posted by admin on Mar 9

Here are some more great eco inventions that make things easy!

I have said in previous articles that eco inventions should be the same – if not better at doing something than existing (and not so green) alternatives.

We shouldn’t expect people to go out of their way to achieve something green – it should be given naturally – and without losing quality or offering less.

So, in that vein, here are a handful of eco ideas that I think can make your life not only greener – but easier too!

The Hundred Dollar Laptop:
This invention caused a stir when it was launched back in 2005 – the XO – but it had since been improved and improved again – now the XOXO.

It can now be charged by many means including solar; it uses only a fraction of the energy of a normal laptop; has black and white mode for use in bright sunshine; instant connection to the network and touch-screen keyboards!

Folding Bikes:
Rather than the rather bulky folding bikes that have been around in the past – the Strida 3 folds up into a wheeled walking stick! This way, you can easily cycle when the conditions are right/safe/dry, but fold up your wheels when things get too busy/congested/wet!

Easy to carry on and off of public transport too – and you can leave it in your hallway when you get home without hitting you shins on the pedals!

Whole House Switch:
There is a lot of talk about making sure that nothing electrical is left on stand-by and switching this and that off all the time – but it’s not easy keeping on top of everything the family use in the morning before heading off to work yourself. So in comes the One Switch.

One single switch that will switch off all your non-essential electricals by your front door. No need to run around your bedrooms and offices looking for red lights to eliminate – just one click and your electricity use is virtually set to zero!

E-Wash:
Washing with nuts instead of detergent! This slim-fit washing machine is designed specifically to work with soap nuts rather than detergents and conditioners etc – making it a great eco-friendly alternative to most large washers and driers.

It holds the same load but fits into a smaller space – leaving more room in the home for other things – plus you can get by with as little as 1kg of soap nuts washing your clothes for a whole year! Double bargain!

Can you think of any more?

posted by admin on Mar 2

There’s plenty of sunshine on deck – but no room for sunbathing!

Floating somewhere in the Pacific Ocean close to French Polynesia is the largest solar-powered boat ever made – and it is on a (hopefully) four-time record-breaking journey around the globe. Check their location for yourself if not reading this today:

This 95-ton, 31 meter catamaran is already 5 months into its amazing journey – one that will hopefully show how renewable energy can become a serious contender in a carbon-reduced world.

The company responsible for this giant floating photo-voltaic panel were also the same company that recently created Earthrace – a boat powered mainly by bio diesel. However, with over 530 square meters of solar panels – this boat is truely eco friendly. It is totally powered by the sun itself – not on processed crops.

And they even got to Cancun in time for the UN World Climate Conference last year to prove a point!

The Boat:
The design needed to be totally energy-efficient and that meant both hydro- and aero-dynamic; I mean just because the sun’s energy is ‘free’ – there is no need to waste it!

They also wanted a boat that would have some usful purpose after the round-the-world adventure – as the massive over-hanging sheets of 825 solar panels don’t exactly scream ‘luxury yacht’.

However the hope is that the boat will still be used after as a personal craft – and that future technology based on this boats achievements will allow for smaller panels generating more energy to be produced.

Due to its energy source – the boat is also silent!

photo credit: Kumaravel

The sun isn’t only beautiful to look at – it could save our planet simply by doing what it has done for billions of years – just shine.

The Aims:
Well, the 4 World Records are just part of the fun of a new invention – but the real targets are proving that the technology of today can do amazing things if harnessed in the right way.

There is all this ‘talk’ of eco inventions being slow to take effect and being more expensive than the normal products or services – but this goes to prove that bigger projects can really work if you set your mind to it.

If such a large boat can power its way across the oceans – then why can’t smaller boats, cars, houses, businesses – all run on solar (where appropriate) or other renewable and sustainable energy sources.

To quote their own website – these are their 6 aims:
1) To demonstrate the potential of renewable energies and photovoltaics
2) To show that we already ahve the technology required for sustainability
3) To take part in the technological development of renewable energy and advance scientific research
4) To inform the public and make them aware of the importance of renewable energy
5) To make the best possible use of energy efficiency
6) To show that the economy and ecology can and must work together.

Read more on their website if you are still interested in their project – or if you have something similar in mind yourself…..

posted by admin on Feb 11

Not yet decided which tablet pc to buy – then read on…..

Fancy trying out the first Android tablet handheld computer? It has all the features of other tablets – and some great perks!

Starting with it’s lovely 7 inch screen, you know that it isn’t going to cut corners elsewhere – and being very slim and only weighing in at 380g – it is certainly light enough to comfortably hold in one hand. Useful if you are reading an eBook or using the tablet for it’s augmented reality features!

With a 1.06Hz application processor and up to 7 hours of HD movie play time in the battery – this gadget will certainly allow you to be totally mobile throughout the working day – or a relaxing night without having to find a charging base!

And with up to 32GB memory on the micro sD card – you won’t need to worry about storage for those movies and books that you will want to store on it for those long commutes – or your holiday with less of a suitcase to drag around the airport!

photo credit: FreshFiber

There are thousands of Android apps to choose from if you have any time to kill waiting for a phone call or bus – or you could play some of your favourite songs or the radio while you wait!

If you can keep it still enough with the one hand you could make great use of the 3.0 megapixel AF camera with LED flash – or on the flip side you can use the 1.3MP camera for video conferencing wherever you are – and why just use it for business – use it for family and friends too!

A little known feature of the Galaxy, is the ability to use their SWYPE typing software for messaging. It allows you to type documents and messages by sliding your finger across the on-screen keyboard while you type rather than lifting off and pressing down on each individual key. It recognises where you stop not where you slide, so you don’t have to worry about jabbing each little ‘key’ when you are in a hurry!

And when you are finally back at home (maybe having used the navigation feature if you are out of town) set in in it’s cradle and use it as an audio station, a digital photo frame for all your recent images – or just as a wall clock!

It’s not a bad little pocket gadget – if you have big pockets!

photo credit: FreshFiber

posted by admin on Feb 4

Forget coins and notes – there is a new way to pay…….

It has long been known that you can pay for things – like the London underground – with swipe cards (Oyster Cards) and that you can use your cell phone to pay for car parks if you are caught short in the city – but using your cell phone as a swipe card to pay for a McDonalds!

It really is something new – and expanding.

In the same way that Augmented Reality (AR) was pitched to offer you all sorts of information regarding where you are and what you are looking at – this new technology – known as NFC (near-field communication) is paving a new path in the wireless technology field.

What Is NFC?
Well, to sum it up you could say that NFC is a way for your cell to be told about everything that is close to you – basically your cell becomes one of your senses.

Technology inside your phone can identify who you are – and so ‘charge’ you directly for services like transport and fast food – or entry to museums etc.

But also, this technology inside other things can tell you what they want you to hear. By this I mean that a poster advertising a vacation could register that your cell just ‘walked’ past their poster and send you text with a discount code if you wanted to book through them – or a retail outlet could text you as you pass their store telling you of a great sale or promotion that you might have otherwise missed.

They could also be used by businesses as an identity card – or ‘clocking in’ device for their workers. Rather than cards, machines and guards, they might just make you enter the building through a certain door and the receivers identify you and show you as inside.

Convenient Or Conniving?
I can see both sides of this technology. Firstly, the convenience of not having to worry about having enough money on you all the time is great, and so is the potential for identifying you at work rather than having to complete forms or log in and out.

However, the intrusion of promotions, adverts and other such information would be most annoying. Imagine a stroll around town on your lunch break – it’s bad enough seeing all the adverts and posters all over the place, let alone having them all send messages to your cell! It would almost make you want to leave your cell in the office rendering your ‘identity wherabouts’ gadget useless for that purpose.

Regardless of what you think about it, it has already been implemented in many stores and transport systems across the globe, with many large technology and cell phone companies already pledging to install ‘this and that’ by ‘so and so’.

Japanese commuters have been using a similar technology (but a more basic version) for over 5 years for trains, taxis and fast food!

However, so far it only works by very close contact, but technology could allow these electrical messages to travel further – like the store promotion example.

The Future:
It looks like you won’t have to buy a new cell either as many models will be able to be upgraded – and it may well be available in cheaper models as it becomes more popular.

However, as with all identity cards, credit cards and of course cash – we can leave them at work, lose them or have them stolen. So is making a cell phone even more valuable a good idea?

Cell swipe technology only works with a debit system – so the funds have to be prepaid or instantly charged. Needless to say they could be used as ‘cash’ when stolen at a nearby store or restaurant without the cashier being any the wiser.

And, if these chips were to contain personal information as well, then they may well become a victim of their own success. It would be as disasterous as losing your laptop.

People may even start to carry 2 cells: 1 for paying and one for all other uses – so if it was stolen or lost, they wouldn’t loose all their data and contacts too!

Maybe they will invent a ‘cell buddy’ that cleared all data off the phone if it was taken further than 5 meters from the cell (as would only happen if the owner no longer had their cell with them). Or a way to de-activate the chip in some way when it was next used after being stolen or lost.

Anyway – I’m sure these little niggles will be smoothed out……..

posted by admin on Jan 28

It’s not just genetically modified foods that are being manipulated!

The argument for and against GM foods, as they are known, is a raging one. The ‘Againsts’ are asking “why should scientists tamper with nature” (by adding bits of fish proteins to tomatoes for example) – but then the ‘Fors’ are saying “why should scientists not try to ‘invent’ food that is more nutritious, disease resistant and with a longer shelf life?”

However – there is now a new way to manipulate processed food without necessarily modifying the original ingredients: nano particles.

NanoTechnology:
These ‘nano’ particles are inbetween the atomic level and molecular level and nanoparticles of known substances act differently to their ‘normal’ counterparts – for example; nano particles of gold have a different melting point to a slab of gold.

These particles can be used to change the properties of other particles and can therefore be very useful for solidifying, or liquifying certain solutions etc.

There is much debate about the implications of using nanoparticles in the future – as with medicine, biomaterials and foods – due to the fact that nanoparticles can pass through cell walls with ease – including into the brain. As a result there is much debate as to their uses and regulation – particularly as they have unproven effects on the body.

Nano Foods:
So, would it then surprise you to find out that there are already food products and toiletries on the market containing nanoparticles – whether you knew it or not!

Nanoparticles – like nano-silver – can be great in the product they are made for, improving its qualities many times over – but it’s what happens after these particles leave the product that they become a hazard.

photo credit: Akira Ohgaki

As always, when eaten in the form of a highly nutritious and long-lasting product – it eventually has to come out of that product – as we all know ‘what comes out doesn’t look at all like what went in’. So where do these nanoparticles go as they don’t usually break down very easily?

The first answer is that they don’t go anywhere. They may move themselves across the digestive wall, travel around your body and settle somewhere forever. Whether they are in a ‘good place’ or a ‘bad place’ isn’t necessarily the worst thing to worry about – it’s what they do when they get there – and how much you eat that can cause the problem.

The second scenario is that you excrete them and they head off into the sewers and landfill. Now usually, nanoparticles are added to food to prevent bacterial growth and decay – so they aren’t going to degrade easily alongside other waste. And what if they stop the other waste from degrading too?

Just as excessive polystyrene is great for protecting products – but a nightmare to dispose of; nanofoods may well be the greatest answer to food preservation and improved nutrition. However, if their consumption causes health issues and their disposal causes pollution and disruption – then are the initial benefits worth while?

People Say:
Unfortunately, consumer trends are what can influence whether a product is successful or not – so by keeping your ingredients ‘under the radar’ you can just about put anything in them.

In the same way that companies use various other words to describe palm oil other than actually saying ‘our product contains palm oil’ – they are still selling crates and crates of their products – even though consumers ‘hate to see the rainforests being burnt down’.

However, in Europe, GM foods hit the headlines and now hardly any companies at all can sell GM foods anywhere. People spoke their mind and they stuck to their guns. However, people in other countries weren’t so bothered by it all and so regularly buy genetically modified foods.

So why not eat nano foods too? Is the risk that great?

Lets be honest: we know that smoking can lead to all sorts of long-term illnesses and even death – but millions of people world-wide still smoke.

Fancy a packet of nano-peanuts with that!