THE WORLDS GREATEST GREEN INVENTIONS
By Michael Richard
We all want the latest cars, the grooviest clothes and the shiniest gadgets. But what of the price to the planet? Is it possible to go shopping with a clear conscience? Can environmentally sound products still be objects of desire?|
The cutting-edge environmental website treehugger.com thinks so. Here, its editor, Michael Richard, shows Josh Sims how a new breed of inventors is coming up with the goods - and they don’t cost the earth
THE ECO KETTLE
It is estimated that, on average, we boil twice the volume of water needed every time we use our kettles. With a 3kW kettle that’s the same as wasting the energy of around 50 light bulbs. And standard kettles are often highly inefficient - a stove-top kettle, for instance, requires energy to heat the handle and shell in addition to the water. But British designer Brian Hartley’s Eco Kettle solves these problems at a stroke. You fill it up, and then use the measuring button to release the exact amount of water you require -from a single cup to a full jug - into a separate chamber for boiling. It is also insulated to keep the water hot.| The result is an energy saving of up to 30 per cent. www.ecokettle.com
GREEN ROOFS
Cities may be losing their green spaces to development, but all is not lost. Look up to the roofs of buildings, especially office blocks, and there, where once there was dead space, you could now find a “sky garden” (Barclays’ HQ in Canary Wharf, London, has one). They could be used as community spaces, chill-out areas for hassled workers, or even to grow food. But there are other advantages for the bottom line, too: they reduce run-off in periods of heavy rain, and they cut back on the heat that gets trapped in built-up areas, thus reducing the need for air conditioning. They could even improve air quality in congested cities. www.greenroofs.com
FRICTIONLESS WIND TURBINES
The problem with wind turbines? Often, it’s just not windy enough to get them turning. It’s not really the lack of wind that is the problem, but the friction in the turbines themselves. Chinese scientists may have cracked this problem with the first “magnetic levitation” (or MagLev) wind turbines, which replace ball-bearings with the technology used in advanced monorails, making a frictionless turbine that can generate electricity from winds as low as 1.5m per second. They’re ideal for low wind areas, such as mountain regions and small islands. The MagLev wind turbines could also use the airflow caused by passing cars to generate roadside lighting. SOLAR-POWERED CELLPHONES Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute, an alliance of 50 technology research organisations, is looking at how to integrate solar cells into mobile phones, allowing them to be powered continuously on just two hours of sunlight a day. The big manufacturers are interested, as the more software that’s packed into mobiles, the bigger batteries they need. www.fraunhofer.de
ICE ENERGY
Air conditioning can be a huge drain on electricity supplies. Enter Ice Energy’s Ice Bear, which integrates with a standard AC unit. The water in the Ice Bear is frozen overnight when temperatures are lower and electricity, in many countries, is cheaper, and the ice then cools the AC| unit’s refridgerant during the day. This results in a 30 per cent saving in energy use. An AC unit should last 15 years, by which time the Ice Bear will have paid for itself several times. www.ice-energy.com
GREENER AIRCRAFT
Conventional airliners are heavy, thirsty, noisy and polluting, despite aeronautical designers’ best efforts. But in the future we may be travelling in a flying wing or batwing (in which the entire fuselage becomes the means of lift) - an idea first suggested by Frederick Handley Page in 1961. Made of plastic and with areas of the surface punctured with tiny holes to reduce drag, the wings would be much lighter and so more fuel efficient, and the engines would be mounted on top to deflect noise away from the ground. And they would be flown differently, too: in formation perhaps, which would reduce fuel consumption, and at different altitudes to prevent the formation of polluting condensation trails. The result could bring aircraft emissions below today’s levels by 2025, despite an expected doubling in the amount of passenger air traffic. Both Boeing and Airbus are already working on flying-wing projects.
DESIGNER CARAFES
It’s ironic that in our bid to become healthier by drinking more water, our conviction that only bottled water will do is causing increasingly precious plastics to be thrown away (oil being an essential component in plastic’s manufacture). Fashion designer Pierre Cardin may have the solution. He has just distributed 30,000 of his Eau de Paris designer carafes for free in a bid to convince Parisians that the local tap water is just as healthy. The idea is that many people buy bottled water in response to marketing, so getting them to drink tap water requires a similar strategy. It’s a simple idea that, if it spread around the world, could keep millions of plastic bottles out of landfills.
GREENCARPETS
Tricycle Inc creates digital carpet samples, so you can see how your home will look without wasteful carpet tile samples. And it is not the only carpet company thinking green. Big manufacturers such as Milliken and Shaw are investigating green production methods that cut down on materials and increase the use of recycled and old carpets. The Carpet America Recovery Effort managed to divert 224 million pounds - in weight - of old carpets from landfill sites last year (and recycle 194 million), showing what an environmental burden our old flooring is. And Interface, a carpet manufacturer, is aiming to become the world’s first “zero-footprint” company by 2020.
THE SUPER-POWERED ELECTRIC CAR
Electric cars: they’re rather slow, aren’t they? They whir a bit and then run out of juice on the motorway? Not Tesla Motors’ first car. This will be a clutchless, Lotus-inspired roadster capable of going from 0 to 60mph in just four seconds, with a top speed of 130mph. That’s electricity with attitude. And it does the equivalent of 135mpg. The real benefit? This car (named after the electrical engineer Nikola Tesla) will generate one-third the CO2 and one-tenth the pollution of hybrid cars - and, as Richard notes, as electricity supplies get cleaner, so will the car. It can drive for a respectable 250 miles before its lithium-ion battery needs recharging and will be available for delivery from autumn of next year. Tesla Motors is new in terms of its business model as well as engineering’ it’s backed by the founders of eBay, Google and PayPal. www.teslamotors.com
THEPOWERISER
If ever you thought people wobbling around on in-line skates looked silly, you’ll be tickled pink by the Poweriser. Essentially, these are springy stilts that strap on to your calves and, once you’ve got the hang of the correct rocking motion, allow you to leap forward around five metres with a single bound, leap vertically about two metres, and generally upset the animals. With practice, this mode of transport is just as green as skates, but faster. And a few stunts (of the kind used in The Lion King stage production) will impress the doubters: there is already a “scene” developing around the device in Germany, where the idea was first developed. “This one is a bit out there,” admits Richard, “but as far as alternative transportation goes, this has got to be the coolest.” www.powerisers.de
THE WAVE FARM
A new project may see several direct-drive wave-energy buoys deployed in our coastal currents - they use the modulation of the waves to force a magnet back and forth through an electric coil, generating electricity. Wave farms have the potential to supply 20 per cent of Britain’s electricity needs. And they trump solar power, which can be expensive and temperamental, depending on the local climate, and wind energy, which upset those who believe the turbines spoil their view. Using special buoys to harness the kinetic energy released by the ocean’s waves - all weathers, day and night - they produce very low impact, clean electricity.
SOLAR-POWERED LEDs
Picture a world in which the kids have to stop reading because the sun has set. Or where you have to burn dangerous, dirty and expensive kerosene to see what you’re doing. The Indian government hopes to remedy this sutuation, which affects 112,000 rural villages across the country, over the next decade. The solution is a combination of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and solar power. The former are more efficient than lightbulbs - the power required to light one conventional l00w bulb can now light an entire village - and the latter allows electricity to be stored in batteries and provides lighting where there is no grid supply. Both LEDs and solar panels can also take the rough and tumble of village life: having few moving parts, they are very durable. “People in the West often take electricity for granted, but in some places just being able to see once the sun is gone is a big deal,” says Richard.
WIND-POWERED BICYCLE LIGHT
Dynamo-powered lights are temperamental, and battery-powered ones get through batteries faster than Lance Armstrong goes up a hill. Taiwanese designer Hsieh Jung-Ya and his company Duck , Image’s solution is a miniature turbine that uses the wind produced by the bike’s momentum to turn the blades and, via a copper coil and a ring magnet in the hub of the turbine, generate electricity to power an LED. A rechargeable lithium battery takes up the slack and provides light while the rider is stationary. www.duckimage.com.tw
GREEN DEGREES
Campaign organisations and the green media may be a good thing, but any green revolution is likely to be driven by people dedicated to pioneering eco-friendly science and business. To this end, more universities are now offering “green” degrees - qualifications that focus on green issues and environmental analysis. “This is fairly self-explanatory,” says Richard. “The more universities that do this, the better off we’ll be. We need to form a new generation of green professionals.”
SOLAR-POWERED DEHUMIDIFIER
This ingenious British device makes the best of all the cold, dry air that is indicated by atmospheric moisture lying on the ground as dew or frost. It takes this air, warms it up and pumps it into your house, displacing all the moisture therein. Goodbye condensation. Fitted to the side of the house, the SolarVenti gets rid of that musty atmosphere (making it ideal for all those unoccupied second homes in Wales and Cornwall) and does so without any running costs. www.solarventi.co.uk
POWER STRIPS
Electronics and domestic appliances often draw more electricity than they need. And leaving them on standby, as most people know, eats power up when they’re not being used. The Smart Strip monitors power consumption and senses whether a device is in use or not, shutting off the power when it’s not. The Wattstopper has a motion detector that powers up the devices plugged into it when you walk into the room, and similarly powers down any device attached to it after they go idle for a period of time set by the user. “These devices help you to get rid of the ‘phantom loads’ that waste electricity,” says Richard. www.wattstopper.com‘ www.smarthomeusa.com
SOLAR-POWERED GPS
Expert navigators may be able to track their way through a barren landscape with the aid of the sun. And, in a rather different way, now you can, too. The Pro-porta GPS receiver links wirelessly to Bluetooth PDAs, but has an ingenious solar-power system that even generates energy from ambient or indoor lighting, so there really is no excuse for getting lost. The same company has also designed a solar charger that sucks up natural light, stores it in lithium batteries, and plugs into just about any voltage of laptop - giving it that boost just when it’s about to shut down and wipe your all-important presentation. www.proporta.com
BAMBOO CLOTHING
Shirts of Bamboo make, well, shirts of bamboo. Not as uncomfortable as their name suggests, bamboo shirts are the future of fashion. Bamboo is one of the world’s most abundant and fastest-growing plants, growing several feet in a day and reaching maturity in just four years (compared with at least 25 years for most commercial tree species). Furthermore, it| can be grown without pesticides, is 100 per cent biodegradable and is naturally regenerative: it’s hard to stop it growing. It is also incredibly strong, making it the perfect material for furniture construction, and is softer than cotton, but with the sheen and surface texture of silk. What’s more, it is also naturally anti-microbial, thermo-regulating and, unlike cotton (which requires 22 of the world’s pesticides to grow it) requires no chemicals. How long before we’re all wearing it? www.shirtsofbamboo.com
KILL A WATT
“Unfortunately, energy is invisible so it’s hard to know how much we use,” says Richard. “That’s why this kind of gadget is so important to help people keep in mind their energy footprint.” The quick answer to that lies in the Kill A Watt: simply plug the affordable (about 15 pounds) gizmo into a socket and plug your appliance into that, and readings on the LCD display tell you the kilowatt/hour rating, as well as volts, amps and watts, to 0.2 per cent accuracy - all allowing you to calculate your electricity expenses, gadget by gadget, by the hour, week or month. Is it time to upgrade that old appliance? The Kill A Watt will reveal all. www.p3international.com
FUEL CELL-POWERED LAPTOP
“Laptop batteries not lasting long enough? The fuel cell-powered laptop should change that,” Richard suggests. There are now several prototypes of this gizmo around, with IBM, Panasonic and Sanyo among the makers and Toshiba planning to launch one next year - though the military is reportedly keen to get their hands on it first. The cell is a small brick-like battery-style device powered by the electrochemical process in the breakdown of methanol fuel - with which you top it up periodically from a cartridge. For the moment, sensors are required to warn of leaks, the devices can be heavy and their pumps and valves whir away. But they can give a laptop around two days of continuous and environmentally sound use before needing your attention.
GROUND-SOURCE HEAT PUMPS
Dig to about seven feet below the ground and the temperatures you find there are fairly constant all year round - about 45F in northern latitudes and 70F nearer the equator. Geothermal heat-exchange pumps, or ground-source heat pumps, take advantage of this fact, generating up to 4kW of heat for every kilowatt of electricity used by the pump - that’s about four times more efficient than electrical heating. The idea is simple: the pump circulates fluid through pipes buried underground, warming up the house during winter, and taking heat from the house in the summer. The result is not only a more comfortable home, but lower utility bills and less environmental damage - in the US, for instance, the heating of buildings accounts for around 40 per cent of all CO2 emissions. www.geoexchange.com
BICYCLE RENTAL AND SHARING
The idea is that you join the scheme and this allows you to pick up, rent and drop off a bicycle at various remotely manned stations around the city. Maintenance and security hassles are eliminated, but the environmentally sound practice of cycling is enabled. Schemes have been launched in France (Velo’V), Denmark (City Bike), Germany (Bike-Bahn) and the UK (OYbike). Of course, the bicycles are a target for thieves. A Canadian university running a similar scheme to allow its students to move about campus may have come up with the solution: they make the bikes| as ugly as possible, painting them in red and yellow stripes. This seems to have done the trick. www.oybike.com
SMART METERS
For those drivers who love to make minute alterations to the pressure on the brake and accelerator to see the impact on their MPG gauge, the same excitement can now be applied to the home. Smart meters inform homeowners of the energy efficiency of their home, allowing them to adjust their behaviour accordingly to stop wastage - no more microwaving that cold coffee… An EU mandate is even set to make them compulsory for all new homes, which ties in neatly with new UK law stipulating that all new-build homes should be given an energy rating.
VERTICAL URBAN FARMING
Food miles - the distance your vegetables, for instance, travel from farm to plate - are a major a contributor to global warming. So might vertical urban farms be the answer? They may look like futuristic multi-storey car parks but they are cheap and easy to build and use the latest technology to produce as much food as possible, in the smallest space. They’re indoors, so the need for pesticides and fertilisers is greatly reduced. Given that the world’s population continues to rise, yet 80 per cent of the land that can be used to grow crops is already taken, inner-city agriculture may be the way forward. Cutting back on traditional rural farming may also allow the 15 per cent of world’s crop space that has been damaged by poor farming practices to repair itself.
CAR-SHARING
Reliable cars are expensive, depreciate rapidly, and mostly just sit on drives, especially in urban areas. The solution? Car services that allow you to pick up, use and drop off a car locally whenever you need one. Companies such as Zipcar and Flex-car in the US, GoGet in Australia and Streetcar, which aims to take 300 cars off of London’s roads each year, offer a hassle-free alternative to rental. You just join up and access the car using a smartcard and PIN number. Car-share club members drive 47 per cent fewer miles each year. Put simply, says Richard, “It’s a more efficient use of resources.” www.mystreetcar.co.uk
DIGITAL INK
Newspapers account for a lot of trees. Digital ink could be the answer. Low-power screens embedded with digital ink would allow newspapers, as well as books and blogs, to be topped up daily with all your reading needs. The devices, which have been trailed by the likes of De Tijd, a Belgian financial newspaper, a German newspaper group and The New York Times, might also provide an alternative that would arrest global circulation decline, save on printing costs (both financial and ecological) and reach more readers. They may contribute to a tide of of “electronic junk”, but, as Richard suggests, they “could do for newspapers what the iPod did for music”.
NIGHT VISION BINOCULARS
If James Bond had green concerns - and, given the types of car he drives and all the spent shells he leaves everywhere, one can only assume they’re not high on his agenda - this is the product he would use. The Cyclop is a 2.0x magnification night vision scope that doesn’t require any batteries, but rather draws its power from a hand-cranked lever. www.campingstation.com
BAGS OF POWER Given the gadgetry we now carry around now, some kind of mobile power-source is required. Voltaic Systems have embedded tough, light, weatherproof solar panels into a backpack, which can be plugged into any device. The panels charge up a rechargeable, recyclable Ii-Ion battery pack which can also be topped up from a wall socket. www.voltaicsystems.com
HELICAL TURBINE
“It’s another form of clean energy that’s not talked about often enough, unlike wind and solar,” says Richard. He’s referring to hydrokinetic power, more romantically known as Gorlov’s helical turbine. Described as looking like a strand of DNA, with wing-shaped blades, it harnesses power from water flow without the need to build hugely expensive and often environmentally catastrophic dams. One proposal is to build several giant versions of the turbine off a coast to harness ocean currents. Incredibly, according to Alexander Gorlov, who invented the turbine, 656 full-size units along the Gulf Stream would capture enough energy to power all of North America. The Republic of Korea is already investing in the technology: a system of helical turbines will be installed in the Uldolmok Strait, and should generate the equivalent of four nuclear power stations. The big question: what happens to major flows of water when some of their kinetic energy is tapped?
SUMMER ECO-TECH
Make your batteries go further while you’re out on that picnic by using devices designed for emergency situations. Well, it is an emergency when your beer gets warm. Waeco’s Coolmatic uses a tiny amount of battery power to keep your goodies ice cold (for two days on one battery). A panel even allows you to set the desired temperature. When the day heats up, you can switch on the longest-lasting battery-operated fan so far invented. And if your lunch becomes a long one, the Pivot Lantern uses LED technology to burn brightly for three days. “This gadgetry is ideal for the summer,” says Richard. “Or for the next natural disaster.” www.boatelectric.com‘ www.batterysavers.com
