Quite a number of people are out to find a solution to their power consumption. As many have come to realise, there is a lot of electricity being wasted in their house by technology they use at home. Getting a gadget that will be able to monitor your power consumption and even help you in a way that you are aware of the amount of electricity getting into your home is what some people are out to find. With ecowizz.net, you will be able to save energy in a more efficient way.

It is the need for us to save energy in our homes that birthed ecowizz.net. Ecowizz.net is a company that makes products that will help you in saving energy in your home with ease. With the products that they have to offer you can have complete control over your energy consumption. This is really good news for quite a number of individuals.

When you look at the type of products that they offer, you will notice that they are the only players that are currently in the field. This means that the field is quite scary for many businesses. Just recently we saw Microsoft, Google and Cisco launch experimental software and hardware to help homeowners in this particular regard. It was after a while that all of the mentioned companies bailed out of the project. This left a gap and which ecowizz.net has come in to fill. The products help you monitor the amount of energy getting into your home each and every day making it easy for you to know exactly where it is being used most and what you can do to minimise power usage in your house by employing the right measures. Picture this for a moment, you just dozed off and left the lights on, your television set on, and a lot of other electrical appliances using energy on. What ecowizz.com products aim to achieve is for you to have little or no cases of energy wastage in your house.

Press on cc button to switch english subtitles on

As for my personal opinion on what the future holds for ecowizz, I can say that it will be a tough ride. The idea is really good for me, but when it comes to using the technology that ecowizz has to offer, you can be sure that not so many people will be interested. The market is now aware of the amount of energy the consume and the majority think they are doing enough, this means it will require a huge amount of work to educate the costumer base. The reason being; people cannot see the benefits of such great technology, it very likely to be seen as a small gadget that will help them monitor a fraction of their consumption and that looks complicated. The interest in monitoring one’s own electricity consumption will become a growing trend but in the near future all I can see is gloom.

It is one thing to have great products and services, but quite another to have products that are actually meet the requirement of large target market. To conclusion, I think ecowizz needs to rethink their sales strategy and make their product more attractive. They need to grab attention by using real success stories and maybe giving away the device for free and take a small percentage on the savings the costumer makes. I think a strong and well structured referral system  could be a could idea as this kind of devices will sell well on word of mouth. It’s all about sales & unfortunately is also the case for green technology. I’m looking forward to how this company will shape up in the future.

Today I received an email from swiss “couponing” website Qoqa.ch an offer for a half price ecowizz system I was two fingers from buying it but I didn’t. The main reason is that is the majority of my plugs and an ON/OFF button and that I cannot connect my lights on the system. I will only invest in this if I can control my entire house from my iphone and monitor the consumption otherwise I see it as a gadget.

Related articles

• Measuring Your Energy Consumption (lumoenergy.com.au)
• Facebook Launching “Social Energy” App for Improving Energy Efficiency (treehugger.com)
• Do smart energy gadgets actually save you money? (moneyexpert.com)
• The Recession’s Toll on the Green Economy Home energy-monitoring systems have wilted, green job growth is lackluster, and we’re left to worry about the state of green tech By Rebecca Boyle (imullins89.wordpress.com)

Anyone who has been on FaceBook for a while will know that one of the most successful app-game onthe giant social networking site has been Farmville. But as popular as Farmville has been, the reality today is that many people hardly know where the food they eat comes from.

This is especially so when you consider the growing transition from majority rural nations to majorityurban. The concept of how and where the food was grown and processed before it ended up on storeshelves seems far removed for the typical urban dweller. This knowledge gap and distant reality does not serve the best interests of the future of humanity as faras food security and eco-sustainable agriculture is concerned. The UK’s single largest farm land owner-administrator, the National Trust, has embarked on an experiment that seeks to change all that that.

Dubbed My-Farm.org.uk, it is an online project that seeks to enlighten people about farming and food production via a participatory approach that incorporates a real farm. Participants are engaged in all key decisions around the farm in Cambridgeshire, on Wimpole estate which is administered by UK’s NationalTrust.

At the core of each My-Farm.org.uk decision is the monthly voting. At the beginning of each month, theMy-Farm.org.uk community is asked a series of questions regarding the farm such as which crops toplant or what type of animals to keep. The questions are originated by a full time farm manager. There is also a community manager whoserves as the eyes and the ears of the participants on site. The community manager uses webcams, blogposts, photos and videos to keep users informed about the goings on.

A team of experts are on hand to provide project participants with any additional information they need to make their voting decision. The vote is then conducted and the winning option implemented on thefarm. The analysis and discussion before and after the voting is a powerful way of keeping participants fully engaged in the process. National Trust is targeting 10,000 participants for the Wimpole farm. If more people request to join beyond this number, National Trust will take that as a sign of the project’s viability and will create a new farm from the 250,000 hectares in the UK that are under its custody.

Each participant on My-Farm.org.uk is required to pay a 30 sterling pound subscription fee. All the income earned from the subscription fees is used in the project to finance staff costs and cover the expenses that must be incurred if the farm is to continue running. And it is on the number of subscriptions that the My-Farm.org.uk project will succeed or fail. Unless theproject can attract at least 6,500 subscriptions, the money raised will not be adequate to keep the farm running and will force National Trust to refund all subscribers.

Related articles

• FarmVille Comes to Life! Real Farm in UK Run By Internet Vote (video) (singularityhub.com)
• MyFarm takes “cow clicking” into the real world (gamification.co)
• FarmVille Comes to Life as MyFarm (weinterrupt.com)
• “National Trust’s MyFarm – Farmville Goes Real” and related posts (geeknewscentral.com)
• FarmVille Inspires Real Life Farming Experiment (mashable.com)

UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) equipped with cameras have found broad application in a number of
fields both commercial and research. There is though one inherent limitation with the images captured
via UAVs – the images are non-continuous and are not 3-dimensional.

But all that seems set to change with the Pix4D technology developed by EPFL. Pix4D allows you to
convert your UAV drone’s two-dimensional photographs into a detailed 3-dimensional map.

The process is relatively straightforward – at least on the front end. All you need to do is upload the
photos from your UAV to the Pix4D. The UAV images would contain the appropriate GPS geo tags for
each photo.

The location of the Pix4D app that you will upload the UAV photos to will depend on the
implementation of Pix4D you have signed up for. The Pix4D implementation options available are: a
cloud version, a server on your network and a minimalist installation that can run on a laptop or desktop
PC.

Once you upload your photos, the process of converting the images to the 3D map takes no more than
30 minutes. To create the map, Pix4D will determine the internal and external orientation of each
image.

The cameras on ordinary UAVs are of lower resolution than the cameras used by sophisticated satellite

systems. In addition, the UAV cameras are of varying power depending on each UAV. Ordinarily, this
would mean the Pix4D app would have to be recalibrated each time photos from a different UAV are
uploaded.

But this is not necessary since Pix4D performs an initial analysis of each set of photos uploaded to it and
uses this data to estimate the internal parameters of the camera. This estimation factors the variation of
the lens between photos as well as variations occasioned by temperature changes.

You might be wondering why the application is called Pix4D whereas it produces a 3D map. The answer
lies in Pix4D’s ability to integrate the time factor. In other words, you could take photos of the same
area but on different times of the month, week or year and create a 3D map of each using Pix4D.

You can then use Pix4D to overlay the 3D maps allowing you to see any changes to the landscape
that may have taken place between the times each set of photos was taken. This functionality can be
particularly useful for farmers with large ranches who may want to keep track of the progress of their
crops’ growth.

Related articles

• Uav,Uas,now comes the aerostat (via SMARTPLANE) (crufc.ca)
• Successful Launch for Elbit UAV (israelnationalnews.com)
• Batcopter UAV observes anti-collision bat behavior, crashes into ground (video) (engadget.com)
• Making a Real Batcopter, With Parts From the Hardware Store (science.slashdot.org)
• ‘Batcopter’ studies bats in flight (gizmag.com)

More than two thirds of the earth is covered by water. But clean water remains a precious commodity that must be used with this rarity in mind. A significant proportion of the world’s population cannot access clean drinking water. Thus every method available that seeks to spur the conservation of clean drinking water must be encouraged.

Brazil has remained among the nation’s that have been on the forefront of green matters. What comes quickest to mind is the nation’s world renowned ethanol production that has seen it cut its fuel costs overall while playing its part in reducing the amount of hydrocarbon pollution.

Now Brazil is at it again, only this time it relates to water conservation. Banco Cyan is a new program that rewards members who push down their level of water consumption. To join, you need only open an account with Banco Cyan where you provide details of your water utility account.

Registration into the program is based on your property’s RGI number (a unique number from the Registrar General of Real estate). The RGI ensures that a property can only be in the system under one member account thus preventing any abuse of the Banco Cyan program. Other details you will be required to submit include your name, complete address and phone number.

Banco Cyan then proceeds to query the history of your water consumption with the utility services provider. An average consumption rate over a period you specify that precedes your date of registration on Banco Cyan is subsequently calculated.

The options available when selecting this preceding period that is used to calculate average consumption are: 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and 12 months. Banco Cyan recommends that one chooses a preceding period that is as close as possible to the date they first occupied the property.

Once computed, this average consumption becomes your objective. You earn points each time your consumption rate goes below this average amount.

To ensure that the system is fair for both small and large water consumers, members are grouped into categories commensurate with their average level of consumption. These categories include 1 to 7 cubic meters, 8 to 100 cubic meters, 101 to 200 cubic meters, 201 to 500 cubic meters and over 500 cubic meters.

The point system is also calibrated into 4 different levels – 1 star, 2 stars, 3 stars and 4 stars- all depending on the proportion of your reduction in consumption relative to the average. Banco Cyan has partnered with several organizations where participants of the program can redeem the points in exchange for discounts when purchasing partner’s products.

At present, the Banco Cyan program is limited to Sao Paolo state and only to property served by the SABeSP water company. However, it is likely to spread to other major towns in Brazil if it proves to be a resounding success.

Related articles

• In Brazil, service rewards consumers for using less water (springwise.com)
• Consumption-Cutting Incentives – Banco Cyan Rewards Customers Who Cut Back on Their Water Usage (TrendHunter.com) (trendhunter.com)
• Water Rates Revised (israelnationalnews.com)
• San Diego Reduces Water Consumption By 11 Percent (good.is)
• Remarketables 5.27.11 (designmind.frogdesign.com)

Life is hectic – and that can very well be considered by some as an understatement. Due to the busy schedules characteristic of modern day living, one of the areas that suffers the most is our nutrition – there is hardly any time to plan and cook. Eating out is tempting but eventually becomes boring, costly and unhealthy. On the other hand, even the best establishments may not necessarily offer the healthiest of food anyway.

In order to save you from this persistent cooking headache, there is a solution in the form of Muncherry.com. Founded in early 2011, Muncherry.com works every simply. You place an order for a meal and once the meal is ready, it will be delivered where you live. You have the option of placing a single one-off order or place a one-week meal order.

Muncherry.com handpicks the participating chefs carefully and takes them through thorough quality and competence vetting. Each chef must have the requisite practicing licenses and operate their own independent eateries. Meals are restricted to ingredients that are easily, locally available so certain special dishes are not covered.

If you like one particular chef’s meals in your area, Muncherry.com allows you to settle on meals from that one chef only. And when you sign up for say a one week plan and are not satisfied with the first few meals, you can cancel and get a refund on all remaining meals.

Muncherry.com effectively allows you to enjoy the services of a personal chef but at a fraction of the cost you would incur to hire your own chef. No need to struggle with developing a meal plan and menu.

The profiles of participating chefs are available on the site and you can always look them up to see who you believe is likely to best meet your culinary preferences. The profiles are a statement of confidence by Muncherry.com in each chef that makes it to the panel.

At present, Muncherry.com serves a section of San Francisco. Plans are already underway to spread services to outlying areas. This is one idea that has huge potential for growth if handled correctly. If people buy fast food in such large quantities every day, getting what is effectively a home cooked meal prepared remotely and delivered to your home is not something people will find difficult to embrace.

That said, Muncherry.com’s winning proposition must not only be hinged on variety of the meals but on the hygiene standards observed during meal preparation. In such a sensitive business, it only takes one or two people to prove that they fell sick from food prepared in unhygienic conditions for the business to see its fortunes rapidly decline.

Related articles

• Munchery Wants To Bring Personal Chefs To The Masses (techcrunch.com)
• Le Chef Mobile Offers Cooking Classes for Couples in the Boston Area and Cape Cod (pr.com)
• Dylan’s Got Your Chance To Dine In Chicago From MasterChef (fresh1027.radio.com)
• Gobble offers ‘peer-to-peer lasagna’ takeout twist (sfgate.com)
• “Gobble” Helps You Order Take-Out From Your Neighbors’ Kitchens (treehugger.com)

Instead of spending, why not earn something. Keeping a very simple fact in mind; that the oil prices are rapidly increasing while wind power is a source, which is totally free for, and full of potential if you find the methods to take advantage of it. Furthermore wind power is environment friendly and infinite source of energy.

A market that could benefit from such energy are shipping companies. If they are provided with efficient sail technology they would be able to reduce fuel costs considerably. At the moment there is no sail system that has meet the strict requirements of the maritime shipping industry.

This until a company named SkySails came into the picture offering top-notch wind propulsion system. This is the only company that has been able to meet the requirements and needs of the maritime industry. According to the company with current wind conditions around the world, average annual fuel costs of ships can be lowered by 10 to 35. This figure can vary according to wind conditions. The company states that under an ideal wind condition the fuel consumption of a ship can be reduced by 50 % on temporary basis!

The Main focus of Skysails is their towing kite propulsion systems specifically created for cargo ships. With current products it can accommodate cargo vessel weighing between 8 and 16 tons. The company is investing importantly on research and development. Future plan are to deliver a similar upgraded product designed for heavier load. The goal is to be able to move loads of around 32 tons in the near future after that further down the line the target capacity they want to achieve is of 132 tons.

High tech rope for green shipping is another creation by the SkySails. They have worked closely with DSM Dyneema and Gleistein to create an innovative product aimed to increase quality & sustainability of ropes within the maritime market. The company has gathered experts in the fields of synthetic fibers manufacturing to develop an amazing product called the “towing kite technology”. It is known as the world’s most powerful wind propulsion system that reduces the consumption of fuel of ships up to 35 %. The venture of the company is a success and according to themtogether they will push the boundaries of the traditional and existing technologies to optimize and scale the SkySails system.

With this new technology being introduced in the market, existing cargo vessels will be out dated. Skysails kites are specifically design to be installed on any old vessel, which will be a key strength when approaching shipping companies. If early adopters prove the benefits of such innovation it will surely give a jolt to the other companies. Gradually it seems logical that wind towing technologies will be allied to more costly a traditional fossil fuel energy.

Related articles

• Three Tips to Avoid Costly Shipping Mistakes (entrepreneur.com)
• Cargill will have a kite sail on a 30,000 ton cargo ship (nextbigfuture.com)
• Green mega-yachts: Not-so-filthy rich (economist.com)
• Climate Change and the Impact of Shipping (gcaptain.com)
• Maine wind farm could be latest ‘not in my backyard’ casualty (venturebeat.com)

For instance, making a decision to drink at least eight glasses of water each day is easy – consistently sticking to that routine for consecutive months and years is the hard part. Worse still is not having any quantitative data that can show you how well you are faring against your target.

Greengoose.com is a start up that uses wireless sensors integrated with a web based platform all of which are meant to help you automatically track progress on the realisation of your lifestyle goals. The sensors communicate with an egg-shaped wireless receiver each time you perform an action. The receiver is plugged into a port on the router. The receiver battery lasts for 1 year.

There are different types of sensors each meant to track different types of lifestyle actions. The ones meant to monitor exercise are the same size as a credit card and so can easily fit in a purse or wallet. Water or energy drink bottle sensors on the other hand are stickers that are placed on the side of the bottle. The tooth brush sensor is egg shaped and with a slot where the stem of the tooth brush can be slipped through.

Each time you perform one of the actions, you earn ‘lifestyle points’. If you remain consistent, you get bonus points. Greengoose.com also allows for the exchange or sharing of points with partnering organisations in return for a reward. Similarly, the information can be shared with other applications. You can even integrate it with a reward system for the kids. The strength of Greeengoose.com lies not only in its functionality but also in its ability to appeal to persons of all ages.

Greengoose.com incorporates fun and play even into those activities that have a serious impact on our health. The sensors can be just as home with the kids as they would be with parents. True to its name, the Greengoose.com encourages people that have no more use for the receiver and sensors to send them back. The company will then recycle them ready for reuse. Other than being a gadget for individual use in the home or office, Greengoose.com has a bright future as a tool for business.

The best prospects for Greengoose.com will probably lie in future partnerships with health services organizations and other institutions that would naturally be drawn to customers of Greengoose.com. Such partnership may range from simply co-branding Greengoose.com sensors and receivers to investing in the development of new types of sensors to measure an even broader range of activities.

When you think about it, setting and meeting our goals in life always requires pushing against some form of resistance. Often, our resolve to push through with what needs to be done boils down to its correlation with our ability to meet our financial obligations.

In other words, even though working in a career you like is a powerful driver to get up and go to work every morning, the reality is many of us do so because going to work makes the difference on whether we can pay the kid’s tuition, the mortgage, the car loan or a vacation.

This is precisely why ‘do good’ goals often fall by the wayside. The absence of any form of reward and recognition for accomplishing a ‘do good’ activity makes it fall to the bottom of any list of priorities.

Dailyfeats.com is a start up that has created a reward system for encouraging its users to perform positive activities that are consistent with each user’s values and life goals. The positive activities are predefined in the system and are referred to as ‘feats’. Dailyfeats.com currently has more than 200 types of feats but the number continues to grow.

The types of feats are broad. They include taking a brisk walk at the end of a tiring day, volunteering to tutor a child, eating fresh fruit, waking up early, taking the stairs instead of the escalator, spending time with the family etcetera. After performing each feat, users log into Dailyfeats.com via their smart phone or computer, register the feat and earn the points associated with the particular feat.

For persons that want to check in their feats without logging into Dailyfeats.com, there are a number of options. One can send a phone text message, send a Google Talk chat, email the feat or link their Dailyfeats.com profile to their Foursquare account. When one’s profile is linked to Foursquare, certain actions can be registered automatically based on location. These include attending classes or going to the gym.

There are two approaches to checking in a feat – registering each feat immediately it occurs or checking in the accumulated feats in bulk at the end of each day. There is no harm using either. However, members are restricted to only registering feats they have performed within the preceding 24 hours.

The member can share with other Dailyfeats.com members what tangible and intangible value performing the action created for them and thus encourage others to emulate the same. In return, the appreciation and reward one experiences from other members after registering their feat on Dailyfeats.com spurs them on to continue to do even more good.

Even though registering the feat earns a member points, ‘props’ or positive votes for the feat from other members earn the member additional points. Points earned on Dailyfeats.com can be redeemed for rewards or discounts. Dailyfeat.com has partnered with a number of commercial and not for profit organisations who sponsor feats that reflect their own values.

Bolefloor  has brought a new innovative way of looking at wooden flooring. They’ve managed to ally efficiency, design and sustainability by simply rethinking the aspect of traditional floorboards. This process seems simple but it’s always with simple things that innovation struggles. This Dutch company found a way to revolutionize how we can approach the us of wood for floors ( and later probably for other type of furniture).

It’s going against years and years of traditions and habits, things that we never think about as they seem to be a given. For flooring the given was and still is “Rectangular” you can go to a shop and find thousands of different type of squarish material but none just like bolefloor. The reason is simple it’s efficiency and the abundance of wooden ressources in the past. Logistically square is easy to transports and the waste created during the process wasn’t a real problem. And finally lack of technology was also a hurdle to change this process.

How did Bolefloor achieve this? Simply by inspiring themselves from nature and using technology to apply it to our needs. Bolefloor use complexe scanning and calculation  system of the raw wood cuts, mostly focused on the natural shape of the wood veins. Then they use this data to determine the most efficient way to cut the wood to minimize waste while making sure the peaces fit together. The trick to this is that each peace has it’s spot, its a huge jigsaw that fits perfectly together. They have made something that seems like it would have to be tailor made in to an industrial products that can be produced for the mass.

The Feel and Look of this flooring is amazing. Nature creates the deign and the technology brings it to your feet. These type of companies that manage to ally modern design products that fit a real need while being focused on sustainability are the real way forward in helping the society to actually act for the environment.

They also have the perfect moto: “Life is not a straight line”

Bolefloor Company Website

Over the last 10 or 15 years, the term corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained traction worldwide as an integral part of the responsible business’ strategy. However, the growth of CSR has inadvertently created the impression that activities to make the world a better place are difficult or near impossible to monetize.

Of course, nothing could be further from fact – there are numerous business that are solely involved in social activities and are returning a profit from doing so. 33needs.com is an online crowd funding website that connects social entrepreneurs with investors.

33needs.com serves as a platform (the only one of its kind) for ordinary people to invest in social enterprises and reap financial and emotional reward. The emotional reward is in knowing that one has contributed to making a difference somewhere in the world.

Financial reward is in ‘Impact Points’ awarded by 33needs.com that can be redeemed in any one of a network of ‘Impact Partners’ around the world. There are 6 classes of social enterprises that the 33needs.com helps organise funding for.

• Health – Businesses that provide products and services that help people live healthier and longer lives.
• Sustainable food – Enterprises that use sustainable farming and processing practices to make more food available to meet the need of the world’s burgeoning population.
• Opportunity – Businesses that equip men and women with the skills necessary to provide for their households.
• Planet – Entrepreneurs whose goal is to ensure a cleaner world.
• Education – Individuals or institutions that create the environment for more people to access a good education.
• Community – Enterprises that work towards the protection and preservation of unique but endangered cultures.

The social entrepreneur must indicate a specific target amount that they would like to raise. The funds are only released to the entrepreneur if the contributions from investors reach the target amount. If the total amount invested does not reach the target figure, the investors get a full refund of their money.

The rationale for refunding investments when they fall short is to ensure the entrepreneur has all the cash they need to achieve the goals they had outlined. This is good for investors as it reduces the likelihood of failed enterprises or projects.

The accrual purpose for the money will differ for each business. The cash may be for starting up a new business or to expand a going concern. The funds may go towards building a website, increasing inventory, research, marketing etcetera. 33needs.com helps social enterprises address their operational needs so they can focus on delivering their product.

The fact that investors are individuals who are attracted by the cause the social enterprise stands for means the social entrepreneur enjoys support from persons that are passionate about their business. This alone serves as a powerful drive for entrepreneurs to achieve the goals they commit to at the point of sourcing for funding.

While 33needs.com is quickly making a name in the crowd funding arena, its difficult-to-understand and widely-varying reward structure might be an impediment to more investors signing up. However, it has the potential of making headway among persons that would like to make a difference without necessarily expecting anything in return. This is because there is no collateral that the investor can redeem if the social enterprise goes bust.

A company called Greenbutts has developed are all-natural, it is a 100%  biodegradable filters, furthermore when thrown on soil the inner seed becomes grass shoots or even flowers. It aims to solve the problem of cigarettes filters today that take up to 15 years to disintegrate. And apparently it makes cigarettes taste better.

Compared to Old technology

Most cigarette filters are made from cellulose acetate. Technically it is biodegradable, practically it’s not very true. The duration of the degradation process can take as long as 10–15 years. When you think 4.5 trillion cigarette butts become litter every year and this number is growing, this means 10-15 is way to long. In the 2006, cigarettes constituted 24.7% of the total collected pieces of garbage, 2x than any other category. Further more  filters slowly degrade into the ground and water supplies with the cellulose acetate and other chemical particles that are suspected of causing harm in humans,

http://www.green-butts.com/

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/videos/stuff-happens-no-butts-for-mother-nature.html

One of the basic rules in the demand/supply concept is that when something becomes scarce, unless the demand declines with it, it’s value increases.

There are a couple of goods that get rarer everyday along with the growth of humanity: land, commodities, biodiversity, etc

But although you cannot do much about the lithium resources getting dry, you do can breed animals. Not only is it funny, I’m also sure that this could become quiet lucrative. As cheetahs, gorillas or pandas disappear, their value goes up. And they keep disappearing because their the victims of our economy, when they could actually be part of it.

So my idea is to develop a market for those animals, I wouldn’t mind if they were sold as pets as long as it gives them greater chances of surviving. Also, if this direction doesn’t work out, you can still sell them to the WWF or to governments.

Moreover we are at the middle of a financial crisis and people, once again, realize the necessity for control and risk assesments. This means that in finance, like in any kind of projects, people will want to know the risks they really are taking. Private investors, banks, insurancesm they all suffered a lot and will keep on suffering during this crisis. Their risk aversion profile increased or will increase. Projects and organizations are growing bigger and bigger and the number, frequency and severity of risks are positively correlated to it. We are from a generation that understands the necessity for environmental protection, and in activity that is related to it quantitative risk analysis is an essential step. So let’s remain aware of that increasing need.

Now what? In my mind, diesel engines are the future. We fixed their pollution problem a long time ago, they don’t consume much, and they are fast! (Audi wins every 24h du Mans with a diesel powered car since 3 years now). And you know the best part? A friend of mine recycle old restaurant frying oil in his diesel new beetle and drives with it.

So far, there have been some opposition to bio fuel because people make it out of crops. How can you justify starving people of destroying the amazon to power your car? Arable lands are precious, we should not grow petrol on them.

However, 75% of the world is covered with oceans. Salted water cannot be used to water crops, and there is a problem of fertilizers getting to the sea from the over use we make of them. Why not make petrol out of algae then?

I have read that some species have 10 times the energy potential of land crops.

I see many different ways of growing them: directly farm them in the sea, have them grow between glass just like solar panels, etc.. What is sure is that the potential will be enormous as soon as the petrol price will go up. I read that big companies like boeing are already spending some money in R&D, but this is the kind of new technology that you can develop low cost if you are creative. The most important point I think is finding the best algae specie, it should be resistant, grow fast and produce much oil.

They already do it: http://earth2tech.com/2008/03/27/15-algae-startups-bringing-pond-scum-to-fuel-tanks/

This article from MIT is interesting too: http://www.technologyreview.com/business/20319/page1/

I’ve bought several magazines to read on the beach this summer, and a new trend everyone starts speaking about is the recycling of human crap for agriculture. From scientific american to wired, smart people preach this idea.

Finally, why not? We already have sewers that collect all the crap and drive it to purification plants. Those plants should transform excrement into fertilizer instead of burning it… The numbers are enormous. Assuming that a typical human being releases 300 grams of pooh every day, that makes 18’000’000*0.3=5’400’000 kilos of pure brown matter every day for a city like Tokyo. I’m sure you can grow some plants on that.

Imagine what would australia or israel be if they could produce as much fresh water as they like just with the energy of the sun and sea water?