Garima Goel: What could be more annoying than your gadgets running out of juice while you are on the road? As the technology has brought forward a plethora of gadgets, our lifestyle has changed drastically and we completely rely on these devices for almost everything. These devices require a lot of energy in the form of electricity to keep them working. In order to make sure that you beloved gadgets never run out of battery on the go, wearable chargers seem to be a great option. Since, the chances are rare that you will find an electrical socket at every place you go, you might love to consider the idea of having an eco-friendly wearable charger for your electronics. Hit the jump to see some of the most amazing and stylish green wearable chargers, from solar panel vests to sound absorbing T-shirts, which will provide juice for your gadgetry the very moment you need it the most.

More: 
Five eco friendly wearable chargers for those mostly on the move

With a new initiative to take back and reuse or recycle unwanted, outdated or broken gadgets, eBay hopes to both expand its business and make a dent in the mountain of e-waste created every year.

View original post here: 
eBay’s Latest Green Deal: ‘Instant Sale’ Electronics Trade-In

The Carbon Disclosure Project revised its questionnaire this year to make the reporting of indirect emissions more robust, revealing these so-called Scope 3 emissions may be up to 50 times the size of a company’s direct carbon footprint.

Excerpt from:
The Latest CDP Results Reveal the Rise of Scope 3 Reporting

Experts predict that a government move to impose a carbon tax through the Carbon Reduction Commitment may actually help make the scheme less complicated.

Read the original here: 
UK’s Carbon Tax Bombshell Takes Business by Surprise

August has been a big month in the realm of electronic waste and recycling, as the subject was both the focus of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study and a named an international priority by the EPA. The GAO study was prepared for the House of Representative Committee on Science and Technology and released to the public August 11. Titled “ Electronic Waste: Considerations for Promoting Environmentally Sound Reuse and Recycling ,” the report examines the EPA’s efforts to facilitate sound used electronics management, takes a look at the state-by-state approach to regulation and makes recommendations to further reduce the potential impacts of the discarded products. The EPA estimates that 15-20 percent of used electronics, by weight, are collected for reuse and recycling, while the remainder of collected materials are primarily sent to U.S. landfills. Still, a substantial amount of used electronics are exported to countries lacking the capacity for safe recycling and disposal, according to an earlier report by the GAO. One of the largest issues with the domestic recycling and disposal of e-waste is limited infrastructure as major markets for recycled commodities and reusable equipment located overseas. Adding to the list of issues with the domestic handling of used electronics is the lack of a comprehensive national approach to their reuse and recycling. Though an effort to develop a national financing system to facilitate the reuse and recycling of used electronics was attempted under the National Electronics Product Stewardship Initiative, years later the effort exists on a state-by-state level, with 23 states having passed laws as of the publishing of the report. According to the report, a broad agreement does exist among stakeholders that reusing and recycling electronics in an environmentally sound manner is advantageous over landfill disposal or exportation. The report also highlights beneficial actions taken by the federal government that could complement future policies, if integrated properly, including the EPA’s Plug-In To eCycling, R2 practices, EPEAT and the Federal Electronics Challenge programs. Concluding recommendations are made to the Administrator of the EPA to undertake an examination of the agency’s programs regarding used electronics management and to work in collaboration with other federal agencies to ratify components of the Basel Convention dealing with the exportation of used electronics. One week after the release of the GAO report, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced the EPA’s key international priorities, which included “Cleaning Up E-Waste.” According to the EPA release , “The electronics that provide us with convenience often end up discarded in developing countries where improper disposal can threaten local people and the environment. EPA recognizes this urgent concern and will work with international partners to address the issues of E-waste.” Related articles Dell Sets Packaging Bar High For Electronics Industry Ask the Experts: Electronics E-waste Service on a Silver Platter

Read the rest here:
GAO to Congress: Stronger Electronics Management Needed

Debate has been raging over government claims that only a quarter of the oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico by BP remains, but some scientists say naturally occurring bacteria have been eating away at the oil at such a rapid pace that much of it is already gone. The Times-Picayune reports that a microbial ecologist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has had a team of researchers out in the gulf since May 25 collecting water samples. The team found a significant drop-off in the amount of oil ever since the flow was stemmed in mid-July, and now they can’t find any oil in the ocean (of course much of it has washed ashore, as well.) Conditions have been “absolutely optimal” for the degradation of oil, said Terry Hazen, head of the Ecology Department and Center for Environmental Biotechnology at the Berkeley Lab’s Earth Sciences Division, in an article published yesterday in Science Express . The type of light crude coming out of the well has a large volatile component that degrades easily, the oil particles are small, the concentrations of oil are low and the water where the plume was located is cold. Hazen adds that ”the bugs in this area have become adapted to using oil as a carbon source” because of regular natural oil spills leaks into the water over the years. Early on in their research, Hazen’s team found higher concentrations of oil-eating bacteria than expected and even uncovered a whole new petroleum-eating microbe at the head of the pack. Hazen’s study also discovered that as the microbes do their work, they don’t appear to use much oxygen. On Aug. 4, a collection of government agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a report saying that just 26 percent of the roughly 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled into the gulf remained either on shore or in the ocean. And while Hazen’s research is certainly welcome news, it’s important to note that he conducted his recent research under an existing grant from BP. The Energy Biosciences Institute is a partnership led by University of California-Berkeley that is funded by a $500 million, 10-year grant from BP. The Times-Picayune consulted Ed Overton, an oil spill expert at Louisiana State University , about the validity of Hazen’s claims, and he said bacteria have great potential to eat oil and that the results of the Berkeley study sounded reasonable. “This oil is very degradable,” he said. “That’s good news because it means it’s going to go away quicker.” Still, bioremediation, as the process is called, is not a panacea. Ronald Atlas of the University of Louisville , who has been studying oil-spill bioremediation since the late ’60s, told Newsweek in May that microbes can eliminate only a portion of the compounds present in oil and it can take years. “This is not like a physical cleanup where I pick it up and it’s gone — this takes some time,” he said. Story by Darragh Worland, originally published on Aug. 25, 2010 on Tonic Related articles EPA Monitoring BP’s Handling of Oily Waste, Tar Balls $1.4 Million Prize For Solving Oil Spill Report Predicts Oil Spill Will Lead to $100 Billion Spike In Green Building

See more here: 
Microbes Take Bite Out of Gulf Oil Spill

Technological advances and stringent legislation have made 2010 a big year for the electronics industry. But despite a high interest in e-waste exportation and the development of sleeker designs that allow for easier recycling, many manufacturers are still skipping over one important detail: packaging. In 2008, Dell announced a plan to revolutionize computer packaging by using recycled content and cutting down on materials – a plan that was expected to result in a significant reduction in carbon emissions and fuel usage related to transportation. On Tuesday, the company announced that its fervent push towards that goal has proven substantial. Dell has eliminated the use of more than 18.2 million pounds of packaging material since 2008. To put that into perspective, that’’s the same weight as 226 fully-loaded 18-wheelers or almost 4,184 small pick-ups. Outlined in its recently released 2009 Corporate Responsibility Report , Dell has increased the amount of recycled content in its packaging by approximately 32 percent. The company is now 94 percent of the way to achieving its stated goal of increasing recycled content in packaging by 40 percent by 2012. As an added bonus, more than half (57 percent) of Dell’’s packaging materials can now be conveniently recycled by customers using their local curbside pick-up programs. The company is aiming for that number to be 75 percent by the end of 2012. According to Oliver Campbell, senior manager of Global Packaging, Dell’s dramatic reduction started with simple changes that allowed for smaller cube packaging, such as putting fewer disks, catalogs, etc. Dell also used engineering tools to run various “”what if”” scenarios. With these tools, Dell has optimized its Inspiron 15 laptop packaging so that 63 laptops fit on each shipping pallet, up from 54. More laptops on each pallet means more laptops fit into each vehicle, resulting in fewer shipping vehicles and less shipping-related environmental impact. “•“Establishing these packaging goals has transformed my team from great packaging engineers to inspired environmental champions,”” says Campbell. “The progress we’’ve made has kept a lot of materials out of landfills, made responsible packaging disposal easier for customers and is making Dell a more environmentally responsible company.” Earlier this year, Dell also released a new line of notebook computers made solely from bamboo as an alternative to plastic casing. This type of packaging can be placed in compost systems, and Dell used the resulting soil from its tests to grow cucumber and sunflower plants. This isn’t the first time Dell has been ahead of the curve on manufacturer responsibility. ”In 2009, it became the first major computer manufacturer to formally ban the exporting of electronic waste to developing countries. Currently, the U.S. has no federal law against sending e-waste to dealers overseas, despite existence of the widely accepted Basel Convention , an international treaty which controls the cross-border movement of hazardous waste. The Electronics TakeBack Coalition estimates that the U.S. exports enough e-waste each year to fill 5,126 shipping containers, which when stacked, would reach 8 miles high. Related articles Ask the Experts: Electronics E-waste Service on a Silver Platter Dell Bans E-Waste Exports to Developing Nations

More here: 
Dell Sets Packaging Bar High For Electronics Industry

(June 28, 2010– New York, NY) A federal court judge today dismissed the lawsuit filed last July by the electronics industry associations against the New York City electronics waste recycling law. The case was rendered moot when the New York…

Read the original here: 
Federal Judge Dismisses Industry Lawsuit Against NYC E-waste Law

Don’t call them garbage men. Seated behind a desk of the latest Apple gadgets, donning pressed slacks and magnetic smiles, the guys from The 4th Bin are anything but that. They’re techies with a truck. The 4th Bin is a startup company…

More here: 
E-waste Service on a Silver Platter

Photo credit iRobot Scientists are already rushing to determine the environmental impact of the Gulf oil spill, and iRobot is helping with the Seaglider, an unmanned underwater vehicle that has been sent to the ocean floor to prowl for submerged oil. iRobot is known for the Roomba and consumer cleaning robots, but this UUV unfortunately won’t be doing any cleaning. Instead, researchers need to measure the presence of oil trapped underwater, so the Seaglider, which can operate for up to 10 months, was released to find oil and repo… Read the full story on TreeHugger

More here: 
Underwater Robot Scans for Submerged Oil in Gulf of Mexico (Video)