Articles in the water Category
Posted in concept, water on 1 November 2008
‘Water Scarcity’, the most commonly heard complaint all over the world, especially the developing countries where people struggle to get water even for drinking. The governments of all these countries have introduced ideas like rain water harvesting to make this problem a little easier, but these projects didn’t click- blame corruption or cost, people are the sufferers.
Posted in Energy, water on 25 October 2008
The beauty of the waves is admired by every person who goes to a beach, but none of us ever thought of the marvels these waves can perform. There is probably tons of energy stored in them (estimated to be 2 Terawatts of power). Portugal’s Pelamis Wave Power has recently introduced this renewable source to the world through the first ever wave farm in Agucadoura.
Posted in water on 22 October 2008
Gunwook Nam has come up with a clever way to handle the water crisis. The concept is called the Human Pump and it captures kinetic energy generated from human foot traffic and then uses it to make a system of pumps work. Now, these pumps bring fresh drinking water to the surface in a dramatic life-saving waterfall.
The Human Pump was one of the three winners at the Re-construct competition recently as it came across as a very socially responsible design. The World Health Organisation reports that 4,500 children die everyday due to the lack of clean water. Women and girls in the Sub-Sahara cannot got to school because they have to go water-searching for miles instead.
Posted in Architecture, Companies, Eco-Friendly, Environment, Global warming, Go green, Green, Infrastructure, Land, Ocean, Plants, Pollution, Products, Recycling, Renewable, Solar, Wind, water on 20 October 2008
In this economic crisis, one always wonders if one is in the right job. Well, being eco-friendly can be very benefitting even monetarily do. Forbes recently came up with a list of environmental jobs with salaries easily over $100,000.
The top 10 job include:
Posted in Products, water on 18 October 2008
The most under-estimated resource issue facing the world today is water shortage. Being the most essential element of nature after air for supporting life on earth, we can’t afford to let this precious entity perish. Element Four found a solution for the water woes faced by the people. The Watermill is a small, pretty water filter and purifier, which sucks humid air from atmosphere and converts it into pure potable water.
Posted in Ocean, Pollution, Wind, water on 9 October 2008
We keep hearing about eco-friendly vehicles dominating the roads across the world. But Mochi Craft has thought about the remaining 71%, which is water. A branch of Ferretti Group, this organisation sailed in world’s first eco-vessel.
A hyrbid yatch, it was launched at the 48th Salone Nautico Internazaionale. The green tag comes from the hybrid propulsion system that is exclusively manufactured by Ferretti. In other words, twin MAN diesel inboards are attached to a 15-inch, touchscreen monitoring system; thus allowing the helmsman to be able to switch among three different propulsion modes with the swipe of a finger: diesel, diesel-electric, or just electric.
An amazing start indeed, because once such eco-friendly hybrid yatchs sail across the blue water the ever-increasing pollution level will come down. Plus with its diesel-engine combination, the 75-feet water bus leaves ten kilograms of carbon dioxide for each nautical mile. There is also a battery pack that too can power the boat. And in this diesel-electric mode, the vessel emits less than half a kilogram each nautical mile.
The RINA Green Star certifies that the Long Range 23, priced at a huge three million euros, comes with both enhanced hydrodynamic capability and static stability.
Via luxury-insider
Posted in Recycling, water on 9 October 2008
You can turn pee into water with a special kind of machine. As insane as it sounds, the trick has been performed by inventor Dean Kamen. Already a big name in the world of water filtration, Kamen has again gathered a lot of attention thanks to the Slingshot machine he has created.
Running on cow poo, the Slingshot is a filtration system that can turn any water-containing liquid, yes please read pee, into drinking water. The ideation is simple. Vapor compression distillation enables this little wonder to convert all kinds of liquid, from sea water to puddles, into clean and distilled water. It does not need a filter and since it can run only on cow dung, it can easily be installed in developing countries and many rural areas.
Kamen also gives a free gift with the Slingshot, electricity. Yep, the machine also generates electricity as a by-product. Cool, two benefits from one fully eco-friendly machine. Do check out Kamen’s video on the Colbert Report.
Via Treehugger
Posted in Earth, Eco-Friendly, water on 9 October 2008
Ask eco experts and they will tell you that the toilet flush is the single largest user of water on a daily basis. Saving water here would make a huge difference. Till now all attempts to save water have failed mainly because of the redundant mindset that sticks to ‘fixed’ and not ‘variable’ volumes of water to flush away. Now a two year old and a sumo wrestler will have different requirements, right!
Some popular water saving methods in the toilet include — lowering the cistern water level by adjusting the ball float inlet valve saves 10%; bricks, bottles and hippo bags, 11%, cistern dams, 11%, dual-flush toilets, 27%, triple-fish toilets, 24% and many many others. But there is a new ‘Interflush’ method that stands apart from the crowd because it saves 47% of water.
The ‘Interflush’ kit is fitted atop plastic WC siphons and connected to the flush handle spindle. This allows the user to stop the flush just as soon as the pan is clean and clear; there by saving water. Now, it does not require double flushing; also, blocked drain lines are eliminated.
Posted in World, water on 8 October 2008
Green activists have taken up cudgels against Starbucks now. The coffee-giant that boasted of eco-friendly credentials came under the scanner when investigations by Sun revealed that veryday 23.4m litres of water goes down the drains of 10,000 outlets worldwide due to a company policy that tells the employees to keep the tap running non-stop. Facts show that this much water is enough for the 2 million population of the drough-ridden Namibia to survive for a day.
Actually every Starbucks outlet is equipped with a cold tap behind the counter that trails down into a sink which they like to call “dipper well”. It is here that the utensils are washed. And as per the company’s health and safety rules, staff is especially asked not to turn the water off as they believe that a constant flow of water prevents the breeding of germs in taps.
Water companies as well as the green experts regard the wasting of water for hygiene as nonsense. It is a crzy thing to do indeed, considering the problems the world is facing with the shortage of this vital natural resource. Australia is suffering the worst drought in a century for over seven years now.
Via ENN
Posted in Automobiles, Bikes, Car, Energy, Fuel, Gas, Solar, Wind, water on 5 October 2008
The big news is – Google decides to go green. In an attempt to rescue the USA from the energy crisis before 2030, the largest search engine in the world has decided to pursue a new energy plan. Experts believe that the company is being a little too modest calling their effort as too small, when now they are supporting and promoting green technology like wind power, solar energy, geothermal energy etc like enevr before.
The idea here is to take pressure off the fossil fuel resources. Google has cut down on its servers and buildings, even their computers are more efficient now so as to decrease consumption.
A very simple approach by Google that is hoped to inspire many others to actually sit back and think about the amount of energy they consume. It has even partnered with General Electric Co to develop a power grid that will have real-time pricing to show people their energy consumption.
Via planetark