Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: sustainability

Building a house by hand can be both time-consuming and expensive. Numerous homebuilders have chosen to automate part of the construction (i.e., by printing the home’s parts) instead.

A new Ukrainian homebuilding startup called PassivDom uses a 3D printing robot that can print parts for tiny houses. The machine can print the walls, roof, and floor of PassivDom’s 380-square-foot model in about eight hours. The windows, doors, plumbing, and electrical systems are then added by a human worker.

When complete, the homes are autonomous and mobile, meaning they don’t need to connect to external electrical and plumbing systems. Solar energy is stored in a battery connected to the houses, and water is collected and filtered from humidity in the air (or you can pour water into the system yourself). The houses also feature an independent sewage system.

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This substance is a complex natural polymer called lignin, and it is the second largest renewable carbon source on the planet after cellulose.

This natural abundance has drawn high interest from the to chemically convert into biofuels. And if plant life really does hold the building blocks for renewable fuels, it would seem that we are literally surrounded by potential energy sources everywhere green grows.

But untangling the complex chains of these polymers into components, which can be useful for liquid fuel and other applications ranging from pharmaceuticals to plastics, has presented an ongoing challenge to science and industry.

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This Northern Hemisphere summer, researchers spent two months collecting samples from a submerged landmass known as Zealandia.

As a result, we could gain new insight into everything from ancient life forms to climate change.

Tens of millions of years ago, a landmass that’s being referred to as Zealandia was largely submerged beneath the Pacific Ocean. This summer, a team of scientists set out on an underwater expedition using an advanced research vessel, and the results might yield brand-new insight into Earth’s prehistory.

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Wind turbines produced double the amount of power required to meet Scotland’s electricity needs Monday, according to researchers.

Environmental group WWF Scotland said Friday that analysis of data provided by WeatherEnergy showed the country’s wind turbines sent 86,467 megawatt hours of electricity to the National Grid on Monday.

That day, total electricity consumption in Scotland – including homes, industry and businesses – was 41,866 megawatt hours, WWF Scotland said, meaning that wind power produced the equivalent of 206 percent of the nation’s needs.

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New SomeFuture podcast out. My 45-min interview starts at 55 min and is on #transhumanism:

Introduction: (0:11–1:29)

Present Futures: Animal AND Human Extinction?: (1:30–12:51)

Present Futures: Technology to fix climate change: (12:52–26:53)

PaleoFutures- Philip K. Dick: (26:57–40:06)

FizBiz- Investing in Real Estate: (40:07–53:04)

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Ikea is known for its flat-pack kitchen tables, islands, and cabinets.

Now the home furnishings retailer is experimenting with products that allow people to harvest food at home.

Space10, Ikea’s innovation lab, has designed a prototype of a mini-farm that can grow greens and herbs indoors.

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