Lifeboat Foundation

Australia’s recycling crisis needs us to look into waste management options beyond just recycling and landfilling. Some of our waste, like paper or organic matter, can be composted. Some, like glass, metal and rigid plastics, can be recycled. But we have no immediate solution for non-recyclable plastic waste except landfill.

At a meeting last month, federal and state environment ministers endorsed an ambitious target to make all Australian packaging recyclable, compostable or reusable by 2025. But the ministers also showed support for processes to turn our waste into energy, although they did not specifically discuss plastic waste as an energy source.

The 100% goal could easily be achieved if all packaging were made of paper or wood-based materials. But realistically, plastic will continue to dominate our packaging, especially for food, because it is moisture-proof, airtight, and hygienic.

Sustainable biological filters called slow sand filters have been used to filter drinking water since the 1800s. They don’t use any chemicals, create no waste and use very little energy. However, technologies that meet modern requirements for control, monitoring and time-efficiency have become popular, while biological water treatment has been less favoured, since little has been understood about how it works. New research from Lund University in Sweden shows that not only are the older filters more efficient cleaners – they could be making a comeback soon with the help of new technology.

Older sand filters are more effective than new ones, a unique field study at a water treatment facility in southern Sweden shows. This is because the old filters have had the time to develop a specific ecosystem of hungry bacteria that purify the water. The water is cleaned not only by mechanical filtering by the grains of sand, but by considerably smaller helpers as well.

The fact that sand filters contain microorganisms was already known. However, it was believed that sand filters helped to reduce the number of bacteria, which is not the case.

Continue reading “Eco-friendly water treatment works best with experienced bacterial flora” »

We’ve all dreamed of owning, or at the very least being a passenger of, a flying car. It’s the sci-fi dream that never transpired — until recently, that is. With a growing emphasis of developing flying taxis among several different companies, one wonders if the revolutionary Tesla Motors has plans to join in on this new venture.

Could Elon Musk’s random tweet from late last year be an indicator of Tesla’s interest in flying cars and their joining of this brand new “space race?”

For an invited competition, Pickard Chilton and ARUP collaborated on the concept design for a Mega-Skyport – Uber’s vision for a next-generation urban aviation transport system. Dubbed “Sky Tower,” the project is intended to facilitate at least 1000 vehicle arrivals and 1000 departures per hour, with each vehicle accommodating up to five passengers.

Once the objective of the desired throughput was resolved, Pickard Chilton and ARUP endeavored to create an elegant yet highly engineered and sophisticated work of architecture that would support and augment the Uber brand. Due to the multi-faceted kit-of-parts and adaptability of the individual module, it can be applied both vertically and horizontally to suit any given context.

While the Sky Tower is conceptual, it is not science fiction. Based on a pragmatic and research-driven approach, the Sky Tower concept delivers to Uber a modular, extensible and sustainable solution that supports their vision for the future of intra-urban transportation.

In this special edition we are going on a tour of the Foundation’s ‘Transhuman House’.

Set in the middle of the Rocky Mountains, let’s fly in and take a look…

Continue reading “Touring the Transhuman House, Sustainable Technologies and our Future” »

California is about to become the only state in the nation mandating that virtually every new home have solar panels by 2020.

Summer. Blue sky. Sunshine. But you don’t notice much of it in the office or in your home, because the blinds block the view so that the heat stays outside. This scenario could soon be a thing of the past: EPFL researchers are working with Empa on a window glass that keeps out the heat in summer and at the same time allows a clear view of the outside world.

Depending on the season, windows must have a different function in order to provide sufficient comfort in offices and apartments. In summer they should keep heat away and prevent glare from the sun. In winter they should distribute the little light optimally in the room. A team led by Andreas Schüler from the Laboratory for Solar Energy and Building Physics at EPFL has recently developed a window that meets all these criteria. In cooperation with Empa researchers led by Patrik Hoffmann from the Laboratory for Advanced Materials Processing in Thun, work is currently underway on their manufacture—which could soon make sun blinds redundant. Seasonal window glass reduces summer overheating and glare in buildings and ensures high solar energy and daylight input in winter. All this without impairing the view outwards through dimming or blinds.

Jing Gong, a Ph.D. student at EPFL, used Empa’s highly complex laser system in Thun to produce a so-called master form with a microstructured surface with the precision laser. Micro mirrors are then evaporated into these micro-grooves and encapsulated in a polymer film. This film can then be easily inserted into a conventional double-glazed window. The arrangement of so-called “Compound Parabolic Concentrator” (CPC) lenses is used to optimally reflect sunlight with low restrictions in visibility. While the first prototypes have been developed in the laboratory, the researchers are already working on up-scaling. In a pilot project in cooperation with BASF Switzerland, the team is working on a manufacturing process that should make it possible to produce the window glass coating consisting of millions of micro mirrors with high precision, quickly and cost-effectively. This poses a major challenge due to the very high optical quality requirements.

America’s water is under threat from many sides. It faces pollution problems, outdated infrastructure, rising costs, and unprecedented droughts and rainfall patterns as the climate changes. Yet at a recent event hosted by the Columbia Water Center, the tone was cautiously optimistic, and the conversation centered on solutions.

“If we have aging infrastructure that’s falling apart, and we’re dealing with climate variability and change, isn’t that a good opportunity to actually do something?” suggested Upmanu Lall, director of the Columbia Water Center.

For decades, the U.S. has been a leader in water management. Now we’re falling behind; in the latest infrastructure report card, dams, drinking water and wastewater all received D ratings. But Lall thinks the country could get an A. Here are some of the solutions, presented at the event, that could help to get us there.

A Purdue University-affiliated startup that seeks to redefine “farm-to-table” when it comes to garden vegetables by delivering its first orders of an appliance that fits under a kitchen counter and grows produce year-round.

Heliponix LLC, founded by two Purdue University graduates, has begun taking orders on its GroPod, a dishwasher-sized device its creators believe will disrupt the landscape of how food is produced in the face of looming worldwide food shortages and increasing concerns about chemical runoff polluting water sources, rampant food waste and water supplies diminishing on a global scale.

“It’s great for consumers and for the environment,” said Scott Massey, CEO of Heliponix.

Continue reading “Computer-controlled ‘greenhouses’ in kitchens grow fresher, healthier produce” »