Eco Green News, Technology, DIY Project and Hacks

Philips leads the way in LED lighting technology, with its upcoming US release of the Master LED bulb. The 7 Watt bulb has the life expectancy of 45,000 operating hours, 30x more then the standard incandescent bulb.

All this energy efficiency comes at a price, the bulbs are already being sold in Europe for $50. Philips claims you will payback the initial cost of the bulb in less then one year (In a 18-24 hour continuous use application).

If you spend a ton of money on solar panels just to have they sit stagnate as the sun tracks trough the sky, you could be losing some cold hard cash.

Instructables has a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) solar tracker that takes some easy obtainable parts and combines them to make a very inexpensive solar tracker, which could improve your solar panel efficiency by as much as 30-50%.

DIY Solar Tracker Parts List

• Several treated 2×4′s (Lowes)
• Two wheels from a free bicycle- free or almost free bikes are pretty easy to find from the local landfill or thrift store
• A piece angle iron with pre-punched holes (Lowes)
• A 12 volt linear actuator-(~$75?)- (Ebay)
• An LED tracking sensor- (~$40)( http://www.redrok.com/led3xassm.htm#led3xforsale )
• Various nuts, bolts, screws, cable and wire -(scrounging around my workshop)

Fun and easy little solar project from the makers shed, powered by the sun.

The kit comes with detailed instructions, and is easy enough for even a beginner to assemble. I really like the contoured circuit board, especially the gold flames. It really was amazing how fast this little solar racer ran across the floor after just a minute or two of charging.

The New 2010 Toyota Prius has some cool new features. Along with an improved fuel economy:

• 1.8-liter 4-cylinder gasoline engine
• Horsepower increase from 75 to 98; 134 combined.
• 50 mpg
• Solar sun roof
• LED Headlights
• Solar-cell array to power the ventilation system

“The Repair Manifesto” Stop Recycling, Start Repairing.

“Repair Manifesto opposes throwaway culture and celebrates repair as the new recycling.
With our new project, Platform21 = Repairing, we seek to make repairing cool again – with your help. Let the manifesto inspire you, comment on it or add to it. Rediscover the joy of fixing things and share your most ingenious repair, your tips and your tricks.”

[Platform 21]

Greener Gadgets 2009, a gathering of innovators, entrepreneurs, visionaries, and eco designers hits New York City for its annual design competition.

After the dust cleared and the discussions subsided, it was decided that the twittering Kill-a-watt (Tweet-a-Watt) design my Make Magazine was the winner.

Top 13 projects:

• Wattblocks, submitted by frog Design
• Bware Water Meter, submitted by Ariel Drach
• Fastonauts, submitted by Sara Paculdo
• Indoor Drying Rack, submitted by Rob Podell [3rd Place]
• Tweet-a-Watt, submitted by Limor Fried, Adafruit Industries & Phillip Torrone, MAKE magazine [1st Place]
• Social Environmental Station (Environmental Traffic Light), submitted by Hernando Barragan
• Power-Hog, submitted by Mathieu Zastawny, Mansour Ourasanah, Tom Dooley, Peter Byar, Elysa Soffer, Mathieu Turpault [2nd Place]
• Thermal Torch, submitted by Gunnar Kramp
• Standby Monsters, submitted by Rachel Turner
• RITI Printer, submitted by Jeon Hwan Ju
• Recompute, submitted by Brenden Macaluso
• Blight, submitted by Vincent Gerkens
• Laundry POD, submitted by RKS Design Team [4th Place]