By Lucille Chi •
October 28, 2008
Buckypaper is a material composed of carbon nanotubes. It is 10 times lighter and over 500 times stronger than steel and the “buckytubes” that make it up are 50,000 times thinner than a human hair. It is predicted by futurists that this material will storm the auto and aviation industries.
One of the best ways to make transportation vehicles more energy efficient is to reduce their weight, so the commercialization of buckypaper promises lighter, super efficient and much stronger vehicles.
Sometimes, you come across a Website that’s just so full of great, inspiring and exciting information, you can’t get enough of it. That’s what happened when I came upon the Buckminster Fuller Challenge Idea Index, a database of entries into the annual Buckminster Fuller Challenge to solve “humanity’s most pressing problems in the shortest possible time while enhancing the Earth’s ecological integrity.”
The challenge, launched last year, honored its first winner this past June: a plan for a “Comprehensive Design for a Carbon Neutral World: The Challenge of Appalachia,” submitted by John Todd, a research professor at the University of Vermont and founder and president of Oceans Arks International. And just last month, the institute unveiled its Idea Index, which provides details on entries in every area from community and energy to transportation and water. It’s too much to take in all at once, so today, let’s look at some of the innovative ideas in one area alone: food.
