The weatherization of homes, despite a recent survey suggesting green home retrofits don’t fit the mood of the nation at the moment, continue to occur.

Aerospace engineers in Germany are developing what may well be one of the world’s longest range renewable fuel source flying planes, powered by hydrogen fuel cells and capable of going over 3,700 miles and staying aloft for around 50 hours. It is called the Antares H3 and it is being designed by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) in cooperation with Lange Research Aircraft GmbH. The Antares 3 is said to actually be a higher-performance successor of the Antares DLR-H2, the world’s first piloted aircraft capable of performing a complete flight powered by fuel cells alone

CLEVELAND , Aug. 20 /-FirstCall/ — Parker Hannifin Corporation (NYSE: PH ), the global leader in motion and control technologies, today announced the establishment of the Instrumentation Group’s Instrumentation Solution Centers, a special distinction given to its top-performing North American distributors. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19990816/PHLOGO ) (Logo: http://photos..com/prnh/19990816/PHLOGO ) Parker appointed 17 distributors as Instrumentation Solution Centers based on criteria related to customer service, technical support and operational excellence to their respective customers.

We’ve been hearing a lot more about solar powered streetlights recently, and frankly, we think it’s about time. For too long, these urban dwellers have just been hanging around outside, sucking energy off the grid. A new design from Enertia Engineering puts them to work with the EnerSolar , “the first commercially available fully-integrated solar powered street light.” What sets this design apart

Do not attempt to adjust your monitor. The image below is not actually a pair of high tech speakers mounted on a steam iron–but rather Super Nova 60, “the world’s first carbon neutral megayacht,” by Sauter Carbon Offset Design , which comes to us by way of Gizmag

And now, in good news for healthy building proponents everywhere, a study conducted by researchers at Michigan State University (MSU)  (and featured recently in the  American Journal of Public Health ) reports that workers who moved from conventional office buildings to environmentally friendly “green” buildings said they called in sick less often and got more done during the workday. MSU’s team of researchers conducted two case studies in the Lansing area, following two companies that moved operations from a conventionally-built office building to a LEED-certified one. The workers surveyed for the study reported that the move contributed to noticeable reductions in absenteeism and stress. It also improved the workers’ self-reported productivity, as a result of perceived improvements in health and well-being

Of the many companies offering consumer-side solutions around smart grids and energy efficiency, EcoFactor is one whose name keeps popping up as a company to watch. Its solution, which “uses thousands of data points collected throughout the day from the thermostat, local weather stations and other geographic inputs, in order to create a continuously evolving heating and cooling strategy for each home,” is seen as one of the more desired personalized residential energy management options available for utilities to offer to their customers at the moment. EcoFactor’s system was recently put into play in Texas for the first time as part of a program designed to help users cut home energy bills by 20-30% while still maintaining comfort

(Editor’s note: Javier Rojas is a managing director leading U.S. investment activities for Kennet Partners. He submitted this story to VentureBeat.) If you’ve been keeping an eye out for emerging market opportunities, it might interest you that robotics is one of today’s fastest growing technologies.

DEARBORN, Mich.

– VIZIO’s XVT™ Series HDTVs use Full Array TruLED™ LCD technology for significant performance advantages over competitors’ sets, with superior uniformity, better off-angle viewing and deeper blacks – New sets have increased zones of Smart Dimming™ for greater intelligent control plus the ability to reduce LED brightness to enable pure black – XVT553SV, XVT473SV and XVT423AV achieve unprecedented 10,000,000:1 contrast ratios – XVT323SV LED TV is recognized as industry’s best featured 32″ HDTV – All XVT models feature VIZIO Internet Apps™, with integral Dual Band 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless networking and Bluetooth/IR remote with slide out QWERTY keypad – VIZIO provides seamless state-of-the-art wireless Internet access through integral Dual Band 802.11n Wi-Fi, unlike competitive sets that require the purchase of external adaptors – VIZIO’s business benefits from a leadership position in advanced technologies such as LED LCD HDTVs IRVINE, Calif. , Aug. 20 Buzz-Issue.com– VIZIO, America’s HDTV and Consumer Electronics Company, announced today shipping of a new lineup of leading edge XVT (Xtreme VIZIO Technology) Series HDTVs featuring Full Array TruLED™ LCD HDTV technology