Our First Video Show: Green Overdrive Is a GO!

June 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

We’re very excited to present our new video show, Green Overdrive, brought to you by GigaOM TV and Earth2Tech. If it’s green, we’ll drive it. Each week we’ll test out a different eco-friendly vehicle — whether it’s the latest electric car, plug-in motorcycle, or biofuel-filled bus — and bring you our impressions as well as interviews with the companies.

We’re kicking things off with the first three episodes, where we drive Zero Motorcycle’s electric dirt bike, the Chevy Volt, and Ultra Motor’s A2B electric bicycle. Since we’re just starting out, we’d love your feedback or suggestions on what we should drive next, just add them into the comments. So far I’ve learned that a 150-lb electric motorcycle can hit a squirrel at 40 mph and not topple over (that really happened). The green transportation revolution is here and we’re gonna drive it.

Zero Motorcycles

The Chevy Volt

Ultra Motor’s A2B Electric Bicycle

For sponsorship opportunities email Mike Sly, at: “sly AT gigaom.com”

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Indian boffins come up with ‘green’ way of decomposing BPA-containing plastic

May 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 13 (ANI): Fungi may provide an eco-friendly way of decomposing polycarbonate plastic waste containing bisphenol A ((BPA), two Indian scientists have suggested.

Mukesh Doble and Trishul Artham say manufacturers produce about 2.7 million tons of plastic containing BPA each year.

Polycarbonate is an extremely recalcitrant plastic, used in everything from screwdriver handles to eyeglass lenses, DVDs, and CDs.

Some studies have suggested that the BPA may have a range of adverse health effects, sparking the search for an environmentally safe way of disposing of waste plastic to avoid release of BPA.

The scientists pretreated polycarbonate with ultraviolet light and heat and exposed it to three kinds of fungi — including the fabled white-rot fungus, used commercially for environmental remediation of the toughest pollutants.

They found that fungi grew better on pretreated plastic, using its BPA and other ingredients as a source of energy and breaking down the plastic.

After 12 months, there was almost no decomposition of the untreated plastic, compared to substantial decomposition of the pretreated plastic, with no release of BPA.

The study has appeared in ACS” Biomacromolecules, a monthly journal. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Demand of eco-friendly earthen pots increases in Jammu

May 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Jammu, May 7 (ANI): With the onset of summer, earthen pots are becoming more and more popular in Jammu.
People are making use of these eco-friendly pots to cool water.

The pots are widely used by the poor but this year, however, it has been observed that even the middle- class and the elite are readily buying these environment-friendly refrigerators.

“Earlier, only the poor would use earthen pots to cool water but now we are observing that even the middle class is eagerly adapting this trend. Maybe it”s because of health concerns and rising number of diseases, or due to recommendations from doctors,” said Dharam Veer, a potter.

The pots not only keep the water cool but do so in an environment-friendly way. It is also believed that drinking water stored in earthen pots is also much healthier.

“After one year or one season of use, the earthen pot can be broken and it can be mixed with earth again. So it is a reusable thing. Secondly, if we limit the use of refrigerants like neon and all, they all cause depletion of ozone layer which contributes to global warming. So, in a way we are decreasing global warming,” said Ritu Ahal, a doctor.

The water stored in a clay pot has a refreshing flavor and gets cooled to as low as 14-15 degrees Celsius within a few hours. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Coca-Cola delivery fleet goes green in Delhi

July 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, July 9 (IANS) The 85 Coca-Cola trucks in the city that deliver soft-drink bottles to your neighbourhood store will not belch black smoke any more. Their engines have been changed to use CNG, with the first three trucks of the new “green fleet” flagged off by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit here Wednesday evening.
On the occasion, Dikshit called upon all residents of the capital to use eco-friendly alternatives wherever and whenever they could in their daily lives, and lauded Coca-Cola for having changed its fleet over to the eco-friendly compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel.

“This takes forward the Delhi government’s efforts to encourage a transport system that is clean, effective and benefits the environment,” she said.

President and CEO of Coca-Cola India Atul Singh said businesses, the government and civil society had to come together at all levels to solve environmental problems and move towards a cleaner future.

“At Coca-Cola India, we have joined hands with the government, NGOs and local community to work on the issues of fresh water and climate protection. A lot of the good work on water and the environment has been done under the ‘Bhagidari’ (partnership) platform of the Delhi government.”

Ahmet Bozer, president of the Eurasia and Africa group of Coca-Cola, who was present at the flagging-off ceremony, lauded the Delhi government for taking a number of green initiatives, including the recent ban on plastic bags.

A company spokesperson said Coca-Cola India is also working on the goal of achieving a “net zero” balance with respect to groundwater usage by the end of the year. “By being a ‘net zero’ user of groundwater, the Coca-Cola system in India will create a rainwater harvesting potential equivalent to the groundwater used for its operations in India.”

The company has already installed over 400 rainwater harvesting structures in the country and has constructed and revived several ponds, check dams and wells around India in partnership with NGOs, government agencies and local communities.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Styrofoam addition makes roofs eco-friendly

July 5, 2009 By 1 Comment

Washington, July 5 (ANI): Soon, homeowners seeking energy efficiency and savings could be making an environmentally friendly addition to their roofs, with a Styrofoam piece specifically designed for air ventilation covered with foil that can be installed on top of a standard shingle roof.

Billy Ellis Roofing, a Fort Worth, Texas-based roofing company, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are testing the new roof system called ‘Thermadeck insulation’.

Taking advantage of the simple science that heat rises, the Thermadeck insulation equipped with air gaps helps move hot air up and away from the roof in an effective, cost efficient way without compromising the quality of the roof. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Eco-friendly Rachel McAdams urges women to buy bamboo lingerie!

May 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 1 (ANI): Rachel McAdams has urged women to opt for bamboo lingerie for the betterment of environment.

The Notebook star has become a leading celebrity green activist and she has launched a website, GreenIsSexy.org, to help raise awareness about clothing alternatives and better ways to serve the environment.

“A sexy green thing to do is to wear bamboo underwear! They sound quite painful but they’re actually quite soft. I’ve also got soy underwear!” “Our philosophy on the website is not to have green guilt necessarily; just do what you feel comfortable with and you’d be surprised how you feel the positive affects,” Contactmusic quoted Rachel, as saying.

Rachel informed people about multifarious eco-friendly things they can do to save the environment on the eve of second anniversary of her website.

“We’re coming on our two-year anniversary of GreenIsSexy.org and the environmental community has really opened up online. That’s the amazing thing about the Internet – for all the problems and concerns, the relationships you can develop with people who are on the same wavelength and deeply care about the same things is immediate and it’s vast,” she said. (ANI)

Filed Under: Entertainment News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Eco-friendly knickers are flying off British stores shelves

April 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, April 17 (ANI): Knickers, made from planet friendly fabrics, have been fast disappearing from the British shelves.

The idea of fair trade organic knickers came to Sarah Lucy Smith for her final project while studying the Eco Design course at Goldsmiths University.
She later joined forces with school friend Rose Cleary-Southwood and thus GreenKnickers came about.

And now the zero carbon pants are so popular that they have been flying off the shelves and a new wedding range is planned next in line.

“We started GreenKnickers to prove that ethical can be funny, beautiful and sexy. The fabrics are so gorgeous, and super-duper green,” Sky News quoted Sarah as saying.

“They’re selling extremely well. Some customers say they’re the comfiest knickers they’ve ever worn,” she added.

The global warming undergarments, made from fabrics such as organic cotton, hemp and silk, reaches in a box made from recycled paper.

A pair, costing up to 25 pounds, plus 3 pounds for postage and packaging, even changes its colour as it warms up due to thermo-chromic inks. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,