Digital Sustainability

In the years leading up to the massive tsunami of March 11, 2011, it seemed that Japan’s coastal ecosystems could hardly decline in health any further. Decades of coastal engineering had divided land from ocean, turned quaint seaside towns grey with concrete, and pushed once-familiar species like loggerhead sea turtles and common orient clams towards extinction. Nearly half of the island nation’s perimeter was modified in some way; cliffs comprised most of what remained untouched. Even within the government, a sense had begun to spread that in a country where the sea has shaped culture and cuisine for millennia, coastal land management had taken a wrong turn.

Then came the once-in-a-thousand-year tsunami. Walls of water swept over the coast of northeastern Japan, claiming more than 15,000 lives and destroying hundreds of thousands of buildings, together with 60 percent of seawalls. In the rubble-covered wasteland that remained, scholars, activists, and fishermen alike saw a chance to rethink how people live on the coast.

Offshore wind farms and tidal energy facilities harness the power of the wind and the ocean – but why should we have separate turbines for each task? Offshore technology company Mitsui is developing a hybrid wind-current power generating system that combines a floating vertical-axis wind turbine with an underwater turbine that generates power from ocean currents. The clever apparatus would cut down on material waste, and it could produce twice as much energy as a conventional wind turbine
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Renewable energy developers strive for improved efficiency in the solar, wind and hydro power industries – and the hybrid wind-current system effectively doubles the efficiency of a typical wind or ocean current turbine. Mitsui Ocean Development & Engineering Company says the system will provide cost-effective power generation while having very little impact on the environment.

The turbines will be large in scale; according to NHK News, the wind turbine will be 47 meters (154 feet), and the underwater portion will have a diameter of 15 meters (49 feet). The turbines will be tested off the coast of Japan later this year. If they work as well as advertised, each turbine could generate enough energy to power 300 households.

Photovoltaic systems are indeed enjoying a boom worldwide, yet the situation for German manufacturers of solar cells and module is critical. The reasons for this are worldwide excess capacities and manufacturers from China who have flooded the world market with modules with approximately 15 % efficiency at dumping prices. German and other European manufacturers will only be able to keep up if they are able to offer cells and modules with higher degrees of efficiency at competitive prices. The Institute for Photovoltaics (ipv) at the University of Stuttgart has now set a new record in the hunt for the highest degrees of efficiency using the simplest possible production processes. In a project funded by the Federal Environmental Ministry, success was achieved in manufacturing cells from crystal silicon with almost 22 % efficiency
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South Korea will soon be able to boast of its largest rooftop solar installation, thanks to Hyundai. The behemoth with many business interests is set to trigger a revolution in solar energy conservation program, by building the solar installation at its Asan factory in the country’s west coast.

The project would boasts 40,000 solar photovoltaic modules, 213,000 sq meters (2,292,712 square feet, or 68% of the total roof area), and 10 megawatts peak capacity, which targets 11.5 million kWh yearly production sufficient for 3,200 households.

As you would probably know, Sonata Hybrid, Sonata and Grandeur (Azera) is manufactured at the Asan plant.

Hyundai aims at creating awareness on the importance of eco-friendly projects with such a huge and noble initiative. The project is intended to produce 11.5 million kWh of electricity, equivalent to that produced by a thermoelectric power plant.

Landsat images and the Google Earth Engine have been able to show us how the Earth’s surface has been changing, reports TreeHugger.

“Today, we’re making it possible for you to go back in time and get a stunning historical perspective on the changes to the Earth’s surface over time,” says Google. “Working with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), NASA and TIME, we’re releasing more than a quarter-century of images of Earth taken from space, compiled for the first time into an interactive time-lapse experience. We believe this is the most comprehensive picture of our changing planet ever made available to the public.”

The images focus on key areas on our planet—such as the Amazon rainforest, coal beds of Wyoming, Columbia Glacier, the Aral Sea, and the Saudi Arabian desert—and has found that the rainforests are, in fact, disappearing.

“Explore a global timelapse of our planet, constructed from Landsat satellite imagery,” says Google. “The Amazon rainforest is shrinking at a rapid rate to provide land for farming and raising cattle. Each frame of the timelapse map is constructed from a year of Landsat satellite data, constituting an annual 1.7-terapixel snapshot of the Earth at 30-meter resolution.”

Brazil’s Amazon rainforest has many accolades to its name: It is the largest tropical rainforest in the worldcovering over five and a half a million square kilometers, it is the home to 10 percent of the world’s known species and 20 percents of the world’s known bird species, and it is that 2.5 million different insect species and over 40,000 plant species live in the Amazon rain forest. Tragically enough, the diversity seen in the Amazon rainforest has been threatened for years due to human activity. It has been estimated that almost 90 percent of the rain forest is now gone, having been replaced with roads and cities, and as a result, the biodiversity has also taken a hit.

Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii registered atmospheric concentrations of CO2 at 400 ppm. Creative Commons: 2008

Scientists at the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii have confirmed that the heat-trapping greenhouse gases in our atmosphere have reached unprecedented levels, unseen for more than 3 million years.

New data released by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows that concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) have passed the ominous milestone of 400 parts per million (ppm).

Professor Ralph Keeling from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii said:

Head for the northern part of Istanbul, and that’s where the Kagithane Gardens stand supreme. Described as a future hub of offices and retail business in Kagithane, the M shaped building rises from courtyards and gardens. Moreover, each and every office is provided a narrow floor plate to have an outside view and that assures plenty of natural light to come in.

A passageway from the street leads pedestrians in and around the complex. Kagithane Gardens is a 100,000 sq m mega project which has shopping centers, restaurants, fitness clubs on the lower levels so as to be more accessible to the public.

Office spaces are more on the upper floor, which connects to terraces and roof top gardens. Louvers on the glass walled exterior compress daytime temperature and sunlight.

These days, electric vehicle activists want to see more public events like EV ride-and-drives and plenty of time for education and socializing. The annual National Plug In Day brings out a lot of fans, but it's certainly not the first time such an event has taken place. On Memorial Day – May 27, 2013 – drivers and fans will show up in Washington, DC, to celebrate the 99th anniversary of the Electric Sociability Run of 1914.

On May 27, 1914, a group known as the Electric Vehicle Association of America gathered 54 electric vehicle owners to rally in a caravan down a 14-mile stretch. It took the group more than an hour and 15 minutes to travel that distance and reach Rock Creek Park in Washington, DC.

The current group of EV drivers will arrive at the same destination as the original gathering. Just like the first group, they'll have a picnic, participate in contests and try for prizes for their achievements. They're hoping this year's event will be biggest gathering of EV owners in the nation's capital since 1914.

EV activists want to see more gatherings where EV owners meet and talk shop about their experiences. They'd like the public to understand that electric vehicles were mass market EVs 100 years ago, before affordable and prolific gasoline and internal combustion engines bumped them out of the mainstream.

The Electric Vehicle Association of America was led by a group of auto dealers who wanted to educate people and spark enthusiasm to purchase EVs. They were able to do that in 1914, but it's taken a century for EVs fans to witness a real comeback. As the Electric Sociability Run states on its Meetup page: "We are witnessing the rebirth of mass market electric cars with thousands of people getting new EVs each month. The automobile is finally being brought back to its electric roots."

Scottish Enterprise’s financial input backs the existing £100 million that SHI has already invested into it’s Scottish projects, which will help launch a test demonstration project in the near term, but looking forward will hopefully result in a large turbine manufacturing facility.

“Today’s announcement marks a significant step forward in establishing a globally competitive supply chain for the offshore wind industry,” said Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable growth John Swinney.

“This development will utilise newly developed technologies which have not yet been deployed offshore – further confirming Scotland’s commitment to innovation in the offshore wind production sector.”

 

A NASA decidiu abandonar o Windows nos computadores dos astronautas que trabalham naEstação Espacial Internacional, migrando-os para Linux. A decisão prendeu-se pela procura de maior estabilidade e fiabilidade do sistema. 

Keith Chuvala da United Space Alliance, gestor da Space Operations Computing (SpOC) e responsável pela equipa de integração de PCs e redes na Estação Espacial Internacional, explicou que a NASA decidiu passar os computadores da estação espacial para Linux pelo facto dos principais funcionários necessitarem de um sistema estável, fiável e que possa ser modificado à medida das necessidades. Esta passagem de Windows para Linux implica que os astronautas e funcionários consigam dominar o novo sistema. Nesse sentido, a Linux Foundation preparou dois cursos que visam introduzir o sistema operativo Linux e também ensinar aos funcionários da NASA como desenvolver aplicações para este sistema. 

Corporate leaders and experts on global warming and climate change policy came together on Earth Day in Sausalito, California for REDD+ Talks, an inaugural event focused on how emissions from deforestation contributes to global warming and how this will affect the business world.

REDD+ stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, a United Nations initiative using market and financial incentives to help halt deforestation. Companies such as Microsoft, Allianz and Puma have advocated the initiative as an immediate and proven solution to address the negative effects of climate change.

“We need to go further than just having CSR,” said Puma’s General Manager Martyn Bowen at last week’s event, “We need to go further than just doing less bad. We need to start doing more good.”

The new wave energy device, the Waveline Magnet wave energy converter (WM7), has been launched by Sea Wave Energy Ltd (SWEL) after eight years research and development with testing in the wave tank at Plymouth University by independent marine energy experts.

The tests followed on from earlier research carried out on the WM6 device in Larnaca Bay, Cyprus, by marine energy researchers from Exeter University in July 2012. The researchers founded that the Waveline Magnet could not only harness wave power in order to generate electricity but could also potentially be used for seawater desalination and preventing coastal erosion through a process of depowering waves.

Furthermore, the device can be manufactured at very low cost per MW in comparison to other wave energy devices. According to its inventor, the Waveline Magnet can generate 1MW of power for less than £1.5 million, as opposed to about £5 million per MW that is typical in marine energy renewables. This means that the device could be economically viable as well as withstanding very challenging adverse marine conditions reliably for many years.

“As the sea is a very hostile environment, most marine energy developers design heavy displacement devices in order to withstand the stormy conditions.” said Waveline Magnet inventor Adamos Zakheos. “We have done exactly the opposite. Our Waveline Magnet device is buoyancy-neutral and adheres to the surface of the water, so it follows precisely the contour of the wave as the wave passes ‘through’ the device. In this way, the Waveline Magnet presents minimum resistance to the force of the wave - whatever its size - and this not only enhances its ability to capture the power within the wave but also massively increases the survivability of the device.”

The team at SWEL believes that the design of the Waveline Magnet offers the optimum solution in capturing as much of the available energy from waves at the lowest possible cost. In tests carried out over two days on 5th and 6th March this year, the WM7 delivered in excess of 1.3kW on a wave set duration of 2.5 seconds at a wave height of just 60cm (24”). From the test data, Mr Zakheos has calculated that an array of ten full-sized devices, each one measuring 200 metres in length and 50 metres wide, will deliver in excess of 15MW – enough energy to power at least 13,000 homes.

SWEL is now planning to construct a new device, measuring 100m by 50m, called the WM8 which will be deployed at FaB Test in Falmouth Bay for further testing in the sea over a minimum period of six months in order to assess its durability and power output in a range of sea conditions. The next stage, the development of the WM9, will involve a full size device for deployment at Wavehub, the world’s largest grid-connected facility, at Hayle in Cornwall. This will enable the electricity generated by the device to be brought ashore by a grid-connected undersea cable connector. SWEL is now seeking additional investment in order to complete the development process and drive the technology forward.

Going by the shape of the hourglass, the new lamps need to be flipped for continuous work. This requires a total commitment from the user to get some knowledge about the finite nature of lighting energy sources.

Trofe’s designs are at a premium compared to all other designs made by others. Her philosophy is that, with creation, one’s responsibility is not only to bring beauty to the world but also to reduce environmental impact while serving a functional need of the society.

Sustainable design goes much further than sourcing eco-friendly materials and limiting the effect on the environment. It’s about creating places which people respect and feel connected to. Wayfinding and place-making are two methods which can find the soul of a place and give it meaning and narrative for a community.

Placemaking is essentially ‘making a place’ and this concept began in the 1960’s when urban planner Kevin Lynch published The Image of the City. William (Holly) Whyte developed the concept further and explored the different ways that communities interact with their places and that by giving them meaning and narrative, they become alive for the people that use them. Lynch defines wayfinding as ‘a consistent use and organization of definite sensory cues from the external environment,” which, if the public can navigate a place with ease it elevates its sense of meaning in their world.

 

Modern day planning

In ancient times, places were naturally outlined by the natural habitat and their position to the sun and moon, for example the SunTemple at Machu Picchu. However, the way we plan and build our communities has strict protocols for both the general public and developers to follow. But how can modern day planners construct something sustainable, beautiful and above all meaningful? We aren’t asking for the SunTemple, but another soulless building or plaza simply doesn’t engage the community that will use it.

As the largest Place-making agency, Project for Public Spaces (PPS) states that  “the process of building cities today has become so institutionalised… that people seldom have an outlet to put their intuition to use anymore.” In a further PPS article they list the reasons why public places fail including; lack of seating, poor entrances and inaccessible spaces and paths where nobody wants to go.

 

How do we create a soulful place

The answer lies in the meaning and this is found by engaging the surrounding community. UK Placemaker and wayfinding expert Richard Wolfstrome says that this isn’t a straight forward approach and involves “engaging as many voices as we can, identifying stakeholder groups and finding the best way to engage them…There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Each location, each community, requires its own approach.”

Indeed, the West farm Bronx in NYC is a recent PPS project which has been funded by the Deutsche bank. Despite the area hosting the Bronx zoo, New YorkBotanical Gardens and the Bronx River Art Center (BRAC) it has problems with crime and drug use. PPS facilitated a number of games and broader forums to find out the best way to develop the space that nurtured the community rather than being a fragmented assortment of facilities often linked by no-mans land. The project is ongoing but the first report has been submitted and you can read more here.