Energy Efficiency Rules for TVs; Cap and Trade only for power plants; Subaru’s Clean Car Plant; The Grace E-motorbike; Lunescent Syncs Streetlights

California Approves Energy Efficiency Rules for TVs California regulators have passed the nation’s first television energy efficiency standards that, by 2013, will cut electricity consumption by almost half, the New York Times reports.

Cap and Trade only for power plants and no one else? While President Obama and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill continue to focus on legislation covering greenhouse gas emissions across broad sections of the U.S. economy, a small bipartisan faction of Senate moderates is examining the idea of passing a bill that deals only with the heat-trapping emissions from power plants.

Subaru’s Clean Car Plant – Less Waste Than In Your Own House. When you carry out your trash at home on the next collection day, you’ll be sending more trash to landfills than the entire Subaru manufacturing plant in Lafayette, Indiana.

The Grace E-motorbike This bike is made from Formula One parts as well as parts from fighters. If that doesn’t sell you, then you should know that it is electric powered. Yes, there is a 1300-watt motor with lithium ion batteries in lieu of pedaling.

Lunescent Syncs Streetlights With Moon Cycles for Energy Savings Lunescent hopes to get us back to following the moon a little more, and save us up to 90% on streelight energy consumption. The start-up showed off its first product, the Lemma light, at Cleantech Open.

Have a great weekend everyone!

The three turbines are expected to generate approximately 11,600 megawatt hours of electricity per year, and any additional energy not used by the communities will be sent off-island to the grid. The electricity generated from the project is expected to offset 5,400 tons of carbon dioxide emissions in the region.

For more info, check out Fox Islands Wind Project

Storing energy in salt; Poet reduces cellulosic ethanol production costs; Top 10 Eco Gadgets; Cash for Caulkers; Recycled Messenger Bag

Solar plant to store energy in molten salt SolarReserve and Preneal have garnered the necessary permit to build a 50-megawatt thermal-solar plant in Spain that will use molten salt to store and release solar energy.

Poet reduces cellulosic ethanol production costs No, not that kind of Poet. Poet LLC, the nation’s top ethanol producer, says it is has reduced its cellulosic ethanol production cost during the past year from $4.13 per gallon to $2.35 per gallon.

Top 10 Eco Gadgets for 2009 Having tracked the popularity of eco gadgets reviewed on EnviroGadget this year, I have created a compilation of the top green gadgets available to buy. The ranking is based on the number of clicks and views of each review on EnviroGadget.

“Cash for Caulkers” Could Deliver $23B for Home Energy Efficiency The White House is reportedly considering rolling out a two-year, $23 billion program to encourage homeowners to undertake weatherization projects such as adding air sealing, insulation and energy-saving light bulbs. The program would be called Home Star.

Gorilla Sacks Recycled Messenger Bag Gorilla Sacks are made from actual recycled vinyl billboards. Great way to carry all your other earth friendly products.

House to Supply Power to Grid; Biomass Plays Big Role; ArmorLite Safety Coating for CFL; Citaro fuel cell bus; Big Wind-Turbine Plant in U.S.

Energy Positive House to Supply Power to Grid in Sweden Swedish designers are currently constructing Villa Akarp, a residence that aims to combine energy conservation, energy recovery and energy generation technologies. If all goes as planned, the home will actually produce more energy than it uses and provide the excess to the grid.

Biomass Plays Big Role in UK Renewable Energy While the market currently is dominated by utilities, if the government enacts feed-in tariffs for biomass generators in 2010, as expected, it will be more financially viable for the commercial sector to adopt

ArmorLite Safety Coating for CFL’s Basically a regular spiral fluorescent light bulb inside a protective Safety Coating, the ArmorLite bulb looks like an incandescent bulb, but will keep all the broken shards of glass and mercury safely inside the skin in the event that it breaks.

Citaro fuel cell bus in Hamburg cuts fuel consumption in half Daimler this week unveiled the first of its new generation Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL-Hybrid transit buses. The combination of the new stack design and a hybrid configuration using lithium ion batteries allows the fuel cells to operate at a more constant output with the batteries taking care of the transient acceleration needs. The result is that fuel consumption is cut in half compared to the older buses and the new buses have a range of 155 miles.

A-Power Plans Big Wind-Turbine Plant in U.S. A-Power, the Chinese wind-turbine maker, and local partners U.S. Renewable Energy Group said they would build a massive wind-turbine plant in the U.S. that could produce 1,100 megawatts of wind turbines a year and employ more than 1,000 U.S. workers. The factory would use U.S.-made wind-turbine components, the company said.

Radio Controlled Hydrogen Powered Car; Airbus ‘Sharklet’ Wingtip; Fuel cell vehicles; Uber-Thin Modular Solar Panels; Design concept ’shelf’

H2Go Radio Controlled Hydrogen Powered Car This is a far cry from what I had as a kid. The H2Go Radio Controlled Hydrogen Powered Car is probably one of the most advanced eco and educational toys you’ll ever see for children. Basically the car is powered using hydrogen gas, and can reach speeds of up to 6 miles an hour (which is a scale speed equivalent to 80mph!).

Airbus ‘Sharklet’ Wingtip Design Reduces Fuel Use 3.5% Airbus is developing new “Sharklet” wingtip devices for its A320 aircraft that are expected to cut fuel burn by 3.5 percent and reduce 730 metric tons of CO2 emissions per plane annually.

Fuel cell vehicles finish 707-mile demonstration run in Japan Over the course of the trip the three vehicles covered 706.5 miles and consumed 28.8 kg of hydrogen. That works out to an average of 73.6 miles / kg. One kg of hydrogen has roughly the energy equivalent of one gallon of gasoline, so the mileage works out to about 73-74 mpg.

Uber-Thin Modular Solar Panels One innovative company at the forefront of the solar energy bustle is Sulfurcell, the producer of a new kind of modular solar panel that add energy-generating capabilities to any building. The super-thin panels are entirely self contained, so they don’t require any substructure, and they can be applied to new buildings as well as retrofitted old buildings to provide a sleek look and plenty of power.

Design concept ’shelf’ protects your car while solar charging China’s Leon Zhu came up with this innovative yet simple way to simultaneously protect your car’s exterior from the elements and collect solar energy. The idea is that when folded the shelf would provide energy for the car’s electronic systems and air conditioning system.

Each year the editors of Popular Science review thousands of products in search of the top 100 tech innovations of the year; breakthrough products and technologies that represent a significant leap in their categories. Best of What‘s New awards are presented to 100 new products and technologies in 11 categories: Automotive, Aviation & Space, Computing, Engineering, Gadgets, Green Technology, Home Entertainment, Security, Home Technology, Personal Health and Recreation.

So how exactly does a hybrid water heater work? Well, a compressor and evaporator are integrated into the electric water heater unit and the evaporator draws in ambient heat from surrounding air using two variable speed fans. Electric coils wrap the tank all the way to the bottom to transfer this heat into the tank and heat the water. The units have several different modes that can be set at home which can further your energy savings:

Hybrid mode – While the unit uses the heat pump as its primary means to heat the water, the standard electric elements may activate if a faster water temperature recovery time is needed. When the system determines that demand has been met, it will automatically revert back to using the heat pump only.

High Demand mode – This is a great feature if you have guests spending the weekend and need increased amounts of hot water. High Demand mode operates very similar to Hybrid mode, but lets the system know in advance that it will be experiencing a larger water demand than usual. The water heater will be faster to react to temperature recovery by cycling on the heating elements sooner and for a longer duration of time.

Standard mode – This mode shuts off the heat pump and only uses the electric elements to heat the water, just like a standard electric water heater. Standard mode allows for operation in extremely cold situations (less than 45°F) where heat pump functionality would not be ideal.

Vacation setting – With this setting, the system will drop the temperature set point to 50°F to save energy, while also preventing the water from freezing.

This looks like a pretty cool product that would work well in most houses, so congrats to GE for developing it and for winning this award.

Eco-friendly Christmas tree; Streetlights powered by trash; Wind farm completed in Utah; Water on the Moon!; Electric Ave at the Auto Show

Eco-friendly reusable Christmas tree These folding, reusable Christmas trees and ornaments are made in Finland from sustainably harvested FSC certified wood.

203 MW Wind Farm Completed in Utah First Wind’s Milford Wind Corridor project has just seen the completion of its first phase - 203.5 MW in Millard and Beaver Counties in Utah, the largest renewable energy facility in the state.

Streetlights of the Future to be Powered by Trash Streetlights, which must stay on all night are a pretty sizable energy drain. But what would happen if all those people could toss their garbage into bins attached to a new kind of streetlight that could use it as fuel?

Water on the moon! It may not be directly Eco-Tech related, but I couldn’t NOT mention it! NASA confirmed the presence of lunar agua today with a cheeky: “The argument that the moon is a dry, desolate place no longer holds water.”

Electric Avenue comes to 2010 Detroit Auto Show The EcoXperience exhibit will be back again for a second year. The landscaped track on the lower level of Cobo Hall will provide attendees the opportunity to try out a variety of electric drive vehicles.The last show featured the likes of the Mitsubishi iMiEv, Ford Escape PHEV, and GM’s fuel cell Chevy Equinox.

Starbucks Goes for LED; Fueling a fleet with Biodiesel; Road Trains; Energy Efficient Desalination; Mini E leases

Starbucks Goes for LED Lights Coffee behemoth Starbucks will replace conventional lights with light emitting diode (LED) bulbs in 8,000 stores by March of next year.

U.S. Foodservice-Atlanta Fuels Fleet with Biodiesel The distributor is using B5 fuel, a 5-percent blend of diesel made from vegetable oils, animal fats or recycled restaurant greases, to run its 185 tractor-trailers.

Europe Testing “Road Trains” to Cut Fuel Use Have you ever been driving in rush hour and wished you could just zone out and read a book during your trip instead of stressing about the traffic? Well, the EU is testing a way to make that possible while cutting fuel consumption at the same time. The idea is that eight vehicles would travel as one “train,” linked by wireless sensors. It’s believed that the system, called Safe Road Trains for the Environment (SARTRE), could cut fuel use by 20 percent for cars traveling in the trains.

Breakthrough in Energy Efficient Desalination Technology Saltworks Technologies, a Vancouver, BC cleantech company, is positioned to revolutionize the desalination industry with a breakthrough technology that uses far less energy than current commercial processes.

BMW mull lengthening Mini E leases There are two reasons an extension would be good for the automaker: it would keep customers happy and to it would make sure the project is in operation long enough for BMW to get the data that it is looking for. This data includes information on how often the EV was charged and how it was driven. If people couldn’t drive their EVs because they were not able to charge them, then BMW doesn’t get its gigabytes of data, so an extension might be best all around.

Powering cell phone towers with wind; States Allowing Use of ‘Greywater’; PSE&G cleared for additional solar projects; Citroën C-Zero EV; Eco 7 – Compact Transportable Bike

Powering cell phone towers with wind Helix Wind announced Wednesday that it’s beginning a trial run in Southern California to see if its wind turbines might be useful for powering cell phone towers.

California Joins Handful of States Allowing Use of ‘Greywater’ Finally! Plagued by drought and homeowner recalcitrance, California building officials last summer relaxed the rules for greywater use, allowing residents to hook up their washing machines to garden hoses without a permit … because they were doing it anyway.

PSE&G cleared for additional solar projects New Jersey’s largest utility has received permission from state regulators to finance another 51 megawatts of solar power — enough energy for more than 45,000 homes.

Citroën C-Zero EV The C-Zero is based on the Mitsubishi iMiEV and uses a standard European 220V plug to fill the batteries in about 6 hours.

Eco 7 – Compact Transportable Bike…with FOLDABLE WHEELS! The Eco 7 is designed to be taken on planes and other transportation where space is a significant problem. Once you reach you destination, you unfold your bike and enjoy the great outdoors!

While the image here of an interior storage bin made from wheat straw plastic may seem like a small start, Ford is also considering using it for center console bins and trays, interior air register and door trim panel components, and armrest liners. Not bad at all, Ford, not bad at all.