Making sustainability mainstream; Solar Power Mobile Power; Toilet, Sink, Grey Water Cistern; EcoFactor thermostats; Collapsible, portable rain barrel

Video: How can we make sustainability mainstream? Campaigner and environmental activist Julia Butterfly Hill reflects on the concept of sustainability and what it will take to make it mainstream.

Making Solar Power Mobile Power The units come with a block of solar panels that extend and tilt out from the trailer, as well as batteries, inverters and — just in case — a backup diesel generator. The trailers themselves are roadworthy and can be towed by any truck with a V8 engine, according to a company spokeswoman.

Roca Toilet Integrates Sink, Grey Water Cistern This is fantastic. Its sleek design houses a nifty self-contained greywater system that is capable of reducing water use by up to 25% compared to a standard 6/3-litre dual flush toilet.

EcoFactor pings thermostats to save energy There are several companies developing Web-based software or displays to show consumers, in more detail than a monthly bill, how much energy they are using. But EcoFactor’s software, by contrast, works behind the scenes by gathering data from a two-way thermostat and then analyzing the information to optimize heating and cooling systems, which often account for about half of home electricity use.

Collapsible, portable rain barrel This rain barrel is collapsible making it easy to take with you wherever you go. It will hold 34 gallons of rain water to use in your home.

World’s Tallest Green Roof; Solar Powered Monorail; Waiting Lists For Think City and Aptera; Solar Power When the Sun Goes Down; Honda designers talk about EV concepts

Sears Tower May Sport World’s Tallest Green Roof The Willis Tower, formerly known as the Sears Tower, is spending about $200 million to $300 million to upgrade its energy efficiency and become more “green” overall, reports the Chicago Tribune. The building might have one of the tallest green roofs in the world. (It’s always going to be the Sears Tower to me!)

Solar Powered Monorail System For Bologna This looks amazing - Iosa Ghini Associati has designed the Energy Belt, a sleek solar-powered monorail system for Bologna, Italy that will connect the airport to the city center.

Long Waiting Lists For Think City and Aptera Cars Think, the Norwegian electric car maker that rebounded from a near-death experience earlier this year, has 2,300 customers on its waiting list for the Think City town car.

Solar Power When the Sun Goes Down The holy grail of renewable energy is a solar power plant that continues producing electricity after the sun goes down. A Santa Monica, Calif., company called SolarReserve has taken a step toward making that a reality, filing an application with California regulators to build a 150-megawatt solar farm that will store seven hours’ worth of the sun’s energy in the form of molten salt.

Honda designers talk about EV concepts Honda made a pretty big splash at the Tokyo Motor Show a few weeks back by showing off a number of eco-friendly concepts, though many of them were decidedly short on actual details. The automaker finally seems ready to talk a bit about the EV-N, EV-Cub, EV-MONPAL and U3-X.

Giants’ Danny Clark drives a Smart; Japan buries greenhouse gases; Probe to track climate change; San Diego gets $154 million for solar; Methanol fuel cells for gadgets

Giants’ Danny Clark Chose to Go Green With a Smart Car D, N.J. — Danny Clark of the Giants says he gets a lot of long looks from curious motorists when he drives his Smart car between Manhattan and the team’s practice complex in New Jersey. But the glances turn to stares and smiles when he parks his 1,600-pound vehicle and his 6-foot-2, 245-pound body emerges from behind the wheel.

Japan aims to bury greenhouse gas emissions Swathes of dirty clouds brood over a coal plant in rural Japan, but scientists are now hoping to send the pollutants the other way, deep into the bowels of Mother Earth. The cutting-edge but controversial technology of carbon capture and storage (CCS) is being tested at the Mikawa power station, located near the coast of Japan’s southern Fukuoka prefecture.

Probe to track impact of warming on Earth’s water A 315-million-euro satellite that will gauge the impact of climate change on the movement of water across land, air and sea was hoisted into space early Monday.

San Diego Solar Projects Get $154 Million Funding A total number of 192 solar installation projects in the public sector of San Diego were awarded with $154 million in allocations through the Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs) program.

Methanol fuel cells for gadgets gain steam Not sure how I feel about this idea yet, but a company called Direct Methanol Fuel Cell said on Monday it has licensed a patent from CalTech to build methanol-based gadget chargers, a week after Toshiba took the wraps off its own portable fuel cell.

My landlord just installed 2 of these solar heaters - 10 days before I move out, which stinks. But for the next 10 days, I plan on running these heaters all day long to heat up the house for absolutely no cost to me. In an effort to try to explain what my landlord did, I took a few pictures of the heaters and will do my best to explain how they work.

Each heater is basically a sealed wooden box sitting on a small cement foundation and attached to the side of my house. The front of the box is made of glass windows and right behind the windows is black tar paper, which helps to attract and absorb the heat from the sun. Behind the tar paper and running back and forth several times within the box itself is 36 feet of dryer venting, zig-zagging itself back and forth from one end to the other.

Each end of this venting goes into my house - one entrance at one of the wooden box and one at the other. (Yes, 2 small holes are cut into my house for each end of the venting to be brought inside)

Inside my home, this venting is covered with a grate and framed out with some wood that matches the trim in the house. This is a closed loop system, where the air comes from inside my house, through the heater, and back into my house through the other vent. One end has a small fan with a thermostat attached, so that once the air inside the box reaches 72 degrees, the fan automatically turns on and pulls room-temperature air into the heater, lets it work its way through the 36 feet of “heated-up” venting, and returns it slowly back into the house.

When it is sunny outside, these heaters crank out some serious hot air. So even on frigid cold days, when these heaters come on they do a great job of heating up the place, as they aren’t even using the outside air to begin with. There is one on each end of my home, and because of the open floor plan, the heat comes from these ends and meets in the middle - my living room. Sure, they don’t work at night (obviously), but they definitely put out a lot of heat during the day, so the warmth does last into the evening for a bit (especially with my concrete floors).While you still may need to run your heater at night or on cloudy days, you won’t need to during any sunny days. A few of these will keep you toasty warm on the coldest of them.

Here is the materials list in case you want to try to build your own:

- Wood frame box
- Old windows
- Tar paper
- Cement for a footing
- Foam for around the footing
- Dryer venting
- Metal grates for inside the house
- Some wood trim (if you want it) for inside the house
- A small computer fan to pull the air into the heater
- A thermostat to have the fan turn on and off automatically

I know the boxes did take my landlord some time to build, but I also know they weren’t that expensive - especially for how much they give back. Just thought I would pass this amazing idea along to you guys!

Solar-Powered EV Charging Station; Habitat for Humanity and PG&E; China-U.S. Group Plans to Build Texas Wind Farm; Mitsubishi iMiEV; Zero Emissions Electric Bus

Toyota Developing Solar-Powered EV Charging Station Toyota Industries Corp. announced that it is developing an electric car charging station composed of solar cells and storage batteries at Tokyo Motor Show 2009.

Habitat for Humanity and PG&E Support Green Neighborhood CA Recently we took the trip to Oakland, CA to visit a Habitat for Humanity East Bay Project of particular interest for its pairing of energy-efficient homes with families in need of housing. What was once a deemed by the EPA and the Department of Toxic Substances as a blighted property due to its history as a battery salvage yard has become a sunny neighborhood haven for children to play and families to grow together.

China-U.S. Group Plans to Build Texas Wind Farm A consortium of Chinese and American companies announced a joint venture on Thursday to build a 600-megawatt wind farm in West Texas, using turbines made in China.

Mitsubishi iMiEV wins Japan Automotive Hall of Fame’s “Car Technology of the Year” Award I love this little car. The Japan Automotive Hall of Fame has honored the Mitsubishi i-MiEV and in particular its MiEV OS control system as Car Technology of the Year. For a modern electric vehicle, the electronic control system is of critical importance to ensure that the battery operates reliably, safely and maximizes range.

Congress Gets a Zero Emissions Electric Bus While Congressmen struggle with climate legislation and clean energy reform, at least they’ll be able to get an emissions-free ride to the proceedings. The Proterra electric bus made its debut on Capitol Hill yesterday, and looks set to deliver zero emission, fast-charging public transportation.

Air Force Base going Solar; USPS Electric Vehicle; Volkswagen Natural Gas Eco-Racing Class; Neuber Energy Sun Bag; U.S. biofuel sector finds lenders wary

Air Force Base Community to Rely 75% on Solar The Soaring Heights Community at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base will become the largest solar-powered community in the continental U.S., upon completion.

USPS Electric Vehicle This makes perfect sense. Smith and AM General are developing a prototype battery-powered version of the Long Life Vehicle used by the US Postal Service.

Volkswagen Launches Natural Gas Eco-Racing Class VW is known for its diesels–and, lately, so-called clean diesels–but the company is also experimenting with compressed natural gas here and there. But now VW is taking the idea very public: it plans to launch a series of races next year specifically for cars that burn bio-CNG

Neuber Energy Sun Bag The Neuber Energy Sun Bag offers more than ample room to store your range of cellphones, portable media players, handheld consoles and other devices while boasting Konarka Power Plastic solar panels on the outside, making it the lightest solar energy bag available on the market at the moment.

U.S. biofuel sector finds lenders wary U.S. lenders are leery of putting money into cellulosic ethanol and other new-generation biofuels due to the recession and an industry shakeout.

Golf BlueMotion; EPA’s Green Power Schools Ranking; Tesla breaks record; Xcel Energy to add more solar; Solar Race Cars

Volkswagen launches Golf BlueMotion Volkswagen has just launched the new BlueMotion Golf in the European market and it is the most efficient Golf ever. The new model is rated at 61.9 mpg (U.S.) on the EU combined driving cycle with carbon dioxide emissions of just 99 g/km.

TX, NY and MD Schools Top EPA’s Green Power Schools Ranking Schools in New York, Texas and Maryland top the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s inaugural ranking of the top 20 primary and secondary schools nationwide that use the most power from renewable energy sources.

Tesla breaks record for going the distance A record for a Tesla Roadster driven on a single charge was set at 313 miles (501 km) in Australia on Tuesday. Tesla Roadster owner Simon Hackett and his friend Emilis Prelgauskas drove his electric sports car from Alice Springs, Northern Territory, to Coober Pedy, South Australia, as part of an alternative-fuel vehicle rally called the Global Green Challenge.

Xcel Energy to add more solar power in Colorado That’s great news for me as they are about to be my power company! Xcel Energy Inc. has added more than 257 megawatts of solar power to its plan for meeting Colorado’s renewable energy standard by 2020.

Solar Race Cars Compete in Australia The World Solar Challenge covers some 1,880 miles of mostly outback Australia, from Darwin in the north to Adelaide in the south. The route along the paved Stuart Highway takes in tropical rain forests, savannas and desert, but hot sun is a frequent traveling companion. And that’s a good thing when your cars are powered by sunlight.

Recycling Bin Turns Waste Paper Into Furniture; iCar Zero-Emission Concept Car; Power Socket Switch; ReNu solar panels announced for iPhone; Barriers loom on road to plug-in cars

Recycling Bin Turns Waste Paper Into Furniture The whole point of putting your waste paper out to be recycled is for it to be reused in yet another generation of paper products — toilet paper, printer paper, magazines, etc. But what if you could reuse your waste paper for your own products?

iCar Zero-Emission Concept Car Set to be launched in 2027, iCar, a zero-emission concept car powered by, yes…electricity. It is a fantastic resolution to ease Mother Nature’s problem and bring a new perspective to our future generation. Not sure I want to wait until 2027!

No need to unplug stuff, just twist the plug! Sometimes its the simplest things that make you go “wow, I should have thought of that!” The Power Socket Switch lets you turn off the power to a socket with just a simple turn of the plug. Genius.

ReNu solar panels announced for iPhone charger A company called ReNu has just announced a solar panel that can be used to charge your iPhone or iPod, power the device’s sound dock, or even keep your desk light shining sans mains power.

Barriers loom on road to plug-in cars After many years of buildup, plug-in vehicles aimed at mainstream buyers are set to come to the market starting next year. But even with the momentum around plug-ins, many questions remain unanswered over how this technology transition will impact the ailing auto industry and how the cars will received by consumers.

Sexy electric bikes; Energy Dept. Aid for Scientists on the Edge; 30 States Could Meet Power Needs With Renewable Energy; Tallying Biofuels’ Real Environmental Cost; First “green” movie-theatre

Sexy electric bikes Pi Mobility founder, Marcus Hays, has been creating innovative electric bikes and vehicles since 1995. His current line-up of electric vehicles includes the PiMoto electric motorcycle (above) and the PiCycle and PiCycle Limited hybrids (below) electric bikes.

Energy Dept. Aid for Scientists on the Edge The federal Energy Department will make good on a pledge for a bolder technology strategy on Monday, awarding research grants for ideas like bacteria that will make gasoline, enzymes that will capture carbon dioxide to counter global warming and batteries so cheap that they will allow the use of solar power all night long.

30 States Could Meet Power Needs With Renewable Energy All 36 states with either renewable energy goals or renewable energy mandates could meet them by relying on in-state renewable fuels, according to an updated report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

Tallying Biofuels’ Real Environmental Cost Nine billion gallons of corn ethanol were produced in the U.S. in 2008, while countries like Brazil have already widely replaced gasoline with ethanol from sugar cane and countless start-ups are working to bring cellulosic and other second-generation biofuels to market. The reasoning is that if we use greener biofuels in place of gasoline, it will significantly enhance our effort to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. But the question is, Are biofuels really green? What do you think?

First “green” movie-theatre Carmike Cinemas will open a 12-plex in Chattanooga, Tenn., featuring a politically correct marketing hook: certification by the U.S. Green Building Council as the nation’s first standalone theater boasting energy and environmental sensitive design.

Dell’s solar-powered parking lot; Alarming risks in natgas drilling; Cracking Algae With Electricity; Eco-Techno-Utopian Transit; Plantable Christmas Confetti

Dell’s solar-powered parking lot Dell is tricking out its parking lot with big, solar-powered structures that serve three purposes: charging the company’s Round Rock, Texas HQ with green energy, juicing electric vehicles parked at the lot and provided the area with shade.

NYC sees “alarming” risks in natgas drilling New York City’s top environmental official on Friday called the risk that drilling for natural gas in the upstate region that supplies most of the city’s drinking water “especially alarming.”

Cracking Algae With Electricity Organic Fuels Algae Technology says it can use electricity to break open algae cell walls to extract oil for cheap. Can it prove the technology works outside the lab?

Eco-Techno-Utopian Transit Electric car infrastructure startup Better Place and Danish rail operator DSB have a vision to link electric vehicles, car sharing networks, trains and mobile devices into one high-tech, eco-utopian transportation system in Denmark.

Plantable Christmas Confetti Looking for something a little different to pack your gifts in this year? Check out this confetti that was made from all recycled, post consumer materials, embedded with organic wildflower seeds, and triple pressed. No starches, dyes, or bleach were used to alter or enhance my paper. Cool, heh?