Stuff I Want: Home Appliance Edition

This combination toilet/wash-basin uses the hand-basin water to load the toilet for the next flush at a 70% water savings over the standard practice of a separate toilet & sink. It also saves a great deal of space and simplifies plumbing: reducing manufacturing, purchasing and construction costs in addition to square footage requirements.

Another great idea is the super-efficient combination clothes washer/dryer, which requires 1/2 the space of even a stackable set.

By utilizing technologies like these and many of the ideas from ship-building and small-space living (think Tokyo apartment or Tumbleweed House here) it becomes much more appealing to think of living in a dwelling with a much smaller footprint (like the shipping containers from a post I wrote yesterday). I think we could get creative and seriously reduce our footprint, maintenance and expenses. By doing this we would be simultaneously raising our standard of living and freeing our time and energy.

I found these 2 featured products in a post on Worldchanging. (title link to post)

The 10 Most Fuel-Efficient Cars and SUVs (2009 models available in the USA)

The 10 Most Fuel-Efficient 2009 Cars and SUVs
See the Only 14 Models with Better Than 30 MPG
By Dan Shapley

I found this yesterday on thedailygreen. Let's think about this for a moment. The subtitle is "See the Only 14 Models with Better Than 30 MPG". This in the nation that is home base for "The Big 3" auto manufacturers. Also the same nation that endured long gas lines and rationing in the 1970s and perpetual military involvement in the middle east for many years to ensure that we keep getting our fix. The U.S. government is like a battered woman protecting her abuser (pimp?) from the police.


Coming in at #1 on thedailygreen list is the 2009 Toyota Prius. Fuel Economy= City: 48 mpg/ Highway: 45 mpg

The top reply to the article brings up the point of 2 diesel powered cars available in Europe, but not in the U.S. The more interesting of these is the Volkswagen Lupo 3L TDI passenger car (pictured), advertised by Volkswagen as “the best mileage production car in the world”. In 2000 it was driven around the globe for over 20,000 road miles with an average fuel efficiency of 118mpg!!! This is almost exactly 2.5 times the efficiency achieved by the much-loved and iconic Toyota Prius. Click here for the U.S. standard to metric conversion calculator. Volkswagen engineers are working on a super-economical motor that could go 300 miles on only one gallon of fuel. The Aptera (pictured below) already achieves this, and provides seating for two, which is double the number of people I typically see commuting together during rush hour drives.



Let's not forget electric cars, compressed air cars, mass transit, bicycles and other methods of getting around when we begin seriously overhauling our transportation system. With the U.S. auto industry looking like it may be going under due to a lack of demand, maybe now is the time to lobby the government to begin demanding that these alternative vehicles be made available in the U.S. This would have the additional benefit of forcing U.S. industry to once again become competitive to keep up.

Let President-elect Obama know your thoughts at change.gov. If enough of us do this, the government and industry may finally begin to get the idea. Remember that you vote for change (or maintaining the status quo) everyday with your dollars, and through how you use your time and energy.

Some Recent Developments in Solar Energy

Today I discovered 2 exciting and complementary (recent) developments in solar energy technology. The first is an article by Mike Chino, which I found on Inhabitat. This article covers research by the Ohio State Institute for Materials Research regarding a new hyper-efficient solar material they have developed, which is "able to absorb energy from all spectrums of visible light at once."

The second is an article I discovered at openecosource covering research from MIT. Researchers there have developed a new method for storing solar energy based on photosynthesis.

These technologies are expected to be available to consumers in about a decade.

Shell sets new UK profits record

I found this on BBC News UK edition (current). (excerpt with title link)(image added)

Much of the rise in profits has been attributed to rising oil prices, which currently stand at about $91 a barrel compared with $57 this time last year.

In dollar terms its earnings are up 9% on the previous year.

But there is concern among analysts that Shell has delayed publishing figures showing its oil reserves.

The oil reserves figure, which shows whether Shell found enough oil in the ground to replace the amount it was taking out, will not be published until the spring.

"The market really has taken this to imply that the figures aren't going to be great," said Nick MacGregor, an oil analyst from Redmayne Bentley.

"If they were that good Shell would be telling the world about it now."

(Buddha) For me this immediately brings up 2 huge issues. I will deal with them separately for now.

First is the issue of continuing record beating profits over and over for the oil companies. Bush and his cabinet set about making plans to invade oil-rich Iraq immediately upon usurping (oops, assuming) office. Now we have an even more unstable middle east, a devastated Iraq with tens of thousands of war casualties, thousands of dead G.I.s (and many times that permanently scarred or crippled), and thanks to the inconceivable monetary cost of the war we have a ravaged U.S. economy.

The oil companies are not the only ones breaking records. We are witnessing record numbers of home foreclosures in the U.S. in addition to record setting job losses. Bush changed the bankruptcy laws to protect the credit card companies from all of the people trying to get out from under crushing personal debt. Educational expenses are at an all-time high with many sane people questioning whether college is even a break-even venture at this point. Personally, I am doing pretty well handling my education on my own and not racking up tens of thousands of dollars in student loans and credit card debt.

I used to work as an insurance salesman and medical expenses were one of the top causes of personal bankruptcy and foreclosure in this country. Many of these bankruptcies were filed by people who had medical insurance which simply proved to be insufficient. How many are unable to obtain insurance in this country? I know that I am still among them.

The Fed (not a government agency by the way) has just lowered the prime to 3% in an effort to jumpstart our economy. This is akin to putting defibrillator paddles on the chest of a long dead person, yelling "clear", and pushing the button. There may be some activity and confusion, but you should expect no positive result. We need to fundamentally restructure our economy!

The second issue is that of sustainability. Shell hasn't disclosed it's oil reserve figures, presumably because they are not very reassuring.

We are at some point in the not too distant future, going to run out of oil for all practical purposes. It will become less and less plentiful and accessible. Due to these factors it will be priced out of reach of most people. It may be approaching that now at over $90 a barrel.

We have before us a crucial decision as to what we are going to base our economic system on. There are many viable alternatives to the oil economy. Many of these would alleviate other problems as well. I will not waste my time repeating much of what I've already posted. Please check out the links I've provided, watch some documentaries with friends, read some books on these topics, and discuss these ideas at your local markets and with your friends and families. If you were so inclined, you could even read some of my archived posts and introduce your network of contacts to my blog. Feel free to respond to my posts so I will know that these rants are serving as more than simply therapy for me.