Sustainable Design Update

The Ale’ by Fuel Vapor Technologies Inc.

There are dozens of start up car companies competing for the Automotive X-Prize, a competition to see who first can design a car that is easily manufacturable that gets 100 miles per gallon.

The tandem seat Ale’ is reported to get 92 mpg, which is pretty close to the prize, but not as efficient as the Aptera or the Loremo.

From the Fuel Vapor Tech website:

Fuel Vapor Technologies high mileage car Ale’FuelVapor Technologies Inc. (FVT) is a small clean tech R&D company specializing in improving the automobile and its impact on the earth. We believe that there are many transportation alternatives that need to be investigated. We believe that we can significantly improve fuel economy without sacrificing performance. Fuel efficient cars don’t have to be slow, ugly or unimaginative!

Our goal is to create a vehicle that addresses the following criteria:

* Environmental impact

* Performance

* Cost of ownership

* Safety

* Carbon impact

* Weight

* Ease of assembly

* Unique design

We are currently developing two products 1) the alé sports car – a high mileage high performance sports car 2) a proprietary fuel delivery system that improves fuel efficiency and reduces emissions of a standard gas engine. FVT has no affiliations or commitments to any other companies.

The Automotive X-Prize site is worth a view:  Auto X-Prize

Related Posts : Loremo, Aptera

Via: Fuel Vapor Technology

Computer Recycling in India

Here is a good reason to buy less stuff. When our nifty electronics are no longer useful we either place them in the trash and they end up at the landfill or we take them to recycling centers where they may end up in a place like this. All landfills will eventually leak.  I believe they will become the future equivalent of “Super Fund” sites, or possibly worse.

When the time has come to kiss your beloved computer good bye, take a little extra time to make sure it doesn’t end up as toxic waste in India. The EPA has a website with some resources for finding good electronic recycling programs.
Check out the EPA site: E-Cycle

YouTube Greenpeace Video: Where Does E-Waste End Up?

Photo of Netbook (rumor only)

Is this Intel’s answer to the One Laptop per Child and the ASUS Eee PC?

Rumor has it that this is a photo of the new Intel Netbook. It runs Windows XP Pro (remember this is rumor) and is said to be Intel’s answer to the Asus Eee PC and the One Laptop per Child.

From the Tech Corner Blog:

My buddy works for a US Based OEM, and showed me a sample of one of the products that will be hitting US shores soon. This thing is sweet, super portable. I estimate it weighs less than three pounds, and has a carrying handle. He told me it was designed by Intel and is for education. I got on it to check my email and it was running XP Pro like a champ. When he got up for a minute, I snuck some pics of it and checked out the specs. It has a 900Mhz Celeron, 512 Ram, 40GB HD, 9 Inch screen, wifi, and Ethernet. It seems to be about 7” x 9”x 1.5”. I asked him how much it was going to cost, and he said he didn’t know but would probably be around 400 bucks. Said it should be available in the US by June. At 400 bucks, should kick the eeePC’s ass.

A computer like this would be perfect for traveling.  Wifi would let you Skype from many hostels and hotels along the road, and the small size would make it easy to tote along on the chicken bus.

Via: Tech Corner

Tide Powered Turbines

A British firm “Lunar Energy” (not kidding) has announced that it will build a giant tidal power system in South Korea. The design calls for a tide farm of underwater turbines in an array similar to a wind farm.

The billion dollar project proposed off the South Korean coast will use power from local fast moving tides, and turn a field of 300 60ft-high tidal turbines on the sea floor.

The turbines will be located in deep water where they will not be a danger to ships. I hope the turbines are designed to mitigate the “bass-o-matic” effect on schools of fish.

The project is expected to power 200,000 homes by 2015.

Tests on a 1 megawatt pilot turbine by the Korean authorities will start early next year to assess the environmental impacts before permission is given for the full scheme. The turbines designed by Lunar Energy will be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries and other partners.

More at: Telegraph.co.uk, Inhabitat

Bjorn Lomborg at TED

In this TED Talk Bjorn Lomborg places climate change at the bottom of a list of world problems. Lomborg is familiar with controversy, his 2001 book, The Skeptical Environmentalist ticked off many of us in the environmental camp, but his economics based approach to decision making does merit attention.

From the TED Blog:

Lomborg doesn’t dispute the science of global warming, but he believes Kyoto-style attempts to cut carbon-dioxide emissions are misguided, and that funds are best invested elsewhere: both in solvable problems (HIV/AIDS, hunger, Malaria) and in research toward alternative energy. As he told us at TED2005, we must prioritize the world’s problems, if we’re going to solve them. And we should prioritize based on the effectiveness of the proposed solution. The Kyoto Protocol is inefficient and expensive, he says (and the Copenhagen Consensus — a group of top economists, including 4 Nobel laureates — backs him up).

You can definitely argue with the conclusions, but don’t dismiss this provocateur as reactionary or ill-informed. Those who attended TED2005 have learned: The articulate, left-leaning, vegetarian Dane is not so easily categorized.

View the talk at: TED

Over at Access to Tools there is a great short post on Planetreuse.com

From Access to Tools:

Today I got an email about Planet ReUse. They host a website where people can list used building materials for sale, and people who want to design/build with ReUsed materials can find what is available in their area.

I found two regional sources of used building materials I didn’t know about on my first time through their website. I imagine as the site becomes more popular it will have more cool materials to incorporate into your next design.

From the Email:

Want to use reclaimed and salvage materials to save the environment? Do you have salvaged and reclaimed building materials to sell? Are you looking for a way to get those LEED MR credits?

PlanetReuse.com is the answer.

As featured in Dwell, HGTV, Bob Vila and Greenability, PlanetReuse has become the most anticipated, free to use site in the design, construction,
salvage, demolition and LEED community.

And it’s no wonder why. PlanetReuse’s simple and easy-to-use format allows demolition and salvage professionals to easily post and sell their materials
and products online. With its robust search capabilities, architects, homeowners and design professionals can sort through a large amount of listings to quickly get to
the products they’re looking for.

The best part is that it’s totally FREE to use! No weird credits to buy. No forced advertising. No listing fees. No product searching fees. No
charge to ask questions to sellers about a product. It’s totally free to use!

So what exactly is PlanetReuse? It’s is an online warehouse that connects buyers and sellers of reclaimed, reusable and excess building materials.

- We take care of the sale through the site and keep it safe with PayPal on transactions up to $1,000,000.00.

- We offer multiple shipping options as a free service through the site with established partners in FreightQuote and FedEx.

- We coordinate for local pickup for our buyers and sellers and let them save on shipping costs if they want to take care of it themselves.

- We create a community of trust and reputation with user ratings after every transaction.

- We let users post questions about listed products on our message boards to the seller at no cost.

- Users even get points for buying and selling through PlanetReuse, redeemable for American Express gift cards!

Check out Planet Reuse