environment – Ecoble

Green Politicians: 10 eco-friendly additions to Washington

Change is coming to Washington. Greed is out, and Green is in! Here are 10 of our favorite fresh new faces: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfLaQUD86Mw[/youtube] Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy Here’s a nice change, blasting the Energy Department out of its fossilized, fossil-fuel state and into the 21st Century. Instead of an oil …

Dick Cheney Thinks Threats to Public Health Are None of Our Business

As if the Bush Administration was not already the worst Presidency in the history of the United States of America.

As if Dick Cheney didn’t already have a reputation for being a maniacal puppeteer.

5 Extremely Strange Alternative Fuel Sources for Your Car

Who dreams up a car that runs on wood or coffee grounds or a way to turn road traffic into energy? Technology is always unpredictable and no one knows for sure what the future holds. Some of these ideas are brilliant and some are bizarre but at least these folks are thinking way outside of the box. The truck above, for example, runs on a strange combination of vegetable oil and ammonia.

Update: New Floating Man-Made Island About to be Open to the Public

The original Spiral Island was the talk of the world: a man-made floating island constructed from 250,000 plastic bottles that could drift and relocate as needed until it was destroyed by disaster. Now the new Spiral Island is slated to open to the public within the next few months in Laguna Makax near Isla Mujeres. The new island has drawn in donations, volunteers and visitors from all parts of the world and walks of life – people inspired by what may be one of the most impressive do-it-yourself projects of modern times.

Land, Sea and Air – Hydrogen, Human and Wind Power: Three Ecological Transporation Innovations

Let’s face it, trying to solve a big problem in one quick step rarely works out, particularly when the problem is global and touches on virtually all kinds of transporation. Too many alternative energy concept vehicles try too hard to rely on a single source of energy. Electric cars need frequent recharges and solar-powered vehicles of course need the sun. These three vehicles are a worthy stop-gap measure as the world slowly learns to rely less and less on conventional fuel sources and turns more and more to renewable energy.

Space Junk – The Strangest Trash (Not) on the Planet

With all our problems down here on Earth most people don’t think about space junk very often, but there is more of it to think about than most people realize. An estimate 50,000 pieces exist that are large enough to do significant damage on collision with an operational space craft or satellite. Over 90% of the stuff we currently have in space is useless trash – with less than 10% being operational/useful.

Gasoline That Grows on Trees – Literally

Well, not gasoline per say but something strangely close. With minimal filtering and no refining these amazing trees produce fuel for up to 70 years and and at a rate of 1 barrel per 4 trees per year. After extraction, the fuel must be used within a few months but can be put almost directly to work in a diesel engine. However, even if the fuel is left for too long it changes into another form of oil that fetches a fairly high market price as a medicinal substance.

Brilliant Green Architectural Design Concept? Skyscraper Retrofits for Power and Food

Clearly we can’t very well tear down all of the world’s old skyscrapers for not being environmentally friendly – that kind of approach would itself be (ironic and) wasteful. At the same time, many of these buildings are projected to last for decades (or centuries) more. So what is the solution for making them green now? One rather clever proposal involves adding an auxiliary environmental layer to the existing structures that could house gardening and natural wind power production spaces.

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