sustainable

Saving the planet, one countertop at a time

Like it or not, our lives depend on energy. Lots of it. In fact, the United States alone consumes more than 3.35 terawatts per year, enough energy to run that computer you're reading this from for about 35 billion years, give or take a few million.

In an effort to decrease our environmental imprint and be smarter about how efficiently we're using our energy, several companies have introduced "green" models of their products. Though the Green movement started as a few political conservationist groups in the early 1980s, it is now responsible for one of … Read more

Getting greener without falling into the red

CORONADO, Calif.--There's more than one kind of "green" in the eyes of the world's corporations.

More and more companies are starting to realize that they can enjoy the PR benefits of turning "green," by reducing their carbon footprint through energy savings or changes to their products. But every CEO always has another shade of green somewhere in the back of his or her mind. Companies need to reduce their impact on the environment, but that doesn't mean they can afford to implement every single green idea, or that they even know where … Read more

Clean tech promising but tricky in the developing world

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--Bringing clean technologies to the developing world may not be the top priority for Silicon Valley deal makers, but interest is expanding, according to entrepreneurs, scientists, and venture capitalists meeting Tuesday at Santa Clara University.

An event backed by the California Clean Tech Open "start-up in a box" competition and the university chapter of Engineers Without Borders encouraged students to address problems shared by the world's poorest people.

As tech heavy hitters such as Microsoft founder Bill Gates throw their weight behind "creative capitalism," similar interest appears to be growing among small … Read more

Apple a laggard in climate-change plans, report says

Correction at 8:10 a.m. PDT: Nike's score has been fixed.

IBM, Google, and Microsoft apparently are model citizens when it comes to reducing their carbon footprint, while Apple has a long way to go.

Climate Counts, a nonprofit funded by yogurt maker Stonyfield Farm, released on Wednesday its annual assessment of corporations' actions related to addressing climate change and whether they live up to their "green" marketing claims.

Climate Counts uses public information to rank companies in all industries.

The electronics and IT industry had the best industry ranking with a score of 56 on … Read more

Autodesk add-in models 'green' goods to come

Software plays a key role in the clean-tech world, whether helping consumers size up their carbon footprints and crunch the costs of solar panels, or aiding manufacturers in reducing toxicity throughout the supply chain.

Autodesk unveiled an add-in in April to enable designers using prototyping software Inventor to calculate the carbon emissions of an array of products.

The Sustainable Materials Assistant, available as a preview through Autodesk Labs, also adds up data about the toxicity and recyclability of materials used, and how the final result might comply with regional regulations.

Users must populate data fields with information about toxic ingredients, … Read more

Rallying cry for innovation at Fortune Brainstorm Green and Milken Conference

Doreen Lorenzo, president of frog design, attended the recent Fortune Brainstorm Green and the Milken Global Conference and identified a common theme:

"In the past two weeks, I had the opportunity to attend two very interesting conferences. The first one was Fortune's Brainstorm Green, followed by the Milken Institute's Global Conference. Both of these conferences attract the who's who in the financial and business world. What struck me at both events was the rallying cry that innovation is key in solving many of the world's problems. I continued to hear that change is needed for … Read more

Earth Day: What's missing from CE devices today

In honor of Earth Day, let's look at a once-commonplace feature that has almost entirely disappeared from today's consumer electronics. To illustrate my point, here's a picture from my gadget archive, a perfectly ordinary Sony radio Walkman of mid-90's vintage:

Now let's look at the back:

Notice anything? No? Let's look closer:

What's that...a screw? Remember those? Yes, indeed, thanks to the constant drive for sleekness and cost-cutting you never see screws on CE devices any more, especially portable ones.

What does this have to do with Earth Day? A couple of … Read more

MIT, Germany's Fraunhofer Institute form energy research center

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Fraunhofer Institute of Germany on Saturday signed a memorandum of understanding to create a joint research facility in Massachusetts around sustainable energy.

The Center for Sustainable Energy Systems will have initial funding of $6 million--$5 million from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative state agency and $1 million from utility National Grid.

The center will focus its research on advanced solar modules and advanced materials for building energy efficiency, said Nol Browne, the managing director of the center.

Researchers will also work on building energy device prototypes, such as fuel cell membranes … Read more

Design Green Now

I was part of a panel discussion at Western Washington University yesterday for Design Green Now, a series of talks about sustainable design taking place on the West Coast. Together with my fellow panelists Sophia Wang Traweek, Marc Stoiber and Arunas Oslapas I think we covered a pretty good range of topics with our short presentations, but the real heart of it was Q&A with the 70 or so students attending and some questions submitted via a website. It was also good to see a presentation about the various sustainability efforts going on at the WWU campus.

As … Read more

The Magno Radio: Retro fashion made from sustainable ebony wood

I moved to New York about a month ago and now that the apartment hunt is over, my next project is to get all the necessary junk to fill my room. The first thing I need (read: want) is an alarm clock, and I am a CNETeer (read: nerd), so I've been looking into unique iPod alarm clock radios.

In my search, I stumbled upon a batch of wooden radios designed by Singgih Kartono. They're made of sustainable ebony wood and crafted by local Indonesian carpenters in areas of high unemployment. The radios come in three sizes, each … Read more