Sustainable Design Update

I am re-working SDU over the next few days. The categories show above the title block again, but I have a pretty good idea how to address this.

An additional note, I have taken down www.johnbarrie.com, which was a 2001 era website. I hope to have a new and much more interactive website up in the next few weeks using WordPress blogging software.

Update – www.johnbarrie.com is up and running.  I will be adding content as time permits over the next year or two.

Thanks for staying tuned while we adjust the site! SDU gets tens of thousands of hits per month ( I should double check this because we are getting close to the hundred thousand number)

Please check out EcoGeek.org for interesting tech oriented postings.

The EcoPod, Recycled Content Coffin

Ecopods are environmentally sound coffins made from 100% recycled paper and natural hardeners. The company ARKA has attracted orders from around the world for their green design coffins.

Made from ecologically sound materials the Ecopod is the ideal product for a non toxic burial or cremation. Perfect for use in greenfield sites.

The pods, which can be decorated and lined with materials to suit individual’s preferences, are made from hardened newspaper and toxin free glue. When buried they decompose quickly and without pollution. This concept has won Ecopod designer Hazel Selene the British House of Parliament “Gold Apple” award which recognizes companies than try to preserve the environment.

Hazel started thinking about coffin design when helping to care for a dying friend. “I felt the shape of the traditional coffin had been with us for many years and had become associated with negative icons such as vampires. I wanted to design something beautiful, ethical and made out of recycled materials.”

Via BoingBoing

Contact www.ecopod.co.uk

More on this subject at EcoGeek

XelaTeco BioDigester

I follow the work of the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG) pretty closely. Through education and business development AIDG promotes sustainable technologies that improve the quality of life in developing countries. AIDG has identified several sustainable technologies that can be made locally, with local “eco-engineers”. One technology AIDG is promoting in Guatemala is the use of Biodigesters.

Biodigesters are appropriate technologies that take advantage of the energy that is naturally present in animal waste and kitchen trash. As these waste products break down, whether in the ground, a compost heap, landfill, or biodigester, they release methane, a potent greenhouse gas. In contrast to the other waste storage and disposal methods mentioned, a biodigester traps the methane before it becomes a problem and stores it for heating and cooking. In this way, biodigesters can provide a sustainable substitute for the propane, kerosene, and firewood that many rural families in developing countries use to serve these needs. For those families that have to buy their fuel, a biodigester can save them hundreds of U.S. dollars every year. For those that cut trees down for firewood, a biodigester will save them time and help to prevent the deforestation that is becoming prevalent in places where large numbers of people still gather their own firewood.

Biodigesters also create high quality fertilizer.

In a biodigester, animal waste is converted into biogas and fertilizer. Apart from providing fuel to the family that uses it, a biodigester is also a source of high quality organic fertilizer the family can use on its crops. During the decomposition process in the biodigester, the waste is also sterilized. This means that animal manure, which has caused many health problems in developing countries when placed on fields with close to the ground crops such as lettuce or cabbage, can be used without fear of causing sickness. Disease causing bacteria, such as E. Coli, are killed inside the biodigester and never make contact with the plants.

In households that use biodigester gas instead of wood to cook with there is a measurable improvement in the occupants health. (Link)

Introducing this simple technology reduces pressure on natural forests, provides free high quality fertilizer, reduces food borne illness due to E. Coli, improves health and saves money. This is a win-win-win-win-win technology.

(some text above was taken from the AIDG website)

Link to a National Public Radio Podcast on AIDG work in Guatemala.

Via AIDG

I just wanted to let you all know that I now also write for EcoGeek.org.  I have a few double postings right now and in the future will have unique postings to both EcoGeek and SDU.
EcoGeek gives me a larger audience and and editor which I find refreshing.  I do like your comments and suggestions, but an editor really lets you know what they like and don’t like. I will keep up the frequency of postings here at SDU and if I post something too good to pass up over at EcoGeek I will link to it from here.

I have had to revert to an older version of WordPress (the software that makes this blog possible) because of an error that shows up when I update to the latest WP.  This has taken down the comments section for now.  When I get a handle on the subtleties of HTML, CSS and data formats I will get the comments back up and running.  Till then please feel free to comment at the end of any posting.

By the way, SDU is over 1 year old and we have many thousand unique viewers each month.  Not bad for a simple blog.

Cheers

John Barrie

(Note: I’ve spent a bit of time deciding if I would post this.)

Ever since I can remember, London’s Sun newspaper has featured a picture of a topless model on page 3. (Honestly, I read the paper for the News, really…)

Keeley Hazell, the 20 year old model from Bromley England appears regularly enough in the Sun to be named by FHM the “second sexiest woman in the world” after Keira Knightly. Keeley who has attained close to cultural icon status in England has just become the face of the green movement.

She rose to fame when Tory (conservative) leader David Cameron included her in his list of “Environmental Heroes for 2006″ along with the likes of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Cameron’s admiration stems from Keeley’s appearance on page 3 entirely covered in green paint alongside a list of things Brits should do to get their green on.

“The environment is something I’ve been trying to make people aware of,” said Keeley in an interview. “It’s something I believe in. There are environmentalists who have beards and sandals, but that doesn’t mean all of us have to be like that. There are also models who are airheads; but not every model is an airhead.”

According to her press release, the reason that she’d posed topless in The Sun, covered in green paint, was to highlight the issue of climate change. Keeley supports organic foods and energy conserving lights, she sold her car and uses her scooter or public transit and she encourages Brits to recycle.

I wonder what Kermit thinks?

Tic-Tac Flashlight

I love this idea – Recycle a Tic-Tac box, add some wires, magnets and an LED and what do you get? A recycled renewable emergency flashlight! The easily identifiable iconic container gives this project a special charm.

As a human being who is not afraid of a soldering iron I like to try my hand at some simple DIY projects. While I have not started my Tic-Tac Flashlight, it looks pretty simple. Check out Instructables.com, their instructions for this gem are mostly photos and a shopping list of parts you can get at Radio Shack or any other electronic supply store. If my project goes according to plan then I may try to make these as Christmas gifts. Does anyone have a spare empty Tic-Tac container?

If this Eco-Project is to your liking, you should also check out the very high tech looking Luxeon high power LED circuit.

Via Instructables