Ford’s first dedicated hybrid, the 2013 Ford C-MAX compact utility vehicle, is slated to arrive in dealers this fall. Ford has announced that the compact five-passenger C-MAX hybrid will start at $25,995 — that’s approximately $500 cheaper than its closest competitor, the Toyota Prius v. Ford hasn’t released the official specs for the C-MAX hybrid just yet, but they do expect it to “blend fuel economy with performance, with projected best-in-class horsepower and torque.”

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We recently showed you Ryosuke Fukusada‘s innovative and playful designs, which include wooden light bulbs and tiny cakes shaped like furniture; his recent project, Net Lamps, places efficient LED lamps as glowing orbs suspended within crocheted nets. Hanging Net Lamps combine elastic Poly-net knitted into a tight column, which, suspended from metal loops on the floor and ceiling, hold the lamp in mid-air as it softly illuminates the unusual surrounding fabric.

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In a bid to mitigate the risks associated with fuel transportation and to make soldiers’ work less technically complex, U.S. military scientists have started to test microgrids that would provide clean energy to soldiers in the field. Since 2009, scientists from the Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC) have been developing two systems – RENEWS and REDUCE – which are being tested at the Fort Irwin National Training Center in California, and by U.S. Africa Command.
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Il design di arredo, al giorno d’oggi, è diventato inutile? Un nuovo modello di divano potrà mai fare la differenza? Non dovremmo invece gettarci con tutto lo slancio possibile nella riprogettazione di nuove condizioni di sostenibilità, in primis ambientale, per i nostri prodotti? Insomma, il design è una disciplina che si deve rinnovare nel profondo?

Philippe Starck, da sempre uomo di spettacolo almeno quanto sia in grado di essere un progettista creativo, getta sul piatto del dibattito tutte queste domande. Non che sia la prima volta: in passato, il designer francese ha già rimesso in discussione lo stesso DNA della disciplina (paradosso dei paradossi: come lui stesso ha contribuito a crearla, peraltro). Oggi, però, Starck è mosso dal desiderio di promuovere la sua nuova creazione, sicuramente quella che ha fatto più parlare di sé all’ultimo Salone.

Stiamo parlando di Broom, una seduta realizzata con polipropilene riciclato e scarti della lavorazione del legno. La configurazione formale, a detta dello stesso Starck, non è niente di che: l’importante in questo caso non è essere stilosi, ma ripensare non solo la gestione delle materie prime ma la stessa filiera della produzione. Prodotta da Emeco, altra grandissima azienda da sempre attenta al riciclo dei materiali (basta pensare alla storica Navy Chair), Broom -impilabile- è disponibile in un’ampia cartella colori.

Broom, Starck ci ripensa con una sedia che punta tutto sulla riduzione degli sprechi é stato pubblicato su Designerblog.it alle 13:48 di giovedì 17 maggio 2012.

A controversial geoengineering experiment that would have simulated the cooling effect of a volcanic eruption was canceled this week over a patent dispute. A team of scientists in the United Kingdom had announced last year their plans to send a gigantic balloon 12 miles above earth to recreate a volcanic cloud and study whether it could have cooled the earth. But arguments over a patent application, submitted before this proposed project had even begun, raised concerns over a potential conflict of interest.

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Oxygen-separation membranes

MIT researchers are in the process of testing a system that eliminates nitrogen from combustion and removes other byproducts like water to deliver a stream of pure carbon dioxide. The experiment is being conducted in a ceramic membrane that separates oxygen from air. Oxyfuel combustion, which involves burning fuel in pure oxygen, can deliver pure CO2. The oxygen-separating membrane is being tested in a small reactor. The researchers are also establishing parameters to test their findings under extreme conditions found inside conventional powerplants.

The researchers will present their study in the upcoming International Symposium on Combustion while the results will be featured in Journal of Membrane Sciences. According to team member Ahmed Ghoniem, the ceramic membrane technology could be a cheap way to sequester CO2 in powerplants.

Current methods to produce pure oxygen are expensive and consume large amounts of energy. With the ceramic membrane technology, the process can be made more affordable and simpler. It’s hoped that the new findings can be applied to new and existing powerplants in the near future. The team of researchers is now working to test the system at various temperatures, fuel conditions and pressures.

Via: Phys

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