Best Green Tech Innovations of 2010

Recently Popular Science released its list of the six top Green Tech innovations of 2010, which run the gamut from low to high tech sophistication. These innovations directly benefit the planet or are better for the environment than the technologies they intend to replace.

1. The Groasis Waterboxx

The Groasis Waterboxx was the best new innovation of the year. The innovation is an irrigation-free plant incubator that could help make arid lands fertile. Deforestation and over-farming have helped decrease the productivity of about 70 percent of the world’s arid and semi-arid lands, this could displace 50 million people by 2017.

However, even arid places have enough water, if the roots can access the moist soil beneath the surface. This innovation helps plants to survive long enough to be able to get their roots down to where they can find water.

The Waterbox is a donut shaped tub that is placed around a freshly planted seedling. The evaporation-proof basin is filled with four gallons of water and it supplements this water with condensation. The tub drips about three tablespoons of water a day into the soil, sustaining the plant while encouraging its roots to grow deeper in search of more water. After about one year, the plant reaches the moist soil layer, and the box can be removed and reused on the next sapling. Each Waterboxx is expected to last 10 years.

In tests in the Sahara, 88 percent of Waterboxx-sheltered trees survived, versus 10 percent of trees with traditional cultivation. The inventor is now working on a biodegradable version that decomposes and feeds the developing tree. One of the factors that gives this innovation widespread applicability is its low price of $27 per box. Each box can grow 10 trees in its lifetime, translating to a cost of $2.70 per tree, making it affordable even in poorer nations.

2. Philips EnduraLED

Philips EnduraLED bulb is far more efficient than traditional light bulbs and it is even more efficient than compact florescent light bulbs. This LED produces the same amount of light as a 60-watt incandescent using just 12 watts. The EnduraLED’s produce a warm, white glow. The bulb lasts approximately 25 times as long as an incandescent and energy savings cover the cost in about four years. Its efficiency is similar to compact fluorescent lights, but without the mercury. It retails for about $40.

3. ecoATM

Only 3 percent of cellphones worldwide get recycled; the rest end up leaking toxic metals into landfills. Now ecoATM has the first phone-recycling kiosk. To identify the phone’s model, it visually scans the phone’s exterior and compares the images with an ecoATM-maintained database of 4,000-plus mint-condition handsets. It also tests the phone’s electronics and looks for cracked LCDs and cosmetic damage. The kiosk erases the phone's data as well as payout cash based on the phone's resale value. The first 10 ecoATMs have already recycled 33,000 phones, at an average payout of $9 per handset. The company plans to roll out 500 more kiosks next year and expand to other portable electronics.

4. AMEE Explorer

AMEE. Explorer is the world's smartest carbon calculator. Three years ago, AMEE, a carbon-data company, made the best and most sophisticated programming tool aggregating thousands of previously incompatible data sources and environmental models. Now AMEE has added the free, user-friendly Web site Explorer.

5. Calera

Coal and natural-gas power plants are one of the largest man-made sources of carbon dioxide. But by paying to build a Calera facility, a plant can trap about 70 percent of the CO2 emissions coming out of their smokestack while producing and selling construction materials. Calera’s process combines the CO2 with calcium from underground brine or seawater to produce calcium carbonate, which can act as a cement. Calera has had a demonstration plant that has been running since 2009 and this year it began planning the first commercial facility.

6. Neah Power Infinity eL

Neah Power’s direct-methanol fuel cells are lighter, greener batteries that are also less expensive than other fuel cells. Its novel silicon-based electrode has 40 times as much surface area as most fuel cells, producing more charge while using less platinum catalyst. This fall, Neah introduced Infinity eL, its demo product line. The company commonly tailors its tech to specific applications, however, Neah cells could replace current lithium-ion batteries, including those found in electric-cars and laptops.


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The History and Value of Environmental Labeling

Environmental labels have been around for more than a quarter century, yet their value rests on the assurance that the information provided is credible, objective, easily identifiable and understood by consumers.

The demand for environmental information on consumer products has been growing since the late 1970s. There are now many different approaches and systems for assessing and communicating environmental product information.

In 1992, the concept of environmental labeling was endorsed by participating governments at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) to "encourage expansion of environmental labeling and other environmentally related product information programs designed to assist consumers to make informed choices".

In 1993, ISO established a technical committee to develop international environmental labeling standards. These standards are intended to incorporate requirements for consistency and accuracy, and create fair competition in the marketplace. ISO 14020 series is part of a family of international environmental labeling standards.

Environmental labeling is based on international standards and is recognized as an effective instrument of environmental policy by the World Trade Organization (WTO) secretariat, (see WTO Web page on environmental labeling).

Standards play an important role in providing guidance to ensure responsible claims in industry and advertising.

Standards for environmental claims benefit consumers, industry, and advertisers by providing a level playing field and consistency of application. They also provide continual improvement through the maintenance of a standards program that is updated as environmental practices and scientific information evolve.

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The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Food and Water

Vertical Farming: Valcent, a company based in El Paso, Texas, is pioneering a space efficient hydroponic-farming system that grows plants in rotating rows, which expands food supplies without using more land. The rotation gives the plants the precise amount of light and nutrients they need, while the vertical stacking enables the use of far less water than conventional farming. The company claims it will use 95 percent less water than conventional agriculture, increase crop yields 20-fold for the same amount of land, and eliminate pesticide and herbicide use.

Green inventions for Water: This invention enables the extraction of water from the atmosphere. The Solar Powered Water Purifier eliminates the need to boil water using wood or coal. There are currently 1.2 billion people in the world living without clean drinking water.

Reusable Fruit and Vegtable Bags: As revealed in the sneak peek of G Magazine's list of the year's 10 most innovative eco-products, there have been a few interesting green inventions from Australia in 2009 including Greensacks, a finalist in the 2009 news.com.au Green Awards. Greensacks are reusable, lightweight mesh bags designed to replace small, single-use plastic fruit and vegie bags. A reusable alternative to plastic bags will reduce the current Australian use of over 10 million plastic bags a day, which take between 15 and 1,000 years to break down.
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The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Education

Climate Change Video: The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has produced a film about the reality of climate change in the Pacific island of Kiribati. The film clearly shows how people’s lives are being affected right now by rising sea waters. This powerful video shows how Climate Change is impacting people all around the world.

Children's Education Through Videos: Teachers are providing environmental education for children using videos. Videos from sites such as Green Energy TV foster awareness about what kids can do with regard to such things as the elimination of Junk Mail.

Copenhagen Conference Teacher's Website: Together, ClimateChangeEducation.Org and GlobalWarmingKids.Net are working to provide climate change education programs to educate children and provide resources to teachers.

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The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Energy Efficiency

The Smart Thermostat: The EnergyHub Dashboard communicates wirelessly with your furnace and your appliances and monitors energy consumption and costs. It can also turn appliances on and off and raise or lower the temperature in your house. The EnergyHub device provides detailed spreadsheets for programming energy usage, and offers features such as comparing your home’s energy usage to that of other EnergyHub users and weekly energy consumption. EnergyHub is currently partnering with utilities for trials and will be available direct to consumers in early 2010.

A More Energy Efficient Light Bulb: Philips Electronics has developed a light-emitting diode (LED) bulb said to produce as much light as a 60W incandescent bulb using less than 10W, and lasting 25 times as long. Sixty-watt lights account for 50% of the domestic incandescent market; replacing conventional light bulbs with LED. could save electricity equivalent to the energy required to power 17.4 million households.

Electron Stimulated Luminescence (ESL) Lighting Technology: This technology from Vu1 uses accelerated electrons to stimulate phosphor which creates light by making the surface of the bulb glow. ESL Technology says that this bulb creates the same light quality as an incandescent but is more energy conserving. These bulbs are mercury free.

Electricity Management with Mobile Technology: Z-Wave enabled home automation systems enables users to control thermostat, lighting etc from a mobile phone.

Blink Photocell Controlled Outlet has an adjustable eyelid that can be fine tuned to activate or deactivate the light sensing function. This gives it the energy saving advantage of automatically disabling and enabling outlets with the rising or setting of the sun. These little sensors can replace the need for bulky, complicated timers.
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Next: The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Transportation / The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Consumer Goods / The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Education / The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Food and Water

The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Energy Production

The Solar Shingle: The Dow Chemical Co. has developed a new roof shingle that doubles as a solar panel. The new shingle incorporates thin-film solar cells and can be installed alongside regular asphalt shingles. The innovative shingle is expected to cost 10% to 15% less than traditional solar panels and wil be quicker to install. Dow predicts it will bring in as much as $10 billion in revenue by 2020.

Turning Waste into Energy: Green Energy TV has given Ze-gen, the Two Green Thumbs Up Award for being one of the Best Green Companies. Over one billion tons of waste have already been landfilled across the globe so far this year. Ze-gen's waste transformation is an economical and environmentally superior alternative to land filling or incineration. Clean and highly efficient gasification technology unlocks the potential for waste to be a domestically produced, renewable resource.

Turning Used Oil into Power: The Vegawatt is a turnkey plant that converts a restaurant's spent vegetable fryer oil into electricity and hot water.

Green Exercise: One man is reported to have lost over 70 pounds from riding his bike that powered the TV in his home. Some gyms are also starting to harness the energy from treadmills, bikes, and other equipment to power their electricity needs.
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Next: The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Energy Efficiency / The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Transportation / The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Consumer Goods / The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Education / The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Food and Water

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Best Eco-Inventions 2009

There were a host of greener inventions in 2009 and they include everything from tooth brushes to a planetary nervous system.

The term "eco-inventions" is composed of "eco" the short form of ecology, defined as the branch of biology concerned with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings. The word "invention" is defined as the creation of a new device or process, resulting from study and experimentation.

In the simplist terms, eco-inventions can claim one or more of the following: They save materials, they reduce energy, they increase efficiency, and they promote recycling or repurposing.

Some of the best inventions of 2009 involve monitoring technology. NASA and Cisco have teamed up to develop the "Planetary Skin," it will integrate land, sea, air and space-based sensors, helping the public and private sectors make decisions to prevent and adapt to climate change. The pilot project will track geographically specific carbon levels held by rain forests. A prototype will be released in 2010.

Researchers from Princeton University have developed a method of measuring the Personal Carbon Footprint. Their efforts stress individual carbon emissions rather than national levels.

Some of the more widely available green inventions include portable solar or wind powered rechargers for personal electronics like mobile phones and mp3 players. Although not a new technology, support.com's free “Green Computer” service helps people save energy and money. This service makes your computer more energy efficient and can save up to $75 dollars per year, equivalent to 400 to 1200 pounds of CO2 emissions. Seemingly small efforts add up, if one hundred thousand people used support.com's Green Computer service the carbon savings would be equivalent to planting 1000 acres of trees.

Recently Time magazine published its list of the 50 Best Inventions of 2009 and green innovations figured prominently in their list. As the year draws to a close, The Green Market will post a summary of 25 of the best eco-inventions of 2009. These inventions will be presented under the following 6 headings:

1. Energy Production
2. Energy Efficiency
3. Transportation
4. Consumer Goods
5. Education
6. Food/Water

From large scale projects to small scale creations, green inventions and energy innovation are the way of the future.
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Next: The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Energy Production / The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Energy Efficiency / The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Transportation / The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Consumer Goods / The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Education / The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Food and Water

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