About
primarily concerned with the conservation of resources, not simply the rearrangement of them.green feasts
inhabitatlatest comments
Bioengineered Brick Wins 2010 Metropolis Next Generation Design Prize
Sand + bacteria = bricks!
“There are 130 billion coal-fired bricks manufactured each year worldwide… On average, the baking process emits 1.4 pounds of carbon per brick - more than the world’s entire aviation fleet….
If biomanufactured bricks replaced each new coal-fired brick on the planet, it would save nearly 800 million tons of CO2 annually.”
via 2020: Microbe-Bricks
Yelo Velo, 100 percent plant-based, biodegradable bike lubricant made from seed oils.
NREL just announced a huge breakthrough in making solar electricity competitive with fossil fuels as they unveiled the Amonix 7700 Concentrated Photovoltaic or CPV Generator. We cover a lot ofsolar technologies at Inhabitat, but what makes this system so special is the technology behind it – Amonix has basically taken space grade solar cells and put them under a lens here on earth. The resulting system tracks the sun and produces nearly double the power of traditional solar electric arrays at utility-scale installations. The technology has the added benefit being the least land-intensive form of solar power in the world.
“The proposed design calls for 1,203 “stalks,” each 180-feet high with concrete bases that are between about 33- and 66-feet wide. The carbon-fiber stalks, reinforced with resin, are about a foot wide at the base tapering to about 2 inches at the top. Each stalk will contain alternating layers of electrodes and ceramic discs made from piezoelectric material, which generates a current when put under pressure. In the case of the stalks, the discs will compress as they sway in the wind, creating a charge.”
(via Wind Power Without the Blades: Big Pics : Discovery News)
Algae-Powered Latro Lamp Transforms CO2 Into Light | Inhabitat
“Designer Mike Thompson has created an incredible living lamp that is powered by algae! The Latro Lamp derives energy from an algae chamber that requires just sunlight, CO2, and water to operate. Stick the lamp outside, breathe into it, and voila, you’ve created your own bio battery-powered living lamp.”
Betacup is a contest that promises $10,000 to the best design to help reduce the 58 billion paper coffee cups thrown out each year. I’ve seen a few great entries, but I think Manueldr’s Coffee Cup, pictured above, is my favorite.
It’s made from coffee grounds, pressed into a vessel by a special machine on the spot. Soy wax, a biodegradable material, would hold it together and provide a waterproof seal. Afterwards, the cup biodegrades quickly and can be added to a compost pile. via Core77
via un
Rethink hanger turns two ordinary plastic beverage bottles into a unique clothes hanger
Not only does this put the disposable bottles to good use, it also hangs the shirts in better shape than a thin hanger.
from rethinkconcepts via noquedanblogs
Ross Lovegrove’s Bamboo Bike
“Danish company Biomega asked Ross Lovegrove to design a bicycle, the result is The Biomega Bamboo, utilizing a natural material that, when properly prepared, is stronger than steel. The result is an eye-catching fusion of nature and innovation on two wheels.”
via meltedlikebutter: imazine
“The butterfly species Papilio paris (pictured) has wings with intricate solar collectors that trap and transport solar heat to the body. This evolutionary adaptation that is thought to help the insects tolerate cold weather may someday help to power our world. Chinese scientists at Shanghai Jiao Tong University have recently found a way to copy and template the butterfly solar collectors for use in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). The preliminary research shows that the insect’s solar collectors have a honeycomb-like structure that effectively scatters and absorbs light. By transplanting this honeycomb-like microstructure onto DSCs, scientists hope to increase the cell’s conversion efficiency in order to achieve a more commercially viable product.”
this very cool interactive GE microsite that details some of the potential effects of better energy usage using features like a slider to demonstrate carbon dioxide reductions created by small percentage increases in power grid efficiency.
there’s also an augmented reality feature that uses your webcam to show you a digital hologram demo.
[via parkhowell]
“Powered by an electric drive train, the concept vehicle is designed to change its shape further, altering the driving position completely. A potential driver can even lie down completely or sit tall and drive it like any other car. Designed with three wheels for better efficiency, the vehicle is propelled by the rear wheel, which gets its power from the built-in battery pack.”
i can’t picture myself using this on a long drive. for one, the prone position would only make it easier to sleep & it doesn’t even look that comfortable. however, i can picture using this for short errands around town or commuting to work.
as a vehicle, it lands somewhere between a motorcycle & a smart car. despite the easy learning curve, i imagine that the obvious exposure would prevent safety-conscious non-bikers from seriously converting and it doesn’t appear to provide motorcyclists with significantly more utility.
“Researchers at Cambridge University have developed a new way to produce highly efficient LEDs, which can reduce the cost of LED bulbs from £20 to just £2. These mercury-free LEDs are 12 times more efficient than conventional tungsten bulbs and three times more efficient than CFLs. Apart from being cheap and efficient, researchers claim that these bulbs have a lifespan of a whopping 60 years or 100,000 hours of operation, which is ten times more than the conventional eco-bulbs available on the shelves today.” (via Ecofriend)
![Renewable Energy World - solar power, as it exists now, doesn’t scale well. we can all easily picture the vast fields, miles and miles and miles of black solar panels gathering energy somewhere on the outskirts of the metropolis. rooftop installations are popular, too. not just for residents anymore, urban warehouses have been renting out their sunny sides to specialized utility companies. but even these innovations do not compensate for the enormous need for space. fortunately, recent advances increasing the efficiency of solar panels will certainly reduce that need. but even so, industrial (and even residential, occasionally) energy needs are not fully met by most current solar installations, local (on one’s own rooftop) or regional (central distributed source).
Cool Earth has a solution: balloons work like satellite dishes. highly reflective plastic film (this potato chip bags) reflect sunlight toward a receiver.
unfortunately for homehowners, the technology also has a scaling problem: it has only been developed for industrial use.
there are some downsides, however: active cooling is required, staffing plants may require more than a typical plant, balloons only last 5 years which creates a lot of waste but the materials are cheap enough to offset the frequent replacement cost.
Cool Earth’s first grid-tied project is a 1.5 MW plant - installed at $1/w - on 13 acres outside of tracy, ca and timed to go live early this year.
[via solarfeeds]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/71tdOXvCEjb54u1oDH46Wgoco1_400.jpg)
Renewable Energy World - solar power, as it exists now, doesn’t scale well. we can all easily picture the vast fields, miles and miles and miles of black solar panels gathering energy somewhere on the outskirts of the metropolis. rooftop installations are popular, too. not just for residents anymore, urban warehouses have been renting out their sunny sides to specialized utility companies. but even these innovations do not compensate for the enormous need for space. fortunately, recent advances increasing the efficiency of solar panels will certainly reduce that need. but even so, industrial (and even residential, occasionally) energy needs are not fully met by most current solar installations, local (on one’s own rooftop) or regional (central distributed source).
Cool Earth has a solution: balloons work like satellite dishes. highly reflective plastic film (this potato chip bags) reflect sunlight toward a receiver.
unfortunately for homehowners, the technology also has a scaling problem: it has only been developed for industrial use.
there are some downsides, however: active cooling is required, staffing plants may require more than a typical plant, balloons only last 5 years which creates a lot of waste but the materials are cheap enough to offset the frequent replacement cost.
Cool Earth’s first grid-tied project is a 1.5 MW plant - installed at $1/w - on 13 acres outside of tracy, ca and timed to go live early this year.
[via solarfeeds]
“Shawn-Yu Lin, a professor of physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has developed an anti-reflective coating (actually seven layers of coating) that raise the absorption of a solar panel to almost 100 percent. A typical silicon solar cell with this anti-reflective coating will absorb 96.21 percent of the sunlight that strikes it, and less than 4% of the light is reflected.” (via Breakthrough Coating: Solar Absorption “Near Perfect” | EcoGeek)
