Waste To Gas Production

From: OdiliNet


by- Akinpelu Dada


Lagos begins gas production from waste dumps


Domestic waste, which used to pose a serious challenge to Lagos State, is about to become a huge revenue earner for the state.


Some 15 years ago, solid waste management posed a serious challenge to the government, as Lagos was then regarded as the dirtiest city state in the world.


After some false starts, the government seemed to have got it right with the involvement of the private sector in waste management and the revamp of the state Waste Management Authority to make it more professional and result-oriented.


Having overcome the challenge, the state is now on the verge of turning waste into income generating products with the Landfill Gas Recovery and Utilisation Project.


The project, which is being executed by LAWMA in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme and the African Carbon Asset Development, is meant to capture methane gas from waste, utilise it for electricity, prevent the release of Greenhouse gasses into the environment, reduce Lagos' carbon footprint and ensure compliance with international standards on environmental governance.


The LGRUP is a component of the Lagos Integrated Solid Waste Management Project, which is a Public-Private Partnership project whereby the government will execute a 20-year concession agreement with the private sector.


Among other benefits, the LGRUP is meant to bequeath better environmental health and living standard; ensure job creation and investment opportunities; provide public utility and infrastructure through public-private partnership; wealth creation and market-based solution for waste.


The LISWMP is for the closure, collection and utilisation of landfill gas at the existing dumpsites; and the establishment of an integrated solid waste management facility comprising a material recovery facility, recycling and composting facility as well as sanitary landfill for residual use.


The objectives of the project are to fully harness and utilise alternative options available in managing waste, thus reducing reliance on landfill disposal as well as minimise the emission of greenhouse gases, while managing waste in an environmentally sound, socially responsible and financially sustainable manner.


LAWMA is in the process of implementing the second phase of the project under a consultancy contract. The first phase, which comprises pre-engineering design, commenced in February 2011 and should be completed within 12 to 18 months.


Starting with the Olusosun landfill site in Ojota, the Green Development Mechanism project will also be extended to the Abule-Egba and Solous landfill sites.


The Managing Director, LAWMA, Mr. Ola Oresanya, said, "At the Olusosun landfill, we have developed gas wells to manage and recycle municipal solid waste into clean energy. Landfill gas can be generated 24 hours per day, seven days a week.


"Landfill gas is extracted from landfills using a series of wells and a blower or vacuum system. This system directs the collected gas to a central point where it can be processed and treated depending on the ultimate use for it.


"Landfill gas to energy projects do not only mean deceasing the hazards towards our climate; they also serve as a substitute for fossil fuels, such as natural gas. Landfill gas can be extracted for a variety of energy purposes, such as generation of electricity with engines, turbines, micro turbines and other emerging technologies."


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Airborne Wind Power

From: Wikipedia & VentureBeat

Renewable Energy cheaper than Coal (RE




Makani was founded in 2006 as a key element of Google.Org's Renewable Energy cheaper than Coal (RE initiative. As A Stealth Start-Up The 24-Member Makani Power Has secured $5Million Dollars from second round returning investors Google Org.


In order to meet its goal of producing low-cost renewable energy, the Makani system uses tethered aircraft that fly a circular path similar to that of the tip of the blade of a conventional Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine, its most aerodynamically efficient part.


Makani Power is developing Airborne Wind Turbines (AWT) to extract energy from the powerful, consistent winds at high altitudes. Makani’s AWT is a rigid wing that flies at altitudes between 300 and 600 meters. Turbines on the leading edge of the wing face into the wind as it flies and generate energy, which is transmitted to the ground along a tether. Makani AWTs will produce energy at an unsubsidized real cost competitive with coal-fired power plants, the current benchmark of the lowest cost source of power.


According to some experts in the field, Makani is currently the world leader in the development of airborne wind power extraction systems...




see also; Wind Energy, Wind4Africa

TeleMedicine

From: Physorg


by-Anne Trafton


Successful human tests for first wirelessly controlled drug-delivery chip

About 15 years ago, MIT professors Robert Langer and Michael Cima had the idea to develop a programmable, wirelessly controlled microchip that would deliver drugs after implantation in a patient's body. This week, the MIT researchers and scientists from MicroCHIPS Inc. reported that they have successfully used such a chip to administer daily doses of an osteoporosis drug normally given by injection.


The results, published in the Feb. 16 online edition of Science Translational Medicine, represent the first successful test of such a device and could help usher in a new era of telemedicine — delivering health care over a distance, Langer says.
"You could literally have a pharmacy on a chip," says Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT. "You can do remote control delivery, you can do pulsatile drug delivery, and you can deliver multiple drugs."


In the new study, funded and overseen by MicroCHIPS, scientists used the programmable implants to deliver an osteoporosis drug called teriparatide to seven women aged 65 to 70. The study found that the device delivered dosages comparable to injections, and there were no adverse side effects.




These programmable chips could dramatically change treatment not only for osteoporosis, but also for many other diseases, including cancer and multiple sclerosis. "Patients with chronic diseases, regular pain-management needs or other conditions that require frequent or daily injections could benefit from this technology," says Robert Farra, president and chief operating officer at MicroCHIPS and lead author of the paper.
"Compliance is very important in a lot of drug regimens, and it can be very difficult to get patients to accept a drug regimen where they have to give themselves injections," says Cima, the David H. Koch Professor of Engineering at MIT. "This avoids the compliance issue completely, and points to a future where you have fully automated drug regimens."
Achieving precision


The MIT research team started working on the implantable chip in the mid-1990s. John Santini, then a University of Michigan undergraduate visiting MIT, took it on as a summer project under the direction of Cima and Langer. Santini, who later returned to MIT as a graduate student to continue the project, is also an author of the new paper.




In 1999, the MIT team published its initial findings in Nature, and MicroCHIPS was founded and licensed the microchip technology from MIT. The company refined the chips, including adding a hermetic seal and a release system that works reliably in living tissue. Teriparatide is a polypeptide and therefore much less chemically stable than small-molecule drugs, so sealing it hermetically to preserve it was an important achievement, Langer says.
The human clinical trial began in Denmark in January 2011. Chips were implanted during a 30-minute procedure at a doctor's office using local anesthetic, and remained in the patients for four months. The implants proved safe, and patients reported they often forgot they even had the implant, Cima says.




Chips used in the study stored 20 doses of teriparatide, individually sealed in tiny reservoirs about the size of a pinprick. The reservoirs are capped with a thin layer of platinum and titanium that melts when a small electrical current is applied, releasing the drug inside. MicroCHIPS is now working on developing implants that can carry hundreds of drug doses per chip.




Because the chips are programmable, dosages can be scheduled in advance or triggered remotely by radio communication over a special frequency called Medical Implant Communication Service (MICS). Current versions work over a distance of a few inches, but researchers plan to extend that range.




In the Science Translational Medicine study, the researchers measured bone formation in osteoporosis patients with the implants, and found that it was similar to that seen in patients receiving daily injections of teriparatide. Another notable result is that the dosages given by implant had less variation than those given by injection.
Once a version of the implant that can carry a larger number of doses is ready, MicroCHIPS plans to seek approval for further clinical trials, Farra says. The company has also developed a sensor that can monitor glucose levels. Eventually such sensors could be combined with chips that contain drug reservoirs, creating a chip that can adapt drug treatments in response to the patient's condition.


more here

LuminAID

From: Physorg 

by-Nancy Owano

World populations who live without electricity including those in disaster-stricken areas in the wake of floods, earthquakes, and other calamities are who two Columbia University graduates want to help. That is why they have launched their campaign to deliver their solar-rechargeable lamp that packs flat and inflates to create a lightweight, waterproof lantern.

Anna Stork and Andrea Sreshta, graduates from the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation, have a goal to bring their solar-powered pillows to victims of disasters as well as the world’s needy. Their design, LuminAID,at first glance looks like a small boutique store carrier bag with a handle.

LuminAID is actually an inflatable plastic pillow with a thin solar panel and two coin cell batteries. The package can be inflated and deflated down to where it can be packed completely flat. Photovoltaic film is laminated to polyethelenevinyl acetate plastic. The LuminAID device inflates to produce a quality of light similar to a lantern. A white-dot pattern on the device diffuses the light.

It’s good for up to four hours of lighting at 35 lumens, or up to six hours at 20 lumens. The four hour setting, which is “High,” is designed for reading and task work. The six hour setting, which is “Low,” can provide households without electricity the light they need for safety or as a simple night light.

Four to six hours of sunlight are required for charging. The battery can be charged 800 times.Stork and Shreshta consider the lamp as a good alternative to dangerous kerosene lamps, which many global households with no access to electricity continue to use. Stories surface of small children and adults seriously burned from falling kerosene lamps or from lamps accidentally overturned. The LuminAID broader mission is to just bring light in an affordable size and design to those who need it.

Their plan to engineer the effort includes a “Buy One, Give One” concept. The LuminAID light is to sell for $25 (suggested uses are for travel or camping).Money which the LuminAID Fund collects will go to sending the lights to needy sites around the world. Desirable purposes for the light are so that families can read, write, and cook, so that students can study longer, and businesses can stay open later, as well as for disaster relief.

As a field test, LuminAID is working with organizations to distribute the light in Rajasthan, India, where they say one in two households lack electricity. The LuminAID lights will be used in rural schools, homes and by small-business owners.

Glaucoma Test In A Contact Lens

From: Technology Review


by-Lauren Gravitz

Glaucoma is the second most common cause of blindness, and without constant vigilance it can prove a very difficult disease to manage. But a Swiss biotech company has developed a monitoring system that allows physicians to keep track of their patients' symptoms over 24 hours.


Sensimed's "Triggerfish" system consists of a contact lens with embedded sensors that can pick up subtle physical changes in a patient's eye, and then wirelessly transmit that data to a receiver worn around his neck.

Despite decades of study, researchers still only poorly understand the causes of glaucoma, a group of diseases in which deterioration of the optic nerve can eventually lead to blindness. But controlling one symptom in particular--high intraocular pressure, which is caused by too much liquid inside the eye--appears to help prevent disease progression.


"Nowadays, glaucoma specialists live in the dark," says Kaweh Mansouri, an ophthalmologist who has been using the Sensimed system in his clinic at the University Hospital, Geneva. "We only get a few chances to see the patient and measure intraocular pressure, and we know this is a major drawback of how we diagnose and treat glaucoma."


Current methods for glaucoma diagnosis and monitoring are usually limited to single snapshots in time, taken at a visit to the eye doctor during daytime, when pressure tends to be at its lowest. But glaucoma specialists believe that one of the main contributors to disease progression is frequent changes in pressure over the course of a day, or high peaks during the night--something that, in the most serious cases, requires frequent measurement during an overnight hospitalization.


 The Sensimed device, the first of its kind on the market, provides constant readings for a fraction of the price of a hospital stay. The company received safety approval for Triggerfish in Europe last year, and is hoping for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval by late 2011.
The Triggerfish lens is made of the same silicon hydrogel as many of the soft contact lenses currently on the market, but embedded within it is a microprocessor and a strain gauge that encircles its outer edge. When fluid accumulates in the eye, the diameter of the cornea changes, and that change is picked up by the strain gauge. Data is processed and then transmitted via radio frequency to a receiver.


In more than one-third of the 50 patients Mansouri has tested, the results led to a direct, immediate change in treatment, he says. If a person's intraocular pressure peaked at odd hours of the night, for example, he could now detect it and change medication doses to account for that. If prescription drugs didn't seem to be helping at all, he could change course and try surgery instead. "For the first time, we were able to look into the darkness of glaucoma, and we saw things happening during the night that were surprising," he says.

Ultimately, Sensimed believes it may be possible to use Triggerfish to detect glaucoma at earlier stages in people with a family history of the disease or other risk factors. If a high-risk patient has a relatively normal daytime pressure, says company president and CEO Jean MarcWismer, he might benefit from a preventative 24-hour monitoring session every once in a while. "We would like to be able to diagnose glaucoma earlier, before it actually causes damage that affects vision."


more here:

AirDrop

From: Tecca

by-Mariella Moon


Innovative irrigation system conjures water out of thin air




Fancy futuristic ideas leave all us in awe, but it's sometimes low-tech solutions like the AirDrop that can solve the problems we face today. The Airdrop is an irrigation system designed to take advantage of the process of condensation to produce water out of air. According to its creator, Australian Edward Linacre, it was inspired by the Namib Desert beetle that can subsist in arid conditions by collecting very small amounts of water from the air around it.

AirDrop uses a turbine to push air into its network of pipes underground, which is quickly cooled to soil temperature, thereby creating an environment with 100% humidity. Condensation then takes place naturally, and water produced from the air is collected in a tank that's kept underground to prevent evaporation in hot areas.

Crops are watered by pumping water directly from the tank. AirDrop is completely self-sufficient, and needs no external source of energy to work. During especially breezy times, the winds propel the turbine that drives the air into the tubes. But during calm days without winds, a solar panel collects the energy needed to move the turbine.

Linacre designed AirDrop (that recently won the 2011 James Dyson Award) because of the long-standing Australian drought that caused a number of farmer suicides in the country. He built a prototype of the system in his mother's backyard that produces a liter of water per day. But even if he's only been able to test it in a small-scale setting, he believes AirDrop can be implemented on a larger scale in the future as the no-frills, low-tech system is, in his own words, "perfect for rural farmers."

Revolutionary Water Disinfection Solution

Source: Philips

Philips Lighting has today announced the launch of a new, complete and innovative water disinfection solution, Philips InstantTrust. This solution is based on cutting-edge disinfection technology optimized for point-of-use applications. For the first time water can be disinfected instantly, efficiently and independent of water temperature.

Many consumers are concerned about the quality of drinking water, because the microorganisms present in water can make them ill. In emerging countries these concerns may be due to the water infrastructure, but also in western countries incidents can cause contamination with microorganisms. In North America alone 85% of child sickness and 65% of adult diseases are a result of water borne viruses and bacteria.

The new Philips InstantTrust solution can be integrated into any point-of use application including taps, water pitchers, under-the-sink water filters and portable counter-top systems. It solves many of the limitations of current UV disinfection technology and enables equipment manufacturers to provide consumers with access to safe drinking water: anytime, anywhere.

Philips InstantTrust is so compact in its size that it allows manufacturers to integrate the solution into smaller equipment than ever before and gives them stylistic freedom to design sleek products ideal for the small and modern home. 

Furthermore, the revolutionary solution works instantly to produce safe water from the first second onwards, eliminating waiting time. It is unique due to its ability to work independently of water temperature and because it can be used for integration into both hot and cold water systems. Philips InstantTrust is ideal for instant disinfection of small quantities of cold water (up to flows of approximately 4 liters/minute).

Frank Kauffmann, General Manager Special Lighting said: “We are very proud to be launching this unique, state-of-the-art UV disinfection technology today: It is a testament to our continued commitment to developing innovative technologies that help enhance the health and quality of people’s lives.”

Ernest Sanderse, Marketing Manager UV Purification: “Thanks to this innovation safe water is now always within reach: anytime, anywhere. We are dedicated to working with leading equipment manufacturers of end-use products to make this technology available for people around the world.”

Philips Lighting has been at the forefront of UV technology for many years and has helped equipment manufacturers across different sectors including residential water, municipal drinking and waste water, industrial water, swimming pools and fish ponds to design effective water purification equipment by developing innovative and reliable UV solutions.

FRUIT LABEL DISSOLVES INTO ORGANIC SOAP

From: GizMag

by-Bridget Borgobello

As the preferred gift of teacher's pets and the daily, apotropaic fruit that keeps doctors away,

apples have somewhat of a goody-two shoes reputation. But actually, they've got a dirty side

to them. Just ask these guys who recently ranked apples atop their list of fruits and veggies

most contaminated with pesticides.

And those pesky stickers that always leave a gluey residue if 

you can even pick them off with your fingernail...no wonder 

apples got biblically tagged as the forbidden fruit.

New York based electrical engineer and designer Scott Amron has come up with an idea that 

could transform the way industries label fruit and vegetables. However, Amron is a man who 

has put considerable thought into that sticker, creating the Fruitwash label. Just as the name 

suggests, the new label dissolves into organic fruit soap that helps remove water-resistant wax, 

pesticides and fungicides.

"I've always been discontent with fruit labels and felt they could do more than just display

product  info and be difficult to peel off," Amron told Gizmag. "We buy, wash and eat fruit. So,

the wash step was the next thing the label should help with.

Amron is keeping his Fruitwash ingredients under wraps, be he said they're designed to

"outlast the fruit they label." He added: The "best thing is the labels help make the fruit 

cleaner. And, there's no label to peel off and throw away unless you choose to peel the label 

off and throw it away."

Amron Experimental is currently selling a 10 percent stake in the Fruitwash Label's patents

and hopes to market the soapy stickers within the next six to nine months.

Prepaid Home Solar Power Station

From: BusinessWire

The Econet Solar Home Power Station is a revolutionary, standalone electricity solution designed for those living in off-grid communities. It has been designed to supply, on a pre-paid basis, affordable lighting for small homes and cell phone charging.

The Home Power Station consists of a solar panel, a battery pack, an energy management module, LED (light emitting diode) lights and a cell phone charger.

A range of solar power products are already on the market but often the up-front cost of purchasing the equipment is too high for those who would like and would benefit from the product. Econet Solar is taking an innovative approach which will allow its customers to take the Home Power Station at a small upfront cost and pay for electricity as they use it.

The product contains a SIM card – the same as those used in cell phone handsets – which enables the device to communicate with the cellular network and in turn makes it possible for the customer to pre-paid for energy usage, in the same way that they currently pay for airtime on their cell phone.

The Econet Solar Home Power Station is a product which uses proven technology in a revolutionary way. Econet Solar has a chance to contribute at an important time in African history and it is determined to help light up the 70% of Africa that does not already have access to electricity.



Reliability and Affordability


The Home Power System is designed to replace existing candle and kerosene lighting options which are dangerous, non environmentally-friendly and expensive. The Home Power Station customer pays for the service via their pre-paid cell phone.

As standard, the Econet Solar Home Power Station includes four LED lights, the Home Power Station controller, a battery, a solar panel, cabling and a mobile phone charger. It has been designed to light up to four rooms of 3x3 meters each for a period of up to five hours a day. The system is easy to install and comes with a comprehensive instruction manual, as well as a helpful “frequently asked questions” booklet.





Econet Solar has designed the Home Power Station to be robust and reliable so that each part of the system requires minimal maintenance following installation; the battery is intended to last for over five years. The control box is deliberately lightweight and compact so that it can be placed in a secure and discreet location in the customer’s home. The photovoltaic solar panel replenishes one day’s usage in half a day’s sunshine



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Youtricity- Using Urine To Generate Power and Clean Water

From: io9


A revolutionary new fuel cell could take in urine and produce electricity and clean water. It might sound silly, but a prototype already exists, and it could provide the unlikeliest possible solution to third world energy and clean water problems.


Fuel cells convert chemical energy into electricity through a series of reactions between a fuel and an oxidant. Fuels can include hydrogen or methanol gas, while the oxidants are usually, unsurprisingly enough, oxygen, although chlorine is also sometimes used. Unlike conventional batteries, they don't store any chemical energy inside them, and so only operate when external fuel sources are supplied.


In theory, fuel cells could be a powerful producer of electricity, but their designs are often impractical. Hydrogen is highly flammable and methanol is toxic, creating major challenges in safely storing the required fuels. Also, some fuel cells require membranes and catalysts built from platinum, which obviously drives up the cost.


But the Carbamide Power System might just offer an alternative. The brainchild of Doctors Shanwen Tao and Rong Lan, this new fuel cell uses cheaper materials for its membrane and catalysts, and it uses a non-toxic, non-combustible fuel: urine. Specifically, a component of human and animal urine known as urea, which is currently mass-produced as an industrial fertilizer. Urea is also known as carbamide, which is where the new power system gets its name. (For some reason, Tao and Lan felt Urea Power System didn't have quite as nice a ring to it.) And yes, it's possible to substitute actual urine in place of the urea, as you can see in the diagram from their wonderfully named company, Youtricity.


Dr. Tao explains where he first got the idea: "Growing up in rural eastern China I was aware of the use of urea as an agricultural fertilizer. When I became a chemist and was looking at fuel cell development I thought of using it in the process. We are only at prototype stage at present, but if this renewable material can be used as a commercially viable and environmentally friendly energy source then we will be absolutely delighted, and many people around the world will benefit."


Because urea is being used in trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles to reduce nitrous oxide emissions, there's already a fueling infrastructure in place for the cells. Dr. Tao says submarines and other military vehicles could definitely make use of these cells, as could isolated regions without ready access to other forms of energy, such as deserts and islands. With a little tweaking to the design, the fuel cells could also create clean, reprocessed waste water as a byproduct of their electricity creation.

Although it's not there quite yet, a device that can take in urine and produce electricity and clean water is the sort of thing that really could change the world for the better - even if you'd rather not think about where that water and electricity is coming from.

Timbuktu Chronicles: Co-Creation Hub Nigeria

Timbuktu Chronicles: Co-Creation Hub Nigeria: Loy Okezie of Techloy recently asked a question about the absence of tech-hubs in Nigeria. Co-Creation Hub along with We-Innovation covered earlier are looking to change that perception. Co-creation hub describes itself as:

GHANA: Gari Processing Goes Hi-Tech

From:Voices Of Africa


by- Edward Kwame Aklade


The people of Manchie have been relieved of having to sit very close to very hot flame and intense fumes during gari processing. The modern hearth now used by the women has long wall designed to shade the heat and the smoke of the fire from reaching them. The old system exposed these poor women to several health hazards including cataract, skin diseases and other related health hazards.


An interview with 60-year old Madam Beauty Kpeto revealed that she has been doing the gari processing job for over three decades, she goes for an eye check up every fortnight because of a problem she developed due to the fumes and heat she has to sit by during the gari processing; she could not hide her excitement during the interview. Gari processing is one of the oldest and commonest jobs among the folks of Manchie a community located at Medie near Amasaman in the Ga West Municipality.




Mr.Tetteh, the project coordinator of Friends indeed, the NGO supporting the project, said that the idea was borrowed from the Central region of Ghana where the people there have graduated to using this modern one.




‘After several decades of cassava processing using the traditionally hot and open flame, now the people of Manchie can have a sigh of relieve’, Mr Tetteh noted. He also stated that this is a pilot project and will be expanded to cover the rest of the Gari processing communities in the Ga West Municipality.




Mr Tetteh appealed to other benevolent organizations to support the projects. He further advised the community members, especially the users, to take good care of the hearth to ensure that it lasts long enough for them.




see also: Gari Processing

Recycled Plastic Bridge

From: CNN

by- Eoghan Macguire

Stretching out across the peaceful waters of the River Tweed in Peeblesshire, Scotland, the Dawyck Estate river crossing is an unlikely record breaker.
Measuring 30 meters in length and made entirely out of waste plastic products, the newly completed structure is the world's longest and sturdiest recycled bridge.


Utilizing a super-strength composite plastic material -- engineered by researchers at Rutgers University from items as common as plastic bottles and household plastic waste -- the bridge caters for pedestrians, cars and heavy goods vehicles.
The river span is one of five such structures now in existence, although all others are smaller and based in the U.S., and can support weights of up to 44 tons.


According to Vertech Composites, the British company behind the project, the bridge is a prototype that has the potential to meet future road and bridge requirements in an eco-friendly manner.
There are currently significant bridge and river crossing needs in rural and countryside areas.
William Mainwaring, CEO Vertech Composites


"There are currently significant bridge and river crossing needs in rural and countryside areas and there will only be more in years going forward," says William Mainwaring, CEO of Vertech Composites.
Mainwaring highlights the re-use of obsolete plastics that would otherwise be burned or sent to landfill sites as the primary environmental benefit of the bridge.


He also adds that recycled composite plastic provides a more sustainable alternative to existing bridge construction materials and not as likely to degrade as steel, timber and concrete.
"This technology creates enhanced stiffness and strength that is ideal for structures like a bridge," says Mainwaring.


"Once the bridge has completed its lifespan, the plastic can then be recycled again and used for other purposes, meaning it will never have to go to landfill," he adds.
Yet it could be many years before more of us are driving on plastic roads and bridges.
"The bridge in Peeblesshire has been built on private land, so it avoids the safety regulations (which as yet do not account for composite plastics) of the UK transport department," says Professor Bob Lark, head of the School of Engineering at Cardiff University, which was involved in helping design the structural aspects of the Dawyck Estate project.


Lark believes that overcoming existing legislative hurdles may take time as current building standards have been written around existing materials and do not take into account newly developed ones.
However the technology has the potential to be used in other areas of construction sector in the meantime.
Such spin-off opportunities have not escaped the attention of Vertech Composites, who are keen to find new and creative ways to use the plastic technology.


"We see the potential for the same recycled plastics to be used in road signage, advertising hoardings, as a replacement for plywood on building sites ... and in agriculture, which currently uses a huge amount of timber on the inside of livestock buildings," says Mainwaring.
"These materials generally degrade much more quickly than plastic meaning there is an opportunity to improve efficiencies in a way that spares valuable raw materials and has a positive environmental impact," he adds.

Can A Farm-in-a-Backpack Feed Sub-Saharan Africa?

From: BackPack Farm Project


Rachel Zedeck moved to Kenya with the intent to help Kenyans feed themselves through eco-friendly farming.




Her solution - put everything you need into one backpack. Everything needed to get going on sustainable farming practices is included, and the program is proving to be successful - she and a group of farmers in the Mau Forest, successfully planted12 Hectares using a new distributed production model and supplies from the eco-friendly back pack farming kits. 




But will this pilot program prove whether or not sustainable farming can feed a country?

How the Mau Forest is farmed is a big deal because of the delicate eco-systems, including Lake Victoria, located in the area. Zedek hopes that the pilot program will illustrate how the new model of farming can help keep the integrity of the area, and feed hungry youths.




The Backpack Farm Program is a simple idea. You give a person a backpack filled with necessary materials including seeds of drought resistant and local crop varieties, a drip Irrigation Kit, and optional 500 Liter collapsible water tank, Lachlan "Fusion Nutrition Program," plant nutrition in combination with eco-friendly chemistry, Parathyroid-based Malaria Pesticide, small farm tools, customized with the final crop production models, and a six liter chemical sprayer along with training manuals and a journal. 




You then teach them how to use the contents, and they'll be able to immediately start growing their own food.There are a lot of variables here, though, that go beyond just contents in a backpack. But Zedek is determined to address them all within the program, and is a Change Agent working to gather support for the project.

WiTricity- Wireless Electricity

A Massachusetts company said that within 18 months it will have on the market a wireless electricity system to power -- through the air -- lights, computers, televisions and even the chargers for electric cars.The announcement was made at the TEDGlobal conference, a gathering of technologists and scientists, that wrapped up Friday in Oxford, England.


The company, WiTricity of Watertown, Mass., had previously demonstrated the technology, as had Intel Corp., which is also working on a wireless electricity project.


But the WiTricity announcement marked the first time that a company unveiled plans to commercialize the technology. At the conference, WiTricity's chief executive, Eric Giler, showed how an electrical coil -- placed in a wall or under a piece of furniture -- could power an LCD television several feet away, sans wires.


The basic premise isn't new. Legendary inventor Nikola Tesla, who gave us alternating current that made electricity practical, demonstrated low-power wireless electricity in the 1890s and worked on a plan to send it out over long distances.


The system from WiTricity (Wi-Fi plus electricity) is based on work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to focus the energy transfer, giving it enough oomph to make it useful.
Giler said the system was perfectly safe for humans. But people who left comments, both on The Times' Technology blog and its Facebook version, were skeptical.


"Do you expect this to be really safe?" asked Yasushi Zenno from Japan. "Would it not nuke someone by mistake sometimes?"