donderdag 5 mei 2011

Milieuvoordeel

Het vilt voor deze scheidingswanden bestaat uit het afval van PET- flessen, wat de afvalberg reduceert. Afval wordt hier geupcycled tot een volwaardig kwaliteitsproduct. De binnenstructuur bestaat uit bio-afbreekbaar plaatmateriaal. Door de vlakke onderdelen wordt het transportvolume van deze producten geminimaliseerd.


Financieel aspect

De prijs van de Buzzispace- scheidingswanden is concurrentieel met klassieke scheidingswanden.

Materiaalbesparing

PET- flessen worden vermalen tot kunststofschilfers die nadien thermisch tot vezeldraden worden getrokken. Van deze vezels wordt het vilt gemaakt voor de kamerschermen en het prikbord. Er wordt geen primair materiaal gebruikt voor de ontwikkeling van de panelen. Het gerecycleerde materiaal kan nadien weer hergebruikt worden voor dezelfde functie en ook de ritsen zijn recycleerbaar.
Zo ontstaat geen afval!

vrijdag 29 april 2011

'bamboo bench' by gal ben-arav


bamboo is a plant that is quickly replenished, making it a sustainable choice for construction.
it also has a high mechanical strength and durability to weather conditions.
choosing to use the material in its natural and raw form, israeli designer gal ben-arav has developed
the 'bamboo bench'. he has done so in wanting to maintain the materialism, simplicity
and natural morphology of the quickly growing species, while on the other hand,
creating a conflict and tension between it and industry - aluminium casting.



the seating unit can be formed using two different bench typologies: with or without a back.
two cast aluminum frames, reflecting the silhouette of a chair or stool form the structural support of the bench.
raw pieces of bamboo fill the frames, acting as both the seat and back of the furniture object.
the frames can be adjusted along the length of the bamboo used according to structural needs
and weight limits.


http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/12929/gal-ben-arav-bamboo-bench.html

Rising Chair










http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ2UbLuOogg&feature=player_embedded

Rising chair van Robert van Embricqs is een unieke stoel dat gevormd word uit een plaat met scharnier verbindingen.

meer info op http://www.robertarchitecture.blogspot.com/

Compostable Netting Bags Crying Out for Supermarket Uptake










Dsolve: Compostable Netting Bags Made from Bioresin are Crying Out for Supermarket Uptake

I don't have this problem in the city, but apparently in suburban America, dead leaves are a big deal. Suburbanites have to rake them up off their lawns and put them in large paper bags out by the curb, and a composting company comes by to pick them up. It's difficult to get the leaves in the bags and if it rains, forget about it—the bag disintegrates.

Paul Kolada was the principal of an Ohio-based ID firm, one of those workaday companies that does design for companies like Lowes and 3M but whom you've never heard of due to the relative anonymity of our field. Around Christmastime one year, Paul observed Christmas trees being sold out of lots and wrapped in plastic netting for transport, a familiar suburban sight.


This sparked an idea, and after 18 months of development he came up with the Dsolv, a bag that looks like plastic netting but is made out of a plant-based resin. As you'll see in thevideo (of Paul's wife and partner, Lois), it's easy to get leaves into by using the spring-loaded sleeve, and the bag is not just biogradable, it's compostable. It eliminates the need for paper bags, is easier to carry, does not dissolve in the rain, and best of all it can be thrown right in with the other compost.

It's not unreasonable to think this could be shrunk and adapted for grocery bags. Most people use plastic grocery bags once, and then the plastic stays around forever. I'd much rather buy two of Dsolv's handles, shop at a store that stocks the bags, and compost them with a clean conscience.

Original article:

Self-healing elastic polymers developed









Self-healing elastic polymers developed inspired by caoutchouc tree.

When the caoutchouc tree is damaged, liquid latex containing capsules of the protein hevein escapes from inside of it. Those capsules rupture, releasing the hevein, which links the latex particles together and ultimately closes up the wound. The whole bursting/sealing-microcapsules thing is obviously a pretty good idea, as it has been put to use in human technology such as self-healing concrete, electronics, paint and aircraft epoxy resin. Now, German researchers have copied the caoutchouc tree's modus operandi to create a self-sealing elastic polymer.
Scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology loaded microcapsules with the adhesive polyisobutylene, then put those capsules into synthetic caoutchouc sap elastomers. The idea was that when pressure was put on the elastomers to the point of cracking, the capsules would rupture and mix with the elastomers' polymer chains, thus sealing the cracks.



As it turned out, the capsules didn't cooperate. When the polyisobutylene was added in an uncapsulized form, however, a self-healing effect did occur – the elastomers' tension expansion was restored by 40 percent after a 24-hour healing period.

The scientists further copied the caoutchouc tree, by charging the elastomer with ions. In the case of the tree, the hevein proteins link up with one another (and in the process, with the latex) via ionic bonding. By charging the synthetic elastomer, a similar effect could be achieved with the polyisobutylene.

Fraunhofer will have a self-healing muffler made from the experimental material on display at the Hannover Fair from April 4th to 8th. A self-healing biorenewable polymer is also being developed at Iowa State University.

Photo: Fraunhofer
Original article: Gizmag

http://www.materia.nl/583.0.html?&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=347&tx_ttnews[backPid]=566&cHash=9d8722b285


donderdag 28 april 2011




Biologisch afbreekbaar servies voor eenmalig gebruik, gemaakt van gevallen bladeren en water.

VerTerra Dinnerware site