by: Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine, 2013-01-15 12:47:14 UTC
A new library to be opened in Bexar County, Texas, will provide visitors with a bank of e-Readers for borrowing e-books ... but books of the traditional paper variety will be glaringly absent. The project marks the first public library to be built as an all-digital service and just to make sure library-goers are in no doubt that it's the 21st century, the interior will feature a design influenced by Apple retail stores.
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Continue Reading San Antonio to open first bookless public library
by: Environmental Leader, 2013-01-15 14:50:49 UTC Honda, GM and Volkswagen are among the automakers showcasing environmentally friendly cars at the Detroit Auto Show, which opened yesterday. The annual expo, with features more than 500 concept vehicles, cars and trucks, continues previous years’ trends towards more electric and hybrid vehicles with greater fuel efficiency. Here are some show highlights: On Monday, Volkswagen [...]
If you spend any amount of time stuck behind a desk, chances are you’ve put a lot of thought into what kind of chair you’re sitting in, whether it’s because you love the one you have or it’s horribly uncomfortable and you need a new one (that would be me). Luckily there are companies like Teknion that have your back, quite literally, with office chairs like their latest, the Responsive Back Technology (RBT) Task Chair.
This chair not only supports the user’s back, it actually resembles it by looking like a rib cage or spinal column. Its goal is to encourage proper posture by actually conforming to the user’s back. As someone who looks like their head is close to their desktop by day’s end from sitting too long with no support, it’s nice to know that there’s a chair that continues to adjust to your back all day in hopes of keeping your posture where it’s supposed to be.
In Germany, a new train with a system that uses the energy from braking is making rail travel even more efficient than it already was.
There is a lot of debate about whether rail really is greener than air or car travel. Some researchers have said the environmental damage caused by railway construction could offset the benefits, and that ridership needs to hit relatively high levels--and encourage switching from other modes--before the costs are worth paying. Still, on a per-passenger CO2-per-mile basis, trains generally do better the rest. And, it seems likely that trains will make faster efficiency improvements than airlines (the latter’s emissions targets stretch well into the century).
Consider this recent announcement from a German engineering company called MTU Friedrichshafen. Working with Germany’s rail operator, Deutsche Bahn, the company has developed a hybrid locomotive that cuts energy use and carbon emissions by 25%. The system claws back kinetic energy that’s normally lost during braking, converting it to electricity that’s stored in a battery.
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-01-15 18:28:53 UTC
My favorite launch of innovative products at this week's IMM Cologne. The Ready Made Cortain of Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec for Kvadrat. They really ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-01-14 17:20:14 UTC
This is my brand discovery of this weeks IMM Cologne, one of the worlds biggest furniture fairs. Extremis, a Belgium brand of outdoor furniture. They ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-01-11 16:33:49 UTC
OLEDs – how do they work?
Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are semiconductors made of layers of thin organic materials only a few nanometers ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-01-09 09:17:02 UTC
I have been writing on "OLED technology before":http://www.design-4-sustainability.com/materials/62-oled-organic-led-s-power-efficient-light-surfaces ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-01-07 22:08:09 UTC
Natural evaporation and self cooling... Terracotta has been used for water storage for centuries. Cooling occurs by natural evaporation through the ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-01-03 17:20:30 UTC
Sometimes you are touched by the beauty of things, often so simple that you wonder why nobody thought of it before. Trap Light is the result of an ...
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