Emily Cummins is an inventor with a focus on helping the environment. This wouldn't be so unique if it wasn't for the fact that she is only 21, and has been inventing since the age of four when her grandad gave her a hammer.
Starting by taking things apart and rebuilding them with her grandad - who she describes as an 'inspiration' - in his shed, Emily progressed and won a barrage of awards and competitions at school for inventions such as a toothpaste dispenser that minimises waste, which she came up with at just 15 years old. She went on to become Cosmopolitan's Ultimate Save-The-Planet Pioneer in 2008.
Currently in her 3rd year of university at Leeds, she studies part time so she can work on her inventions, and dedicate time to inspiring young people.
Emily's best known invention is the sustainable fridge, (pictured with her) which she also produced at school, and is set to change lives in the third world, as it is used to hold medicines. Emily is currently working on a second generation version that is intended for commercial use.
Emily believes that all new inventions should be green. She says "This concept - to maintain the quality while neutralising the damage to the environment - must be extended to all the other appliances we can't seem to function without such as TVs, cookers, dishwashers, computers, even cars."
"Just like Trevor Baylis's wind-up radio, the key is to creating quality green alternatives to the items which people have come to rely on."
If you think you have a great idea for a green invention, she suggests you check out N powers 'Bright Ideas competition' on their website, where you can also check out some great tips for getting more energy efficient.
ITCEC it might not seem like the greatest of ideas to launch a chauffeur service. However Ecochauffeur are entering the market with the aim of converting all those cigar-chomping bigwigs who are just too good to travel by bus into caring tree-huggers.
Ecochauffeur have introduced Lexus GS 450h SE-L Hybrids into their fleet of motors, which means VIPs can be transported in a vehicle which is reported to be 25% more cost effective on fuel than your usual chauffeur service cars like Mercedes and BMWs.
In addition to greener vehicles, the company partakes in carbon offsetting by investing through Climate Care. However, despite the Hybrids costing 20% less to hire than gas-guzzlers, clients apparently still prefer the cache that comes with rolling up in a traditional A-List motor - company director Will Senior admits: "At the moment the reality is that the S-class Mercedes, BMW 7 series, Range Rover, Bentley Continental Flying Spur and Rolls-Royce Phantom make up the majority of our fleet."
[source: Times Online]
Duncan at our gadget-y neighbour site Tech Digest has taken a look at the claims made by the makers of Carbon Hero - a device intended to record a person's carbon usage by monitoring their mobile phone signal - and weighed them up. He's not too impressed:
Carbon footprints are difficult. They've received a lot of attention in the press, and they're firmly stamped (no pun intended) on the public psyche, but they're not actually very accurate. Given the complexity of power generation in modern life, it's something that's incredibly difficult to calculate, and very easy to underestimate.
This device, the Carbon Hero, was designed by an art graduate named Andreas Zachariah. It tracks your phone signal, and if you're moving at train-ish speed, on a train track, then it assumes you're on a train, works out the distance you travel, and gives you a number for your carbon footprint. Simple, right? Well, there's about a billion things wrong with the idea.
Continue reading >>
-thumb-150x271.jpg)
Produced in sunny Southwold since 1872, Adnams has long been behind some of Britain's best loved homegrown beers. And now, the company says it's brewed a beer that can be called the UK's first carbon neutral beer.
'East Green' is brewed in Adnams' eco-efficient brewery, which has an Energy Recovery System that recycles 100% of the steam created during the brewing process and uses it to heat 90% of the following brew. The beer is made with locally grown barley to minimise CO2 emissions from transportation, and type of hop that's naturally aphid-resistant is used, cutting the use of pesticides significantly. To ensure their carbon emissions were as low as possible, Adnams worked with The University of East Anglia's carbon reduction CRed team, throughout the project. Let's drink to that!
Facebook servers and your computer use energy, which puts CO2 in the air. Boo! Step in Greenbook, the latest must-have facebook accessory which aims to offset the carbon generated by all those millions of tapping fingers.
Greenbook works by buying renewable energy credits; certificates that prove that electricity produced by traditional (potentially harmful) means were replaced by equal amounts of energy produced by green methods. Unlike many such schemes, Greenbook does not rely on tree-planting for its carbon offsets. Instead, it invests in 'green power', namely renewable sources such as solar and wind power. To pay for this, it has to get companies to sponsor it: the more users sign up, the more sponsorship they get. So why not sign up today? I promise it's far more rewarding than being a zombie.
Related: How to make your website carbon neutral
We internet types like to think of ourselves as 'green', and online is considered by many to be an earth friendly way to run businesses, communicate and have fun. It's paperless, instant and clean. But how green is it really?
It's been claimed that the digital industry has as big a carbon footprint as aviation -- and while aviation is slowing down, digital is growing at a tremendous rate. There are only so many planes you can fit in the sky, but the internet is virtually limitless...
Continue reading >>
It's not good enough to keep an eye on your own carbon footprint nowadays: if you've got a virtual identity on Second Life or any other dark corner of the web, you need to ensure that he or she is living responsibly too! After a shocking bit of research showing that each Second Life avatar consumes as much electricity as a real life Brazilian, Big Green Switch has started a campaign to help SL residents offset their carbon footprints.
Here's how it works - a SL user purchases our set of 10 beautiful exclusive trees for 3000 Linden Dollars (L$) and 100% of the money goes into a dedicated Big Green Switch offsetting fund. Periodically, the fund is converted into UK Sterling and invested in tree planting schemes via the UK's Tree Appeal organisation. SL land owners can also carbon offset their sim for a further L$1000.
[Via Virtual Economics]
digg this | del.icio.us this
| 
Stumble It!
