If you start with the premise that many of the solutions to our global sustainability challenges start with design and systems thinking, this software company is emerging as a key player in a sustainable future.
by: Ecofriend, 2011-03-18 06:14:25 UTC
Dattatreya:
Finally we have come across a simple yet innovative conception with dollops of practicality imbued in it; this is the Strawberry Tree - a solar powered charging booth for mobile phones, cameras and even MP3 players. A business group of Serbian student-entrepreneurs by the name of Strawberry Energy has ingeniously concocted this scrupulous design.
The booth integrates solar panels at an optimum angle on the roof top, while built-in benches are included around the singular ‘pillar’ for people to sit and chat, while they are waiting for their phones to be charged. In the future, the company plans to include Wi-Fi features and also manufacture convenient portable booths to cater to large gatherings.
This adroit conception was deservingly nominated for European Commission’s prestigious Sustainable Energy Europe Award 2011.
Strawberry’s CEO Miloš Milisavljević said:
We share a dream in which energy is gained from the sun and the wind, in which air is clean and rivers unpolluted, and new technologies are used for the preservation of our environment. We want to develop devices that make renewable energy available to all, to bring home the advantages of green technologies, so people become familiar with renewable energy and realize its potential. Our future depends on sustainable energy. We want to encourage understanding of the good that it can bring.
by: Ecofriend, 2011-03-18 11:47:34 UTC
Dattatreya:
Now it is high time for the oil companies to make their ‘green’ move. One of the largest motor oil producers in U.S., Valvoline has unveiled their all new NextGen recycled motor oil. This oil is touted to have more than 50 percent recycled oil acquired from existing resources, but imbued with the same high quality of conventional oil.
Over time motor oils tend to get dirty, while the additives get depleted along with breaking down of chemicals. So, according to the company, for obtaining the new recycled oil, the ‘old’ oil has to go through a stringent multistage process. First, the impurities are discarded and then the resultant is distilled to remove water. After that, it is filtered to remove micro-impurities, and re-refined again to reconstitute the optimum chemical properties for enhanced quality.
Furthermore, there are clear cut advantages of using this recycled product like checking the depletion of natural resources, as well as reducing the overall environmental impact. According to the company:
Now that we can make a high quality motor oil from used oil, it’s time to recycle more of what we have. Every year Americans use more than 3 billion quarts of motor oil. We can save a lot of resources if we make and buy recycled oil.
by: Ecofriend, 2011-03-18 12:06:42 UTC
Dattatreya:
An international architectural research organization, Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA) has contrived of a balanced conception that aims to imbue human activities efficiently in a wholesome naturalistic environment, which can then act as a singular yet sustainable system. This ‘house of the future’ will basically be a sky dome atop a mall in Beijing, and the construction is expected to start in late 2011.
The irregular shaped mega dome will feature 15 different spatial arrangements, starting from green vegetable patches connected with kitchens to bathrooms integrated with sunken bedrooms. But the spaces will be incorporated inside a large natural environment instilled with an intelligent electronic facade.
Flexibility of structure will be one of the design criteria, so that the spatial elements can be modified according to specific requirements. Moreover, the sustainable side of affairs along with the cost factor will also be touched upon. For example, the whole ceiling will be constructed of Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene(ETFE), which is a low-cost yet harder substitute for glass.
Chris Bosse, Director of LAVA says:
The home of the future acts as a metaphor for the questions of our times, our relationship with nature, with technology, and with ourselves.
by: Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine, 2011-03-17 02:15:35 UTC
Mountain Dew’s green bottles could become even “greener” with an announcement from PepsiCo claiming it has developed the world’s first polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottle made entirely from plant-based, fully renewable resources including switch grass, pine bark and corn husks. The bottle not only offers a significantly reduced carbon footprint compared to petroleum-based PET, but is also 100 percent recyclable...
Continue Reading PepsiCo develops first PET plastic bottle made completely from plant-based material
by: Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine, 2011-03-17 05:59:01 UTC
Balancing demand for energy with timely production is a juggling act that is particularly relevant to renewable sources such as wind and solar. Because the wind isn't always blowing and the sun isn't always shining, the energy produced by these systems needs to be stored efficiently so it can be used when it's needed. While some scientists are looking into storing such energy by converting it to natural gas, Britain's Highview Power Storage has its own approach, which is already in use in a pilot project. In a nutshell, the company is storing excess energy as liquid air...
Continue Reading CryoEnergy System uses liquid air to store energy
by: Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine, 2011-03-17 16:01:34 UTC
An essential part of my travel kit is my digital music player. I also carry a small set of speakers in case I want to share some tunes with those I meet along the way, but I'm forever having to worry about batteries and, despite their size, it's all extra weight to have to lug around. I need some fold-away, lightweight, power-free amplification, and that's precisely what the Tembo Trunks speakers offer. The creation of brothers Scott and Mike Norrie, the horn speakers are said to have been born out of frustration in not having an external iPod speaker that was small and light enough to travel with them around Africa...
Continue Reading Amplify your iPod earbuds with Tembo Trunks
by: Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine, 2011-03-17 17:56:04 UTC
Tired of your glasses fogging up on cold days, or of having to spit in your dive mask before putting it on? Those hassles may become a thing of the past, as researchers from Quebec City’s Université Laval have developed what they claim is the world’s first permanent anti-fog coating. Just one application is said to work indefinitely on eyeglasses, windshields, camera lenses, or any other transparent glass or plastic surface...
Continue Reading 'First-ever' permanent anti-fog coating developed
Architecture and general contracting firm, Tres Birds Workshop in Boulder, Colorado was given the task of mitigating sound for an open floor plan office. After researching sound attenuation, the decision was made to go cellular – resulting in these lovely cork dividers. Thousands of reclaimed corks were stuffed into steel rings to create these organic dividers sculpted to break up sound, provide privacy, and create pin-up spaces.
Social learning platform Xplana has been analyzing the digital textbook market, and has concluded that in the U.S. the education publishing market has is reaching a tipping point: Within seven years, digital textbooks will dominate over print.
Xplana's studies suggest that over the next five years, sales of textbooks to students in the U.S. will slowly migrate to the point that 25% of new textbooks sold are digital versions (in the higher education and career education markets). Inside seven years, the trend will progress to the point that the dominant delivery format for educational texts is not paper, but digits.
The argument runs like this: The calculation assumes a current market share of 1.5% for digital textbooks as of February 2011, growing to a 3% share by the end of 2011, and a yearly increase of between 80% and 100% for the next four years (reasonable, given projections of the boom in tablet PC sales). The math then includes a tapering growth rate to 25% to 40% annually for the next five years (to match market saturation of tablet PCs and widespread acceptance of digital-format books in the public).
The result is shown in the curve below, and it has one inescapable conclusion: Inside seven years, the e-textbook will rule, and probably within 10 years paper textbooks will be rendered niche products.
You can argue this is based on hypothetical thinking alone, and Xplana has a vested interest in the matter as it's all about "21st-century learning." But the company explains that its conclusions are actually adjusted from a similar calculation made last year, when the it put etextbook market share at only 20% on the same timescale. It explains the adjustment is due to "new developments and higher-than-expected trending in recognized market variable areas." These areas include higher-than-expected e-reader sales (championed by Amazon's Kindle), a booming textbook rental market, the rise of the Epub3 digital book standard, and new advances in "open education resources" and open-rights textbooks--attractive to school boards because of low or zero costs.
But what seems to be the dominant factor that's changing things? The iPad. Last year's calculation was made before the iPad arrived, sold by the tens of million, and changed portable computing. Purists argue that reading books on the iPad screen is not ideal, and other people will claim that devices like the Kno--with a more precise stylus-based input system--is a better fit for educational markets. But compared to the Kindle, editing content, recording audio, and accessing rich graphics in textbooks is much more possible on the iPad, and adds genuine educational value to e-textbooks). And unlike the Kno, the iPad is actually available for purchase.
The overall trend is even more plausible when you read headlines like the The New York Times' "Math that moves: More schools embrace the iPad" and Newsweek's "Textbook's digital future," and remember how many schools and colleges are rushing to embrace the iPad.
To read more news like this, follow Fast Company on Twitter: Click here.
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2011-03-29 08:38:10 UTC
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latest developments ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2011-03-09 06:04:42 UTC
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