New system promises to purify water with sunlight

DeShawn Henry, a Civil Engineering student at the University of Buffalo, in the United States, created a solar lens capable of filtering water. The system is cheap and, according to the young, has the potential to help communities with less access to drinking water.

According to the sustainable planet, Henry will have used cheap materials from a hardware store to get your invention: the result was a device capable of filtering 99.9% of the impurities of a liter of water in about an hour.

The lens increases the sunlight and heats one litre of water at a temperature enough to filter it. As the Sun moves in the sky, the water container needs to be adjusted in order to be at the focal point of the lens. The heating process eliminates the pathogens present in the water, leaving it clean and drinkable.

The idea of Henry may have the potential to help the population of the least developed countries, especially in Africa and Asia, since the water treatments are expensive. More than one billion people worldwide do not have access to clean water, which leads to the death of a child under the age of 5 years by the minute.

The next step of the young American is to create a larger lens, you can clean a greater amount of water, and make the equipment more efficient: is to filter one litre of water per hour is not enough to give vent looking for a family of five.

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Portugal GPA promotes debate on agricultural, marine and forestry resources

"Portugal, Natural Capital â€" agriculture, sea and forests" is the theme of the Fifth Conference of Green Project Awards (GPA) which will be chaired by the Minister of agriculture and the sea, Assumption Crests. The event is scheduled for the next day December 1, by 09:00, in the large auditorium of the ISCTE-UNL, in Lisbon.

The Conference will address topics such as the natural capital of Portugal, the natural capital as a competitive advantage, innovation and economic growth, aiming to promote the debate on the sustainable management of natural capital in Portugal, disseminate good practices and their contribution to the competitiveness of the national economy.

During the event will be presented the prize EDIA/Green Project Awards. The initiative is carried out in partnership with the Development company and the Alqueva infrastructure and the Business Council for sustainable development.

Entries are free and can be made here.

The Conference "Portugal, Natural Capital â€" agriculture, sea and forests" will have the following software:

09:30-opening session

10h00 â€" Keynote Speaker

10h30 â€" Coffee Break

10:45-Natural Capital, innovation and economic growth â€" the value of water in Alqueva "

2:30 pm â€" presentation Prize EDIA

03:00 pm â€" "Natural Capital in Portugal"

3:30 pm â€" "the Natural Capital as a competitive advantage for Portugal-SEA"

17h00-Coffee Break

5:30 pm-the Natural Capital as a competitive advantage for Portugal â€" valuation of forest resources and economic growth

07:00 pm-closing

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Continent and Solinca combine with to promote a healthier life for the Portuguese

The Continent the Solinca Gymnasiums joined to launch the card Gives Fitness, wellness and health solution, with the possibility to enjoy a pack of ten access to spaces of 25% with Solinca discount on Mainland Card.

The card Gives Fitness is a product directed to all people who seek to have access to training without compulsory loyalty plans, allowing you to acquire or offer training from €49,90 and receive discount on Mainland Card, which can be converted to shopping.

After the first use the remaining access to the clubs have a validity of Solinca three months, "which represents the ideal solution for anyone who wants to attend a Club and have exercise habits with less regularity and with minimal impact, familial", indicates the director-general of Health Fitness & Solinca, Bernardo Again, in a statement.

"This partnership seeks to meet the expectations of our customers, by broadening the base of loyalty program offer Mainland card, being the perfect savings ally in various situations of life of Portuguese families, like a trip to the gym," says marketing manager from mainland, Paulo Veiga.

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South Africa: recycled containers transformed into educational space for children

The South African Architects atelier of Justice was hired to design a library. However, the project ran out of funding and the architects had to find an economic solution that allowed the construction of the library. The solution was to create the building from export containers, ensuring a quality and interaction space for children.

SEED Library, as it was named the library is intended to be a prototype that can be reproduced in other places and under similar financial conditions. The containers were positioned perpendicularly. The top container, painted green and gray, serves as a reading room and has small rooms to study. The space below is for collective activities. The entire building is equipped with LED lighting.

Last year, the SEED Library was awarded a prize in the Loeries, a Gauteng Institute for Architects Merit Award and was nominated for other awards, referred to Inhabitat. The library was conceived as a semi-permanent solution that can serve as a model for other spaces.

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What hides the giant stone circles of Jordan?

Twelve great stone circles were discovered in recent years in Jordan: eight between Wadi el-Hasa and Shara, West of the country, and four North of the oasis of Azraq. Even if they appear to be highly accurate, researchers and archaeologists have not yet realized Wed its purpose.

Although the first circles were discovered in 20 years, the truth is that the use of satellite imagery has come to discover several others â€" the last in 2002 â€" and scientists believe that more will be discovered in the near future.

The technology just triggered the curiosity of archaeologists, which still failed to detail what the purpose of these monstrous constructions made of stones and boulders â€" the diameters vary between 220 meters and 455 yards.

"The landscape of the Middle East have circular structures or dense scattered sub-circulares. Most are circles, but there are many that are geometrically precise, though sometimes distorted, "explained David Kennedy, of the University of Western Australia.

Thus, they would have to have been built by 12 or more workers and designed by an "architect". Quotation marks, of course, because these buildings are said to have been made in a period between 2,000 and 4,500 BC.

According to investigators, some answers will be given in the coming years, as they explore the satellite images and made excavations in the terrain. Until then, it is expected that the circles are not destroyed by the expansion of the neighbouring cities â€" in fact, two of them were destroyed, in recent years, due to this fact.

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EcoBook: the Whiteboard in school notebook format

The concept is the same as a whiteboard of those who find themselves in schools: write as many times as you want and delete as many times as you want. However, this is not a picture, but rather of the EcoBook, a notebook and reusable eco-made from the same material of the school boards, which allows the re-use of leaves without the stain or damage.

Behind the EcoBook are, two young men of Viseu, who created the concept this year when they were still in the last year of secondary education. The idea arose from the frustration of having damaged leaves by use of rubber or the impossibility of erasing ink stains. And thus arose the EcoBook, which embodies the advantages of the pencil, the possibility to erase and re-write, but without leaving marks, together with the pen, allowing for greater smoothness in the writing process.

The project started in June this year, through a campaign of crowdfunding, during just over a month, has raised about € 2,300, 85% more than young people needed to start the project. With this money the company could create and produce stock.

"The acceptance of the product has surpassed very positively our expectations. In less than two months we can sell to Brazilian companies, a multinational, hearing health for public institutions and others, "says Peter Lee. "It's hard and we get many sleepless nights, but we see what we have achieved already so new it makes you wake up every morning with a smile on her face and a huge willingness to at least try to change the habits of the Portuguese and, who knows, in the world," he adds.

The EcoBook is available in formats A4 and A5 costing €8,99 and €6,99, respectively, and are accompanied by a black marker. The ecological notebook can be purchased in online shop of the EcoBook.

Photo: EcoBook

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Demand for rhinoceros horn in Vietnam decreased by 38% in one year

Efforts to stem the illegal trade of animals appear to be bearing fruit in some African and Asian countries. Vietnam is one of them. The demand for rhino horn in this country decreased about 38% in the last year.

After a long public awareness campaign in Vietnam, only 2.6% of the inhabitants continue to buy and use the rhino horn, which has enough medicinal value according to the local customs.  And also the number of people who still believe in the medicinal value of the Horn, which is of the same biological material that the nails and hair, decreased by about 25%.

However, around 38% of Vietnamese continue to believe that the animal Horn achieves treating diseases such as rheumatism or cancer.

The findings are from a survey carried out by Nielsen for the Humane Society International and the Cites Vietnamese, referred to in the Guardian.

Vietnam is one of the key markets for trade in rhino horn, a factor that triggered the awareness campaign to deter people from buying and consuming the product. The campaign has focused on debunking the myth that the rhino horn has medicinal value. The action took place mainly in commercial spaces, schools, universities and women's organizations in the country's capital, Hanoi.

Demand for rhinoceros horns in the markets of China and other countries of Southeast Asia are putting the African rhinos in danger. In the last year about 1,004 animals were slaughtered by poachers in South Africa, which has more rhinos than any other African country. This year have already been slaughtered 821 animals.

The increase in poaching the rhinoceros is relatively recent â€" in 2007, only 13 rhinos were slaughtered in South Africa. One of the main reasons for the slaughter are the high prices that the rhinoceros horns can reach on the black market, about € 78,700/kg, which puts this product at the same level in the price of gold or cocaine.

Foto: Stephen Kelly Photography/Creative Commons

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