Metals Used in High-Tech Products Face Future Supply Risks

April 8, 2015 by kris de decker Filed Under: Metals, minerals, materials, Random, Recycling

In a new paper, a team of Yale researchers assesses the “criticality” of all 62 metals on the Periodic Table of Elements, providing key insights into which materials might become more difficult to find in the coming decades, which ones will exact the highest environmental costs — and which ones simply cannot be replaced as components of vital technologies.

the criticality of 62 metalsMany of the metals traditionally used in manufacturing, such as zinc, copper, and aluminum, show no signs of vulnerability. But other metals critical in the production of newer technologies — like smartphones, infrared optics, and medical imaging — may be harder to obtain in coming decades, said Thomas Graedel, the Clifton R. Musser Professor of Industrial Ecology at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and lead author of the paper.

“Some metals that have become deployed for technology only in the last 10 or 20 years are available almost entirely as byproducts. You can’t mine specifically for them; they often exist in small quantities and are used for specialty purposes. And they don’t have any decent substitutes.”

The researchers also analyzed how recycling rates have evolved over the years and the degree to which different industries are able to utilize “non-virgin” sources of materials. Some materials, such as lead, are highly recycled because they are typically used in bulk, Graedel said. But the relatively rare materials that have become critical in some modern electronics are far more difficult to recycle because they are used in such miniscule amounts — and can be difficult to extricate from the increasingly complex and compact new technologies.

“I think these results should send a message to product designers to spend more time thinking about what happens after their products are no longer being used,” he said. “So much of what makes the recycling of these materials difficult is their design.”

Read more: Study: Metals Used in High-Tech Products Face Future Supply Risks, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.

Cargo Cults

April 5, 2015 by kris de decker Filed Under: Art, Technology

supercargo headphones“The John Frum movement on the Oceanic island nation Vanuatu is a classic example of what anthropologists have called a “cargo cult”— many of which sprang up in villages in the South Pacific during World War II, when hundreds of thousands of American troops poured into the islands from the skies and seas.

Cargo cults appear when the outside world, with all its material wealth, suddenly descends on remote, indigenous tribes. The locals don’t know where the foreigners’ endless supplies come from and so suspect they were summoned by magic, sent from the spirit world.

To entice the Americans back after the war, islanders throughout the region started building giant airplanes from wood, carving headphones and radios from bamboo and awaited the messianic serviceman John Frum. They prayed for ships and planes to once again come out of nowhere, bearing all kinds of treasures: jeeps and washing machines, radios and motorcycles, canned meat and candy. Their rituals included the non militant army TAU (Tanna Army USA), marching with wooden rifles.

supercargo 2The more naive will laugh about these imitations. But did the US soldiers truly understand their technology, their big agenda? The cult of the cargo is our world exactly: We perform meaningless routines we call work, in hope for future cargo. With a technology that could navigate us to the moon, we write LMAO. The western world itself is a giant cult of imitating things that somehow work: dressing in suits, using buzzword-vocabulary, mimicing old forms of art. The longing for godlike goodies on the horizon, the usage of things we don´t understand: it’s a big parable of desire.

Surprisingly the local performers of the Cargo Cults succeeded: By remaking western technology with bamboo, by re-enacting western rituals they attracted actual planes full of tourists and anthropologists.”

Quoted from “In John they trust” (Smithsonian Magazine) and “The supercargo manifesto” (Supercargo Tumblr). Pictures: Supercargo Tumblr. Thanks to Edwin Gardner.

A Washing Machine for Life

April 5, 2015 by kris de decker Filed Under: Laundry, Random, Repair, Trash, Washing machines

washing machine for life 2“L’Increvable (which means indestructable in French) is the concept of a washing machine whose lifespan is fifty years. Gone are the days when your washing machine had an abrupt end of life after 5 years of use because of a single bearing.

With L’Increvable you change each component when needed. You don’t have to be a handy(wo)man: the Increvable website guides you through each component maintenance thanks to well-documented tutorials and each new component is delivered with proper tools.

You buy the washing machine in flat-pack form and then you assemble it yourself : it gives you the opportunity to get to know the machine. The traditional 30 kg (60 lbs) of cement ballast are replaced by a water tank. The latter is automatically filled during the first use of the machine. This means that the machine can be made lighter again when it needs to be moved.

By removing all highly technical and hardly replaceable parts from the structure and built with such specifications from the ground up, the Increvable is destined to be easily manipulable by the mere user. The missing technologic parts (i.e. touchable screen) do change the User Experience in a very fundamental way, giving maybe to some of us a certain old school feel to the tech but adds several dozens of years before obsolescence as a result.”

See & read more: 1 / 2 / 3. Thanks to Christopher Santerre.

The Kume Shade: DIY Insulating Curtain

March 18, 2015 by kris de decker Filed Under: DIY, Insulation, Random, Windows

kume insulating curtains

The Kume curtain is a simple and inexpensive home-made insulating curtain that can help save money, keep our homes cozier and be kinder to the environment.

The Kume is a roll-up curtain that is composed of four distinct layers.

  • A front panel which acts as the first layer and seals the perimeter of the window opening when the curtain is closed
  • A moisture barrier which prevents indoor humidity from reaching the window and condensing on the cold glass and window frame
  • Wooden battens which maintain the fabric stretched out and thereby ensure that the curtain fits tightly against both sides of the window opening (the battens also create air pockets which further reduce heat losses through the curtain)
  • A back panel which acts as the final layer of insulation and helps seal the perimeter of the window opening when the curtain is closed.

kume insulating curtain insideWhy is a Kume curtain so effective at reducing heat loss?

  • Still air is one of the best insulators found in nature, and the Kume curtain contains a lot of it. First, between the fibers of the thick polar fleece that is used to make the curtain, and second inside the thin spaces that are created between the front and back panels by the battens.
  • When closed, the Kume curtain fits tightly against the top, bottom and sides of the window opening. By doing so it traps a layer of insulating air between the glass and the curtain, and prevents the cold air that forms against the glass from seeping into the room.
  • A Kume curtain basically works just like a good down jacket on a cold winter day. The air that is trapped in the thick layer of down creates an effective insulating layer, and the tight fit of the jacket around your waist, neck and wrists keeps your body heat in, rather than letting it leak out into the cold environment.

See and read more (including construction plans) at Kume Insulating Curtains. Via BuilditSolar. Thanks to Frank Van Gieson.

How To Buy a Low-Tech Car

March 15, 2015 by kris de decker Filed Under: Cars, Low-tech cars

You might not guess it after strolling through a few dealerships, but cars and trucks with limited technology still can be found if you are willing to work at it. And there still are plenty of low-tech used vehicles: even some that haven’t yet been classified as classics. To find them, though, takes patience and willingness to compromise.

simple car

There has been huge growth in the number and complexity of electronics features on passenger vehicles, says Paul Green, a research professor at the University of Michigan. In tracking just one model, the Infiniti G, over a seven-year period, Green found that the total number of pages in this entry-level luxury car’s multiple owner’s manuals grew by an average of 30 a year.

That means the owner of a 2013 Infiniti G has to read the equivalent of a small novel to understand how to operate all the new features added since 2006.



Just as all cars are not alike, technology-averse car shoppers don’t all slip from the same mold. There are, of course, the traditional Luddites: people who believe technology diminishes humanity and want nothing to do with it. But there also are those who’d rather avoid complex technologies because they can’t, or won’t, take the time to learn how to use them.

Some want to avoid technology that they see as increasing distraction because it requires drivers to look at information screens while operating the vehicle. Some are concerned about the trend toward cars with greater connectivity to the Web because of their potential for being hacked. And there are motoring purists who want nothing to come between them and the hands-on driving experience.

How to buy a low-tech car — car shopping tips for technophobes, a practical guide from automotive website Edmunds. Via WSJ.

A Market for Simpler Trucks

March 15, 2015 by kris de decker Filed Under: Cargo, Trucks

low-tech truckThe pace of technological change in trucking over the past decade has been breathtaking. Commercial vehicles rolling off assembly lines now boast standard and optional features that would have been unthinkable on high-end luxury cars just a few years ago.

The proliferation of technology has penetrated virtually every aspect of truck design, from Bluetooth systems that enable drivers to talk on the phone safely to GPS-oriented telematics systems, computer-controlled integrated powertrains and high-pressure common-rail fuel injection systems.

Yet, more fleet managers are becoming less than enthusiastic concerning trucking’s technological explosion. That’s because all the new technology found on today’s commercial vehicles comes with tradeoffs – and many fleets cannot see an end to the new problems that have piggybacked these high-tech models. The most glaring unwanted burden has been skyrocketing truck prices…. At the same time, the exponential leap in new and advanced technologies found on today’s trucks is stressing the industry’s service and support network, which already is struggling with a crippling technician shortage….

Finally, fleet managers say, there is the issue of durability. “I talk to owner-operators leased to our fleet all the time,” says Margret Hogg, general manager of Toronto-based J.G. Drapeau, a long-haul hazmat fleet. “They all drive beautiful old trucks that are dependable day in and day out. They don’t want anything to do with all these new technologies because they run trucks that work when they need them to.”

Hogg believes vehicle reliability has never been lower than it is today. “We still have a 2002 model in our fleet that is far more dependable than a comparable 2012 model,” she says. “We’ve only had six major repairs with the ’02 truck since we got it. In contrast, the ’12 model has already had 11 major breakdowns. That’s not an isolated event, either.”

Read more: Low-tech truck revolution: will modern truck technology create a market for simpler, more affordable trucks? The picture is from Rainier Truck & Chassis, the first outside component assembler to market its line of low-tech models in North America.