What can we do for our planet

Testing out something new

2009-04-26T03:52:00.001-07:00

Greening the desert

2009-04-14T19:39:00.001-07:00

An amazing effort. It is worth replicating in India. Very inspiring.

Unusual Office

2009-01-11T20:24:00.001-08:00

A writing studio that seems to be the perfect place to find peace.

Private Library from A Space In Time on Vimeo.

creativity knows no bounds

2009-01-05T22:17:00.001-08:00

http://www.botanicalpaperworks.com/product/Plantable+Eco+Calendar+2009/421/

Ecofont

2009-01-03T00:01:00.001-08:00

This font conserves upto 20% ink.

Download it here: Ecofont

A Miniature Earth

2008-12-31T08:24:00.001-08:00

A Miniature Earth

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: awesome cool)

My Hawaiian surprise

2008-12-27T06:12:00.001-08:00

My Hawaiian surprise
Originally uploaded by nicointhebus (nicolas monnot)

Wow

Energy efficient housing

2008-12-26T23:02:00.000-08:00

Shared by Avneesh Makkar

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/world/europe/27house.html?ref=world&pagewanted=all

The Energy Challenge

No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in 'Passive Houses'

Rolf Oeser for The New York Times

Berthold Kaufmann and his wife, Dorte Feierabend, with their daughters in their "passive house" in Darmstadt, Germany.

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

Published: December 26, 2008

DARMSTADT, Germany — From the outside, there is nothing unusual about the stylish new gray and orange row houses in the Kranichstein District, with wreaths on the doors and Christmas lights twinkling through a freezing drizzle. But these houses are part of a revolution in building design: There are no drafts, no cold tile floors, no snuggling under blankets until the furnace kicks in. There is, in fact, no furnace.

The Energy Challenge

Articles in this series are examining the ways in which the world is, and is not, moving toward a more energy efficient, environmentally benign future.

Previous Articles in the Series »

In Berthold Kaufmann's home, there is, to be fair, one radiator for emergency backup in the living room — but it is not in use. Even on the coldest nights in central Germany, Mr. Kaufmann's new "passive house" and others of this design get all the heat and hot water they need from the amount of energy that would be needed to run a hair dryer.

"You don't think about temperature — the house just adjusts," said Mr. Kaufmann, watching his 2-year-old daughter, dressed in a T-shirt, tuck into her sausage in the spacious living room, whose glass doors open to a patio. His new home uses about one-twentieth the heating energy of his parents' home of roughly the same size, he said.

Architects in many countries, in attempts to meet new energy efficiency standards like the Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design standard in the United States, are designing homes with better insulation and high-efficiency appliances, as well as tapping into alternative sources of power, like solar panels and wind turbines.

The concept of the passive house, pioneered in this city of 140,000 outside Frankfurt, approaches the challenge from a different angle. Using ultrathick insulation and complex doors and windows, the architect engineers a home encased in an airtight shell, so that barely any heat escapes and barely any cold seeps in. That means a passive house can be warmed not only by the sun, but also by the heat from appliances and even from occupants' bodies.

And in Germany, passive houses cost only about 5 to 7 percent more to build than conventional houses.

Decades ago, attempts at creating sealed solar-heated homes failed, because of stagnant air and mold. But new passive houses use an ingenious central ventilation system. The warm air going out passes side by side with clean, cold air coming in, exchanging heat with 90 percent efficiency.

"The myth before was that to be warm you had to have heating. Our goal is to create a warm house without energy demand," said Wolfgang Hasper, an engineer at the Passivhaus Institut in Darmstadt. "This is not about wearing thick pullovers, turning the thermostat down and putting up with drafts. It's about being comfortable with less energy input, and we do this by recycling heating."

There are now an estimated 15,000 passive houses around the world, the vast majority built in the past few years in German-speaking countries or Scandinavia.

The first passive home was built here in 1991 by Wolfgang Feist, a local physicist, but diffusion of the idea was slowed by language. The courses and literature were mostly in German, and even now the components are mass-produced only in this part of the world.

The industry is thriving in Germany, however — for example, schools in Frankfurt are built with the technique.

Moreover, its popularity is spreading. The European Commission is promoting passive-house building, and the European Parliament has proposed that new buildings meet passive-house standards by 2011.

The United States Army, long a presence in this part of Germany, is considering passive-house barracks.

"Awareness is skyrocketing; it's hard for us to keep up with requests," Mr. Hasper said.

Nabih Tahan, a California architect who worked in Austria for 11 years, is completing one of the first passive houses in the United States for his family in Berkeley. He heads a group of 70 Bay Area architects and engineers working to encourage wider acceptance of the standards. "This is a recipe for energy that makes sense to people," Mr. Tahan said. "Why not reuse this heat you get for free?"

Ironically, however, when California inspectors were examining the Berkeley home to determine whether it met "green" building codes (it did), he could not get credit for the heat exchanger, a device that is still uncommon in the United States. "When you think about passive-house standards, you start looking at buildings in a different way," he said.

Buildings that are certified hermetically sealed may sound suffocating. (To meet the standard, a building must pass a "blow test" showing that it loses minimal air under pressure.) In fact, passive houses have plenty of windows — though far more face south than north — and all can be opened.

Inside, a passive home does have a slightly different gestalt from conventional houses, just as an electric car drives differently from its gas-using cousin. There is a kind of spaceship-like uniformity of air and temperature. The air from outside all goes through HEPA filters before entering the rooms. The cement floor of the basement isn't cold. The walls and the air are basically the same temperature.

Look closer and there are technical differences: When the windows are swung open, you see their layers of glass and gas, as well as the elaborate seals around the edges. A small, grated duct near the ceiling in the living room brings in clean air. In the basement there is no furnace, but instead what looks like a giant Styrofoam cooler, containing the heat exchanger.

Passive houses need no human tinkering, but most architects put in a switch with three settings, which can be turned down for vacations, or up to circulate air for a party (though you can also just open the windows). "We've found it's very important to people that they feel they can influence the system," Mr. Hasper said.

The houses may be too radical for those who treasure an experience like drinking hot chocolate in a cold kitchen. But not for others. "I grew up in a great old house that was always 10 degrees too cold, so I knew I wanted to make something different," said Georg W. Zielke, who built his first passive house here, for his family, in 2003 and now designs no other kinds of buildings.

In Germany the added construction costs of passive houses are modest and, because of their growing popularity and an ever larger array of attractive off-the-shelf components, are shrinking.

But the sophisticated windows and heat-exchange ventilation systems needed to make passive houses work properly are not readily available in the United States. So the construction of passive houses in the United States, at least initially, is likely to entail a higher price differential.

Moreover, the kinds of home construction popular in the United States are more difficult to adapt to the standard: residential buildings tend not to have built-in ventilation systems of any kind, and sliding windows are hard to seal.

Dr. Feist's original passive house — a boxy white building with four apartments — looks like the science project that it was intended to be. But new passive houses come in many shapes and styles. The Passivhaus Institut, which he founded a decade ago, continues to conduct research, teaches architects, and tests homes to make sure they meet standards. It now has affiliates in Britain and the United States.

Still, there are challenges to broader adoption even in Europe.

Because a successful passive house requires the interplay of the building, the sun and the climate, architects need to be careful about site selection. Passive-house heating might not work in a shady valley in Switzerland, or on an urban street with no south-facing wall. Researchers are looking into whether the concept will work in warmer climates — where a heat exchanger could be used in reverse, to keep cool air in and warm air out.

And those who want passive-house mansions may be disappointed. Compact shapes are simpler to seal, while sprawling homes are difficult to insulate and heat.

Most passive houses allow about 500 square feet per person, a comfortable though not expansive living space. Mr. Hasper said people who wanted thousands of square feet per person should look for another design.

"Anyone who feels they need that much space to live," he said, "well, that's a different discussion."

Mondiago Award for Sustainable Development Ideas

2008-12-20T08:40:00.001-08:00

Mondialogo Engineering Award

The Mondialogo Engineering Award invites engineering students in developing and developed countries to form local groups and international teams to work together to develop project proposals that address the United Nations Millennium Development Goals – proposals to improve the quality of life in the developing world. Each international team should consist of two (or more) student teams.

The Award seeks to encourage student engineers to develop project proposals, as a design exercise that addresses some of the major challenges of the 21st century. The eradication of poverty, promotion of sustainable development and responding to climate change are key concerns of the Mondialogo Engineering Award.

Participating students are asked to respond to these most pressing challenges of today’s world, and to develop engineering solutions and technologies that will help to reduce poverty and address basic needs, enhance sustainable development in such areas as water supply and sanitation, mitigate the negative impacts of climate change and adapt to changing climatic conditions

United Nations Millennium Development Goals

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop global partnerships for development

Prize money

The Mondialogo Engineering Award consists of a total amount of € 300,000 – MEA Gold Awards of € 15,000, MEA Silver Awards of € 10,000 and MEA Bronze Awards of € 5,000. It is intended that these awards be used as “seed funding“ to help develop and initiate the proposed projects.

Smokeless Chulhas by PHILIPS

2008-09-30T01:16:00.001-07:00

Philips design has designed smokeless chulhas for reducing indoor pollution by upto 90%. An excerpt from their site:

There are two versions of the Chulha smokeless stove; Sampoorna and Saral.

The Sampoorna is an all-in-one unit intended for cooking/boiling with an integrated steamer for preparing rice, lentils etc. The Saral is a modular system which has a basic cooking block and which allows the addition of various other blocks for e.g. extra pots, steaming, or a ‘hot box’ for keeping food warm or heating it up. Both stove types are made of concrete and coated with local clay. It has been estimated that, compared to traditional cooking fires, the Sampoorna and Saral reduce indoor smoke pollution by up to 90%. The Sampoorna will cost roughly €8; the Saral €5.

Read the complete story here.

Earth2tech maps

2008-09-12T18:58:00.001-07:00

From earth2tech.com

Earth2Tech’s 101 Cleantech Startups, where you can see how cleantech companies are sprouting up all over the place.

The different sectors — like solar, energy storage, biofuels and
electric vehicles — are all represented by a logo, and each pin on the
map has all of the vital stats for each startup (founding year,
investors, technology, etc.).

25 Ecopreneurs

2008-09-12T18:54:00.001-07:00

From earth2tech.com

With their dotcom and broadband-based winnings in tow, serial
entrepreneurs of the information technology age have been taking the
plunge into the energy and cleantech markets, looking to recreate their
e-successes.

This list contains some very illustrious names. I hope they succeed.

India - Electric Car Exchange

2008-09-12T18:45:00.001-07:00

From www.earth2tech.com

Reva, the Indian electric car company that had one of the best-selling electric vehicles in the world last year, is holding a “gas-to-electric-car” exchange in Bangalore this weekend. The idea is to bring in your gas car and maybe, just maybe, come out with a brand-new REVAi.

Thirst

2008-09-06T21:32:00.001-07:00

This presentation won the prize for the best presentation in the World's Best Presentation Contest organized by Slideshare. Take a look:

THIRST

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: design crisis)

Home scale electricity

2008-09-02T03:35:00.001-07:00

In South Africa homes may soon be feeding electricity back into the national grid.

See http://www.treevolution.co.za/?p=787

Social Entrepreneurs

2008-08-01T01:33:00.001-07:00

Some great work is being done by the Skoll Foundation.

From its website:

The Skoll Foundation's mission is to advance systemic change to benefit communities around the world by investing in, connecting and celebrating social entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs are proven leaders whose approaches and solutions to social problems are helping to better the lives and circumstances of countless underserved or disadvantaged individuals.

Nuclear Power = Green Energy

2008-07-31T00:46:00.001-07:00

John McCain thinks so.

Do you agree? Please comment.

Idea - Car Pool Community

2008-07-24T05:55:00.001-07:00

We could make something like this:

http://zimride.com/home.php

Makes great sense for a city like Delhi.

Attero Recycling

2008-07-19T23:13:00.001-07:00

An indian company focused on recycling. Website is coming soon at http://www.attero.co.in/

The Green School

2008-07-19T21:31:00.001-07:00

A new school that incorporates "green" principles in all its aspects is opening in Bali. From the Green School website:

Green School opens in September 2008 for students in Preschool and Kindergarten through Year Eight, with highly talented students and faculty from communities in Bali and around the world. Our innovative curriculum combines demanding academic content taught through a holistic approach that aims to inspire and enhance all of a child’s capacities. Talented faculty apply classroom lessons to real life through a range of entrepreneurial and environmental projects. Our goal is to foster a spirit of inquiry and a love of learning that prepares our students to thrive in the challenging, complex 21st-century world.

More details at: http://www.greenschool.org/

saving paper while using credit/debit card

2008-07-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

Everywhere in India, using a plastic card NECESSARILY gives rise to TWO receipts (first copy is for Merchant and it has to be there, second one is for customer) even if customer is not interested in his copy.

Looks it is only a software issue, the agency (perhaps the centralized collection center for Visa/MasterCard/Amex) running these machines could be sensitized to include the option of printing second copy ONLY if demanded by customer.

One sided diaries

2008-07-19T07:25:00.001-07:00

An idea - We could collect one side used paper and create diaries, notebooks, pads etc. out of them and start selling them through a website.

Composting Service

2008-07-18T01:13:00.001-07:00

http://nichegeek.com/pickup_service_for_composting

A Montreal resident has started a pickup service for composting.

He's not making a lot of money with the business, but McLeod said he enjoys it and hopes he can make it work for a while, at least until the city gets a program going.
"It's a very pleasant kind of business because you are dealing with individuals who are doing this because they have an environmental conscience," he said.

The deficit in monetary returns is made up by the surplus in the personal satisfaction that the ecopreneur is getting by knowing that he is involved in something good.

This is exactly the kind of model we need in India.

Bicycle related innovations

2008-07-18T01:00:00.001-07:00

http://www.myzigo.com/

With
gas prices increasing more and more companies are coming out with bicycle-related
innovations. While the uses of myzigo above may not be relevant to India, I can see potential of similar innovations related to carrying trash, gas cyclinders, vegetables, courier packets etc etc.

Recycling

2008-07-17T23:08:00.001-07:00

http://www.terracycle.net/

This company recycles a lot of things. In India people recycle naturally. Almost every household gives stuff to the raddiwala. However, a number of items normally excluded from the process can be included.

We can do a similar thing in India also.