5 Green everyday technologies that can help to improve the environment

Use of technology is the synonym of development; all the developed countries are extending their resources to build new technologies in every field viz. medicine, transportation, building etc.

Since ancient times man is using every possible creation of nature to make his life more and more comfortable.

The use of natural resources has increased to such an extent that all the natural non renewable resources are on the verge of extinction.

The very existence of human race is under jeopardy if this greedy exploitation of natural resources does not stop here.

All the great scientists have already said and warned the world about this very truth and thus scientists of many countries came forward with the innovative idea of using green technology in day to day life.

We all depend on technology in one form or the other and thus play role in exploiting nature’s resource. By adopting at least one of the green technology in our daily life we can help to conserve some portion of nature’s resource.

Following are few such innovative inventions by the scientist.

1. Sunlight stored LEDs

Designer: Patrick Walsh of Green Light Planet

Description

Sunlight stored LEDs can be used for four continuous hours after the LEDs are charged in the sun. Rural villages, where electricity has not been reached yet can be most benefited by this technology. Even in the highly populated cities where load shedding is very common nowadays, LEDs are giving better option than generators or battery operated sources. These solar powered lanterns do not fuse and do not require replacements. The solar chips absorb solar radiation and the solar energy gets converted into electrical energy and thus LEDs are illuminated. These are very light is weight and can be carried anywhere.

2. Solar water heater

Designer

Ashok Gadgil

Description

Most of the people use hot water during winter season to bath and for other domestic work, hot water is either obtained by using combustible fuel or electricity which is economically less affordable, therefore Ashok Gadgil from the University of California came up with his design of solar water heater. In his model he explains how water can be heated using solar energy with minimum expenditure on the product. This product can produce 26 gallons of water at 104 degrees Fahrenheit at 4 p.m. in the evening. Solar energy is trapped in the solar chips located on the board and the heat is transferred directly to the tanks filled with water. The water gets heated and can be used.

3. Sugarcane charcoal

Designer: Amy Smith

Description

People in developed countries still rely on the conventional methods of cooking like cow dung, wood from forests etc. This dependency on cow dung and wood for fuel is creating pressure on the forests and manure. To avoid the use of wood or cow dung as fuel, Amy Smith came with the idea of using Sugarcane charcoal. Sugarcane charcoal is environmentally friendly as compared to wood charcoal, also it is a clean and cheap fuel. To make sugarcane charcoal, its by-products called baiggas is utilized. This by products is carbonised in kiln to produce charcoal. The efficiency of this charcoal is nearly equal to the wood charcoal.

4. Wind Power on $2 a Day

Designer: Shawn Frayne

Description

Designed by Shawn Frayne, this state of art technology uses air to produce power. In the technology air passes over the device’s tiny ribbon-like vane, the vibration gets converted into small amount of electricity. It is very much useful technology as this avoids the use of huge turbines.

5. Irrigation by foot

Designer: Martin Fisher

Description

Irrigation is the basic requirement of all countries depending on agriculture. To pull water from the sources and transporting it to the field requires a lot of energy. In this world of shrinking energy sources Martin Fisher of Kickstart International company came up with the innovative idea of irrigating field using mechanical power, i.e., using foot for irrigation. This device pulls water from 30 feet underground and this water is enough to irrigate 2 acres of land. These pumps are easy to transport from place to place, easy to operate and allow farmers to direct water wherever water is required.

Five green gadgets that help charge your gadget gear on vacation

Today is a world of gadgets. Where ever you go, you find gadgets - in schools, restaurants, hotels, parks, even in your own pockets.

But there is one challenge which every gadget owner faces. The challenge of charging the gadget when they are out somewhere and do not have access to a charging slot.

Is this the challenge you face too? Then this post is only for you.

How to build a kayak using discarded plastic bottles

Make this planet a better place by building an eco friendly kayak.

Plastics as well as all know are non biodegradable and pollute the environment.

Plastic bottles are consumed on a large scale and less than 5% of these are recycled every year.

Instead of throwing them out as trash, recycle or reuse them.

Plastic bottles are lightweight and float easily. So if you have gathered a huge number of these then you can build a kayak from them.

An inventive and simple project, building a kayak from plastic bottles is real easy.

HaloIPT’s Wireless Electric Car Chargers

Recharging an electric car in motion using wireless EV chargers seemed more like a SF movie to me.

But reading more carefully, I have found that the IPT (the Inductive Power Transfer) was already launched on the market.

This system consist of: a wireless charging pad that look like an ordinary mat and a receiver pad that must be fitted inside your EV.

So, every time you’ll park your car over those wireless charging pads, they will recharge it (the system is based on the principle of inductive charging).

Researchers have planned to install many of these wireless pads on roads, in order to allow people to recharge their electric vehicles while driving.

Sun-Free Photovoltaics Open New Perspectives in Nano-Technology

Have you ever imagined a photovoltaic system that produces electricity without sunlight? Even it’s hard to believe, MIT researchers developed such a photovoltaic system that can run only on heat. Using any source of heat, this system will be able to generate electricity, giving the necessary boost to the future of renewable energy.

On its surface, this photovoltaic system has billions of tiny nano-pits that can convert heat into precise wavelengths of light. The produced light enables the photovoltaic system to generate electricity from it.

Using this new technology researchers have built a very small power generator. The micro-TPV power generator was designed around a micro-reactor that works as the nucleus of the machine.

Designed by Klavs Jensen, a professor of chemical engineering, the generator is powered by butane and is said to work three times longer than a lithium-ion battery (at the same size). It can be also recharged instantly by simply adding fresh fuel into it.

These new sun-free photovoltaics could be very useful in the area of nano-technology, creating alternatives for powering small devices as sensors, smartphones, laptops etc.

Source: Ecofriend

Nine in 10 homes will have to spend more to qualify for solar subsidies

Energy rating hurdle means 86% of householders would have to spend £5,600 to qualify for feed-in tariff.

Nearly nine in 10 households would have to spend more than £5,000 to make their homes more energy efficient before they could be eligible for solar panel subsidies under new rules announced this week.

Under changes announced on Monday, the solar feed-in tariff (Fit) will be tied to the government's "green deal" loan scheme, that aims to make homes more energy efficient.

Bringing those homes up to standard through insulation and heating improvements would "in most cases" cost up to £5,600, according to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc). The Renewable Energy Association believes the true cost would be higher, at around £7,000.

Morocco to host first solar farm in €400bn renewables network

The vast solar and windfarm project across North Africa and the Middle East may provide 15% of Europe's electricity by 2050.

Morocco has been chosen as the first location for a German-led, €400bn project to build a vast network of solar and windfarms across North Africaand the Middle East to provide 15% of Europe's electricity supply by 2050.

The Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII), a coalition of companies including E.ON, Siemens, Munich Re and Deutsche Bank, announced at its annual conference being held in Cairo on Wednesday that "all systems are go in Morocco", with construction of the first phase of a 500MW solar farm scheduled to start next year. The precise location of the €2bn plant is yet to be finalised, but it is expected to be built near the desert city of Ouarzazate. It will use parabolic mirrors to generate heat for conventional steam turbines, as opposed to the photovoltaic cells used in the UK.

How to Build a Homemade Solar Water Heater

In a world where fossil fuels are running low and where electricity becomes expensive with each passing day, people have to adapt and start living independent of these resources.

Considering all alternative energy sources available today, people should start implementing them in their lives, in their homes.

This is the reason why I chose to show you in this post the simplest way to build a solar water heater for your home.

Assembling this system is not very difficult but it is important to take into account several things:

Before you start installing this solar heating panel, you have to decide where it will work best. It should be installed where it can find maximum sunlight. It is also better if you’ll keep it close to the back up heater.

For maximum efficiency and zero risks you have to use water tight panels sealed with plexi-glass. To make it water proof it should be endorsed with black pond liner.

Today, panels are made of thin cylinders because of their greater efficiency. Plywood tank is a substitute for the thin cylinder, which is a shallow box with the plywood bottom and four walls used for the water tank.

At the bottom of the panel you have to connect the pipes using connectors. The role of these pipes is to drive water from the house to your solar heater. With another set of pipes connected at the top of this heater you’ll send the warm water back to the house.

The color you’ll use to paint your solar heater will be black (including the inner side of the panel). Black color absorbs light rays better than any other color and it stores heat energy efficiently. You have to make sure that the paint dries completely.

Now when you’re almost done, you have to cover your panels with a part of plexi-glass acrylic plastic.

For the purpose of glazing glass is the most appropriate material (for homemade water heaters). To avoid leaks, glazing should be done carefully and also make sure to glue the panes perfectly to avoid condensation.

This homemade solar water heater should not be very difficult to build. Give these plans a try and start build it. Good luck!

Bangkok residents flee as floods threaten to overwhelm capital

Mass evacuation as authorities fear crocodiles from outlying areas may have arrived in the city's swollen watercourses.Residents of Bangkok are bracing themselves for peak tides that threaten to overwhelm Thailand's capital with flood water. Many have fled to beach resorts unaffected by the country's worst flooding in half a century but those who remain face a shortage of bottled water and unconfirmed reports that crocodiles from outlying areas may have arrived in the city's swollen watercourses."We are hearing disturbing reports of dangerous animals such as snakes and crocodiles appearing in the floodwaters and every day we see children playing in the water, bathing or wading through it trying to make their way to dry ground," said Annie Bodmer-Roy, spokeswoman for Save the Children.Supermarkets are racing to import crates of bottled water because most plants supplying the city of 12 million people are located in central provinces, some of which are under two metres of water. In the absence of water, crates of beer have filled swaths of empty shelf space in shops.
Flood walls protecting much of Bangkok's inner-city areas are 2.5 metres (8ft) high and Saturday's high tide is expected to reach 2.6 metres.

Friday's morning high tide passed without a major breach, but the waters briefly touched riverside areas closer to the city's central business districts of Silom and Sathorn.
"It is clear that although the high tides haven't reached 2.5 metres, it was high enough to prolong the suffering of those living outside the flood walls and to threaten those living behind deteriorating walls," said the Bangkok governor, Sukhumbhand Paribatra.
Seven of Bangkok's 50 districts in the northern outskirts are heavily flooded, and residents have fled aboard bamboo rafts and army trucks and by wading in waist-deep water. Eight other districts have seen less serious flooding.
Hotels are packed in beach resorts such as Pattaya, where there is an uneasy balance between recreation and concern for the capital's fate with holidaymakers gathering around TV news bulletins, Bodmer-Roy said.
Almost 400 people have been killed in the nationwide floods, which began in July. The government has warned that Thailand may lose a quarter of its main rice crop, which could increase prices from the world's top exporter of the grain.
"The 6m tonnes damage [to the rice paddy] is just an initial estimate.

We need to conduct a survey again after flood water recedes," Apichart Jongsakul, head of the Office of Agriculture Economy, told Reuters.

Solar-powered internet school set to benefit children in rural Africa

Resilient mobile classroom incorporating laptops, video camera and electronic blackboard will work in areas without electricity.

Their days of sitting in a ramshackle, sweltering school building, or taking lessons under the shade of a tree, could be about to change.

Children in the farthest corners of rural Africa are the target of a mobile, solar-powered classroom that was launched in Johannesburg this week.
The classroom, built inside a 12-metre-long shipping container by electronics firm Samsung, has an array of gadgets including laptops, a video camera and a 50-inch e-board in place of a blackboard.
According to the manufacturers, the "solar powered internet school" can easily be carried by truck to remote areas, survive harsh weather conditions and, crucially, operate where there is no electricity supply.
Foldaway solar panels provide enough energy to power the classroom's equipment for up to nine hours a day, and for one and a half days without any sunlight at all. The panels are made from rubber instead of glass to ensure they are hardy enough to survive long journeys across the continent.
Samsung said: "Electricity remains Africa's largest economic challenge with the level of penetration lower than 25% in most rural areas.
"This lack of power isolates communities, and limits their access to education and information, both of which are key to fast-tracking a nation's development."
The classroom has space for 21 pupils and a teacher, and includes a ventilation system designed to maintain a "temperate environment".
It is fitted with a variety of computers including solar-powered laptops and tablets. It also has an energy-efficient fridge, a file server loaded with educational content, a router, a video camera and a "world first" Wi-Fi camera, all of which communicate via 3G.
This allows a central location, such as the department of education, to monitor classes and deliver curriculum-based content directly to the laptops of both pupils and staff.
If the best-laid plans are struck by a computer glitch, teachers can still use a regular built-in whiteboard and chalkboard.
The prototype is being piloted at the Samsung Electronics Engineering Academy in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg. It will then be sent to Qunu in the Eastern Cape to undergo further testing.
President and chief executive of Samsung Electronics Africa, KK Park, said: "We have set an ambitious goal for ourselves in Africa: to positively impact 5 million lives by 2015."

Family Gets Green Names to Promote Environmental Lifestyle

Somewhere in China a whole family renamed, to promote environtalism.
So let's see the new names: father's name is Chen Low-Carbon, wife's name is Zhang Green, and the names of their boys are Chen Enviromental Protection and Chen Enviroment.
In my opinion it is a good idea, i will think to change my name.

Recovery of waste from industry, shrimp and lobster processing

Shrimp are popular foods, from fish or shrimp farms, fast-growing industry in some parts of the world. Shrimp are traditional ingredients in many cuisines of regional abdominal muscles that form representing the tasty white meat part.

Shrimp farms were originally developed in Asia and is now widespread throughout the tropical world, representing between 33-50% of the total shrimp market.
Following the intense growth of shrimp and lobster consumption considered in the past to be luxury foods, most of these products remain in the form of bio-waste.
Increasing shrimp processing has led to increasing the amount of waste available because they are sold without the head and outer shell, 40-45% of these products being used.
These bio-wastes are stored as landfills, thrown on the ground or sea water removed, resulting in significant pollution of coastal areas of surfaces and is an important concern in terms of environmental pollution.

Shrimp and lobster residues containing biopolymers such as chitin and chitozanul, compounds with great economic importance. Because of special biological properties, biodegradability and biocompatibility of its chitozanul is widely used in medicine and pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food, agriculture and biotechnology.

Biomedical applications of these materials are different from sutures, bandages and ointments for healing wounds, contact lenses and artificial skin to controlled release drug systems.

The cosmetic industry is used in hair care products such as shampoos and hair dyes, but also in skin care products such as creams, lotions, private foundation, lipstick and makeup.

Chemical derivatives of chitozanului materials were studied as antimicrobial against a wide range of target organisms such as algae, bacteria, yeasts and fungi. In agriculture, chitozanul is mainly used as seed treatment and booster natural growth of plants as bio-pesticide organic plant that stimulates the innate ability to defend against fungal infections.

Chitozanul can also be used in water treatment plants because it has the ability to bind fine sediment particles are then removed with them during sand filtration. It is used to remove phosphorus, heavy metals and of oil from water.

Because chitozanul is one of the most abundant biodegradable materials in the world and because of its multiple applications to open a new market for waste left after processing process shrimp and lobster.

How do you make goat milk bullet resistant :)

Dutch researchers have managed to made ​​- with the help of goat milk proteins similar to spider web - a material ten times stronger than steel. This could be combined with human skin, and would thus become strong enough to stop a bullet, writes Tuesday.

See also: "Children's Forest came to life! "

According to the Daily Mail, Forensic Genomics Consortium researchers from the Netherlands were more genetically modified goats to get a type of milk rich in those proteins that provide resistance to spider webs. Milk is then transformed by means of a novel, in a material ten times stronger than steel.

The material can then be combined with human skin to get, according to the researchers, a skin strong enough to stop a bullet.

Research team's objective is to replace the keratin - the protein that gives skin strength - of human skin with spider web proteins.

The first step is to increase a real layer of skin around a piece of leather armor, phase which takes about five weeks.

Dutch researchers say the project - which turn into reality something that exists only in science fiction - seems promising, although test results were not perfect.

"It is possible, by adding in the human genome the genes with which produce spider threads its canvas", say Dutch scientists.

The most famous examples of skin bulletproof franchises appear in "Superman" and "Man of Steel / Man of Steel"