september 2009 issue
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World Watch
Abu Dhabi Eyes a Green Future
BY GAIL HELGASON
Freelance Writer
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WASTELESS LIVING |
The World Centre of Green Energy — you might not expect Abu Dhabi, the development-crazy capital of the United Arab Emirates, to go after this title, but that’s exactly what it’s doing. Germany’s Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports that Abu Dhabi has already invested US $22 billion in its Masdar Initiative, which is “set up to establish an entirely new economic sector dedicated to alternative and sustainable energy.”
Foster and Partners, a prestigious London architectural firm, will design what the government hopes will be the world’s first “zero-carbon, zero-waste city.” It’s set to be completed by 2016.
Abu Dhabi has also announced plans to host the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency. Environmental sustainability requirements are being written into its building codes, and incentives will be offered to developers to make buildings more energy-efficient.
The Face Of Polymers
Turns Red
If you’re like most people, your face turns a bit red under stress. And as it turns out, some recently developed polymers, of all things, react in much the same way.
With funding from the United States Army, scientists at the University of Illinois have come up with polymers that change colour when overstressed, reports CNET News in San Francisco. The polymers could be used for smart coatings on bridges, or for such items as parachute cords and climbing ropes.
Substances called “mechanophores” are responsible for the colour change, which goes gradually from amber to orange and then red.
Material Choices
Speak to the Animals
Polarized light pollution from road surfaces and glassy buildings is creating an “ecological trap” for wildlife, according to Civil Engineering (Reston, Va.). The dangerous and confusing effects could be reduced through choice of building materials and simple steps such as the use of white markings on roads or white curtains on windows.
The findings were published in the Ecological Society of America’s Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.
The Dust Mask Comes to a Theatre Near You
Hollywood develops plenty of innovative technology to blow things up and make actors look good. And some of that applied science can play a big role off the set, too. Case in point: the movies are helping real-world industry improve the decidedly unsexy product you know as a dust mask.
Civil Engineering (Reston, Va.) reports that the design challenge is to make a comfortable mask while maintaining an airtight seal. The “living surfaces” of the product have to be modeled mathematically — a daunting task.
“Representing the positions and movements of the human face is a big challenge,” says Chris Pieper of Kimberly-Clark Corp. in Neenah, Wisconsin.
This was achieved by borrowing Hollywood’s technique of extracting position data from a low-resolution sample of facial-motion capture. Special software was then used to analyze how the dust mask would interact with the face as it changed.
A Left-Handed Search for Aliens
Like humans, molecules can be described as left-handed or right-handed. Now, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md., have built a prototype using this knowledge to look for extraterrestrial life on Mars, says Civil Engineering (Reston, Va.).
The instrument will search for telltale signs of life on the landscape, in the form of “chirality” or handedness. The chemical behaviours of left- and right-handed molecules differ, the article notes.
Researchers believe that a large number of molecules with the same chirality could be a sign of life, because offspring have the same type as their parents. The hope is to refine the prototype, and then apply the technology to a large telescope or space probe.
Chalk It Up To Engineering
Food Engineering (Troy, Mo.) reports that calcium carbonate may become the material of choice for flexible food pouches in Europe. The pouches can be sterilized before shipping, eliminating use of water and chemicals. Calcium carbonate, or chalk, accounts for up to two-thirds of the construction materials, giving the product superior strength and lightness.
The system was developed by Ecolean AB of Sweden and first installed in a Russian dairy.
Production Speed Meets
Cookie Monster’s Needs
Cookies, wafers and biscuits are rolling off the conveyor belt faster than ever, thanks to machine vision technology, reports Mechanical Engineering (New York). The technology quickly checks for defective packages. To use the revamped systems, manufacturing engineers no longer need a programming background.
Waste Heat Eyed for Homes
Not-in-my-back-yard, or NIMBY, is all about neighbours not wanting industries or other developments near where they eat, sleep and walk the dog. But what if the plant next door is heating your home?
British engineering experts suggest that a controversial coal-fired power station planned for Kingsnorth in Kent could do just that. The station could be equipped with technology to capture waste heat for reuse, reports the U.K.’s Press Association.
“New housing developments could be built with small-scale plants which produce electricity and heat to make them more energy-efficient and cut their carbon output,” says the report.