Latest Inventions

posted by admin on Nov 29

It’s not a Latest Invention, but I just had to pass on something I found a company doing that I wanted to introduce!

They are called the Corporate Angel Network (CAN) and they work hard and for free to match up empty seats on smaller corporate jet flights with cancer patients who are unable to fly to the specialist appointments on normal planes, either due to insurance clauses or due to the risk of infection in large crowds.

Since 1981, CAN - a not-for-profit organisation based in the States - has been working with corporations with their own fleets of small aircraft to fill their empty seats for free (yes - totally free to the patient and the person who travels with them) to help them travel between home and various hospitals and specialists as and when.

CAN currently transport around 250 patients a month according to their own stats, and uses the services of over 500 airlines.

It’s a great concept and for a great cause and it’s even sort of eco friendly (filling seats on an already scheduled flight).  So if you can help other patients, recommend them to a friend in need or make even a small donation - this charity needs voices to spread the word!

Thanks.

posted by admin on Nov 26

I just saw an advert for a new online ‘game’ that showed me a lot about how a city is powered - and the impact of ‘green’ alternatives.

It’s called Energyville and has been put together by The Economist Group, to show people the environmental costs of the many forms of energy available - and the essential we can’t do without at the moment.

Of course it is only a simplified storyline - but it is filled with facts and figures that really make you think about what we can expect for the future.  I mean I got to the point where it told me that we cannot currently run our transport networks without oil - we need it or we cannot exist.  So much for filling my city with ‘green’ energy!

Enter Energyville Yourself:
Take yourself to their website where you get a basic introduction to the site, then you name your city and either choose the actual game to start - or you can try the tester version to get to grips with the place.

I entered the tester city - which I decided to name ‘Hopesville’ - and it was very well laid out.  I was confronted with a very compact version of a major city with homes, an airport, factories, offices and transport systems: but nothing was working - it all had no power.  And the soundtrack was of just birdsong.

It all looked so peaceful - but then without all the noise and hub-bub of a city there wouldn’t be any food, furniture or products in the world!  So I needed to get things moving.

All the areas have information buttons where you can read about the energy needs of all the important sectors of a working city like commercial buildings, vehicles and homes as well as containing some amazing and extensive facts unique to that sector - like under transport it said that ‘ wide based tires improve fuel economy by up to 5% - saving up to 400 gallons of fuel per year; that’s US$1,680 at todays rates - and around 4 metric tonnes of CO2!

Running The City:
Next you have to decide what energy sources you want to use for your city and drag the factories, dams or wind turbines onto your cityscape.  But do so with care!

Each item your drag onto the scene has an impact on your key energy indicators: Economic Cost, Environmental Cost and City Security - as well as clocking up your overall energy score!  And, as you start to power the city it comes alive; cars start moving around, lights in offices come on and planes take-off!

The idea is obviously to keep your energy score as low as possible, but creating enough of the right energy to power your city.  The information can help you and the main info box tells you what you are doing wrong!  So needless to say it was screaming at me to use oil to power by infrastructure when I was trying to run the whole place on hydro and wind power!

And, the energy scores for some of the green alternatives are not so low after all!  It certainly made me think differently about it all - I mean a biomass factory had more energy cost than a coal factory!

Fully Powered:
When you have reached full power for your city for 2015, it takes you through a mid way storyline detailing some future events that could affect your city - for example if biomass factories make world hunger even worse than it is today, then your factory becomes more expensive to run!  And all the rest….

The game then takes you back to your city in 2015 to see how it looks.  And I didn’t like mine!  It was noisy and busy and using far too much energy - total contrast to when you first start the game!

But - as it’s busier - it needs yet more energy - so you need to add more factories or change your sources to get the balance again.  It isn’t a nice place to be in my opinion!

The End?:
When you finally finish your city (and it can only take a few minutes to complete if you don’t read it all), it takes you to the ‘final score’ section, which shows your total energy cost and environmental impacts etc.

It also gives you a final score out of the thousands of people who have played it!  I’m afraid I was nearly in 200,000th place with my hydro and wind (with a little oil) based city!  And we are told that that is the way forward!

So, maybe try out your own ideas in this format - I might see if nuclear is the way forward!

posted by admin on Jul 23

Fancy a simple GPS gadget that can get you back to square one?

It’s not as stupid as it seems really - especially if the starting point is your car parked up in a national park. Or your tent in the middle of the woods!

It’s called the ECCO and it’s a small gadget that fits nicely on your key fob.

Basically, this small device can save the global postition of exactly where you are standing - and then get you right back there when you have finished whatever it is that you are doing.

How Does It Work?
Let’s say that you have travelled to a large woodland that you have never been to before - and you want to go for a long stroll - but there are no clear footpaths or marked walkways.

Now, you don’t want to get lost do you? So it would be great to know that where ever you walked up or down hills and over streams - you could click on your gadget and it would lead you back to your vehicle so that you could go home!

Nothing could sound more perfect to me as a walker. I could park my car anywhere, click the gadget to register the location, then go out for hours with the dog without the worry of getting back to where I started.

Ths gadget even tells you how far away you are from your car, so you can work out how long it would take to get back - that way you won’t end up walking for miles in the opposite direction. You would be able to walk roughly in a circle and knowing exactly where you are.

Does It Only Work For Cars?
No. I was using the car as an example of a popular thing that we want to get back to but it could be anything.

Basically, you set the first location wherever you want to, so from your home, from your school, from your tant or caravan - or just at the start of a woodland or mountain range. It will save any location regardless of where it is or why you saved it!

It would be great for kids to use if they are playing outdoors as they could always follow the gadget back to where you wanted them to be! Yes, it’s not foolproof and it in no way replaces good parents - but it is a back-up plan if your kids tend to wander out of eyeshot!

Great to use at great theme parks, mainly as a safety device - where you set the start point as the security desk or your hotel/cabin and if you get seperated from anyone - you can all meet back at the same place!

Great for being on holiday and not knowing your way around - or when you are staying out late in a new town after a few drinks - and you need to find your hotel room!

posted by admin on May 31

They are at it again! 

Tesla are now in production with a family electric car to fill the gap in the market.  After the unbelievable success of their ground-breaking Roadster (article name and link) they thought that they had better slow down and think of a different demographic.

There is still a waiting list for the Tesla Roadster after it’s launch a while back, so why a whole new design now?

The Model S
A-top-of-the-range shiny new sporty-looking hatchback that can travel 300 miles on a single charge! And can seat 7 people!

The prototype was shown to all and hopes to be ready for 2011 - with plans to churn out 20,000 the following year.

It’s not going to be a cheap family car, but the costs of running will be so much cheaper than gas - estimates reckon that the 4 hour full charge on the cars 8000 fuel cells will cost a tiny $5 at today’s electricity prices!

That really is cost effective! 

Bearing in mind that the shortage of oil will no doubt push up already high gas prices - and the pressure of crops for bio-fuel could be making it unpopular.

It has been calculated that owners could save around $15,000 on fuel costs over the life of the car - and obviously help to save the environment at the same time (if using wind-produced electricity rather than coal!).

What Else Is Out There? 
Competition is on the horizon from several rival firms - none of whom are in production either!

First up is the Lightning with many claims including 0-60 mph in just 5 seconds and with a charge time of just 10 minutes for 200 miles of driving - get yours reserved with just a £15,000 deposit!

Also the Volvo 3CC is set to revolutionise electric vehicles.  With a claimed 0-60mph in 10 seconds and a top speed of 85mph, it will do the trick - but it looks a bit futuristic with flap up doors and a clear roof!

The Future:
However, should new cars be like old cars?  Should there be a new way of looking at cars as transport?

Electric car are still just cars - usually with just 1 person in them driving in traffic in the sweltering heat!

Maybe we need to design them to be most fuel efficient with only 2 people inside as this is how most of them are used!

posted by admin on Mar 4

Is it the car that makes it green or the fuel it runs on? One car manufacturing is racing to be the best in the new battle to become ‘green’.

Many new cars are focusing on offering ‘greener’ fuels for their cars and getting them to drive more economically - but this company are trying to make their entire ethos green, and are taking steps to become ‘responsible’.

Who Are They?
Well, this company are Lotus. They are trying to be the greenest car-maker in the UK, and are not keeping shy about it. They have a new eco-friendly car on the cards - although it’s nowhere near mass-production - but they want everyone to know about it. And everything else they are doing to be ‘green’.

After the huge success of the Tesla Roadster - the very popular all electric sports car (even George Clooney has one!) Lotus want more. They have created a sports car that actually has non-metal components on it’s shell and doesn’t have the ubiquitous leather seats!!!

So What’s New?
The Eco Elise as it’s name suggests, is based on the original sports car version of the same name - however, you will notice some differences. For starters, on it’s roof you will find some solar panals which will power the stereo and the air-conditioning rather than using it’s fuel. Running your hand over it’s bodywork, you may notice that not all it’s panals are metal - some are infact hemp. Yes - the well known plant!

You of course would not know that the paints used for it’s glorious coating were actually water-based products produced by DuPont - which are not only good for the environment in production but also less polluting when disposed of.

Moving inside as you slip into the drivers seat, you notice that the seat covers are made of wool - quite a surprise really - and nothing like the knitted surface you may have expected! As expected though - it will drive like a dream - all the mechanics of the car run the same as it’s namesake.

It’s Competition:
There are other classic car companies on it’s tail though, with the 2 below offering green credentials for their new models:

Jaguar - The Limo Green is their attempt to turn the company ‘green’ which should be coming about later this year. It is a series hybrid vehicle - basically an electric car that has it’s own onboard generater. Ideally it will run at around 120g of carbon per kilometer - but may even get below the 100g/km threshold that will save you paying road tax in the UK.

Land Rover - The Rehav, which is in effect a diesel hybrid verison of the classic style 4×4 vehicle. With little other green modifications bar that, it hopes to offer as little as 130g/km carbon release - now that really would be a first for these giant so called ‘gas-guzzling’ giants!!

The Next Step?
Companies used to be seen as reasonably ‘eco-friendly’ when they converted from oil-based fuels, but now the world is realising that this is a comparitively small step when cars like the Eco Elise start to have less impact on the environment around their factories and supply chain.

Moving towards creating a responsible company rather than creating just an eco friendly car seems to be the most logical step forward - and Lotus have taken that step!