Comments on: Nano Vent-Skin by Agustin Otegu

By: baoan

baoan — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:17:50 +0000

“Starck “innovates” with less….” May I add : and useless
I loved the “the trouser fart collector” idea. I would like to suggest this device to put in use for some important EU meetings on sustainability issues ))

By: zuy

zuy — Sun, 25 May 2008 20:49:53 +0000

Starck “innovates” with less….

By: CPCP

CPCP — Fri, 23 May 2008 10:44:14 +0000

“negligible power output, particularly when compared with energy invested in their research, development, manufacture and deployment.”

completely agree. too often the operating performance of these inventions does not take into account the capitol, resources and impact that their research, development and manufacture/deployment demanded.
toyota prius for example.

By: John

John — Wed, 21 May 2008 19:01:30 +0000

So many designs concentrate on some science fiction intervention, a deus ex machina strategy of invention (in this case nano-bioengineering). It was the belief that science can (and will) just figure it out that propelled us to potential climate collapse, yet we still look to it as a savior. I am frustrated with designs that let us have our cake and eat it too through some miraculous invention. Scientifically, the truth is glaringly clear, we are simply eating too much cake.

Also, to follow up on xearo’s post, turbine power potential is dependent on rotor radius squared, substrate velocity cubed, and substrate density (with a few other small variables related to efficiency of the axle, resistance of the turbine surface, etc.) This combination of variables shows why a single hydroelectric turbine is far more productive than several large scale wind turbines: water is dense and very fast moving, air is not dense and relatively slow. Wind turbine compensate by increasing rotor radius to windmill sizes. Nano-scale turbines would have an almost negligible power output, particularly when compared with energy invested in their research, development, manufacture and deployment.

So lets hang up the fancy renderings and science fiction language for a minute and concentrate on reduction and efficiency. Sorry for the slam post, it just gets me when science is wielded like magic.

By: John

John — Wed, 21 May 2008 13:20:43 +0000

jajaja, this gave me a good laugh. Nowadays people just come up with anything, render it and other people believe it!

By: xearo

xearo — Wed, 21 May 2008 10:45:03 +0000

in answer to what i’ve just written – that sounds wonderful but its totally made up (actually cribbed from a charles stross book- which was written about 5 years ago)- and no doubt the real world with real research will produce something much more fascinating and workable

By: xearo

xearo — Wed, 21 May 2008 10:43:15 +0000

@ pro vent skin types
rubbish : wind turbines in urban areas are relatively ineffectual because of the size needed to produce any amount of useful energy to counter their embedded energy costs, they’re also ugly. But they also have to be tall to tap into the major wind currents above a few stories…in short they’re green wash – like most things they need to be on mass scale with reliable and consistant output to be useful to our civilisation. why would the ‘nano’ vent be any better?
there’s no reason designers shouldn’t get involved with coming up with ideas and thinking about what buildings could be- but they should base it on thought through ideas extrapolated from interesting avenues of actual research…
what about piezo-electrics? what about solar power? both of these are attracting loads of financial and technical interest

what about a pitch black rainforect of mechanical foliage – that maximises surface area by taking the forms of leaves, and maximises light absorption by being matte black – to colect solar power on the top of buildings?

By: Fling

Fling — Tue, 20 May 2008 18:45:15 +0000

I have also developed my own response to global warming in relation to the most harmful gas – methane – I call it the trouser fart collector. I simply connect (I shall not go into details at this stage) an airtight plastic bag to my anus , its litrage roughly equivalent to a daily bottom exhalation. A single way valve secures the gas. When I get home, i connect the bag(s) up to my cooker and use the fuel collected for that day! Judicious choice of meal means that any surplus the following day can be fed back into the grid!! I have also avoided this harmful (not to mention noxious) emission reaching our beloved ozone layer. The trousers are another design challenge which i will detail later. The plus point of all this, is that it is completely achievable with conventional technologies, and can be expanded to cover almost every life form on earth. Cows for instance. Minus the trousers. Hard to connect the bags to squirrels though.

By: sam

sam — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:07:25 +0000

Hey all:

I understand that this might not be a reality yet, but don’t you think it’s important for designers to be tinkering, coming up with wild ideas that may even be the stuff of fantasy? If the architectural community isn’t addressing issues of energy, then they’re not doing their jobs responsibly.

Though it may be completely unfeasible, at least for today, this designer (or designers)is helping to lay the groundwork for more serious thought on the issue.

So I’m encouraging Agustin Otegu not to give up! Let’s see Nano Vent-Skin 2.0.

By: Soren

Soren — Tue, 20 May 2008 08:57:07 +0000

I think this is rad. Well done to them, its a fantastic concept, its future thinking, addressing real issues and looks super cool. Maybe a bit sci-fi, but someone has to do all that sort of hinking because it looks like all the negative pragmatists are very busy blogging their negativity here.!.