Dell’s new Studio Hybrid line of computers is a rather interesting offering.
Designed to be an “anywhere-you-want-it-desktop”, the pint-sized PC comes in six colors, as well as bamboo, features an ultra-compact design with Intel mobile technology performance, a slot-load DVD, HDMI, digital/analog TV tuner, and optional Blu-ray for home entertainment duties.
In addition, the Dell Hybrid helps to preserve the planet as Dell’s greenest and most power-efficient consumer desktop (75% less printed documentation, 70% less power usage, Energy Star 4.0 compliant, and packaging made form 95% recyclable materials).
A good-looking computer that’s good for the environment and performs too?
Spada Vetture Sport’s TS Codatronca looks like the car Batman would dive if the Batmobile got a bit boring one day.
The front looks like a cross between a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, and a Corvette, and the rear looks like…like…well, it doesn’t really look like anything else on the market right now, since a giant Tetris tail and stealth bomber lines aren’t exactly in vogue over at GM’s design shop.
The interior however is both beautiful and functional, with plenty of suede and carbon fiber to remind you that you aren’t in a car that will serve fleet time as part of a rental program.
The engine also reminds you that you’re in a race-bred car, with 600 horses on tap, and a short ratio gearbox to compile with FIA GT1 regulations.
For the green lovers, there’s an ad-hoc “converter kit” that allows you to fuel the car with E85 ethanol and also gives you a slight increase in torque and power.
It’s definitely not your daddy’s supercar, but then, who wants that anyways?
The Sorapot by Joey Roth has taken the design world by storm by combining an architectural shape and simple functionality into a teapot that “brings tea’s quiet beauty into sharp focus.
It’s made from 304 stainless steel, borosilicate glass (Pyrex), and food-grade silicone for long lasting good looks, and “articulates the ritual of tea making in a thoroughly modern way”.
In addition to good looks, the Sorapot also stays green with a sustainable approach to packaging, including post-consumer recycled cardboard and molded pulp, natural jute rope, and the avoidance of tape or staples. (See TreeHugger for more details on the packaging.)
If you agree that this just might be the perfect teapot, then head on over to the site with &179 in hand, and one can be yours.
If you’d like to go green in style, then check out the Lakai Recycled Program.
By “applying excess shoe materials that would otherwise be thrown away to selected styles each season”, Lakai is turning trash into unique pairs of kicks that are good looking and good for the environment.
In addition to the recycled materials (leather, suede, mesh) the Recycled Program shoes will also feature soles comprised of new gum rubber mixed with regrind rubber waste, reducing new material by up to 50%.
Another benefit of the program is that each shoe will have a unique look that is the result of whatever materials they happened to have around that day, so no two pairs will share the same material and/or color combinations.
Fisker Automotive wants to bring the sexy back to green sport car design.
With Tesla taking a sad and slow turn towards the automotive afterlife, there’s now a gaping hole in the car world for people who want to drive green, but don’t want to drive slow to do so.
Enter: Fisker
The Karma (clever) will be a four-door plug-in hybrid sports sedan, and will start at just $80,000. (I say just because technology like this doesn’t come cheap when you’re trying to debut a whole new type of transportation.)
With initial delivery scheduled for late 2009, and an estimated production run of at least 15,000, there’s definitely some hope of this thing seeing the light of day.
And if it does, what will drivers see?
A sexy exterior wrapped around an even sexier interior powered by a Q DRIVE powertrain. (Q DRIVE is Fisker’s name for their plug-in hybrid technology.) Basically, a small gas engine turns a generator which charges the lithium ion battery pack which then powers the electric motor.
With this configuration, the car can be driven for up to 50 miles per day, as long as the car is then plugged in each night. By following this routine, the car then also only needs one fuel fill-up. Per year.
Will this change the face of green automotive design?
As with the Tesla, only time will tell; though I do hope that this one at least makes it into production, since we’re at going to need baby steps if there’s ever going to be hope of running towards a cleaner type of automobile.
Today is Blog Action Day, which means that fifteen thousand blogs with a combined total of twelve million readers are going to be publishing posts about the environment.
Since I’m always down to support a good cause, I’m going to participate by giving you DYH’s Simple Rule To Live By: Do Something.
Being green doesn’t have to be a life changing decision. You don’t need to sell your car and buy a Prius; you don’t need to sell your Prius and buy a bike; and you certainly don’t need to recycle your bike and start walking everywhere; you just need to do something.
That’s because I believe that if everyone did something, then everything would change.
Why?
Because even small changes can make a difference.
Change a few light bulbs. Take a shorter shower. Recycle more. Drive less.
There are a million different things that you can do, so you just need to start doing them.
The key is to start small.
Soon, that single bulb will turn into a home full of CFLs, that shorter shower will turn into thousands of gallons of saved water, and that parked car will turn into a healthier you.
So just remember: Don’t try to change the world by yourself; just do something, and the world will follow.
Normally Tuner Tuesday features cars that are full of horsepower, torque, suspension work and sex appeal.
This car doesn’t have any of the above, but it does have one thing: Green power.
Made by sculptor Benedict Radcliffe and pedal car designer Ben Wilson, this Lamborghini art car might only have the horsepower of the two people behind the pedals, but it puts out exactly zero emissions, and is sure to get you about as many looks as the real thing.
Just don’t try to take it on the freeway, because I don’t think the crumple zones have passed safety inspection yet.
Apple is going green. In response to criticisms about their environmental practices and progress, they’ve laid out their plans for the world to see (an unusual move for Apple because “it is generally not Apple’s policy to trumpet our plans for the future”). By removing toxic chemicals from their products, and recycling the rest, they hope that a greener Apple will be a pioneer for a greener future, and I say that there’s nothing wrong with that.
Today is Blog Action Day, which means that fifteen thousand blogs with a combined total of twelve million readers are going to be publishing posts about the environment.
