I’ve applied cob (or clay or adobe) walls in my own hotel. Their advantage is that they excellently go together with wall heating. From that stems my interest in cob as a building material. 2/3 of the world population lives in cob. I started this series long ago with this post. I’ve now found a luxury cob vacation home in the UK, Bolton Percy Gatehouse, managed by the Vivat Trust. Worthwhile a visit so to see.
Category: Sustainable
Dutch Multinational Designs Stove for India (Dutch Design 52)
Oops: There we go again: I was hitting the publish button even before I had jotted down one sentence and without being able to insert a video in here quickly…
I noticed a video on the Builtfurniture Blog: about Philanthropy by Design:
Here is the Youtube version:
According to The World Health Organization approximately 1.6 million persons die annually by hazards connected with indoor open fire cooking.
Philips designed a better Chulha, a stove that creates a safer environment for indoor cooking in several ways.
- It traps smoke and heat inside a locally cast housing in such a way as to heat two pot-holes with a high rate of efficiency to require less fuel;
- It then directs the smoke through a chimney chamber that includes a stack of slotted clay tablets – they capture particulates as the smoke moves through, cleaning the exhaust before it ever leaves the assembly; and
- The Chulha’s chimney also provides for indoor access for cleaning, eliminating the need seen in previous devices for a family member, usually the mother, to climb on the roof for chimney cleaning. This has been the cause for many accidents, along with the toxicity of the smoke.
Philips offers the design for free so that the stove can be made locally in clay casting.
Here is page of Philips where the design can be downloaded for Free. However note the rules of engagement…and I downloaded the package, but it is password protected…
Recently this design of a Chulha was awarded with an INDEX award. INDEX was founded in August 2002. It is a Danish non-profit organization under the patronage of HRH The Crown Prince of Denmark to inspire design worldwide that responds to the needs of people.
There are other Chula designs around the web.
I would say a clever way of marketing your brand sustainable..and…Mind you! The money involved with the Index award is Euro 100,000.-!!!
Waddenzee (Wadden Sea) becomes Unesco World Heritage Site
This photo shows a large part of the Dutch Waddenzee (Wadden Sea): a large shallow water areal between a couple of islands in the Norh, the provinces North Holland below left, Friesland to the right and Groningen which is not shown on this photo. Right of Groningen it spans further across to Denmark above between the German North Sea Coast and German’s Wadden Islands. You can see the large dike (Afsluitdijk) connecting the two provinces. The Dutch word wad means a shoal that becomes dry at ebb tide. There are many of them and during ebb you can walk from several places on the mainland to several island. It is a real adventure and can be dangerous if not well planned time wise.
During its 2008 session the Unesco has entered the Waddenzee (Wadden Sea) in its register of Unesco World Heritage Sites
Its announcement reads:
The Wadden Sea (Germany / The Netherlands) comprises the Dutch Wadden Sea Conservation Area and the German Wadden Sea National Parks of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. It is a large temperate, relatively flat coastal wetland environment, formed by the intricate interactions between physical and biological factors that have given rise to a multitude of transitional habitats with tidal channels, sandy shoals, sea-grass meadows, mussel beds, sandbars, mudflats, salt marshes, estuaries, beaches and dunes. The inscribed site represents over 66% of the whole Wadden Sea and is home to numerous plant and animal species, including marine mammals such as the harbour seal, grey seal and harbour porpoise. It is also a breeding and wintering area for up to 12 millions birds per annum and it supports more than 10 percent of 29 species. The site is one of the last remaining natural, large-scale, intertidal ecosystems where natural processes continue to function largely undisturbed.
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Herewith The Netherlands counts 8 listed World Heritage Sites.
Two Dutch University Teams unveil Solar Cars for the Australian World Solar Challenge (Dutch Design 46)
Two Dutch University Teams have unveiled their new solar cars for the 2009 Australian World Solar Challenge (the 10th Challenge).
The WSC runs over 3,000 km from Darwin in North Australia to Adelaide in South Australia. The start will be on October 25, 2009.
Nuon Solar Team of TU Delft
The Nuon Solar Team consisting of 14 undergraduates from TU (Technical University) Delft, led by coach Wubbo Ockels, the only Dutch Astronaut, here left on the photo, have unveiled their entry for the unofficial world championship for solar cars. Nuna5 is ready for the team’s 5th title!
As the Nuon Solar Team has won 4 prior editions, their competitors will be putting every effort in beating them in this challenge. At first glance it seems that the Nuna5 is a further development of proven technology as could be found in its predecessor Nuna4
Twente University Solar Car Team
Twente University Solar Car Team Solar Team Twente will probably be one of the closest competitors of the Nuon Solar Car Team. Here is a video animation of it’s 2009 solar car:
They have refined two innovations of their former model: The cantilever wing design that enables them to turn the wing with solar cells to the sun and the Fresnel lenses to get more sun rays on the solar cells.
Some WSC History
To me it seems very odd that the “Official WSC Site” gives hardly any information about the 2009 edition.
The event evolved from an experiment by Danish-born adventurer Hans Tholstrup who, sponsored by BP, designed the world’s first solar car, called Quiet Achiever, in which he completed the BP Solar Trek, traversing the 4052 km (2,518 miles) between Sydney and Perth in 20 days. That was the precursor of the World Solar Challenge originally held every three years to one held every two years.
After the 4th race Hans Tholstrup sold the rights to the state of South Australia (source World Solar Challenge Wiki).
Results from the former editions:
- 1987
1st Place General Motors “Sunraycer” (USA) average speed 66.9 Km/h
2nd Place Ford Australia “Sunchaser” (AUS) average speed 44.48 Km/h
3rd Place Biel College of Engineering (CH) average speed 42.93 Km/h - 1990
1st Place Biel College of Engineering (CH) average speed 65.18 Km/h
2nd Place Honda “Dream” (Japan) average speed 54.67 Km/h
3rd Place University of Michigan (USA) average Speed 52.53 Km/h - 1993
1st Place Honda “Dream” (Japan) average Speed 84.96 Km/h
2nd Place Biel College of Engineering (CH) average speed 78.27 Km/h
3rd Place Kyocera “Son of Sun” (Japan) average speed 70.76 Km/h - 1996
1st Place Honda “Dream II” (Japan) average speed 89.76 Km/h
2nd Place United High Schools of Biel (CH) average speed 86 Km/h
3rd Place Aisin Seiki “Aisol III” average speed 80.7 Km/h - 1999
1st Place Aurora “Aurora 101” (AUS) average speed 72.96 Km/h
2nd Place Queens university “Radiance” (CAN) average speed 72.17 Km/h
3rd Place University of Queensland “Sunshark” (AUS) average speed 71.68 Km/h - 2001
1st Place Nuna “Alpha Centauri” (NL) average speed 91.81 Km/h
2nd Place Aurora “Aurora 101” (AUS) average speed 90.26 Km/h
3rd Place University of Michigan (USA) average speed average speed 87.37 Km/h - 2003
1st Place Nuon “Nuna II” (NL) average speed 97.02 Km/h
2nd Place Aurora “Aurora 101” (AUS) average speed 91.90 Km/h
3rd Place MIT “Tesseract” (USA) average speed 90.20 Km/h - 2005
1st Place Nuon “Nuna III” (NL) average speed 102.75 Km/h
2nd Place Aurora “Aurora 101” (AUS) average speed 92.03 Km/h
3rd Place University of Michigan “Momentum” (USA) average speed 90.03 Km/h - 2007 (NB lower average speeds due to 25% smaller solar panels)
1st Place Nuon “Nuna 4” (NL) average speed 90.87 Km/h
2nd Place Umicore “Umicar Infinity” (Belgium) average speed 88.05 Km/h
3rd Place Aurora “Aurora 101” (Australia) average speed 85 Km/h
A New Name: Global Green Challenge:
Ah….It turns out there is a new site and a new name on the block which gives much more information: The Global Green Challenge. Apparently the event has evolved. This is the new logo:
Here is their list of 2009 participants
Some links for future reference:
German Team Bochum Hochschule will compete with a more car alike 4 wheel solar car
Belgian Umicore Solar Car Team will unveil their new car August 1, 2009
The Wiki List of Solar Car Teams was handy for researching this post.
A general Solar Cars site.
I believe that all parties involved have a task in bettering their communication. Teams involved communicate in their local languages and there are many loose ends.
Street Art (8): The Kos Bush Cars
First i didn’t notice it,
but when looking twice I spotted a car,
a vintage French Citroen
a Citroen Deux Cheveaux (or 2CV)
The second a vintage British
Pinin Farina designed Triumph Herald.
They are on the opposite sides of the street a 50 meters apart.
Recently I was touring the Greek Isle of Kos on a scooter and came by two shops in a little city outside the city Kos. I lost the name of the place, but am sure it will come back to me.
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A wonderful combination of sustainably preserving vintage cabrio cars and guerrilla marketing.
This post is especially devoted to us, my wife and me, because a Ciroen 2CV (or Ugly Duck) was my first own car and the one we got married in and traveled in for our honeymoon and also devoted to a fellow TrendHunter who is “Unamused by the complexities of coaxing a 40 year old car through it’s MOT” while her car ( a Triumph Herald) is in far better state than this one, LOL.