There’s more to going green than cutting back on your fuel consumption. You also have to consider the sustainability of the manufacturing process and what you do with the product after it’s reached the end of its life cycle. And that’s where the Phoenix Concept Car comes into the picture.

No, it’s not really as sexy as the Tesla Roadster, but what’s interesting is that the Phoenix has a body that is made of bamboo and rattan, two of the most sustainable materials on Earth.

Made by Kenneth Cobonpue and Albrecht Birkner, the Phoenix looks more like a fancy broom than a usable vehicle. Of course, it’s not made entirely of bamboo and rattan. They’ve also used some steel and carbon fiber for durability, though I’m not sold on how well the natural elements will hold up in a collision.

The other missing component? The engine. There’s no motor in there right now, but I’d imagine that the green philosophy would extend there too. An electric motor might not be such a bad idea, since the heat from internal combustion could, well, combust the bamboo and rattan.

I’ll stick with rattan for furniture and laundry baskets, thanks.

[Read]

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Our computers in their simplest form are just a series of tiny electronic circuits containing transistors that switch on and off in certain patterns to execute the functions that we need. At their conception computers were created using only one core processor; this is what reads and performs instructions. Now a computer that has at least two processors is commonplace, and with higher end systems having up to 16 cores.

But Dr. Wim Vanderbauwhede at the University of Glasgow, and his colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Lowell have had a technological breakthrough and successfully developed a processor with more than 1000 cores on a single chip.

They achieved this feat by using a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), which contains transistors just like all other microchips, but they are unique in that rather than having their functions set at the assembly line, the circuits are essentially a blank slate and can be customized by the user. Dr. Vanderbauwhede was able to separate the transistors into small groups and assign them each to perform a different task. This effectively created 1000 small circuits in the chip, and as a result a 1000-core processor with each individual core capable of working solely on its own instructions was born.

Dr. Vanderbauwhede said: “FPGAs are not used within standard computers because they are fairly difficult to program but their processing power is huge while their energy consumption is very small because they are so much quicker – so they are also a greener option.”

They then tested the chip by processing an algorithm that is central to MPEG videos, like those used on YouTube; they came up with a speed of 5 GB/s, which is 20 times faster than current high-end desktops.

Nowadays it is expected that a computer should have a multi-core processor, they all still have to share access to only one memory source, consistently slowing down the computer. Dr. Vanderbauwhede and his team increased efficiency by giving each core is own separate amount memory.

He is planning to present his developments at the International Symposium on Applied Reconfiguable Computing in March.

[UKPA via Daily Mail]

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Even if your local power provider uses a greener technology like hydro power, it’s still not completely green. I’m not saying that the Solar Vox is completely green either, but it could help you be a little nicer to mother earth.

This solar USB charger comes by way of Eric Strebel and Jim Nogarian. The industrial designer and his partner are launched a “Kickstarter” campaign for the Solar Vox and they’re looking for funding to bring this concept from being just an idea to a viable commercial product. It may look like an Etch-a-Sketch with a slot, but it’s a little more than that.

The idea is that there is a big solar panel on top and this can channel electricity toward a pair of AA batteries or directly to a portable device via USB. The housing is designed in such a way that you can tilt and angle the solar panel to face the sun, offering optimal charging for your iPhone, BlackBerry, or whatever else. That slot underneath provides a handy storage spot for your mobile device too.

The Solar Vox is an interesting, but not completely original idea. If you want to throw your support behind Strebel and Nogarian, go ahead and pre-order the device by January 28.

[Core 77 via KickStarter]

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I always thought that those kinetic watches were pretty cool. You just have to give them a little bit of motion every once in a while and the battery would get recharged. Casio is going even simpler with a couple of its watches, hiding a solar panel behind the clock face. This way, unless you live in a darkened basement and never emerge, the watch will keep ticking pretty much forever.

This comes by way of the Eco Product 2010 event where Casio is showing off its popular G-Shock and Oceanus series watches. More specifically, they’re offering an “exploded view” of a G-Shock watch, showing each of the individual components and how they work with one another. We saw this technology back in May with the likes of a solar green Hulk looking watch. What’s really cool about it is that the solar panel is placed behind the watch face in order to collect the sun’s rays, and keep on ticking.

In the case of the Oceanus, the watch only consumes 6.2-watts (the same as a single LED light) to keep on ticking, providing up to 860,000 watch movements. I’m not really sure how that translates into actual time, ironically enough, but I’d imagine that’s a while.

It would be really neat if they could implement this kind of technology into LCD of smartphones, but I’m thinking that the small solar panels wouldn’t provide nearly enough power for power hungry devices to be worth the trouble.

[SlashGear via Akihabara News]

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They’re not exactly forthcoming with all the juicy details, but the yet to be named electric cargo van from Nissan will be similar ot the Ford Transit Connect Electric. You don’t need any gas or diesel, relying instead on a pure electric powertrain.

Since Nissan already has the technology in place with the Leaf subcompact, all they have to do is make a beefier version, shoehorn it into a commercial van frame, strip out some of the creature comforts, and away you go. This sounds like a good idea, but I think it could have one very big hitch.   Delivery vans tend to only drive within a limited area, but they still do a lot of driving each day. If you think about using it as a Fedex delivery truck, for example, that guy probably covers a fair bit of ground over the course of a single shift. Can the all-electric Nissan van have enough range on a single charge to cover the whole shift? How quickly can it recharge? Or will they have a hot-swap battery configuration?  Those are key issues that Nissan will need to address by 2013.

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Sony Ericsson Cedar cell phone

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 left something to be desired, so maybe we should consider something outside of that company’s smartphone portfolio. Like the new SE Cedar, for instance.

The newly revealed Sony Ericsson Cedar cell phone doesn’t look like much, but this affordable handset is actually quite elegant in its presentation. It’s not a smartphone, but appears to offer integrated Facebook and Twitter access. That’s a good start.  You may also notice beyond the elegant design, that the Cedar makes uses of recycled plastics, offers a lower power charger, comes with an e-manual, and is wrapped up in compact packaging. This is all a part of the company’s GreenHeart initiative. See, they care about the planet too.

Rounding out the rest of the specs on this lower-tier phone are the 2.2-inch screen, Bluetooth, FM radio, media player, 2MP camera, 3G connectivity, web brwoser, and 420 hours of standby. Sony Ericsson hasn’t announced anything regarding pricing or availability, but I’ll go with “cheap” and “pretty soon.”

[Gadget Review via Sony Insider]

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Ford START EcoBoost Concept - Photo: Ford

There’s more to creating an environmentally-friendly vehicle than just plopping in an electric motor or a hybrid powertrain of some kind. Ford agrees and that’s why the American carmaker is showing off its Ford START concept vehicle at the Beijing International Auto Show.

You see, the Ford START Concept isn’t a hybrid. It isn’t an electric. Instead, it makes use of a forthcoming 1.0L EcoBoost three-cylinder gas engine with a CO2 rating of under 100 g/km. It’s not zero emissions either, but that’s still very good considering it’s still a three-banger.

Rather than using “Earth damaging paints,” the body panels are constructed from deformable, pre-colored recyclable composites. The car itself is built with a hybrid combination of aluminum and high strength steel. This keeps the weight down without sacrificing safety, and will be far less susceptible to rust. “The concept of simplicity can be found all around us,” said a spokesperson from Ford. “Endearing designs in architecture, home furnishings, appliances, transportation, or even a good screenplay are often similar in one respect – simplicity.”

There’s something distinctly European about this design, don’t you think? As if they derived inspiration from Fiat or Citroen?

Ford START Concept Photo Gallery

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Lenovo L412 and Lenovo L512 eco-friendly notebooks

According to the kind folks at Lenovo, their latest set of laptops are the “greenest on the market” while maintaining the high level of performance that users expect from a Lenovo. Here are the new Lenovo ThinkPad L Series laptops.

Consisting of the ThinkPad L412 and ThinkPad L512, the new L Series integrates the highest amounts of post consumer recycled content (up to 30 percent) in a commercially-available notebook today. The laptops are also shipped in nearly 100 percent recycled packaging.

Lenovo is keeping the performance at a reasonably high level as well, offering plenty of choices from the latest Intel Core i3 and i5 processors, including Turbo Boost and Hyperthreading technology. You can choose between Intel integrated graphics and ATI Mobility Radeon dedicated graphics.

Other highlights include multitouch trackpads, eight hours of battery life, eSATA port, Windows 7 with Lenovo Enhanced Experience, military tough durability, and strong web conferencing features. The ThinkPad L412 has a 14-inch 16:9 HD antiglare display, whereas the L512 bumps up to a 15-inch display.

Look for the ThinkPad L412 and L512 to start at $649 when they become available in mid-May.

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Samsung Restore eco-phone on Sprint

Just because you want to have the latest in gadgetry doesn’t mean that Mother Nature has to take a backseat. Sprint and Samsung are both dedicated to green leadership. In celebration of Earth Day, the two firms are announcing the Samsung Restore cell phone.

This is the second “green” device resulting in this environmentally-friendly partnership. Available this summer for $49.99 with a two-year contract and $50 mail-in rebate, the Samsung Restore follows up on the Samsung Reclaim, a device made from 80 percent recyclable materials.

With the Samsung Restore, you get the Sprint One Click customizable user interface, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 2.0MP camera, MP3 player, microSD slot for up to 32GB of extra storage, stereo Bluetooth compatibility, and access to the full suite of Spint services. These include Sprint Family Locator, Sprint TV, and Sprint Navigation.

In regards to the “Earth-friendly design” of the Samsung Restore, you’ll find that the outer casing is made from 27 percent post-consumer recycled plastic and the handset itself is 84 percent recyclable. It means the strict RoHS standards and is powered by an Energy Star Version 2.0 qualified energy efficient charger.

The packaging is 100 percent recylable too; the cardboard box is made from 70 percent post consumer materials and it’s printed with soy ink. They’ve also ditched the conventional paper user manual, pointing buyers toward the online manual instead.

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Nissan Land Glider Concept

Remember years ago when we first heard about Project Ginger and then it was revealed to us as the Segway? It was supposed to revolutionize the way that we got around town, but it hasn’t exactly lived up to these high hopes. We still want a proper vehicle of some kind for longer trips and it seems that Nissan is capitalizing on this emerging niche.

There are other electric cars and there are fuel-efficient scooters, but none of them are quite like the Nissan Land Glider. It has four wheels, but it leans into corners like a bike or a scooter.

The electric-powered Land Glider is about half the width of a family car and it has room to transport two people around town. By being narrower, the Land Glider can more easily navigate through busy city streets. With a maximum top speed of 62mph, it should be able to handle most urban transport.

“It is a radical new vehicle that combines the company’s vision for future urban mobility with Nissan’s great driving heritage,” said a Nissan representative.”With four-wheel stability and a sense of safety that originates from a tilting cabin, the Land Glider will appeal to both two-wheel and four-wheel driving enthusiasts.”

No word on a launch date, so stay tuned for more.

Nissan Land Glider Concept Photo Gallery

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