Thursday, November 27, 2008
Recycled Dreams
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Natural Ingredients Low Cost Air Conditioning
A Michigan State University researcher and a colleague have won the Boston Innovation Prize for the design of a low-cost, energy-efficient method of cooling and dehumidifying residential and small commercial spaces.
Norbert Muller, assistant professor in Michigan State University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, and John Barrie, of the Appropriate Technology Collaborative in Ann Arbor, collaborated on the award-winning project.
“The technology used for this air conditioner is radically different,” M?ller said. “We are using the most natural refrigerant, water.”
Muller said the project is part of a broader context of his research to reduce energy consumption and that the award is an acknowledgement of the progress that has been made.
The Innovation Prize was developed by the Barr Foundation, a private family foundation committed to enhancing the quality of life for citizens in the Boston area, and the Cambridge Energy Alliance (CES), an organization that seeks to reduce the carbon footprint of Cambridge, Mass., in the next five years.
Muller and Barrie were awarded $30,000 for the cooling technology they submitted as part of the contest. It was one of 38 submissions reviewed by a panel of national experts.
“We looked at a number of impressive designs, but this one really stood out because of its potential to consume significantly less energy and reduce peak demand compared to standard air conditioners,” said Kendra Tupper, a member of the panel of judges and a senior consultant at the Rocky Mountain Institute.
The air conditioner uses water vapor as the refrigerant. When water vapor is used this way it is referred to as R-718. Water vapor can be more efficient than traditional refrigerants, but engineering the compressor is difficult and expensive, Muller added.
“In Europe where there are high energy costs, water vapor is used as a refrigerant in large projects,” Muller said. “The economics of making a smaller scale R-718 compressor have, in the past, proven to be prohibitive.”
Muller invented a way to make an economical compressor that is small and lightweight by designing a novel turbo compressor woven out of high-strength fibers with an integrated motor.
“It gives wonderful control. It’s efficient and compact,” said Muller, who points out that up to 30 percent of U.S. electricity is used for cooling and air conditioning. “Another plus for the new R-718 technology is that by experience it is surprisingly quiet.”
Barrie is an architect and industrial designer. He and Muller have teamed up for other grant proposals.
“I work to develop and promote innovative sustainable technologies,” said Barrie. “My contribution to this project is as a consultant on how air conditioning functions in the real world.”
Muller and Barrie want to develop prototypes of the air conditioner as additional funding for development becomes available.
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Tuesday, November 18, 2008
WINDSPIRE INSPIRES GOING GREEN! (GREAT LAKES IT REPORT PRESS RELEASE)
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| An example of a Windspire installation |
Posted: Monday, 17 November 2008 9:35PM
Warren Schools To Consider Renewable Energy Curriculum
A unique vertical-axis wind turbine would be installed at the Macomb Math, Science and Technology Center under an agreement to be considered Wednesday night by the board of the Warren Consolidated Schools.
The Windspire wind turbine would be installed by Southern Exposure Renewable Energy Co. of Ortonville. It's manufactured by Nevada-based Mariah Power.
The turbine is part of a larger proposal to create a "renewable energy institute" at the math and science magnet school, with the company and the school district working together to develop a new renewable energy curriculum.
More at www.mariahpower.com or www.seenergyco.com.
Recently Mariah Power partnered with Mastech of Sterling Heights to manufacture its Windspire product at Mastech's plant in Manistee. The first Michigan made wind turbines are scheduled to become available in February.
Friday, November 7, 2008
A Michigan based Electric Vehicle Manufacturer
This low-speed electric vehicle fits some niche applications. According to its website, "EnVironmental Transportation Solutions, LLC, manufacturers the EcoV-1. A battery electric vehicle (BEV), or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), the EcoV-1 offers a low carbon, high mpg, low speed alternative to moving people and packages outdoors or indoors."
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
MICHIGAN STEM SUMMIT?
Converge Summer 2008
Along with the first American telegraph, the first basketball game and the first e-mail, Massachusetts was the first state in the union to hold a statewide STEM summit. It was 2004, following the U.S. Department of Education's National Summits on Mathematics and Science, when Massachusetts launched the nation's first summit on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The focus was to bring stakeholders together to define and discuss STEM issues in the Commonwealth and to pursue solutions.
The problems were clear: not enough students graduating with STEM backgrounds to fill the open positions in the marketplace; graduates choosing business rather than teaching; and fewer students indicating an interest in STEM careers.
At about the same time, the Massachusetts Legislature began investing in STEM workforce development through the Economic Stimulus Bill. This legislation was intended to improve education and preparation of students for the STEM pipeline and has provided over $10 million in funding for STEM programs.
While the programs have produced many ideas and engaged students, several people -- especially those in the private sector -- were frustrated with having to reiterate their needs and interests. Additionally, there was some repetition of initiatives, which meant that scarce resources were not being used to their best advantage. Slowly the notion emerged for a well-constructed, strategic plan. The plan would lay out an inventory and a comparison of actual resources versus needs, which would help focus the efforts of all the stakeholders in the Commonwealth.
In 2006, Jack Wilson, the president of the University of Massachusetts, himself a physicist, created a position to oversee STEM activities and a call went out at the fourth summit for volunteers interested in creating a state plan. Several networks were targeted to secure broad representation of the institutions and groups working on STEM.
Several face-to-face meetings, many e-mails and at least eight drafts, resulted in an outline. This volunteer group identified all the elements needed in a state STEM plan.
However, a volunteer group with no affiliation does not have the authority to promulgate the development of a plan. So the next step was to go to the Department of Higher Education, where the Pipeline Fund resides, and which oversees the functioning of the Robert H. Goddard Council, an oversight group mandated by the Economic Stimulus Bill. The council includes pre-kindergarten through higher education stakeholders, legislators and business representatives. The group proposed the development of a plan for Massachusetts, based on the outline created by the volunteers.
The council agreed and approved a contract to hire an overseer for the process.
On Nov. 7, 2007, the Goddard Council approved the development of a state STEM plan with the nonprofit organization Education Development Center, Inc., overseeing the planning process. An advisory committee was convened and a process determined.
In May 2008, the Massachusetts Legislature re-established its STEM Caucus to contribute to the plan. This is an informal group led by a state representative and a senator, which brings together other legislators, educators and the business sector to "resolve" policy and financial supports for STEM in Massachusetts.
Straight from the Plan
The following is excerpted from the Massachusetts STEM plan:
Massachusetts STEM Education Goal and Objectives
The goal of an integrated STEM strategy for Massachusetts is to increase, by 35 percent, the number of high school students preparing for and entering STEM careers by 2012, as measured by SAT indication of STEM career choices and college applications in STEM disciplines.
To achieve this goal, the following objectives should be met:
- Increase significantly the number of students, including females and culturally and linguistically diverse and underserved students, who are aware of, interested in, and motivated to study STEM from elementary school through higher education graduation.
- Raise the level of STEM achievement of all Massachusetts students, from elementary school through completion of higher education, by 10 percent a year increase in performance as measured by a variety of methodologies and indicators of achievement, including MCAS, NAEP, TIMSS, and college course completion rates within the next five years.
- Increase, by 10 percent a year, the number of qualified teachers of STEM (pre-k - 16) who can provide solid STEM education for all students, through both teacher preparation and professional development, as measured by number of teachers licensed in STEM and hired to teach STEM subjects within the next five years.
- Increase, by 10 percent a year, the number of students entering as STEM college majors who then graduate in these fields.
- Improve and provide equitable STEM instruction, curriculum and programs from elementary school through higher education as indicated from an inventory to be prepared as part of the state plan.
Massachusetts looked to the following state plans while developing its own:
- Alabama:http://www.amsti.org
- Connecticut:http://www.ctacad.org/files/2007KeepingCTCompetitive.pdf
- Georgia:http://www.gaprism.org
- Hawaii:http://www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/innovation
- Kentucky:One of the recommendations of Kentucky's STEM task force is to engage business, industry and civic leaders to improve STEM education and skills in the Commonwealth and create incentives for Kentucky businesses that employ and invest in STEM-educated students.
http://cpe.ky.gov/news/reports/cpe_reports/stem.htm - Minnesota's STEM Web site lets readers know that STEM is more than just math equations, lab reports and spreadsheets. It's about getting into subjects that can lead to exciting careers.
http://www.mn-stem.com - Ohio:http://stem.ohio.gov
- Rhode Island:Accountability for results in math and science has been assigned to the governor's new Statewide PK-16 Council. Through this structure, responsibility for and commitment to action will be shared among Rhode Island's educational and business leaders to ensure system improvement on each of the recommended strategies.
http://www.governor.ri.gov/documents/TEC_M&S_FA_LR.pdf - Texas:http://www.tea.state.tx.us/ed_init/sec/thsp/tstem.html
Sunday, November 2, 2008
INNOVATION CONSTANT: IRRESPECTIVE of Space and Time!
It’s No Time to Forget About Innovation
BY its very nature, innovation is inefficient. While blockbusters do emerge, few of the new products or processes that evolve from innovative thinking ultimately survive the test of time. During periods of economic growth, such inefficiencies are chalked up as part of the price of forging into the future.
But these aren’t such times. Wild market gyrations, frozen credit markets and an overall sour economy herald a new round of corporate belt-tightening. Foremost on the target list is anything inefficient. That’s bad news for corporate innovation, and it could spell trouble for years to come, even after the economy turns around.
“To be honest, we had a problem with innovation even before the economic crisis. That’s the reason I wrote my book,” says Judy Estrin, former chief technology officer at Cisco Systems and author of “Closing the Innovation Gap.” “We’re focusing on the short term and we’re not planting the seeds for the future.”
In tough times, of course, many companies have to scale back. But, she says: “To quote Obama, you don’t use a hatchet. You use a scalpel. Leaders need to pick and choose with great care.”
There are important things managers can do to ensure that creative forward-thinking doesn’t go out the door with each round of layoffs. Fostering a companywide atmosphere of innovation — encouraging everyone to take risks and to think about novel solutions, from receptionists to corner-suite executives — helps ensure that the loss of any particular set of minds needn’t spell trouble for the entire company.
She suggests instilling five core values to entrench innovation in the corporate mind-set: questioning, risk-taking, openness, patience and trust. All five must be used together — risk-taking without questioning leads to recklessness, she says, while patience without trust sets up an every-man-for-himself mentality.
In an era of Six Sigma black belts and brown belts, Ms. Estrin urges setting aside certain efficiency measures in favor of what she calls “green-thumb leadership” — a future-oriented management style that understands, and even encourages, taking risks. Let efficiency measures govern the existing “factory farm,” she says, but create greenhouses and experimental gardens along the sides of the farm to nurture the risky investments that likely will take a number of years to bear fruit.
“I’m not suggesting you only cut from today’s stuff and keep the future part untouched,” she says. “You have to balance it.”
Yet even that approach has its drawbacks. Companies that create silos of innovation by designating one group as the “big thinkers” while making others handle day-to-day concerns risk losing their innovative edge if any of the big thinkers leave the company or ultimately must be laid off.
“Innovation has to be embedded in the daily operation, in the entire work force,” says Jon Fisher, a business professor, serial entrepreneur, and author of “Strategic Entrepreneurism,” which advocates building a start-up’s business from the beginning with an eye toward selling the company. “A large acquirer’s interest in a start-up or smaller company is binary in nature: They either want you or they don’t, based on the innovation you have to offer. The best way to foster innovation is to create something, put it to the test, build a good company and then get it under the umbrella of a world-renowned company to move it forward.”
David Thompson, chief executive and co-founder of Genius.com Inc., based in San Mateo, Calif., says that innovation “has a bad name in down times” but that “bad times focus the mind and the best-focused minds in the down times are looking for the opportunities.”
“You do have to batten down the hatches and reduce expenses, but you can’t do it at the expense of the big picture,” Mr. Thompson adds. “You always have to keep in mind the bigger picture that’s coming down the road in two or three years.
“The last thing you want to do with innovation is just throw money at it. It’s a very tricky balance.”
In fact, hard times can be the source of innovative inspiration, says Chris Shipley, a technology analyst and executive producer of the DEMO conferences, where new ideas make their debuts. “Some of the best products and services come out of some of the worst times,” she says. In the early 1990s, tens of millions of dollars had gone down the drain in a futile effort to develop “pen computing” — an early phase of mobile computing — and a recession was shriveling the economic outlook.
Yet the tiny Palm Computing managed to revitalize the entire industry in a matter of months by transforming itself overnight from a software maker into a hardware company.
“Our biggest challenge right now is fear,” she says. “The worst thing that a company can do right now is go into hibernation, into duck-and-cover. If you just sit on your backside and wait for things to get better, they’re not going to. They’re going to get better for somebody, but not necessarily for you.”
HOWARD LIEBERMAN, also a serial entrepreneur and founder of the Silicon Valley Innovation Institute, says innovation breeds effectiveness. It’s not about efficiency, he argues. “Efficiency is for bean counters,” he says. “It’s not for C.E.O.’s or inventors or founders.”
The current economic downturn comes as no surprise to him, he says, because it mirrors the downturn at the time of the dot-com bust. Then and now, the companies that survive are those that keep creativity and innovation foremost.
“Creativity doesn’t care about economic downturns,” Mr. Lieberman says. “In the middle of the 1970s, when we were having a big economic downturn, both Apple and Microsoft were founded. Creative people don’t care about the time or the season or the state of the economy; they just go out and do their thing.”