Powering jet planes with eco-friendly biofuels such as algae has been done before and yet, I’m still being charged an arm and a leg by the airline companies who are still stuck in the past, burning up high emission jet fuels. Deep down in my heart I have always known that marijuana is not only a powerful medicine, but that hemp oil is also a useful and renewable energy source. Just ask DuPont.

Come early December, Air New Zealand will have a Boeing 747 fly off, powered by a new type of jet fuel made from marijuana. A mixture of both biofuel and conventional fuel will run one of the plane’s engines and the developers of the biofuel, UOP, are hoping it will cut down on carbon-dioxide emissions. They’re also hoping it will get everyone on board high as a kite.

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Anyone interested in DIY, energy or our ecosystem should most definitely check out the Alternative Energy Gift Guide from MAKE. They cover some key issues that we as Americans must confront head on, such as our dependence on foreign energy and oil. There’s a bunch of a kits you can browse through that will have you using the Sun as your new battery pack in no time.

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Here’s a device that’s shaped like a flower that you connect to your house via a wireless transmitter. It monitors the electricity consumed in your house in real time. Using too much energy will result in this flower’s demise, wilting at the first signs of wasted energy.

Designed by Carl Smith, the Wilting Flower will reward those who remain conscious of the amount of energy they use each day by standing tall, bright and blooming. Ideal for plant lovers and eco-nuts who need to be kept in check when it comes to their utility usage. A perfect match alongside the Water Watcher.

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Light bulbs have not gone under many changes in design since their invention. Besides the curly eco bulbs that have spread like wild fire since the awareness of an energy crisis, conventional light bulbs have always retained their shape. That is, until Korean designer Joonhuyn Kim redesigns the light bulb to his own liking. What he creates is a light bulb that is 1/3 the volume of a normal bulb and is flatter than my back. An original design that I’d love to see in my cardboard condiminium. You know - because it’s flat!

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Even more architecture that resembles the “arcologies” of Sim City 2000 are sprouting up, this time in Singapore. Here, eco-minded architecture firm TR Hamzah & Yeang is designing this skyscraper it’s calling the EDITT (Ecological Design In The Tropics) Tower. This 26-story skyscraper will be constructed using various recycled and recyclable materials. Not only that, but the tower will include the most eco-friendly technologies ever to be incorporated into a high-rise building.

You name it, this thing’s got it. Besides the immense amount of solar panels that’ll generate 40% of the tower’s energy demands, this skyscraper will include an energy plant that will convert human sewage into biofuel, a rain water harvesting system and the ability to remove and add walls and floors just in case vegetation is growing out of hand. That’s every possible way to save our planet jam packed into one skyscraper. You’ll have to deal with a major case of bed bugs, but it’s a small price to pay for saving the planet.

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We’re digging this eco-friendly goodness from the folks at Windation Energy Systems. If you couldn’t guess by the name, they deal with organic means of producing wind energy. The developer of Windation’s latest wind turbine, Mark Sheikhrezai, was inspired by wind catchers used by the Persians to keep their interiors cool.

The concept is simple: wind blows into the top, then it’s directed downward where the wind turns a turbine that generates up to five kilowatts of electricity. That’s almost as good as saving the environment while working out, but even better because you can sit on your ass all day. We approve.

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David Butcher is one cool dude. Every day, he exercises for 45-minutes on a pedal-powered generator that powers his laptop computer, a Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner and compact fluorescents. However, he’s not the only one making use of this eco-friendly approach to powering electronic equipment.

A new gym in Portland, Oregon utilizes a similar approach to building up energy.  Personal trainer Adam Boesel opened the Green Microgym not solely to provide members with an excellent workout but also to save some energy.

“It is an example of what a community can do to conserve energy, even if it’s a drop in the bucket.”

If only more people shared a similar outlook on our energy crisis.

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We live in an age where the government watches with a careful eye to ensure no companies get into risky antitrust activities. Google has been under watch for a year or two now and it continues to expand at the rate of a gas giant. Now, according to reports, Google is considering putting a ton of a servers out to sea on a boat. Seven miles out in the sea, in international waters, the servers would operate under no law and would be powered by the ocean’s waves, reducing costs for the company.

In the patent application seen by The Times, Google writes: “Computing centres are located on a ship or ships, anchored in a water body from which energy from natural motion of the water may be captured, and turned into electricity and/or pumping power for cooling pumps to carry heat away.”

This is actually more of an economical move rather than a shady trick Google is pulling. Companies would stand to save millions from not using data centers in current form. No idea if Google will follow through with this idea but it’ll be interesting to see what happens.

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It’s probably not in the best interest of mankind to try and recreate a big bang right here on our planet, but scientists just can’t get enough of attempting to destroy existence as we know it. For those not familiar with the Large Hadron Collider, it’s the world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator complex that stretches a whopping 17 miles. Scientists are using it in order to disprove and/or prove many theorems we aren’t sure about today.

Well, I woke up this morning, so the world hasn’t ended. This must mean the Large Hadron Collider was a success. In celebration of waking up to see another blue sky, DVICE has posted a slew of stunning images of the Large Hadron Collider.
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Swedish company Home Energy has not forgotten about our energy independence even if our leaders of tomorrow have.  It’s made a wind turbine shaped as a sphere called the Energy Ball.  Home Energy claims that the shape allows for higher aerodynamic efficiency in comparison to traditional design as well as complete silence during operation.  The Energy Ball comes in two models: The 0.5 kW Energy Ball V100 has a price tag of $4,600 and the 2.5 kW Energy Ball V200 sells for $8,100. The prices might seem steep, but think of the energy you’ll be saving.

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