Atlantica - 01.05.2007, Page 14

A T L A N T I C A 13
Hi and Lo
Eco-loving feats of technology from around the world. Compiled by Sara Blask.
It’s Your turn
It may not be the sexiest phrase
– offsetting carbon emissions – but if
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Al Gore, and
Pearl Jam are willing to pony up the
cash to neutralize their eco-footprint,
then so can you (see p. 26 for more).
Take their lead and start offsetting your
own carbon dioxide emissions with
Native Energy, a privately-owned Native
American energy company based
in Vermont that invests in renewable
energy. Use their CO2 calculators to
figure out how much of that nasty,
global warming-causing carbon you’re
creating (you can offset everything from
your wedding to your dorm room to
your cross-country road trip), and once
that’s calculated, choose which projects
you want to help build – either wind
farms, farm methane energy, or a blend
of the two – and offset your emissions
for as little as USD 3 per month. In return
you’ll get a windy thank you note from
our earth. nativeenergy.com
tHe Greenest and HIppest of aLL
With its open spaces, floor-to-ceiling windows, and glass
atrium with hydroponic vegetable garden, the new Halley VI
research station that will open on Antarctica’s Brunt Ice Shelf
in 2009 could resemble the design wishes of a hipster’s dream
loft. Incorporate those architecture elements into eight pre-
fabricated and linkable modules, add adjustable steel skis to
the bottom of each unit, and you have the blueprint for the
new USD 74 million, fully re-locatable research station that will
serve as the new home of the British Antarctic Survey.
British scientists have assessed that a major calving event
sometime after 2010 could leave the existing research station,
Halley V, stranded on an iceberg. To cope with future calving
events, its successor has been designed so that it can be
towed across the ice on giant skis, last longer, and have less
of an environmental impact than the previous bases. Because
increased manpower equates increased energy consumption,
the designers reduced the number of people required during
peak season from 78 to 52. Water consumption will be reduced
by up to 50 percent with the help of low flow showers,
washing machines and toilets – and that’s only the beginning.
antarctica.ac.uk
WIne, tHe neW tHread
What smells like red wine and feels like sludge when
wet? That’s easy, a new bacterial fermented dress
made from wine that… grows itself. These dresses
won’t be appearing in your local clothing boutique
anytime soon, but a team of artists and scientists at the
University of Western Australia are currently figuring
out how to turn biological specimens into art pieces
– and potentially creating a new textile in the process.
Essentially what happens is that living microbes
in the wine are converted into a scummy layer of
cellulose, which is the same material that forms the cell
walls of green plants. The cellulose layers are then laid
over one another to create the organic fabric. The only
problem now is that when the cellulose layers dry, they
turn into a delicate, tissue paper-like material. The goal
is to partner up with an organic chemist soon to figure
out a way to strengthen the fibers and produce longer,
more stable ones so you don’t have to walk around
all day in a wet skirt. Their other project? Producing a
translucent material using beer. Stay tuned.
bioalloy.org/projects/micro-be.html