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June 29, 2011
A bone drill, which typically cost about $300 each, are used to access the marrow and vascular system inside bones when a patient's veins have collapsed or are inaccessible. They're standard features in most American ambulances and emergency rooms.
Bone drills enables fluids to be delivered into bone marrow in less than 60 seconds-a lifesaver when a patient's veins have collapsed.
But in developing countries like India, where the need is huge, that $300 price is an insurmountable hurdle to widespread adoption.
The Stanford India Biodesign (SIB) team and in based at Stanford and in New Delhi at the Indian Institute of Technology and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
The teams collaborated over Skype adn shipped prototypes back and forth via FedEx. Eventually, they created a device that would sell for around $20, with no drop in efficacy.
There are still many hurdles before the device will be available commercially. For one thing, designers have yet to crack the code on making sure the drill is not reusable, a big issue in India where blood-borne diseases are often spread with reusable devices.
Read the article on FastCompany.
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category : Topics
June 22, 2011
Mark S. Hall, director of “Sushi: The Global Catch,” winner of a special jury prize this month at the Seattle International Film Festival, first sampled sushi as a student in Tokyo in the 1980s, but he did not get to thinking about the sushi economy until a few years ago.
We learn that in Japan, budding sushi chefs must go through a long apprenticeship to become masters, enduring the drudgery of washing dishes, preparing rice and cutting vegetables before they even begin to start cutting fish. Only in the fifth year do they begin slicing fish in earnest.
In their seventh year, the apprentices graduate to serving and conversing with customers. That’s the same length of time it takes to both earn a bachelor’s degree and graduate from medical school. With qualifications like these, sushi might have stayed in Japan.
Click HERE to read the story.
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June 15, 2011
Developing countries place higher value on green products, while price continues to be a factor in developed countries
A new survey conducted by ImagePower Global Green Brands reveals that people around the world intend to purchase higher-ticket environmental products in the auto, energy and technology sectors compared to last year.
2011 US rankings
The survey also ranked the top 10 US companies with the greenest reputations. For the first time since the inception of the study in 2006, the four brands perceived to be the greenest are "born green" companies - companies that started out with green missions.
- Seventh Generation
- Whole Foods
- Tom's of Maine
- Burt's Bees
- Trader Joe's
- The Walt Disney Company
- S.C. Johnson
- Dove
- Apple
- Starbucks, Microsoft (tied)
In developed countries such as the US and UK, roughly 20% of those surveyed would spend more than 10% extra on a green product.
In developing countries, however, people say that green products have a higher inherent value. 95% of Chinese respondents say they're willing to spend more on a product because it's green - 55% of them say they would spend 11-30% more. Similarly, 29% of Indian respondents and 48% of Brazilians say they are willing to spend between 11- 30% more on green products.
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/06/08/3686227/consumer-interest-in-green-products.html#ixzz1PJSBufUC
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June 6, 2011
Edited by Mr Lim Siang Jin and Mr David Lee Boon Siew in Malaysia, the new publication "Green Purchasing Asia" is now available both on and off-line.
The launch issue features stories on Malaysia's just-launched feed-in tariff scheme; ABB's new UHVDC power transmission technology; the markets fastest electric vehicles; an interview with cleantech venture capitalist Peter Grubstein; India's ryral solar engineering school; China's "Solar King" Huang Ming and more.
Go to Green Purchasing Asia.com to register, subscribe, and check for further information.
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category : Topics
June 1, 2011
Story Highlights:
- While biodegradable products help reduce mass in landfills, they decay into chemicals, among which is methane gas
- Methane is a worse greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and goes straight into the atmosphere
- The government does not require landfills to capture, burn, or harvest of methane untill two years after waste is buried, but everything biodegrades within two years
Read the article on the Fast Company website:
http://www.fastcompany.com/1756520/biodegradeable-products-are-bad-for-climate
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category : Topics
