Amazing new product of the week
Now this is cool. Wendy Chua, 21, and Gabriel Tan, 23, have developed an eco-friendly, waterless washing machine. Both are students at the National University of Singapore and said they were inspired by the technology in air purifiers which uses negative ions (natural cleaning agents) to clump dirt and bacteria and then suck it out. The sleek, compact design is modeled after a waterfall, a natural generator of the negative ions. The Straits Times quoted Chua as saying that “It’s not meant to replace the traditional washing machine, but it’s more a hybrid of the washing machine and the dry cleaner.”

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Next month (October) UK mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse is set to launch a mobile phone charger that stops consuming power the minute the phone is fully charges rather than staying connected and continuing to pull electricity from the socket. According to the company, 95% of energy used by all mobile phone chargers is wasted. The new charger could save consumers millions and cut CO2 emissions by 250,000 tonnes – the same amount of energy it takes to heat 54,000 homes for an entire year.

Of the 800 certified LEED projects to date only 50 are retail but Best Buy is trying to change that. In its annual sustainability report released in June of this year Best Buy stated that beginning mid-2008 the company intends to build only eco-friendly stores certified by the USGBC through LEED. (LEED = Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design - a program that gets the nod from many eco-activists for its tough standards and inspections that is administered by the USGBC) Since mid-2006 20 retailers including Best Buy, Starbucks, Target, Lowe’s and others have been working with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to create a new bulk certification program. The new program would allow chain stores to get prototype buildings of the chain certified rather than each individual location. The USGBC could then conduct random surprise visits to test the quality controls and energy efficiency of each location. In addition to getting LEED certified Best Buy plans to increase use of reusable containers by 30%, retrofit 20% of its 650 stores with dimmable, zonable ceramic metal halide lights, and recycle 75,000 tons of cardboard,1,800 tons of plastic, 15,000 tons of consumer electronics and 27,500 tons of appliances before the end of the fiscal year.
A good year for Best Buy that also wrapped up a consumer electronics recycling grant program earlier this year. Sharp launched their own similar program that will recycle your old television for free with the online purchase of a new LCD TV no smaller than 37 inches and no smaller than the size of the screen to be recycled. Want to see your office or building go green? Get LEED certified.