One Of The Coolest 'Green' Inventions I've Come Across.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

I was watching 'Beyond Tomorrow' earlier and saw a clip on this. I don't know why but I was just fascinated by this and thought it was one of the coolest things I've seen in a while.

It's called the Big Belly and it is a solar powered regular sized outdoor garbage can for cities that compacts its own trash so that it can hold 8 times its capacity. That means less garbage bags on the streets, less collection trips, and less emissions and fuel consumption from the reduction of trips the truck collectors would need to make.

It runs fully on solar power and on 5 hours of sunlight can compact 1000 times and run for 4 weeks with no sunlight at all. It even knows when it's full and places a wireless call automatically to alert that it needs to be emptied.

Anyway, check out the link and the 30 second or 3 minute clip on it. They tested it in Queens, N.Y. and it seems like it performed great.

I just think this concept was totally cool and practical and is a 'Green' invention that totally makes sense and can definitely make a difference in large cities.

Just check it out, see if you're fascinated too!

http://www.seahorsepower.com/

[knitter4democracy]

1. Brilliant!!

I want one. I'd bet that we could all use it on my block to reduce our trash to manageable amounts. Very cool.

[jeff30997]

2. Sounds very interesting!

Thanks for posting!

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

8. Did You View The Short Video?

It's really pretty cool to watch and I'm still impressed how efficiently it uses solar power.

[Kali]

3. I want one. Wonder how much $$$?

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

7. I Think They Said On The Program They Cost $4500.

I was impressed by the price too. For the technology and functionality I would've pegged it as costing more.

[KittyWampus]

4. Great, then we'll send the compacted waste to thermal depolymerization

plants which will turn practically ALL waste into fuel. And that fuel can get distriubuted at fuel stations located right next door.

[silverweb]

6. Okay, I'll buy that.

As long as the thermal depolymerization plants don't run on fossil fuels! :D

[Tace]

15. No, The Thermal Depolymerization Plants Are Self-Powering

They just use a small part (about 12%) of the fuel that they produce.

[silverweb]

24. Hurray for self-powering plants!

:applause:

Okay, for this use and this use only (so far), I'll approve the use of the solar-powered trash compactors. :D

[silverweb]

5. I have a problem with compacting.

Compacting hinders decomposition and does nothing to reduce the actual amount of trash generated.

What I'd love to see (besides more aggressive recycling efforts) is expanding natural means for rapid decomposition of trash by using things like _vermiculture_ and _Japanese-style fermentation_ on a large scale.

We really don't want to compact mountains of trash any more than we have to. We want to restore it to Nature as quickly as possible.

[BrotherBuzz]

10. correct response

I'm with you! :thumbsup:

[SmokingJacket]

11. I agree. Plus I'm waiting for someone to invent the

Garbage Harvester.

It'll dig through old landfills and use the material it finds in a kind of extreme recycling.

Surely this has to happen eventually... right?

Otherwise we'll all be sitting on huge piles of trash -- compacted or not -- before too long.

[Kali]

23. Already are.

Wildwood Estates? Old landfill. Don't dig too deep when you are putting in that new lawn!

[DIKB]

13. Kudos to you

These were my thoughts on first watching the compactor in action.

[Kali]

20. Agree

That was a concern - would it give that mental "excuse" to have MORE trash, like having a diet soda give one the excuse to eat a piece of cake?

[democrank]

9. Runs on solar power?

Fantastic! Thanks for posting this.

[Odin2005]

12. Personally I can't wait till we perfect Nanotechnology.

Using little, self-replicating molecular machines to turn garbage into fertilizer or fuel would be really cool.

[blogslut]

16. Couldn't we use critters n worms?

Seems I heard something about implementing certain bugs and wormy squiggly beings to eat bio-degradable trash...

[Odin2005]

27. nanomachines would be more customizable and more versatile

They would take far less time to replicate themselves. Also, nanomachines would rapidly (as in a day or two) degrade NON-biodegradable stuff.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

29. How Far Away Are We From Such Technology?

You seem to ve well educated on the subject so I figured it would just be easiest to ask rather than do the legwork of research myself :)

[Odin2005]

30. Around 15 years I'll guess

[Ksec]

14. If you want financial security, do something green

All things green are a sure bet today. Even with the GOP fighting it.
Very cool garbage can . I want one. :)

[Kellanved]

17. Compacted garbage is not "green"

It's hard to separate and can't be composted. This is not a good idea at all.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

18. I Find That Some Will Always Find Another Reason To Complain.

So invent an uncompactor then.

As far as the idea goes, it's a great one. It doesn't claim to solve the world's problems, but it does well what it's intended to do. It saves fuel from reduced pickups needed, reduces litter on the streets and runs on solar power. Anything that runs on solar power and helps to encourage the use of solar power is definitely in line with green thinking.

I think it was an incredibly creative idea that seems to work really well and I give kudos to the inventors of it. You may not be fond of it, but I think it's a great start towards helping to control some of the garbage problems that big cities face.

Since you require further reading in order to see that it is absolutely a 'Green' issue, here's a snip from one of the articles:

"According to Gerald Checco, Superintendent of the Cincinnati park system, those 150 units will allow the department to go from two garbage trucks to one garbage truck – saving enough money in fuel, maintenance and labor costs to pay for the entire BigBelly system in about 3 years. (Garbage trucks average only 2.8 m.p.g., so avoided collection trips add up to big savings.) After 5 years, Mr. Checco estimates he will have saved $178,000 in his budget, having paid off his investment in the BigBelly system after year three, and also will have saved 7,750 gallons of diesel fuel and avoided putting 86 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. That effectively means he’d be paid more than $2,000 per ton of avoided CO2 – making for a very appealing climate change initiative. Finally, with signage or even advertising panels, the BigBelly gets messages out in a uniquely effective way – people use it, interact with it, and even small children can see a solar panel at eye level performing a task everyone can relate to (feeding the BigBelly to reduce litter and the trash collection burden). As such, it’s a great awareness tool to help promote clean energy campaigns like Clean Energy Choice in Massachusetts. http://www.smartpower.org/may_2006.htm#5"

[StrictlyRockers]

19. Hey, this looks like a brilliant invention.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

21. I Thought So Too. It's A Great Practical Application For Solar Energy.

Every town that's used them seems to love them.

[badgerpup]

25. All that is very true and very green...

not arguing there...
but what about the end product...the trash?
Compacted or not, you still have to deal with it.

[sweetheart]

22. how many people can one of those hold!

The bush junta's got a great idea to deal with all those onry gay people, pot smokers,
disabled people and women, veterans, brown people, sex workers, rape victems and
all the poor people on the earth.

A coffin that could fit 8 to 1, disguised as a garbage can to detect and remove unwanted
extra people, might be a great darwinian addition to the homeland arsenal to clean
up the dirt in the society. Mugabe would like to use some too, the market is awesome,
and green on top of it all!! ;-)

[Greyhound]

26. Definitely way cool. This is where our tax dollars should be going! n/t

:kick:

[chaska]

28. I bought my mother a household compactor once, and....

she never used it after the first load because it smelled bad. This is a great idea though, it's outside where it will not offend. Or so one would suppose.

Still, I think it should come with an automatic ejector for compostables and recyclables. Inventors get busy.