inhabitat blog picks, inhabitat ces 2009, inhabitat consumer electronics show, inhabitat greener gadgets

With the Consumer Electronics Show going on in Las Vegas this week, we’ve been dreaming of sleek, innovative gadgets that can satisfy our desire for clean, green technology. So, with this year’s CES purportedly greener then ever - have we found our clean green silver bullet? Here’s the latest word around the blogosphere on CES 2009 and green tech:

Newsweek caught up with Eric Carlson, executive director of Carbonfund.org, earlier this week to talk about how they helped CES get a little greener this year.

With Greenpeace and Greener Gadgets on the scene at CES, there was heightened anticipation for the “Greener Gadgets Tech Zone”. And yet, Treehugger wonders WHERE are the green gadgets?? And cnet reports only a middling report card.

(Pssst … a tip from the Inhabitat team: If you want GREEN GADGETS, be sure to stay tuned for the Greener Gadgets 2009 Conference in February!)

Cleantech reports that a record $8.4 billion was invested in clean technology in 2008 and despite a drop in investment in the fourth quarter, Cleantech ventures to say that it will rebound.

So we wonder if those investments will affect consumer electronics since Reuters reports that consumer gadgets are still hot, hot, hot!

Gazprom crisis, Russian Ukraine gas dispute, Gazprom gas crisis in Europe, Gas crisis EU, Central Eastern Europe gas crisis, gas crisis Bulgaria, gas cut-off Europe, gas cut-off Bulgaria, Gazprom negotiations EU, EU gas crisis, energy crisis Europe

Home heating price increases have certainly been a major concern for recession-strapped households in northern climates, but the possibility of having one’s heat completely shut-off in this new era of natural resource ‘muscle flexing’ and bitter political show-downs is perhaps a whole new energy policy boiling point in Europe and beyond. Russia’s decision this week to turn off the flow of gas from its Gazprom pipelines to the Ukraine, which in turn forced many European countries to rely on their (in some cases virtually nonexistent) gas reserves, demonstrates the dire need to identify alternatives to Siberia and the Middle East for our massive oil and gas dependencies. Given that my family and I are currently in Bulgaria for six weeks, we are experiencing the Gazprom gas cut-off crisis first-hand. This issue will not be going away any time soon, despite the band-aid patches that will crop up over the next few weeks and months.

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shipping container architecture, shipping containers, weekend house jure kotnik, jure kotnik, conhouse system, jure kotnik conhouse, prefab design, prefab shipping container, shipping container housing

Shipping container buildings have gained incredible popularity over the last year. And now here is another one to add to the list - the 2+ Weekend House by Jure Kotnik Arhitekt. This mini housing unit is constructed from two stacked containers, and can be shaped according to its owner’s particular needs using the ConHouse System. The difference between this prefab house and the rest of the houses we’ve seen is that this house is made from containers specifically manufactured to housing units, and not recycled shipping containers.

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floating house, Mos architecture, floating prefab home, floating prefab, floating prefab house, huron sustainable building, prefab cabin, lake huron cabin, mos, floating house mos, lake cabin sustainable building

What do you do when you need to build a house in the middle of Lake Huron where building on location is prohibitively expensive? You construct a floating house and make it so you can tug it to it’s new home. This beautiful, 1-bedroom lake cabin, designed by MOS, rests on a platform of steel pontoons that allows the house to ride with the fluctuations of the lake. The house itself is a handsome structure with simple and clean lines, but it is the location and surroundings that really make it such a desirable home.

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Oled, CES, UDC, Universal Display Corporation, Sustainable Tech, Green Gadgets

We always knew that cutting edge-technology integrated with OLEDs would provide some crazy gadgets in the future - we just had no idea we’d see them take on the form of a fashion accessory so soon. Our friends at Engadget recently got a first glance at this flexible OLED wristband prototype developed by Universal Display Corporation with support from the U.S. Department of Defense. Devices such as this may one day form the basis for a new generation of energy-efficient wearable communications devices.

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miniwiz solarbulb, sustainable design, solar lighting, green design, green gadget, energy efficient lighting

This year’s CES is showcasing some great green products, and we were particularly impressed by this new solar powered outdoor lamp by miniWIZ, who brought us the Hymini Portable Wind Charger. The Solarbulb is a brilliant solution that provides light while making use of old plastic bottles. Simply attach it to any ordinary bottle and the 0.18 W solar cells will provide up to 6 hours of continuous night lighting.

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hp flexible display, flexible computer screens, asu flexible display center, sustainable design, green gadgets, green design, energy efficient computer monitors

Arizona State University’s Flexible Display Center and HP recently announced a prototype of a flexible lightweight computer screen that stands to revolutionize computers and electronic devices. Created in a similar roll-to-roll manufacturing process as thin-film pv, these new computer screens are printed onto plastic sheets that are virtually indestructible, use less energy and are less costly to produce than conventional screens. These new displays could potentially use up to 90% less materials by volume to produce as well.

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owikits, 6 in 1 solar building kit, solar toy, solar toy kit, solar building toy, solar toys for children, assemble your own solar car toy, solar car toy, solar car airplane, solar powered toy motor, CES

From tiny hydrogen powered vehicles to pint-size solar powered cars, we love seeing toys that put renewable energy into growing kids hands. Thus we were excited to see this 6-in-1 Solar Building Kit by OWIKits at this year’s CES. The kit consists of 21 parts that can be easily assembled into a number of solar-powered toys, from an airboat to a car to a walking puppy.

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energizer solar battery recharger, green gadget, renewable energy, sustainable design, green design, waste reduction, energy efficiency

Energizer has worked hard to brand and market itself as the go-to battery for rechargeable reuse by offering many nifty little recharging gadgets to power up your AA and AAA batteries. At CES this week, Energizer debuted its latest green gadget, the Solar Battery Recharger. While we all love our Solios, if you wanted to charge batteries you still had to buy a battery charger that drains energy from the grid. This solar charger removes the step, allowing you to charge both AA and AAA batteries with renewable energy.

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Saul Griffith Keynote, Greener gadgets conference, green gadgets conference, Saul Griffith headline

ATTENTION GREEN GADGET GEEKS!

The Greener Gadgets Conference is returning to New York City this February, and promises to be even bigger and better than our inaugural event in 2008. We’ve been talking about it for the last few months, but now we have an exciting announcement we would like to make about the lineup of the conference. We are thrilled to announce that inventor, engineer and all-around-tech-renaissance man Saul Griffith has signed on to give the keynote presentation for the event.

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grass cell phone, grass phone, sustainable design, biodegradable cell phone, green design, Je-Hyun Kim, cell phone lifecycle, e waste

Hay may be for horses, but it makes a pretty great mobile phone material as well. Appearing for all the world like a brick of sod outfitted with a keypad, Je-Hyun Kim’s Natural Year Phone concept carefully considers the life cycle of cellular phones, which are all too frequently disposed of due to obsolescence and the constant cycling of two-year contracts. Designed to last only for the length of its functional life cycle, the grassy green phone biodegrades and pieces apart for easy recycling after two years are up.

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motorola renew s233, sustainable cellphone, green gadget, green design, recycled materials cell phone, carbon neutral phone

Green innovations are taking center stage at this year’s CES, with many big name companies embracing sustainable design. Motorola is doing their part to tackle the massive problem of consumer e-waste with the release of the world’s first carbon neutral cellphone. The Renew W233 is the first certified Carbonfree cell phone on the market and features a 100% recyclable housing made from recycled water bottles.

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ces goes green, consumer electronics show, green gadgets, sustainable design, green design

The world famous Consumer Electronics Show kicks off this week in Las Vegas, and this year the CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) has joined forces with Greener Gadgets to produce the greenest CES ever! We’re thrilled to see the event getting greener and greener each year with new initiatives to reduce the event’s carbon footprint, energy use, and promote more sustainable electronics products. We’ll be reporting on all the latest and greatest green electronics news from CES, so stay tuned to Inhabitat for up-to-the-minute coverage.

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savemoneygreen1.jpg

Most people want to ‘go green’ and do the right thing - however there is a persisting stereotype out there that ‘going green’ costs more money. Contrary to popular belief, living a sustainable lifestyle DOESN’T need to involve spending lots of green, if you are smart about what you do. To prove it, we’ve rounded up a great list of ten ways that going green can actually save you money…

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Eliica, eightwheeler, eight-wheeler, 8 wheels, electric vehicle, electric concept, japanese concept car, hiroshi shimizu

If there’s one thing that we never expected to see, it’s the sight of an 8-wheeled electric vehicle attempting to break the land speed record. But that is exactly what the Eliica is attempting to do. Designed by a team at Keio University in Japan, this fully electric lithium-ion vehicle may be short on subtlety, but it has a range of 200 miles and can hit speeds of up to 230mph!

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china solar plant, world

From the Three Gorges Dam to the Great Wall, China is known for its monumental projects that count among the biggest and grandest in the world. Recently the nation announced its latest supermassive project: the construction of the world’s largest solar power plant. Planned by China Technology Development Group Corp and privately-held Qinghai New Energy Group, the project will begin with a 30 MW plant in the Qaidam Basin that will expand to produce 1 GW of solar energy.

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inhabitat, 2008 weblog awards, inhabitat best blog design, inhabitat weblog award, sustianable design, green design

We’re excited to announce that Inhabitat has been nominated as a finalist in this year’s Weblog Awards! The world’s largest blog competition pools together over 500,000 entries in a wide range of categories, and Inhabitat has been nominated for the Best Blog Design. We’re honored to be nominated and would love to ring in the new year with a bang, so if you’re a fan of great green design cast your vote for Habby and Inhabitat today!

VOTE INHABITAT FOR A 2008 WEBLOG AWARD >

loofah homes, loofah building material, recycled building materials, sustainable architecture, green design, elsa zaldivar, paraguay loofah industry

In Paraguay, forested areas have been reduced to less than 10% of the country, which means that wood is scarcely available as a building material. Additionally, 300,000 families do not have adequate housing. These two serious factors couple to form a sizable problem, which community activist Elsa Zaldívar is addressing with an innovative approach to sustainable building. Recognizing the waste being sent to the landfill and a need for housing, Elsa worked with an industrial engineer to develop a material made from recycled plastic and agricultural fibers, like loofah, corn husks and caranday palm trees. These panels now provide an inexpensive, lightweight, flexible building material that can help communities reduce their agricultural waste while generating income and providing sustainable housing to families.

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