It's that time of year again!  The Greener Gadgets Design Competition has started and 18 cool, eco-friendly gadget ideas are waiting for your votes.

This year is the third year for the competition and the Greener Gadgets Conference, which is being held on February 25 in New York City, and I must say, this is the best crop of designs yet.  Some of the highlights include a kinetic-energy-harvesting rocking horse that fuels flashlights or nightlights called Rocco, a USB-outfitted, wall-mounted charger that is powered by indoor light called the Illumi Charger and a system of turbine-run highway lighting that would be powered by the air turbulence from passing cars.

Your votes will narrow down the pool to a handful of finalists that will be judged at the conference.  You have until February 12 to cast your vote for the best and most revolutionary idea.  Click here to vote and learn more about the conference.

While the BLM is facing a virtual clog of large, desert-based solar project proposals, smaller, distributed solar projects are popping up at an impressive rate.  In just the past few weeks, 1,300 MW worth of these projects have been announced or approved, which could equal about the same energy output of a big nuclear power plant.

The larger, more ambitious solar power plans have many environmental and land-use hurdles to clear, while these smaller plans, set to occupy commercial and residential rooftops, areas near electrical substations and urban areas, don't have the same obstacles in their way.  Also, the smaller projects are cheaper, meaning more utilities can afford to implement them as they're scrambling to meet renewable energy mandates.

Arno Harris, the CEO of Recurrent Energy, a company that has signed a contract with Southern California Edison for 50 MW of small-scale solar, summed it up like this:

“Distributed solar is faster on permitting, on environmental issues and interconnection to the grid.  It offers a safety valve for utilities who don’t want to put all their eggs in one basket.”

The projects, anywhere from 50 to 500 MW each, are mainly concentrated in California, though New York Power Authority is planning 100 MW installation around the state as well.

via Green Inc.

The media coverage of the health dangers of BPA has really reached a fever-pitch these days and, thanks to that coverage, many companies are removing it from their products.  While that is wonderful, there are still many BPA-containing plastics out there and 2.7 million tons of it being made every year.  How do we make sure all that plastic is disposed of safely?

Scientists have come up with a way that they believe decomposes polycarbonate plastic without releasing BPA.  The scientists, Mukesh Doble and Trishul Artham, pretreated polycarbonate with ultraviolet light and heat and then exposed it to three types of fungi known for their pollutant remidiation abilities.

After 12 months, the pretreated plastic had substantially decomposed without releasing any BPA, while the control plastic that was not pretreated before being exposed to the fungi showed almost no decomposition.

via Science Daily

Italian port cities are planning to connect large ships like cruise liners to the grid while they're berthed to cut fuel consumption and potentially slash carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent and nitrogen oxides and particulate pollution by more than 95 percent.

Venice, Paolo Costa, La Spezia and Lorenzo Forcieri are all expected to install new equipment to allow the ships to plug in to shore-side electricity.  Other cities around the world are experimenting with the same idea, including Los Angeles and Goteborg, Sweden, hoping to eliminate the fuel needs and emissions of onboard generators.

The Italian electricity utility Enel foresees large reductions in pollution and fuel consumption from the practice, but since so far only a few ships are compatible with on-shore electricity, we won't know the full benefits until ports and ships are equipped and the generators are turned off.

via Green Inc.

A new material developed by researchers at Princeton and Caltech is capable of harvesting energy from the simplest of movements like walking or breathing.  This new rubber chip made of PZT (lead zirconate titanate) nanoribbons could eventually power small portable electronic devices like cell phones.

The PZT is embedded in silicone rubber sheets that produce electricity when flexed or other pressure is applied.  The scientists who developed the chip see them being inserted into shoes or even within the body to continually harness power for our portable devices.

Before that freaks you out too much, the scientists envision the chips being placed next to the lungs to utilize breathing motions for powering pacemakers.  Pacemaker users wouldn't have to undergo surgery to replace batteries since their breathing would be a constant source of energy.

The reason this particular material stands out compared to all of the other piezoelectric materials out there is that it's far more efficient.  According to the researchers, PZT can convert 80 percent of mechanical energy applied to it into electric energy, which is 100 times more efficient than quartz.  That efficiency allows it to harness such small movements like breathing and opens up a much greater range of possibilities for its use.

via CNET

We had the chance to meet Steve Burns when he came to the North American International Auto Show in Detroit earlier this month. Steve Burns is the CEO of AMP Electric Vehicles, a Cincinnati, OH-based company that is creating electric vehicles without building cars themselves. AMP believes in electrifying vehicles, but doesn't think you have to build an entirely new car in order to to do it.  Instead, they are converting a stock Saturn Sky to run on electric power by removing the internal combustion engine and gas tank, and putting in batteries and direct drive electric motors, and entering it in the XPrize competition to be run later this year.

Steve has founded a number of companies over the past decade, most recently iTookThisOnMyPhone.com, a mobile photo and video-sharing technology company, as well as now serving as CEO of AMP.

We asked Steve Burns to be our EcoGeek of the Week and to tell us more about the AMP approach to building electric vehicles.

Many of us were disappointed by the State of the Union address Wednesday night.  Sure the president stressed the importance of a climate bill and clean energy development, but he also committed to pursuing more nuclear energy, new offshore oil drilling and "clean" coal.

That makes today's announcement that the Federal Government will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 28 percent by 2020 very welcome news.  The largest energy consumer in the U.S. will cut its emissions by making gains in efficiency and using more renewable energy.  The government spent $24.5 billion on electricity and fuel in 2008 alone and hopes to save $8 - 11 billion over the next decade through this initiative.

Each agency had to submit a 2020 emission reduction target from their 2008 baseline and the 28 percent reduction goal is an aggregate of those reports.  The Office of Management and Budget will validate and score each agency's plan and annual progress will by reported online to the public.

You can check out some of the emission cutting projects that are underway here.

via White House release

Last year, the government promised $10.5 billion in funds for high-speed rail development and the first state to receive some of that money is Florida.  Tomorrow, President Obama will be awarding $2.5 billion to the state to jump-start the first phase of their train system that will run from Orlando to Tampa.

Phase 1 will run along the heavily traveled  I-4 corridor and take passengers to Orlando Airport, Orlando, Disney, Lakeland and Tampa at speeds above 120 mph - not a bullet train, but still faster than a car.   Phase 2 will connect Orlando to Miami by two different routes (I-95 and the Turnpike).  The system will eventually connect all the major cities in the state and points in between.

The first phase will cost $3.5 billion, so after the government funds the state will still have to raise $1 billion from private investors to complete the project.  The state expects the first trains to be running by 2014.

Ideally, Florida's train system is just the beginning of a much larger train network linking the whole East Coast and the nation.  With $8 billion left to be doled out, I'm excited to see which area is the next recipient.

via Inhabitat

With all of the conflict over Cape Wind and the constant reduction in scope of T. Boone Pickens' wind projects, it's easy to feel discouraged, but here's something to lift your spirits.  Great news came from the American Wind Energy Association today.  During 2009, 10 GW of new wind power capacity was installed in the U.S., enough to power 2.4 million homes.  The last quarter of 2009 saw the installation of 4 GW alone.

The association gives credit to the American Recovery and Investment Act's $80 billion investment in clean energy for the largest installation for any year so far. You can read the association's full report on the year in wind here (PDF).

With big wind projects on the horizon for the next few years, and if all goes as planned, that annual number should keep going up.

via Energy Boom