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Paul Lester
Keeping supersonic transport quiet
By Paul Lester
20:54 August 4, 2009 PDT
Supersonic business jets have traditionally got a bad rap when it comes to practicality and the environment, with high costs, loud noises and short range far outweighing the benefits of speed. The future of air travel will therefore be subject to stringent criteria to ensure that economy and eco-credentials, particularly noise pollution, don’t take a back seat to comfort and performance, and with this in mind Supersonic Aerospace International seem to have hit a luxury-class balance between the two. Read More
NASA competition offers green challenge for air travel
By Paul Lester
19:06 August 4, 2009 PDT
As we've seen with the ongoing X-Prize model, competitions can be a great way to provide incentive for technological advancements in transport. While the latest example, the Lunar X Prize, has its sight set on the heavens, NASA is running a competition with objectives a little closer to the ground. The Green Flight Challenge is enticing creative types with a USD$1.5 million prize in which designers need to create an aircraft that is low cost, quiet, has a short take-off, is 'road worthy' and gets excellent passenger-miles per gallon. Read More
Going Green: Monitoring energy consumption in the home
By Paul Lester
23:42 August 2, 2009 PDT
Perhaps the first step on the road to being green comes from learning a bit more about the various appliances in the modern home and how much energy they actually use. There are a range of home energy meters available for just this purpose, reporting not only current usage in monetary terms, but also estimated CO2 emissions, power consumption and historical data that can be used to identify and cut down during periods of excessive consumption. So what are the options? Read More
Astrorobotic rover aims to visit Apollo 11 site after 40 years
By Paul Lester
19:40 July 30, 2009 PDT
Forty years after Apollo 11 touched down on the moon, plans are afoot to revisit the site to see how the remains have stood up to four decades of radiation and micrometeorite bombardment. One vehicle that may well be used for this expedition is the third prototype lunar robot from Lunar X Prize entrant Astrobotic. The rover is one tough nut - it's designed to survive the blistering heat of the lunar ‘noontime extreme’, which sees temperatures reach 270 degrees Fahrenheit, as well as the minus 240 degree Fahrenheit temperatures of the lunar night. Read More
Scientist predicts functional artificial brain in 10 years
By Paul Lester
02:29 July 29, 2009 PDT
The jury is out on whether scientific and technological advancement will ultimately sound the death-knell for the human race, but such concerns have not stopped Henry Markram, director of the Blue Brain Project, from enthusing about the potential benefits of a synthetic human brain at TED Global 2009. Read More
Texas to benefit from largest offshore wind concessions in the USA
By Paul Lester
18:56 July 23, 2009 PDT
The push for more dedicated use of renewable energies has been given a boost recently by Texas startup Baryonyx Corp, which has successfully procured the lease for what will be the largest offshore wind concessions in the USA. A total of 8,000 acres of land in Dallam County and 38,000 acres in the Gulf of Mexico will power ‘Tier4’ data centers by generating a potential 3GW of energy. Read More
SCORE Project seeks funding to roll out Bio-Mass Stove in developing countries
By Paul Lester
20:01 July 22, 2009 PDT
Two years ago experts began work on a revolutionary new stove that could help reduce poverty in third world countries. The £2m SCORE project (Stove for Cooking, Refrigeration and Electricity) was designed to offer cooking, refrigeration and energy production from a wood-powered generator and subsequent developments have now brought the project to a point where it can be mass-produced. Read More
Plantagon Urban Greenhouse concept
By Paul Lester
07:05 July 20, 2009 PDT
While perhaps not as architecturally ambitious as the Dragonfly concept we looked at last week, this urban farming design from Swedish-American company Plantagon has the same environmentally-friendly ambitions along with a distinctly eye-catching design of its own. Read More
The Dragonfly: vertical farming vision for New York's skyline
By Paul Lester
04:17 July 16, 2009 PDT
Building another skyscraper in the middle of New York may not seem like an environmentally-sound project. That is of course, unless said skyscraper is capable of providing a sprawling urban populous with self-sustaining production of food, reuse of natural resources and biodegradeable waste. Enter The Dragonfly, a dazzling, ethereal design from Vincent Callebaut Architectures which underlines the future potential of vertical farming. Read More
Media streamers – the future of home entertainment
By Paul Lester
19:00 June 21, 2009 PDT
In the not too distant future, the most essential set-top box for the modern home will not be the Blu-ray player, freeview box or even a satellite or cable receiver, but the home media streamer. While still at a relatively early stage of development, a streamer offers a similar service to the humble MP3 player in its ability to support playback of digital media formats, most notably video. So what exactly do these devices do, why are they so special and what do you need to look for before making your purchase? Read More
John M
- November 25, 2009 @ 17:19 UTC
