My lawn is a solar collector. Energy is stored in the plant material, and it can be harvested after the lawn is mowed by firing the clippings in a combustor to generate heat or power. A more efficient use of this energy, however, is to recycle the clippings back into the lawn or into a garden as compost to offset petroleum-based fertilizer.
Given this interpretation of my lawn, it seemed wrong to buy a conventional gas-guzzling lawnmower to keep it trimmed. Why use a non-renewable energy source to harvest a renewable energy source? I might as well be in the corn ethanol business (see “Let the Sun Set on Corn-Based Ethanol”). To investigate other options, I found an excellent Web site, http://www.cleanairgardening.com/ , highlighting many alternatives to gas mowers. After a little research, I settled upon the Black & Decker CMM1200 Cordless Electric Lawnmower, which I purchased last week.
Perhaps the most environmentally benign option would have been a manual reel mower. However, I wanted to be able to mulch the clippings or collect them for composting as I desired. Plus, my reading suggested that manual reel mowers don’t handle weeds well, and my lawn has a pretty serious weed problem.
When I was a kid, one of my household chores was mowing the lawn with our gas mower. I remember jerking on the starter cord a dozen times to get the engine to turn over, inhaling exhaust fumes, being deafened by the engine roar, and having my hands vibrated so severely that I couldn’t feel my fingers. I also remember running out of gas and having to fill up the mower from the fuel can we kept in the garage. I hated mowing the lawn.
The cordless mower is a totally different experience. It is quiet and smooth. The engine easily turns on and off with a spring-actuated lever – no starter chord. At 76 pounds, the CMM1200 is a bit heavier than push gas mowers in its class (which usually run under 70 pounds) due to its 24-volt battery. However, it cuts grass just as well as its fossil-fuel-fired cousins, and frankly I need the exercise.
Of course, so long as the mower is recharging from a wall outlet, it is not truly using renewable energy. However, what sets cordless electric mowers apart from their plug-in counterparts is that the recharging station can be modified to use any electricity source, including solar power. Thus, as a long-term project, I plan to build a solar-powered charging station to make my cordless electric mower truly renewable. However, I will probably wait until the manufacturer’s warranty expires before attempting such a retrofit.
Almost every automaker has had to 'pick a side' when it comes to alternative fuel options and ways to divest from a reliance on gasoline. Fiat is looking to back compressed natural gas or liquid propane as an interim solution.
Plastic may not be the most beloved of materials to the more environmentally minded, but Plasti 2012 aimed to mold a different opinion of the material in people's minds.
The rare earth element market has become steadily more rational, and new sources coming online will continue to reduce costs. Still, it is unlikely that prices will drop to their former lows.
Against a backdrop of mounting product complexity and a need to keep a lid on development costs, companies are recognizing a need to make simulation a more integral part of the design process. In response, vendors in the CAD world are building out CAE functionality as part of their CAD suites while simulation vendors are building tighter integrations to leading CAD tools. Keith Meintjes, Ph.D., Practice Manager, Simulation and Analysis at CIMdata, Inc., joins Design News CAD Editor Beth Stackpole in this radio program to explore the new face of integrated CAD and CAE, how companies are benefitting from this tighter partnership between platforms, and how integrating CAE earlier in the development cycle pays off in optimized product designs.
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