GeoParadise Blog

Engineer Malcolm McCulloch at Oxford University resurrected an eco-friendly refrigerator design that Einstein and Leo Szilard patented in 1930. Instead of cooling the interior of the refrigerator with freon — a serious contributor to global warming — Einstein's design uses ammonia, butane and water. It also requires very little energy. Though Einstein's original refrigerator wasn't all that efficient, the Oxford researchers have tweaked his version and believe it could eventually compete in the...

Simon Fraser University researchers have developed a new wearable technology that generates electricity from the natural motion of walking and promises to revolutionize the way we charge portable battery-powered devices. The Biomechanical Energy Harvester, which will be featured in the Feb. 8, 2008 issue of the U.S. journal, Science, resembles a lightweight orthopaedic knee brace. The device harvests energy from the end of a walker’s step, when the muscles are working to slow the movement of the...

As you get higher, the wind gets stronger. Harvesting just 1% of those high-altitude breezes could produce enough power for everyone on Earth. That's what Sky Windpower aims to do. The San Diego company — founded by a scientist who got his start breaking codes during World War II — is designing flying wind turbines that could harness the jet stream. It's the definition of high tech....

Electric cars were always environmentally friendly, quiet, clean — but definitely not sexy. The Tesla Roadster has changed all that.A battery-powered sports car that sells for $100,000 and has a top speed of 125 m.p.h. (200 km/h), the Roadster has excited the clean-tech crowd since it was announced in 2003. Celebrities like George Clooney joined a long waiting list for the Roadster; magazines like Wired drooled over it. After years of setbacks and shake-ups, the first Tesla Roadsters were delive...