"Eat what you have on your plate, many children in the world are starving," is a comment heard by many American children made by their parents. Recently when examining the cycle of food production to waste, it occurred to me we need to be to be more innovative. Add into the fact that only 50% of food produced gets actually eaten, the area needs help. Link to these facts: Food waste. Our current state of life on this planet is unsustainable unless we find ways to better manage the resources we have. Do you want to start a business? Maybe your innovative contribution creating inventions, here are just some needs that waste presents.
Wouldn't this be a better world if we could just put our information of the required food caloric needs of family members, the exact meal palatial needs, the exact amount of meals, taking into account product spoilage lengths make a printout. We would take it to the store, the producers and we only purchase what we need. Only exact purchases of the exact quantity is purchased and produced. That is one part of the need.
Food products and other consumer products require shipping materials that are often just removed and disposed. Creative and innovative shipping procedures, product production locations as well as recycling processes of the materials is need two.
Matching needs with the non-edible products. The introduction of the intranet has gotten us closer to helping us reach this goal. Black Thursdays and Fridays are a great example of the problem. On these days millions of consumers waste resources such as fuel in their cars to time they could be with families and still not finding what they want or need. Can we do this step and not interrupt the consumer markets?
Product sharing can help save resources of need. People have been coming up with ways to share cars, computers or creative ways to use the cloud (internet storage) to reduce the computer, notebook, camera and phone needs.
Examples of companies trying to keep this thought in mind can be good areas to invest as well. Here is a link to check out: 8 companies with results.
Can this be true? Just putting in the foundation is an undertaking in itself. The company that is saying that they can build the tallest building in 90 days is building most of the building in a factory setting. The world will be watching to see if this can happen. The enormousness of the project to be completed in 90 days leads many to say they don't want to go into this earthquake proof building when it is done. It seems to be a impossible task. Specifics and details at this link: CNET Post
This project will not only put China as a leader in building construction innovations but show they have some truly top project managers. I would have to add to this statement, some very cooperative city regulators. In the USA project managers would agree that city safety, building regulators and planners would have to redevelop their processes to make this happen in the United States. During building construction the inspectors can be the biggest challenge to on-time completions. However, many could argue that a USA building of this magnitude would draw less comments like, "You wouldn't catch me in that building."
Could we learn from the Chinese about this process, absolutely! We have modular, and factory component construction. We have a transportation system that is not the best in the world but competitive. We have some very knowledgeable and veteran project managers. We have some of the most skilled construction workers in the world. Yet if you were to ask, "Could we do this in America?" Few in the business would say it could be done.
The cost of building construction done "China style," could make building buildings like this in America very attractive and affordable. Material and energy wastes could be cut. Building big buildings could change the trends of urban sprawl and change apartment rental and real estate trends. More people could share the views of oceans and bays near large cities. Manufacturing in America could get an extra boost as we start building more building structures in factories designed to do so. It would require a change in how we do things. Can we do it? Yes we can!
Link of interesting Skyscraper facts: Building Big
The Star Wars movies were given credit for pushing the imaginations of engineers to what lasers could do. It also pushed the brains to imagine of space travel and what other worlds could be like. The Black Knight has several creative ideas of what today's military could look like. Today's special forces have some primitive looking equipment compared to what Hollywood has put together.
It was said in several other reports, that the producers of the Dark Knight played with toys in their garages to get the right look for their movie. The Bat Tumbler was designed by putting a Hummer and a Lamborghini together. The Bat and the Bat Pod are definitely creative. I am very sure the the military will have vehicles in the future that resemble these clever machines that will give military troops an advantage in battles.
Dark Knight Bat - Flying machine (above) and the Tumbler and the Bat Pod are pictured at the right. The Movie is worth seeing just to see the special effects.
I listened to a author talk about how air arrived on this planet. He explained that plants created and are creating what we breath now. What also was discussed was the fragile thin layer we have that envelopes the earth we live on. The illustration above shows the amount of drinkable water we have on the left and on the right is the amount of air we have. This visual shows the urgency and importance, that we come up with innovative ideas to manage these vital resources for the humans very survival on this planet. Every time you fire up your car, you can imagine how much air gets sucked in and and used as compared to your own lungs. Then multiply this by how many cars you see on the earths highways. It becomes a very scarey scenario.
Studying how this thin layer that envelopes the planet affects weather is what scientists are concerned about. Oil companies who's lively hood depends on our purchase of their product to survive, are fighting to disenfranchise and confuse the issue. Our future depends on whether we can breakout from the rut of oil consumption and to other energy innovations.
I reported in a earlier blog post that electric car manufacturers were planning to use the long life electric car batteries to power homes after the car dies. Why wait until the car dies? Why not make it an emergency power device to use in the case of a power failure to your home. As homes become smarter, power becomes more important. Could the cars of the future power sump pumps or keep the food cool while the home's main power is out? Nissan is saying the future is here. Here is the Link to explain the process: Leaf power is now!
Finland boasts of the World's largest cruise ship, the "Oasis of the Seas." This 16 story vessel used state of the art technology to design this huge ship's hull. How can something this large push through the water? Can we learn something from this ship to apply to others?
The design of this ship can be used on the next step for the human expansion. Many engineers are designing floating mile long cities. This ship answers some of the interesting questions on how does the huge ships withstand hurricanes and other storms in the oceans.
Feed a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a life time. A key part of innovation can be learning a something new. Penn State has an idea to teach Dairymen how to succeed and compete in the milk business. This priceless series of webinars is free. Your have to sign up to be a Friends of Penn State to be able to access the webinars. then follow the instructions. Here is a link to what they have to offer: Technology Tuesdays!
Could you imagine learning other trades for free? If you search the internet you can find many webinars that can help you become an effective and prosperous business man. Webinars make learning as timely as email and as powerful as the time you put toward them.
Here are some more free webinars to change your life:
