This eco infographic is great! Better yet, this idea is being implemented! Published on Wired, they reported that the Port of Portland has incorporated the “Living Machine”, which uses soil and bacteria to filter out pathogens and turning wastewater into nonpotable water. But the signature element of the system is the plant life that grows up and out of it—right into the lobby. It’s awesome!
This is how it works:
toilet water goes into a septic/holding tank
the overflow gets pumped into “wetland” cells where water, pathogens, and biological content are absorbed by the plants
whatever that’s leftover is treated with UV light and sent to a storage tank
water in the storage tank is used in the toilet…..
I came across the green gift guide to father’s day on inhabitat.com, a blog with future designs/innovations including green products. I went through the guide and am most attracted to the Recycle Typewriter Cufflinks! I like them because they’re personal and practical yet with a small environmental impact. Do you like them?
I am currently in Asia for work. My first stop is Shanghai. Although growing up in Taiwan, I’ve never had a chance to visit China, and I had been looking forward to this trip. I enjoyed my trip so far, very imprssed with the development, size, and entertianment of the city while noticing (but not unimpressed with) some really old/rundown buildings and really good deals co-existing. Overall, I am mostly not surprised at what Im seeing in Shanghai, except the number of electric bicycles and motorcycles! I wanted to dig up the number of electric-assisted motorocycles/mopeds/bicycles in Shanghai - I want to know the “environmental impact”. I’m sure such study exists, so when I get it I’ll share with you all.
For now, I found another article on CTV.ca which discusses Zero S, a new generation electric scooter coming to the US this year. Some basic specs:
1 charge lasts 60 miles
mileage is equivalent to 60miles/gallon
$9,950
The California based company Zero has had a sucessful product - Zero X, an offroad dirt bike. Zero X was sold out (not sure how many were produced) with a 6-months long wait list. They are not expecting the slow down of the economy would impact their sales. In fact, in US alone, 1.1 million motorcycles were sold last year. For Honda, 15.1 motorcycles were sold world wide in 2008. Therefore I think there will be a pretty significant market for electric motorcycles in the world. What do you think?
Standby power consumption from plugged in electronics, microwave, and other electrical equipment really uses a lot of power! For Canadians, eliminating standby power consumption would save a typical household 450 kilowatt-hours of electricity and $42 a year, or 4 per cent of the home’s total energy use, according to a 2008 report by Navigant Consulting Inc which is summarized in this Globe and Mail article. Pretty cool hey?
Some other interesting fact:
Canadians would cut five of the 6.3 terawatt-hours of standby power per year with more energy efficienct products
6 terawatt-h is enough to power all the homes New Brunswick
this will eliminate two megatonnes of greenhouse-gas emissions
And this is a pretty good movie illustrating how standby power, like a vampire, is sucking blood/money out of us!
I got an email today from the Toronto Hybrid Group promoting a new Internet TV station: Energy Rush.TV - made for clean shows only! It’ll be like a real TV channel which you cannot fast forward the show and there will eventually be paid commercials. The TV station is still in its infancy so you’re having a first peak here! I love the idea and since the core team for this TV station are all experts in the film/TV industry (they’ll write, produce, film, and edit all these TV shows), I’m really looking forward to their first official production! One day perhaps I’ll have a good idea for a film project!
Climate change gadget, Small Green Big Deal, eco Infographic | flo | 
June 11, 2009 7:00 am | 
Comments (0) 
Subscribe