Batteries are intended to supply a small amount of energy for handy devices like our mobile phones. Though it may seem so small to consider doing a research to enhance this teensy device, it's an essential component that almost all devices require in order to operate.

Amy Prieto, a Chemistry professor at Colorado State University, have seen the vital importance of a small battery and so she started the Prieto Battery Company that created a three-dimensional battery that is built with a core of copper foam. As it may seems, the project is still in the beginning stages of development. Prieto's hard works on developing this particular 3D foam battery technology could lead to the emergence of high-capacity batteries than can contain energy two times the usual amount it can hold, plus reducing the time needed to fully charge it in as fast as five minutes.

There are considerably advance rechargeable batteries in the market that can power the latest smartphones and mobile devices. But they are way too expensive that adds up on the overall cost of the mobile unit, and they actually lose charge in a very short time that users need to recharge the device for about 2-3hours more likely.

But there's something we should be worrying more, and that is the fact that these batteries even though they're small in size can also harm the environment with the planet-killing toxins they contain. Amy Prieto have thought, "It’s inexcusable that while our devices have become more sophisticated, our batteries have remained virtually the same for over one hundred years."

”It’s just like a sponge, you could think about,” Prieto told Marketplace.org. “Then we paint all the inside spaces with the different materials that you need for the battery. So the ions can go in many different directions, but they don’t have to go very far. So, that’s what I mean by a three-dimensional battery.”

They integrated nanowire or copper foam substrate, but both can handle higher power and energy densities than any conventional lithium-ion battery in the market. What's more highly noted from this technology is that these batteries are manufactured using non-toxic chemicals. The said technology has also increase the traditional 500 cycles into an incredible number of 5000 cycles, which extends the life of a battery before it gets wasted and disposed.

It is truly an innovation that will change the way we use batteries and also all the devices that needs it. In addition to its promising progress, we should be grateful that here comes another new technology yet never became a threat to the environment. It seems that we're more likely close to reducing e-waste materials in different industries. Noted that now, there are recycled materials like eco-friendly toner cartridges and printer consumables in the market which also reduce carbon footprint. And it's really good to hear about inventions and developments that reduces environment impact.

We've been accustomed to the changes and innovations that technology offer us yearly. Such a fast-phased industry that upgrades and phased out several units and machines for a very short time. Advantages come along with the competition between manufacturers, and that's good for the consumers. Let's cite the smartphone industry as an example, in this category there are a lot of big names that manufacture high-end phones from which we splurge ourselves spending our hard-earned money purchasing the latest mobile phone in the market.

Now with the competition, there goes the added features, exclusive services, unique functionality, as well as price drops and bargains which we love the most. Talking about bargains, Apple has been working on creating an even more affordable version of iPhone for those millions of users who dreamt of having such an exquisite device but incapable of purchasing one as of the moment, considering its market price.

To be able to create a cost-friendly model of the said device, Apple plans to use partial components from recycled materials, particularly those disused or old iPhone handsets. Certain changes to its shell casing will also be applied, as it will probably be using a cheaper polycarbonate plastic outer shell instead of the ultralight hard shell aluminum housing that the recent models were built with. It is allegedly expected to drop a market value of about $99 from its costly price before of $149.

Apple just like the other manufacturers that experienced a drop in sales, they are hoping that through this way it will certainly pull back what has been lost from their recent sales. With the emergence of competitive mobile devices from rival companies, a fluctuation in the market causes Apple Inc. to lose its position as the top brand of smart phone in the mobile industry. One distinct reason that this happened is that, there are smartphones now in the market that are much capable of what iOS mobile devices can provide, plus they're far more affordable compared to iPhone's price. Thus pushing the Apple Inc. to create an affordable lower-end smartphone for the masses.

This drastic measure, perhaps considered 'in the works', will result to Apple taking a step forward to become more environment-friendly. Using recycled materials, and switching the aluminum casing into cheaper polycarbonate plastic, means a lot to the environment. Since disused or defective iPhone models will be used for this project, it will certainly help reduce the e-waste we accumulate yearly.

Having it produced through recycled materials doesn't mean it's a cheap device to consider. Still it holds the name of Apple, so rest assured of its quality and performance remains more than enough, but will somehow be reduce. Besides, recycled materials are more sturdy and can perform way better than its original counterparts. One good example are these eco-friendly toner cartridges and ink cartridges, they are made from recycled materials as well but provides the same quality as the original ones.

The Solar Decathlon Team visits Orange County, Sunny Southern California, where a new record for photovoltaic panels will be set as the U.S. Department of Energy prepares to host the 2013 Solar Decathlon. For a change and for the first time in history, the said event which was commonly held in Washington DC, will be held in the Orange County, CA.

About 20 Collegiate teams will be expected to build and designed their own Solar-Powered homes at the Orange County Great Park starting from October 3-13. Each team will be focusing on these following criteria : efficiency, consumer appeal and architectural excellence. In preparation for the said event, all the representatives visited the Orange County recently to take part in workshops and briefings that were prepared for the participating teams.

For this years Solar Decathlon event, all the participants will travel to Irvine, California to take part in a series of measured events. As an early preparation, each team spent two years on their projects to compete in ten contests. Their homes will be evaluated according to these aspects : affordability, market appeal, engineering, architecture, aesthetics and design inspiration.

In addition, the 20 participating teams will also take part in a weekend workshops which will be held in the Orange County Great Park to be led by the officials from the US Department of Energy and National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The finished structure will be available to the public from 11am - 7pm daily and that's free of charge.

All the succeeding entries or rather homes from the past competitions were located in different sites around the world primarily within the US. This event helps to reduce the environmental impacts by encouraging aspiring architectures and builders to commit on designing advance houses with improve and greener aspects. If you can't afford to convert your houses into something more environment friendly, then furnish it with eco-friendly materials and supplies, thus making your home a much better place to live. Also don't forget to reduce you waste and use recycled products like eco-friendly toner cartridges and ink cartridges, as well as your daily commodities.

A particular group of tinkering students from Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam initiated a project from which Jaan Evart, Julian Hagen and Daniël Maarleveld have torn apart an old inkjet printer at their creative printing workshop. They replaced the printer's ink cartridges with different colored felt pens.

Through their successful printer tinkering project, the group was able to create a hacked printer that can produce a naive printing rhythm and style which actually imitates the old times when dot-matrix printing was the only technology available in printers.

It's not easy to bypass a printer's ink level sensor just to make it work further even with low level ink cartridges installed. But it wasn't a hindrance for this group to hack the inkjet printer in order to fool it that its cartridges are full enough. Aside from the fact that they made it successful hacking the printer's sensor, what's more surprising is that they even replaced the cartridges with colored felt pens instead.

Hagen explained, "The tricky part of this project was to kind of pretend to the printer that it had a full cartridge, and also that it didn’t try to completely destroy the paper with too much pressure of the felt pen, or with the way the paper is sucked in."

This newfound idea is undoubtedly one of the amazing alterations a geek could ever done to a printer equipment. Complex yet niftily done that's just some of the words an amused viewer would probably describe the printouts. Who would have thought that aside from using alternative printer consumables such as eco-friendly toner cartridges and ink cartridges with your printer. You can even take it to the next level by configuring or rather tweaking a few hardware components of the printer.

In order to cut down our electricity bills, we often push ourselves to reduce the machines and appliances we use daily, and if we can't avoid to use them, we tend to reduce the amount of time the machine was used, which in a way helps us to save energy. Everyday we been accustomed to a habit that can supposedly be changed in order to save on our bills. One way we can do is to monitor how much electricity a room consumed for a day, this can help us determine which can be deducted or limit in that particular area of the house.

Regulate the energy consumption of particular household appliances that are used daily. Light bulbs, either they're turn on all throughout the day or just being lit up at night, these bulbs can be replaced by LED lights. These green picks are energy-efficient which makes them less expensive to use in the long run and works for a much longer life span. If you're familiar with a power strip, a block of electrical sockets that allow multiple electrical devices to get power from a single outlet. Why are these power strips important, simply because each includes a circuit breaker that limits the electrical current flowing through it. By centralizing the power source of some of your appliances, you can shut these machines off easily.

Another ideal way is by getting an Energy Audit for your house. This can help you detect the leaks in every corner and spot of the house that causes your electricity bill consumption to rise more than what you expected. According to David Johnston, an energy expert, "air leaks account for 25-30% of an average energy bill". It would be better to pinpoint the areas from which air leaks. Why do you have to this? Air leaks causes your appliances particularly air conditioning unit, heater and thermostat to work harder in order to regulate the proper heat and cold air throughout the house.

Switch to household appliances that consumes less power or called as energy-efficient machines. This will literally drawdown your current electricity bill. If you can't afford to replace all the bulbs then it would be better to invest on renovating your windows. Natural light that comes from the sun is way better than fluorescent lights, plus the air outside may be better for your system. Just make it sure that your new windows is built with insulation to prevent any discomfort during different seasons.

Of course, aside from cutting down your electricity bill will not generate that much savings, so try to think of ways on how to cut down your other house bills. Don't forget to use environment friendly products and consumables with minimal negative impacts on the environment like eco-friendly toner cartridges and ink cartridges for your printing needs. Avoid using plastic materials as much as possible and reduce your own waste. Control your daily habits and think of ways on how you can reduce your carbon footprints.

Since we are focusing on reducing our environmental impact this year, maybe we should start using materials and equipments that are more environment friendly, power-efficient and less expensive. In addition to our goals and resolutions to live a greener life by eating healthier foods, lose some weight, be more conscious for the environment, save more by using recycled material and so on, we should also focus on reducing the negative impacts that we may bring to the environment.

Now in order to make this goal move and progress, we should learn what materials and commodities we should be using to reduce our daily environmental impacts. Well of course if you can't afford to purchase or convert your household equipments into these greener machines, it would be better to start with doing the basics like recycling and upcycling. By doing these two things you can reduce your accumulated waste, you utilize materials and supplies that are still reusable, plus you save a lot by refraining yourself from buying new supplies.

There are things to consider when buying supplies and all other stuffs is the products energy consumption, materials it composed, its environmental impact, and last would be the price. Cut down your energy consumption, that would greatly save you some money that you can spend on more important things. Consider checking the materials from which the product was made of, as well as the impact it could bring to the environment. Products with less carbon footprint especially recycled consumables are way cheaper and sturdy compared to branded ones. Here's a list of some good choice equipments that will help you with your goal to have a greener year.

First on our list is the Solar Charger Kit. Houses nowadays can be powered by a photovoltaic system, but the option to completely sustain your house with solar energy can be a bit expensive. So instead, you can use solar powered charger kit that features a V60 battery capable of supplying enough energy for your laptops, tablets, mobile devices, digital cameras and handheld devices. It's even lightweight that you can bring it wherever you wanted and use it just when you need it.

Next would be the Programmable Thermostat. We often spend much of our hard-earned money from paying our electricity bills. And it's a fact that half of our bill comes from the household equipments we used for cooling and heating. That's the reason why it's a necessity to install a Programmable Thermostat. Through this device, you can monitor your house's temperature remotely with the use of your smartphones or iOS devices. It's more easy, more convenient and much effective.

Last and one of my favorite is the HoneyComb Shade from Lutron. These wonderful DIY shades "are made of fabric that have air pockets that trap heat during the winter and shut out solar radiation in the summer, providing for superior insulation while still allowing natural light to permeate." And what I love the most with this product is that it comes with a remote controller, deducting the wires and strings that can be found on conventional blinds from which kids love to tug and tangle.

You can also opt for recycled or re-manufactured products and consumables that are cost-efficient and are good for the environment. For example, your printer consumables particularly the cartridges can be replace with eco-friendly toner cartridges and ink cartridges, they're way cheaper and provides the same quality of par with the original products. There are lots of recycled products in the market that will definitely suit your style and daily routine, you just have to find what's best for you.

Based from the recent years, we've been setting or rather climate researchers had been setting records in our climate history. In fact there could be a higher chance that this year 2013 will become more significant in the climate history. This idea comes from Bill McKibben, an Environmentalist, Green Journalist, President and Co-Founder of 350.org.

According to McKibben, "We’re seeing record temperatures, record melting, record storms, record everything: it’s clearly not the same world we thought it was even a few years ago. But we’re also finally seeing record dissent. In the U.S. for instance, students on more than 190 campuses are fighting to demand the divestment of stocks in fossil fuel companies. They’ve peeled back the layers of the onion — they’re not demanding new lightbulbs, they’re demanding systemic changes in the balance of power, trying to weaken the forces of the radical status quo, the ones systematically altering the chemistry of the atmosphere."

Definitely I must agree with the fact that this world we are now living is clearly different from what we had not just with a few years but with almost a hundred years ago. I may not live in that time but based from what the old folks have told to a many, the world particularly the climate we have now is surely not the same anymore. The atmosphere we are living right now, is more damage that it used to be, and continuously getting weaker and weaker as the year passes by. 

Bill McKibben also added, "It’s a hard fight, of course, because those forces are led by the richest industry on earth — the oil, coal, and gas tycoons. So I don’t predict the outcome. Only that the choice for the powerful is going to get harder almost by the week, if we keep building the movements we need to build. We’re not as powerful as Exxon yet, but we’re closer than we used to be, which is the only good news I can think of."

The richest industry, indeed they bring fortune to the country from where they're built, to the people who are making a living through their business, and to all who are benefiting from it. But there's only one thing that this said industry leads us, and that is to the gradual destruction of our own planet. Signs and outcomes are very much visible that we can't even hide the real deal, but still more and more oil/gas facilities and factories are being established.

We've been dealing to a lot of waste management problems, garbage reduction, plastic elimination, and improving our waste stream. And climate change is one of our biggest problem that we need to face and resolve in order to at least diminish or reduce the impacts that it bring to our world. Though there's certainly a point to consider why this oil and gas factories are to blame, there are several factors that form a bigger scale from which we should also be aware.

Recycling is one of the method we could greatly rely on to improve our waste management system. These products that are claimed to be made from recycled materials are way cheaper and also durable just like those eco-friendly toner cartridges and ink cartridges, they're one of the examples to site with. We reduce our own waste plus getting enough savings, two great things are truly considerable. As for the oil and gas plants around the world, I'm pretty sure they know what they're causing to our world that leads to abrupt climate changes.

We've been used to take pictures with our smartphones, iPhone, iPad or tablets cause it's more convenient. Also when you're at some place wherein you want to take pictures but you forgot to bring your camera, a high mega pixel camera phone will do the trick. But given these facts, would it also be nice to have a photo printer that allows you to create printouts on the go without the hassle of wires and inks.

What could be the possible benefits of using this printer? Aside from the advantage that it prints on the go, plus its wireless functionality, it can also help environmentally by producing less chemically infused paper materials. We all know that inks and toners from printer cartridges may cause harm or a possible treat to the environment when not properly disposed of. Paper waste are gradually reducing and it would be better if as much as possible we try to utilize materials that could affect our environment the positive way.

If you're fond of using smartphones and other devices that can take, store and manage photos, this printer will surely suit your style and needs. Hammacher Schlemmer built a printer that is capable of wireless connectivity and can print photos without the requirement for ink, the Wireless Smartphone Photo Printer. It is specifically built for smartphones and mobile devices that can transfer photos and images through their phone's wireless functionality to the photo printer. With the presence of a wireless network, either at home or at the office, you can pair your smartphones and mobile devices to the wireless printer to be able to transfer photos. If you're using iOS devices such as iPhone or iPad, you cans imply connect your devices directly to the printer with the built in dock connector located at the top of the printer.

Now if you're wondering how this printer can produce quality images without the use of inks, then here's the trick, it uses a special photo paper that has dye crystals with all the three colors (Yellow, Cyan, Magenta) you can found from a typical printer cartridge. To start playing with this wireless printer, you need to install an accompanying application required to pair up your iOS and smartphone devices to the printer.

It may seem as an expensive way of printing your special captured photos with the printer's price tag of $219.95. But if you still prefer using your conventional photo printers and you want to save some money while being environmentally conscious at the same time, you may opt to use eco-friendly toner cartridges and ink cartridges for your printer. These printer consumable helps to cut down your printer expense, while keeping your printing experience greener at the same time.

Christmas isn't completely over, well it's more of like for me it's not, anyway we still have the countdown before New Year's eve. Unlike Christmas, the New Year's holiday has no particular type or kind of decors that you could use to embellish your houses, aside from the fact that fireworks represent the festivity of celebrating New Year. While on the other hand, a Christmas tree literally represents the Christmas holiday. And do you know for a fact that these trees particularly the spruces, pines and firs are unbelievably helping to reduce green house gases?

Lund University and Stockholm University researchers from Sweden discovered that these trees we often use as decorations in our houses, can be able to absorb methane gases. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is 25 times more harmful compared to carbon dioxide. In addition to what they're typical capable of absorbing, the carbon dioxides, they can exceptionally absorb methane gases which contradicts the speculations from previous studies that these trees emit methane.

I know it can't be help to cut down trees every year for Christmas, by nature we find it more perfect to have a real tree instead of synthetic bristly plastic trees that can be bought from the mall. But knowing this fact, I guest it can help reduce deforestation and would encourage people to plant more trees of this type to help save the environment. 

The research which was led by Elin Sundqvist came up with an explanation, ”Our results offer a third explanation: that an increasing amount of CH4 has been taken up by vegetation during the last decades as a consequence of increased greenness." Which means that these trees particularly spruce, pines, firs and all other trees of this type work hard just to absorb methane gases from the atmosphere.

This lives as with the conclusion that by cutting even a single tree that absorbs green house gases, it doesn't only affects the environment but us as well, unless we can replace them or put ourselves on their shoes and do all the absorbing on a daily basis. Once the holidays are through, we shouldn't neglect our responsibility as a human to protect the only place where we can live. We may rejoice and have fun all the way as long as we want during Christmas and New Year, but after we're through let's not forget to clean up every little pieces of waste we made. As a matter of fact it isn't too late, you still have the New Year's holiday to make changes and consider it including on your New Year's resolution. Plant more trees, save the earth, use recycled materials, diminish waste contributing products, be more green by using reprocess products like eco-friendly toner cartridges and other office supplies, and live a greener new year.

Recycling has never been this good, even the holidays connive with it. More and more recycling enthusiast are being recognize through their works and crafts. Especially this Christmas season, several green works and ideas were featured from different sites that promote recycling and waste reduction all around the world. All those nifty artworks and creations were so brilliant that no one could ever resist staring at them, proving to themselves that these things in front of them are actually made from recycled materials.

Since PrintGreen has been featuring a lot of green topics for Christmas season, here's another great and eco-friendly post for each and everyone of you. I've read this article from Inhabitat that features 10 Crazy Manmade Holiday Trees, and from this rundown I chose two of the most eco-friendly Christmas Tree that really took my attention.

First would be the Upcycled Water Bottle "Ice Tree". I was wondering why it was called the "Ice Tree", then by merely looking at the picture or rather focusing on the aesthetic of the tree, anyone would surely recognize that it resembles an ice sculpture of a tree. This Upcycled Water Bottle is being featured in the storefront of Montreal's furniture store the Domison, this holiday tree or as it's called the Ice Tree is made from about 300 water bottles, arranged to form this sculpture. It was created by hanging the water bottles from the ceiling and being illuminated by rays of light to give them an ethereal presence. The Upcycled Water Bottle "Ice Tree" was installed by graphic design studio Paprika.

Next and lastly, the Recycled Cassette Tape and CD Tree. At first glance, I thought it was also made out of glass materials, it was really eye striking with all the glows and sparks that the tree illuminated. This amazing and extremely huge recycled holiday tree is entirely made from used CD's and cassette tapes, as the title of the tree explains for itself. The Recycled Cassette Tape and CD Tree was displayed at the Chelsea Market in NYC during this holiday. The top of the tree was made from CD's and the bed or the bottom if you'll notice was made from black tapes pulled from old cassettes. If you want to see the footage of this recycled tree, you'll find it here.

There are more crazy holiday trees that were made from different parts of the world, I'll try to provide more of this and feature it here in PrintGreen to share for everyone. Does anyone think of creating a holiday Christmas tree that is entirely made of eco-friendly toner cartridges or ink cartridges from your printer? If no one has ever tried it, then I guess I'll be the first one to try.