Providence Police to Go Electric?

(Photo courtesy of City of Providence)

With U.S. gasoline prices rapidly surpassing the $4.00/gallon mark, it’s no surprise that city agencies throughout the country are beginning to seek alternatives to power their fleets, and the Providence, Rhode Island Police are doing just that. In fact, they are turning to Middletown, Rhode Island-based Vectrix Corp., who have agreed to loan the force four of their emissions free all-electric Maxi street bikes for a three month trial this summer. Joining the Sacramento Police, NYPD, and LAPD (the first to actually purchase the bikes), who are currently doing similar tests with Vectrix, Providence Mayor David Cicilline and Police Chief Dean Esserman, view this as an opportunity to move away from fossil fuel dependency while helping to decrease air pollution in the City. In comparison, a 400 cc motorbike would yield about two tons of carbon dioxide in one year, and would cost the city the increasing burden of purchasing gasoline, as well as the typically more involved maintenance required for gasoline engines.

The Vectrix Maxi can reach a top speed of over 60 mph, and with the aid of its regenerative braking system, achieve a range of 60 miles on a single charge. It can be charged with standard household current in about three to five hours. Although it may not replace the the faster gasoline-based bikes or cars within a police force fleet, the Maxi offers a solid alternative to the standard vehicle, and a peek at things to come, as the vehicle market makes the transition away from fossil fuels to electric and fuel cell-based technologies. The City of Providence will determine whether to actually purchase the bikes based on user experience as well as community response. For more details on the technology employed in the bike, please visit the company’s Tech Specs web page.

Vectrix

Here’s to Fresh Air!

No need for alarm, but there are some important things to keep in mind when choosing your next air freshener. Although it may seem counterintuitive that something made to clean or freshen the air in your home would be found to be potentially unsafe, that is exactly what some recent studies by NRDC and the European Community Respiratory Health Survey have found. According to the studies, some common everyday air fresheners (aerosol sprays, plug-in units, and even those flat ones hung from a car mirror) contain various chemicals in a category known as VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds). While damaging the quality of the air, VOC’s are known to have serious negative effects on human health, from lightheadedness and asthma, to lung and kidney damage, and even birth defects and cancer. The good news however, is that NRDC, Sierra Club, and a whole host of powerful environmental groups, are on your side, lobbying the U.S. government to regulate the air freshener market, and to call for a truth in advertising label for products. While you wait for the results of these efforts, there are a number of genuinely safe products on the market for you to consider.

These include using beeswax, scented soy, or essential oil-based candles, keeping flowers and house plants (to filter the air) in the home, boiling your favorite herbs, or even just opening the windows to improve overall ventilation through an interior space - yes, sometimes the simple (and non chemical-based) solution is best. And for those who must have the latest in high design natural air fresheners, Method offers a number of products, including their Aroma Pill, Aroma Ring, and Aroma Soy Candle. So, the next time you’re thinking of freshening up the home, you can consider some of the many alternatives and be confident that you’re making a healthier choice!

Some helpful links:

NRDC’s petition Clearing the Air: Hidden Hazards of Air Fresheners

EPA’s Indoor Air Quality Section

AVEDA

Citrus Magic

Febreze Air Effects Air Refresher

Blue Corn Naturals

Sustainable Brands Conference next week!

This year’s conference aims to bring together leaders in green marketing, design, and research in Monterey, CA from June 2-5. With over 500 professionals already signed up, there’s only a few seats left. Testimonials on last year’s conference are posted here and interested attendees can register here. They’ve got an all star speaker line up, with companies like Method Home, IDEO, GOOD Magazine, DOW, Interface, Clorox, Steelcase and many more sharing their progress on the sustainable front.

www.sustainablebrands08.com

A Green Home Comes to Unst

No one said building a carbon-neutral house would be easy, so to build one in the often harsh conditions of Unst (100 mph winter winds!), the northern most island in the Shetlands, is a remarkable achievement indeed. Having retired from their former lives in Wiltshire, in Southwestern England, Michael and Dorothy Rea set out to design and build a house on the island that would be completely self sufficient or “off the grid”, incorporating renewable energy principles not uncommon to many of the innovative people inhabiting some of the remote islands off the Scottish coast. These include solar panels and wind turbines for power generation, a natural underfloor ventilation and heating system, a hydroponic greenhouse for vegetables, extensive reuse of rainwater throughout the house, and an effort to run the lights on no more than 100 Watts, through the aid of LED bulbs. The University of Delaware is even refitting an electric engine into a Toyota Yaris, which will be re-charged from power provided by the house itself.

It is no surprise that the house is fast becoming famous within the green building world, even garnering the attention of the Chinese Government for their planned eco-community in Guangzhou. With their Zero Carbon House Project, the Rea’s are demonstrating that homes can be built to have no negative emissions, and their website offers a number of ways to follow their progress, as well as many resources to learn about green building, alternative energy principles and technologies, and the many notable sponsors who have assisted in the process. You can even contact the Rea’s directly, so they seem to be making every effort to maintain a high level of transparency throughout the project. As Dorothy Rea exclaimed to the Guardian, “If we can do this here, anyone can do it anywhere”, so let’s hope that more homeowners take the sentiment to heart, and aspire to build their own zero-emission homes in communities throughout the world.

Please watch Living off the grid: Zero-carbon house from The Guardian for more information

A Great Idea from Moixa Energy Limited

London-based Moixa Energy has developed a NiMH battery that can be recharged using the innate electricity generating power of a computer’s (or monitor’s, game console’s, etc) USB ports, with an embedded LED indicator to reflect status of charge. Currently, the AA cell is the only model available, but the company will soon expand their product line to include AAA, C, D, 9V, and even specialized batteries for cell phones and PDAs. In their “Environment and Recycling FAQs” page, Moixa even speak to the environmental impact of the packaging in which the batteries are shipped, how the cardboard itself is recyclable, and that they are in the process of finding a biodegradable replacement (PLA perhaps?) for the plastic blister pack.

The USBCELL certainly represents a great step forward in making sensible electronics-based products with lower environmental impact, and for that, Moixa Energy won both a Gold award at the 2008 iF Product Design Awards, and a 2008 New Energy Award. However, it is important to keep in mind that for American consumers, the batteries still have a certain carbon footprint due to their shipment from the UK, which is an issue all too common to the majority of consumer electronics today, which are manufactured beyond our borders (that is, until the onset of a substantial U.S.-based green technology sector). Although less environmentally toxic than NiCd (Nickel Cadmium) batteries, it is still important to ensure that USBCELLs be properly disposed of when no longer useful. Moixa Energy will even accept USBCELLs purchased from USBCELL.com back via a freepost address, and one may visit Earth911.com’s Battery Recycling resource page for some great tips on how to recycle those bought elsewhere, as well as links describing the range of battery technologies.

Google Makes a Mouse (from Recycled Plastic)

From Google comes a wireless optical mouse (with USB WiFi dongle) made of recycled plastic, a worthy entry into the burgeoning market of greener electronics. Even the packaging is made from recycled materials! Of course, it still uses AAA batteries (please use rechargeable ones when possible), and like most electronic devices today, the internal components are probably still toxic. However, it is clear that Google is taking an environmentally pro-active approach to product development, not to mention their initiative in leading the transition to alternative energy and making California (and the nation) a green powerhouse. One question is whether the company will accept these mice back at end of life for further recycling/reuse, but my guess is that they will. As part of their Green Initiative, the company intends to develop more products like the mouse, office supplies, clothing, etc, from more sustainable (e.g. organic or recycled) sources, for sale to customers and fans.

Available in (Google)Red and (Google)Blue directly from the company.

ICFF 2008: The Report

This year there were several pieces that considered the environment and stood out from the crowd. More than ever there was a reoccurrence of manufacturing in the New York metro area. Several designers we spoke with mentioned that their products were fabricated or produced in Brooklyn and also sold locally. We were also very excited to see an increase in the amount of recycled materials being used in the production of furniture.

Ayako Takase, Cutter Hutton and Chris Specce of Kaiju Studios in Providence, RI released the Airia desk and media cabinet, for Herman Miller this year at ICFF. These pieces are part of Herman Miller’s Lifework Portfolio series and strive to create a remarkable, quality design that is far from disposable and very desirable. Takase mentioned that through the design, ergonomics, materials and construction quality, they intend the furniture to be something “you’ll keep for the rest of your life and pass on for generations.” The desk and cabinet are both designed for easy assembly/disassembly and are made from walnut, featuring a plywood laminate top surface and cast aluminum legs.

Kaiju Studios

Akemi Tanaka is a Brooklyn based designer and a recent graduate of the Industrial Design masters program at Pratt. She launched her line of eco-friendly furniture this year at ICFF. The three new products that she released at the show include Ori, Sachi and Curve. They are locally made in Brooklyn and primarily sold to customers in the New York area.

Akemi Tanaka

Meredith Goodwin created the SURA table. A simple, modular coffee/side table piece designed for small spaces. SURA is fabricated out of a strong aluminum alloy with an Indian inspired design cut into the metal. SURA is made from Aluminum and produced locally in Brooklyn, New York.

Goodwin Design

Diane Ruengsorn, Founder and Director of Domestic Aesthetic created a line of housewares that use sustainably forested and reclaimed woods while being locally made in Brooklyn. Our favorite product uses scrap mahogany which is reclaimed from a local window manufacturer.

Domestic Aesthetic

With the rising cost of fuel and labor oversees, material companies such as IceStone, are using production facilities in the United States. IceStone manufactures Cradle to Cradle certified eco-friendly surface material used for countertops, bathroom vanities, and flooring for commercial or residential projects. The material is made from recycled glass and concrete and is produced by an environmentally friendly manufacturing process at a factory in Brooklyn, New York.

IceStone

Abdolhadi Mirhejazi’s Naturmobil: A New Way to Think About Horsepower!

No, you’re eyes are not deceiving you. This vehicle really runs on genuine horsepower, and it even has a patent! Whoever thought mankind would return to the horse as inspiration for transportation alternatives, in the effort to free us from oil dependency? Well, Dubai-based Iranian inventor Abdolhadi Mirhejazi has done just that with his DIY Naturmobil from Fleethorse, LLC, which has been getting some press over the past year, for its shall we say, innovative approach to transportation design. With top speeds of up to 80 km/h the vehicle operates with a horse walking on a slightly inclined conveyor belt, which moves the gears serving six motorcycle wheels, with enough energy left over, to power a small battery for headlights and to act as backup power when the horse gets fatigued and needs to rest (the horse is constantly monitored to keep track of body temperature and heart rate). This process can even maintain enough power to run two LCD monitors on the side of the vehicle, for video advertisements. As you can imagine, a project like this needs constant funding for development, so Mirhejazi and his marketing manager are seeking investors, and planning to exhibit the Naturmobil at the upcoming Invention and New Product Exhibition in Pittsburg, California this coming June.

Although this may not be the most practical solution to oil dependency and auto-based pollution, it certainly offers a unique take on how we could design our modes of transportation to have less negative environmental impact, rather than sticking with the status quo. You never know, by implementing some rigorous lateral thinking, concepts like this may lead the R&D teams at Toyota, Honda and GM, to come up with radical new technologies for the cars of the future. Probably without the horses though…

Via XPRESS of Dubai