Mind Safari

Archive for the ‘Green Tech’ Category

It’s not your average science fair when the 16-year-old winner manages to solve a global waste crisis. But such was the case at last May’s Canadian Science Fair in Waterloo, Ontario, where Daniel Burd, a high school student at Waterloo Collegiate Institute, presented his research on microorganisms that can rapidly biodegrade plastic.

Plastic, one of the most indestructible of manufactured materials, does in fact eventually decompose. It takes 1,000 years but decompose it does, which means there must be microorganisms out there to do the decomposing.

Could those microorganisms be bred to do the job faster?

That was Daniel’s question which he put to the test by a very simple and clever process of immersing ground plastic in a yeast solution that encourages microbial growth, and then isolating the most productive organisms.

The preliminary results were encouraging, so he kept at it, selecting out the most effective strains and interbreeding them. After several weeks of tweaking and optimizing temperatures Burd was achieved a 43 % degradation of plastic in six weeks, an almost inconceivable accomplishment.
But does this mean that plastic bags are now off the hook and that plastic packaging has been redeemed? Can we continue to use as much of it as we want guilt-free? Plastic is still made from oil, a non-renewable resource. It’s manufacture uses energy and creates pollution in the form of pre-production plastic pellets, aka nurdles, that can escape and cause harm to the marine environment. And unlike paper bags which biodegrade easily and naturally when exposed to the elements, plastic bags will need to be processed in a controlled way at a temperature of 37°C (99°F) because the microbes that break them down don’t exist in abundance in the natural world, certainly not in the cold ocean.

Daniel’s discovery could be good news for the environment, but only if it’s used as a way to break down the plastic waste that already exists and isn’t simply used as an excuse to create more.

And there are other things to think about…the possibility of continued mutation.  Here is a quote from Micheal Crichtons’  famous book “The Andromeda Strain”:

Hall nodded. “National guardsmen could be on the ground, and not be harmed. But the pilot had his aircraft destroyed because the plastic was dissolved before his eyes.”

Is it wise to intervene with mother nature in this way?  What are your thoughts?

Sustainability consultant Chris Prelitz explains the benefits of investing in energy-efficient lighting.

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Talking to Pliny Fisk III–one of the pioneers of the sustainable-design movement–is both inspiring and confounding. In any given sitting Fisk might discuss bio-regional mapping, fly ash concrete, cybernetics, and E.F. Schumacher all in the same dizzying context. It’s difficult to grasp, but that’s because he isn’t following a conventional approach. For him the planet’s prosperity is inextricably linked to its architecture. To make that connection a reality Fisk has long felt the need to smash the status quo, then let everyone else know how to do it themselves. “Part of being a visionary is pushing everybody else’s limits and opening their eyes to opportunities,” says David Lake, principal of Lake-Flato Architects in San Antonio and a former student of Fisk’s. “From Pliny’s perspective, anything is possible.”

At 61 years old Fisk remains as passionate about architecture and the environment as he was as a student at the University of Pennsylvania in the late 1960s. There he got master’s degrees in architecture and landscape architecture under the tutelage of the legendary Ian McHarg. After completing his studies he taught “ecological design” in the School of Architecture at University of Texas at Austin in the early 1970s and became known for a field lab where he and his students built windmills, raised organic vegetables, and designed buildings using local materials. In 1975 Fisk turned his lab into a nonprofit organization called the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems and left the university to “cause commotion” full time.

For the past 30 years the center has developed a four-pronged approach, emphasizing design, master planning, policy and education, and tools (which include educational games and the creation and testing of building materials). Fisk and his wife, Gail Vittori, who joined the team in the late 1970s and is now codirector, have set up solar hot water heater production for poor towns in South Texas, planned sustainable villages in Nicaragua and China, and created several dozen building materials. In the early 1990s the pair also helped to create Austin’s city-sponsored green building ratings program–the first of its kind in the world and a model for the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED rating system. (Vittori currently sits on that organization’s board of directors.) “Our idea was to extend the Austin program from just considering energy conservation and performance to looking at the total flows of inputs and outputs to a building,” she says.

These days Fisk has added a new building system to the center’s repertoire. The GroHome–part of a broader program Fisk calls “Community-Supported Architecture”–was conceived of as a way to offer residents the flexibility to expand their living space with minimal impact to the site, the local landfill, and residents’ daily lives. The construction is based on a series of joints that can be used to erect a variety of structures, from simple lampposts to large meeting halls. Another component of the system is the FatWall, a thick wall that can be cantilevered off the sides of a GroHome or positioned inside the frame for closet space, a home office, or even a bathroom.

Like many Fisk projects, the GroHome embodies more than just a single principle. It’s one element of an integrated system that includes sustainable thinking on a broad and integrated level. “If you look at the GroHome from a planning perspective, you can take the joint all the way up to the region so that you have a sensible way of understanding your footprint,” Fisk says. Indeed the standards within the joints–which Fisk dubs GroJoints–can accept pipe, conduit, dimensional lumber, bamboo, and many other structural members so that builders can adapt and use whatever is locally available. Any given GroHome then becomes a source of information about the region. “As part of a master plan, a building system becomes a way of communicating,” Fisk says. “Manufacturers can understand how a system works so they can cooperate with each other. It’s also an effective way to inventory resources.”

Fisk has always maintained that for a building or a city to be sustainable it must be created from the resources available in its region as well as contribute to the local economy. His contract work for the Environmental Protection Agency in the mid 1990s crystallized this idea (see “The Infinite Grid,” by Andrea Moed, Metropolis, December 1996). At the time Fisk was asked to create a grid map of the country on which he pinpointed natural resource availability, businesses that were distributing those resources, and people who were knowledgeable on how to use the materials; he called these groups area, point, and network resources. By integrating this information, Fisk says, it’s possible to track the economic resources that go into harvesting and transporting a material. It also allows one to see where materials are used and how they’re recycled (or not) after their initial use–a process now widely known as life-cycle analysis.

Currently Fisk and Vittori are in discussions with grassroots organizations in Louisiana and Mississippi about building GroHome communities for displaced Hurricane Katrina survivors. In a sense this represents the culmination of 30 years of work. The GroHome is a technical fix for a housing need, but the larger initiative is a planning opportunity that can involve residents in the rebuilding, provide local jobs, and teach neighborhood businesses about the benefits of green building. “Bucky Fuller said that we’re all born geniuses, and we’re gradually de-geniused by our parents and teachers,” says Bob Berkebile, principal of BNIM Architects in Kansas City. “Pliny wasn’t de-geniused–he never lost the curiosity for lifelong learning.”

 Exactly three years since the day the Chevrolet Volt concept car debuted, GM today manufactured the first advanced lithium-ion battery for a mass-marketed electric vehicle at GM’s Brownstown Battery Pack Assembly Plant.

 “This is an important milestone for GM – and a critical step in bringing the Chevrolet Volt to market,” said GM Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre.

GM announced last August a $43-million investment to prepare the 160,000-square-foot, landfill-free facility for production of lithium-ion battery packs for the Volt and other electric vehicles with extended-range capabilities. The plant is part of a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Motors called GM Subsystems Manufacturing LLC.

In just five months, the Brownstown plant was converted from an empty facility to a production-ready battery manufacturing site. New machinery and specialized equipment have been installed and three primary assembly areas have been completed: battery module pre-assembly, final assembly and the battery pack main line.

The Volt’s battery pack is made up of multiple linked battery modules and more than 200 battery cells. The initial assembly area is where the prismatic-shaped cells are processed and installed by state-of-the-art flexible automated equipment into modules, which are then delivered to the battery pack main line.

The battery pack main line area features an Automated Guided Cart (ACG) system that includes operations for thermal and electrical assembly, along with quality and dimensional checks. The main line is also where battery pack final testing, verification and packaging for shipment take place.  

Initial battery production at Brownstown will be used to validate the plant’s equipment and processes, and batteries will be sent to GM’s Global Battery Systems lab in Warren, Mich., for testing. This spring, GM will begin shipping batteries to GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck plant, the assembly location for the Volt, for use in production validation vehicles.

Regular production at Brownstown and Detroit-Hamtramck is set to begin in the fourth quarter.

GM is investing $700 million in eight Michigan facilities for Volt-related production, including $336 million in the Detroit-Hamtramck plant, which will benefit from battery research conducted at the battery lab in Warren; receive batteries from Brownstown; use tooling from Grand Blanc; take delivery of camshafts and connecting rods from Bay City; and dies, stampings and the Volt’s 1.4L engine-generator from three plants in Flint.

“The development of electric vehicles like the Chevy Volt is creating entire new sectors in the auto industry – an ‘ecosystem’ of battery developers and recyclers, builders of home and commercial charging stations, electric motor suppliers and much more,” Whitacre said. “These companies and universities are creating new jobs in Michigan and across the U.S. – green jobs – and they’re doing it by developing new technology, establishing new manufacturing capability, and strengthening America’s long-term competitiveness.”

In August, the U.S. Dept. of Energy selected 45 companies, universities and organizations, including GM, in 28 states for more than $2 billion in awards for electric drive and battery manufacturing and transportation electrification. Nearly half of that total is designated for cell, battery and materials manufacturing facilities in Michigan.

The Volt is an electric vehicle with extended-range capability. It is designed to drive up to 40 miles on electricity without using gasoline or producing tailpipe emissions. When the Volt’s lithium-ion battery is depleted of energy, a flex-fuel engine-generator seamlessly operates to extend the total driving range to about 300 miles before refueling or stopping to recharge the battery. Pricing has not been announced.

Companies working on ideas for charging and fueling green cars have been on a roll lately. The streak kicked off last Sunday with Better Place landing $350 million in equity, and continued with SunHydro touting plans to dot east coast highways with hydrogen fueling stations. Now Coulomb Technologies, provider of electric charging stations for plug-in vehicles, has gotten its turn, raising $14 million in a second round of venture funding.

All of these companies have been working out of the limelight for a while now — infrastructure isn’t as sexy as the cars themselves. Coulomb has quietly been installing its ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations one city at a time in North America and Europe. These machines, small enough to be bolted to a roadside street lamp, pump up to 240 volts of AC power or 500 volts of DC power, juicing up drivers’ batteries quickly while they’re on the go — all they have to do is swipe a ChargePoint card, just like a debit card.

But Coulomb says 2010 will be its breakout year, with plans to roll out thousands of new stations across many cities, and to establish footholds in Asia and South America. The recent funding, led by Voyager Capital and Rho Ventures, and including Siemens Venture Capital and Hartford Ventures, should give it the boost it needs to make this happen.

In addition to installing stations in one municipality at a time, the Campbell, Calif., company is also forging partnerships with companies who will make the technology available in their parking lots. Perhaps the biggest boon in this area was the deal with McDonalds to make charging stations accessible for fast food diners with plug-in vehicles. The company also counts Dell, Reliant Energy, DTE Energy and Element Hotels among its strategic partners. In all, it provides charging stations to 120 clients, including cities.

The funding is yet another sign that electric vehicle infrastructure is finally attracting the attention it deserves. For a while, EV makers and enthusiasts alike have been wondering how wide adoption of these cars will occur without the necessary charging and fueling infrastructure already existing in the field. Last year, Coulomb snagged $3.8 million in a first round of funding. The fact that its latest fund-raise tripled this amount is an extremely positive indicator of investor interest.

Now that infrastructure companies are starting to get the resources they need, it will be interesting to watch how competition between them plays out. Better Place, which is also pursuing a similar charging station concept, has focused a lot recently on battery-switching stations, where drivers could swap out depleted batteries for fully-charged models at designated points. This solution is intended to address charging wait times, which could still exceed a half hour with Coulomb’s stations. No would one want to wait a half hour at a gas station, is the thinking.

There is also hydrogen fuel cells to consider. With Toyota, Daimler, General Motors and Honda all working on hydrogen-powered cars, these models could present formidable competition for EVs. SunHydro, a startup planning to use solar energy to generate the hydrogen for fueling stations, seems to have a feasible, affordable plan. How much of the market will it carve out?

Estag Capital provided Coulomb’s first round of funding last year.

By  Camille Ricketts