Singapore’s Stunning Digital Cloud Skyscraper

Singapore’s Stunning Digital Cloud Skyscraper
by sharn

This incredible pixelated skyscraper by Singapore-based Design Act was a finalist in a competition to design a pavilion for the World Expo 2010. Entitled “My Dream, Our Vision”, the project uses permutated cubes to generate a spectacular modular sculpture that perfectly encapsulates the spirit of Singapore as an efficient, dynamic, cosmopolitan, and forward-looking nation.

Simultaneously futuristic and traditional, the Singapore spirit 新 (xin, mandarin word for “new”) serves as a key metaphor for Design Act’s entry, which envisions Singapore as a progressive, re-inventive and innovative place.

The pavilion takes the form of an illuminated digital cloud hovering over an ever-changing “green” pasture. It invites you to enter a dark underground space with audio feeds alluding to the background services which serve the city, and catapults you into the bright and white digital cloud, where you are encouraged to post your dreams. Made of 3866 cubes of modular sizes with varying levels of transparency, the pavilion makes excellent use of natural light and is strategically sloped at the base to give visitors full view of the sights on display.

+ Design Act

+ World Expo 2010

M2E Charges Your Cell Phone With Kinetic Energy!

M2E Charges Your Cell Phone With Kinetic Energy!
by Adrianne Jeffries

Earlier this year we highlighted Idaho startup M2E Power’s push to develop motion-powered electronics for the military. Now M2E is emphasizing the commercial applications for their technology, with a specific goal: revolutionizing cell phone batteries. M2E will announce the development of an external charger later this month that will generate between 300 and 700 percent more energy than current kinetic energy technologies, and may eventually replace cell phone batteries altogether.

M2E’s technology is founded on the Faraday principle, wherein energy is produced from the motion of a magnet passing through a coil. M2E says they have designed a system that will generate between 300 percent and 700 percent more power than kinetic energy technologies currently available.

Their design consists of a tiny coil/magnet generator combined with traditional battery storage that will capture even low frequency kinetic energy, so that most daily human motion will be converted into electricity sufficient to power electronic devices like cell phones, PDAs or MP3 players.

M2E is looking to incorporate their technology into a variety of fields - their web site teases that “The impending impact of MEMS (MicroElectroMechanical Systems) will be both exciting and far ranging” and hints at applications for wind power, automotive power and small generators. M2E also hopes to eventually create motion-powered batteries that rival consumer-sized ones – D, AA and even AAA cells.

The company is planning to get its first motion-powered military product into the field before 2009, but it’ll take two or three years before we can expect our cell phones to charge themselves simply by being transferred from our pockets to our ears.

+ M2E Power

Via Earth2Tech

BLOOD POWER? Piezoelectric Nanowires Could Turn Your Body Into a Battery

BLOOD POWER? Piezoelectric Nanowires Could Turn Your Body Into a Battery
by Mike Chino

We’ve seen piezoelectric systems that harvest energy from roads, subways, and even umbrella— now researchers have announced that they are on the brink of unlocking an energy grid composed of capillaries, arteries, and veins. Heralded by advancements in piezoelectric nanowires, the development may one day harness the flow of blood to power ipods, cellphones and other portable electronics. How’s that for an alternative take on plasma power?

Developed by a research team headed by Zhong Lin Wang, the technique utilizes zinc oxide piezoelectric nanowires that generate an electric current when subjected to mechanical stress. The wires measure 1/5,000th to 1/25th the diameter of a human hair and are capable of harvesting energy from low-frequency vibrations such as the wind or the flow of currents. Although similar kinetic energy generators have been developed in the past, the miniscule size of nanowires may one day lend them to applications in subdermal implants - imagine biosensors and portable electronics that are powered by simple movements such as walking, or the beating of a heart.

Zhong Lin Wang has stated that “This research will have a major impact on defense technology, environmental monitoring, biomedical sciences, and even personal electronics.” Skin crawling yet? Although certainly a novel idea, implementation is still a long way off.

+ Zong L Wang’s Nano Research Group

Via Engadget and Livescience

OVOPUR: Eco-friendly Water Filter

OVOPUR: Eco-friendly Water Filter
by Moe Beitiks

Design firm Aquaovo have created a whole new reason for water cooler talk with the OVOPUR, an environmentally-friendly water-filter. Shaped like a sleek egg, the OVOPUR uses an Aquacristal filter, made of activated carbon, quartz, copper and zinc. The filter last four months and can clean about 530 gallons of water. The oval dispenser holds 3 gallons at a time and is made of white lead-free glazed porcelain and recyclable and non-toxic parts like silicone and polypropylene. The unit can also be used without the filter as a simple drink dispenser — and is sure to be a conversation starter on any occasion.

The water cooler: straight up conversation piece, right? It might be the place to hang out at the office or the daisy flowered thing at your grandma’s pool parties. The sustaina-liscious kicker of the OVOPUR is its egg-like shape. It’s actually designed to revitalize water using its own natural flow-y curves, à la the theories of Viktor Shauberger. So the liquid in OVOPUR does not stagnate, and it might actually improve the taste of grandma’s iced tea - who knows? At least she won’t have to buy it in a bottle.

Is a Hydrogen Powered House Really Green?

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 04. 3.09

Ron Monahan is trying build an energy efficient subdivision in Aiken, South Carolina, and a few weeks ago announced that he was going to build between one and four Net Zero houses, (homes create as much energy as they use over the course of the year) in the development. However, when I looked at the site plan and the size of the houses with their two car snouts, I really wondered what was the point, given the amount of energy it was going to take just to get there.

So he has cranked up the volume to get a little more attention: He is going to power one of them with hydrogen.

The local news video gets it all hilariously wrong, calling it "Greenest Subdivision In America" and calling it the first hydrogen powered house (it's not) and saying that the house is powered by water (it's not) but the facts are more interesting. According to the press release:

Photovoltaic cells on the roofs of the homes – now being designed in much more efficient and attractive models – will run electricity through an electrolizer – a scientific bucket of water – which easily separates the oxygen from the hydrogen. Oxygen and water vapor are the only emissions and are beneficially released to the atmosphere. The hydrogen is captured in the hydrogen fuel cell to run the house, along with the solar power.

There is only one other house known in the United States that uses this revolutionary, simple and very safe system to power a home, and that was done by an enterprising engineer who retrofitted his north-eastern farm home. The Ridge at Chukker Creek will be the first housing development anywhere in the world to offer this option for sale to people who care deeply about their environment and want to live in a home that generates all of its own power – naturally and for free – without having to build it themselves.

Scientific American

Right. Scientific American covered that enterprising engineer, Mike Strizki, and his house last year. This is what his back yard looks like as he stores the hydrogen. This is not how they are storing the gas in this particular house:

"The use of hydrogen to store energy in residential applications at the Ridge is certainly unique,” said Dr Greenway. “And the highly-efficient system design using metal hydride hydrogen storage is one-of-a-kind. This truly demonstrates Ron Monahan's vision. Greenway Energy is excited to design and integrate this system."

This is what his controls look like. It is a wonderful science project and Mike Strzki did an admirable job. No doubt Dr. Scott Greenway of Greenway Engineering will be just as admirable and put into a smaller package.

But people who "deeply about their environment" would realize that this is not a solution to our problems, to drive your Prius to a house with hundreds of thousands of dollars (they say it is a fifty thousand dollar option and I don't believe it) of technology stuck on it just so you can call it Net Zero. This is what you do in space stations, not houses. We need simple, replicable and affordable solutions.

Mr. Monahan was much closer to the mark in the earlier press release, where they wrote:

Some of the strategies are quite simple, such as siting a home the way people did for centuries to take advantage of the angle of the sun, trees for shading and the prevailing breezes. Others are high tech, such as blowing in foam insulation under the roof, walls and the floor, [and] using an EnergyStar door fan test to find and seal every air leak.

Reusable Shopping Bags: Which Is the Greenest of Them All?

by Pablo Paster, San Francisco on 03.23.09

Image via HowStuffWorks.com

Dear Pablo: I want to switch to reusable shopping bags. (Yes I should have done it years ago.) However, all the stores in my area seem to sell bags made of polypropylene. Is the manufacturing process of these bags bad for the environment too? Is canvas or nylon any better? Which do I choose?

The greening of mainstream society has added additional complexity to the age-old "paper or plastic" dilemma (read more on the paper or plastic issue here. We all understand that reusable shopping bags are more environmentally responsible than disposable paper bags or plastic bags. But which reusable shopping bag--a canvas bag, polyester bag, or polypropylene bag--is really the best eco-choice? Let's look at the options.

Shopping Bags: Canvas Bag

The first reusable shopping bag to gain popularity was the canvas bag. Canvas totes are available in conventional cotton, organic cotton, or even hemp. The environmental impact of conventional cotton cultivation is well known--a major percentage of the world's herbicides are used to defoliate cotton prior to harvesting. While organic cotton is better, both conventional and organic cotton use a significant amount of water, so the environmental impact of the fabric bag is directly proportional to its weight. One of my organic cotton shopping bags weighs 187 grams but another cotton bag that I have is made of a much thinner fabric and weighs only 75 grams. If you are looking for a canvas bag, look for a lighter one. It will still hold more weight than a plastic or paper bag.

Shopping Bags: Polyester Tote Bag

Polyester tote bags, such as the ChicoBag, are easily portable shopping bags made from a very thin but durable fabric. The bag is about the same size as a disposable plastic bag used for shipping and stows neatly in an integrated pouch that fits in the palm of your hand and clips to your purse or fits in your pocket. At 35 grams, the manufacturing of the polyester material for one bag creates 89 grams of greenhouse gas emissions, which compares to the manufacture of just seven disposable plastic shopping bags. ChicoBag now also makes a bag that is made from seven recycled soda bottles.

Shopping Bags: Polypropylene Bag

Another shopping bag that has been gaining popularity is made from polypropylene and is designed in the shape of a brown paper shopping bag. These bags, such as hose made by One Bag at a Time, can now be found at the checkout lines pretty much everywhere, from Safeway supermarkets to Ace hardware stores. One Bag at a Time's website provides some great information on the environmental benefits of using these bags. At 103 grams, the manufacturing of the polypropylene material for each bag creates 138 grams of greenhouse gas emissions, which compares to the manufacture of 11 disposable plastic shopping bags.

And the Winner for Greenest Shopping Bag Is...

The difference in environmental impact between the polyester bag and the polypropylene bag is negligible, especially when compared to the disposable paper and plastic bags. The impact of canvas bags is higher, but still negligible when compared with the disposable alternatives over time. Ultimately, what is most important, regardless of your choice, is that you use the reusable shopping bag.