For those of us with easy access to it, clean drinking water is usually taken for granted, but in many parts of the world, the basic human need for safe potable water isn’t nearly as easy to meet as just turning a tap. In fact, there are still over a billion people on our planet that lack access to safe drinking water, and waterborne diseases are the second leading cause of death among children under five in the world. So…
A bunker built in Hamburg, Germany, in 1943 as an air raid shelter, and then gutted four years later by a controlled demolition by the British Army, has been refitted as an “Energy Bunker” and a symbol for a cleaner and more renewable energy future. The original bunker has been serving as a war memorial for the last 60 years, with only its outer shell of 3 meter thick walls and high ceiling remaining. But the bunker’s rebirth as an…
A young Togolese inventor, working out of a makerspace in Lome, built his own 3D printer using discarded e-waste scavenged from one of the huge tech graveyards (read: e-waste dump) near Accra, in Ghana. And if it wasn’t enough for Afate Gnikou to just build his own from the dregs of modern technology, he has also standardized and open-sourced the 3D printer plans, so that any other enterprising maker can build their own from e-waste, which could help kickstart makerspaces…
According to a recent Forbes piece, the challenge of making it as a woman or minority entrepreneur isn’t so much a matter of the market, or the niche, or even the right attitude, but rather the lack of access to enough capital – both in the financial sense and in “social capital”. Another piece mentions that women are starting businesses at twice the rate of men, and even may out-earn them, but that even so, only a small amount of…
When it comes to building energy efficiency, every little bit counts, but the best gains can be had by designing it in at the planning stage for new buildings and renovations. This startup believes they have a quick and simple solution to that, by helping architects, designers, and renovators to easily calculate and visualize the energy trade-offs so they can construct the best building at the best price, while also maximizing energy efficiency. The Ekotrope web-based software, which was developed…
Imagine an eco-material that has the potential to replace plastic and wood in a number of diverse products, from consumer goods to industrial parts to construction materials to musical instruments, and one that is completely non-toxic and recyclable. This material could be made at different densities, offering a product that is strong and water- and fire-resistant at higher densities, but insulating and lightweight at lower densities, so it easily lends itself to a variety of applications. This miracle eco-material is…
