Hasta La Ideas

It’s a bit perverse that there are parallels between camping—a recreational activity for folk from wealthy nations—and the daily life of those living in developing nations. The upshot is that designers of camping gear have the potential to enrich the lives of millions of people living without first-world infrastructure. The Jompy portable water heater is a good example of this.

Developed by Scottish inventor David Osborne, the Jompy consists of lightweight metal tubing that has been bent into a flat coil, with the ends joined together side-by-side, resembling a frying pan shape. The user attaches a water source to one end of the tubing—in a camping situation, this could even be a water bladder–and the water then flows through the coil before exiting from the remaining end of the tubing. This allows the user to maximize the value of heat: If they light a fire or burn any type of fuel, the Jompy can be placed over it. Water flowing through it begins to rapidly boil, heating the coil up, which allows it to be used like a stovetop burner for cooking. And most importantly, that water is purified in the process. The hot water exiting the Jompy can be used for bathing, food washing, additional cooking tasks or laundry, or simply allowed to cool and used for drinking water.

The Jompy will come in three different sizes, and Osborne is hip to the fact that it can help more people than campers—in fact, the developing-nation use was the prime motivator, with the camping market intended to prop them up. That’s why whenever you buy one, the manufacturer sends a second unit for free to a family in Kenya.

We applaud Osborne’s type of thinking, though there is one area in which the company could use a little more foresight: Correctly anticipating demand. Overwhelmed by demand, their website has exceeded their bandwidth limitations and was down at press time. With any luck they’ll have it rectified soon.

via gizmag

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Before it was slathered in concrete, South Los Angeles was densely forested with oak trees interrupted only by a series of streams that fed the Los Angeles River. Now the industrial neighborhood is responsible for unchecked polluted storm water and a host of other environmental concerns. That’s why turning a former MTA bus parking lot into a nine acre wetland that efficiently processes storm water runoff is such a major turn of events. It took $26 million and nearly three years, but the city now has a way to deal with water pollution and residents have a dedicated, city-funded green space. Paths and boardwalks welcome neighbors to peruse the grounds, read about wetlands and engage in the education center and museum planned for construction.

The numbers are pretty impressive, too. At full capacity the South Los Angeles Wetland Park can process up to 680,000 gallons of stormwater per day. It works like this:

“Storm water arriving by a pipe drain under San Pedro is detoured into a small treatment facility that filters away trash and chemicals, such as oil from city streets. The water then takes a circular trip in an underground pipe around the park before being delivered into the pools, where bacteria naturally cleans up the remaining pollutants. The cleaner water is sent on its way to the Los Angeles River where it makes its way to the ocean.”

Yes, it’s an artificial wetland and it’ll never be as good as mother nature herself, but after bulldozing former wetlands and filling them in with concrete, this is the next best alternative. The pictures of the site as it stands today aren’t quite as impressive as the 3D renderings, but after a few years the wetland should be in full bloom.

Photos courtesy of KCET.org

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Everyone who’s worried about the disastrous forecasts of the effects of climate change all agree that the best approach is two-fold: we have to change our habits now and prepare for the future. Tingwei Xu and Xie Zhang, two students from UPenn, have heeded the call and come up with a design for the flooding that will apparently make Manhattan look like Venice around the year 2200. Their idea is for a gigantic membrane made from highly intelligent materials that can adapt to changing weather conditions to be installed throughout the lower lying parts of the city, rising up over the bases of buildings like webbing.

As opposed to rigid structures like levees, this “soft infrastructure” would absorb incoming flood waters with its “spongelike sidewalks, marshes and manmade islands.” Waterproofing building sounds like a step in the right direction, but overall the concept is “totally zany…too zany, actually. We doubt the technology is there,” says Suzanne LaBarre, senior editor at Co. Design. “Besides, imagine trying to convince New York landlords to cover their valuable storefronts in a giant holey bib. Not gonna happen.”

I dunno—a giant holey bib sounds better than diving underwater for a bagel on the way to work, but Xu and Zhang clearly have some kinks to iron out. Luckily, they have 200 years to work on it.

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Finally, a convenient, realistic and affordable way for the average consumer to utilize solar power: Nokero’s C110 Battery Charger, which runs 14 bucks (battery included) and works with any rechargeable AA, not just the company’s own. “Simply insert a rechargeable AA battery into the back of the C110 and set it out in the sun,” the company explains. “In a matter of hours, your battery will be charged.”

Nokero, which is short for “No Kerosene,” also produces the super-economical N100 and C77 2011 Design Awards 20 Notable N200 Solar Lights, meant to replace the kerosene lamps used in developing nations. Their research indicates that a child using a kerosene lamp to study by is exposed to fumes commensurate with a two-pack-a-day smoker. The $15 N100 and $20 N200 run completely clean, using solar power to juice up the same AA battery found in their C110 charger, and they’re dead-simple to use: Hang them in sunlight, then turn them on when it gets dark.

Nokero was founded in 2010 by inventor Steve Katsaros “to develop safe, affordable and environmentally-friendly technology that eliminates the need for harmful and polluting fuels used around the world.” Check out more of their stuff here.

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Young Italian designer Giovanni Tomasini is pleased to present his latest project, the “Mino” garden gnome, a traditional lawn ornament made of compost:

The garden dwarf tradition is older than what is commonly believed. Originating in XVII century Germany, garden dwarfs were exported by an English nobleman to decorate his garden, and they have now become the globally widespread kitsch ornaments that we all know. Despite its jazzy colours, the modern dwarf is a melancholic figure, condemned to a purely decorative function within a domesticated and artificial environment. Mino, on the other hand, lives in a garden full of life, destined to survive for one season only to then die with pride by feeding the surrounding vegetation.

The designer notes on Inhabitat that he’s currently seeking a company to invest in his design…

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