Enthusiast Fuels his Ecoboat with Human Fat

Vehicles that draw their energy from green sources have created an exciting new frontier in the travel industry! At least, that’s what most people think. When it comes to boats, though, alternative energy crafts are nothing new. Back in the day (1902 in fact!), Mary Gordon was an electric-powered boat sporting stained glass windows, silk curtains and luxurious, velvet covered chairs.

So how far have we really come since then?

Pretty damn far.

This is Earthrace, a state-of-the-art speedcraft that runs on human fat, in addition to other biodiesel fuels. The crew of this vessel is currently racing to break the world speed record for circumnavigating the globe.

According to the Guardian, Earthrace is a 24 meter powerboat that runs on 100% renewable biodiesel fuels and has a net zero carbon footprint. Furthermore, Earthrace is the first boat in the world to use hemp composite in the construction of the ship body. Lubricants for the ship are made from vegetable oils, bedding foams are made from canola oils, and the crew even eats organic/local foods and wears hemp and bamboo clothing.

Here’s the 70 ft. Mary Gordon–an electric-powered boat–taking a crowd for a tour in 1902. Note how Earthrace appears to be a direct descendant of ‘Ms Gordon’:).

Pete Bethune, the New Zealand skipper of Earthrace, believes the boat can help advance biodiesel as a genuinely viable alternative to petroleum diesel. Bethune and his family are more than a little invested in promoting fuel alternatives-they sold their home and belongings to fund the boat. Demonstrating further commitment to the cause, Bethune underwent liposuction and donated enough of his personal body fat to produce 100ml of biofuel.

Earthrace is now on pace to break the world speed record. The current record holder is British boat Cable and Wireless Adventurer, which circumnavigated the globe in 75 days a decade ago. The race is going well–after a little trouble in paradise, the crew repaired a broken engine and powered into Palau this week, 2400 miles ahead of schedule. Check here to see where Earthrace is right now.

What`s in the future for Earthrace’s technology? Well, the “greenest” part of Earthrace’s design isn’t its two Cummins Mercruiser QSC 540 engines-it’s the unique and incredibly efficient hull.

Unlike other boats that ride on top of waves, Earthrace pierces through them with its trimaran hull. The design allows this boat to go far faster in rough seas than conventional vessels. The piercing is controlled by pumping up to 2.5 tons of water into a special ballast tank in the bow. The faster the boat is travelling, the more it pierces. The limiting speed factor is the crew’s ability to handle the ride, rather than the capacity of the boat. In rough seas, this boat is fierce. If that doesn’t sound like it’s for you, consider a more relaxed alternative such as a solar powered boat.

When not racing or engaged in publicity events, the crew just likes to have fun with their powerful craft. Check them out whooping it up in this wakeboarding video in Loch Ness, Scotland. Watch out, Nessie!

How to Live in a Shipping Container

This ain’t your mama’s prefab.

Mobile homes, step aside-shipping containers and other modern techniques and architectures are here.

This spring, Brio 54 introduces a new set of prefab residential prototypes. Brio54’s mission is to provide sustainable, affordable design while delivering high quality construction. Each Brio54 home comes complete with green features such as centralized efficient heating and cooling, moisture and ventilation control, dual flush toilets, energy star HVAC and appliances, passive solar energy design, all natural wood and stone flooring, and 3Form Ecoresin countertops.

They have some stiff competition. Since going into production earlier this year, Adam Kalkin has sold a dozen Quik Houses, each based on five shipping containers.

Cheap, strong and easily transportable by boat, truck or train, shipping containers have changed status from waste product to green construction material. The basic Quik House is a two-story, 2,000-square-foot home with three bedrooms, two baths, skylights, and enormous glass windows. The price ranges from $76,000 for the basic kit to $160,000. That`s less than $100 per square foot, including a stainless-steel kitchen and mahogany doors. His most recent design — the “Push Button House” — is a home built inside a shipping container with mechanized walls that open like a blossoming flower.

Architects Pieter Peelings and Silvia Mertens of Sculp(IT) live and work in this four story shipping container home. A spa is located on the roof. Hurricane proof, flood proof, and fire proof, these metal Lego blocks are tough enough to be stacked twelve high. Not only are they green, they fit neatly into odd spaces. Imagine slotting this home in between two skyscrapers!

What`s more, they`re movable. Travelodge recently constructed a “portable” hotel out of recycled shipping containers in London, in anticipation of the 2012 Olympics. Each room is a Travelpod. The containers fit together like a giant Lego set. They can be disassembled and easily reassembled at a different site, or used individually:

The hotel company plans to use Travelpods as an on-site camping alternative for events such as Burning Man. They will be transported from site to site to fit the need for temporary hotels.

Finally, shipping containers work as construction materials in all sorts of environments and difficult-to-reach spaces. These three pictures trace the construction of a home in the midst of a dense rainforest in Australia. This double container home is accessible only by a narrow, unpaved path. The PVC pillars keep the house dry, stable, and vermin-free without disturbing the complex root system underneath. The materials cost less than $16,000 and are both recycled (for the most part) and recyclable for the future.

Ten Clever Furniture Designs from Recycled Materials

We all have seen quirky one-off sculptures made from recycled materials but it is a decent bet that most designers don’t think about the possibilities of creating lines of recycled furniture. With so many materials going to waste in droves it seems a shame not to think big about how to give these a new life. While many of these are still mostly conceptual a lot of them have potential beyond being whimsical one-time creations.

Aluminum shavings sound like something that might be easy to recycle but they aren’t. In fact they are normally dumped into landfills though one designer has decided to turn them into quite classy-looking nicely-colored counter-tops. Now you could pay more for a granite counter-top or have something that both looks equally interesting/variegated and makes a great conversation piece.

Newspapers can be a very tricky thing to reuse without recycling but one student designer has figured out away to work around their weaknesses and play on their strengths. The strength and the natural ‘give’ of the newspapers provides a solid-but-soft underlying structure to this otherwise sturdy chair.

Whether these recycled spoon creations are tacky or clever is up to you to decide. They certainly are more variegated and playful than some of the other simpler designs shown here. Judging from her dress and decor however they are a perfect fit to the designer’s own style.

Old tires are probably some of the most prevalent not-easily-recyclables on the planet. The above solution is really quite simple and small-scale enough that not a lot of reworking of the tires is necessary to create these comfortable little chairs.

One has to wonder if these old whiskey barrel parts used to create various pieces of furniture have a lingering odor (pleasant or otherwise) from their days of aging alcoholic beverages. Regardless, though, they do have a rough-and-ready character from their slightly uneven shapes that gives a natural variety to the resulting designs that somehow makes them feel more comfortable, aged and homey.

It sure takes a lot of drinking straws to make a single piece of furniture but if the material is difficult to do anything else with then why not, really? It’s hard to imagine this wouldn’t crush under pressure but perhaps the sheer number is enough to make it stable while the void spaces make it comfortable.

In clockwise order shown above are various more great examples of recycled urban furniture: a light made from broken light tubes, a lamp made from an old iron, a chair from a shopping cart and a table from bent bike tires. If you have any additional ideas for ordinary trash you could turn into interesting recycled furniture you can add them in the comments below.

Update: New Floating Man-Made Island About to be Open to the Public

The original Spiral Island was the talk of the world: a man-made floating island constructed from 250,000 plastic bottles that could drift and relocate as needed until it was destroyed by disaster. Now the new Spiral Island is slated to open to the public within the next few months in Laguna Makax near Isla Mujeres. The new island has drawn in donations, volunteers and visitors from all parts of the world and walks of life - people inspired by what may be one of the most impressive do-it-yourself projects of modern times.

(Above: the old Spiral Island, Below: The new one under construction)

The infamous island has been at the center of controversies with each step forward as any endeavor this industrious and unusual is likely to be. Some claim it is a brilliant environmental design - using almost exclusively recycled materials in its construction. Others note that when the last island was destroyed it resulted in the littering of its materials and is in many ways the work of a single insane architectural genius. Still, were it not for that catastrophe those materials would still be providing a home for some and destination for others with a minimal use of non-recycled parts and clearly its creators never intended for it to be demolished in such a fashion.

There is a variety of media available to people who want to learn more about spiral island. The Spiral Islanders site has forums, a blog, photo collections and videos related to the construction and history of the island as well as the stories and experiences of those who have worked on it and the areas in which they have done so. It is easy to see how, as people learn more and more about the project, they become increasingly intrigued and many ultimately end up visiting and helping with the island itself. The Ripley’s Believe-It-Or-Not video below and photo collection are also a great place to get a feel for the island.

Find more photos like this on Richie Sowa’s Spiral Island

The Changing Face of Climate Change

While some scientists predict a natural end to global warming in the near future others were recently caught off guard, surprised to learn they were unintentionally on a list of global warming deniers. Still, we’re dealing with a classic case of semantics and subterfuge. Sure, the Earth might stop warming on its own but does that mean humans aren’t changing the planet’s climate? Not at all. Sure, some scientists don’t believe in evolution either, but do we give them credit? Of course not.
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