Sanya Arts Space

Businesses in the UK are more worried about energy costs and supply than health and safety, legislation, and security, according to the npower Business Energy Index, published 18 July 2011. The same report also found that one in six businesses do not have a plan for coping with increased energy prices, or for meeting reduced carbon emission targets. Planning for future risks take time and man hours away from "business as usual", and as a small business owner myself, I know how stretched resources can be.

A few weeks ago I fell off my mountain bike. I was cycling to a meeting in the centre of Brighton, and whilst attempting to take a probably illegal shortcut, I didn't see a large pothole in front of a ramp, hit it, and flew over the top of my bike onto the road. Luckily there were no cars around...

We're all talking about saving energy these days, and it's getting easier and easier to start generating your own electricity in your own home. We asked Chris from moneysupermarket.com for a bit more information on what you can do to go green.

Calling all energy saving heroes: if you are the proud owner of Britain's greenest home, you could be in the running for a tidy £3000 (first prize) or £1000 (second prize) - a very nice addition to the money you've already saved from all of your energy saving initiatives!

How would you like your very own take-it-home apply-it-yourself wind power generator? How about a whole array of them? This is a design that’s just that, take it home, unpack it, screw it into the wall, connect it to whatever battery you’ve got that can hold generated power, and let it rip! This design is made up of blades, the generator, a telescopic shaft (so that the fan can be extended or “away”, electric power plug, and switch. With an array of 15 of these fans, you can power a household of four people for a month.

Oh my goodness! One of these fans, called “Wind Cubes”, could potentially generate 21.6 kilowatt-hours per month. Times that by fifteen, and you’ve got 324 kw, the same amount the designers of this project note is the amount a family of four uses per month. Seems too perfect!

The way these “cubes” work is to be attached to a wall (outside) with three screws, click the switch to activate, and sit back to enjoy the power your mother earth is providing. Multiple cubes can be connected to not only generate more power, but strengthen their collective structure, and the fans can be pulled out or pushed back and away depending on the weather.

DO WANT, VERY VERY MUCH. Can you imagine it? Free electricity! No wonder this is a Liteon Award winning design this year! Hooray!

Designers: Liao-Hsun Chen and Wen-Chih Chang

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Someone mentioned Energy Harvesting to me last night. The idea of converting the small amount of energy that’s generated from human motion into power for small gadgets and devices like phones. It’s on the way apparently.