After the successful joint development of the Motorsports carpet collection three years before, Lees Carpets approached BMW Group DesignworksUSA in 2007 to create another carpet collection. The product line, appropriately named “Progression”, should take the same design approach taken with fine automobiles and consumer products and explores a new product direction concerning proportion, detail and surface."Channels" - reinventing the traditional stripe
The Designworks team evaluated how patterns are viewed from a distance and close up and also how different viewing angles and light directions change the perception of the pattern. For inspiration, the team relied on modern architecture, contemporary furnishings, and geometric patterns. Progressions provided varying perceptions of its patterns and varying reads every time depending on angle and distance. The designs don’t reveal themselves with the first look, rather they continue to evolve over time. “This collection is all about process and transition,” said Johannes Lampela, designer for BMW Group Designworks USA. “Progressions reflects the shift in thought and theory needed for our multi-disciplinary design team to create carpeting. It also translates to the perception of its patterns and how each one reads differently every time depending on angle and distance.”The Progressions collection resulted in four distinguished designs and a palette of 12 contemporary colors. The Pix and Connexion products are mosaics of pixilated squares while Passage and Channels reinvent the traditional stripe."Shanghi"
Furthermore, DesignworksUSA and Lees Carpets were passionate about creating a sustainable design. The modular collection features a PVC-free, 100 percent thermoplastic backing system named Encycle. A model of sustainable design, Encycle is designed with three thermoplastic layers and zero water-based components, enabling complete recyclability back into itself without separation. With superior strength against delamination and edge ravel, the durability of Progressions’ products ensure that the carpet stays in use and out of the recycling stream longer.

Submerged Power Generation - A Large RotorNew submersible tidal and estuary power technology is approaching a level where it can be considered economically viable. The technology has been talked about for decades but now many systems are in the second generation of sea trials and are technically approaching viability both in terms of survivability and power generated. First its necessary to emphasize from, in spite of what the overly optimistic Eco Aware might say. From the point of view of the entrepreneurs, technologists and venture capitalist and bankers financing its development it i s considered bleeding edge technology, thats to say not cutting edge, not leading edge but one step in front of that. The advent of much more powerful submersible units opens up the potential for submerged 'hydro' generation in compliance with Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) program guidelines.
Good Candidate CurrentsIn spite of the fact that SPG's tap into the the Earths Circulatory system it is likely to be an interim stop-gap technology with some very specific uses. That is to say though it is somewhat fringe it will have some very specific niches where it is viable certainly now thanks to the spectre of $400 a barrel oil on the visible horizon it does not make sense to waste a and easily exploitable energy source thats there for the taking. That power potential is vast enough to excite the interests of governments and their defense departments for certain applications.On the more localized level for VC's the tech development cycle at present is too expensive and too long and the payback is not yet high enough to merit much investment or interest in spite of recent articles in the FT & The Economist. Unlike the atmosphere where much of the movement of air is vertical in the water its is generally horizontal although there is the potential to exploit the temperature differential between warm surface and cold deep water, most current systems systems use lateral momentum and movement.
Atmocean one of several different TypesMost of these start-up companies are financed by family, friends and true believers which sometimes doesn't go far enough to cut it in the expensive to get into energy sector where its a lot easier to find $100 million to build a new coal or gas fired power plant than $20 million for a proven technology with good underwater testbedding time.
'You have to put something in the water to show you are real, it takes 40 months of ocean testing to get started....' Heard from one project developer at the Marine Power Generation Conference. In the US where the regulatory regime treats even the smallest testbed project the same as a major dam, with concommittant expense, getting it out of the tank and into the ocean is hard. The regulatory regime and investment cycle forces potential energy sector investors to look elsewhere because the build up cycle for this technology is often 5-10 years. Also the amount of engineering needed to make an SPG, submerged power generation unit work and get it out of the tank and into the water is considerable and costly and survivability is a major issue. Because the wear, tear and destruction on the first models due to shear and debris was considerable with the general trend in the industry being toward ducted rotors or impellers and toroidial transmissions as opposed to exposed rotor systems (like in wind generation) on early SPG models like those from Verdant Power in New York City's East River which according the Army Corps of Engineers regional administration have 'considerable downtime due to design problems and debris.' However it should be remembered this is a test bed project.
Non-Ducted Rotor SystemMost banks funds and other sources have finanancial advisors who advise in general against investing in this kind of stuff. VC's aren't interested so you need essentially a different finance paradigm for this by definition an international business. They want 30% + equity, double digit returns of 10-15% per year which isn't going to happen. Investors need to scale or aggregate these projects for a bigger upside for expansion. By and large though this industry is at the stage of where solar or wind was about 20 years.
So for financiers and alternative investment strategy is needed which takes into account the technological risk. Sarbanes Oxley rules make compliance much more onerous and expensive in the US than elsewhere with compliance costs a minimum of 2-3 million plus the additional expense of environmental impact studies for even the smallest projects.
Current to Current's Ducted Rotor SPGCanada on the other hands sees the power potential of its vast thawing arctic waterways.
The government there has embarked on a pump priming program to help get startups through the various 'Valley of Deaths' on the road to commercializailization. Something similar is going on in Portugal. Goverments in Europe do the lion's share of the permitting for you, according to an internationally recognized standard for wave and tidal. In the US you have to do & pay for it yourself, and this doesnt include the referenced SEC compliance under Sarbanes Oxley.

It seems as though you almost need an angel investor like a sovereign wealth fund or a national government to get a marine power generation project off the ground. This may be exactly what has happened in Venezuela where President Hugo Chavez is in the process of negotiating for the installation of SPG's worth as much as $1.7billion with the N. American manufacturer Current to Current. A Massachusetts based manufacturer of SPG's. If the deal which was announced in Venezuela goes through this would make it the largest ocean power scheme yet implemented. The timetable is over the next 2-4 years.
An RPG or River Power Generation UnitMarine power generation systems on this scale also hold the potential to be large generators of CDM carbon offset credits. A commodity that is going to be very much in demand over the next 5 years once mandated markets kick in. Any development program should be something which fits under existing program types (CDM for example) to be incorporated into one of the carbon offset program development to generate Carbon Credits. A partial finance program could include an upfront auction for 2012 or 2015 delivery of SPG or RPG generated offset credits at $30 tonne with 33% off face value premium for getting the money up front to bootstrap projects. In a tight market for mandated carbon offsets thats going to be a nice potential project bonus.

The Solartaxi has reached the sunny state! The hot California sun took us along the West Coast and about 40 years after the flowerpower movement we brought a new message to "Sun" Francisco: Love, peace & solar power! Furthermore, we visited Tesla Motors where we have tested the limits of the Solartaxi: Click our video to see a really sustainable car race!

To change the way the world recycles - this was the ambitious aim of Troy Hoidal when he was forming a company focused on making recycling "simple and rewarding" through eco-efficient products.To translate this brand promise into a design language, the two initiators approached BMW Group Designworks USA in September, 2005. The project: To develop a clean and worry-free home recycling center with a chic design: The Ecopod!Chic, creative, clean: The Ecopod
Since this was the first ever compact recycler, Designworks conducted a market study to understand the users at first. The designers had to build from a design and engineering standpoint the product from the ground up. For phase three of the project, the team applied the product values to context. There they developed the mechanics for this one of kind aluminum can and bottle can compacter. From an engineering standpoint, approximately 180 patented, crushing mechanisms existed, but none were designed to handle the range of sizes of both large and small cans as well as all the different sizes and shapes of plastic bottles. Next, the crusher needed to be quick, clean, simple and easy to operate. There were also explorations into hand operated versus foot operated versus powered crushing. Ultimately, the design included a foot pedal and a circle opening at the top. Additionally, the unit had to be in alignment with the product’s promise of compact and recyclable. The materials used were recyclable and the unit was rather small and compact.

The Ecopod in action
Lastly, the revised prototypes were created. From there, the prototypes moved into production. The ecopod released in November, 2006 and was resoundingly successful: BMW Designworks received the iF Product Design Award for the ecopod. After showing the designs to various high end retailers, Ecopod has had to increase their sales forecast dramatically. The hope is that being proactive in protecting the environment will become a habit and not a flashy trend.

A power plant that generates energy from left-over food scraps has started running in Singapore to process some 300 tonnes of food waste a day, starting from May 2008. At its maximum capacity, the facility can handle up to 800 tonnes of feed at maximum capacity and generate more than 6 MW of electrical energy per hour. That is enough power for over 10,000 households or equivalent industrial facilities. Currently most of the waste or garbage are sent to the incineration plants for disposal. The new Biomethanisation Plant will not only provides a cleaner energy alternative, but also contributes to long-term reduction of Green House Gas emissions and Global Warming. The highly sophisticated plant represents the first such venture in Asia for IUT Global, an environmental waste technology and management company headquartered in Singapore.So how does it work?
The whole process is called ADOS – Anaerobic Digestion of Organic Slurry: First Step: Garbage collectionWaste from households, restaurants and food centres, agriculture and industry are collected.
Second Step: Mechanical TreatmentThe organic waste is separated by a mechanical segregation system and the organic fraction is concentrated. Recyclables and undesirable/inorganic materials are removed to a large extent. A general rule that is used is: Anything that is larger than 15cm is removed (based on the logic that anything that is more than 15cm is likely to be non-organic).

Third Step: Milling and Anaerobic DigestionThe heart of the ADOS process is the ADOS mill, a patented wet mill performing a size reduction of organic solids while also effectively removing the reminent of inorganics and inerts (sand, metals, glass, plastics, etc.) prior to introduction into the Digestor.
The product discharged from the ADOS mill is an organic “slurry”. This slurry is pumped into a buffer silo to homogenize the stream of feedstock material before entering the Digestor and thus maximize bio-gas production during digestion.Within the Digestor, the decomposition and digestion process occurs. The carefully selected bacteria go into the Digestor filled with waste materials to grow and proliferate. They feed on the organic food and produce methane. The whole operation involves many factors, such as temperature, type of waste, combination of bacteria, and so on, to function at the optimum level. When the bacteria reach their equilibrium state, the system will continue to run indefinitely as long as it gets food waste. Fourth Step: Dewatering and CompostingThe finished product is pumped from the Digestor, dewatered before proceeding to the organic composting process. Final Step: The End ProductsCompost – In a downstream composting facility, high-quality compost is obtained after about 4 weeks, which owing to feedstock segregation by the ADOS mill, boast excellent levels of purity. The bulking material is sieved off and reused.
Bio-gas – The bio-gas produced is buffered, compressed and used as fuel in gas engines. The electrical power generated is fed into the power grid. Waste heat is recovered to heat the material being digested and fresh material being introduced into the digestor. Excess heat may be used for district heating, absorbent chillers, regeneration of dessicants for dehumidifying fresh air prior to chillers or processes that require 80ºC-90ºC heat.Because of the low energy requirements of the ADOS bio-methanisation process, it is very economical even in “small scale” facilities (e.g. 30 to 40 tons/day).
Last but not least, what is the biggest hurdle for such an operation? Segregation and changing people mindset. It requires a big change of mindset for people unaccustomed to thinking about what to do with their waste products, especially organic waste. The challenge lies in educating them about proper waste sorting at the source and making them aware of the contribution this makes to helping the environment. It takes only a little extra effort to segregate food from plates and containers.

The Solartaxi has reached the United States! Starting in Seattle, Louis and his team traveled down the wild Oregon Coast to California. But suddenly, when they finally arrived in Davis, waiting on the parking lot, the trailer shaft broke and punctured the rear wheel. Fortunately, this didn't happen at a speed of 50 mph somewhere between elks, bears and bush fires... But all this couldn't stop the Solartaxi on the way to San Francisco and L.A! We have the whole story in pictures!

Images: Solartaxi.com

The MINI Cooper S has been singled out for praise by "What Car?" and taken the magazine's Green Sports Car award at the 2008 British International Motor Show.The award is recognition of MINI’s commitment to manufacturing frugal and fast premium small cars, with minimal cost to the environment.
Astonishing fuel consumption: the Cooper engine
The MINI Cooper S embodies all of those qualities and when pitched against the competition, it’s easy to see how What Car? made its decision.The systems that make astonishing fuel consumption (45.6 mpg on combined cycle) and low CO2 emission (149 g/km) figures possible from a hot hatch are known as MINIMALISM technologies. MINIMALISM is MINI’s version of BMW’s EfficientDynamics and the range of systems includes:• Auto Start/Stop
• Shift Point Display
• Brake Energy Regeneration
• Variable Valve Timing
• Lightweight materials
• Turbocharging
• Electro mechanical Power Assisted SteeringSteve Fowler, editor of What Car? said: ‘The MINI Cooper S proves that fun doesn’t have to go out of the window if you want to be green. We love the way the clever MINIMALISM technology works to cut damaging emissions without damaging driver enjoyment.’