I’ve decided that I really enjoy reading about innovative, affordable, sustainable housing designs. I have a friend doing a Masters of Design program at Carleton University right now who’s all over these kinds of projects. The real push for this sort of design-for-sustainability seems relatively new, too — even Carleton University has only just started up this MA program this year. Hopefully it will become popular as it’s got so many benefits!

Take this one, for example — it’s made from recycled matierals, fits in a small space, yet is large enough to fit 3 people, a kitchen, a reading room, a living room, bathroom, and hydroponia area! And it kinda looks like the Deathstar. I mean, maybe that’s not a sell for you, but I’m certainly all ears.

These prefab pod homes can be built quite fast and adding an affordable price tag to that, it makes it an option for any socio-economic level and a viable solution for emergency housing, too.

This particular pod was designed by Broisson Architects of Naucalpan, Mexico.

“The shelter could become another option for developing low cost housing with very short building time and could improve the quality of the life for people without access to decent housing,” say the architects.

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A hydrogen car uses hydrogen as its onboard fuel for motive power. Wikipedia tells me that the power plants of such vehicles convert the chemical energy of hydrogen to torque (or mechanical energy) in one of two methods: combustion, or electrochemical conversion in a fuel-cell:

• In hydrogen internal combustion engine vehicles, the hydrogen is combusted in engines in fundamentally the same method as traditional internal combustion engine vehicles.
• In fuel-cell conversion, the hydrogen is reacted with oxygen to produce water and electricity, the latter being used to power an electric traction motor.

It goes on to say that hydrogen is one of two natural elements that combine to make water — oh hey, something I knew! Thank you, bio-chem! What you may not know, however, is that hydrogen is not an energy source itself, but an energy carrier because it takes a great deal of energy to extract it from water.

After reading about Jesse James looking to beat the landspeed record with a hydrogen-burning car, I wanted to look into what dangers may be lurking with such a feat.

Here’s what I came up with (with some help, of course):

The show spots on tv aren’t really saying much about the car that Jesse will be using and there’s not much info about it online, so it’s hard to know how it will compare to what’s already been done.

The current land speed record for a hydrogen-powered vehicle is 286.476 mph (461.038 km/h) set by Ohio State University’s Buckeye Bullet 2, which achieved a “flying-mile” speed of 280.007 mph (450.628 km/h) at the Bonneville Salt Flats in August 2008. For production-style vehicles, the current record for a hydrogen-powered vehicle is 333.38 km/h (207.2 mph) set by a prototype Ford Fusion Hydrogen 999 Fuel Cell Race Car at Bonneville Salt Flats in Wendover, Utah in August 2007. It was accompanied by a large compressed oxygen tank to increase power. Jesse James is going to have to beat 333.38 km/h!

But what we really want to know, of course, is how dangerous is this stunt? I mean, they bill all of his stunts as being super dangerous and death-defying. Well, I’m no rocket scientist — err at least not a hydrogen-powered rocket scientist — so I searched and came up with a great site for you, my readers. Here’s all you’d ever need to learn about hydrogen!

H2 and You

Read, learn, and enjoy! It took me a few times through, but I think I’ve got the general idea.

No more will I let my brain make the connection between the hydrogen and the Hindenburg (whose shell was basically covered with solid rocket fuel, incidentally). More on that? Right here.

Hydrogen has the ability to help us improve the environment, reduce fuel imports and create green jobs. Why do you think so many companies are pursuing it? Because they already understand the great things it can do.

Now, I don’t watch a lot of television. I have a television — a relatively nice one, certainly — but I much prefer renting box sets of fantastic shows, documentaries, and movies to watching commercials, bad news broadcast channels, and ‘reality’ television. That being said, this actually caught my eye in the news today:

“Over the course of this season, Jesse James has set himself on fire, outrun the police, ridden across the Arctic Circle on a motorcycle and driven through a minefield, among other challenges. In the process, he’s broken three ribs and an elbow, chipped his pelvis and even had a concussion or two. So what will this guy do for a season finale? How about capture the land speed record for an eco-friendly, but highly volatile, hydrogen-burning vehicle? “Jesse James Is A Dead Man” season finale “Quest for 200 MPH” will premiere on Sunday, August 9 (10:00 – 11:00 PM, ET/PT) only on Spike.”

Apparently this television show — Jesse James Is A Dead Man — is a reality(ish) show (though the internet is not entirely sure that it’s a good tv show) where Jesse James does ridiculous things for show ratings. Hey, I’m not complaining. I’ve watched some terrible reality shows before just to see if the high-maintenance pretty blonde girl will, in fact, eat the squishy animal unmentionables more the million dollars. Who am I to make fun of those who’ll watch a show to see a dude leap over a firey pit of burning barrels on a motorcycle. Cool, man.

So, for the season finale, Jesse James will be attempting to beat the land speed record in an eco-friendly car, huh? Now, my thoughts on this are that hey — if he beats the land record, it might look pretty sweet for the car (go eco-friendly car!) but well, if he blows up… not so good for the car, huh?

How high are the risks with a hydrogen-burning car? This show has got me curious. I’ll do some research and get back to you, sound good? I’m going to bet the risks are pretty low. We all know how television likes to make things life or death. People much prefer death-defying stunts over pretty-run-of-the-mill-risk-defying stunts.

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While cruising around the Captain Planet Foundation website (yeah, alright you caught me. I was reading up on my favourite eco hero), I discovered a link to watch entire episodes of Captain Planet and The Planeteers online!

And it’s not the seedy online that we’re all used to (well, not me… of course. Pfft. Like I would watch streaming television on the internet. That would be questionably legal, now wouldn’t it.) Mother Nature Network is hosting the videos for free in hopes that it will educate and entertain viewers.

For the next 12 months, MNN will unveil more than 20 episodes of Captain Planet and The Planeteers as well as never-before-seen bonus footage.

Check it out!

The last time I wrote about Captain Planet, BambiGoesGreen nearly quadrupled in readership — clearly people love Captain Planet! Spread this around, let people know that they can induldge themselves in a bit of free, streaming eco hero!

Alright, this tv ad made me laugh.

Apparently these Brazilian television commercials – as shown above – are encouraging Brazillians to save water… by urinating in the shower.

Brazilian environmental group SOS Mata Atlantica says the campaign, running on several television stations, uses humor to persuade people to reduce flushes. The group says if a household avoids one flush a day, it can save up to 4,380 liters (1,157 gallons) of water annually.

In case you are having a hard time translating, the ad ends with kids yelling “Pee in the shower! Save the Atlantic rainforest!” Would we ever have a tv commercial like this in Canada? Heh. I can’t even imagine. Sure, the idea’s a bit odd. But hey, why not, right? I think it’s a super creative way to be playful with a serious subject.

Here’s the campaign’s website: http://www.xixinobanho.org.br

OLEDs (organic light-emitting diodes) are slowly making their way into the spotlight.

This is an amazing new technology that will enable extremely thin TV’s with a contrast ratio that is about 100 times greater than the best consumer LCD’s or Plasma’s on the market today, thanks to the fact that they have no backlight. An advantageous side note of this means they are extremely power efficient. With tested response times of up to 0.01ms, which far exceed today’s best. They are much brighter, with more vivid colors than existing TV’s too.

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