In the home

IdaTech, a fuel-cell manufacturer in Oregon, announced a smallish new fuel-cell power supply today, the 250-watt iGen. The announcement caught my eye because I've written here a few times about fuel cells and other alternative energy sources (including the nuclear reactor piece last week), and this time I was able to figure out the device's approximate cost of operation, something that usually isn't disclosed for fuel cells.

The iGen's 250-watt output rating doesn't sound like a lot, but it's over half an average person's home electricity consumption. A continuous supply of 250 watts … Read more

Baby boomers may have retired their love beads decades ago, but changing the world heavily motivates their buying decisions, according to a poll by AARP Services and Focalyst research.

Seventy percent of people born before 1964 told pollsters they felt a duty to improve the world. "Socially conscious" shopping goals drive 54 percent of older Americans in the survey, which identified 40 million consumers as "green boomers."

Conventional wisdom may have it that only "eco elites" regularly buy green products. However, the least wealthy people surveyed were more likely to buy products for reasons … Read more

DSM, a Dutch giant that makes everything from food enzymes and pharmaceuticals to plastics and chemicals, has invested in Novomer, which has a process for converting carbon dioxide to biodegradable plastic.

DSM Venturing participated in the $6.6 million series A round that was announced last month, DSM said Wednesday.

DSM said the two companies signed a "cooperation agreement" but did not disclose the amount of DSM Venturing's investment or many other details. Flagship Ventures and Physic Ventures also took part in the funding round.

Novomer, which was spun out of Cornell University, has developed a catalyst … Read more

Many young adults are willing to make lifestyle changes in 2008 for the good of the environment--as long as the efforts are relatively easy, a consumer survey indicates. Fifty-eight percent of adults age 24 or younger plan to make a "green" new year's resolution, according to marketing firm Tiller.

Among all ages surveyed, 49 percent said they would aim to be greener next year. Older respondents were less likely to set such goals, with half of those aged 50 to 64 and 40 percent of people of retirement age claiming they would change their habits for ecological … Read more

It's chemistry for washing your car.

Lucky Earth Products has come up with a liquid, called Green Earth Waterless Car Wash, that lets you wash your car without buckets, hoses, brushes, or gallons of water. The compound--made out of water, coconut extracts, silicone, and a bit of salt--gets misted onto your car. Once there, it attracts dirt via electrostatic principles and encapsulates it. The owner then wipes their car with a soft cloth.

A $20 jug containing 32 ounces of the liquid is good for about 10 car washes. Additionally, the company has liquids for cleaning tires (Tire Shine) … Read more

The binder of information at our honeymoon cottage, Pink Sand, in North Palmetto Point, Eleuthera Island, Bahamas, reads (verbatim):

"Some do's and Don'ts 1. Please Conserve Water as all our water is from rain that is collected from the gutters and placed in our Cistern that is under the Cottage. 2. Please use A/C only when you are in the Cottage and do not have windows open when using the A/C.

Electric in Eleuthera is 3 times that of electric in the USA. If using the Washer/Dryer, please use only once if you are … Read more

Tempted to obsess over how another personal habit helps or hurts the Earth? Keep surfing with cable or DSL and you might save carbons in the process, according to the American Consumer Institute.

The world would be spared 1 billion tons of greenhouse gases within a decade if broadband Internet access were pervasive, the group's report (PDF) concluded in October.

Broadband is available to 95 percent of U.S. households but active in only half of them, the study said, noting that near-universal adoption of high-speed Internet would cut the equivalent of 11 percent of oil imports to the … Read more

Attention, parents of school-age children. Are you worried about a growing Purell addiction? CleanWell has the hand sanitizer for you.

The San Francisco-based company has come out with an alcohol-free, all-natural hand sanitizer. I got some samples at the ThinkGreen conference last week and my hands have been free of epidemic-causing bacteria ever since.

The company claims it kills Listeria monocytogenes, Candida (we can make it together) albicans, Streptococcus pygenes, and Salmonella enterica. You can't spray it on chicken, but the salmonella killing would be great for kitchen sanitizing. Spray CleanWell on your hands and it kills over 99 … Read more

Tuesday was a really bad day for my carbon footprint.

First I learned that my divorce is heating up the planet. A Michigan State University study concluded that divorced couples use up more space in their respective homes, resulting in 38 million more rooms around the globe to light, heat, and cool.

Then, later in the day, as I readied to go home and light candles for the first night of Hanukkah--the Jewish Festival of Lights--I learned of the environmental implications of the annual tradition. The Jerusalem Post told of a campaign--now the topic of much blog fodder--encouraging Jews to … Read more