The designers behind a "thinking" yacht are hoping to break a world record by sending it across the Atlantic Ocean without any human assistance. The four-meter boat, "Avalon", was designed and built by an eight-strong team of third-year engineering students at Swiss science university ETH Zurich. The students are planning to take the boat to a robotic sailing regatta in July, before launching it into the Microtransat Transatlantic challenge in early September. Using sensors to detect the speed and direction ...

It's official: our minivan is a toxic asset. The "toxic" part I knew already. Between the catastrophic diaper failure while touring Amish country circa 2004, and the projectile vomiting episode on the way to the beach in '01, my family van has been a rolling Superfund site for years. The news flash is "asset." Thanks to the cash-for-clunkers program cooked up in ...

The next time you go to throw away your old mobile phone, Gert-Jan van Breugel hopes you bury it in a garden instead tossing it in a garbage can. That is of course if the cellphone you're using is the biodegradable bamboo handset he's designed with bamboo seeds implanted in its case that should start to sprout when the mobile disintegrates in the ground. The phone is also energy independent -- a three minute turn of the crank ...

Imagine the Batmobile busting bad guys in Bismarck or "Knight Rider's" KITT corralling criminals on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Carbon Motors Corp.'s new high-tech cop car prototype might not be quite up to superhero specs, but some police say it could be a welcome addition to their arsenal. "I don't see any downside to this car," said Carl Latorre, a Pennsylvania State Police dispatcher who served 35 years as a Philadelphia police officer. "I am so excited about this car. This ...

The very rich are different from you or me. For one thing, their carbon footprints are bigger. Between their private jets, fleets of cars and large houses, the wealthy tend to suck up more than their fair share of the Earth's resources. And that's not even counting the environmental impact of the businesses that built their bank accounts. But as Edward Humes makes clear in his new book Eco-Barons: The Dreamers, Schemers and Millionaires Who Are Saving Our Planet ...

Nathan Chan is the ideal worker for the new green economy. He graduated last year from the California Institute of Technology with a double degree in environmental engineering and English literature. From there he went to Columbia University, where he's finishing up a master's in public administration with a focus on the environment. Chan, 23, has interned for the Audubon Society, calculating the venerable nonprofit's carbon footprint, and he's probably forgotten more math and science than the average environmentalist ever ...

It hardly bears pointing out that during these days of 7.6% unemployment, when the business pages of the local newspaper look more like the obituaries, no industry is doing well — and that includes green business. Wind and solar manufacturers, starved for credit, are cutting back on projects and laying off workers. Whole Foods, the organic food superstore, has seen its stock price drop more than 70% over the past year, and has cut back on planned expansions. Companies — ...