New GaN Wafer Doubles LED Luminous Efficiency
by: Tech-On! : tech news - straight from Asia., 2012-05-02 06:15:00 UTC
NGK Insulators Ltd developed what it claims is a gallium nitride (GaN) wafer capable of doubling the luminous efficiency of LED light source.
Biochar Promises to Provide Carbon Negative Fuel and Better Soil
by: Inhabitat , 2012-05-15 18:59:52 UTC
Could what’s in this little container keep our planet healthy? The simple reality is we need to find a way to put carbon back into the soil, and making something called ‘biochar’ is perhaps the best way to do that. While attending the World Renewable Energy Forum in Denver, it was hard not to be attracted to what could be the lowest tech solution to our carbon problem — simply stabilize it and put it back into the ground from where it came. Biochar is a valuable soil amenity and fuel source, so its potential is just being tapped. The net-carbon negative process is being taken very seriously as the best, and thus far, only proven way to store carbon for the long term in large quantities.
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Post tags: bio-gas, biochar, climate change technology, Cool Planet, fixing carbon, soil amenity, WREF
Clayton Homes Intros Home Energy Guide
by: Jetson Green, 2012-05-15 06:52:22 UTC
Clayton Homes, maker of the popular i-House, is the largest producer of homes in the country and accounted for 7% of homes constructed in 2011, according to the annual report of parent Berkshire Hathaway. They have a large residential footprint, and their efforts to educate home purchasers can go a long way. So it’s great to learn of their recent announcement of a new home energy label along the lines of what we’ve discussed previously with other builders.
The following Home Energy Guide has been rolled out across the country to every new home the company has on display.
Clayton’s home energy label is modeled after the DOE’s Builders Challenge label, yet it’s different in some respects. The company took feedback and found that homeowners want four things in a label: (1) a visual scale, (2) energy saving features, (3) projected monthly costs, and (4) projected savings compared to a home without the energy saving features.
Each home will display a specific and unique label in the interior that can help home purchasers understand (and compare with other homes) the energy impact of their home under certain assumptions like utility rates, occupant behavior, and climate patterns.
Credits: Clayton Homes.
Related Articles on JetsonGreen.com:
- Clayton Homes Previews i-house 2.0
- Audits, Loans, and a Home Energy Score
- Blu Homes Intros New Lofthouse Prefab
LED lamp illuminates only when in balance
by: Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine, 2012-05-14 14:42:13 UTC
Designed by Mieke Meijer, this lamp, simply called
Balance, is a wooden LED floor or table lamp that only illuminates when perfectly balanced...
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LED lamp illuminates only when in balanceSection: Around The HomeTags: Lamp,
LED,
Lighting
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Solar-powered light designed to provide indoor illumination in developing nations
by: Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine, 2012-05-14 18:16:11 UTC
Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, whose body of work is mostly based on light installations, last week presented a small solar powered light during the World Economic Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Olafur collaborated with engineer Frederik Ottesen to create Little Sun, which they hope can help bring indoor lighting to those people who lack access in developing countries...
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Solar-powered light designed to provide indoor illumination in developing nationsSection: ecoGizmoTags: Charity,
LED,
Light,
Solar Powered
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Christopher Marley’s Mesmerizing Insect Mosaics Help Preserve Critical Habitats
by: Inhabitat , 2012-05-14 20:13:33 UTC
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Post tags: Art, bug mosaics, bus, Butterflies, christopher marley, eco design, eco-art, environmental art, green art, green design, habitat preservation, Habitats, insect mosaics, insects, Mosaics, pheromone, sustainable art
The Fahrradi Farfalla FFX is a Pedal-Powered Ferrari!
by: Inhabitat , 2012-05-14 23:06:06 UTC
Ferrari makes some of the greatest supercars in the world, but unfortunately drivers looking for a green supercar have had to look elsewhere. Until the upcoming Ferrari hybrid debuts, Ferrari buyers now have a new option that has all the style of a Ferrari, but also the ultimate green powertrain. The Fahrradi Farfalla FFX was created by Austrian artist Hannes Langwelder and is a followup to the Ferdinand GT3 RS that he created. What makes the Fahrradi Farfalla FFX the ultimate green supercar? Its V-12 gas engine has been swapped out with a set of pedals, meaning that this supercar is only powered by humans.
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Post tags: automotive, Fahrradi Farfalla FFX, Ferrari, green car, green supercar, green transportation, Hannes Langwelder, pedal-powered car
Design for Durability and Maintenance: We Have a Problem
by: Core77, 2012-05-11 19:00:00 UTC
Just blocks away from Core77's NYC offices is the latest location of the Museum of the Chinese in the Americas, handsomely designed by Maya Lin and opened to the public in 2009. I live in the neighborhood, pass it frequently, and have been inside the beautiful interior several times. But what I find distressing is that less than three years after its opening, the exterior is starting to look like this:
In short, the once-beautiful wood of the initially spiffy exterior is not standing up to the ravages of New York's brutal summers and harsh winters. So, I have a question for practicing architects: Whose responsibility is something like this—the architect's, the structural engineer's, the general contractor's, the building owner's? When an architect specs out a material like wood for a harsh urban environment, who steps in and determines the appropriate finishes required to protect it long-term? Is there a maintenance schedule handed over with the keys to the building, in the way that homeowners are advised to re-seal their backyard decks every few years?
I realize this problem is not limited to architecture, of course. A few feet in front of the Museum sits the row of parked cars common to every block in Manhattan, each bearing the scars of parallel parking:
Whose responsibility is that, the designers', the plastics suppliers', the car owners'? Surely these are not desireable signs of wear, and the manufacturer realizes their products will be driven in cities and parallel parked either by or among the clumsy or inconsiderate. Why is this acceptable? Do we simply accept, as with cell phones, that they must be protected by us purchasing aftermarket cases and "Bumper Badgers?"
In any case, these things occurred to me after reading about the sad and somewhat silly goings-on with the World Trade Center and its symbolic height. As a New Yorker unfortunate enough to experience September the 11th of 2001, it is not important to me how tall the new building is; it is only important that something be rebuilt. But it's of tremendous significance to the Government that the building be precisely 1,776 feet tall as the number coincides with the year of this country's founding. And that number is now looking doubtful due to technicalities and perhaps a design failure similar to the first two I mentioned, if those can be considered failures of design.
(more...)
Volkswagen's Crowdsourced Chinese Hovercraft Concept
by: Core77, 2012-05-11 21:00:00 UTC
China is known as the place where a superstar foreign architect can win an international design competition and see their bold, dazzling creation actually see construction.
Volkswagen has turned this model on its head for their yearlong The People's Car Project, which sought concepts for future vehicles not from superstar designers, but from the great, and local, masses. Chinese citizens could access a Chinese-language Volkswagen portal to upload ideas for transportation concepts they'd like to see, and by the 11-month mark, 33 million people had visited the site. Here's the PCP's fun pitch video:
Schoolgirl Wang Jia of Chengdu was one of the first winners, and while her hovercraft idea would be a bit difficult to produce, Volkswagen did what they could—and even incorporated her parents, in keeping with the family-centric nature of Chinese society:
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Project Visio.M: Bringing Electric Mobility to the Masses
by: Sustainable Design News, 2012-05-04 00:52:15 UTC
Electric vehicles powered by renewable energy sources are an attractive option for mobility within the urban area and beyond. However, previous approaches lead to vehicles that either are too heavy and too expensive or do not meet mass-market safety requirements.
Visio.M, a new joint research project by scientists at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen and engineers from the automotive industry, aims to develop concepts to produce electric cars that are efficient, safe, and inexpensive.
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