The students who participate in these events are working to send a two-fold message. They are trying to educate the public, to show them that a seemingly niche technology has the power to be a big boon for sustainable development, as well as to show them that green jobs are the way of the future.

This display of dwellings, set up right in the heart of our nation’s capitol is meant to get the attention of folks who drive themselves to work each morning, shutting their garage door, ready for a long individual commute in a vehicle that can hold seven. The message is for everyday people to see possibility.

However this year, the Decathlon was not held without its own bit of backlash towards the green community in the wake of a recently bankrupted solar company. The weather was also trying to work against the event, which opened to rainy, gloomy weather. But the students remained positive and the sun did indeed come out on the event. With it came the eco-conscious from near and far.

For self-proclaimed “greenies”, this is one of the events of the year. In addition to being solar powered, these homes are also carbon neutral. They contain energy saving appliances and the latest in efficiency technology. It is a great way to unveil the latest ideas and findings in the green engineering community. A vast array of technologies – some innovative, some downright strange – are put on display for the public to see and to be viewed for judging.

This event is just one of many that show off the bright minds of the future. As more college students are making a career in sustainable development and engineering, bigger and better ideas will be created, some that could possibly innovate new design techniques. This event is a great way to show the public just what is possible, as well as a great means for those of like-mind to get together and share their knowledge.

Some of the solutions presented to prevent or decrease the effects of global warming are, as we all know: Drive you car less times, use public transports, shutdown all electric devises when they are not in use, recycle etc.

Though we would like that every person in the world stopped using their personal car and started using public transports, shutdown all electric devises, stopped wasting energy and water. The truth is that won’t happen in the near future, because there will be always some “fool” doing the exact opposite of what is needed and because people don’t change their habits in a couple of days. So what we need is to develop new technologies to the max, only they will make us save this planet. Only technology will make us use less oil and start using renewable energies.

I don’t know if you have noticed already but everything you use on your day, from your clothes to the computer you are using to read this, is a product of human technology. So, as good old human technologies they are, they consume energy produced mainly by the burning of oil, and this is the main cause of global warming, as the most of you may know. Because of that some years ago the idea of using wind, water, the sun and others as energy sources came out to outcome the global warming problem. But, has many new technologies, they had a lot of downsides that kept people way from them.

Though they’ve improved a lot since those days, due to scientific research, they still have a long way to go, for example: windmills need to become noiseless, and harmless to birds and bats; solar panels need to improve their efficiency, now days it’s only of 25%; electric dams need to decrease their impact on the surrounding environment; and so on… But when we talk about new technologies, renewable energies are only the tip of the iceberg. There an entire world of electronic devices that need to become more energy efficient; cars need to stop having their engines working on gas; houses need to have better isolation, to avoid energy losses.

Those are some of the reasons for why we should invest more and more on new technologies and on their research. Without them the planet we know and love won’t last much longer…

Nokia seems to be trying hard to gain the top green spot among mobile developers these days. For example, they recently released 3110 Evolve, an eco-friendly mobile phone. And now they are trying to introduce another gadget that will help us “reduce our environmental footprint” called the Eco Sensor Concept.

The Eco Sensor concept is made up of two parts – a wearable sensor unit and a dedicated mobile phone.

The sensor unit will be able to “sense and analyze your environment, health, and local weather conditions.” This sensor unit will be powered by solar cells placed on a special neck strap.

The mobile phone will be able to “share the environmental data your sensing device collects and view other users’ shared data, thereby increasing your global environmental awareness.” The mobile phone will use recycled materials such as plant based plastics and 100% recycled steel for its casing. It will also have an OLED screen to reduce power usage and probably also feature solar powered battery as well.

But Nokia is also investigating the possibilities to use other alternative energy sources such as kinetic, meaning: energy derived from motion.

“Reduce, reuse and recycle – the Nokia Eco Sensor Concept is built upon all three of these underlying principles of waste reduction. Emphasis will be placed on materials use and reuse in the phone’s construction.

To complete the Nokia Eco Sensor Concept, the phone and detector units will be optimized for lower energy consumption than phones in 2007 in both the manufacturing process and use. Alternative energy sources, such as solar power, will fuel the sensor unit’s power usage. Thus, we aim to create a self-powered sensing device to reduce dependence on external, non-renewable energy sources.”

But don’t get to crazy about this. It’s still a concept so we will all have to wait and see if it will eventually become a reality.