Author: Adam Clare

Power Floors for the Future

Floors can generate electricity if we want them to:

Redmond’s unique floor tiles generate electricity using a phenomenon known as piezoelectricity – electricity generated by applying mechanical stress to certain materials like the lead zirconate plates in the POWERleap. When these 2-inch by 1-inch piezoceramic plates are bent, a charge is produced that can be harnessed. Multiply one tile by the surface area of a subway station or even your standard grocery store floor, and you can imagine the amount of energy these tiles have the potential to generate.

In a few years Elizabeth hopes people will be able to pull the POWERleap off the shelves of Home Depot and install it to power their homes. More importantly if we generate our own electricity it should change the way we consume, appreciate and utilize electric power. During our cell phone conversation, Elizabeth pointed out another beneficial feature of the technology. “Imagine a business powered by the people who move around inside it. When the people leave for the day the lights and power would automatically shut down.”

Condoms are Good?

This is some news that can be considered good or not-so-good depending on how you view the world. Having fewer children is the best thing we can do (or not do) for the environment.

Three decades ago, experts said that the ever-growing human population would lead to global disaster. Paul Erhlich’s best-selling work, The Population Bomb predicted disaster for humanity due to overpopulation and the “population explosion”.
Even though the world population increased to 6.7 billion in thirty years, advances in technology and agriculture, globalization and successful family planning has forestalled the detonation of this bomb.
With the recent rise in the cost of food and fuel, and our failure to control greenhouse gas emissions, along with predictions of a world population of 9 billion by 2040, it looks like we might run out of planet even with advances in technology.
One of the ways we can create a more sustainable planet is to limit our population. I’m not talking about state mandated controls but self-regulation. If a woman has control over the number and the spacing of her children, we are all better off.

World Eden Project Planned for Bristol

This is really neat! Bristol’s zoo is planning to rethink the zoo concept and create a place that will be like the garden of eden for wildlife.

The timing could hardly be more prescient. Last week the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the world’s largest environmental body, predicted that up to a fifth of all mammals are now facing extinction. At least 76 species are known to have died out since the 1500s with a further 1,141 of the 5,487 mammal species currently endangered.

Under the plans submitted to South Gloucestershire Council, Bristol’s “eco zoo” could connect the inherent interest value of captive animals with the conservation methods needed to save their wild cousins.

The whole idea of captivity will be reduced to a minimum – this zoo aims to be to animals what the Eden Project is for plants. The often controversially cramped spaces of the Victorian era’s most famous zoos are gone – replaced with open land, moats and ditches. Food for the animals will be organic, while 80 per cent of the building material will be locally sourced and sustainable.

But most importantly, the four themed areas of the park – which if given the go-ahead will be open by 2012 – have all been chosen to reflect specific areas of the world where conservation is desperately needed to save critically endangered species.

A Better Use for Oil Drums

Oil drums carry stuff that many people don’t like (but everyone uses), some enterprising people have figured out a new use for old oil drums.

The basic Stanker is a one-off, unique table, using recycled materials. The name and model number corresponds to the size of the original barrel. The variations are endless and innovative–one model uses the lid of the barrel as a table surface and Louis XV style legs are added. Another barrel is made into a shelving unit and yet another is a chair.