The world's first folding wheels can be collapsed to take up about half the space so they're easier for wheelchair users to store and transport. (more...)
by: Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine, 2013-03-22 16:43:42 UTC
Here at Gizmag we've featured a variety of home energy management devices, and the latest solution is an offering from Spanish startup, Wattio. The SmartHome 360º is a home energy monitoring and control system that can be managed through a smartphone, tablet or PC using the Wattio Gateway software. The system's four components are capable of communicating with each other and subsequently with the Wattio software applications and cloud service, to provide comprehensive energy management capability throughout the home...
Continue Reading Wattio aims to smartify your home's energy usage
Why won't the internal combustion engine die? To oversimplify the issue, it's partly because of its incumbency and partly because it's very good at what it does. Environmentalists hate it because it's dirty, and while some engineers pursue alternate energy forms, there are still plenty of smart people tweaking the internal combustion engine to make it less dirty, more efficient, and more powerful.
One person in the latter category is Christian von Koenigsegg, the rather brilliant inventor behind the Swedish supercar skunkworks that bears his name. Anyone with a basic understanding of how engines work is bound to be impressed by von Koenigsegg's latest breakthrough: He's developed an engine with no cams.
With a conventional engine, the valves are driven by cams that are necessarily egg-shaped, with each cam driving its attendant valve stem into its deepest extension at the pointiest part of the egg as the cam rotates on the camshaft. Simple physics dictate this be a gradual process; because of the egg shape the valve gradually opens, maxes out, and gradually closes. If a cam was shaped like an off-center square, for instance, the valve stem would break on the corners.
With von Koenigsegg's radical "Free Valve" engine design, the valves operate independently and electronically to depress/open, while a mechanical spring returns them to the closed position. This means the valves quickly slam open, allowing fuel to flood the combustion chamber, then quickly slam shut. Ditto for the exhaust valves. So fuel is not gradually seeping in and exhaust is not gradually seeping out—it's going BAM in, BAM out. The benefits? The engine is much smaller, of course, requiring no camshaft or timing belt. On top of that they're projecting 30% less fuel consumption, 30% more torque, 30% more horsepower, and a staggering 50% less emissions.
In the video below, von Koenigsegg walks you through it:
Remember the Thonet bicycle concept, and how we weren't sure if the seat-tube-less design would be possible to execute in steambent wood? Seeing as there's still no word on whether it will become a reality, Japanese design student Yojiro Oshima has done them one better with a prototype of his unconventional bicycle concept. For his degree project at Musahino Art University's Craft & Industrial Design Department, he has designed and built a Y-Foil/Softride-style frame by hand (it wasn't based on a chair per se, but I'm seeing a little Wegner myself).
The designer recently sent the project to James Thomas of BicycleDesign.net, where Oshima notes: "This proposal is about the shape of the frame and the handle mainly which doesn't concern what material it's made out of. The maximum comfort can be put into practice by wood." Thus, the frame concept also echoes that of the previously-seen (steel) Van Hulsteijn, which is currently in production.
A visible seam
Regarding the construction and other carpentry/bike nerd concerns, Oshima adds,
It is all hand made. The down tube and seat tube are hollowed with plenty of thickness left not to disturb the surface when planed too much. As a result, it weights about 14kg in total. The thickness is uncertain though, I guess it's about 6-12mm. It is bonded the half and half into one.
I was also curious to learn that the trispoke-style wheels were originally known as "baton" wheels—the renderings of the Thonet concept has a set of HED's top-of-the-line carbon fiber version—and that the clover-like construction is intended to "soften the ride." Similarly, the cantilevered saddle intended for comfort, while the short stays speak to performance by "assuring the stiffness."
New Dutch design brand Fraaiheid (Dutch for “beauty”) takes a single sheet of laminated plywood and turns it into a sustainably produced table with cross-shaped joints. Using a CNC milling machine, the + Table‘s parts are cut with precision out of one sheet, making for minimal waste.
The name of the table comes from the cross-shaped joints that are made when the parts come together.
The +, or cross-shaped joints, make assembly easy – you can put the tables together in minutes!
They use a high quality birch plywood with a hard top layer of white or anthracite grey HPL (High Pressure Laminate). Other colors are available upon request.
What is eco friendly? Most of the people who are reading this discussion must be aware of this concept but let us go through it one more time for the readers who still do not know the meaning. Environmental friendly as the name suggests are the practices that work in order to save the environment from any kind of harm. They are also called sustainable practices and people from all over the world are adopting them in order to lead a better life style. The world is a beautiful place and it is diminishing due to problems like global warming and pollution and some way or the other it is us who are responsible for this damage.
This damage will not stop if we do not take appropriate steps to do so. You must have noticed that many big companies have adopted eco friendly methods of production and distribution so that they can contribute their bit in saving the world. By adopting sustainable means you not only save the world for today but you also make it a better and healthy place for the generations to come. Many companies belonging to different fields have switched to sustainable methods and that latest entry on this list is Chez Marie who happens to be a bustling food manufacturer.
A healthy lifestyle is what most people want these days and what could be a better way to get that than by adopting green ways of living. Chez Marie seems to be have sensed the trend and wishes of the people today and hence it has recently unveiled it eco friendly packaging for the goods. The eco friendly methods can be used in every aspect of living from eating to wearing clothes. You will find such practice all around the world as they encourage a lifestyle that will bring you closer to the nature.
Chez Marie has decided to go green for the greater good and in a way they are reaching out to their vegetarian fans so that the vegetarians can understand the Chez Marie is all about saving the world. This area food manufacturer has introduced recyclable and biodegradable containers which it will use to store things such as the Hearty Hemp Seed Patty. Chez Marie was unable to lay hands on any sort of recyclable lids for the containers and that is why they will not be using them with the containers. Shelley Gunton who happens to be the COO of Chez Marie said that the big customers of Chez Marie happen to be people who are not total vegetarians but do like to follow a sustainable lifestyle.
Shelley also added that the new eco friendly packaging unveiled by Chez Marie weighs a lot less which means it will leave behind a much smaller footprint. Chez Marie is a popular brand and is the winner of Angel Oregon Award and it introduced the new sustainable containers in Anaheim which is in Calif as it is where the Natural Products Expo West was taking place. This show has certainly evolved with time and it has gained popularity in the entire world.
Food stores of all kinds and sizes attend this show and some of the big names include Wal-Mart and Trader’s Joe. The world is changing quickly these days and people love eating and living healthy and that is why food manufacturers from all over the world is trying hard to adopt the sustainable methods in their processes. This step by Chez Marie is worth appreciating and the other food manufacturers who are yet to go green will definitely take notes.
by: TEDTalks (video), 2013-03-15 15:06:00 UTC
Ink that conducts electricity; a window that turns from clear to opaque at the flip of a switch; a jelly that makes music. All this stuff exists, and Catarina Mota says: It's time to play with it. Mota leads us on a tour of surprising and cool new materials, and suggests that the way we'll figure out what they're good for is to experiment, tinker and have fun.
Cars account for almost a fifth of all of our emissions, so a drastic reduction is key. But it’s not enough to just make cars more efficient. It’s going to take some revolutionary thinking.
The good news is that cars and light trucks could be radically cleaner by 2050, even without major technological breakthroughs. The bad news: It won’t happen without significant policy changes.
So says a big new report from the National Research Council that looks at ways to reduce U.S. petrol consumption and greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050. It finds that highly efficient vehicles combined with power from biofuels, electricity, or hydrogen could achieve the goal. But government will have to "overcome high costs and influence consumer choices" through strong fuel economy standards, increased support for R&D, subsidies, and information campaigns.
Cars and light trucks contribute 17% of greenhouse emissions, and account for 50% of fuel consumption. The report says that increased efficiency is vital, but not sufficient to meet the 2050 targets. Vehicles would need to go 180 miles per gallon--an unrealistic number. So, business needs to develop alternative technologies.
The report explores the potential of biofuels, electricity, and hydrogen. It expects that hydrogen-powered vehicles will be cheaper than conventional cars and trucks by 2050 (partly because they won’t rely on expensive batteries). But building out a new fueling infrastructure will be costly. Using natural gas, meanwhile, could reduce petrol consumption, but isn’t a long-term option to meet greenhouse gas goals.
The report assumes the alternatives are all likely to be more expensive than what we have now (taking everything into account)--even by 2050. So, government needs to offer "feebates" to people who buy higher efficiency models, while making dirtier fuel more expensive:
Several types of policies including a price floor for petroleum-based fuels or taxes on petroleum based fuels could create a price signal against petroleum demand, assure producers and distributors that there is a profitable market for alternative fuels, and encourage consumers to reduce their use of petroleum-based fuels. High fuel prices, whether due to market dynamics or taxes, are effective in reducing fuel use.
As for R&D, it recommends public investment in "fuel cells, batteries, biofuels, low-GHG production of hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, and vehicle efficiency," including demonstration projects once they have reached scale. It warns against promoting technology before it’s "close to market readiness."
Finally, the report recommends de-politicizing decision-making:
The committee suggests that an expert review process independent of the agencies implementing the deployment policies and also independent of any political or economic interest groups advocating for the technologies being evaluated be used to assess available data, and predictions of costs and performance.
The conclusions aren’t particularly novel, or, frankly, exciting to read. But, coming from a committee of well-respected experts, the 395-page report is comprehensive and trustworthy. It shows, as others have done, that the future isn’t hopeless--but also that it won’t happen on its own.
by: Centre for Sustainable Fashion, 2013-03-19 18:18:47 UTC
The Local Wisdom project will be in Melbourne this Saturday, 23 March to gather more tales and images of the creative and ingenious practices associated with using garments. This will be the final shoot of a year of touring that has included Kolding, San Francisco, London, Vancouver, New York City and Wellington and will kick start our design collaboration with students and researchers at RMIT University of Technology. More information can be found at http://localwisdom.info
Let anyone in Melbourne or Victoria know to come and share their insights with us!
We’ll be at:
The Melbourne GPO
350 Bourke Street
11am until 4pm.
What should you bring to be photographed?
Perhaps you have a garment that…
• Is easily repairable
• Is worn regularly and has never been washed (and isn’t leather!)
• Is enjoying a third, fourth or fifth life
• Surprises you each time you wear it
• Shows or tells the story of how it’s been used
• Is worn in ways that defy the producer’s values
• Is adapted over and again in order to meet changing needs
• Has interchangeable parts that can be worn in different ways
• Is shared between people
• Connects you to others
• Is worn in response to changing economic and environmental concerns
• Is made up of interchangeable pieces that can be worn in different ways
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-03-12 13:11:47 UTC
Part of a product range designed for retail, this is an LED spotlight great for making fresh food look fresher, adding sparkle and contrast with the ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-03-11 21:35:06 UTC
Desso is a dutch carpet manufacturer which commited itselfs a few years ago to go Cradle to Cradle and even go beyond that to innovate in ways to not ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-03-08 14:54:10 UTC
The swedish Pulplab is researching how paper can be used in cases that non-paperlike properties are needed; shock absorbing, strong, durable, insulating ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-03-06 10:48:34 UTC
The general perception is that staying indoor is more healthy than being outdoors. Actually it is equally harmful and can cause several respiratory ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-03-05 14:00:46 UTC
AGUAMIX is a completely touchless sensor-faucet, not only to start the water flow but also for adjusting the temperature by a little movement of the ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-03-05 08:25:51 UTC
Eco-fashion label Naturevsfuture’s name was inspired by designer Nina Valenti’s belief that there is a constant struggle between nature and future ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-03-05 08:24:58 UTC
Eco-fashion label Naturevsfuture’s name was inspired by designer Nina Valenti’s belief that there is a constant struggle between nature and future ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-03-01 13:41:39 UTC
The panels/tiles are made from bamboo pulp, and have the feel of solid fibreboard.
- Original colour: off-white
- Paintable with wall paint
- ...
A visible seam
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