How are we going to measure greenness? How much of the original product is used in the new, recycled product? How much energy in joules it takes to make this? How many pounds of carbon is spent? Many of these are nebulous numbers, and it takes a combination of them to determine whether or not one thing is "greener" than another. Something may be using 99% of its original materials but take a lot of energy to recycle, whereas something may be using very little original material but be quickly grown from the earth.

It's an interesting idea, but I don't see it happening any time soon, at least not in a way that actually helps people make a decision about which products to buy. [Fast Company]

The four buildings in the complex have a variety of features typical of environmentally friendly and sustainable structures of recent, and the kind we may see in the future.

Rooftop garden ponds to recycle rainwater, solar tracking screens around the buildings' exterior and circular footprints for the towers, enabling wide-open social spaces to face the sun. And of course the position of the buildings, arranged in a horizontal linking pattern so they double as giant sun umbrellas for the Stock Exchange. The buildings will be linked by underground rail as well, so the only time you'll have to venture outside is to partake in all the rooftop garden festivities. [designboom]

The Solvatten looks like a standard jerrycan sliced in half and divided into two 5 liter compartments, each of which has a clear face. The two chambers are exposed to sunlight, which naturally heats the water to a pathogen-killing temperature of roughly 130° F. An indicator changes from red to green when the water is safe to drink.

The whole process takes about 3 to 4 hours when its sunny, and 5 to 6 when it's cloudy. While that's not perhaps the fastest way to cure water, the amount of resources it saves compared to boiling over gas stoves makes it ideal for making sure some clean H2O will be on hand later. [Treehugger]

According to Nokia, the NHCC will allow third-party developers to create services that are added onto the accessibility platform. That way, you'll rarely come across an incident where some new smart home tech you bought doesn't actually work with your main controller. NHCC works with Z-Wave, ZigBee and KNX, three of the most common command languages for home networks. It will be launched some time in 2009. [Nokia via Treehugger]

The system works by harnessing “vortex induced vibrations,” the thrumming caused by the flow of liquid or air over rounded objects. A cylinder placed underwater is subject to the current and starts to vibrate as liquid sticks and creates eddies on the object's opposite side. It's the same scientific principle that caused the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows bridge in 1940.

"For the past 25 years, engineers—myself included—have been trying to suppress vortex induced vibrations. But now at Michigan we're doing the opposite. We enhance the vibrations and harness this powerful and destructive force in nature," said VIVACE developer Michael Bernitsas, a professor in the U-M Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.

Just a few cylinders could possibly power an anchored ship or a lighthouse. An array of VIVACE cylinders about the size of a running track could produce energy at 5.5 cents per kilowatt hour and power about 100,000 houses. U of M is now working on possibly deploying a pilot project in the Detroit River within the next 18 months. [UMich via Gizmag]

The scrubber takes in air and binds the CO2 to sodium hydroxide. The heavier concoction is then sent through a few more chemical intermediaries, eventually resulting in a batch of separated CO2 that can be piped away, while the hydroxide gets fed back into the machine.

According to the university, the scrubbers can capture around a ton of carbon dioxide for less than 100 kwh of electricity, about ten times as much CO2 as was released to keep it running. Unfortunately, that's not quite enough to keep it from being prohibitively expensive. The cheapest way to keep CO2 emissions out of the air is still not generating it in the first place. [Popsci]

The move is important since data centers are becoming an ever-increasing drain on the energy grid, accounting for about 1.5 percent of all electricity consumed in the U.S. in 2006 (expected to rise to 2.5 percent in three years). While the efficiency levels Google touted are admirable, data center trackers cautioned that the test results hadn't been verified by a third party. [NYTimes]

Kuepper was awarded two Australian Museum Eureka Prizes, the country's top science award, for iJET. Unfortunately, it seems like the only page that would explain how iJET works is down right now, but Kuepper said it would probably take five years to commercialize the technology and it'll help people in less developed nations to “read at night, keep informed about the world through radio and television and refrigerate life-saving vaccines” without all those nasty CO2 emissions. [The Australian via Treehugger]

For her invention, Rintel will receive $10,000 cash and spend a day “shadowing” an eco-expert from Leonardo DiCaprio's 11th Hour Action website, devoted to sustainable-living practices. All well and good, but when I was 12 years old, I probably would've been more excited if the prize involved shadowing Romeo himself. Maybe this is why I never won cool competitions like this in middle school. [Cnet]

Greencore has three versions of its AC system, a fixed one, a portable one with two batteries and another portable with four batteries. All three run on 24 volts DC and have a cooling capacity of 10,200 BTUs and a heating capacity of 13,400 BTUs. According to the company, McDonalds and the US Navy are already on board with testing the units. [Treehugger]

Vu1, the company behind the technology, says ESL bulbs don't contain the trace amounts of mercury in CFLs and don't require the manufacturing energy behind LEDs, making it better than both. The first screw in models, which produce 40 lumens per watt with a 6,000 hour lifetime, are expected to be available by September 2008. At $12 a bulb, they cost about the same as dimmable CFLs already on the market. [Vu1 via Cleantechnica]

For your money, you'll be getting one of the fastest all electric vehicles around. The 2009MY can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds, has a top speed of 125 mph, and can go 227 miles on a 3.5 hour charge. If you're especially opulent, you can add sweet extras like a painted carbon fiber top for $3,200 or a premium leather interior for $1,800.

Want to think a little more before you let this sweet lil' ride burn a hole through your bank account? Here's a couple of reviews to help you make your decision. Or if you're in California, scuttle over to their dealership in LA. [Tesla Motors]

The maps are especially important as floating wind farms become more technologically possible. Ocean wind farms have less environmental impact than onshore wind farms and also tend to be more efficient, since winds are stronger over the water and there are no hills or mountains to block a heavy gust's path. Placed in the correct areas, the farms could harvest up to 500 to 800 watts of wind power per square meter.

One area with extremely high winds is located off the coast of Northern California near Cape Mendocino, where northernly zephyrs are deflected to create a local wind jet that blows year-round. Similarly, Tasmania in New Zealand and Tierra del Fuego in South America have the potential to utilize similar jets. [NASA via Treehugger]

The set has a contrast ratio of 10000:1 and a 20mm thick display panel. It requires about 30% less power than regular LCD TVs and gets its juice from one of Sharp's triple-junction thin-film solar cell modules. The modules are about the same size as the television's screen.

Sharp plans to market the LCD and the energy system as a pair and says that its product could be a hit with both people living off the grid and environmentally-conscious consumers. The company will be exhibiting this, and other energy-saving technologies, at the G8 summit on Monday. [Physorg]

In fact, Sony Ericsson was the only company to score more than 5 out of 10 in the Greener Electronics Guide, which judges tech giants on their recycling programs, their use of harmful chemicals and their energy waste. Microsoft and Nintendo were at the very bottom of the guide, with Microsoft's exceedingly low score on climate criteria and Nintendo's Wii being more of a resource hog than one might expect.

The Information and Communications Technology sector accounts for two percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and e-waste becomes a bigger and bigger problem the more we ignore it. While consumers like us can do our part by only buying the gadgets we need (and the greenest ones at that), companies really need to step up and rework internal policies to stop polluting. [Greenpeace]

The new pod, an evolution from the Orange portable wind charger that debuted at Glastonbury 2007, will act as a trial in using renewable energy sources on a larger scale. If everything goes well, the technology will become a staple at “Chill n' Charge tents” in future festivals. The pod can be found within the Pennard Hill camping grounds at Worthy Farm in Somerset. [Slashphone]

Right now, almost all products ship with a proprietary power adapter. Green Plug's technology allows every electronic device to communicate its own energy requirements to one adapter, allowing for several goods to use the same power box. But in order for the universal adapter to work, companies have to embed Green Plug's firmware into their electronics.

Westinghouse, the first company to sign on with Green Plug, said the adapter would not only help it cut costs (it wouldn't have to sell power adapters with each product if the consumer already has a universal one at home), the environmental savings are huge as well.

434 million consumer electronics devices are “retired” in the U.S. each year. Those products, and their power cords usually end up in landfills. Meanwhile, over 3 billion power adapters will be shipped worldwide this year. Imagine how much less that figure would be if everything plugged into a single hub. [ PC World]