Hybrid Living

Mauve Majesty is one cool lily look-alike. This new pinkish-purple ornamental flower, just patented by Cornell, can last for two weeks in a vase, but when left in the garden, it blooms all summer long in the cooler, northern states until the first hard freeze in the fall.

The new hybrid of the Inca lily (Alstroemeria), which was developed by a Cornell professor, is a non-fragrant perennial that is set apart by its lavender-lilac flower color (which is adorned with dark speckling and a creamy yellow throat), its strong, upright flower stems and its winter hardiness. In greenhouses, the new hybrid never goes dormant and grows year-round.

Just last week I was gushing about all of the press algae biofuel had been getting, and without even a single company with a commercial scale plant online.

Well, apparently folks could smell the green sludge on the horizon because Green Fuel Technologies just announced they had begun construction of their commercial scale algae plant while PetroSun announced they’d be taking their pilot algae farm commercial on April 1st.

Now, this obviously isn’t ethanol, with millions of gallons of production…or even cellulosic ethanol, with a wood-waste to fuel plant ready to go online this year, but it is a big deal.

It’s a big deal because algae don’t just create energy from the sun…they create energy from the sun more effectively than anything else save photovoltaic panels. And, as you may have guessed, they’re a heck of a lot cheaper than photovoltaic panels. Green Fuel Technologies is adding another environmental advantage, planning to hook their algae bioreactors up to the smoke stacks from power plants.

So the algae will be using the sun to turned burned fuel back into fuel. Theoretically, this could become a closed loop. Burn Fuel…feed exhaust to algae…harvest algae for fuel…burn fuel…etc.

PetroSun’s facility on the other hand, has 1,100 acres of open ponds growing algae in Texas. Open ponds are cheaper, but it’s more difficult to control which species of algae are growing, so less productive strains often take over. Also, you can’t feed your crop with CO2 straight from a power plant.

Via Gas 2.0 and GreenTech Media

The BMW 118d looks good, drives good and is good. There’s no reason not to want one of these. With five seats and a 8.8 second 0 to 60 time people who are used to BMWs certainly won’t complain.

But, using an advanced direct-injection diesel engine, the car manages to get an extremely impressive 59 miles per gallon. Even more impressive, the car is only setting people back about $30k.

WIRED’s Autopia, however, points on the biggest drawback. If you want to buy this thing in the world’s largest car market (the United States) you’re out of luck.

While BMW won the World Green Car Award in Manhattan last week, they have no intention of actually selling the car in the U.S.. After finishing with the contest, the 118d went straight back to Germany. So why do green cars hate America so much? Or is it the other way around…

I don’t generally get excited about people making art out of trash…but that’s because it’s not generally this awesome. My one question is…why do the mice seem to be running toward the snake? I guess that’s for the artist Choi Jung Hyun to explain.

Via Metaefficient

One of the least expensive ways to increase the efficiency of your home is to install low-flow aerators on your faucets. These devices save water, and lower utility bills as well, because less hot water is used. Because of this, low-flow aerators will generally pay for themselves in only a few months.
You can jump [...]

In an ambitious move, a California utility plans to create a massive, distributed “powerplant” by installing a total of 2 square miles of solar cells on the roofs of businesses. Southern California Edison plans to install 250 megawatts’ worth of solar power, generating enough electricity to power 162,000 homes.
Green Wombat reports:
It’s a potentially game-changing move, [...]

The Zero X Motorcycle was designed from the ground up to be a 100% electric bike. What makes this new bike truly different is that it contains 168 individual high-power lithium ion cells and is expected to endure six years of hard riding. Zero Motorcycle’s power grid technology has the highest power density (power storage [...]

EnviroWonk continues to serve up daily doses of political snarkiness. Here’s what they’ve been up to over the past week:

• What happens when Richard Branson invites a few fellow billionaires to his private island to discuss climate change? This happens.
• The European Union might reduce taxes on environmentally-friendly products, which means the sales tax on your new energy-efficient dishwasher in Sweden could drop from 85 to 75 percent.
• In other news from across the Atlantic, the EU is preparing its military for a different kind of foe: Climate change.
• There’s a new iceberg off the coast of Antarctica. It’s three times the size of Liechtenstein.
• And that berg is going to look like an ice cube if, as some scientists expect, the Wilkins Ice Sheet collapses. We put things in context with a Top 10 List.
• Finally, after years of getting rejected at ANWR, the Fish and Wildlife Department may have a nice consolation prize for the oil industry.

They don’t call it the Windy City for nothing. Chicagoans routinely brave tropical-storm-force winds. So why is all that energy is only used to knock over pedestrians and scatter detritus when it could be used to power the city!

Well, the "Clean Technology Tower" will finally be exploiting Chicago’s wind with dozens of wind turbines tucked into its body. These aren’t your average, everyday building integrated turbines either. AS+GG Architecture has actually done the math, and they’ve determined the best way to harness the wind as it flows around the tower. Depressions in the face of the tower channel wind into the turbines. As the tower reaches higher (and wind speeds increase) the turbines are more tightly spaced.

The result is more than perfect for capturing power, it’s also a much more organic and pleasing design than we’ve seen with a lot of wind-capturing buildings.

The tower will have more than two million square feet of hotel, retail and office space. The wind will be used both to power the building and create negative pressure for natural ventilation. And, as if this wasn’t enough clean technology, the domed roof will be covered in photovoltaic panels!

I haven’t heard any time-scales for this thing tossed around, but hopefully sooner rather than later. AS+GG is plenty busy with amazing green building projects, like the Masdar Headquarters, but hopefully they’ll put this one on the fast track as well.

More pictures below.

Via Jetson Green and AS+GG

MARAMBIO BASE, Antarctica (Reuters) – Argentina’s base on Antarctica is more like a commune than a barracks.

The 36 members of the Argentine Air Force stationed here all eat the same food, take turns washing dishes and clean their own clothing, regardless of rank.