FLOWLIGHT

While researching sustainable methods of lighting for use in my studio project, a site which is on the river & has a dock in the centre of it (see Millenium Mills post for details), I came across this new tidal powered lighting system - FLOWLIGHT

Tidal power is not widely used currently, mainly because it is less powerful/takes longer to produce the same quantities of electricity as other more conventional sources. However, it is believed that in the future it will be used far more when other resources run out or provide too much damage to our planet. Water produces a lot of energy within itself, through waves & tides, Irish designer Shane Molloy has looked into this further & come up with a sustainable lighting system. Energy is generated from the flow of a tidal river, which is converted into electricity, which in turn illuminates the lights, using only renewable energy. The first Flowlights have been used to illuminate the dockside of the River Suir in Ireland.

The lights have an outer shell made from carbon fibre, within this is the bespokely designed water turbine blades. The blades of the turbine are designed so that they can operate both clockwise & counterclockwise, enabling them to generate power with the flow of the river at high & low tides. The lighting systems have been developed to react to the levels of water in the river with a 'Tidal Drop Extension Arm', which is constantly altering itself, extending & contracting to keep the turbine at an ideal depth in the water.

The mechanical energy created by the turbines is converted into electrical power, which is then stored in a battery unit within the system. They have built in light sensors which will turn the LED lighting strips on when the natural night fades.

This lighting scheme seems to be a suitable method of lighting many riverside/dockside/waterfronted public areas which are wishing to illuminate the walkways. Sustainable alternatives are obviously well researched in most designs today, due to the high awareness of the state of the planet & its resources. This lighting would definately be a system I would consider when designing the waterfront jetty in my studio design. As these images show they look reasonably attractive & are quite low key & minimal, it would be unlikely that alterations to the style & aethestics of the structure would alter the effectiveness of the energy generator, & so this could be changed to suit specific sites or design styles.

All images courtesy of The Design Blog

Have Pepsi Found The Way Forward??

Pepsi have released a new bottle to replace their current plastic bottles. They are market testing the product next year, with plans for its general use the same year.
The bottles are made completely out of plant material, including; switch grass (a perennial warm season buchgrass, native to North America), corn husks, pine bark & several other materials. Future progressions in use of materials includes orange peels, oat hulls, potato scraps & many other food leftovers from Pepsi's food business.
Coca-Cola are currently producing a bottle made from 30% plant material, saying it will take several more years to produce a 100% plant material bottle, so Pepsi are very proud to release their 100% plant material bottle.

The release of this product could change the industry standards, reducing the use of petroleum-based materials & in-turn reducing the negative effects these materials have on the plant.

To read the whole article click here

Bringing the Countryside to the City; City Farms & Community Gardens

For the few of us that did not go to Stockholm we took a wander around some interesting sustainable/green/community led projects around the Vauxhall area of London. The first stop was Vauxhall City Farm (click to access website); within this hugely urban area you suddenly come across this city farm. The farm invites anyone to explore, and is host to an array of animals (including a paddock offering riding lessons), a community garden, duck pond & much more. The farm is totally sustainable, for example the community garden produces certain plants & vegetables that produce natural dyes, which are then used by the spinning group. The farm is 100% volunteer run & they are always looking for new people to join them.

City Farms such as this one are invaluable to the local communities, without access to the activities & experiences the farm offers some children growing up in the city would never get to experience this kind of lifestyle. The farms enable families living in the city that may not be able to afford regular visits to the countryside a place to enjoy the animals & feel like they have got away from the hard urban landscape. There are several others in London, including Hackney City Farm.


Later in the day we visited Bonnington Square. Bonnington Square is home to a community garden, the follwoing description is taken from the 'Bonnington Square Garden Association' website:

"The site in which the Pleasure Garden now stands was the result of WW2 bomb damage. In the 1970's the Council erected a couple of swings and seats but then didn't maintain them and seemed to forget the site even existed! Without maintenance the park fell into disrepair; dominated by stinging nettles and dog mess. In 1990 a builder working in the area applied to the Council to use the site as storage, which both alerted the council to the fact that they owned valuable 'idle land' and the Residents to the fact that the land could be sold for development. The Bonnington Square Garden Association was formed by Local Residents to lay claim to the "wasteland". Thus after prolonged negotiations with the powers that be money became available from a joint Government and Local Council scheme and construction began in August 1994 transforming the land into a little slice of paradise that now beholds you - 'The Pleasure Garden'. The Garden is, of course partly in homage to the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens which existed 100m to the north of here and were a major feature of London for three centuries; a place of curiosity, promenade and play. The garden, surprisingly perhaps was designed ‘by Committee’ - several local residents and an Architectural firm. The intention was to create a gentle and beautiful slice of nature that could serve all sides of the community. A delightful play space for the kids and something of a sanctuary from the big city storm for the adults. It is one of the beating ‘hearts’ of our community and a place of pilgrimage for many more."

The garden is open to anyone to enjoy, and the residents are more than happy to discuss the development & maintenance of the garden. After completing the garden the association decided to extend the gardens philosophy by leaving the confines of the garden's hedges & spreading the planting out into the streets. They have pulled up paving slabs & planted tropical trees & plants. They believe the more they can plant the better, using every available space, improving inner city life by surrounding it with nature.

What is Landscape by Heather Ring

Today we were lucky enough to have an afternoon of lectures from some very interesting & inspiring people, representing their companies & giving us a look into their work. The question raised was 'What is Landscape?' All the guest speakers gave their own interpretation of what they believe Landscape Is.

Heather Ring - Wayward Plants

• Plant Exchange: unwanted plants to create gardens.
• Plant adoption: ability for the public to "adopt" unwanted plants
• Guerilla Gardening: Planting/creating gardens without permission. Wayward Plants created a Guerilla garden on the corner of Upper Street next to the infamous Foundry.
• The Union Street Urban Orchard: created using all recycled materials (ie. palettes), contained a number of interactive elements, including; cider making shed, greenhouses, outdoor cinema, plant exchange & much more. There were a number of people who actually lived on the site in "eco-pods", these people helped manage & look after the site.
• Garden for medicine: another interactive garden to promote the history & information behind plants used for mecidinal use.
• Algae Garden (proposed): algae is a potential bio-fuel, this garden will celebrate the beauty of algae which main people do not realise.
  
• Little known history of Kensington Gardens - Camoflague: the use of plants & natural processes as a camoflague.

A brief rough quote from Heather on her views of What is Landscape? - "Landscape is an exploration at small scale...a way to see how people interact. Due to the economy small scale & temporary is often all you can do, are allowed to do."

I found Heather's presentation very interesting, it really opened my eyes to the way that small scale, temporary projects can really make a huge difference & attract such attention. I had seen the Union Street Urban Orchard on a website last summer & had fully planned to go....I'm now upset I let it slip my mind. I think she will offer a lot of inspiration to a lot of us, who maybe have worried about the prospect of working in an office with several layers of superiors, never feeling you are working towards what you really feel drives your enthusiam & inspirations.

Click here to find out more about Heather & Wayward Plants' work

TREELIFE

The Cool Hunter website claims to be "the world's most-read culture & design site, a leading authority on all things creative & a truly global hub for what's cool, thoughtful, innovative & original."

The site has organised its first offline event called 'TREELIFE'. This event is set to take place in 2011 in London & is based around showcasing creative, innovative & sustainable architecture , proving that green can co-exist with urban city life.

Below is a list of some of the exhibitions & events that will be occuring during TREELIFE:

Life in the trees: there will be the world's first major public exhibition of tree houses from world renowned designers.

Art Life: Organic, green-themed art installations will surround the treehouses

Silent Cinema: Public, open-air movie screenings, using wireless, sound proof headphones.

Free bikes will be available at each venue to enable eco-friendly transport between sites

Hi-Tea: Green building constructed for refreshments

The Green Room: Off-site hospitality venue

Sleep overnight in a treehouse!

Illuminating Treelife at Night: LED lighting will be used to illuminate trees & there will be a nightly show


The Ecotarium: showcase of new green technologies

Graphic Art Exhibition: 100 Treelife posters, desiged by 100 of the world's best designers

Urban Tree Planting Scheme Launched in the UK

The government have launched a £4.2 million project in which 1 million trees will be planted in urban environments over the next 4 years. Led by Defra, this is the first tree planting campaign from the UK government since the 1970's.

View Article

Will it work??

"Plant a tree, change the future and the future will thank you for it” Griff Rhys Jones, President of Civic Voice

Invisible Streetlight

Korean designer Jongoh Lee has come up with this new design concept; artificial leaves that can be wrapped around trees, branches or any other natural material, producing light at night but remaining more or less invisible during the day. The 'leaves' mingle in with the branches of a tree during the day, collecting & storing sunlight, & then at night light up using the stored sunlight, providing an alternative to traditional streetlights, which purely functional & are set to a fixed height.

The 'invisible' lights are made from a double injection of silicone & aluminium; these lightweight materials enable the lights to have flexible movement, enabling them to be wrapped around most solid things. The silicon protects the leaves from water with its high thermal conductivity property, & its semi-transparency allows the LED lights within to shine through in the dark. Inside the silicon & aluminium outer casing is a "photocapacitor", which converts the solar energy from sunlight into electricity, which is then stored in a nano-wire battery. The high technology device is able to utilize indirect sunlight even on rainy or cloudy days, allowing usage every night.

An ingenious new design concept which could be the future of streetlighting in parks & small streets. The lighting, as the design stands, could not be used for inner city roads as not enough light is produced to illuminate large areas sufficiently to provide safe driving conditions. However, it could be progressed to provide a new form lighting to replace the boring functionality of the traditional streetlight.

(images sourced from Why Design Now)

Researchers Developing A Living Skin For Buildings

Research is being carried out at the University of Greenwich into a new carbon negative living material that will be used to protect structures & fight against climate change. The material has been made from protocells - very simple cells that only have the basic elements of life, however are still able to grow & multiply. The cells will capture carbon from the air in their membranes, causing them to grow & eventually form a hard, coral-like armour around buildings. The cells could even be used to support buildings by hardening & securing their foundations, places like Venice this come to great use & importance in the future. The researchers invisage a future where buildings are no longer static structures, but ever growing & strengthening elements, that also remove carbon from the air, helping the fight against climate change.

Read more: Researchers Developing Coral-Like Living Skin for Buildings

Water Saving In Brooklyn, NY

The Longest Bench

Studio Weave is a London based company who created this bench in Littlehampton on the South coast. The bench is the longest in Britain, seating 300 people along the sea front promenade. The bench is made out of thousands of wooden slats/bars reclaimed from old groynes or found in landfill sites. At bends or curves in the bench there are brightly coloured wooden bars, adding a playful feel to the project.

The old shelters that used to line the promenade have been replaced with new shelters that incorporate the bench. Within the shelters the bench loops & twists, forming a playable feature as well as seating & openings. The bench is also engraved with names & messages of people who supported the design, this is ongoing & people can email the company requesting their message to be added along the bench.

Images courtesy of http://www.studioweave.com/projects/the-longest-bench-littlehampton/

The Future Of Cars??

BMW released their latest concept car at the 2010 Leipzig Trade Fair. The car runs using a three-cylinder turbodiesel engine, with electric motors on the front & rear axles, powered by a lithium-polymer battery which can be charged using a normal convention power supply in only 2.5 hours. The car is still very much a sports car, going from 0 to 60 in under 5 seconds!

The company has said that the hybrid car will be on the market, available to the public, in 2013. This is still 3 years away so there is no price on the vehicle yet, what is for certain is it won't be for the faint hearted. Best looking BMW, let alone hybrid vehicle produced so far.

Pollution Reducing Cement....

I have just read on a website that an Italian cement-making company have just created a new form of cement that will actually reduce the levels of pollution in big cities...... It is said to "kill" smog & pollution.
The cement has been named TX Active & is enhanced with titanium dioxide. The company claims that through a natural process called photocatalysis (occurs in sunlight), the titanium dioxide takes harmful chemicals from the air & turns them into harmless substances like water & nitrates. The cement is also self cleaning, and so any bi-products simply wash away with the rain. Italcementi (the cement company) believe that even if only 15% of buildings in a city were coated in TX Active, it would reduce pollution rates by upto 60%.

I am not convinced by these claims, however if it were to be true then it would be an incredible breakthrough in controlling pollution levels in large cities.