Open Architecture Network

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photo: Luke Robinson With less than a month to go in the US Presidential Election, one debate between John McCain and Barack Obama done and another scheduled for tonight, and the only debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin completed, less than 18% of US voters consider themselves undecided. If you’re one of these people and care about energy policy and the environment I hope comparing side-by-side the rhetoric of both major party candidates has proven useful. In past posts we’ve covered renewable en...

Graph via Google We’ve seen some amazing ideas about data centers coming out of Google that may be off in the future a ways. But Google’s Urs Hölzle, Senior Vice President, Operations, has lifted the veil just slightly on the company’s current data server efficiency, showing off a little of the way their world works when it comes to greening up the IT industry. They’ve designed their s...

Xavier Snelgrove, Wikipedia commons Some of the hidden pork in the Bailout Bill have been written about for their silliness, like the Sec. 503. Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children, others are not very green, like the Sec. 317. Seven-year cost recovery period for motorsports racing track facility , which costs a cool hundred mil to give a fast tax break to the motor sports industry. However there is one particular one that TreeHuggers should love: Sec. 211. Transportation fringe benefit to bicycle commuters it allows for a "qualified bicycle com...

MEMO: You own the Housing industry now, Here is what you should do with it. Now that the United States Government owns all the mortgages, the guarantors of the mortgages, and the reinsurer of all the insurers, and possibly pretty soon $700 billion worth of foreclosed houses, what should you do with it? Usually when a government nationalizes an industry, they have a plan for what they want to do with it. Now that the American government owns it, here are a few ideas that might help build a greener, healthier and more energy efficient nation. We have seen how when people are given the freedom to chose what they want instead of what is good f...

Photo via Aving It doesn’t look promising – at least not right away. Back in July of this year, Sharp showed off a 26” solar powered TV, which utilizes a similar sized solar panel to be placed outdoors. At that time, a larger version was in the works. They’ve now shown off their newest solar-powered display – a 52-incher with a behemoth solar panel traipsing along beside it. ...

This year’s Paris Motor Show has seen many major manufacturers making strident efforts towards smaller, more fuel efficient, and more environmentally sustainable vehicles. The Nissan Nuvu is just such a car, representing the type of vehicle that we will be driving within the next decade: one that is city-smart, compact and all-electric.

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Van Jones is one busy man. Based in Oakland, CA, the civil rights and environmental activist has been working tirelessly for the last decade and a half – first as the co-founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, then Color of Change – two social justice organizations striving to give positive alternatives and a political voice to vulnerable communities. Most recently, Jones is the founder of Green For All, a national initiative

Getty Images Anyone wondering if Beijing's azure blue skies would last after the "green" Olympics left town (hello) can breathe a small sigh of relief. It took a few weeks, but in an effort to keep the skies and roads relatively clear, the Beijing government is putting its big, authoritarian foot down on the brakes and launching a car ban like the one it used during the Olymp...

Last week we got word that renewable energy tax incentives would be included in the financial bailout bill. Knowing full well that the bill would make it through the House this time around (thanks primarily to an avalanche of pork that continues to feed the bureaucratic machine), solar and wind supporters began to cheer. After a long year of begging for crumbs so we can strengthen our energy infrastructure and employ 4.2 million hard-working folks in the renewable energy sector, the lifeline was finally offered. In the bill,

All images by Ben Gold courtesy of Ciel Oh the cruelty of the fashion industry! Showing us all these beautiful Spring/Summer clothes when we are sliding inexorably into winter...brrrrr! Still, even just the sight of Ciel's SS09 collection at London Fashion Week was enough to bring a sunny smile to our faces. Bright, crisp and beautifully patterned, it would be fair to say that Sarah Ratty has pulled a gorgeous mix out of her ma...

photo: Kevin Lim Oxfam said biofuels were pushing millions of people into poverty; a World Bank report said increase in biofuel use was the one of the prime causes of increasing food prices. Adding more weight to the anti-biofuel side of the food versus fuel balance is a new report for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. In comparing decreasing oil usage or increasing food prices, biofuels wi...

A cool thing about competition is that is creates a whole lot of options from which consumers can choose, especially in the realm of electronics. It seems the Dell Studio Hybrid has a bit of competition. PC World has announced the Advent Eco PC. This little PC does just thaaaaat much more than the Studio Hybrid, breeding some interesti...

photo: Amanda Graham Though polar bears were granted “threatened” status by the Federal government back in May, no specific habitat refuge was created for their protection. As part of legal settlement with the Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace, and the Natural Resources Defense Council that will change. The Secretary of the Interior now has a deadline of March 31, 2010 to designate “critical habitat” for the polar bear, as well as to issue guidelines on non-lethal s...

Peugeot is just one of the companies currently showcasing their latest and greatest at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. One of our favorites offerings from this year’s offerings is the Hymotion 3 concept vehicle, which facilitates urban mobility by bridging the gap between an electric scooter and a car. The lean small-framed vehicle has a maximum speed of 70mph and gets an incredible 118mpg.

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Last week the Renewable Energy Tax Incentive was signed into Law and Matthew predicted that the renewable energy industry would come out ahead. He quoted the VP of Sharp Solar: "The solar industry is now scaling up to bring down manufacturing and installation costs, build its infrastructure, grow public awareness, and attract customers." The Wall Street Journal is not so sure. Keith Johnson in the Journal notes that last week, for the solar power industry, champagne was the order of the day. Now its hangover time. He writes...

If you’re looking for a green way to back up your computer, you have a pretty cool option with the [re]drive external hard drive from SimpleTech. We were just talking about bamboo-covered computer gear, but the cover for the [re]drive really sets a standard. The bamboo casing is grown at the manufacturing facility and steam pressed, with no chemicals or wood varnish used. The case also uses 100% recycled aluminum. And while the device uses bamboo, the instruction manual is printed o...

Building on couple of topics which are perennial TreeHugger favorites (cool roofs and thin-film solar photovoltaics)... Fremont, California-based Solyndra has announced the launch of a new type of rooftop solar array which the company says could revolutionize the market for commercial rooftop solar arrays. This is what it’s all about:...

As part of the eco-friendlienss factor that computer manufacturers are implementing in their designs is bamboo and wood-cased computers. Feeling the pressure both from consumers and from each other, the greenness of a computer plays in to the current acceptance level of a manufacturers new products…well, at least in part. But we are curious about what it means to use a resource like wood for products that have become nearly disposable. Does it help or hinder the lifetime of the product, and the life cycle of forests?...