Smallist

It might, according to UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). They’ve issued a report [pdf] listing the many areas where nanotech could create huge improvements in efficiency and reduce our carbon footprint. Their main areas of focus:

• Hydrogen economy - Nanotech could help create hydrogen through photolysis, the separation of hydrogen and oxygen by light. Fuel cells could be improved by “nanosizing the catalyst,” eliminating or reducing the need for rare metals like platinum. The storage challenge might be met with spongelike nanostructures that retain hydrogen more efficiently than regular tanks.
• Fuel efficiency - Cerium oxide fuel additives which reduce the combustion temperature of diesel could reduce fuel consumption by 5%. Special ceramic coatings on jet turbines could allow them to run hotter, and therefore faster, and more efficiently.
• Solar power - a series of technologies are available, at different levels of completion. Some mimic photosynthesis, like the Grätzel cell — others arrange conventional silicon into nanoparticles.
• Batteries - Nanotechnologies can greatly increase the surface area of an electrode. While this has an advantage of increased lifespan, the greatest advantage is that it can greatly decrease charging time, and work in more extreme climates. A more advanced battery would increase the range of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. Supercapacitors using carbon nanotubes could also be a key storage technology.
• Insulation - Nanogels are already on the market for industrial and commercial uses. For mass foam insulation, similar technologies are in development stages.

The paper is a good read, especially if you’re looking for a few companies to invest in. Many of the technologies have already hit the blogs at one point or another, but it’s nice to see a bird’s eye view of all the potential advances.

Via Treehugger.

If you’re sick of broadsheets and ink, keep an eye on Hearst’s pilot e-paper program with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. They’re going to use the Philips color e-paper technology, which uses E-Ink, which Hearst owns interest in. Makes sense! No word on what the device will look like, but it sounds interesting.

Via Slashdot.

Enano is another green computer. The manufacturer claims it’s “95-percent quieter, 80-percent more energy-efficient, 65-percent cooler and take up 75 percent less space than standard desktops.” Well at this size, I sure hope so, since it’s probably not a performance juggernaut. It’s a very handsome little device though. And I do like the rear-of-the-monitor bracket. If only Apple had something similar…

T3 has a mini-review and video of the Haier Elegance cellphone, which claims to be the smallest phone in the world, with some set of qualifiers (smallest phone with music, smallest phone that doesn’t flip, yadda yadda). It has an FM radio and a OLED, both very nice touches. And with its nice rounded edges and tiny size, it’s the first phone that can be passed harmlessly through the digestive tract*, if you’re in a cellphone-free zone, or need to smuggle MP3s over the border.

*Not true. Don’t sue me.

Holey moley that’s a small laptop. The Lifebook U is claiming to be the “smallest tablet-convertible UMPC.” It runs full XP or Vista at a resolution of 1024×600, and weighs 580 grams, a little over a pound. The processor runs at 800 mhz and you can get it with a gig of ram and a 20 Gig hard drive. And most importantly, it gets 8 hours of battery life.

I’m still unconvinced that this form factor has a market, but I guess time will tell.

LG Philips has announced the first paper-thin, flexible color LCD. Not much detail on the technology, but they do claim it only requires power to change state (like eInk), which means it must require natural light for backlighting the pixels, if it’s really LCD in the conventional sense.

Via Trendhunter.

MetaEfficient covers a new invention, Micro-Wind Turbines. It’s an modular design whereby the fans can be linked to each other by a set of gearteeth on the outside of each unit. Unfortunately, the current models are not designed to plug into the grid.

The company also performs workout machine conversions which allow the equipment to power about 50% of the gym’s needs. Video here.

In my online futzing, I came across this nifty bike-driven generator. It generates 150 to 200 watts at 12 to 20 volts DC. So once I saw that, I looked at the electronic bill for the Smallcave and calculated that I’d need three of ‘em running all day to power this place. Barring an influx of very cheap labor, that’s not going to happen. However, I figured it’d be interesting to see how long that would run various appliances. We’re assuming 150 watts/hour here:

What amazes me about this list is a) that anything got done before electricity, b) how traditionally lousy battery power has made for incredibly efficient portable devices, and c) how efficient it makes solar look. A 3 kilowatt system at the latitude and cloud cover of New York will tend to generate 11-12 kwh per day on average. That system would take up about 360 square feet. So putting panels on your roof is like hiring 3 bikers to go 24 hours a day, but without the backtalk. Or, considering that a horsepower is 746 watts, it’s like having Secretariat on a treadmill all day, and without the poop. More incredibly, consider that at peak sunlight, a single panel like this can generate 150 watts. Point that thing into the sun and save a bike ride. Or take a look at this map, which shows how much land you’d need to generate the world’s power needs with solar:

Bonus: Here’s video of a guy running a 32 inch TV with a bike. And here’s a hand-cranked ipod shuffle.

Unlike Johnny 5, this little Israeli military robot has no compunction about disassembling targets with a miniature Uzi. And launching grendades on a 4-foot long arm. It can also disarm bombs with a jet of water. Not the cutest thing, but at 9 inches and 25 pounds, this would make the perfect compliment to the ruggedized mini a few posts back.

Victor Systems has built this ruggedized Mac Mini for clumsy users. It’s guaranteed to keep that beautiful white finish scratch free. And it’s an attractive sand color with nice big heat sinks on the side. I hope they come out with an iPod case!