Innovation and Design

Ford Invests $550 Million to Build Small Cars and Electric Vehicles

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/M_N-_rZ642s&hl=en&fs=1] Kelly Blue Book Video Review of the Ford Focus Earlier this week, Ford announced that they are retooling their manufacturing facility in Michigan, which previously built SUVs, to now produce the small and fuel-efficient Ford Focus in 2010, and the battery-electric Ford Focus by 2011. With this investment of $550 million worth, Ford continues

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The story of St. Thomas 7-Hot Pepper Sauce. As told by the chickens who made it possible.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?  In the case of St. Thomas 7-Hot Pepper Sauce, it was definitely the chicken.  Without the chicken, there wouldn’t be the fertilizer to grow the hot peppers to make the hot sauce that the sent kids from the St. Thomas projects in New Orleans Lower Garden District

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GE shows the Way Forward with Advanced Electric and Hybrid Vehicles

GE’s Electric Bus (Source: GE) The Inspired Economist (IE) recently interviewed GE’s Bob King, a 30-year veteran of the company who has driven the company’s research in the advanced electric and hybrid vehicle space. With the energy crisis of the late ’70s, GE began to aggressively pursue the development of an electric test vehicle, creating

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How Technology is Helping Reduce Fossil Fuel Consumption

For years, green activists were “anti-technology”, claiming that technological advances were largely responsible for the polluted state of Mother Earth. This was a fair claim, as yesterday’s technologies only looked at the bottom line, and not the resulting mess. In today’s reality, the words “green” and “technology” no longer constitute an oxymoron, as technologists have turned their attention to cleaning up the mess previous generations have made.

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Got Mercury? The Politics of Contaminated Fish

Isn’t it about time that fish was actually put to the test?

Mercury, one of the most insidious elements that can be ingested, has significantly negative health effects on the population; in some cases it can causes irreversible damage. But while many people are aware that mercury exists in certain fish, there is no universal certification that tests how much mercury is present in commonly eaten seafood.

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It’s Time to Get Smart. Smart Grid Technology Proposed for MA

Legacy electricity grids, the current distribution systems used for a century in the US, are highly inefficient…7%, never makes it to the user, lost at the transmission and distribution levels…..Environmentalists and others have been pushing for smart-grid technology for over a decade because it will enable consumers to use less electricity and benefit the environment.

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Printing Power: The Latest in Solar Technology

Imagine plugging your laptop into its case to charge the battery. Or your cell phone into a beach umbrella. Or simply slipping it into your shirt pocket. Konarka, a next generation solar energy startup, is currently promoting and raising R&D capital for its Power Plastic line, and while these solar cells, printed on sheets of plastic similar to camera film, can’t quite manage that last one, plans are definitely on the drawing board.

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Continental Airlines Flight Demo Uses Sustainable Biofuels

Last week we posted about the Emirates Airlines Green flight which offers some degree of green protocol but still the darn plane runs on pure petroleum. It looks like someone in the airline industry woke up because just a couple days ago Continental Airlines made a test run of a plane that runs on sustainable

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Wal-Mart Canada Launches Styrofoam Recycling Initiative

Styrofoam (or polystyrene) is nasty stuff: it lasts forever, can leach chemicals (especially when heated), and is really, really difficult to recycle. Wal-Mart Canada is launching an effort to address that last issue by partnering with Grace Canada (a division of W.R. Grace & Co.) to reuse styrofoam waste from packaging in the production of

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Supply Side Economics: Transforming Carbon Emissions Into Useful Products

Carbon Sciences, Inc. has developed an innovative technology to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) – which is implicated in the issue of global warming – into a number of commercially useful, earth-friendly carbon products. The company calls this technology advance: GreenCarbon Technology. The aim is to extract value from carbon emissions by transforming the gas into a product that holds commercial value.

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A Safari into a Green Roof Jungle

Toss this under the headline of innovating and challenging. Green Roof Safaris is a fairly new European company that provides access to North Americans (and Europeans presumably) to tour state of the art green roofs in Germany and Switzerland. The founders Christine Thüring and Jörg Breuning are green roof professionals who have collaborated in the

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Eco-Libris: Greenbottle – The Green Future of Milk Bottles is Already Here and its Made of Recycled Paper

This article was originally published on Eco-Libris blog on September 17. I really love milk, so I was very happy to hear about this new great idea that is coming from the UK: a milk bottle that is made mainly of recycled paper and can be recycled again. In one word: Greenbottle. Greenbottle (http://www.greenbottle.com) has

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Greening Print Marketing: Is Soy Really Better?

Many printers these days are promoting their use of soy-based inks as a way for marketers to “green” their print marketing programs. Certainly, any vegetable-based ink—such as cottonseed, linseed, and, most commonly, soy—sounds like it ought to be more environmentally friendly than petroleum-based inks. But is this really the case? It is true that vegetable-based

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Free Patent Details Revealed By Bosch, Du Pont and Xerox

Bosch, Du Pont and Xerox have joined the Eco Patent Commons, an international effort to speed up the progress of sustainable development. Their paticipation brings the number of free patents available for use by anyone in the world to 69, more than doubling the original number. Hosted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development

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New Residential Windpower Units Offer Homeowners the Opportunity to Generate Their Own Power

A new small residential wind generator from Southwest Windpower will give homeowners a new weapon in the fight against rising electricity costs.  Skystream 3.7™ is the first fully integrated wind generator designed specifically for the grid-connected residential market. A combination of new technologies, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy

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Prefab Homes Designed to Achieve LEED Certification

Marmol Radziner Prefab‘s Desert House is an interesting new concept in the world of prefabricated homes.  Like other prefabs, these homes are assembled entirely in the factory and they offer turnkey services overseeing the entire process from design to delivery so that no additional contractor is required.  What makes these prefabs unique is that they

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Subaru and the Zero-landfill Factory

Ford’s "Model T" revolutionized output efficiencies in the manufacturing processes of the Industrial Revolution.  Presently, another car company may help to redefine the way we make things, measured with a more encompassing "output" co-efficient.  Subaru of Indiana Automotive’s manufacturing (SIA) plant is recreating the way that cars are manufactured.  The plant is so efficient that

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