A new OLED material called the KODAK OLED Material EK-GD403 is highly-efficient and promises longer life and lower energy consumption compared to current OLEDs. The EK-GD403 can display full-color images and deliver "outstanding lifetimes" - it also uses a green dopant technology to improve performance.

The particular green dopant technology can be used not only with the OLED material but also to help improve solid state lighting efficiency. This means this particular technology could bring upon improvement to the growing industry as whole, both for displays and for lighting. When used in conjunction with Kodak OLED Material EK-BH109, the EK-GD403 has a luminous efficiency of 31 cd/A and a 65,000 hour lifespan.

New Rolls Royce CEO Tom Purves drove the Mini E electric car (from BMW, owner of Rolls Royce) one day and realized there's future for electric vehicles within the brand. He figures that among Rolls Royce consumers, there are those who just drive within the city for which electric cars are most suitable. Hence, the company is planning on making an electric-powered Phantom. Purves believes a Rolls Royce would make a great electric vehicle.

Says Purves, "We stand for unmatched refinement and you can't get a quieter and less intrusive engine than a well engineered electric motor. Truly, the loudest noise you would hear would be the tick of the clock. We also stand for strong and instant torque - and an electric motor delivers maximum torque instantly. The 'waftability' would be fantastic."

Developing an electric vehicle would also mean keeping with the times. Purves thinks that time will come when certain cities will ban vehicles that emit more carbon dioxide that what they'd like to allow. Having an electric Rolls Royce means the brand can sell even in those parts. The electric Phantom might share some of the Mini E's specs including a 150 mile range and a 95mph top speed. The original gas version of the car would remain in the market though and Purves expects customer to buy either depending on their needs.

Small electric vehicle parts company, Electric Motorsport, now has the GPR-S e-motorcycle up for sale for $8,000 per. The GPR-S e-motorcycle is equipped with an efficient lithium-ion battery that takes four hours to be charged fully using an on-board charger, although there's an optional speed charger that could juice the battery up in 1.5 hours. The universal battery tray the manufacturers used allows you to remove the current battery and exchange it with a better one in the future. That means when a better battery comes, you might not need to invest in a new bike depending on its condition by then.

The bike has a top speed of 60 to 70 MPH and a range anywhere between 35 to 60 miles depending on based on the size of the user and the power available for usage. Since Electric Motorsport is a really small company, distribution of the GPR-S e-motorcycle is limited, but would at least amount to around 500 per month. To date, the company has already presold 25 of the GPR-S e-motorcycles.

Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, donated $250,000 to U.S. National Academies for a study on clean energy that will be conducted in cooperation with the Chinese Academies of Sciences and Engineering. Why China and the United States exactly? Simple - these two are the biggest consumers of energy in the world.

The three goals of the study are to:

• Assess the resource potential in China and the U.S. for grid-scale electricity generation
• Explore near-term market opportunities for mature technologies
• Recommend priorities for enhanced collaboration, with a focus on cost reduction, improved efficiency and grid connectivity, and storage

Three resources will be fully explored - solar, wind and biomass. Additionally, other resources that can be used in the future such as geothermal energy will also be studied. If you remember, Google also funded a geothermal initiative recently. The ultimate goal of the project is to reduce the carbon footprint of these two countries, which is believed to be able to help decelerate climate change around the globe.

One of the elements in mobile devices that consume most electricity is LCD displays. That is the reason why various researches on OLED and other more energy-efficient alternatives are currently undergoing. Epson Imaging Devices Corporation recently came up with a Photo Fine High-Reflect (HR) a-TFT LCD that promises not only high-visibility but also energy efficiency.

In the dark, the Epson LCD goes in a transmissive mode that uses backlighting for illumination. In bright environments though, the display goes into reflective mode, turns backlighting off, and relies on ambient light for illumination thereby reducing power consumption in the process. The display has a brightness of 200cd/m2 and has a reflection ratio of over six percent. There are two models slated for shipping this October 2008; a three-inch version and a 3.5-inch one.

The City of San Jose, California, once home to the booming hi-tech industry, is rapidly emerging as the nation's cleantech capital. Under the auspices of its green-minded Mayor Chuck Reed, the city is attracting some of the fastest growing companies in sectors like photovoltaics, biofuel, clean transport, and IT.

The arrival of Tesla Motors, the EV upstart that has become synonymous with electric mobility, is just one example of the city's cleantech impetus. In September, San Jose lured the car maker to move their headquarters and develop their new manufacturing facility within the city's borders. One of our favorite solar application developers, Fat Spaniel Technologies, has set up shop there as well.

This sweeping migration is expected to double San Jose's cleantech jobs from 1,500 to over 3,000, with Tesla creating at least another 1,000. Other leading cleantech companies already in San Jose, or poised to move their operation there in the near future, include Phillips Lumileds, Echelon, SunPower, Stion, Solopower, Nanosolar, Sopogy, BioFuelBox, Borgata Recycling, Solexant, and SunWize.

Tata Steel--a division of Indian heavy-industries conglomerate Tata Group--has developed a new approach to generating steam-derived hydrogen, using super-hot metals.

Instead of going the nuclear route, a riskier and more costly way of high-temperature water "cracking," Tata decided to forge hydrogen by spraying water over molten slag-steel already in place at its manufacturing facilities. At temperatures of 2,900 F, otherwise tightly bound water molecules begin to disband, yielding hydrogen and oxygen.

Hydro Kevin says that Tata applies this process to generating 70-percent pure hydrogen that can be used to power the plant. The company may even sell the surplus H2 on the open market or use it to launch a fuel cell vehicle program. Learn more about Tata here.

The UK will soon be home to what is currently considered as the biggest biofuel project on earth. Carbon Trust, UK-based carbon reduction authority, has announced initiative that could cost more than $40 million in its entirety to ensure the commercial availability of algae biofuel by 2020. The budget for the project would be used not only for infrastructures that would support the aim, but also the development of the technology as a whole.

Carbon Trust expects to spend around $10 million funding the British companies working on algae biofuel that will take place immediately. Next year though, the second phase of the project begins with Carbon Trust building ponds to grow algae and test out what was concluded as the "most promising algae technologies" among those funded during the first phase. These ponds will be built elsewhere though, since UK weather isn't really suitable for growing algae.

Transport minister Andrew Adonis said: "This project demonstrates our commitment to ensuring that second generation biofuels are truly sustainable -- and will further our understanding of the potential for microalgae to be refined for use in renewable transport fuel development, to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions."

Last August, NYC announced that the city will soon use LED street lighting in an effort to reduce power consumption. Across the pond in Japan, a similar initiative is in the works for residential zone, "Azabu no Oka," located in Miyoshi-cho of the Aichi Prefecture, albeit on a smaller scale. LED lighting will be used to power streets of the area comprised of 204 houses. Each house will get from four to five LED external lamps meant to illuminate their walls and the area immediately outside the house. Main roads and intersections get full-on LED street lamps.

The LED lights used have a warm color and aren't very bright; collectively though, they will be able to provide what illumination the zone needs. The project will commence this October 25, 2008. The replacement of all current street lighting will take a while, but a few LED lights will already be in place on the day the project starts. It seems the people involved in the project are well-prepared, even establishing a support system in case of problems since LED lights aren't something that can easily be replaced in case any of the lamps get busted.

If you have the tendency to take very long showers, one of the many gadgets you can use to break the habit is the ECO Showerdrop. It's a new product by UK-based Product Creations to help prevent excessive use of water. Unlike other similar devices, ECO Showerdrop could actually calibrate the amount of water your shower uses because it's bound to be different from others.

Just like what was mentioned in Smart Planet, knowing how much water your shower uses exactly would help a lot. A shower using 15 liters of water per minute, for example, would warrant a shorter shower time than something that uses 5 liters per minute. After calibration, all you got to do is press a button on the ECO Showerdrop when you start your shower. As soon you reach 35 liters, the device starts to beep--if you decide to go over the recommended water usage, ECO Showerdrop will continue to show the amount of water used. ECO Showerdrop is now available in the UK for around $20 to $40.

Swedish company Husqvarna is slated to roll out its Automower powered by solar energy in the United States soon. The Husqvarna Solar Automower will first be showcased in the country during the Green Industry and Equipment Expo 2008 happening this weekend in Kentucky. This solar-powered mower is an iteration of the company's original Automower, which is powered by conventional gasoline. It can autonomously maintain up to half an acre of property as long as the perimeter is bordered with wires staked below the cutting level of the grass.

The mower can harness solar energy and automatically convert it to power while it does its job with the surplus energy stored in its nickel metal hydride battery. Safety features include stopping the blades when the mower is lifted, the ability to lock it, and setting an alarm to prevent theft. No price is given yet, but it might be more expensive than the gas-powered $2,000 original version due to the built-in solar cells. Considering times are hard today, it might be difficult to market something like a solar-powered mower to consumers, but as CNET says, in the long run, it could be more cost-effective than gas-powered mowers due to the associated fuel costs.

After Denmark and Israel, Better Place now plans to roll out in the world's sixth largest country, Australia, and create a network of charging stations for electric vehicles. The plug-in network aims to encourage the use of electric vehicles in the country--where there are presently around 15 million gas vehicles running. Better Place is currently trying to raise a staggering AUえーゆー$1 billion to fund the project that would ultimately bring between 200,000 and 250,000 stations to Australia's largest cities--Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney--by 2012.

Aside from the charging stations, the company plans to build 150 switch stations (where you can replace spent electric batteries) in the cities and some major freeways. To be able to use the stations, hybrid/electric car owners would have to sign a power supply agreement that's similar to current cell phone contracts, and pay a subscription fee.

Eco-media startup Brighter Planet and its grassroots partner 1Sky are proud to announce the winners of their user-generated video contest meant to encourage the Congress and the next President to take bold action on global warming.

Launched in August, the Climate Matters! video contest challenged all those concerned about the state of our planet to deliver a message to lawmakers and the next Commander in Chief. Sixteen video finalists were selected from over 100 submissions based on the greatest number of viewer hits. From that narrowed pool, a penal of distinguished judges, including Rory Kennedy, Emmy award-winning documentary producer, Leila and Nadia Conners, the producers/directors of 11th Hour, and others, picked four winning entries (third place was a tie).

The EcoTouch Energy Management System is a solar installation unit monitor that also has the functionality to display energy consumption. The device has a touch screen monitor that shows both energy production and consumption in real time and even displays past data. To be able to detect a trend in your consumption, graphs are provided based on different timelines; the device can equate the consumed energy to various statistics such as the number of trees saved.

EcoTouch employs wireless technology with the ability to be accessed from anywhere there is Internet so you can remotely control various home systems such as heating during the winter. The device only has a niche audience for now, but it could enjoy a more widespread popularity in the future if and when solar energy technology becomes more affordable for the masses.

Google put up a simple energy calculator just in time for Halloween (one of my most favorite days of the year) which is the page's theme. Likened to characters such as ghosts, monsters, demons, zombies, and of course the most obvious one, vampires (for energy vampire); the items in the calculator list refer to basic questions that could compute your general energy consumption.

For each item, you just either input a figure or check a box to get an estimate of your carbon footprint. Each item links to a resource as well so you can do further reading on the subject. Besides the calculator itself, Google listed a comprehensive list of advice on how you can lessen your power consumption. This could be considered one of Google's more subdued efforts considering the company's other high-profile and massive projects including its investment into geothermal, wind and wave energy.