(World’s fastest electric airplane hits the sky)

Research indicates that aviation is the fastest growing source of CO2 and with more and more people opting for the fastest way to commute, the figures are bound to reach staggering heights in the next couple of decades. Greening airplanes isn’t an easy and a practically feasible task considering the demand for speedier planes is ever increasing. SkySpark, which took the sky for the first time on June 10, is definitely a stepping stone toward greener aviation.

The 100% electricity-powered airplane made a world record by reaching a top speed of 250km/h. The airplane is a specially built Pioneer Alpi 300, which is now powered by a 75KW brushless electric motor fueled by an array of lithium-polymer batteries. The team behind the development is looking forward for better range and more speed using engine technology that runs on hydrogen fuel cells.

Sustainable design tennis ball chair

In a sustainable design article posted by Yuka Yoneda on inhabitat . Yuka tells us how to be sustainable enough to fight the ever increasing global warming by using recycled material.
What do you think of when you think “green design?” Probably not a chair made entirely of recycled tennis balls! This sustainable and unexpected take on recycling by furniture designer Hugh Hayden maker of this playful FUNATURE Tennis Ball Chair and also the winner of BKLYN Designs Most Innovative Use of Materials Award. He used medium size (297 repurposed tennis balls) to make it smart and simple, it’s also fun and sustainable and when it comes to getting people talking about sustainable design, the Tennis Ball Chair is the perfect eco conversation piece.

Why tennis balls? Their high turnover during matches means that a huge number of the fuzzy lime green spheres get discarded despite their being practically new. Recognizing the durability of the tennis balls, as well as the need to salvage them from getting burnt or dumped, Hayden decided to use them to craft a tongue-in-cheek chair that is surprisingly comfortable to sit .

Since the main component of the chairs already exists and does not need to be produced or processed, it is even more sustainable than some of the materials we usually consider to be extremely sustainable. And in terms of being delightful to look at, the Tennis Ball Chair takes the cake. From this sustainable art piece we can smell that Hugh and the Wimbledon have collaborations? It would certainly a sustainable match (point) scored by them

Sustainable living tip of the day

Sustainable tip of the day is to save Nemo, Nemo is a Disney cartoon, but they're plenty of other fish who actually need saving. More than 90 percent of the world's swordfish, marlin, giant tuna and other large predatory fish have been caught, and 76 percent of the world's fish stocks are eaten up by man if we don't watch out, we could lose many of the world's fisheries.

How Green is the New MacBook

So how green is the New Mcbook is the next question since Apple recently rolled out its new family of Macbooks with a bold claim of the World’s Greenest Family of Notebooks. The new Macbooks are lighter, less toxic, and more energy efficient than previous generations, but are they really the greenest laptops in the world?

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Two years ago, Greenpeace challenged Apple and other major laptop producers to reduce the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs), which are commonly found in electronics. PVC is made from a known carcinogen, and can release chlorinated dioxins when burned for disposal or leach chemicals if buried in a landfill. BFRs bioaccumulate and can release bromine in hazardous forms when burned for disposal. Children in India and China who dismantle our used electronics are then exposed to these toxins.

After Greenpeace determined Apple to be one of the electronic companies that were least responsive to their concerns about electronic waste, Greenpeace launched its “Green My Apple” campaign specifically targeting Apple’s environmental policy and asking for greater transparency.

Steve Jobs issued a statement in May of 2007 titled “A Greener Apple,” pledging to reduce the BFR and PVC content of its products by the end of 2008 and “explore the overall carbon ‘footprint’ of our products.” To evaluate the verdancy of the new Macbook, I looked at five things: toxic content, carbon footprint, recycling potential, energy efficiency and commitment to continued progress.

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TOXIC CONTENT:

While Apple has not reduced the use of BFRs and PVC to zero as they promised, they have reduced the allowable level of bromine and chlorine to 900 parts per million, or .09% of the product’s weight. This level is low enough that it becomes impractical to rely on BFRs, which are normally used to prevent fire, because they are ineffective in such small volume. Producers that use BFRs to fireproof their electronics add 50,000 ppm of bromine on average, so 900 ppm is a large reduction. Still, the company is careful to say “No BFRs in logic boards and all internal cables are free of PVC” instead of claiming that the entire Macbook is BFR- and PVC-free.

The battery is lead, cadmium and mercury free, which complies with EU directives. The Macbook display contains no mercury or arsenic, which are still found in other notebooks (including some made by Apple). In September, Dell announced it would transition to mercury-free displays.

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CARBON FOOTPRINT:

The new Macbook is lighter and its packaging has been reduced by 41%, allowing the company to transport more units at a time. Apple would not release specific information about where its products are made, how far they travel or by what method, but the company is claiming that transport only accounts for 10% of the product’s carbon footprint, while production accounts for 50%, customer use for 39%, and less than 1% for recycling, for a total of 460 kg of greenhouse gas emissions - the equivalent of about 52.2 gallons of gasoline.

It surprised me that Apple says transport is such a small part of the carbon cost, since the company has factories in China and transports its Macbooks at least part of the time by air.
RECYCLING POTENTIAL:

Apple has a fairly convenient (you have to pack it and FedEx it) recycling program for anyone buying a new Mac in 95% of the regions where Apple products are sold. If you are buying a new Apple, you can recycle your old computer, even if it’s a PC. All the recycling collected in North America is processed in North America, not shipped overseas. In contrast, Dell will recycle any old Dell product without requiring a new purchase.

The new Macbook body is made from a single piece of aluminum, which makes it “highly recyclable.” The Macbook got full points for recyclability from the EPA’s EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) rating system, which declared the laptop to be at least 90% recyclable, however it received 0 out of 3 points for materials selection from EPEAT for not using any post-consumer recycled content or bio-based plastic.

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“The use of aluminum for the body takes it up a notch or two – plastics can be difficult to recycle, and demand for the recycled material fluctuates,” points out Thomas Tierrney, of Paydirt, a consulting firm that teaches businesses how to go green. “Aluminum, on the other hand, is highly recyclable and is in relatively constant demand – it’s one of the few materials where production of virgin stock is more costly than recycling.”

Apple hopes to recycle 30% of the weight of the products it sold in 2003 – presuming a 7-year average life span for its products – and figures it has recycled 83 million pounds of electronic waste to date.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY:

The new Macbooks are ENERGYSTAR 4.0 compliant and Apple brags that the Macbook can run on a quarter of the power needed for one lightbulb. Its LED-backlit display uses 30% less power than conventional LCD displays. Apple is claiming a battery life of up to 1,000 charging cycles (complete charge and discharge of the notebook battery), up from 200 to 300 cycles for existing Apple batteries, which is fantastic if true.

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COMMITMENT TO PROGRESS:

Apple is vague about its plans for the future and seems reluctant to set concrete goals, but says they are “continually striving to reduce the environmental impact of the work we do and the products we create.” The strongest evidence of this is that they are now preparing and releasing “environmental status reports” for all Apple products. These reports include an estimate each product’s carbon footprint.
Is it the Greenest Laptop In the World?

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Apple is not just calling the new Macbooks green - it’s saying they are the greenest laptops in the world. However there are 113 laptops that received EPEAT’s Gold rating. The highest-ranked notebook is the Toshiba Portege R500, which received an extra point for “energy conservation” because it has a solar charger.

Toshiba’s new Portege R600 was named the greenest notebook in Greenpeace’s second annual “Green Electronics: The Search Continues” survey, and the HP Elitebook 2530p was a close second. ASUS has a notebook with a bamboo case.

But when it comes to green laptops, I remain unconvinced that the Macbook or any laptops built for American consumption can beat the solar cell and hand-cranked powered XO, which has a battery that decomposes into fertilizer.