Just about everything that uses electricity heats up.  Your desktop computer, your laptop, television, refrigerator, you name it, it produces waste heat.  Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is developing new technology that will convert that excess heat into electricity that can be used to increase the distance electric cars can run, the length of time your laptop can run on its battery, increase the amount of energy generated at power stations and increase your cell phone talk time.  MIT has developed a new thermoelectric technology called thermal diodes.

Just about everyone has some form of athletic shoe, whether it is for walking, running, or playing a specific sport.  And of course, those shoes finally wear out or are simply no longer used in favor of a newer pair.  When you get to the toss them out stage, you need to find a drop off center for Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe program.

For many people using solar energy to recharge electric cars is the ultimate in clean energy and clean emissions.  A few hybrid car and electric car designs incorporate solar roofs but those roofs have limited space for collecting solar energy.  Enter the SHELF that has an extendable solar panel that covers most of the car length.

Topping the list of most green tips is changing your incandescent light bulbs to compact florescent bulbs (CFLs).  Since most people who change to CFLs are also taking other measures to cut down and conserve, most people aren’t real sure how much it really works.  Dominion Virginia Power’s(DVP) compact fluorescent light bulb instant discount program is showing the savings.

Well, not quite yet but almost.  Knowaste, a Canadian company located in Toronto, will be building a disposable diaper recycling plant in Birmingham, England that is expected to open in early 2010.

Getting rid of toxins in our environment has been a costly, time consuming process for years.  Steward Advanced Materials Thiol-SAMMS, a white powder composed of grains of molecular sponges, is able to effectively, efficiently and inexpensively clean up wastewater. Because of its exceptional ability to clean up the environment, Popular Science has awarded it the Green Tech Grand Award for 2009.

Convoys back in the 1980s meant that you had a string of trucks (and an occasional car) traveling together while conversing over CB radios.  In the near future, convoy may mean joining a string of cars called a Road Train.  The Road Train is headed by a truck or other vehicle that is capable of taking control of your car so you can engage in other activities.

Ford has created several hybrid cars like the Ford Escape and Fusion hybrids, and the Lincoln Mariner and Milan hybrids.  The company has created  “EcoBoost” technology that allows a V6 engine to respond like a V8 engine through direct injection and turbo engines.  But probably the greenest part of many future Ford vehicles will be found on the inside.

Whether you think nuclear power is “clean” or not there are other considerations to be addressed before anyone starts building new nuclear reactors.  Will new nuclear reactors and subsequent nuclear energy really be economical for the people who will be using and paying for it?  Are new modern nuclear power plants really safe?  Will building new power plants immediately bring more jobs to Americans or will it mean more money going abroad?

A growing trash dump exists in the Pacific Ocean comprised of the detritus from fishing boats and trash washed into the sea from distant land masses.  The trash has been growing yearly and has even become a subject of much study.