Category Archives: Other Stuff
Never before has anything spewing out of a tailpipe been so consumable. Researchers have given the Humvee’s exhaust pipe a green and eco-friendly twist, developing a method of capturing potable water from the diesel exhaust. Using capillary condensation, the ORNL researchers condensed water into being, using the exhaust that runs though the microporous tailpipe. Also, the pores act as a filter by continuously displacing the water owing to which the water does not have enough time to absorb water-soluble contaminants.
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Soda can pull-tabs lead pretty insignificant lives. They’re tossed away into trash-cans as soon as the can’s opened up, and the soda keeps us pretty preoccupied to so much as pay a second glance to the tab we just flicked away. Things are about to change for those poor pull-tabs finally, as they could just be the next best way to power automobiles! No we aren’t day-dreaming. The theory has already been proved with this little fuel cell car developed by Aleix Llovet and Xavier Salueña from Barcelona Tech in Spain that chews on the tabs and has them react with hydroxide of sodium and water in the tank, generating hydrogen fuel in the bargain!
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With the recent devastating natural-calamities that hit the technological-gurus of the world, Japan, radioactive waste has turned into a hue concern, after the world having watched a nuclear reactor exploding in 419-31. Radioactive waste entering a water supply source could spell doom to the people consuming it and the environment that thrives on it, including marine life and tress. There is however hope, in the form of a organic filter created by researchers at the North Carolina University. Using forest byproducts and crushed crustacean shells, the researchers have chiselled out a filter in the form of a solid foam material that absorbs radioactive materials like radioactive iodide and heavy metals from water.
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Just a short while ago, we came across the self-contained franchise and kiosk structure by Seale Solar. Here’s yet another of the type that could help businesses around go green and clean up their acts and the carbon footprint they’ve been leaving behind on the environment. Designed by S Fahmi Yusoff for Bizarreka Designs, the EcoKiosk is a perfectly green way to set up a business. With a roof that compliments internal heating and natural air ventilation, the kiosk also makes use of natural lighting during the brighter hours of the day. It also incorporates greenery that act as a buffer, soaking in all the Co2 produced while the structure also makes use of a rain water collection system.
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Ralph Lauren has catered to the fashion conscious since time immortal, and is now trying to attract those looking for designer environment-friendly accessories, with this solar powered bag, part of his men’s athletic line, RLX. Christened the Solar Panel Backpack, this sure is a great companion on a trip outdoors, keeping your gadgets and portable devices all charged up, with solar energy. Also, just in case the clouds take over and it begins to rain, the backpack will make sure your valuables inside remain snug and dry, thanks to its thin, seamless and water-resistant material.
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Solar energy and wind energy hasn’t caught on yet, due to reliability issues. With both these elements of nature being extremely moody, it just isn’t wise to power up completely dependent on either of them. So, researchers at the University of Arizona have turned to a type of renewable energy that’s forever available, making use of one of nature’s most faithful elements, air. Part of the Compressed Air Energy Storage programme, the researchers are working on developing technology that’ll help store compressed air cheaply for use. This will work as a back-up energy source for people the moment solar or wind energy begins to fall short. For now, researchers have struck upon a blank wall, owing to the fact that batteries these days are expensive and uneconomical, with limited charge cycles.
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Most people step out into the outdoors, be it camping trips or for a trek, to disconnect from routine. Some of them though, do pack in their laptops and mobile phones on trips like these. Now, when you’re out there in a jungle, surrounded by nothing else but nature, finding a place to charge these devices is an attempt in vain. Designer Joel Kim YM came up with a unique way to have all your gizmos and gadgetry all juiced up in the outdoors. The backpack-like design christened the Alppac uses a suspended load mechanism to charge up electronics while you walk.
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Here’s a concept design that we’d sure as hell love to have on store shelves and in our homes! This solar powered time keeper called the Light Gap was designed by Chengyuan Wei, Fangtian Ying, Duyin Qin, Pengxiang Jia, Fan Zhang, Huabiao Shan, Yu Zhang, Chen Zheng, Guanyun Wang & Lifu Yao and is a Red Dot Concept Design entry for the year 2010. The clock integrates solar panels on its back. To get it ticking, all you need to do is stick it on to a window that lets in plentiful sunlight. The sunlight illuminates the slit on the face of the clock to form an hour hand. The clock soaks also in the sun and powers charges up the batteries with green energy. At night, the batteries power up the LEDs in the slit that fulfil the function of sunlight, during dark hours.
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If you live in Stamford and need to bathe your car, make sure you head over to the Greenwich Avenue Car Wash facility, that’ll have your car sparkling clean using solar juice! This car wash is powered by energy from the sun and uses solar photovoltaic and solar thermal panels to power up. That’s not all. To push the green factor up the ladder, this car wash also makes use of organic soap that is completely environment friendly. The water used at this car wash is recycled, in order to decrease wastage. The 18 solar panels on the roof bask in the sun and generate enough electricity to have the washing systems up and running. The green energy generated at this car wash provides for 50% of the electricity requirements, with the rest sourced from conventional sources.
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Composting sure is a great way to get rid of trash, though not a lot of us fancy having a hot box in our backyard with last week’s dump slowly degrading inside. The very thought makes us cringe our noses. Also, most of us are just content with the garbage-truck picking up our trash from the street corner every morning. Designer Mathieu Azema plans to change the way composting is taken in, and designed the City Compost Bin, an aesthetically pleasing way to composting. This bin works on a public basis, and isn’t something you could have in your back yard. Just like a trash can, all you need to do is dump the organic waste in there. The attendant then rotates the bin according to the level of decomposition required and voila! Out pops some rich nutrient soil.
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