Blogs

Young EcoGeeks saving the world at ISEF

Jozef Winter — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:23:43 PDT

Intel's annual International Science and Engineering Fair kicked off this week in Atlanta, showcasing over 1,500 high school students in what is the world's largest pre-college science competition. Students, representing 51 countries, have come in with their projects on engineering, science, robotics, medicine, physics, electronics, and the list goes on!

They are competing for almost $4 million in scholarships and awards. A good portion of the projects exhibited relate to sustainability and the environment, and Intel was kind enough to send us down to meet with these young EcoGeeks. The list below shows all of the projects we've covered from the fair so far.

These projects are amazing from any perspective, but the fact that these EcoGeeks are a decade younger than me (and I am quite young) really shows that innovation knows no bounds.

Solar power generating blimp for disasters

Hank Green — Wed, 14 May 2008 12:09:16 PDT

We've been reminded in recent weeks that the world is a vulnerable place. First as many as 100,000 killed in the cyclone in Burma and now 12,000 feared dead after an earthquake in China. But as we've seen over and over again, sometimes disaster response is even more important than being prepared for the disaster.

How do you take care of hundreds of thousands of disaster refugees? It's not like you can plop down a coal power plant and fire it up wherever it's needed.

Or can you? Andrew Leinonen has put together a strong concept design for an airship covered in solar panels that can be flown into a disaster area, anchored, and immediately begin to serve power to the rescue effort.

Though the airships are small by blimp standards, only 20 meters long, they can house about 120 square meters of CIGS solar cells, producing up to 125 kWh per day. That's enough energy to power 25 shallow water pumps, providing clean water for up to 12,000 people. Or enough to power 400 medical refrigerators.

The airship will fly in its own power box (also containing anchoring mechanisms) that will be lowered when the disaster site is reached. Additionally, the vehicle flies autonomously and can be delivered entirely unmanned, simplifying the diplomatic process of serving aid, which, as we saw in Burma, can be a huge problem.

Solar lily pads may spring up in Scotland

Hank Green — Tue, 13 May 2008 14:13:36 PDT

We've already talked about this giant floating solar thermal power plant that the UAE has its eyes on. But now a new kind of solar island is floating down the river of for possibility.

Peter Richardson's solar lily pad proposal for the International Design Awards âLand and Seaâ competition pulled in first prize, and the city of Glasgow seems to be seriously considering making the proposal a reality.

Some would say that there's plenty of space in cities for distributed solar power on roofs. However, this isn't entirely true. Solar thermal plants, which focus the sun's rays to create extreme heat in order to turn turbines, cannot be used in cities. Because of the extreme heat, and the danger of someone stumbling across (or into) one of them, they have to be carefully guarded and separated from passersby.

However, I'm not sure if Richardson wants to use photovoltaics or solar thermal. If he wants to use photovoltaics, then I don't really see the advantage, aside from having large areas contiguous, in-city solar potential. In America, we find that on the roof of the local Wal-Mart -- not in our rivers.

I would want to see that the River Clyde would not be harmed in any way. I'm not familiar with Scotland's ecology, but it seems pretty obvious that the water temperature would be lowered by this project, potentially impacting the species that live in the river.

The solar pads would be rotated throughout the day, so that the slanted panels could track the sun, and power would be delivered to shore via tethers.

Glasgow's city council is considering a small pilot project in conjunction with the Glasgow Science Centre. If that ever gets off the ground, you know EcoGeek will let you know.

Via Inhabitat and the BBC

Plywood prefab could green your life

Jozef Winter — Mon, 05 May 2008 00:01:40 PDT

If youâve ever dreamed of living inside an old Zeppelin, then this pre-fab modular home, the CanÃ¼home, designed by George Brown Collegeâs Institute Without Boundaries, is for you.

Well actually, the designers thought it looked more like a canoe, hence the name. They also wanted the name to provoke a question: âCan Ã¼ make a difference?â Of course the appropriate answer is yes, and certainly so with this unique design.

In their own words,

The design is intended for use by young couples, seniors, singles/small families, as a starter or finisher home. It has been designed to fit in rear gardens in the city, the suburbs, or rooftops of buildings or in the countryside.

At 850 square feet, it fits the bill, being the same size as a typical condo or apartment. It's a fully comprehensive unit including a kitchen, living room, dining room, bedroom, and bathroom (with a shower that will hold 4 people for efficient water use!).

Made largely of FSC-certified plywood and other wood materials, the modular home is assembled with the aid of steel brackets. Being modular, it allows you can hook up as many or as few units as you like should your need for space grow or diminish.

The engineering behind the design is quite ingenious. Its shape allows for convective and radiant heating, and the designers proudly announce that âair is a building materialâ!

The curvature of the structure also channels rain water for capture and use in various applications, and there are plans to incorporate solar collectors to help meet some of the energy needs of the home.

The project has 5 major goals: to engage the public, to raise public awareness of the impact of housing on the environment, to showcase sustainability, to aid in growing the market for sustainable homes and related products, and finally, to enable the housing industry to more easily move towards sustainable practices.

It remains unclear what the future will hold for the faculty-, student-, and expert-designed home after it returns from its show tour, but if properly marketed, it has some real possibilities.

For those of you with spare plywood lying around, the technical drawings (PDF) are available for you online.

via Ecolectic.org

Architecture 2030

Hank Green — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:04:28 PDT

We've got to do something about climate change now. Unfortunately, carbon capture technology is 20 years away, it takes more than a decade to build a nuclear plant, and renewables like solar and geothermal have a huge barrier to overcome before they can be cost competitive.

So what do we do? Well, Architecture 2030 has created a blueprint to the future (PDF), which outlines how to reduce emissions by massive amounts without changing our energy mix at all.

By implementing existing technologies at low costs, Architecture 2030 has determined that we could save far more energy far cheaper than we could ever hope to manage in the near-term with even old, established technologies like nuclear power.

The results of its $21 billion investment scenario are insane -- it has calculated that it would:

Replace 22.3 conventional coal-fired plants.
Reduce CO2 emissions by 86.7 MMT.
Save 204 billion cubic feet of natural gas.
Save 10.7 million barrels of oil.
Save consumers $8.46 billion in energy bills.
Create 216,000 new jobs.

Investing that same money in clean coal or nuclear infrastructure would, in the best case, only replace 8 coal plants.

It's obvious where the money needs to go, and Architecture 2030 is calling on the global architecture community to adopt standards that will make this a reality.

Dell unveils wooden desktop concept for greens

Hank Green — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:03:49 PDT

Dell, continuing on its path to becoming the self-proclaimed greenest computer company (and not to be outdone by Asus), has its own bamboo computer concept now.

The device isn't just green because of its case (though, that is more or less its most awesome feature). At the unveiling of the device, CEO Michael Dell listed off some of its other green credentials.

It's 80% smaller than your average desktop... and so uses less material
It contains recycled materials from plastic bottles
It uses 71% less energy than the average desktop

The price point will probably come in somewhere between $500 and $700 and, as of now, the little beauty doesn't have a name.

Papyrus device could boost student learning

Magnus Hølvold — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:13:18 PDT

It's no secret that we at EcoGeek are fans of the e-ink display technology. The low battery consumption and superior readability compared to laptops and other mobile devices, not to mention the thin form factor, all combine to bring us closer to a digital literary future. With Amazon's Kindle doing the rounds in the U.S. and the Bookeen Cybook constantly running out of stock, e-ink toting devices are inching their way into the public's hearts.

I still think that e-books have a ways to go before I'd personally get one, mostly in terms of price and features, and I have had a few of my own ideas on what would make a good reader.

However, the group of thinkers and designers over at The Greener Grass have gone and created a concept that I could wholeheartedly get behind: The Papyrus.

The Papyrus is a concept for an education-centred e-reader device that would focus on making participation in courses easier and more interactive. The concept calls for a colour e-ink touch screen and presumably a Wi-Fi connection to connects the devices of all the students together. Collaboratively, students can tag, highlight, and annotate their reading material and remotely help each other understand the text and find the important parts in it.

As a first-year university student who hadn't read a single academic text since the turn of the millennium, I can say I would have greatly appreciated such a feature in my textbooks, not to mention saving the space and weight of all those books as I cart them around.

As far as pricing goes, they're setting their sights on a hundred dollars. This seems unrealistic, but they are convinced it could be realised with the removal of unneeded hardware features (audio, for example) and the help of publishers. These publishers would subsidise the device and could sell their textbooks directly to the students through a subscription service.

The concept also makes a case for the interactivity of lectures. Many students are afraid to ask questions when there's something they don't understand. If they could just shoot the lecturer a quick private message rather than pipe up in front of a hundred other students, the idea is that lecturers would be much more aware of whether or not they are getting through to the students.

I suspect that if this device is to actually be made, the price tag will go the way of the OLPC and the Eee PC and end up at least double the initial goal. Even so, it would be a fantastic device in an increasingly digital world.

If the resolution of e-ink screens get a bump up, the prices a bump down, and the features a polish, I welcome a transition into a fully digital student life. There's still something to be said for the feeling of opening a book and reading it on the couch or in bed, but at least e-ink is getting us one step closer to that feeling without killing trees every time there's a new book (or, more likely, a very slightly altered new edition) to be published.

Via Engadget

The world's first OLED lamp

Hank Green — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:27:30 PDT

Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) fascinate me. It's not just that they could possibly be both extremely efficient and extremely cheap, but they also create huge new possibilities for lighting.

Very simply, OLEDs are like LEDs in that electrons jumping across a diode emit photons. But instead of being a traditional diode, the OLEDs are actually a printed film. This means that the light comes from everywhere on the film simultaneously, and the film can take on unique properties, like being flexible, lightweight, two-dimensional, and transparent.

Before today, we didn't have anything but our own imaginations and some crazy experiments to try and figure out what an OLED lamp might look like.

But Osram, a leading OLED manufacturer, recently partnered with well-known artist Ingo Maurer (whose extremely expensive LED lamps were previously featured on EcoGeek) to produce the world's first true OLED lamp.

Osram gave Ingo ten small (132 x 33 millimeter) OLED panels to use to create his lamp. The result is actually pretty stunning. And since the panels are limited edition and Maurer is a very famous and respected artist, this might be the most expensive table lamp in history. But that doesn't mean I don't want one.

Here's what Ingo has to say about the OLEDs

They have a totally different look than traditional light sources. They neither require reflectors directing the light into the right direction nor large sockets. Their lightness allows the realisation of long-standing visions of mine.

Osram has a team of over 50 scientists working on OLEDs right now. Though LED lights still have almost no market share, and OLEDs are more advanced and expensive than LEDs, Osram believes that the investment will pay off. There's one picture in the gallery below that really shows of the possibility of OLEDs.

I spent over a minute staring at the picture, trying to figure out where the lamp was. Then I realized, the semi-transparent windows were, in fact, the lamps.

As OLEDs create 100% diffused, non-directional light on two-dimensional surfaces, they can fill a room with light without even seeming to be there. Other possible applications are skylights that become regular lights at night or brake lights as part of a car's rear window.

And, of course, these have all the advantages while consuming a fraction of the amount of energy consumed by regular lightbulbs.

Via OLED Info (Thanks to Ron for the tip.)

Full press release here and here

Seesaw harnesses world's most energetic thing

Zach Yakush and Hank Green — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:30:50 PDT

What contains the most energy per square meter in our solar system? The Sun? The Earth's core? Uranium? No, not even close. Without a doubt, the most energetic object in the universe is the human child.

At least, that's what everyone who has ever had one of their own seems to be telling me. And I'm not about to try to argue with millions of moms, no matter what the laws of thermodynamics tell me.

But, as with any source of raw energy, the question becomes how do we capture that energy. Unfortunately, five year-olds don't come with three-pronged sockets.

But David Sheridan, a 23 year-old product design student from Coventry, England, has designed a power generator that harnesses energy from children. The modified seesaw converts the movement of kids into electrical energy which can then be transferred by an underground cable to a nearby classroom.

Sheridan hopes to one day create a playground full of energy-producing equipment. His calculations show that after only 10 minutes of use, the seesaw could light a classroom for the evening.

This isn't the first time seesaws have been used for practical purposes though. The Gaviotas community in Columbia has a see-saw that is used to pump groundwater. And it's not the first time people have looked to children to create power: Sony has a line of upcoming kid-powered gadgets for Japan.

The question, of course, is cost. If wind or solar can produce more energy for less money, it's not all that useful. But Sheridan has won a $10,000 grant to develop the idea, so there shouldn't be too much trouble determining the feasibility of the electro-see-saw.

If it works out, and isn't too expensive ... I might look into getting one for EcoGeek headquarters (my house). My wife and I could work off some calories, have some fun and, of course, slow down the electricity meter for a while.

Via BBC

The winged Lego pile of tomorrow

Magnus Hølvold — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 14:06:59 PDT

It's no secret that the folks at Inhabitat are big fans of prefabricated homes and not without reason. Prefab houses can be assembled on-site in very little time and with highly reduced production waste compared to old-school building methods. Of course, this also leads to reduced production costs, something we really can't complain about.

But the features of zeroHouse are enough to make EcoGeek stand up with Inhabitat and salute. All the power for the house comes from that wing-like protrusion at the top. The solar panels up there provide more than enough sunlight on a regular day and on a full charge, you can go for an entire week with no sun at all.

Additionally, the rainwater cistern can hold 2,700 gallons of water which is distributed by gravity to the various rooms of the house, nixing the need for any pumps. There's also a composting system in place that takes care of organic waste.

I'd like to express some level of concern over the "house brain" they refer to as the system that controls how the whole house works, though. As a geek and fan of a certain science-fiction film, "house brains" make me uncomfortable.

Sadly, now I have to ruin it by complaining a little.

One of my favourite features of prefab homes is the chance of properly modular buildings. If I had my way, I'd sit on a computer and put a future house together in a Lego-like fashion from parts available to me. An assembly crew would come next week and, over the next couple of days, they'd assemble all the pieces. Hey presto: New, fully customised house for me! If I wanted another room later on, I'd order an extra module, and the company would come and slide it on to the rest of the construction.

So why doesn't Specht Harpman ever make these kinds of houses? It calls the various levels of the house "modules," because that's obviously how it's assembled. Why not expand on that and make it properly modular? It obviously has the know-how to create both well-designed and sustainable houses.

But to me, it looks more like the Lego airplane my two-year-old nephew made this Christmas than a home built for nature lovers. The design has the effect of making the house look like an intrusion on the otherwise serene landscapes. The house even looks like it wants to fly away from the scenes, perched with those solar panels sticking out like wings, ready for take-off.

Don't get me wrong, it has a lot of awesome ideas and features within it, they're just wrapped too tightly in "master architect" pretensions and impersonal design choices.

via Inhabitat

Another try at a solar-powered laptop

Don Willmott , Forecast Earth Correspondent — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 11:30:25 PDT

Design blog Tuvie.com has some images of a solar-powered notebook prototype that raises the question of just how unwieldy any gadget dependent on solar panels for power will have to be.

While we've all seen compact handheld solar chargers such as the well-known Solio, it's important to remember that when it comes to solar, the size of the charger is directly proportional to the amount of juice it can deliver.

In Nikoladesign's solar laptop prototype, we see that the solar panel required to generate enough power to get a serious computer running is about as big as the computer itself. It's a sort of third flap that folds out like an awning from the top of the screen -- clumsy for sure, but could come in handy for outdoor research types who find themselves in the middle of nowhere with the need to stay in touch via the Internet access, satellite phone, and GPS system that are part of the prototype design.

Luckily, the solar panel can be detached and charged separately while the notebook runs off an internal battery. That would seem to be a necessary component of any solar notebook design, since as things stand today, the solar panel itself will make any portable PC a whole lot less portable.