10 eco friendly human powered machines
by: Ecofriend, 2011-08-27 11:42:18 UTC
Hema Mehta:

A lot of effort has been made to generate energy and electricity by human efforts. The motivation behind this technology is as we consume energy so we should also generate energy. Now, we have successfully designed and developed several pedal powered machines that can perform our day to day activities. Bicycle pedal and cranks have made notable contribution in generating energy that is purely ecofriendly allowing us to get rid of post carbon problems.

The pedal powered machines are designed largely to make use of bicycle generating energy by just cycling for few seconds. Here is a list of 10 fantastic machines that are powered and give the intended results with a pair of bicycle pedals.

1. Human Powered Internet Kiosk
Internet kiosk machine is a unique attempt made in Bangladesh to make Internet more accessible. Internet kiosk machine consists of one server which is a computer connected with small device acting as workstation where server is capable enough to send out Wi-max signals. Human powered Internet kiosk has two seats with complete radio broadcasting system making you hear community radio and live through internet. The idea of developing Internet kiosk was given by Motorola in which Edge-enabled mobile phones are connected to the server via USB cable. The device is ecofriendly, portable, small in size, reliable that connect people allowing them to work in a team.

2. Human Powered Electricity Generator
Human power generation developed by Windstream is ideal for application that requires power fewer than 65 watts. It is a portable and a user friendly equipment which consists of heavy, powder coated steel frame holding crank like bicycle with standard foot pedal and step-up chain drive attached to permanent magnet DC generator. The capacity of power generation is determined by the energy available to turn the crank. Hence, stronger the person using the device the more electrical power will be generated. Usually, human power generator is capable to generate 60 watts and 35 watts with hand cranks. In terms of volt, it can charge 12 volt or generate 12 volt electricity to make the equipment workable.

3. Human Powered Car
The Human Car Imagine PS is the outcome of a brainchild engineer Charles Greenwood. For more than 40 years, he has been designing and developing perfect human powered car. Charles Greenwood started working on these cars in 1968 with an intention to curb pollution and dangerous effect on the health of many drivers. It has four seats and it is a hybrid car with electric battery that is used when the number of passengers is less. You need to give few backward and forward hand cranks to start the car. The car has a reasonable shape that manage the driving very easily.

4. Human Powered cooler/heater
Now you can utilize your exercise bike to heat and chill your food stuff. Yes, an innovative Australian engineer has successfully designed exercise bike that can utilize unwanted calories that burn during cycling. You can now use your energy to chill down beer to cherish after hard workout. The engineer integrated two copper wires connected to entire pedal assembly of the exercise bike. As soon as you pedal, the energy is generated which passes through the copper wiring. You can either chill your beer can or prepare a cup of coffee with just your muscle power. Isn’t it awesome?

5. Human Powered Washing Machine
Again human powered washing machine is designed with the same pedal powered technique. It is quite old technology but somehow people have not accepted this ecofriendly machine. It is user friendly and it makes your washing task simpler along with your daily workouts. Human powered washing machine saves electricity. It does not require much workouts as the overall rotation mechanism is not very complicated.

6. Human Powered Gadget Charger
With this gadget you can charge your electronic gadgets like music players while you are on your workouts. This gadget charger is from China. It works on pedal power and high density LED Spotlight. It comes with USB port. The multipurpose gadget charger can also light up your house when there is power shortage.

7. Human Powered Welding machine
Like other human powered machines inertia welding machine is again an awesome step for green environment. Inertia welding machine was the result of Google’s Innovate or Die contest where the participants were told to put pedaling power of bicycle to some useful purpose. The excited young boys designed this machine which makes little use of human muscle power. The design of welding machine consists of bicycle, car jack, fly wheel from the static steam engine and two aluminum sheets and few men to make it work. You may explode your ear drums with the noise generated at the time of pedaling at the speed of 400-450 rpm. But pedaling for just few seconds is worth for the working of ultimate result of joining two aluminum sheets.

8. Human Powered Snowplow
This is again a miracle from a bicycle maker Trek, where designer Kevin Blake has developed incredible snowplow. He used old lawn mower chassis to construct pedal powered snowplow. He removed rear and front wheels, gearbox and steering connections from the mower chassis. Next he put together these accessories on the floor and laid down a steel frame to tie up the pieces together. Lastly he attached set of bicycle pedal and shovel to the new framework. This ultimately designed into pedal powered snowplow.

9. Human powered grain crusher
A fellow student of Beena Sukumaran who was the professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rowan University has developed pedal powered grain crusher. With an intention to provide cost effective food processor to the economically backward people of the world introduced the concept of grain crusher. Although the design is not completely ready. According to the prototype this remarkable machine is using bicycle mounted on a stand prompts the back wheel to turn the pulley which moves the plates in the crusher and it can crush and grind.

10. Human powered Water Purifier
Human powered water purifier developed by IDEO is the again a three wheeler bike which uses the energy generated from cycling. This is again a step toward generating and using power to perform day-to day activities. Aquaduct water purifier will turn out to be a boon allowing water transportation on large scale at the same time it allows you to purify water with pedal power. This water purifier won the top honors in year 2008. This is a boon for those who are still struggling for clean water.

10 eco friendly stoves designed to reduce environmental pollution
by: Ecofriend, 2011-08-27 11:43:07 UTC
C.S. Akhila:

From the conventional Chulhas used in villages to the more widely used LPG stoves in the cities, emission of greenhouse gases is one of the greatest of concerns of today. Though LPG stoves are said to be most convenient and cause less pollution, studies have shown that these stoves emit 15 times more CO2 than wood and kerosene.

LPG contains propane, butane, unsaturated propylene, and butylenes liquefied under high pressure. It is to be kept in mind that even small amount leaks of LPG can be hazardous to the environment. People are increasingly adopting more eco-friendly ways of cooking that reduce environmental pollution, more economical and fuel efficient.

1. Oorja Stove
One such environment friendly stove designed by the Indian Institute of Science is the “Oorja stove”. This stove has been proved to be almost smokeless, more efficient, and cheaper in terms of cost when compared to LPG. The fuel is obtained from agricultural waste like bagasse, groundnut husk, or cotton stalks. These wastes are highly compressed and made into pellets which the Oorja stove burns efficiently using an innovative gasification process. Today, over 4,75,000 homes use the Oorja stove across villages in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh.

2. Rocket Stove
The “Rocket Stove” is an ecofriendly stove designed by a Japanese health researcher Junji Takano that is not only easy to use but also easy to make and is cost effective. Junji managed to create this “green” stove using large tin cans riveted to the ground. According to Junji, it has high heat transfer capacity causing less pollution which means less carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere in comparison with a conventional stove. Apparently this Rocket stove is 60% less fuel than the other usual stoves. By using just 500 g of cardboard, one can cook 6 cups of rice and 2 kinds of dishes using this stove.

3. Eco Fire Pot stove
“Eco Fire Pot stove” is an environment-friendly stove for a healthy life. Adama Karma is a natural therapist who believes in living close to nature was the one to design this stove. This stove can be made from scrap metals, clay or bricks according to the consumer’s requirements. It looks like a usual LPG stove with two burners with fuel enriched under the burner. Adama claims the fuel to be made from waste vegetable oil mixed with methanol or ethanol and wood ash. The stove can burn for six hours. It turns out that this stove does not emit anything which is harmful if inhaled and is also cost efficient.

4. Score
“Score” is yet another ecofriendly stove which uses 1 kg of fuel per hour (wood or dung) created by the researchers of University of Nottingham. The stove is designed not only to produce heat but the heat so produced also gets converted to acoustic energy which in turn is converted to electricity with a linear alternator. This dual purpose stove ensures reduced fuel consumption by three times over traditional stoves and the electrical energy generated can charge 12 V battery, or provide mains AC voltage. Score project has proved to be successful in the rural areas of Kenya, Uganda, and Nepal.

5. Ecofriendly Cooking Stove for Bamburi
Moving mountains trust has introduced an environment friendly stove with back boilers which produces hot water as a by-product of their cooking. The stove which is made from clay has a narrow opening to introduce wood as the fuel and a uniquely shaped hob to ensure least heat dissipation. The specially designed stove minimizes fuel consumption, requiring less wood collection and emits very less smoke minimizing bronchial problems. Though this was made specifically for the villagers of Bamburi, it will be a better alternative for traditional Chullas used in other villages.

6. Solar Stove
Solar stoves work by harnessing UV radiation from the sun ad converting it to heat. In a country like India with tropical climate, harnessing solar energy is a smart way to control pollution. Though you cannot cook at night and cloudy whether conditions, by resorting to solar stoves as an alternative to LPG or other conventional cooking stoves in rural as well as urban areas (which would be most of the day time), pollution can be curtailed to a great extent.

7. Kenya Ceramic Jiko
“Kenya Ceramic Jiko” (KCJ), designed by the efforts of some local and international agencies has become a widely used stove in Africa. It has a unique hour-glass shape different from a traditional jiko allowing maximum heat to be utilized. Also it encompasses a ceramic liner which helps in increasing efficiency at least by 1/4th compared to a traditional jiko. Also, it has been shown to reduce fuel usage by 30-50%.

8. Eco-Chulha
The “Eco-Chulha” is yet another stove introduced by Abellon Clean Energy with the motive to provide cleaner solution to counter cooking smoke. The Eco-Chulha is a community stove especially designed to facilitate large scale cooking. It uses “Pellexo” which is a carbon-free pellet-fuel made from forest and agricultural residues. The stove is convenient to use, produces very little smoke devoid of carbon and allows faster cooking which reflects its heat efficiency.

9. Enviro-fuels Stove
Enviro-fuels stove will soon hit the market, designed by Enviro Fuels Manufacturing Inc. of Florida. Though, it uses coal as the fuel, they acclaim that the stove is designed to produce maximum heat efficiency and maximum fuel combustion. The company’s president and CEO, Larry Hunt, explained that the fuel produces temperatures as high as or higher than 500 degree Celsius.

10. Electric Cooking Stoves
Electric cooking stoves are a great alternative to LPGs in urban areas considering the fact that it does not produce any smoke. The time taken for cooking is faster using an electric cooker. No carbon-dioxide emission means no pollution. Although it has its own disadvantages of cost of electricity consumption, for those who can afford it, it’s a great alternative ensuring cleaner cooking. Resorting to such eco-friendly stoves and eco-sensitive ways of cooking will make a large difference in the years to come.

New Study Shows Humans Are "Hard-Wired" For Density
by: TreeHugger Design, 2011-08-23 14:20:59 UTC
Image credit Tim De Chant David Owen and Edward Glaeser tell us that density is a good thing, and that the closer together people live, the less energy they use per capita. Richard Florida tells us that it makes us more creative. Now Tim de Chant tells us that it was ever thus; he writes that Read the full story on TreeHugger

Reversible OLED Building Tiles Collect & Light Up Cities With Solar Power (Video)
by: TreeHugger Design, 2011-08-27 19:00:50 UTC
Images: Meidad Marzan on Behance We've long heard how OLEDs (organic light emitting diodes) are poised to change the home electronics market thanks to their energy efficiency, but what about large-scale applications like lighting up urban buildings and façades? UrbanTiles, created by Israeli designer Meidad Marzan, offers a glimpse into how ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

INHABITAT INTERVIEW: Koen Olthuis of WaterStudio.nl Talks About Design for a Water World
by: Inhabitat , 2011-08-27 19:40:37 UTC

In light of all the dire news related to climate change, rising sea levels and the natural disasters which have stricken numerous coastal areas around the world, we here at Inhabitat would like to highlight an interview Inhabitat Editor-in-Chief Jill Fehrenbacher conducted with architect Koen Olthuis of Waterstudio.nl. A studio focused on designing for a future water world, Olthuis has been at the forefront of this once unconventional, yet now timely design vernacular. Olthuis says that despite our civilization’s history of trying to drain and fight against wet landscapes for the past thousand years, our best move for the future would be to “let water in and even make friends with the water.” Read on for the fascinating interview where Olthius describes his what designing for water landscapes worldwide really means.

Read the rest of INHABITAT INTERVIEW: Koen Olthuis of WaterStudio.nl Talks About Design for a Water World

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How Chemical Regulations Can Boost Cradle-to-Cradle Thinking
by: Greener Design, 2011-08-25 14:00:00 UTC

  Chemical regulations can force companies to make safer choices, but they also lay the groundwork for major shifts in thinking about product materials and life cycles.

tom back: thrive hive
by: Designboom - Weblog, 2011-08-24 08:41:00 UTC

the design uses traditional hive weaving techniques with a structural framework which provides a habitat that is both suitable for the bees and the beekeeper.

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motion-powered energy harvester fits in shoe
by: Designboom - Weblog, 2011-08-25 11:25:00 UTC

researchers at the university of wisconsin-madison are using reverse electrowetting technology to develop an energy harvester that fits in the sole of a shoe and is capable of generating 2 watts of usable electrical power.

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Sweaty In The Shower
by: Yanko Design, 2011-08-26 09:20:39 UTC

Before they hit the showers, many people like to pump a bit of iron, even if it’s just to stay in shape. Building on this idea, designers Hong Ruei-Hong & Lin Pin-I came up with the idea to integrate exercise with taking a shower. I like the idea of this Bana Bender mix, especially for those folks who always look for an excuse to stay away from the gym. You don’t even need to include an extra 5 minutes or something…. just pump your arms while you bathe!

The over-sized shower nozzle is a piece of elastic, bendable device. Holding the handles on both sides of the “Bana Bender”, you can work on your upper-body and take a shower at the same time.

Designers: Hong Ruei-Hong & called Lin Pin-I

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Water Week News: Global Water Tool, Paper’s Footprint, UNEP Warning
by: Environmental Leader, 2011-08-25 18:48:04 UTC
Here are the top stories to emerge so far from World Water Week in Stockholm. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development has released two sector-specific versions of its Global Water Tool. The organization says this is the first time a tool addressing industry-specific challenges around water issues has been developed for the oil and [...]