Recently in GreenRebel Category
I just read an interesting book review on Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness in Time Magazine that relates to my previous post about the ReVolt Movement on how to solve the Power Crisis in South Africa. From the Time article:
If you want people to use less energy, you could make it very expensive - or you could just let them know how much they use in comparison with their neighbours.
When that bit of information was added to electric bills in San Marcos, Calif., heavy users quickly lowered their consumption, even though no one had asked them to. ... the good people of San Marcos had been nudged.
Isn't that incredible?
I did a workshop this weekend at Podcamp SA to try and solve the South African power crisis. We had a group of about 40 intelligent and well connected individuals in a room and I thought that if we simply put our heads together we could realistically arrive at a solution.
And we did!
You see, to alleviate the power crisis, at least in the interim, all we need to do is use 10% less electricity. Why is this so difficult then?
Surely all of us are capable to switch our geysers off for a few hours a day and stop running our swimming pool pumps in the winter? And not keep our PCs running through the night nor have 2 plasma screens constantly on even though we're not watching?
The problem seems to be that we simply don't believe that saving 10% is going to make any difference. It's a classic study of humanity: "Nobody else is doing the right thing, so why should I? In any case, even if I did save, I will still suffer blackouts because no one else is saving!"
Now, of course, we could individually ration households, and in that way reward people individually for saving. The problem is that this is technically more difficult, time consuming and costly.
But what if we incentivized individual neighbourhoods, instead of individual persons? Municipalities already do rolling blackouts, in which they switch off electricity to certain suburbs, but not to others!
The solution is simple: If a certain neighbourhood manages to save 10%, in a certain time period, then simply continue to provide electricity to that neighbourhood.
This will empower people at the community level and also create a spirit of healthy competition between neighbourhoods, but without any losers! Imagine dinner parties where friends boast about their neighbourhood not having suffered a blackout in months because they managed to save!
Neighbourhood Power Watches could be established to distribute flyers to raise awareness (and occasionally go knock on doors of folks running Christmas lights in June)
Jon Tullet suggested that we use SMS broadcasting to warn people in any particular area of impending power cuts. (An SMS broadcast is a message sent to all phones in a range of a particular cell tower, regardless of what network you are or what your number is). This will allow recipients to switch off appliances and instantaneously reduce consumption to avoid a power cut!
I have set up a website, www.revolt.co.za, to be the centre of this campaign. (Do you get the double-meaning? Thanks to Simon for coming up with the name during a Blogger Community brainstorm session on Skype!)
So what can you do to help right now? Easy: If you're a blogger, blog about it. If you're a journalist, write about it. If you're not a writer, talk about it. If you're a politician, campaign about it!
Right now, right here, YOU can make a big difference in helping to bring South Africa back on track, to help save lives, jobs and 2% of GDP growth!
I thought of writing something cool about the this product, but I think the picture says it all!
Plastic is made from oil. It takes 100 million years to create one drop of oil. We then toss the plastic in the bin and it goes to a landfill where it takes 500 years to biodegrade. This guy found a way to make durable plastic using corn (or other starches) and water!
I've joined the Facebook Group: "Fuck Off Japan... Leave the Whales Alone!!!!" (despite a few too many exclamation marks at the end).
Japan will be slaughtering more than a 1000 whales this year that will end up in restaurants. They're exploiting a loophole that allows for the killing of whales for "research" purposes.
I intend to boycott Japanese products and I hope that you will too. (It's not that hard and maybe it will make a difference to what your grandkids will think of you one day if there are no whales left.)
Activist Joanne Sidall put together the following list of Japanese products in between beers:
Alpine Electronics Inc http://www.alpine.com/
Asahi Brewery http://www.asahibeer.co.jp
Bridgestone www.bridgestone.com
Brother Industries http://www.brother.com/ind
Canon http://www.canon.com/
Casio http://world.casio.com/
Citizen http://www.citizen.co.jp/e
CSK Holdings http://www.csk.com/index_e
Daikin Industries http://www.daikin.com/
Epson http://epson.com/
Fuji Film http://www.fujifilm.com/
GReady http://www.trust-power.com
Hitachi http://www.hitachi.com/
Honda http://www.honda.com/
Japan Airways http://www.jal.com/en/
Kao Brands http://www.kaobrands.com/
Kawai http://www.kawaius.com/
Kenwood http://www.kenwood.com/
Kikkoman http://www.kikkoman.com/in
Konami http://www.konami.com/
Kuboda http://www.kubota.co.jp/en
Panasonic http://panasonic.net/
Mazda http://www.mazda.com/
Mitsubishi http://www.mitsubishi-moto
Mitsubishi Cars America http://www.mitsubishicars.
Nikon webmaster@nikon.co.jp
Nintendo http://www.nintendo.com/co
Olympus http://www.olympus-global.
Onkyo http://www.intl.onkyo.com/
Pentax http://www.pentax.com/dist
Pentel http://www.pentel.com/serv
Pioneer http://pioneer.jp/support/
Ricoh http://www.ricoh.com/suppo
Sanyo http://www.sanyo.com/netwo
Sega http://www.sega.com/corpor
Sharp http://sharp-world.com/sup
Sony http://www.sony.net/
I know it won't be easy, but instead of getting a Nintendo Wii or a Sony Playstation, opt for an XboX 360. I really don't know what you're going to do if you're planning to buy a camera though... wait a bit perhaps?
If you'd like to do more, you can also join the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
The smartest solutions are always the simplest ones. The ones where you go 'Doh! Why didn't I think of that?" It's because you weren't looking in the right place at the right time.
Case in point is 28-year old engineer Shawn Frayne, who recently won Popular Mechanic's 2007 Breakthrough Award. He was working in Haiti and needed a way to create wind power to small devices such as torches and radios. Small turbines weren't an option, as they are very expensive.
You might have seen the video of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (pictured here) violently twisting and then collapsing from a mild 40mph wind that wouldn't even blow over your grandmother. The reason for this was what is called Aeroelastic Flutter.
So Shawn figured out if a little bit of wind could cause a massive bridge to flutter like a harmonica, he certainly could power a few radios from it.
So he built a 'Wind Belt' generator, it costs $2 to make using off-the-shelf materials and is 10 times more efficient than a micro wind turbine. Click here to see the video.
Now, let's see if I can get a larger version to power my geyser...
Case in point is 28-year old engineer Shawn Frayne, who recently won Popular Mechanic's 2007 Breakthrough Award. He was working in Haiti and needed a way to create wind power to small devices such as torches and radios. Small turbines weren't an option, as they are very expensive.
You might have seen the video of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (pictured here) violently twisting and then collapsing from a mild 40mph wind that wouldn't even blow over your grandmother. The reason for this was what is called Aeroelastic Flutter.So Shawn figured out if a little bit of wind could cause a massive bridge to flutter like a harmonica, he certainly could power a few radios from it.
So he built a 'Wind Belt' generator, it costs $2 to make using off-the-shelf materials and is 10 times more efficient than a micro wind turbine. Click here to see the video.
Now, let's see if I can get a larger version to power my geyser...
A few reasons:
The only drawback is that it only does about 400 km per charge and takes 3.5 hours to fully recharge. What's revolutionary about the Tesla Roadster is that a bunch of Geek Rebels (mostly software engineers) in Silicon Valley decided they would build a really cool car. Forget fuel cells, hydrogen, hybrids etc... The most advanced battery technology available today has been entirely driven by laptop and cellphone sales.
Essentially, they rigged together a bunch of Li-Ion laptop batteries and created a supercar. These guys are awesome!
The supercar is of course a fantastic way to build a name. They do intend to release a 4-door sedan in 2010 that will cost about $30,000. Still a bit outside of my budget, but maybe they'd sell the drivetrain to Bajaj and I could get an upgrade for my scooter.
Update: The electric drivetrain (including 'engine' etc) only has 17 moving parts, compared to more than 200 parts in a typical 4-cylinder drivetrain. No oil, no petrol filter, no air filter, no oil filter, no fanbelt. This thing is cheap to maintain! It's also manufactured by Lotus, so no rickety backyard manufacturing.
1. The Tesla Roadster does 0-100 km/h in 4 seconds
2. It has a limited top speed of 220 km/h
3. It does an effective 50 km per litre
4. The Tesla Motor company is owned by Elon Musk, a South African.
5. Like all things you want, you can't afford it. It will be launching later this year and costs a $100,000 US.
6. Surprise: It's an electric car. Zero emissions.
The only drawback is that it only does about 400 km per charge and takes 3.5 hours to fully recharge. What's revolutionary about the Tesla Roadster is that a bunch of Geek Rebels (mostly software engineers) in Silicon Valley decided they would build a really cool car. Forget fuel cells, hydrogen, hybrids etc... The most advanced battery technology available today has been entirely driven by laptop and cellphone sales.
Essentially, they rigged together a bunch of Li-Ion laptop batteries and created a supercar. These guys are awesome!
The supercar is of course a fantastic way to build a name. They do intend to release a 4-door sedan in 2010 that will cost about $30,000. Still a bit outside of my budget, but maybe they'd sell the drivetrain to Bajaj and I could get an upgrade for my scooter.
Update: The electric drivetrain (including 'engine' etc) only has 17 moving parts, compared to more than 200 parts in a typical 4-cylinder drivetrain. No oil, no petrol filter, no air filter, no oil filter, no fanbelt. This thing is cheap to maintain! It's also manufactured by Lotus, so no rickety backyard manufacturing.
Right now, are there any lights on in your house that don't really need to be? Perhaps a TV blaring that no-one is watching? You can make a difference!
Buy your kid a BMX, not a Quad-Bike. It will be better for their coordination
And if you're thinking of buying a Hummer, don't! Penis-enlargement surgery is cheaper in any case.
