Image by Tambako the Jaguar

Well, it’s that time of the week again. If your week has been anything like mine, it’s been a busy but hopefully fruitful week! I do have to admit I’m looking forward to this weekend. However, before you or I head out, let’s take a look at the ‘Weekly Greens’:

1 – China’s ’3D Fast Bus’ Straddles the Road So Cars Can Go Under: Personally I thought this was a pretty creative idea. I’m not exactly sure how practical it would be, but I do think it is ideas like this that could bring about more advanced forms of transportation which may not require new roads, bridges or tunnels to be built.

2 – The Future of Cities and Transportation: Speaking of transportation, take a few minutes to read this post. It’s a great take on how and why cities need to plan and build for a sustainable future.

3 – Ocean Waters Off Hawaii Could Be Alternative Energy Mecca: I’m sure you’re familiar with tidal power (if not you can check out my earlier post on the subject), but are you familiar with OTEC or ocean thermal energy conversion?

Apparently this technology has been around for over half a century but was never fully put to use due to oil and other fossil fuels being so inexpensive. Now that the world is beginning to take different alternative energies a little more seriously, this technology may find itself in the spotlight.

4 – 55 Magnificent Natural Waterfalls: Everyone needs beautiful pictures to look at every now and again. Besides, waterfalls are a perfect of example of what Aristotle was talking about when he said, “If one way be better than another, that you may be sure is Nature’s way.”

5 – Biologist Using Noah’s Ark Idea to Save Sea Life: It’s no secret that the Gulf Oil Spill caused some serious devastation, not just to the people of the gulf, but to the animals of the gulf as well. One Biologist is hoping his Noah’s Ark idea will eventually allow the gulf to be repopulated by all the amazing sea life that once lived there.

6 – Making Healthy School Menus for Body and Mind: As a mother of two young children, this is an issue close to my heart. One of the last things I want when my kids go to school is for them to be loaded down with sugar or other unhealthy foods.

Image by SpecialKRB

My kids have a tremendous amount of natural energy in their own right. There is no need for them to get loaded down with junk food at school. Personally, I want my kids to be able to learn when they go to school. I want them to be properly fed so they can run, play, explore and be truly interested in everything their school has to offer them. Wouldn’t you want the same for your kids?

7 – 5 Kids Who are Changing the World: Speaking of kids…you need to see what these 5 kids have been busy doing. They are truly having a positive influence on the world. You never know, one of them may even inspire you!

I could go on and on, but I think I’ll end on that positive note.

So, now that you’ve gotten your dose of ‘weekly greens’, have a wonderful weekend! For those of you who are looking for a good day trip or weekend get away, you might want to see if your local spa has any of these spa treatments using locally grown fruit. I have to say, after reading this article that spa in Ojai, CA is looking a whole lot closer!

I hope you not only enjoyed the information shared here but that you were able to learn something new too. Please don’t forget to email me with any green information or photos you feel would be worth sharing in one of my ‘Weekly Greens’ posts. I’d love to see them.

Time is ticking….you only have until the end of June 2010 to submit your entry into this year’s “Create the Future” Design Contest. First started back in 2002 by the NASA Tech Briefs magazine publishers, the Create the Future Design Contest was an innovative way to inspire young minds to come up with some of the next engineering wonders. Your bio-friendly design could be amongst them.

There have been over 7000 products designs submitted to the contest since its inception. These designs have not only come from engineers, but from entrepreneurs, students and more. The contest is open to anyone and this year, for the first time, people are allowed to collaborate on an entry. So if you and a friend have come up with the next greatest engineering marvel, you should submit it!

You can check out the official contest rules and requirements here and view the complete list of entries here. Whether you decide you enter or not, please don’t forget to vote on your favorite entries. There are some really cool ones.

Here’s just a sampling of some innovative designs that could help create the future. (Note: almost all images come from the Create the Future Design Contest and are individual entries):

1) Try-brid vehicle: This design by Tom Miller combines human power, wind power and electric power all into one bicycle.

However this isn’t just any bicycle. It’s designed mainly for developing countries, but there is no reason it couldn’t be used anywhere.

You ride the bicycle to where you need to go, all the while storing up energy. When you reach your destination, the bicycle can be used to charge your phone, power a lamp, charge a laptop and more.

This is what Tom has to say about his design: “The power from this battery array can be used to power a wide variety of small electronic devices.

“This solution seeks to enable developing countries to propel themselves to a brighter, greener and more productive future.”

2) Subsea Blowout Mud Injector Choke: This design from Peter Walker is the kind of design we probably all wish was actually in existence before the Gulf Oil Spill happened. It’s this type of design that may have been able to prevent the disaster and clean up that is still ongoing and potentially will be for months to come.

Basically, you have a cylindrical frame that can be lowered over a subsea oil well pipe, then through a sequence of actions, the choke will allow mud to be injected into the pipe thus stopping the flow of oil.

Sounds so simple, doesn’t it!?

Well, as Peter states in his entry, “The proposed apparatus has applications is such areas as the Gulf of Mexico, and can prevent billions of dollars of environmental damage.”

3) Grail Engine: This design by Matthew Riley takes the idea of the internal combustion engine and revolutionizes it into a two-stroke engine that can get: 100+ mpg, lower emissions while generating more power than a four-stroke engine, 50% lower production costs and one of its most versatile features is that it can use multiple fuel sources.

Yes, it can use gasoline, diesel, hydrogen, natural gas, etc. and you can electronically switch fuel sources without worry about cross contamination.

Animation courtesy of Grail Engine Technologies

As Matthew states, “Our engine is capable of exhibiting, multi-fuel, on-the-fly ‘true’ hybrid engine technology.”

Now, I don’t have any personal information as to how well any of these or any other already submitted designs will work, but there have definitely been some creative design entries.

So, get your thinking cap on and see what you can come up with for the Tech Briefs Create the Future Design Contest 2010. There is plenty of room for more bio-friendly design ideas….and remember if yours is chosen, you could win $20,000! Spread the word.

Image by Horizon2035

It seems like almost every day a new type of renewable energy resource is popping up. Especially in the wake of an incident such as the recent Gulf Oil Spill, renewable energies like wind, solar and even tidal power are gaining more and more interest.

Now each renewable energy, in its own right, is probably worth researching and tapping into, but let’s take a look at tidal energy for a moment. Tides are the regular rising and falling of surface water levels in oceans, gulfs, bays, harbors, etc.  Tides are actually the result of the gravitational pull of the sun and moon on the Earth as it rotates.

Here’s a video that gives a simple explanation of how tides are caused:

Although it isn’t a “new” energy, one of the main reasons tidal power is being looked at as an effective renewable energy resource is that tides never stop…the water is continuously moving back and forth, thus allowing energy to be generated in a constant and predictable manner.

Currently there are very few locations around the world where tidal power is being generated. The Rance Tidal Power Station was the world’s first tidal power station and in 2006, they celebrated 40 years of actively turning tides into energy. As of right now, they are also the world’s largest.

Nova Scotia Power’s Annapolis Tidal Generating Station is the only North American tidal generating station. It is situated on the Annapolis River where it can take advantage of the highest tides in the world found at the Bay of Fundy.

It is said that, “The force created by these mighty waters is equal to 8000 locomotives or 25 million horses..“. That’s quite a bit of potential tidal power. Check out the power of these tides near the Annapolis Tidal Power Station:

The Jiangxia Tidal Power Station in China is listed as the world’s third largest tidal power station, however South Korea is currently in various stages of construction on numerous tidal power stations that will each generate more than double the energy capacity of any existing tidal power station.

A relatively new form of technology in the tidal energy field is the Open-Centre Turbine from OpenHyrdo. The Open-Centre Turbines are one of the world’s first underwater turbines that are designed to rest on the sea floor.

They don’t require a large dam to support them and they are designed to minimize environment impact. One of their first deployments of the Open-Centre Turbine was in the Bay of Fundy for Nova Scotia Power. You can take a look at these videos to see the turbine en-route to its new home and it being put in place.

It has been reported however that this test turbine is no longer responding to remote sensors and additional test turbines have been delayed until 2011. Despite this fact, Nova Scotia Power still hopes to have an entire tide farm in order to capture the power from the tides in the Bay of Fundy. Maine is also currently researching and looking at tapping into tidal power in the Gulf of Maine.

As far as OpenHydro, they currently have projects in Nova Scotia and Alderney (in the Channel Islands). They were also the first company to install a tidal turbine at the EMEC facility in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, so I look forward to seeing what comes next for them.

When it comes to tidal energy, there is no shortage of resources. As long as the Earth keeps spinning and there is water in the oceans, we will have tides. The question then becomes, can we tap into this resource with minimal environment disruption? What do you think? Is tidal energy a strong renewable resource?