Daihai Fei built his amazing egg-house on a bamboo frame, covered with various insulating materials, and topped with a layer of stitched bag. The bags themselves are filled with sawdust and g... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Giant biogas facility to power thousands of homes using cow dung
by: Ecofriend, 2010-12-01 05:39:42 UTC
Eco Factor: Methane gas powered generators to produce renewable electricity using cow dung.
Huishan Dairy in northeast China is planning to build the world’s largest system for generating electricity using methane gas emitted by fermenting cow dung. The plant will use the waste from 60,000 cows to provide electricity to thousands of homes. Based on the use of four GE Jenbacher 420 gas engines, the plant expects to avoid the cost restrictions that make smaller installations unprofitable.
The creators estimate that the plant will be able to churn out 5.6 million watts of renewable power that will be enough for 3500 typical households. Consuming about 20 million cubic meters of biogas annually, the facility will also help reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted from the dairy every year.
Via: Dvice/Technology Review
Indian school kids test Rice University’s solar-powered tablet PC
by: Ecofriend, 2010-12-01 05:51:00 UTC
Eco Factor: Low energy tablet PC needs no external power supply.
For over 100 million school children in India, computers are a far-fetched dream, as they don’t have electricity in their schools. The scenario might soon change as researchers at Rice University and Singapore’s Nanyang Tech University have developed a prototype tablet PC that runs on solar energy. Dubbed the I-Slate, the device is being claimed to be the first of a series of electronic notepads that use low-energy-consumption microchips, enabling the system to run on electricity generated by solar panels.
The device is expected to be able to run on the solar power of plans similar to those in handheld calculators. Students at a school near the city of Hyderabad in India have been testing out early prototypes of this technology, which will be helping the designers produce variants that be used by kids in different parts of the world.
Via: TG Daily/Clean Technica
Have An IDEA? Submit it & Win it!
by: Yanko Design, 2010-12-01 12:32:56 UTC
Someone rightly said that Design is a mix of craft, science, storytelling, propaganda & philosophy. All it takes to tie all this up into a great presentation is a worthy platform. And that platform is the IDEA Design Awards. For over 30 years, IDEA has recognized design excellence in products, sustainability, interaction design, packaging, strategy, research and concepts. This year, it’s time for you to shine, it’s time for you to tell your story…. register here to enter the 2011 International Design Excellence Awards! Details inside…
The IDSA IDEA awards have been called “the Oscar’s of design” …and for good reason!
IDEA award winners are deemed such shining examples of design excellence that for the 2nd year in a row the Henry Ford will house IDEA winners in its private collection! This year Yanko Design is one of the Media Partners and want you to participate and WIN!
IDEA awards bring international recognition, accolades and attention in a climate where differentiation and a spotlight can make or break a design or a career.
The timelines and Fees can be found here, and the registration can be done here.
Here is a look at some 2010 IDEA Winners that were featured on Yanko Design.
Ville – The Urban Folding Bicycle by Hyuk-Jae Chang
Dew Bank Bottle by Kitae Pak
Roly Poly Iron by Sangyong Park, Jungmin Park & Sunwoo Hwang
UNIECO – Bottle Design For Liquid Refill For Soap by Jinsoo Cho
OneDown Rat Trap by Aakash Dewan
About IDEA
Started in 1980, the IDEA program fosters business and public understanding about the impact of industrial design excellence on the quality of life and the economy. For the second year, The Henry Ford will house the IDEA award winners in its permanent collection to continue to tell the story of American innovation.
About IDSA
Founded in 1965, the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) is the world’s oldest, largest, member-driven society for product design, industrial design, interaction design, human factors, ergonomics, design research, design management, universal design and related design fields. IDSA produces the renowned International Design Excellence Award® (IDEA) competition annually; hosts the International Design Conference and five regional conferences each year; and publishes Innovation, a quarterly journal on design, and designBytes, a weekly e-newsletter highlighting the latest headlines in the design world. IDSA’s charitable arm, the Design Foundation, supports the dissemination of undergraduate scholarships annually to further industrial design education. The organization has more than 2,300 members in 27 chapters in the U.S. and internationally. For more information, visit here.
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Reuse Community Takes Facebook By Storm - With More to Come
by: TreeHugger Design, 2010-12-01 14:09:58 UTC
Image Credit: Reuse Connection
Repurposing a stove into a high-powered entertainment system might not be to everyone's liking, but we still love reuse—warts and all. When I asked how we identify that fine line between reuse and hoarding, the question seemed to resonate with our readers—who clearly are passionate about the idea of reuse. ("Who could have guessed?", I hear you cry.) Having read t... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Google Earth Tour with Kofi Annan Puts Climate Change in Human Terms
by: TreeHugger Science, 2010-12-01 17:02:00 UTC
Next up in a series of amazing Google Earth tours being revealed for COP16 in Cancun is "Coping with Climate Change" -- a tour that puts the problem of climate change in human terms, not just with what will happen to the planet but what will happen to human society. The tour centers the perspective that climate change is a problem impacting everything from health care to security, from economics to mobility. Narrated by former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, it is an incredibly enlightening 15 minutes. Watch the video after the jump.... Read the full story on TreeHugger
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