ecopolis

The U.S. military relies on more than 500 mobile battery-dependent devices that often require soldiers to carry 20 to 35 pounds of batteries on a mission. First responders, such as policemen and firemen, face the same life-threatening and mission-critical challenges.

The Canadian Ministry of National Defense recently estimated that NATO forces are spending $57,000 per soldier per year in Iraq and Afghanistan for batteries alone. 75% of the capacity of those batteries tends to be wasted as soldiers trade out partially used batteries after every patrol.

M2E’s extended, grid-free operational life and lower weight will improve the soldier’s load factor and provide mission extension opportunities. M2E has the potential to reduce the logistics burden as well.

The ESA Space Debris Accumulation represents the junk putted in the space from 1957 through 2000. According to ESA’s resident space debris expert, Walter Flury, the 10,000 pieces of space litter catalogued at the end of 2003 break into the following categories:

* 41% — miscellaneous fragments

* 22% — old spacecraft

* 13% — mission related objects

* 7% — operational spacecraft

* 7% — rocket bodies

It means that there’s 93% pure junk and only 7% useful satellites circling the earth…

This high level panel looks at what the broadcast industry is doing to help raise awareness about environmental issues and particularly about global warming. Programming experts talk about what it really means to commission or distribute “Green” programming and use examples from different genres such as documentaries, kids programming or reality television.

Speakers:

Jo Fox, Head of Media, Environment Agency (UK)
Lynne Kirby, SVP Original Programming & Development, Sundance Green (USA)
Phil Dolling, Executive Producer, British Broadcasting Corporation (UK)
Ade Thomas, Managing Director, Green.tv (UK)
Johan Tuyaerts, Managing Director, Sultan Sushi (Belgium)
Barrie Osborne, Producer, Oceans: Engine of our Planet, Octtane pty (Singapore)
Robby London, Executive Vice President, Creative Affairs, DIC Entertainment (USA)

http://www.miptv.com

Cereplast, Inc. designs and manufactures proprietary bio-based, renewable plastics which are used as substitutes for petroleum-based plastics in all major converting processes – such as injection molding, thermoforming, blow molding and extrusions – at a pricing structure that is competitive with petroleum based plastics.
Hewlett-Packard built this (photo) working prototype printer with a corn-based plastic case designed to last as long as the machine.

Yesterday a three-dimensional image of Prince Charles delivered a speech at an international energy summit in Abu Dhabi to try and reduce his carbon emissions…

The World Future Energy Summit 2008, hosted by Crown Prince General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates, is from 21th of january since the 23th. It’s focus on the country’s project to create the world’s first zero-waste and zero-emission city at Masdar with construction due to begin this year.

The hologram is based on a 19th century trick, called Pepper’s ghost. The five-minute video, recorded about a month ago, will be beamed onto a film set to create Charles’ 3-D image.

The performance will saved 15 tons of carbon dioxide, which would have been generated by Charles if he and his staff took the flight to Abu-Dhabi.

Charles was heavily criticized by the media and environmentalists after he and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, were alleged to have emitted over 20 tons of carbon dioxide while travelling to the U.S. to collect an environmental award.

Reduced Carbon Footprint Souvenirs is a project by Héctor Serrano, with 3D consultancy by Javier Esteban and sponsored by 3D Systems. This project was created for the Ten Again exhibition of sustainable design at 100% Design in London last September.

A collection of souvenirs that can be send by e-mail and then materialize using a 3D Printer (stereolithography rapid prototyping). No transport or standard production methods are required so the object carbon footprint is reduced to the minimum.

The project questions the way objects are manufactured and new technologies are applied to propose alternative ways of reducing their impact on the environment.

The project becomes specially relevant as the 3D printers are getting smaller and more affordable. In the near future this technology will be as accessible as standard in-jet, so objects could be printed from our homes.

Designer and architect Ettore Sottsass, the figurehead of 20th-century Italian design died on Monday aged 90, the ANSA news agency reported.

His rich longevity and sensitive soul brought him to cross many designs periods. In 1958 Sottsass worked as an industrial designer for ‘Olivetti’. He designed a variety of products such as calculators and typewriters. Some of these products, such as the Logos 27 calculator and the Valentine typewriter were very well known products at the time. His greatest accomplishment whilst at ‘Olivetti’ was the design of the mainframe computer ‘Elea 9003′ for which he given the coveted Compasso d’Oro award. Sottsass’s influential designs helped launch Olivetti into the world of Italian industrial design.

In 1972 Sottsass created a ”House Environment” for the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The room consisted of a series of grey fibreglass containers comprising of such things as cookers, sinks, dishwashers, showers, toilets, storage, seating, beds and wardrobes.

Ettore Sottsass was one of the leading members of the Memphis Group founded in 1981 to revive Radical Design. The products created by the Memphis group included limited production creations of unusual objects and functional designs to break down the barriers between high class and low class.

A retrospective of the designer’s work was opened in northeastern Trieste in early December marking his 90th birthday on September 14.

The exhibition, titled “I Want to Know Why,” includes 130 of Sottsass’s creations and runs until March 2.

“I would like the visitors to leave crying — that is, with emotion,” he said at the time of the opening. And he left left us to look at objects with wise words.

(VIA REUTERS)- Nearly 200 nations agreed at U.N.-led talks in NUSA DUA, Indonesia – Bali to launch negotiations on a new pact to fight global warming after a reversal by the United States allowed a historic breakthrough.

Washington said the agreement marked a new chapter in climate diplomacy after six years of disputes with major allies since President George W. Bush pulled out in 2001 from the Kyoto Protocol, the main existing plan for combating warming.

““This is a real breakthrough, a real opportunity for the international community to successfully fight climate change,” said Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). “Parties have recognised the urgency of action on climate change and have now provided the political response to what scientists have been telling us is needed,” he added.

While a new global deal is envisioned for 2013, countries also agreed on a number of steps that need to be taken immediately to further implement the existing commitments of Parties to the UNFCCC.

The Bali meeting approved a “roadmap” for two years of talks to adopt a new treaty to succeed Kyoto beyond 2012, widening it to the United States and developing nations such as China and India.

A successor pact will be agreed at a meeting in Copenhagen in late 2009. These issues are particularly important for developing countries.

About the UNFCCC

With 192 Parties, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has near universal membership and is the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol has 176 member Parties to date. Under the Protocol, 36 States, consisting of highly industrialised countries and countries undergoing the process of transition to a market economy, have legally binding emission limitation and reduction commitments. The ultimate objective of both treaties is to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.

About the CDM
Under the CDM, projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries and contribute to sustainable development can earn certified emission reduction (CER) credits. Countries with a commitment under the Kyoto Protocol buy CERs to cover a portion of their emission reduction commitments under the Treaty. There are currently more than 860 registered CDM projects in 49 countries, and about another 2000 projects in the project registration pipeline. The CDM is expected to generate more than 2.6 billion CERs by the time the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012, each equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide.

http://unfccc.int/2860.php