Energy Lockdown

The Energy Lock by designer Young Suk Kim is just one of those inventions we actually need. It surprises me something like this isn't standard yet. The Energy Lock concept is simple; turn a plugged in socket 90 degrees and it won't use any electricity. Energy Lock also has a timer feature. So turn it a bit, and your lights for instance will shut off after 30 minutes. Simple.. but brilliant. via Yankodesign

Wind energy on a small scale still isn't very accessible to the general public. I hardly see people with a windmill on their roof. Embossed Design might change that with their Zephyr concept. The Zephyr is an easy to install wind generator that fits on rooftops and walls. It's silent, doesn't need much maintenance and is relatively cheap. I love concepts like the Zephyr, they keep things on an understandable scale. It wouldn't surprise me to see the Zephyr or a similar product being mass produce...

The gum-on-the-street-problem got out of hand here in the Netherlands a few years ago. Walking around the city was like walking across a mine field, carefully planning a step ahead to avoid the sticky stuff (and of course dog poo which is still a big problem here as well). The problem got so big that a few guys actually made a good living out of it. They started a cleaning company called Gumbusters. Wearing Ghostbuster-like suits and equipment they wandered the streets and eliminated every piece...

A while back I wrote a little piece on one of my favorite brands; Hoodlamb. And what's not to love. These guys know how to take care of our planet. All clothes are made out of renewable hemp and eco-friendly cotton. Hemp is the strongest fiber known to man, but also an excellent moisture absorber and body temperature regulator. And Hoodlamb is not only sustainable, but very comfortable. The 'zip up' still is my all time favorite hoodie. And good news for all Tech the Future readers, we're giving...

Sex could damage the environment! Ok, not really, but condoms can. Condoms are made out of rubber, a natural resource. But the way the rubber is harvested and produced, leaves a rather large footprint and is one of the main causes of deforestation. The Brazillian government is taking steps in the wright direction. Being the largest buyer of condoms in the world (over 1 billion a year!), they decided to set a good example to us less sexual developed beings. From now on they will only buy sustaina...

Abu Dhabi is building world's first climate neutral, carbon-free city. No skyscrapers, no cars, no motorcycles, no waste and completely powered by the sun. They have a lot of that there. Masdar, as the city is called, will cover 640 hectares and will house almost 50.000 people. An important feature is local employment and production. The city will be self sufficient in all aspects. Every Masdarian will have all necessary facilities within 200 meters of his house. Walking and cycling will be the...

Holding Twitter #Ecomonday tradition high with our third #Ecomonday tip. This one is not really techy, but too good not to share. Make your own toothpaste! It will save you money and it will reduce your ecological footprint. How? Think about it. On average a person uses one tube a month. Thats 12 a year and about 800 tubes in a lifetime. About half of the world population uses toothpaste. So thats 6,800,000,000 / 2  = 3,400,000,000 people. That times 12 = 40,800,000,000 tubes of toothpaste a yea...

This is Why. Why doesn't need a long introduction. Why doesn't need pretty words. A picture tells a thousand. I'm not sure if this is a yacht or an island. What we do know is that Why is a whole lot more eco conscious that it's competitors. The Why Yacht designers worked around 6 key principles. The focus isn't speed (but it still goes fast), it's insulated, it has a state of the art on board energy management system, it uses natural resources, it stores energy and it recovers and restores wast...

A lot of companies are investing time and big money in cell phone charging technologies. A couple of weeks back for instance, a patent for a kinetic charging technology developed by Nokia leaked to the press. Today I read an interesting post by the people at Ecofriend explaining a new technology developed by RCA that could mean the end of cell phone charing as we know it. The system, called AirPower, absorbs power from increasingly ubiquitous Wi-Fi signals and turns them into electricity. RCA is...

A few days ago I watched this really interesting speech by Bill Gates for TED. To sum it up, Bill Gates thinks nuclear power is the future. And today it turns out he doesn't only think it, he is convinced. Gates plans to invest big money in a partnership between Toshiba and nuclear company TerraPower. Together these companies will work on a next generation nuclear power technology, resulting in a so-called a traveling-wave reactor. Traveling-wave reactors have been on the agenda for a long time....