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New Energy Star spec excludes many large TVs

The reason those TVs no longer qualify is because Energy Star made its requirements more strict this time around compared to the earlier version, designated 4.2, which has been in effect since April 30, 2010. According to Energy Star:

Televisions that meet the new ENERGY STAR Version 5.3 requirements are on average more than 40 percent more energy efficient than conventional models. Larger sets must meet even more stringent levels to qualify as ENERGY STAR. A 60-inch TV will be on average 60 percent more efficient than a conventional model.

In addition to increasing the stringency of the requirements for all screen sizes, the new version incorporates a "hard cap" of 108 watts regardless of screen size. That cap effectively disqualifies most plasma TVs larger than 50 inches, and many other large-screen DLP and non-LED LCD-based sets.

Solar lamp, water filter aimed at India's poor

People working on low-cost technology solutions to the challenges of life in developing countries gathered last month in Colorado to exchange ideas, and two of them addressed some of the most basic needs--light and clean water--for people in India.

The International Development Design Summit is a kind of inventor boot camp geared at producing viable prototypes for products that can help the world's poorest. IDDS 2010 was held at Colorado State University.

One project discussed at the conference is the Sollys solar lamp. Like the Nokero solar bulb, it can replace polluting, ineffective kerosene lamps used at night in poor rural villages with little or no electricity. Some residents walk for hours every month to obtain kerosene and carry it home to mountain communities.

Volunteer group Avani manufactures and distributes Sollys in part of the Indian Himalayas in Uttarakhand state. It says there are no other solar lamps available in the region, where far-flung communities are not connected to electricity grids.

Avani trains locals to manufacture the lamps out of parts sourced from Indian companies. Sollys consists of a solar panel connected to a battery-operated fluorescent lantern. One model costs $45 and can be purchased through a partner microcredit loan for about $2 a month, which is what many families spend on kerosene oil. The price includes two years of maintenance, something Avani says distinguishes Sollys from competitors.

The group says its Sollys lights can operate for three days without a charge, which comes in handy during the monsoon season and its overcast skies. Avani sells about 500 lights per year, and aims to reach 1,000 families in 2011.

Panasonic: New LED bulbs shine for 19 years

Panasonic has launched a new household LED lightbulb in Japan that it says lasts 40 times longer than incandescent bulbs.

The screw-in bulbs are part of the EverLed line, and they're scheduled to hit stores in Japan on October 21, with monthly production at 50,000 units. No changes to lighting equipment used for incandescents are required.

If used an average of five and a half hours per day, the new bulbs can last up to 19 years, according to Panasonic. That's 40 times longer than incandescent bulbs.

The bulbs use only an eighth the power of incandescents. more

Manmade biomass coal offers storage and fuel

A new machine dubbed the "Black Phantom" can turn biomass into manmade coal.

Carbonscape, a New Zealand-based start-up, describes its invention as an industrial-sized microwave that can cook plant waste, wood waste, and "even sewage" into coal.

Carbonscape also claims that the machine captures and stores more carbon than the amount of carbon generated by the electricity needed to power it for the process.

Why would anyone want to make more coal when humans are desperately trying to get out from under the carbon dioxide mess we've been making since the Industrial Revolution?

The invention combines two popular environmental more

Masses to Marvell at tiny wall plug computer?

You might have heard of or even used a powerline network adapter, such as the one made by Netgear that plugs directly into the wall. Now think of a similar-looking device that's an entire computer.

Marvell on Tuesday introduced a new kind of personal computer, called SheevaPlug, along with its Plug Computing initiative. The idea is to make make a high-performance, ultracompact, and green computer that consumers can plug right into a wall power socket.

Because the SheevaPlug draws less than a tenth of the power of a typical PC being used as a home server, according to Marvell, more

Energy monitor sees $7.5 million in funding round

Sentilla, a company that makes energy management technology for industrial and commercial facilities, announced Wednesday that it has secured $7.5 million in Series B funding from Onset Ventures and Claremont Creek Ventures.

The energy-management tech company has patented technology that allows people to use microcomputers to remotely monitor the energy consumption of industrial machines, and allow those machines to exchange data with one another, to collaboratively direct energy supplies to facilities as needed.

The communication between the human monitor and the machines themselves is done through a series of small pervasive computers mounted either at the machine or in more

Is new Bond movie antitech?

Among the many other problems with the latest James Bond film Quantum of Solace, I was particularly struck with its seemingly careless stance on technology.

While I know they're just movies, the Bond franchise films--like Ian Fleming's novels--have always been geopolitical snapshots of the time in which they were made.

According to this movie, the British are pinning their hopes on skillful driving and fisticuffs to get the job done, while those dabbling in high-tech solutions to solve world problems are off-the-mark.

As in Casino Royale, there is no Q. Apparently, in this Bond's world, MI6 does not arm its agents with insight and tools from teams of high-tech experts. The few gadgets used are pitifully unimaginative. (CNET News readers wrote in better gadget ideas.)

In Quantum of Solace, Bond has a cell phone he can use to call MI6 and give the name of a potential villain he's met. MI6 can look up the name and send a photo of the guy to Bond's cell phone to confirm it's the same guy. Guess what? I, too, can call a friend, have them look up a name, background, and photo; and have the info sent to my cell phone. So can millions of teenagers.

The court of bus riders: Why it's faster than driving in Shanghai

Shanghai blogger Wang Jianshuo points out a less-than-expected reason why riding the bus is faster than driving on his commute: ad hoc protest against traffic enforcement:

Bus drivers don't follow the traffic rule as strictly as other car drivers. They just drive wildly, and policemen tend not to care about them. Why? I saw some cases when the policeman stops the bus, and the whole bunch of people on the bus surrounded the policeman and protest to ask the policeman release the driver.

This comes in addition to a more engineered factor, the bus-only lane on highways. People bending more

MIT: Dirty coal to blame for China pollution

In a rare independent study of China's energy sector, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found that the problem with China's coal power generation is not that its power plants lack cleaner technology.

The emissions are definitely higher than they could be, the report found, but the culprit is usually low-quality coal rather than low-tech plants. As an MIT statement explains:

Lower-grade coal, which produces high levels of sulfur emissions, can be obtained locally, whereas the highest-grade anthracite comes mostly from China's northwest and must travel long distances to more

Will Beijing's sustained driving restrictions maintain clear skies?

Much has been made of Beijing's decision to keep a lighter version of its Olympics traffic restrictions, not least because whatever the city did to clean the air seemed to have worked in August. But the renewed measures are weaker and the probable effect is unclear.

Alex Pasternack at Treehugger points out that the sustained restrictions, which took effect October 1, will be weaker than during the Games. Only one fifth of cars will be pulled from the road on weekdays, versus half under the Olympics rules.

According to The Beijinger (also via Alex), the city's other restrictions more