An interesting development comes from the company Greenhouse Energy and is called Microfueller (EFuel100).  It is a private filling station that allows to turn organic waste into ethanol fuel. Now – it is not that you can throw your old salad into the machine and the next day you drive 100 kilometres from that. The company itself will provide the feedstock for you. Greenhouse made contracts with companies that need to get rid of e. g. beverages that have date-expired and otherwise have to pay a high price to have those products hauled away for disposal.

Interesting and ground-breaking idea. Hopefully something like this does not lead to an increasing overproduction of things. It’s always a chain of systems that interacts with each. In the beginning it also seemed that using corn to produce fuel would be the most sustainable solution. Then it happened that the prices for corn rose worldwide – making it too expensive for people in poorer countries that are depending on it as a food.

However decentralized energy production is the most promising idea for the future. For example, the German bio-energy supplier Lichtblick is planning to install 100.000 gas power stations (“ZuhauseKraftwerk”) in private homes that supply heat for the building itself and energy for the public net. This huge swarm system with a capacity of 2,000 megawatts is equivalent to the power of two nuclear power plants.

More about the “Microfueller” project in an article published in The Economist. More about the Lichtblick idea soon to come here on ROGER LiVE – subscribe to my newsletter to stay up to date.

Waste is design flaw says Kate Krebs of the National Recycling Coalition

After the launch in 2008 greengaged returns to the London Design Festival with a full week of world-class events designed to help the design industry tackle the big issues around sustainable design. Hosted by the Design Council, with five brilliant guest curators, greengaged promises to inspire us all and challenge the design industry as a whole to create positive change.

All greengaged events are free and each lasts for a whole day with lunch included. Details about program and registration can be found on the greengaged website.

This competition calls for a logo that represents the DREAM Center program of the UNESCO/Tribute 21 Fund. The logo is intended to be used on the program’s stationery, brochures, and collateral materials including possibly in video clips, on signage and on the web.

UNESCO/Tribute 21 DREAM Centers is an arts education program for children – DREAM stands for Dance, Read, Express, Art, Music. The project was inaugurated in 2003 with the goal of providing underprivileged children, especially in post-conflict regions, the opportunities and tools to express themselves creatively. This is based on the belief that creative expression is a powerful source of self-confidence and essential to child development.

DREAM Center programs serve a need that is not being met by programs that address basic needs (food, shelter, health care, etc.). Considered non-essential, art is often left out. DREAM programs – sometimes physical structures included – are built in partnership with a local NPO. Established locations include Kabul, Afghanistan; Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monrovia, Liberia, and East Jerusalem. The UNESCO/Tribute 21 Fund is a project partnership between UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and Felissimo, a global design and merchandising company.

Application Closes November 17, 2009. Public Voting from November 19, 2009 to November 26, 2009. Results will be announced on December 08, 2009. More information via Design21 Social Design Network.

Jer Thorp, an artist and educator from Vancouver/Canada who runs the blog blprnt.blg, did this data visualization to display government spending on arts funding. The government of British Columbia seems to be one of the few regions that did not realize that the creative industries are beneficial for the economy but even more important for the cultural life and the satisfaction of its citizens. The liberal government cut its spendings from 47.8 to about 23 million $. This may have severe outcomes for the creatives in British Columbia.

Yesterday, on Sept. 9th 2009, members and supporters of the arts community gathered at the Vancouver Art Gallery to protest against the funding cuts. Image: Carlito Pablo

Who ever is interested in design in its experimental aspects and does not have many plans for the next week should try to catch a flight to Lisbon, where tomorrow the EXD’09 starts off with the opening week. The wider subject is “time” – “focusing primarily on the flows and mechanisms of acceleration and fragmentation”, as the organizers put it. The opening week offers a wide mix of events: talks, conferences, exhibitions and of course space for meeting and partying in warm Portuguese nights.

Memorial Torch with Afterlife Cell / © Auger-Loizeau

Interesting people will show up in the first week: e. g. Paola Antonelli, curator from the New York MoMA, will host an open talk about new forms of design. There will be more handcrafty designers and legends like Konstantin Grcic and Giulio Cappellini and also very experimental creatives like James Auger from the Royal College of Arts who will be talking about the exhibition “Lapse in Time” he is participating in. For programme details, the EXD’09 site will try to enlighten you.

If you cannot leave your base straight away, but still want to visit experimentadesign this year – don’t worry: The event goes from September 9th till November 8th.