Ford Focus Global Drive

In an effort to promote the Ford Focus, the Ford Motor Company is promoting a competition called Global Drive. While I am optimistic of future electric cars such as the Chevy Volt, I myself am a fan of this small, fuel efficient car until we reach that place. Ford is interested in making contact with individuals passionate about environmental causes, …

Government Vehicles Going Green

As some of you know, I work for a lab run by the Department of Energy. I get the opportunity to not only witness exciting research that furthers tomorrow’s sustainable lifestyles, but also to see the changes the federal government is making to make their sites as ‘green’ as possible. Current government regulations stipulate that “each agency shall reduce annual …

The Driving Significance of Hybrid-Electric Vehicles

I am currently undergoing the search for a beautiful new (or used) car for myself. As daunting as the search can be, there are a lot of great facts about hybrid-electric vehicles that I’ve found during the process. Luckily, as the importance of protecting our environment becomes apparent, the amount of research and production of green technologies increase. Rising energy …

Release, React, Recycle

This is awesome! There are many ways to alleviate anger and frustration and many ways to recycle. Combine them and you get Glassphemy! I a new project in New York by the creative David Belt to encourage fun recycling. Glassphemy! Is a 20ft by 30ft clear box with high walls of bulletproof glass in Brooklyn. At one end of the …

Fun At The Eco-Chic Expo

I hope many of you had a chance to visit the Eco-Chic Expo yesterday at the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center that Rachel posted about last week.  Featuring many different local sustainable living companies, the expo was definitely a great and interactive way to spend a few hours.  The expo featured a lot of companies all excited to share their products and …

Platinum For Fuel Cells Gets Cheaper

The DOE laboratory I work for recently published some promising results of one of our fuel cell experiments. Researchers with the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and the University of Houston recently found a way to get platinum to be more conductive. It doesn’t sound like much, but this is big for fuel cell technology. Anders Nilsson, one …

Eco-Development and Sustainable Renovation

I’ve noticed an interesting trend lately. The renovation of old buildings. Gorgeous old buildings gutted and rebuilt from the inside-out, as green and sustainable new structures. An exciting (and well-publicized) example of this is the Sanctuary development on Capital Hill in Seattle. The original church was built in the early 1900s and has been a distinctive landmark of the neighborhood …

An Alternative to Lead-based Solder

Anybody with a rudimentary understanding of electronics, especially the person that habitually tinkers with and “fixes” the various appliances at home will know how regularly solder is used and needed, even more so for those in the industry. Up till just recently though, solder wasn’t exactly a milestone of technological achievement. Rather, the basic premise behind solder has remained unchanged; …