Rammed earth walls with striated patterns frame Tatiana Bilbao's Ajijic House
by: Dezeen, 2014-08-21 07:00:32 UTC
Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao specified rammed earth for the walls of this weekend house built for a modest budget on the shore of Lake Chapala, in the Mexican state of Jalisco (+ slideshow). (more...)
New Way of Cooling Solar Cells
by: Jetson Green, 2014-08-11 18:10:45 UTC
A group of researchers at Stanford University have developed a new type of coating, which will allow solar cells to cool themselves. This breakthrough would eliminate the need for water and energy intensive coolants and ventilation, which is currently used to cool solar cells. It would also extend the life span of the solar cells considerably.
On sunny days solar panels can heat up to 130 degrees Fahrenheit and more, which causes loss of efficiency and the shortening of their lifespan. The group of Stanford researchers now developed a new type of passive cooling technology, which might help solve this problem. Their findings were published in The Optical Society’s journal Optica. The way the team solved the cooling problem is by proposing the addition of a specially patterned layer of silica glass to the surface of regular solar cells, which eliminates unnecessary thermal radiation, and allows the cells to cool themselves.
The coating they developed is comprised of tiny pyramid and cone-shaped structures applied to a thin layer of the silica glass. This is then able to redirect the extra heat from the cells in the form of infrared radiation. This is possible because silica is transparent to visible light, and because it can be fine-tuned in terms of how it bends and refracts light of very specific wavelengths. By designing the silica layer in a controlled way, there is no performance loss to the solar cell, while it does enhance the radiation at the predetermined thermal wavelength to send the solar cell’s heat away more effectively.
In the course of researching this new technology, the scientists tested different shapes and sizes of cones and pyramids on the silica layer and also compared it to a flat layer of silica. During this process, they managed to fine tune the shapes and found a pattern that performed best. They also found that the patterned silica layer performed much better than the flat layer. The next step in the research process is to test the new technology in a real-world scenario.
An App That Plugs Your Leaks To Save Cities Cash And Water
by: Co.Exist, 2014-08-08 19:05:00 UTC
CitySourced lets community members identify water leaks around their city--a useful measure during times of drought.
As you can see from this map, California's drought is now considered "exceptional" across most of the state. It's perhaps the driest it's been in 500 years, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center.
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INTERVIEW: Yves Behar on Green Design, Data Overload, and His First Foray Into Architecture
by: Inhabitat , 2014-08-11 21:25:31 UTC
If you’ve ever used a Jawbone, sat in a Sayl, or fired up a SodaStream, then you’re sure to be familiar with the work of industrial design superstar Yves Behar. He’s also the designer behind pioneering projects for social good like the One Laptop Per Child Project, the NYC Condom, and these free VerBien glasses for Mexican students. We recently had a chance to chat with Yves about his favorite projects, the future of green technology, and his first foray into architecture – check out our interview after the break!
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Post tags: centro, centro miami, clean technology, clever little bag, design interview, Edyn Garden Sensor, Fuseproject, Fuseproject interview, green design, green design interview, green gadgets, green technology, inhabitat interview, invisible interface, Jawbone, Jawbone Up, sustainable design, vessyl, Yves Béhar, yves behar architecture, yves behar interior design
Report: Circular Economy Makes Economic Sense
by: Environmental Leader, 2014-08-12 11:48:37 UTC
The current linear way the UK’s economy consumes resources — where materials are extracted, made into a product, used and discarded — is not sustainable and needs to be changed to a circular economy, according to a report by the UK Environmental Audit Committee. The committee was appointed by the British House of Commons to […]
3D Printed Clay: Ceramic Sculptures by Jonathan Keep
by: design milk, 2014-08-07 15:00:51 UTC
The process isn’t yet as simple as plug and print like an inkjet unit, requiring preparation of a clay medium for ideal printing viscosity as shown in this video. But once the clay is readied, the array of morphological creations of British artist Jonathan Keep‘s imagination partnered with the precision of a DIY computer guided 3D printer is impressive.
Artist Jonathan Keep’s 3D printed clay pottery are inspired by patterns and forms evident in nature, including icebergs, petrified wood, seeds, and even sound waves (shown above).
Keep built his own 3D printer based upon a delta robotics model, a type of parallel robot with three arms connected to universal joints at the base limited by parallelograms in the arms; the parallelograms limit the printer’s movements to the X, Y or Z direction without rotation (the high speed efficacy of delta robots make them popular in the packaging industry, medical and pharmaceutical industry).
The “ink” in Keep’s ceramic printer is ejected using a clay extruder made from parts adapted from the adhesives industry. 30 psi of compressed air pushes out the clay at around 1mm per second.
“I have long used computer software to develop new ceramic forms. With an interest in the hidden numerical code that underpins all nature I have developed a working process whereby the shapes of these pots are written in computer code. This digital information is passed to a studio based DIY 3D printer that I have adapted to print in clay. Layer by layer the pots are printed out – a sort of mechanical pottery coil building. After printing, the ceramic is fired and glaze in the normal way.”
More of artist Jonathan Keep’s Digital Pots available for viewing here.
If you like this, check out the pottery printer by gt2P.
What we do at yök to have our guests use less electricity and still have a good time
by: TreeHugger Design, 2014-08-07 16:00:00 UTC
Home automation, LED lighting, ceiling fans, insulation, energy monitoring and other tricks will save energy without sacrificing the experience in our holiday rental apartments.
Route Planning For The Happiest Walk, Not The Quickest
by: Co.Exist, 2014-08-05 12:55:00 UTC
A new way to plan daily routes balances the desire to get places on time with actually experiencing the city in new and interesting ways.
There are plenty of route-planning services showing you how to get places quickly. But what about getting to those places the most happily?
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An App That Tracks Water Use In Real Time, So Californians Can Save In The Drought
by: Co.Exist, 2014-08-05 18:00:00 UTC
Partnering with utility companies, Dropcountr is letting residents know for the first time how much water they are actually wasting.
Three years into California's worst drought in half a millennium, most of the state's residents still aren't saving water. Water usage actually ticked slightly upward earlier this year, despite the governor's call in January for voluntary 20% cuts. Part of the problem: Most people don't have any idea how much water they're using. Now there's an app for that.
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How Companies Profit from Sustainability
by: Environmental Leader, 2014-08-05 10:00:19 UTC
Anna Clark interviews FedEx sustainability leader Nathan Loftice about how companies profit from sustainability.
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