The economy is so bad right now that even our trash is worthless. Experts estimate that prices for recycled paper, metal and plastics have dropped 50 to 70 percent, or not even worth the while to ship them across the Pacific to China, which has imported more than 70 percent of the materials used in its recycling industry. Scrap copper peaked at $8,000 a ton in 2007, and it now brings $3,000. Some sources say paper is even down as much as 80 percent.
Recycled American scrap has been sitting in ships in Chinese ports, or scrap yards. Increasingly that recycled material will go into landfills. From a design engineering standpoint, it makes that old claim of designing products that are “recyclable” even less tenable. Even stuff that has had real value, like PET soda bottles, or high-density polyethylene milk bottles, is now struggling to find markets. So what’s happening to plastic car interiors, or engineering materials in washing machines or computers? It’s certainly not part of a tenable, economic recycling stream at least now - if it ever was.
Interviews I had with a great engineering team at a Massachusetts company this week reminded me that we really have to make decisions for ourselves about what makes sense from an environmental point of view. Just saying we specified a bioplastic, for example, doesn’t make it a good environmental choice. Or saying that we used a “recyclable” material doesn’t mean we did a good turn for the environment. We need to consider factors like how much energy did it take to ship those sub assemblies I specified? Would it have been better environmentally to have paid 5 percent more and bought from a local supplier? I’m sure there are a whole series of issues like that. And that kind of thinking is very different from the kind of marketing spin you often hear.
Inspired by the hooks a parasitic worm uses to penetrate its host's intestines, the Karp Lab has invented a flexible adhesive patch covered with microneedles that adheres well to wet, soft tissues, but doesn't cause damage when removed.
Engineers at the University of California, San Diego are designing a robotic arm that takes inspiration from the loose, flexible, yet very strong structure of the armored plates on a seahorse's tail.
Researchers at the Missouri University of Science & Technology have designed a new nanoscale material that can transmit light faster than the 186,000 miles per second it usually takes to travel through air.
It has often been said that as California goes, so goes the nation. This spring, the state's wind power is setting energy generation records and solar energy generation is expected to rise sharply during the second half of 2013.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
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A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
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