Eco-Thinker

It takes little sense to see just how non green the traditional combustion engine fossil fuel driven lawn mowers are. So those are obviously the lamest of all lawn care tools. And, the eco-friendlier reel mowers are too labor intensive for most large yards, try your hand at a solar charged electric lawn mower. This was an engineering project put together with step by assembly instructions including pictures.

Researchers at Idaho National Laboratory, along with partners at Microcontinuum Inc. (Cambridge, MA) and Patrick Pinhero of the University of Missouri, are developing a novel way to collect energy from the sun with a technology that could potentially cost pennies a yard, be imprinted on flexible materials and still draw energy after the sun has set.

Dr. Vyvyan Howard, head of the Developmental Toxico-Pathology Research Group and a senior lecturer at the University of Liverpool in England, gives us a condensed history on the hazardous chemical soup that has resulted from the resource plundering petroleum industry. Bisphenol A is just one of many harmful synthetic compounds extensively used to produce the many plastics that you touch, breathe, wear, and consume daily.

Could this possibly mean what we think it means for electric cars? The question this raises is, if the Tesla, for a commonly known example, can travel 240 miles on a charge, will the new design allow for a 2,400 mile trip? It appears that little change to the size of the battery itself will be needed, but a major change to the life of the battery could result from the newer version.

Mitsubishi Motors, Mitsubishi Corporation and battery supplier GS Yuasa Corporation have been planning a joint venture company to get the ball rolling on much needed large format and fast recharge lithium-ion batteries with an electric car application in mind.
On December 12, 2007 they formally solidified the deal into Lithium Energy Japan. This is phenomenal news for the EV car industry.

Already, Nanosolar says that they can sell panels for roughly $1 per watt, which will result in $2 per watt installations. Suddenly, that starts to look a lot like the $2.1 per watt that it costs to build a coal plant.

And that is extremely exciting news.
Well said. Please check out the article at

This is how to make passive solar heater for under $20 or so. It is basically a greenhouse box. Simple yet brilliant. It is environmentally friendly (after it is assembled), green, handy, forehead slappingly easy to make, and even an awesome project for shop class. Ok so it will not become school curriculum, but most agree it should be damn it! grumble government subsidies grumble greed and priorities and blah…watch this and learn!

I was scanning the YouTube eco videos and ran across a recently uploaded demonstration video showing Nanosolar’s progress in the solar industry. I was hoping to find some specs on their website, but couldn’t so we will just have to continue to be hopeful.