Category Archives: Other Stuff
Incandescent lighting solutions have lost favor today most of the world turning to energy-efficient lighting solutions like LEDs. Swedish furniture retail giant IKEA has also taken a solemn oath to completely phase out the sale of incandescent bulbs, settling for only LEDs instead. The company will sell only LEDs by 2016, and has distributed LED bulbs to all of its 130,000 employees worldwide. A move like this could prove beneficial not just to the company but also the community, the electricity and the environment as a whole.
LED lighting solutions are known to work longer than incandescent bulbs. Also, these produce a similar amount of light and consume 90% less energy, making LEDs a perfect way to light up homes.
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Environment lovers and tree huggers are in for a treat with Amazon.com’s subsidiary Quidsi pulling the veil off its newest green online destination. Called Vine.com, the website has on sale organic food and household items made of natural or sustainable products. Built to cater to a niche-yet-surprisingly-large market, Vine.com however will carry no Amazon labeling, and will require users to register with the website. Complete with its own loyalty program and a full-fledged transaction platform, this website will soon turn into a one-stop destination for nearly every green and environment-friendly food and household product you could pick off a store shelf.
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The San Diego Zoo will now make use of clean and green energy to the fullest, teaming up with Smart City San Diego to install a full-fledged solar photovoltaic canopy that in turn will juice EVs in the parking lot. A venture put forth in collaboration with San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), City of San Diego, GE, UC San Diego and CleanTECH San Diego, Smart City San Diego will use 10 solar canopies producing 90 kilowatts (kW) of electricity hooked up to five EV charging stations. The juice collected by the solar canopy will be used to offset the electricity used by the EVs to charge with the canopy itself spreading over enough space to cover 50 cars. An initiative bound to give the San Diego Zoo an additional punch of green, we applaud the effort being put into making San Diego an eco-friendly place to live in.
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Energy-efficient architecture today has scaled new heights, and the world is quickly realizing the need for sustainable ways to live. The 2022 FIFA World Cup might seem ages away, though hosts Qatar has already began drawing up green plans for the same. Recently, we spotted this beautiful twinkling architectural marvel that will soon show up in this Arab state, designed by Vedran Pedišić (SANGRAD) and Erick Velasco Farerra (AVP-arhitekti) and planned by Danijel Koletić of Apriori Communications. Called the Crystal Ball-Light of the Future, this shimmering orb-shaped structure will pack a sports museum and a shopping center and is reminiscent of a giant crystal-ball, using top-of-the-line technology to stay energy-efficient and eco-friendly. Resting on a vertical axis and spinning on a spiral path, the crystal ball makes slow revolutions around the center. Gracious, magnificent and terrifically beautiful, the structure is also energy efficient and will be yet another jewel in Qatar’s crown.
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Wind-energy turbines might’ve proved a boon to city grids, powering up homes with green and renewable energy. However, the pleasantness of the situation doesn’t extend to our feathered friends, who often run into these huge fan-like machines and are killed. Jerry Lynch, president of Sigma Design Co. along with 89-year-old World War II veteran Raymond Green, has come up with an innovative technique to keep birds away from wind turbines and reduce deaths. As per statistics, nearly 400,000 flying creatures are killed annually, and the Catching Wind Power Compressed Air Enclosed Wind Turbine could very well help decrease those numbers substantially. Using no external blades, this concept uses inner-compression cone technology that essentially squeezes incoming air, in turn increasing power output and reducing sound! An innovative solution that not only helps protect our flying wildlife but also increases energy generation, the Catching Wind Power concept is bound to catch on quickly.
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India was termed as the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases in 2009, and in a desperate attempt to reduce its carbon footprint, this quickly developing country has now began promoting the use of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. Spending nearly $4.13 billion on an ambitious project with which the Indian government hopes to bring at least 6 million green vehicles on road by 2020, 5 million of which are expected to be two-wheelers, the country has now realized the need for eco-friendly modes of transport and a need to decrease reliance on fossil fuels. Fuel prices in India have been soaring over the past decades and using energy efficient plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles could indeed prove to be a better way to travel if all goes as planned.
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And just when we though coin-operated machines had met their doom with the dawn of the smart-card, the Japanese pulled the veil off the world’s first coin-operated EV charging station! Unlike its peers that usually require smart-cards and credit-cards to function, this charging station in all its retro-likeliness requires drivers to drive up to it, pop in coins and juice up their cars. Designed to blend in with the current wave of EV chargers across Japan, this charging station costs a whopping $7,317 more than its peers, a hefty price for a step-down in technology. Also, a system like this is bound to receive negative feedback in European countries and the United States, given that people there now depend more on cards than loose change!
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We’ve been constantly exploring ways to complete everyday chores in an eco-friendly way and designer Sang-soon Lee’s brainchild, the Hula Washer is one of them. A hula-hoop that doubles up as a washing machine of sorts, enabling you to do your laundry as you exercise, without the need of electricity, the Hula Washer is indeed a well-conceived idea that pretty much makes sense in modern day scenarios where people look forward to shortening electricity bills and keeping fit! All you need to do is use this clever washing machine as a regular hula-hoop after tossing your clothes inside and have them spin as you exercise! A 2012 Electrolux Design Lab entry, the innovative Hula Washer is an answer to physical fitness and laundry woes.
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Lithium-ion batteries might be the answer to powering up our electrical needs away from the grid, though these are known to take typically longer hours to charge up. Recently, a group of researchers from the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea have come up with a new battery manufacturing technique that helps decrease the time taken by these to charge to a few minutes! These batteries are predicted to charge 30 and 120 times faster than normal li-on batteries and are densely interwoven with conductors. A development like this could help boost the electric-car industry and subsequently make our everyday gadgetry quicker to juice up!
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All we’ve known about our whole life is that plants and veggies grow on the soil and die when they’re uprooted. But the Green Sky Growers have uprooted the notion itself by employing a completely novel technique called Aquaponics. The farms are all around the roofs, pillars and walls of the place, making for an interesting watch. It is a mutually-beneficial farming technique involving fish culture and vegetables. Green Sky Growers are the breath of local restaurateurs who count on them for their weekly veggie supplies. Aquaponics is a combination of “aquaculture”, the farming of fish and “hydropinics” the raising of vegetables in soil-free, nutrient-rich water solutions.
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