In this TED video Alex Steffen informs us on the changing world and what needs to continue changing. A big point was that the expansion of technologies in the more developed countries is far greater than other countries. If we can expand our technologies to the lower developed countries then a chain of events can happen. The technologies can increase the condition of the countries, both economically and environmentally. The need for this is because the world is overusing its resources. He talked about some of the ideas we need to put into place. These being, houses that generate their own electricity. Cities becoming denser, which would allow us to travel more by subways or busses. Green roofs would replace the environment that the building had originally taken away. Another really neat technology he touched on was that we have genetically engineered flowers to detect landmines. They turn red from the chemicals released by the landmine. In turn saving lives because people won’t step there.
This source is really closely related to my interest of my career choice. A college in the Netherlands designed a concrete that eats pollution. It can be applied to places that have bad pollution such as busy cities. The concrete is coated with titanium dioxide which converts the pollution, in the presence of the sun, into a non toxic nitrate. In areas where the pollution is in more concentrated an experiment was held with the concrete. The results were that the concrete reduced about 40% of the pollution. It is little maintenance because it is self cleaning. The concrete is strong enough to be used in a structural design too. I think it’s a great idea and that someday I will be able to design something of the same concept.
A restaurant in chicago, called the Uncommon Grounds, is using a rooftop garden. The garden reduced the energy bill by 5 percent due to the cooling effects the garden had on the temperature on the interior of the building. The head chef of the restaurant also uses the vegetables in his cooking. I had already heard of green roof tops, but it was interesting to read how this restaurant is making it useful.
This source was a really quick read. It was related to the green roofs post. Some company “PNC” has a green wall. They have a section of their building about the size of a tennis court made of vegetation. The varying colors display their logo. Similar to the rooftop, the wall reduces the energy needed to cool the building. As well, the wall takes a small bite out of the pollution in that area.
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