses, and nonprofits add solar panels to their buildings. Solar power companies are gearing up to meet an anticipated jump in demand in the city.

Over the next decade, between $3,000 to $6,000 will be available to each homeowner to cover the installation of solar panels, as well as $10,000 for businesses and nonprofits, and $30,000 for nonprofit affordable housing.

"This rebate program further establishes San Francisco as America's solar energy leader … Read more

Most Americans live and work in buildings awash in chemicals blamed for asthma, lung cancer, and a host of other maladies.

The best way to clean the air could be with a green thumb, according to Bill Wolverton, a former NASA environmental scientist who has spent more than 30 years studying how plants purify the air. The results of his research could come to market this fall as a household air filter that looks like a potted plant.

"Every chemical we tested, plants could take them out," said Wolverton, who originally worked on life support systems for the … Read more

Greener One, now in early beta, is a very interesting and timely idea. The CEO, Zoli Piroska, wants to build a "crowdsourced database of green attributes for consumer products." The benefit for consumers is that they'll be able to tell what the environmental impacts are of products they are considering, from TVs to laundry detergents--and users will be the ones to build the database of attributes.

On the input side, Greener One is a structured wiki. Consumers who want to add information to the database are directed to look up certain info on products, and there's … Read more