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2012 Innovation to Inspiration - i2i Awardees

submitted by Albert Gomez

techconnect.org

Congratulations to the 2012 i2i Awardees. Over 150 high quality submissions were vetted by the joint Investment & Corporate review committee based on the potential positive impact of the submitted innovations for the planet and society. Join us as these leading companies present their inspiring technologies to the SXSW Eco community, October 3-5, in Austin Texas!

http://www.techconnect.org/i2i/awardees.html

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Intentional Communities

submitted by Susan Steinhauser

Intentional Community is an inclusive term for ecovillages, cohousing communities, residential land trusts, communes, student co-ops, urban housing cooperatives, intentional living, alternative communities, cooperative living, and other projects where people strive together with a common vision.

This web site serves the growing communities' movement, providing resources for starting a community, finding a community home, living in community, and creating more community in your life.

(VIEW WEBSITE)

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Agri-Cube grows mass quantities of vegetables in a one-car parking spot

External view of the 11.7 square meter Agri-Cube E garden factory

Image: External view of the 11.7 square meter Agri-Cube E garden factory

submitted by Samuel Bendett

gizmag.com - Brian Dodson - August 14th, 2012

Daiwa House, Japan's largest homebuilder, has introduced a line of prefabricated hydroponic vegetable factories, aimed at housing complexes, hotels, and top-end restaurants. Called the Agri-Cube, these units are touted by Daiwa as the first step in the industrialization of agriculture, to be located in and amongst the places where people live, work, and play.

More and more people desire sustainable, organic produce for their own use, and are turning to urban farming in an effort to insure the highest degree of freshness.

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The 'Chemputer' That Could Print Out Any Drug

Chemistry professor Lee Cronin with the 'chemputer' he has adapted from a 3D printer. Photograph: Murdo Macleod

When Lee Cronin learned about the concept of 3D printers, he had a brilliant idea: why not turn such a device into a universal chemistry set that could make its own drugs?

guardian.co.uk - by Tim Adams - July 21, 2012

Professor Lee Cronin is a likably impatient presence, a one-man catalyst. "I just want to get stuff done fast," he says. And: "I am a control freak in rehab." Cronin, 39, is the leader of a world-class team of 45 researchers at Glasgow University, primarily making complex molecules. But that is not the extent of his ambition.

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Lee Cronin - The Cronin Group - University of Glasgow, U.K.
http://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/cronin/

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Glowing Pollution Sensor Equipped Kites Replace Beijing's Stars

submitted by Albert Gomez

good.is - Julie Ma - July 6th, 2012

Urban air quality in China has been miserable for years, but the issue really came to the foreground in June when China’s vice minister for environmental protection put foreign embassies on blast for publishing national air pollution data online. The U.S. Embassy, whose hourly Twitter updates on Beijing's air quality have helped spread awareness of the dangers of pollution among the Chinese public, was the likely target of the criticism.

With the Chinese government’s resistance to letting air quality information circulate freely, two graduate students from Carnegie Mellon and Harvard are taking things into their own hands: literally.

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AquaSel, A Non-Thermal Brine Concentrator (NTBC)

NTBC 3D renderingImage: NTBC 3D rendering

submitted by Albert Gomez

ge-energy.com

GE’s AquaSel system is breakthrough non-thermal desalination technology with extremely high water recovery. It originates from GE’s leading expertise in desalination and zero liquid discharge technologies plus significant research and development.

(VISIT WEBSITE)

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Growing interest in prairie cordgrass as a biofuel source

www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com - June 27, 2012

                                                                              

                                                          Source: illinois.edu

Until recently, prairie cordgrass (Spartina pectinata) has received comparatively little attention because, unlike the other types of switchgrass, it is not a good forage crop; as interest in energy crops and in feedstock production for cellulosic biofuels increases, however, prairie cordgrass is receiving more attention because it grows well on marginal land.

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Eating Planet -- Nutrition Today: A Challenge for Mankind and for the Planet

Eating Planet 2012 Event Notification ImageThe Worldwatch Institute's Nourishing the Planet project and the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition would like to invite everyone to the launch of the book Eating Planet - Nutrition Today: A Challenge for Mankind and for the Planet on June 28th, 2012. There will a panel, "How do we feed (and also nourish) a planet of 7 billion?", hosted by the editor-in-chief of the Food & Environmental Reporting Network, Samuel Fromartz.

The event will take place at The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WNYC Studios on 44 Charlton Street, New York, NY, from 10 AM to 12 PM EST. The event is free to attend, but space is limited. Please see the link below to RSVP. A light brunch will be provided.

(READ EVENT DETAILS)

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The City as Lab: 21 Metropoles Prepare to Prototype

Living Labs Global co-founder Sascha Haselmayer addresses the crowd in Rio de Janeiro

submitted by Albert Gomez

good.is - by Zak Stone - May 4, 2012

In a megapolis like Mexico City, any planning initiative that moves citizens from cars to busses will pay off in reductions to traffic and air pollution. A major deterrent to using public transportation in the city? Comfort, according to Dr. Julio Mendoza, director of Mexico City's Institute of Science and Technology. Many would rather drive than experience that particular breed of public transportation-pegged anxiety: waiting helplessly on the street corner for a bus that feels like it won't ever arrive.

After participating in the Living Labs Global Award program, a competition designed to help cities solve planning challenges, the Mexican capital may have found a fix. In February, Mexico City and 20 other LLGA participants around the world put out an open call to companies to pitch solutions to important but fixable problems.

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A Box Full of Light Saves Lives

      

Solar panels, lights, and battery chargers.  All that's needed to give doctors and patients a chance when the power goes out.  Photo/We Care Solar

cbcradio - February 29, 2012

They were in the middle of surgery again when the power went out in the Nigerian operating room.

Luckily, a visiting American doctor had a flashlight.

But Laura Stachel figured there had to be a way around the recurring problem.

And with husband Hal Aronson, a solar energy educator in California, they came up with something called the Solar Suitcase.

She joined us while unpacking one in a maternity clinic in another part of Africa to explain how it's providing lifesaving light.

Dr. Laura Stachel at work with her Solar Suitcase in Sierra Leone. She's co-founder of WE CARE Solar, creating technology to benefit maternal health in the developing world.

http://wecaresolar.org/

http://www.cbc.ca/dispatches/news-promo/2012/02/29/a-box-full-of-light-and-life/

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