Green Technology

What if your net power usage was zero? Some homes combine energy efficiency with their own power plants to end up consuming no energy at all.

By Julia Layton

Green technology is always better, right? Not so fast. Find out five of the biggest misconceptions about green technology.

By Maria Trimarchi

Bicycling has the potential to improve our environment, health and happiness in a big way. These five points will make you want to pump up your tires and get your bike rolling again.

By Julia Layton

In response to heavy criticism, the mobile phone industry has started going green. What are five of the greenest mobile phones out there?

By Julia Layton

There's nothing particularly organic about a robot, even if you dress it in hemp and fuel it with alternative energy. But these five can help our planet one mechanical movement at a time.

By Robert Lamb

If you live in the right spot -- somewhere that's sunny most of the year with low humidity -- you can save a lot through solar power. So which five cities are the best?

By Julia Layton

So a space shuttle launch may not be the most environmentally friendly thing in the world, but there's more to NASA than space travel. What are five of the most important ways NASA helps the environment?

By Julia Layton

Sure, your hair dryer or toaster sucks up a lot of kilowatt-hours during the short time it's on, but what are the truly big drains on your home energy budget?

By Julia Layton

While rebates and tax credits have put solar power within reach for many homeowners, it's still an expensive undertaking. How do you make sure you get your money's worth?

By Julia Layton

Energy efficiency is starting to rank right up there with speed and power in terms of desirable attributes for a computer. What are five of the most energy-efficient computers on the market?

By Maria Trimarchi

Some of the newest ideas in technology come from very old ideas -- they're inspired by nature. How do the plants and animals around us give engineers ideas?

By Jonathan Strickland

Do you find it easy being green? If you're one of the millions of smartphone users out there, these applications will help you make being green even easier.

By Jonathan Strickland

From the chemicals that pollute and the massive use of water, the traditional method of dyeing blue jeans is an environmental disaster. Nanoparticles made from wood pulp might be the answer to the problem.

By Jesslyn Shields

A July study found that every coastal estuary could prevent $38 million of damage from major storms like Hurricane Ida. But that means wetlands need protecting, too.

By Liz Kimbrough

We live in a universe of clocks. The technology may not sound as dependable as your cell phone alarm clock, but humans have turned to water-powered clocks for more than three and a half millennia.

By Robert Lamb

You know what geothermal energy is -- heat from the Earth. Could a new twist on geothermal power help countries achieve energy independence?

By Susan L. Nasr

Without a doubt, plastic is useful. It's also everywhere — filling up landfills and recycling bins. These 10 twists on the common polymer are trying to change that reality.

By Maria Trimarchi, Patrick J. Kiger & Vicki M. Giuggio

Plants produce energy so perfectly: converting sunlight, carbon dioxide and water into power and emitting nothing harmful in the process. Can we imitate such an elegant system?

By Julia Layton & Yara Simón

Solar energy is clean and plentiful. There's one big problem, though: The sun doesn't shine all the time. Is there a way to keep solar plants powered up through the night?

By Julia Layton

Sometimes you need to reinforce roads or retain walls without breaking out the concrete and rebar. That's where a simple, ingenious technology comes in.

By Julia Layton

That's not just any mud. That's a fossil fuel that's stashed away in huge quantities in deposits all over the Earth's crust. Could that frozen fuel also heat up the planet?

By William Harris

Alternative energy usually means something is mined, refined, collected or grown. But gravity-powered floor lamps rely only on a force of nature -- and the strength of a human being.

By Julia Layton

Photovoltaic solar panels are like windows -- they build up a coating of grime that requires a good cleaning from time to time. What's the alternative to climbing the roof with a squeegee and bucket of suds?

By Maria Trimarchi

Gasification could represent a second chance for coal. Will this old technology, which can run on coal or biomass, get a new life as one of the most important energy alternatives of the future?

By William Harris

How much energy does your TV use when it's plugged in all night? How much power is your stereo system draining from the socket monthly? The Kill A Watt and other energy monitors help you find out.

By Julia Layton