Just one small thing

Mobile recycling

When it comes to mobile phones I'm a bit of a techno-Luddite - Blackberry aside, I am proud to say I have only ever owned two...both of which still work! For others tho, there is clearly the need to get the latest gizmo before you've barely learnt how to use the last one.

But apart from the sustainability issues involved in keeping up with (and fuelling) this demand for the new, there's also the question of disposal. Because. apparently, two thirds of us Brits don't know how to recycle their old phones, and 1 in 5 just dump them straight in the bin…even if they're still working.

To help do their bit to address this, Tesco Mobile wants to encourage us to recycle more. How? By bribery basically (but if it works...!). They are offering free airtime (up to £70), clubcard points or a charitable donation if you dispose of your phone thru their new scheme. And you don't have to even be a customer.

As they say, every little helps.

(Via Gizmodo)

Cheap wind

How to take renewable wind power to the third world? That was the challenge Shawn Frayne set himself. Big turbines are, well, very big…and very expensive. Even small turbines are pretty pricey, given the engineering involved.

The answer first came to him at school when watching a film on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (this Wikipedia link includes a great film). So unstable was said bridge, that it used to oscillate in the wind, turning it into a bit of a tourist attraction as people came to ride the wave (until, sadly, it collapsed in 1940, taking all its passengers with it).

Anyway, the idea of wind based oscillation stuck with Shawn, and he has now turned it into a potentially very cheap and very efficient means of energy generation. Watch the film here, which explains everything very well. Or read the website.

Just goes to show you're never too young to have great ideas, and that harder problems make for better inventions.