Eco Factor: Wireless appliance controller helps you save energy.
Global design and innovation company Seymourpowell has announced that its design has been used for the newly launched EcoManager device from EDF Energy, Britain’s largest producer of low carbon electricity. The EcoManager is an innovative new wireless appliance controller which transforms the way consumers both monitor and control the amount of electricity they use in their homes.
The EcoManager allows consumers to see and control the energy consumption of appliances from wherever the device is plugged in, helping people reduce their monthly energy bills. Seymourpowell worked with the team at EDF Energy to design the EcoManager handheld controller unit with which the transmitter plugs communicate. The monitor then displays the relative running costs and CO2 emissions of each connected appliance in real time.
Following on our recent webcast on bio-based plastics, we asked our presenters a series of questions on topics including the benefits of bioplastics, the differences among various biobased plastics, and the role of municipal waste agencies in creating a composting infrastructure.
Modular carpet maker Interface will complete Environmental Product Declarations — detailed documents explaining the life cycle impacts of items — for all of its products by 2012 and challenged other companies to set goals similar to its Mission Zero program.
We’ve got all this tech, right? And we use lots and lots of energy to make it all. When we switch to a new phone or drop our laptop, breaking the screen, getting a whole new laptop, we waste via the new energy we’re using creating a whole new set of objects. Instead, what designer Dominic Muren hopes to do is to create an environment where not only are our minds changed on the way we interact with our devices, but the way those devices are able to be fixed and upgraded.
Dominic Muren is working on new design methods to create products that are both easy to fix and to upgrade. It’s a design framework and it’s called Skin/Skeleton/Guts, or SSG. There’s two amazing videos, one of Muren on the street going completely excited nuts in a totally good way, then there’s his TED speech he made as a result of his awarded TED fellowship. Look at them, love them, and embrace the futuristic fantasy.
Yanko Design Timeless Designs - Explore wonderful concepts from around the world! Yanko Design Store - We are about more than just concepts. See what's hot at the YD Store!
What a clever thing…imagine using a washing machine with two drums, the first is a regular bloke that does its usual business and the second is convenient compartment in the front-loading-door that washes delicates or whites separately. The idea proposes at saving water, time and electricity by combining the two cycles. I think its brilliant!
Designer: Yoon Hyung Woo
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Yanko Design Timeless Designs - Explore wonderful concepts from around the world! Yanko Design Store - We are about more than just concepts. See what's hot at the YD Store!
In response to the impending water crisis, design firm Teague set out to help visualize domestic water use in an effort to identify opportunities to use less. Water bills may contain statistics on how much is used, but not where it is being overused. To make this apparent, they designed a meter that is integrated with points of use throughout the home—faucets— that provides this information via WiFi.
In the first trial run, the meter was hooked up the the studio kitchen faucet and usage was monitored from computers at the studio desks, which resulted in very slight improvements. Upon moving the data onto an iPad on display by the sink, however, reductions were extreme— 1.5 gallons were saved in a single task like handwashing.
Visualizing all the water that could be saved spurred Teague to start a campaign to help with water crises thousands of miles away—not by shipping gallons of water, but by sending money, with $20 enugh to provide one person 20 years worth of clean water. Teague is working with the nonprofit Charity: Water on a 3 month campaign to raise $10,000 for clean water projects; they'll match every dollar donated with a dollar from Teague.
Looks like we're getting spoiled for choice when it comes to replacements for the venerable incandescent lightbulb, which is due to be phased out in America by 2012. Following in the footsteps of curly-fry CFLs and Philips' steampunk-looking LEDs, the latest bulb tech to pass UL certification is the ESL.
The Electron Stimulated Luminescence bulb, by Seattle-based Vu1 Corporation (whose CEO is ironically named Philip Styles) uses "accelerated electrons to stimulate phosphor to create light, making the surface of the bulb 'glow.'" Vu1 claims their ESL is as energy-efficient and long-lived as CFLs and LEDs, but boasts superior light quality (see photo above) and is dimmable, unlike its cousins. Far as price, the bulbs will go for less than LEDs but about the same as CFLs: Twenty bucks a pop.
by: Gizmodo , 2010-11-08 15:37:23 UTC
In a patent application, General Motors describes a system in which lithium ion batteries would be refurbished without totally dismantling battery packs.
We were disturbed to learn earlier this year that BPA, a potentially toxic endocrine disruptor found in everything from water bottles to soup cans, is present in significant levels on receipts from chains including Safeway, KFC, Whole Foods, and Walmart. And a recent study suggests that BPA easily penetrates skin.
But all hope isn't lost. Appleton, the largest manufacturer of thermal paper and the only producer of BPA-free thermal receipt paper in the U.S, announced this week that it has added small red fibers to its paper so that shoppers and cashiers can immediately see when their receipts are BPA-free.
The red rayon fibers, which will be in approximately 75 percent of the thermal receipt paper that Appleton ships by the end of November, will be found on the back. "We
hope that being able to see the red fibers in our receipt paper will
give holiday shoppers peace of mind about the safety of those receipts,"
Kent Willetts, Appleton’s vice president of strategic development said in a statement.
The red markings will probably give anyone reading this article peace of mind. But what about shoppers that don't know the significance of Appleton's red fibers? Perhaps something a little more obvious--spelling out "BPA-free" with the fibers, for example--could help.
Store employees may want to lobby managers to use Appleton-branded receipts for the sake of our health, and to encourage other thermal paper brands to ditch BPA. In the meantime, ask for your receipt in the bag -- and handle with gloves.
Ariel Schwartz can be reached on Twitter or by email.
The Credit Card for the Blind looks complicated but is quite simple to use. It uses the cardholder’s fingerprint (using fingerprint recognition software) as their signature and the Braille on the display for transaction details. An inbuilt speaker rattles-off the kind of products being paid for, thus giving the blind a complete account of the transaction autonomously. Giving them a completely secure and safe transaction.
Designer: Kwon Ki Nam
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Yanko Design Timeless Designs - Explore wonderful concepts from around the world! Yanko Design Store - We are about more than just concepts. See what's hot at the YD Store!
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2010-11-29 23:27:17 UTC
Producing brick from recycled fly ash consumes less energy and emits less CO2 because it does not require firing to harden the masonry units. Nor is ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2010-11-29 02:05:08 UTC
The Modlet from ThinkEco is a smart outlet that reduces energy waste by monitoring real-time equipment power consumption and creating an automated ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2010-11-28 02:33:30 UTC
Paper is a cellulose non-woven and has therefor similar characteristics as cotton and viscose. Textiles made form paper can be crisp, translucent, ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2010-11-27 02:40:45 UTC
This fabric is made of a biodegradable fiber which is the result of research in starch and other grain byproducts.
Working with overspun yarn experts ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2010-11-26 02:02:39 UTC
Rubber manufacturers typically throw off waste of 5 to 15 percent – it’s a cost of doing business. These manufacturers now have another, more profitable ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2010-11-25 00:45:25 UTC
Nothing is refreshing as the pure taste of fresh water flowing from a spring. Grohe developed GROHE Blue® - the water spring for your own home. It ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2010-11-24 02:47:18 UTC
Bamboo is a wonder plant by all accounts. Its many uses include erosion control, watershed protection, soil remediation, and environmental greening. ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2010-11-23 01:42:00 UTC
Bagasse is a byproduct form sugarcane production and besides being used for energy production it can also be used as a material for making paper or ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2010-11-22 03:20:03 UTC
The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) Catalyst program is accepting applications starting today through Tuesday, November 30 for design ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2010-11-22 01:24:46 UTC
"In our research, we learned that consumers are concerned about the environment and are interested in using products which save precious resources... ...
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