Bills for basic gas and electricity reached record highs in 2011, and the trend isn’t likely to end any time soon. See where rates are rising and why in this graphic from One Block off the Grid.
Cyborgs, Sewers, and the Sensing City | Sustainable Cities Collective
Cities have long been seen as the antithesis – or, at least, the absence – of nature. Yet in recent years, environmentalists started rethinking their long-held prejudices against urban areas. The rise of neighborhood-based environmental justice movements, beginning in the 1980’s, forced us to confront the human side of pollution and its relationship to urban poverty. The evolution of green building standards and advances in sustainable design helped us imagine an environmentally enlightened future for our offices and homes. The growing number of city-dwellers across the planet may have played the biggest role in our shifting perceptions of cities and nature. Moving “back to the land” and “living off the grid” could never be a tenable option for three and a half billion people. The result would end up closer to an explosion in suburban sprawl than a no-impact return to simpler times. Like it or not, we’ve realized that cities will have to figure into our schemes for a sustainable planet.
German solar power plants produced a world record 22 gigawatts of electricity per hour ~ equal to 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity ~ through the midday hours last Friday & Saturday.
Wordless Wrapping Paper by Fabio Milito & Francesca Guidotti
According to the designers the idea was born from the realisation that their Christmas wrapping paper couldn’t be used for any other occasion and much went to waste. Thus they wanted to create a universal wrapping paper that could be used for 20 different occasions.
(via batman-wouldnt-lie-to-me)
Source: wordlessdesign.com
Kenguru: the car you have all been waiting for
- Environmentally friendly – completely GREEN car delivering long awaited mobility solution for wheelchair users
- Driven directly from a wheelchair – access is via the rear-opening tailgate and steering is by motorbike style handlebar (joystick option will be available in time)
Your own wheelchair is secured within the car by an interlocking device - The current design allows parking rear end to the pavement for easy access and it is an ideal solution to drivers who only undertake journeys to local shops and services
- Because of its weight the Kenguru is classified as a scooter and therefore only a scooter driver’s licence is required to drive Kenguru
A new gold rush?
Electronic waste contains 40-50 times the amount of gold in ore mined from the ground, according to a report last week by the Global e-Sustainability Initiative and the United Nations University.
According to the report, between 2001 and 2011, the electronics industry as a whole went from using 197 to 320 tons of gold. This seems counterintuitive, because compared to computers of thirty years ago, today’s computers have less gold inside—chips often have tiny gold microplated pins rather than solid gold wiring. But we are making many more electronics, and even more products are becoming computerized. Everything from blenders to toy dinosaurs have microchips, most of which have some gold. (via Far More Gold Is in E-Waste than in Gold Ore)
Source: treehugger.com
