Friday, November 5, 2010

Balloon humiliation

Scientists making robots have overlooked something really embarrasing. These scientists have spent over 14 million dollars on robot hands only to have them break in a matter of days. Now, time for the embarrasing part. We have discovered that balloons filled with ground up coffee beans make the best hands. This can cut down on the amount of metal in the production in robots, and could humiliate us for the rest of our lives.



http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-10/coffee-filled-balloon-makes-best-robotic-gripper

Water Antenna



By Noah Turner




A recently developed type of atenna uses the most abundant resource in the ocean, salt water. The standard thirty foot tall antennas on battle ships risk being seen on radar, and are exstremely heavy, but if replaced by these water antennas instead of thirty tall metal poles the battle ships will be equipped with ten saltwater pumps.

Energy Flies out the Window!

by: Morganne Williams





Every year we loose about 33 percent of home heating and cooling energy through windows. You can now buy curtains that can save you up to 25 percent on your heating and cooling costs. Windows have the lowest insulation value in your home meaning that they loose more energy than walls or doors do. You can save $750 to $1,000 just by installing energy efficient curtains.



For more information go to: http://www.eclipsecurtains.com/eclipse-energy-saving-curtain-features.cfm

Road Energy Saving Tips

Tips on saving energy on the road:



  • Power your car with other fuels

  • Drive cars that produce no exhaust or emissions

  • Learn about hydrogen cars and start using them

  • Consider using cars shortly and walk or ride a bike to work and other places.

www.energysavers.gov/your_vehicle?


Exercise Energy

By: Davis Deussen



You can fight two different battles in one! You can fight obesity and go green! In order to power your home, you have to ride a pedal bike that is hooked up to some power source. To power your WHOLE house by a pedal bike, you would need a BIG group of people, but you could do a single pedal bike to watch T.V. or power your toaster or other appliance. So, in order to use something in your home, you would need to pedal for it. So, if you use this method, then you can help the world in two ways, GOING GREEN, and FIGHTING OBESITY!

Hand Powered Washing Machine!?

Mallory Coats



IF you're looking for a greener way to wash your clothes then look to the hand powered washing machine. Its about as big as a table lamp and it's portable. What you do is put your water and detergent in with your clothes and turn the hand crank. By doing this it forces the water through the inside to wash the clothes.



So does the hand powered washing machine work? YES!

Is it very big? NO!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

10 Easy Ways to Save Energy

by Kaila Thieman



These are just a few simple ways to save energy.They are easy things that you can do every day to help.



1. use hand towels instead of paper towels

2. close the refrigerator door

3. close the oven door

4. plant a tree that will help keep you cool and reduce cooling

5. use lids on cooking pots to help cut the length of cooking time

6. bring reusable shopping bags when shopping

7. turn off the water while you are brushing your teeth

8. wait until you have a full load to wash laundry

9. ride your bike or walk

10. buy paper plates instead of disposable plastic ones



For a list of more go to:

http://http//www.savewithces.com/365in2008.html

Three-wheel electric cars

By Kaila Thieman



This car is a way that a company is trying to easily get electric cars out to the public. By making thes cars have only three wheels, so that they can be legally classified as a motorcycle and their top speed is 25 mph so that it can avoid highway crash testing, this makes it easier for the companies to get the cars out.







To learn more go to:



http://http//www.hybridcars.com/electric-car

http://http//www.aptera.com/plugin.php

THE ELECTRIC GARGANTUAN BEHEMOTH

To all those fans of electric cars; there is a new design for a car that could make electric cars outdate gas. Remember: it hasn't even been in the prototype stage yet, so it'll take a while for it to come out. Well, I've said enough about what stage it's in.

Basically, this car is a small 4 person Toyota looking thing that has a permanent trailer behind it. Ordinarily this car would go 100 miles on a full charge. Because the trailer is attatched, it can go 700 miles before needing a charge. This vehicle is hoping to be released in the early half of 2011. With more electric car charging stations going up, the Pru will be the ultimate gas shunning machine.

Hopefully this was good news to you too. Unlike most electric cars, this one will have a lot of storage. The trailer only has a fraction of the space in it taken up by the battery. This means you have the trunk space and the trailer space. The only problem with this monstrous machine is that it is EXPENSIVE.

info from:http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2010-11/pru-trailer-adds-storage-space-and-700-extra-miles-range-electric-cars

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Tips On How To Save Energy While Cooking

There are many simple and easy ways to save energy while in the kitchen. One way is to match the cooking method to the meal. Try to minimize the area that needs to be heated to conserve energy. In other words, try to limit the number of cooktops you use or use a toster oven instead of a real oven. Another tip is to use sturdy, flat-bottomed cookwear. When boiling pasta, a flat-bottomed pan could acually save 50% energy more than a warped-bottom pan! The final tip is to keep the stove burners nice and clean. It may be hard to believe, but squeaky burners could save alot of money and energy! When they become blacked they absorb more heat and reduce burner efficency, so keeping them shining will reflect all of the heat onto the cookwear. These super easy tips could possibly take hundreds of dollars off your heating bill each year!

By Rhyan Montgomery



www.aceee.org/consumer/cooking

Top 5 Solar Powered Countries

by Ivy Long





Theses are the top ten countries that use the most solar energy!





1. Germany-the world's leader... its most likely that Germany will stay number one.





2. Spain-was the world's leader!





3. Japan- is thrid globally and also a country worth emulating!





4. United States- U.S. should grow a lot in the up coming years.





5. Italy- second in 2009!





http://1bog.org/blog/top-10-countries-using-solar-power/

Eco-Friendly Paint

by Tori Riggs



Did you know that paint can hurt your health? Some paints release low level toxic emissions in to the air for years after they have been applied, causing the air in many homes to be even more polluted than outside air. The solution to this toxic problem is buying and using non-toxic paints, such as Sherwin Williams and SoyGuard brand paints. The health benefits of non-toxic paints include reducing the amount of toxins in the air which helps everyone, even those who have alergies. Using non-toxic paints also reduces landfill and groundwater contaminants. Non-toxic paints are easier to clean up and dispose of and they don't have the same noxious odor of regular paint once finished. Using non-toxic paints can help the environment clean up and can help you save money, time, and the health of your family.



To learn more, visit http://eartheasy.com/live_nontoxic_paints.htm

Baseball Game Bills

To help save the environment and reduce the cost of electric bills in stadiums, some countries, like South Korea, are trying to speed up their baseball games. Korea is in the process to also install energy saving products like scoreboards as a plan to cut emissions. Also, other countries are thinking of eliminating night games altogether.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Fluorescent Lights



By: Rachel Skillicorn


Fluorescent lights are a good way to save money in any place; schools, business buildings, or even in your homes. These types of lights are very bright as you can see in the picture which could upset people, and also could get annoying to look at. Fluorescent lights provides increasing efficiency, decreasing heat emissions, and they have environmental benefits and are said to be more "economical" than other normal light bulbs. These are little, but great way to start helping save your money and energy.



Energy saving ideas

1.Use your blinds, open them in Winter on the sunny side to let heat in... close them on the non sunny side then do vice versa for summer.



2.Replace filters regularly



3.Find a system with a high SEER the higher the better.



4.Make sure vents have nothing over them or anything reducing air flow.



5. Make sure all doors are closed to prevent heat from escaping.



http://www.energyright.com/

Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Nissan Leaf



By: Noah Turner




The car company Nissan has recently created a fully eletric car that will soon be released in North America, Europe, and Japan. The large battery pack on this car supplies it with enough energy for 100 miles of use. The Nissan Leaf can get to approxamently 90 mph smoothly and queitly, but because of it's low driving range is more of a commuters car and not so much for road trips.