Environment

How close is your home to a nuclear power plant?

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Map of US Nuclear Plants

The situation currently unfolding in Japan has reignited the debate over the safety of nuclear power. If you live in the United States, and you’re not quite sure how close you live to a nuclear power plant, you may want to check out this interactive map over at CNN Money.

The map shows the location of every nuclear plant here in the US. If you enter your zip code it will tell you if you fall within a “danger zone”.

If a crisis at a nuclear reactor happened in the U.S., could you be living in a danger zone? In a 10-mile radius, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the air could be unsafe to breathe in the event of a major catastrophe. In 50 miles, food and water supplies may be unsafe.

Turbine-Free Wind Power

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Turbine-Free Wind Energy Video

This looks very cool. The video isn’t embed-able, so you’ll have to watch it, here.

Conservationists argue that wind turbines pose a risk to birds, bats and sensitive habitats like shorelines. People living close to wind farms, meanwhile, complain of constant noise and vibration. This year, engineers responded with a new way to draw electricity from the wind: oscillating wind panels. Read More…

Moo does full-size business cards

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I’ve always thought Moo’s mini cards were great, but they’re just a little to narrow for my images. Luckily, Moo just announced that they’ll be doing full-size business cards very soon. For $21.99 you can get 50 cards that use up to 50 different images. There’s also an option to use 100% recycled, 100% recyclable and bio-degradable paper. I can’t wait!

Oh, and if you sign up for Moo’s newsletter, you’ll get a coupon for 20% off your first order of cards when they become available.

UPDATE (7.02.08): The new full-size cards went on sale yesterday. I already ordered a batch of 50. I chose their green paper. If you plan to order some, don’t wait until the last minute before you need them. They take about a week to print, and 10 days to reach you if you live in the US (they’re coming from London).

Via Web Worker Daily

iPod Recycling Speaker

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Speaker made from iPod packaging

The Bird-Electron EZ17-B iPod Recycling Speaker is a clever little speaker system that uses the plastic packaging your iPod came in as the enclosure for the speaker. What a great way to reuse something that would more than likely end up in the trash.

“Bird-Electron presents this one and only Recycling Speaker for iPod. The dimension is exactly the same as the plastic package for iPod Nano (1st & 2nd Gen.) and iPod Shuffle (2nd & 3rd Gen.). Simply just place the speaker panel on top of the open box, and plug it into the iPod and play. Bird-Electron’s recycling speaker does not require any power source. You can also customize your own recycling speaker with any small container like a water bottle. Easy to install. Available only from Bird-Electron.”

via Geek Alerts