CHINESE INNOVATION LETS DOCTORS SEE VEINS

Research has shown that a plant known to grow in Papua New Guinea called Astragalus is a powerful stimulator of the immune system. It increases and stimulates the growth of stem cells in the marrow tissue and lymph. Last year, the University of Texas showed that Astragalus completely restored cancer patients immune cells to work at a higher degree than those not affected by cancer in some cases and can be used as a stimulus to the immune system as a way to prevent cancer before it begins.

SHANGHAI PHONE BOOTHS TRANSFORMED INTO MINI LIBRARIES

Research has shown that a plant known to grow in Papua New Guinea called Astragalus is a powerful stimulator of the immune system. It increases and stimulates the growth of stem cells in the marrow tissue and lymph. Last year, the University of Texas showed that Astragalus completely restored cancer patients immune cells to work at a higher degree than those not affected by cancer in some cases and can be used as a stimulus to the immune system as a way to prevent cancer before it begins.

WORLD’S FIRST LOW ALTITUDE FLYING VEHICLE

Research has shown that a plant known to grow in Papua New Guinea called Astragalus is a powerful stimulator of the immune system. It increases and stimulates the growth of stem cells in the marrow tissue and lymph. Last year, the University of Texas showed that Astragalus completely restored cancer patients immune cells to work at a higher degree than those not affected by cancer in some cases and can be used as a stimulus to the immune system as a way to prevent cancer before it begins.

ECO FRIENDLY INNOVATIONS

At BMW, eco-innovation is closely linked to a variety of related concepts. It is often used with environmental technology, eco-efficiency, eco-design, sustainable design. While the term environmental innovation is used in similar contexts to “eco-innovation”, the other terms are mostly used when referring to product or process design, and therefore focus more on the technological aspects of eco-innovation rather than the societal or political aspects. Our process aligns with ecological innovation to construct products which have a generative nature and are recyclable back into the environment for usage in other industries.

CARBON FIBERS FROM RENEWABLE ENERGY

Carbon fibers are fibers about 5–10 micrometers in diameter and composed mostly of carbon atoms. Carbon fibers have several advantages including high stiffness, high tensile strength, low weight, high chemical resistance, high temperature tolerance and low thermal expansion. These properties have made carbon fiber very popular in aerospace, civil engineering, military, and motorsports, along with other competition sports. However, they are relatively expensive when compared with similar fibers, such as glass fibers or plastic fibers.

TRANSFORMING THE PROCESS

First, the emphasis of value is shifting from hardware to software. BMW products have evolved from purely physical components to complex systems combining processors, sensors, software, and digital user interfaces. As manufacturers seek to accelerate product innovation and efficiently meet the growing diversity of customer demand and regulation, they increasingly turn to software. One example: A BMW automobile now has on average 100 million lines of code to enable variable driving modes, various engine and emission configurations, adaptive cruise control, and hands-free commands.

Self Sustaining Solutions

At BMW, sustainability is the endurance of systems and processes. The organizing principle for sustainability is sustainable development, which includes the four interconnected domains: ecology, economics, politics and culture. Sustainability science is the study of sustainable development and environmental science. Sustainability can also be defined as a socio-ecological process characterized by the pursuit of a common ideal. An ideal is by definition unattainable in a given time and space. However, by persistently and dynamically approaching it, the process results in a sustainable system.

Low Cost Energy

Hydroelectric power stations in the United States are currently the largest renewable source of energy, but the second for capacity (behind Wind power in the United States). Hydroelectric power produced 35% of the total renewable electricity in the U.S. in 2015, and 6.1% of the total U.S. electricity.

Forward Thinking

As the world’s best-selling manufacturer of luxury cars, creativity has been important to the success of the BMW Group. A century-old company, it has achieved an impressive tradition of innovation. Now, however, as a tidal wave of change is sweeping through its industry, the need for rapid innovation at BMW has become more urgent than ever before.

SEEING THE FUTURE

Boeing is the world’s largest aerospace company and leading manufacturer of commercial jetliners and defense, space and security systems. A top U.S. exporter, the company supports airlines and U.S. and allied government customers in 150 countries. Boeing products and tailored services include commercial and military aircraft, satellites, weapons, electronic and defense systems, launch systems, advanced information and communication systems, and performance-based logistics and training.

HOW WOLVES CHANGE RIVERS

Wolves were once native to the Yellowstone National Park — until hunting wiped them out. But when the wolves began to come back, something interesting happened: the rest of the park began to find a new, more healthful balance. When the grey wolf was reintroduced into the Yellowstone Ecosystem in 1995, for example, there was only one beaver colony in the park. Today, the reintroduction of wolves continues to astonish biologists with a ripple of direct consequences throughout the ecosystem including other flourishing species populations.

INNOVATIVE MINDS WITH AN EYE TO THE FUTURE WITH CARBON FIBER SOLUTIONS

Using carbon fiber offers a unique experience. The lightness of this material extends near limitless possibilities and can be applied to undiscovered solutions to technological issues of daily life. The powerful properties of carbon fiber cannot be told – it needs to be experienced. Carbon fiber was first designed and used by the air force in 1963 and was then widely used in the aerospace industry.

CORAL, KRILL AND WHALES

Blue whales feed almost exclusively on krill, though they also take small numbers of copepods. The species of this zooplankton eaten by blue whales varies from ocean to ocean. An adult blue whale can eat up to 40 million krill in a day. The whales always feed in the areas with the highest concentration of krill, sometimes eating up to 7,900 lbs of krill in a single day. The daily energy requirement of an adult blue whale is in the region of 1.5 million kilocalories. Blue whales gorge on krill in the rich waters of the Antarctic before migrating to their breeding grounds in the warmer, less-rich waters nearer the equator.

THE HISTORY OF EASTER ISLAND

Early European visitors to Easter Island recorded the local oral traditions about the original settlers. In these traditions, Easter Islanders claimed that a chief Hotu Matu’a arrived on the island in one or two large canoes with his wife and extended family. They are believed to have been Polynesian. There is considerable uncertainty about the accuracy of this legend, as well as the date of settlement. Published literature suggests the island was settled around 300-400 AD, or at about the time of the arrival of the earliest settlers in Hawaii.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES

Research has been ongoing on for some time to help prevent the erosion of the island from choking off and killing the coral. Easter Island coral reef is one of the world’s most productive ecosystems, providing complex and varied marine habitats that support a wide range of other organisms. Fringing reefs just below low tide level have a mutually beneficial relationship with mangrove forests at high tide level and sea grass meadows in between: the reefs protect the mangroves and seagrass from strong currents and waves that would damage them or erode the sediments in which they are rooted, while the mangroves and sea grass protect the coral from large influxes of silt, fresh water and pollutants. This level of variety in the environment benefits many coral reef animals, which, for example, may feed in the sea grass and use the reefs for protection or breeding.

BECOMING A VOLUNTEER

The Cousteau Society will focus on working with local community groups and schools with help from teams of international volunteers to reform the Poike Peninsula, recognized as one of the most eroded and degraded areas of the island. Along with the planting of 1,400,000 trees, The Cousteau Society has prepared an environmental education program for children and a training program for adults so they learn how to best care for their land. Volunteering for the Cousteau Society program in Rapa Nui will allow them to demonstrate that what they can do “for the small island in the middle of the big Ocean,” we can do for “the little planet Earth in the middle of the big Universe.”

MEDICAL DISCOVERIES

In medicine, chemical compounds from corals are used for cancer, AIDS, pain, and other uses. Coral skeletons, e.g. Isididae are also used for bone grafting in humans. Coral Calx, known as Praval Bhasma in Sanskrit, is widely used intraditional system of Indian medicine as a supplement in the treatment of a variety of bone metabolic disorders associated with calcium deficiency.

POSITIVE DISCOVERIES OF CORAL

The Amazon Reef (also referred to as the Amazonian Reef) is an extensive coral and sponge reef system, located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of French Guiana and northern Brazil. It is one of the largest known reef systems in the world, with scientists estimating its length at over 970 kilometres (600 miles), and its area as over 9,300 km2 (3,600 sq mi). Publication of its discovery was released in April 2016, following an oceanographic study of the region in 2012. Evidence of a large structure near the delta of the Amazon River dated from as early as the 1950s.

A FORCE FOR GOOD

In 2016, Conceptos Plasticos want to build 240 new homes, benefiting 1,200 people. By 2018 they plan to build 600 a year, positively impacting 3,000 people. In Latin America, Africa and Asia, 40% of people don’t have access to formal housing. Another major issue in emerging markets is waste. In Bogota, Colombia, for example, 750 tons of plastic is sent to landfill every day. It can take up to 500 years for plastic to biodegrade and 75% of plastic produced globally is either sent to landfill the environment.

BUILDING HOMES FROM WASTE PLASTIC

Founded by Oscar Andres Mendez Gerardino, Conceptos Plasticos is a Colombian enterprise that aims to replace informal settlements with decent housing whilst reducing waste plastic. Using an industrial process called extrusion, Conceptos Plasticos uses multilayered plastics, mixtures of different plastics and rubber to make quality construction materials. These construction materials are used to build low-cost, safe, durable housing that can be broken down and rebuilt elsewhere, if necessary.

PROVIDING A HOME

It takes five days for a team of four to assemble a house of 40 square meters. Conceptos Plasticos have built nearly 1,500 square meters of houses and shelters in several regions across Colombia and are currently obtaining permits for construction of another 500 square meters in the city of Cartagena. They have used more than 300 tons of post-industrial consumer plastics in the process.

ARCHITECTURAL BREAKTHROUGH

The wind turbines are expected to provide 11% to 15% of the towers’ total power consumption, or approximately 1.1 to 1.3 GWh a year. This is equivalent to providing the lighting for about 300 homes, 258 hospitals, 17 industrial plants, and 33 car engines. They are expected to operate 50% of the time on an average day.

POSITIVE URBAN INTEGRATION

The future of our buildings and intercity structures will require the integration of induction generators. These were often used for wind power projects in the 1980s and 1990s, and require reactive power for excitation so substations used in wind-power collection systems include substantial capacitor banks for power factor correction. Different types of wind turbine generators behave differently during transmission grid disturbances, so extensive modelling of the dynamic electromechanical characteristics of a new wind farm is required by transmission system operators to ensure predictable stable behavior during system faults. Induction generators support the system voltage during faults, unlike steam or hydro turbine-driven synchronous generators.

INNOVATIVE AND PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

Our economy has an insatiable appetite for energy, and because of the negative side effects of fossil fuels, the quicker that we can supplement and/or replace petroleum-based power sources, the better. Wind power is a great way to generate clean renewable energy, and the innovations in wind technology being pursued over the last year or so are a reminder that with the right tools, we can turn the movement of the air above us and the structures we’re familiar with into fuel for our energy-hungry lifestyles.

INNOVATIVE AND PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

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AIRBORNE ENERGY

An airborne wind turbine is a design concept for a wind turbine with a rotor supported in the air without a tower, thus benefiting from more mechanical and aerodynamic options, the higher velocity and persistence of wind at high altitudes, while avoiding the expense of tower construction, or the need for slip rings or yaw mechanism. An electrical generator may be on the ground or airborne. Challenges include safely suspending and maintaining turbines hundreds of meters off the ground in high winds and storms, transferring the harvested and/or generated power back to earth, and interference with aviation. This is a positive innovation in wind energy and resolves issues of tower construction in difficult locations.

POSITIVE NEW TURBINE VISION

The environmental impact of wind power when compared to the environmental impacts of fossil fuels, is relatively minor. Compared with other low carbon power sources, wind turbines have some of the lowest global warming potential per unit of electrical energy generated. According to the IPCC, in assessments of the life-cycle global warming potential of energy sources, wind turbines have a median value of between 12 and 11 (gCO2eq/kWh) depending on whether off or onshore turbines are being assessed. While wind farms may cover a large area, they are compatible with many land uses such as farming and grazing, as only small areas of turbine foundations and infrastructure are made unavailable for use.

CHANGING THE FACE OF WIND ENERGY

Instead of capturing energy via the circular motion of a propeller, new designs like this one take advantage of what’s known as vorticity, an aerodynamic effect that produces a pattern of spinning vortices. Vorticity has long been considered the enemy of architects and engineers, who actively try to design their way around these whirlpools of wind. And for good reason: With enough wind, vorticity can lead to an oscillating motion in structures, which, in some cases, like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, can cause their eventual collapse.

BEDZED. OVER THE TOP SOLUTION

Beddington Zero Energy Development
(BedZED) environmentally friendly housing
development in Hackbridge, London, England.
It is in the London Borough of Sutton, 2.0 miles
(3 km) north-east of the town of Sutton itself.
Designed to create zero carbon emissions,
it was the first large scale community to do so.

BUILDINGS AS TURBINES

The two towers are linked via three skybridges, each holding a 225 kW wind turbine, totaling 675 kW of wind power capacity. Each of these turbines measure 29 m (95 ft) in diameter, and is aligned north, which is the direction from which air from the Persian Gulf blows in.

SENSIBLE URBAN RENEWAL

Central Park is a major mixed-use urban renewal project in Sydney, Australia located on Broadway in the suburb of Chippendale. The development is focused on a new public park located just off Broadway of approximately 6,500 square meters (70,000 sq ft) in size. For many decades the southern side of Broadway was dominated by a brewery. The facility closed in the 2000s and the site was put up for sale. Frasers Property purchased the site from the Fosters Group and immediately began to process of conversion to a sustainable, energy independent building.

URBAN INTEGRATION

Green building brings together a vast array of practices, techniques, and skills to reduce and ultimately eliminate the impacts of buildings on the environment and human health. It often emphasizes taking advantage of renewable resources, e.g., using sunlight through passive solar, active solar, and photovoltaic equipment, and using plants and trees through green roofs, rain gardens, and reduction of rainwater run-off. Many other techniques are used, such as using low-impact building materials or using packed gravel or permeable concrete instead of conventional concrete or asphalt to enhance replenishment of ground water.

FORWARD THINKING

Green building rating systems such as BREEAM in the United Kingdom, LEED in the United States and Canada, DGNB in Germany, CASBEE in Japan, and VERDE in Spain help consumers determine a structure’s level of environmental performance. They award credits for optional building features that support green design in categories such as location and maintenance of building site, conservation of water, energy, and building materials, and occupant comfort and health. The number of credits generally determines the level of achievement. Today’s architects and engineers are mindful of these guidelines and pushing forward with positive and sustainable solutions.

CHANGING LIVES

One of the biggest concerns for our water-based resources in the future is the sustainability of the current and even future water resource allocation. As water becomes more scarce, the importance of how it is managed grows vastly. Finding a balance between what is needed by humans and what is needed in the environment is an important step in the sustainability of water resources.

TRANSFORMING TERRA FIRMA

Much efforts in water resource management is directed at optimizing the use of water and in minimizing the environmental impact of water use on the natural environment. The observation of water as an integral part of the ecosystem is based on integrated water resource management, where the quantity and quality of the ecosystem help to determine the nature of the natural resources. Successful management of these resources requires accurate knowledge of the resource available, the uses to which it may be put, the competing demands for the resource, measures to and processes to evaluate the significance and worth of competing demands and mechanisms to translate policy decisions currently taking place.

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