Human power is possibly the most exciting of all the forms of renewable energy. Though the capacity of human power is admittedly small and probably impractical for resolving energy crisis, still it can provide adequate energy to run your portable gadgets or illuminate your room in a real need. Have a look at some of the most interesting human powered devices/objects that spread positive energy all around.
Go
The “Go” by Indonesian designer Rizki Tarisa is a piece of multifunctional furniture that makes use of advanced technology, so you could lead a sustainable lifestyle while accomplishing your daily tasks in style. Combining the functions of a lounge chair, exercise bike and desktop into a single unit, the multi-tasking furniture also harnesses human power to generate green energy, when you pedal the bike to burn the extra layer of fat from your body, to juice up your gadgets. Read More
Rocking Shell Chair
Designer Petr Novak has transformed the basic human instinct into a natural source of energy. The designer has developed a rocking chair, claimed the ‘Rocking shell Chair,’ with an incorporated LED lamp that harnesses useful energy with the movement of the chair. The rocking chair features a special kinematic mechanism, like a steam engine, to power the LED lamp with a lever that runs a flywheel disk beneath the seat while rocking forward or backward. Read More
Empower rocking chair
Dubbed the Empower, the rocking chair by industrial designer Ryan Klinger captures energy from its swing and makes it available via USB and standard outlets for a variety of portable electronic devices. Moreover, the chair will be made from recyclable materials and can also be flatpacked for easy shipping. Read More
Bike Lamp
The “Bike Lamp” by Italian-born Gionata Gatto as depicted by its name is a bicycle-powered LED lamp that runs on kinetic energy produced by human movement. Developed for Atuppertu, the bike lamp requires just four minutes of pedaling on a stationary bicycle to power the light continuously for 30 minutes. Read More
Rocking Chair
The serene back-and-forth movement of a rocking chair is nothing if not relaxing. It can also be useful and productive, according to Rochus Jacob. The designer’s Murakami Chair, a winner in designboom’s Green Life competition, uses the kinetic energy produced by rocking to power an attached OLED lamp. Read More
by: TreeHugger Design, 2010-05-11 16:18:28 UTC Screen shot from sketchup video here; I do hope they hire an architect.
The Reverend Kenneth Dupin just wants to make it easier for people to take care of aging adults and keep them close to home; he has developed what is essentially a hospital room in a garden shed. But in Fairfax county, Virginia, it is controversial and the NIMBY's are out. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger
by: TreeHugger Design, 2010-05-11 17:16:18 UTC Home Edit
Rainer Graff of Atelier Graff is clearly a minimalist, and thinks if you have a big loft that it should be open and flexible. He asks "How can openness and generosity of the loft floor plan be maintained during everyday use?"
... Read the full story on TreeHugger
by: TreeHugger Transportation, 2010-05-11 20:23:55 UTC
Photo: Flickr, CC & Seal of the state of Hawaii
Nissan Picks Hawaii as an Early Launch State
Hawaii residents will be able to get their hands on the Nissan LEAF electric car a bit earlier than the rest of us. Nissan has selected the state to be part of its early launch of the LEAF because of the state's "strong commitment to clean energy" and probably also because people don't drive quite as far on islands, making the LEAF's 100 miles electric range less problematic.... Read the full story on TreeHugger
by: TreeHugger Transportation, 2010-05-11 19:50:59 UTC
Photo: Public domain.
Scandinavian Invasion
Think Global (aka THINK, TH!NK, Th!nk, etc) has just completed a $40 million equity increase to invest into product R&D and expansion into North-America. The Norwegian company expects to become cash-flow positive in 2011. That's good news, because the last time we wrote about THINK, they were on the verge of bankruptcy and even Read the full story on TreeHugger
by: TreeHugger Transportation, 2010-05-12 18:11:17 UTC
Image: ReVolt
Your Tax Dollars at Work
ReVolt Technology is working on a very promising zinc-air rechargeable battery that could be used in electric cars and hold 3x more energy than lithium-ion batteries. You can find out more about it by checking out our previous post: Very Promising! Zinc-Air Battery Could Hold 300% More Energy Than Lithium-Ion. But the news today isn't about a technological breakthrough, but rather a financing one. The Department of Energy... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Inspired by European Peacock Butterfly cocoon, designer Shane Baxley, a design student at the Art Center College of Design, CA, has developed a vehicle concept for Hyundai named the “Aebulle” that run on an electric engine to provide a sustainable drive to the rider. Keeping the rider safe like a butterfly in a cocoon, the three-wheeler can deliver the mobility and speed of a motorcycle. Resting the front wheels on an independent swing arm to lean while cornering, the futurist vehicle features the frame finished in magnesium to protect the rider, together with the frontal cockpit area made in aluminum oxynitride glass. The cockpit glass employs e-ink technology to become a GPS system, radio and information display to guide the driver. Powered by in-wheel electric motors and a set of lithium-ion batteries, the Hyundai Aebulle offers a fixed seating position and places the gas and brake pedals on the steering column that the rider can adjust for a comfortable ride. Go past the break to see the video.
Unhygienic public toilets usually forces people to pee either on a wall or around a tree, spreading awful odor in the environment. Addressing the issue, designer Sam van Veluw has come up with a simple yet effect solution that encourages people to pee in public places but without harming or polluting the surroundings. The “P-Tree,” as the designer hails his design, is essentially a simple pee pot tied to a tree, or poles for that matter, which is connected to sewerage lines with pipes to add some decency and hygiene to your peeing in public places.
by: Worldchanging: Bright Green, 2010-05-12 19:30:13 UTC
Good news in renewable energy development this week!
Minesto, a Swedish start-up and SAAB spin-off, looks to make a new tidal turbine commercially available within four years. Their "Deep Green" technology is a tidal stream system that uses the motion of the tides to generate electricity, similar to wind power generation. Deep Green's turbines are connected to kites, which are anchored to the ocean floor, and move back and forth in the water to generate electricity (see an animation of this process here).
Minesto is optimistic about Deep Green's eventual energy production capabilities (via CNN):
Anchoring "Deep Green" and steering the tethered "kite" enables the turbine to capture energy from the tidal currents at ten times the speed of the actual stream velocity...When operational, the turbine is expected to generate 500 kilowatts of power.
Tidal flow as low as 1.6 meters/second can be used to create the lift necessary to move the kite.
There are still challenges for the engineers to figure out, including the cost of installing deep water power systems and the technical difficulties of transmitting power over long distances, but hopefully Minesto can successfully develop the Deep Green technology so that it becomes another piece of the renewable mix. The potential for success seems high, since, as Proefrock writes,
...the underwater kites are much lighter and easier to install than the equipment needed for other deepwater generation systems...[and]...the higher efficiency and more consistent generation offered by Deep Green could offset...drawbacks.
Fortunately the company just received funding to start testing a scale model of the system in Northern Ireland next year.
End quote: Luke Blunden, a researcher at the Sustainable Energy Research Group at the UK's University of Southampton, says of tidal energy:
"Tidal energy has the winning feature of being predictable -- in time particularly -- which makes it inherently more valuable...Although it is more expensive, I think its reliability will win out in the end. It's not a [total] solution, but it will be part of the energy mix."
by: TreeHugger Science, 2010-05-07 21:16:47 UTC
Last week residents of Concord, Massachusetts voted to ban the sale of all bottled water by next January, making it the first U.S. town to take such action.
The effort was lead by Jean Hill, an 82-year old activist, who lobbied neighbors and officials alike on the consequences of plastic bottles filling landfills and polluting local waters. "All these discarded bottles are damaging our planet, causing clumps of garbage in the oceans that hurt fish, and are creating more pollution on our streets,'' says Hil. "This is a great achievement to be the first in the country to do t... Read the full story on TreeHugger
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2010-05-26 02:06:33 UTC
The Wattcher consists of a sensor, a sending unit and a display. The sensor can be placed on any electricity meter (analog meters with a turning wheel ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2010-05-21 08:51:54 UTC
It is obvious that many things have evolved since the beginning of time and that progress has accumulated in our lives in the form of sophisticated ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2010-05-21 07:02:23 UTC
BIONICTILE ® by CERACASA is a porcelain tile with the capacity to destroy harmful nitrogen oxides (NOx) which are in the air. These NOx are present ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2010-05-19 01:35:02 UTC
Cork stems from the bark of a cork oak. The main producer is Portugal, where cork oak forests play an important role in local eco-system. It is a natural ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2010-05-17 14:59:32 UTC
It is obvious that many things have evolved since the beginning of time and that progress has accumulated in our lives in the form of sophisticated ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2010-05-13 08:45:04 UTC
Combining a re-usable 'Aquabal'l with pellets which can be used for up to 60 washes reducing washing powder, packaging, water. The pellets ingredients ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2010-05-13 08:45:04 UTC
A product inspired on the traditional African way of making sandals out of car tires, the sole of the Plakkies is made out of recycled car tires. Normally ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2010-05-13 08:05:51 UTC
Lyocell is a fabric most know better by its brand name Tencel®. It has a soft finish, packs light and is made from cellulose (vegetable matter), or ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2010-05-11 08:31:04 UTC
A thermoplastic material made exclusively from renewable resources is based on lignin, a natural polymer which is formed by photosynthesis and makes ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2010-05-11 08:16:07 UTC
University of Cincinnati's work focused on making a new artificial photosynthetic material which uses plant, bacterial, frog and fungal enzymes, trapped ...
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Image: ReVolt
Your Tax Dollars at Work
ReVolt Technology is working on a very promising zinc-air rechargeable battery that could be used in electric cars and hold 3x more energy than lithium-ion batteries. You can find out more about it by checking out our previous post: 
Last week residents of Concord, Massachusetts voted to ban the sale of all bottled water by next January, making it the first U.S. town to take such action.
The effort was lead by Jean Hill, an 82-year old activist, who lobbied neighbors and officials alike on the consequences of plastic bottles filling landfills and polluting local waters. "All these discarded bottles are damaging our planet, causing clumps of garbage in the oceans that hurt fish, and are creating more pollution on our streets,'' says Hil. "This is a great achievement to be the first in the country to do t...
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