The Dose is your weekly hit of new gadgets and gadget news aimed at your incurable addiction
This week Reverse Vending Machines, Solar
Charging Stations, and a Gas-Free Country
Reverse Vending
Vending machines occupy a unique space in
our society; they provide quick, easy, anti-social sources to carbonated
beverages and salty snacks. Huzzah! But despite these upsides, there’s also a
more sinister aspects to these autonomous machines: in addition to the
fructose-infused treats, they dole out some considerable trash and few are
paired up with recycling bins. Well, Envirobank has a nifty solution: the
reverse vending machine.
It’s a straightforward premise; insert your
waste to be cleaned and crushed and receive a reward. Recompense for your
earth-friendly ways include cash credit, coupons, and vouchers for surrounding
stores. The machines themselves are branded by various companies and come
replete with LCD screens to disseminate advertisements while you’re doing the
right thing.
For the time being the machines have only
been deployed in Australia on a trail basis. And although crushing the materials allows
recyclers to cut out the middle man, there may be a simpler way than such an
elaborate, though thoughtful approach.
Chicago Gets First Solar Plug-in Station
So we all know that hybrids and electric
cars are one of the most environmentally conscientious inventions in recent
decades. But many worry that the ‘green shift’ will mean shifting harmful
emissions from the automobiles themselves to the power plants, especially with
some key people dedicated to ye olde coal plant. So, in what can only be
described as a match made in heaven, Carbon Day Automotive brings us the solar
plug-in charging station, with the first being unveiled in Chicago.
Jorge Chapa over at Inhabitat.com makes the
point that such an en-lighten-ed* approach effectively solves the lack of
infrastructure that is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for expanding the
charging station network.
*My brutal pun, not Jorge’s
Norway Free of New Gas Cars by 2015
Finally we turn to the international enviro
scene where Finance Minister of Norway, Kristin
Halvorsen, has proposed on banning the sale of gas-only cars in the country by
2015. The proposal has been met with some palpable opposition and many will
recall similar efforts here in North America to impose such immediate deadlines. But the bottom line remains;
with out serious deadlines, automakers aren’t going to take the issue
seriously.
