Sustainable Technologies

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 & Sascha Bos

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

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

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

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

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

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

Children love to play, so why not harness the energy of their motion to help support a community. How does the PlayPump convert the push of a merry-go-round into clean water?

By Stephanie Watson

You probably ignore most billboards, especially those annoying ones that read, "If you lived here, you could be home by now!" But what if that giant ad you drove past were alive?

By Robert Lamb

Eco-plastic seems like an oxymoron, and it very well may be. What exactly is eco-plastic, and does it really help the environment?

By Julia Layton

As the symbol of innovation, the incandescent light bulb is not very innovative. Luckily, there's a new type of light bulb -- a greener one -- that stands poised to replace Edison's most famous invention as the icon of ideation.

By William Harris & Sascha Bos

If you drive a compressed natural gas vehicle, you'll soon learn that fill-up stations are few and far between. Is there an alternative way to gas up these alternative-fuel vehicles?

By Maria Trimarchi

Is the remote control dead again? Or does the flashlight need another eight new batteries? The wind might just be able to save you a trip to buy new AAs.

By Julia Layton