Monthly Archives: November 2018

Nov 10

Working, as I do, for a concrete company makes me uncomfortably aware of the environmental impact, so any…

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Working, as I do, for a concrete company makes me uncomfortably aware of the environmental impact, so any improvements like this are welcome.

Originally shared by Greg Batmarx

We need buildings in which to live, but crafting those buildings is making it harder to live on this planet. As much as 10% of global carbon emissions come from the production of concrete.

One ton of CO2 is generated by making one ton of cement, which is made from limestone and a few other things heated to an extremely high temperature.

But what if concrete could generate its own energy? The era of photovoltaic concrete may be getting closer. Photovoltaics, which work by converting light to energy via semiconducting, are starting to migrate from solar panels into the building materials themselves.

In November 2017, Swiss firm LafargeHolcim the world’s largest cement maker, and Heliatek a German solar-panels company, debuted photovoltaic concrete panels at French construction fair Batimat, according to Architizer.

These panels are concrete with built-in ultra-think solar panels that can be delivered as is on site. The companies say that a typical 10-story commercial building covered in 60% of these panels would generate about 30% of its annual energy requirement.

Researchers from ETH Zurich university have also developed their own ultra-thin, sinuous material in which layers of heating coils and solar cells are built into the layers of concrete.

This technology is notoriously complicated. In 2016, Tesla debuted photovoltaic solar-roof tiles that looked better than the regular tiles that sit on the roofs of most American houses. But more than two years later, very few of them have actually been installed, partially due to complications with the manufacture and also reportedly due to the “aesthetic concerns” of Elon Musk.

The company has now promised a large-scale rollout of the tiles in 2019.

Getting photovoltaic concrete ready for actual commercial building work will probably be no easier.

https://qz.com/1449164/construction-looks-to-photovoltaic-concrete-that-generates-its-own-electricity/

Nov 10

These innovations see us interacting with smart buildings, lighting our way with photosynthetic lamps, sporting…

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Originally shared by Greg Batmarx

These innovations see us interacting with smart buildings, lighting our way with photosynthetic lamps, sporting shoes without footprints, and living in tiny cabins made of construction waste. The innovative minds behind all of these sustainable solutions have found unique ways to make the world a little bit better.

Here is our series of Tomorrow you will…

…interact with a smart building

In the German town of Esslingen, near Stuttgart, a new kind of structure is being built. “Milestone” is a 6,500m² office building like no other; its partially mirrored façade does a lot more than just keep out the weather. Milestone is covered in photovoltaics and QR codes that provide information on the town’s history, people and landscape, and within its dedicated smartphone app, you’ll see a kind of pixelated map of the area, with each pixel carrying different information on stories of the city and its inhabitants.

…get light from a plant

The Living Light by Dutch designer Ermj van Oers is an off-grid lamp that harvests its energy through the photosynthetic process of a houseplant. The process is quite simple; the naturally-occurring bacteria, which break down the organic matter produced from photosynthesis, release electrons and protons which flow from the anode compartment to the cathode, producing electricity (okay, it’s a lot simpler than it sounds!).

The lamp is touch-activated through contact with the leaves. The healthier the plant, the more energy you’ll receive back!

…wear clothes made from repurposed CO2

The “shoe without a footprint” is the latest demonstration of making products from pollution. Together with energy firm NRG, New York firm 10xBeta has designed shoes that are made primarily from a custom polymer material that captures CO2 emissions during production. To make the sneaker, the effluent is captured and cooled, and the CO2 in it is separated out.

That substance then becomes the base of a chemical that’s used to create the polymer (or plastic) that forms the shoe’s supportive foam.

The minimal product will probably not make it to the market anytime soon, but it sure opens new perspectives on the aesthetics of environmentally friendly products.

…live in construction waste

UK architecture firm Invisible Studio designed and built this mobile prototype for just £20,000 using a combination of construction waste and locally grown unseasoned timber. Named “Trailer” by its inventors, the 430-square-foot building is made from recycled materials; all of the joinery is from plywood offcuts, including the two staircases, the doors were sourced from a skip, and the building is insulated with scavenged insulation.

The project aims to provide a super low cost, versatile, usable space that could act as a kit of parts for any self builder to improvise around or easily adapt.

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/11/07/tomorrows-best-sustainable-innovations-2/

Nov 09

Always up for weird mushroom-based technologies.

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Always up for weird mushroom-based technologies.

Originally shared by Greg Batmarx

A regular shop-bought mushroom has been turned into an electricity generator in a process scientists hope will one day be used to power devices.

The “bionic mushroom” was covered with bacteria capable of producing electricity and strands of graphene that collected the current.

Shining a light on the structure activated the bacteria’s ability to photosynthesise, and as the cells harvested this glow they generated a small amount of electricity known as a “photocurrent”.

The fungi supported this process by providing the bacteria with viable surface on which to grow as well as nutrients to stay alive.

The research, published in the journal Nano Letters, is part of a wider effort by scientists to understand how biological machinery can be hijacked and put to good use.

In this case, our system, this bionic mushroom, produces electricity said Professor Manu Mannoor an engineer at Stevens Institute of Technology who led the research.

By integrating cyanobacteria that can produce electricity, with nanoscale materials capable of collecting the current, we were able to better access the unique properties of both, augment them, and create an entirely new functional bionic system.

Professor Mannoor and his team found that bacterial cells lasted several days longer when placed on living mushrooms compared to other bases.

Cyanobacteria are known among bio-engineers for their ability to generate small jolts of electricity, but until now it has been difficult to keep them alive in artificial conditions.

By creating a “hybrid system” that encourages the mushrooms and bacteria to collaborate, the scientists think they have solved this problem.

The systems were created by 3D printing an electronic ink containing strands of graphene, and then following this with a bio-ink containing the bacteria onto the cap of the mushroom.

When light shone was on the mushroom, the bacteria began to photosynthesise and a tiny current of about 65 nanoamps passed into the network of graphene.

While the scientists think an array of these mushrooms would be enough to power something like an LED light, they are still way off powering larger electronic devices.

With this work, we can imagine enormous opportunities for next-generation bio-hybrid applications said Professor Mannoor.

For example, some bacteria can glow, while others sense toxins or produce fuel.

_By seamlessly integrating these microbes with nanomaterials, we could potentially realise many other amazing designer bio-hybrids for the environment, defence, healthcare and many other fields.&

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/bionic-mushroom-electricity-light-bacteria-graphene-science-research-technology-a8622006.html