Author: kamakshi

Most tourists form opinions about the place of visit with whatever catches their eye first. But it’s all going to change for one city, Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. The city will have a brand new solar powered gateway which will connect the new Abuja Airport to the city and freeways. This design by Ehrlich Architects was picked from an international competition. The green design will comprise of green roofs for buildings, a giant solar canopy and bricks made from the local laterite clay. One side of the gateway will be home to a public space spotting a photovoltaic canopy for solar power and to provide adequate shade from the sun.

The plan will also feature an amphitheater. The suspension cables for the bridge running over the freeway will have flags of various colors tied to it. The design called as “living loom”, aims to strike a balance between the different cultural strokes of the entire country.

[Inhabitat]

When I go out for a relaxing and much deserved vacation, the one thing I hate the most is keeping tab on all mu chargers. Think about it, there’s your cell phone, your MP3 player, digital camera, the camcorder, (may be your laptop if you’re doing outdoors). You lose one and the device is unusable till you find a makeshift charger! Moreover you are on a perennial hunt for charging points too. But a brand new technology which is being developed by RCA might just be the life saver we need. A new emergency power unit called the AirPower chargers is created to charge itself using Wi-Fi signal. Once charged fully, which takes about 5-6 hours; you can charge low-power devices using a USB connection, and you can use the device as it recharges too.

You don’t need to plug the device in anywhere, just place it into a Wi-Fi hotspot. Pricing details are not yet available.

[Dvice]

What do you when you’re company is hit by recession and each of the employees is extremely important? You cut down costs in other areas. Once such step you can take is the cut down on your power consumption. But how do you ask? Take a few cues from the secret black boxes that eBay uses to have save almost $100,000 in electricity charges that too in nine months alone.

So what is this miracle maker? It’s called as the Bloom Box, which is manufactured by green technology company called Bloom Energy. Each box contains stacks of 64 ceramic disks coated with green and black “inks.” These disks are separated by cost effective metal alloy plates. Methane (or other hydrocarbons) and oxygen are fed in, the box is heated to reach 1,000 degrees Celsius to produce electricity.

Since the box comes with a $700,000 to $800,000 price tag, it can be afforded by big players like eBay, Google, Staples, and FedEx. The founder of the company K.R. Sridhar believes the technology needs only 5-10years to be available at $3000, but since the current cost and the fact that it emits carbon dioxide, leaves a lot to be desired.

[Fastcompany]

Some people can make art out of anything and everything, and make it so appealing that it sells for big bucks! Artist Sayaka Ganz, 33, has created beautiful animal art using nothing but thousands of plastic spoons, knives and forks! She has managed to create a dog, eagle and fish, and a set of galloping horses ranging from 18 inches to eight feet in length, with around 500 pieces of junk, including sunglasses, cutlery and bendy baskets. Some of the wireframes are quite complicated and can take up to nine months to make. And seen as a collector’s item, you can get one for yourself at $10,895.

Via – [Luxurylaunches]

A green fashion show with clothes made out of eco-friends things called the ‘GreenShows’ kick started with the Brit-designer Gary Harvey. He put on display 22 stunning gowns from recycled material, focusing on vintage garments like Levi’s 501s, ’70s floral print maxi dresses, logo tees, and the pages of the Financial Times. Most of the dresses features were composed of several individual garments like laundry bags, souvenir scarves from around the world, baseball jackets, trench coats, army jackets, t-shirts with slogans, etc.

But the really green dress were one made as a salute to the Eco-beauty company Weleda, with a dress made out of 350 “skin food”packages, and another Harvy’s famous newspaper gown which is created using 30 copies of the Financial Times, fit on an attractive salmon-pink corset.

[Ecouterre]

When you know that electricity is a rare and cherished commodity, every effort for alternative sources is welcome, especially in developing nations. And so MIT has come out with a refrigerator that can run on solar power. This system designed by Promethean Power Systems can be used as a commercial cold-storage especially where there are a lot of power failures. This will help store perishable food items especially if the time-to-market is considerably long. It will also create a cost-effective solution in the cold-chain food distribution system. The environmental benefits are an added plus.

[Zikkir]

I prefer smart casuals to a rugged and tattered look. So I prefer washing my jeans once a week, but that in turn means that they have a life shorter than what I would like. So a Brazilian fashion label called TriStar has come up with an innovative idea to help me save my blue jeans in a green way or at least retain a bit of their original color. And if you decide to heed their advice your jeans will go inside cold storage, that too quite literally! The recent denim collection from the label comes with direction to freeze-clean your jeans! The label CEO quotes ‘ After use, just put them inside a plastic or cloth bag and leave them in the freezer for 24 hours to kill the bacteria’.

That does not ensure a stain free-garment but to overcome that hurdle, the pants are fully reversible. At least you can save on the water used for washing. Showing off your green side or your complete laziness? Now that’s a matter of perspectives.

Via – [Gizmodiva]

What happens when a company is growing but cannot keep up with the power bills? It decides to go green! But I don’t think that’s what happened with Facebook. Their new Oregon data center will now be powered by a coal plant in Idaho to reduce costs. According to a report from the Energy Information Administration, the last 5 years the data center’s power consumption has grown to 1.4 percent of the total energy use in the country! But in a bid to reduce their overall carbon foot print, the Pineville-based data center would be equipped with an outside-air intake system to cool the massive data servers, thus creating a health mix of renewable energy based power-grid!

[Treehugger]

Now it’s the turn of South Korea to turn eco-friendly yet again! And with the assistance of Samoo Architecture, a part of the upcoming National Ecological Institute(NEI) of South Korea site, a sprawling area consisting of 33,090 sq m will be provided with the most favorable conditions for a housing a relatively huge ecosystem. The Eden Project of the South or the Ecorium Project, will spot several interlinking domes appearing as wedge-shaped greenhouses. The technology will be backed mainly with the use of solar energy without any shades, but only a simulation of it by special arrangement.

In its core, the landscaping will be covered with sinuous, leaf-like lines. There would also be structures that appear as a branch of a river. It will also be house to a good variety of wild plant reserve and wetlands reserve. A centre for visitors and a railway line would ensure a steady stream of public interaction. On the outside, the green-houses have been finished in a metal panel made with low iron low-e double glazing, wood and Plexiglas. The entire project value is estimated at $114 million.

[WorldArchitectureNews]

Pollution has reached astronomical heights, and there seems to be little you can do to control the impurities in the air that you breathe. But there are some nice people who are coming up with ways and means to make the earth a better place, quite literally. Although you cannot control pollution to a very large extent, you can ensure that your CO2 intake is reduced considerably. Kristin O’Friel, student at NYU has designed a neat new corset called as the CO2RSET. This particular corset loosens and tightens up by itself depending on the levels of CO2 in the air.

This is possible thanks to the small motors which are attached to the laces of the corset. They respond to the data which is received from the CO2 monitors on the corset that have been concealed in the floral patterns appearing in the front. So if you are suffocated with the tightness of the CO2RSET, it would be a prudent decision to change your landscape immediately.

Via – [Gizmodiva]

Okinawa is all set to make its mark in the green world, thanks to Toshiba. The company will supply the much awaited gen-next electric power system for a power company in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. The power system will have storage batteries which will supply electricity generated by sources like solar panels. The testing is said to begin in 2010 at Miyakojima, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. The testing will be carried out by adding photovoltaic systems (3MW, 1MW) and storage batteries (4MW, 200kW) to existing facilities including two thermal power plants (21,500kW, 40,000kW), a gas turbine plant (15,000kW) and five wind plants (900kW x 4, 600kW x 1).

The testing will be done to measure voltage rise, deal with surplus electricity, frequency adjustment and the works. Toshiba has plans to generate 3MW of photovoltaic electricity by setting up a mega solar power plant and 1MW at industrial plants (600kW) and residences (400kW). However the photovoltaic systems will be placed only in industrial plants and residences and not at real plants or residences during the testing stage.

The storage batteries to be used will be a 4MW sodium-sulfur battery connected to the power grid, and a 200kW lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery connected at the residences. Toshiba will assume that a 4kW photovoltaic system is set up at 100 houses and a 8kW Li-ion battery is provided to 25 houses.

[Techon]

Sustainability has been the most used word for the last few decades now. To make a sustainable environment involves nourishment of the nature apart from the basic supply of necessities and support. And so Danish architects Cobe, in collaboration with Sleth modernism, Polyform and Rambøll are in the process of the facilitating the largest urban Scandinavian transformation on Copenhagen’s northern harbor, called as the Nordholmene. This project is said to be fully complete by the next 40 to 50 years and will be equipped to house and employ up to 40,000 people.

The islands will be all interconnected and will spot an array of livable and commercial value. Several new artificial canals will be dug out for the industrial landscape. Heavy emphasis on fuel-free and public transportation will be levied. The 200 ha sized project will lay more stress on holistic living and all dock sides will provide ample greenery and beautiful landscapes.

This project will use a combination of alternative energy resources for generating heat, ethanol and electricity which include, use of geothermics and heat pumps for storing energy produced by local wind turbines and ‘sea lettuce’ which is a fast-growing algae which can absorbing CO2 emission from power plants. The plan was recently presented as a lighthouse project at the COP15 climate conference at Copenhagen in December 2009 and has been awarded with top honors at an International competition in 2008 as well.

[Designboom]

When you have children around the house, you need to be extra careful with electrical wires, gadgets and fire. Well with the help of designer Karim Rashid, you can ensure that your child enjoys a drink of warm milk without worrying too much and also making sure that your child’s carbon foot print is cut down a bit too. The Iamo Go baby bottle is a concept where a phallic-shaped bottle can heat milk to body temperature without the use of any power chords. The technology it uses “a disposable capsule containing water and salt” instead of electricity to generate heat to warm up its liquid contents.

And it is safe because the heat is created by rehydrating the salt placed inside its organic cartridges.

[Gizmodo]

Over consumption of energy leads to disastrous results, and that is not only true for the planet! With most people opting for the most clichéd New Year resolution of slimming down, this year you can add a little green twist. Tanita solar technology has come out with the new Tanita HS-302 Solar Digital Scale which combines Japanese electronics with its second generation solar technology to give you a unique weighing scale that uses direct sunlight or indoor lighting for power, so that the power does not get over, no matter how heavy an object you are weighing on the scale.

The scale itself has been made by a new kind of ABS plastic using biodegradable resins, which is called as Terramac. Terramac reduced the overall carbon emissions 20%, which means, you leave a lot lesser carbon foot-print in comparison to when you use a regular battery-operated scale. And it’s available at a neat $60, which means that much money less in your pocket to splurge on junk food!

[EarthTechling]