carbon emissions

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  • Google details its carbon footprint in new report, makes you think twice about Rickrolling someone

    The folks in Mountain View have always been obsessed with performance, but until now, Google had never come clean with the nitty-gritty surrounding power usage. A new report published by the company tells all, revealing that the search giant emits 1.5 million tons of carbon annually; a figure roughly on par with the UN's operational footprint, or slightly more than the amount produced by the entire country of Laos. The docket also breaks down the carbon emissions by activity, too: individual searches yield 0.2g, ten minutes of YouTube emits 1g and the average Gmail user produces 1.2kg of CO2 over a year -- which on average equates to a grand total of 1.46kg of CO2 per plebe across its properties. According to Google, that's a figure that would have been higher had it not custom designed its data centers, achieving a fifty percent reduction in energy usage versus the industry average. Plenty of infographical delight awaits you at the source below.

    Dante Cesa
    09.09.2011

  • IBM and Portland team up to see into city's future

    Is it possible to see into a city's future? Perhaps, if you're backed by a company like IBM. The computing giant has teamed up with Portland, Oregon for its Systems Dynamics for Smarter Cities program, creating a simulation of the city (a veritable "Sim City," as it were), so governmental leaders can see the ways in which public policies might affect its future. IBM approached the northwestern cultural mecca back in 2009, working with representatives from a number of professions, including teachers, economists, city planners, and business leaders in the interim. The information collected was combined with governmental data to create a computer-based model of the city. Among other things, city leaders have used the model to work out a plan to reduce the city's carbon emissions 80 percent by the year 2050. Add in a guide to those famous Portland food carts and we'll be 100 percent behind the project.

    Brian Heater
    08.09.2011

  • Gordon Murray reveals new Batmobile, Dark Knight gets serious about reducing carbon footprint

    So you've finished building your Batman Forever-style Batmobile, your Tumbler's up on blocks in the front yard, and you're itching for a new project. It's not too early to start planning a DIY version of Gordon Murray's newly unveiled Bat-ride (part of the Batman Live World Arena Tour). The designer drew on his experience with the McLaren F1 for his new concept car, which includes a healthy dose of imagineering: there's a carbon-fiber body that "breathes," as well as LED-lit "virtual wheels." We're not sure how carbon fiber breathes or what virtual wheels are, but as Murray explains in the video below, they're based on Formula One materials as he imagines them 15-20 years from now. He also envisions a greener Dark Knight, whose ride runs on hydrogen fuel cells and lithium-ion batteries -- no longer will the caped crusader suffer a guilty conscience due to his excessive carbon dioxide emissions.

    Jesse Hicks
    06.19.2011

  • NEC turns your home into a carbon-tracking game controller

    Are you bored with keeping tabs of your carbon emissions? NEC and BIGLOBE have developed a system that not only performs this odious task, but makes it "fun" to do so -- if you're generous as to what constitutes "fun." A WiFi-enabled device is attached to your circuit breaker, where it keeps track of your power consumption and later transmits it to your home computer via ZigBee. The data is then sent to a website, where you can use it to play games against other green households in such thrilling arenas as Carbon Diet (users score "eco-points" with which they can purchase virtual soil, water, flowers and grass) and Carbon Ball, in which Dung Beetles compete to see who can travel the farthest, with distance being determined by -- you guessed it -- how well the user reduces power consumption. But that ain't all -- the system also keeps tabs on daily and hourly energy consumption, your rank in comparison with other households, and more. A three-month trial service is underway in the homes of 100 NEC employees, after which the companies will analyze the data and develop a business model for unloading this bad boy on local governments and the private sector. One more pic after the break.[Via Pink Tentacle]

    Joseph L. Flatley
    04.03.2009
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