Top 5 Apps and Resources to “Greenify” Your Consumption
by: Inhabitat , 2011-05-23 22:46:21 UTC
Want to make your consumption choices smarter for the planet but not sure where to begin? Help is just a mouseclick or a fingertap away. Whether you’re shopping for food, services or goods, there are a bevy of apps and websites out there to help you find the greenest choices quickly and easily. Check out our rundown of the the most convenient resources that help you make informed decisions about the products you buy.
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Post tags: buying green, green consumption, green design, green products, smart shopping, sourcemap, sustainable design, sustainable lifestyle, sustainable products
Ginkgo Studio’s Poetic Curl Lamp is Made from Old Book Pages
by: Inhabitat , 2011-05-24 02:00:20 UTC
These recycled lampshades made from old books by Ginkgo Studio bring poetic justice to boring rooms. Each lampshade is unique due to differences in each text’s paper, font, and color. The studio even offers the option to use sheet music, creating a harmonious spin on lighting design for music lovers’ homes.
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paul menand: triplette chair
by: Designboom - Weblog, 2011-05-23 19:25:00 UTC
the 3-in-1 design allows you to nestle each of the seats into one another in a seamless way, forming one chair when multiple seats are not necessary.
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Molten Salt And Rocket Science To Make Solar Work At Night
by: fast company, 2011-05-23 15:58:25 UTC
A very hot solution to that pesky solar energy problem known as sunset.
Solar power: works great when the sun is out. It works less great when the sun isn't out, which happens every night, as you may have noticed. To fulfill any dreams of living in a world powered by the sun, there needs to be some sort of solution for storing energy gathered during the day for nighttime. And that solution might be molten salt.
Molten salt, for those scratching their heads, is simply a good conductor of heat. A new power plant will use nearly 20,000 heliostats--basically very focused mirrors--aimed at a focal point in a tower, which will heat up salt to a steamy 1,050 degrees Fahrenheit. Pump that salt near some water and you get enough steam to run a turbine. Hold that salt at that high temperature and then put it near water later and you get power when the sun isn't out.
The Department of Energy just poured $737 million of loan guarantees into the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project in Nevada. It's being run by rocket scientists from Pratt and Whitney, who are no doubt putting their expertise with high temperatures to work in the plant.
Once complete, it's going to generate 110 megawatts, powering 43,000 homes and canceling out
about 20% of the emissions of a coal power plant. Not much of an impact yet, but it's just a proof of concept. If this plant works and delivers solar energy even when the sun isn't shining, we can expect to see towers full of molten salt
dotting the horizon. Along with the wind turbines. A clean power future means there will be many tall things on the horizon.
[Image: Flickr user The Puzzler; Salt diagram: The Sandia National Laboratory]
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Leather Leftovers
by: Yanko Design, 2011-05-23 07:01:30 UTC
Pepe Heykoop’s Skin Collection of furniture is a response to the excessive 25-30% of leather waste produced by the furniture industry each year. The leftover scraps of material are hand stitched in seemingly random patterns over recycled old furniture, producing a revitalized skin for objects that would otherwise become unused. Each piece of furniture is unique and the scraps very in size, color, and texture, ensuring that no two designs are exactly alike.
Designer: Pepe Heykoop
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Yikebike Fusion - a bit heavier, a lot cheaper
by: Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine, 2011-05-20 06:15:17 UTC
The Yikebike is a sensational product - I called it the first "transportation appliance"
when I rode the miniature electric penny farthing last year. Funnily enough, when I wrote about the
ingenious range-extender earlier this year, I wrote that the Yikebike ticked all the boxes but one - its range. Now that the company is to offer a slightly heavier version at roughly half the price, you can probably bury the last objection that could be aimed at the Yikebike. ..
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Yikebike Fusion - a bit heavier, a lot cheaperTags: Electric,
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Keyless LifeBook concept would allow users to arrange their own keyboard layout
by: Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine, 2011-05-20 19:11:16 UTC
A few short weeks ago, I said what a shame it was that Minebea's gorgeous
COOL LEAF touch keyboard didn't allow for different country-specific keyboard layouts. A shortlisted entry in designboom's 2011 Fujitsu Design Award competition has taken such personal configuration a stage further with a touchscreen keyboard on a full-size laptop which would allow users to arrange and configure their own layout choices...
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Keyless LifeBook concept would allow users to arrange their own keyboard layoutTags: Keyboard,
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Kai Hsing x John Cho Moore = "Beauty through Bamboo"
by: Core77, 2011-05-19 20:15:00 UTC
Filmmaker Kai Hsing recently posted this video about industrial designer John Cho Moore's handmade bamboo, canvas and leather bags.
Besides the bag itself, everything from the materials and hardware to the production value and content are absolutely gorgeous. I'm not sure if it's Hsing's excellent filming and editing or Moore's pristine workshop and meticulous technique, but it's so composed as to seem staged. If only every ID process piece were produced this well...
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Aeron Tozier: Working Out the Design Language of Carbon Fiber
by: Core77, 2011-05-19 22:00:00 UTC
Good designers mess around with new materials to discover their distinct properties, creating forms they could not have made with the previous generation's materials. Through their workshop experimentation we eventually get objects like the bentwood Thonet chair, the Eameses bent-plywood furniture, Robin Day's polyprop stacking chair, et cetera.
We've yet to see a definitive object emerge using carbon fiber, but one of the designers seeking it is architect/industrial designer Aeron Tozier. Tozier's Ascension line of furniture combines quilted leather and resin-coated brass with the wispy-yet-sturdy structures carbon fiber is capable of being formed into.
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Future Perfect - Generating renewable electricity from agricultural waste
by: Ecofriend, 2011-05-21 04:51:29 UTC
Rajashree1111:
What’s happening right now
Whenever we speak of electricity from agricultural waste we conjure up images of a biogas plant. The truth is, existing biogas plants do recycle agricultural waste but also require edible agricultural products such as corn. Latest technology and research have proved that it is possible to generate electricity with nothing but pure agricultural waste. That would mean recycling animal dung, discarded plant husk, rotten leaves etc. to produce electrical power, and all this without using any edible agricultural product.
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS in Dresden, Germany have developed the first ever biogas plant that works completely from agricultural waste and does not require any edible product. Considering the number of people who still live without electric power all over the world, this technology will bring about a revolution.
The need for a renewable electricity system cannot be over emphasized in today’s world. Future success of this system will have far reaching consequences. The new plant takes 50 to 70 percent less time for decomposing raw materials stored in a silage for power generation. That would mean more power generation in less time and increased efficiency. Even corn stalks can be used, the new system utilizes special enzymes to break down the cellulose in corn stalks before storing it in silage, thus making 100 percent use of all waste material with 85 percent success in power generation.
Trends
Clean diesel made from PVC pipe, sewer sludge, agricultural waste and plastic
The very thought that good quality diesel can be produced from absolutely anything that has a carbon component is more than exciting. Everything from PVC products, wood, sewer waste, dustbin trash, wood, agricultural waste to coal can be recycled to produce diesel. Imagine the impact on the economies of nations if such a thing can be successfully implemented. Researchers at UC Riverside have developed a new technology that’ll do just that. In fact they are investing a whopping $15 million to set up a pilot plant.
Rice Husks & Biomass Gasification to power rural India
In Indian rural areas where people still live without power the concept of Husk Power Systems is fast gaining acceptance. Afterall most villages don’t have the grid power for building solar plants or wind farms, and these husk power systems offer a fantastic way of recycling agricultural waste for power generation.
At present there are about 50 villages in the state of Bihar, India where this system is functioning. Discarded rice husks form the primary raw material for electric power generation in these plants. About 1.5 kilos of rice husk on gasification produces 1KWh electricity. Most of these mini power plants have the capacity to produce 35 to 100 kwh electricity.
900 Megawatts of Biomass Power by UK’s Drax Group
UK’s Drax Group in collaboration with Siemens announced their intention to build at least three 300 MW biomass power plants in the UK. Raw materials to be used for power generation in these plants will include agricultural waste and energy crops. These three plants will probably supply 15 percent of renewable energy in the United Kingdom.
Kedco raises new funds for Northern Ireland gasification plant
Donal Buckley CEO of Kedco announced the company’s aim to set up a new four megawatt gasification project in Northern Ireland. This will probably be the biggest of its kind in the region. The plant will use agricultural waste and wood as raw materials and will produce electricity through gasification. The organization already has about 29 projects in different stages of completion.
Kedco‘s expertise and experience in the field of renewable power generation is unchallenged and the CEO declared that funds to make this grand project operational will be drawn from a private investment in public equity.
The Advantages
While agricultural waste might look like trash, it does have the potential to power the electric grid if harnessed properly. Harnessing agricultural waste to generate energy has several advantages such as:
• Most of us don’t think much about organic refuse once disposed off. It is important to realize the importance of waste recycling, especially for power generation because it will pave way for preservation of the fast depleting natural resources. Organic materials from farm waste can very easily be treated to produce renewable energy.
• Biomass technologies make use of combustion processes for power generation and therefore can be harnessed at anytime unlike solar or wind energy which are dependent on nature’s whims.
• Biomass power plants currently represent 11,000 MW - the second largest amount of renewable energy.
• Ethanol can be extracted from crops like corn which in turn is used to fuel cars powered by bio fuel.
• Animal refuse and farm manure are also excellent raw materials for natural gas production. This natural gas is used to heat water for power generation.
• The best part about using agricultural waste as raw material is the fact that there will never be a short supply of raw material.
The Impact
The future of power generation for human use is directly linked to the recognition of agricultural waste as an important raw material for power plants. After all, this recyclable waste is available the world over in large quantities and can be drawn without causing any environmental damage. The very fact that the raw material in such large quantities is available at cheap rates will bring down the cost of its production. The other good thing is most of these processes ensure minimum emission into the atmosphere. Technologies using biomass for power generation require governmental support and only then can these be implemented on a large scale. As technologically advanced societies begin to rely on alternative energy sources the possibility of securing a better future may actually become a reality.
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