Bicycle x-mas tree.

Happy holidays, from Creating Current.

This bicycle xmas tree was created by "The Rocks" in Sydney Australia, its 23 feet tall utilizing more than 100 bicycles. If only it was bicycle powered, one continues to dream...

This does however bring up an interesting thought, is reclaiming such things as bicycle frames and wheels that appear to still be somewhat functional for use of sculptural objects, especially ones that are seasonal really make an environmentally friendly impact? On one hand it seems a little wasteful (coming from someone who has no idea what they are doing with those bikes afterwords) but from the educational standpoint, is this mind expanding enough to show viewers that you can build things from pre used materials?

Thank You!

Thanks to the Team at Green Diary for the write up!

http://www.greendiary.com/entry/innovative-bike-based-curriculum-to-help-facilitate-learning/

Sneak Peak!

This is a sneak peak at the Bicycle Generator Exhibit about to hit the floor at the Rochester Museum and Science Center. Shh! Hush Hush.

What takes up the most power

http://www.howstuffworks.com/question272.htm
http://www.itfacts.biz/94-of-families-with-small-and-teenage-kids-have-a-pc-90-a-tv/6717

These are two interesting posts about how much power each electronic device takes up while plugged in on a daily basis.

And an energy calculator so that you can figure out how much you are spending a month on electricity for your different devices. 

http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/howmuch.html

Design Mind

Solving Better Problems


By Eric Wicks - January 4, 2010

What the bicycle can teach us about the design challenges of the next century.



Albert Einstein once said, “The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them…” and he was right. In the next century, our job as designers will be to evaluate accepted solutions through a different lens. For a solution to be truly sustainable and good it must have a positive return to the environment and society. At the heart of any design problem is a question: Are we trying to make something less bad or are we trying to make things better?



With the industrial revolution came great responsibility that has taken us decades to face up to. There is more to getting everything we ever wanted than meets the eye. With the green movement things have gotten better, but just because something is labeled as “green” doesn’t mean it’s good. The Federal Trade Commission has a guide to sort out “green” advertising claims here. But Federal regulation can only go so far. Products and processes must be rethought. Expectations are still at a fairly low level and we have a responsibility to exceed them by not focusing on the end product, but by looking at the whole ecosystem in which it exists. Simply making a t-shirt with a different type of fabric is not enough. We really need to consider whether we are solving the right problem in the first place.



It’s not just about solving for the negative; It’s about creating a positive. The bicycle is a good example. We have figured out how to harness kinetic energy while braking to recharge batteries in electric vehicles. Imagine applying this idea to a bicycle. Most of the challenge of cycling is in creating motion rather than sustaining it. Having the aid of an electric motor might help adults that are older or overweight to adopt cycling as a more serious and attractive mode of transportation.



In fact, just such a two-wheeler was unveiled last week at the COP15 Copenhagen Conference when MIT students introduced The Copenhagen Wheel. The bike captures kinetic energy during braking and stores it in an electric motor pinched to the back wheel. It also uses Bluetooth to transmit data about speed, distance, pollution levels, and location to the rider’s iPhone. Technologies like these can help decrease the barrier to natural physical activity for certain riders while also connecting them more intimately with their environment. To solve the problems we face we need to create solutions relative to a better set of criteria that work with and not against natural forces.



H.G. Wells once said, "When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race." Riding a bike is something that provides more than just the practical benefit of moving people from A to B. As somebody who regularly commutes by bike I can say that the benefits are wide and far-reaching and impact everything from the finer details of my budget to the core of my fitness.



But there's also another, less tangible benefit to biking: It reduces the barrier between the rider and the environment. Every time I get on my bike—whether it’s a ride to work or distance over the weekend—I look around at some point and truly notice something about my surroundings. Having a closer connection with the environment shows us what it is and what it means to save it. When a person rides a bike they are not only moving; they are actively participating in the world around them and are present to their surroundings. It’s at that point when riding a bike transcends the simple act.



With our minds and our technology, we must let go of the lens of the industrial past and approach our problems with hope. What we need is a paradigm shift to solving better problems. Instead of design that reduces our negative impact, we should figure out how to create a positive impact. We need design that, like the bike, gets us from point A to point B in a way that is comfortable, beneficial, and beautiful.



Eric Wicks is an Austin-based artist, designer, and strategist.

Its Finally Here, Please Come.

Edu Cycle entering completion.

Preview of Thesis Edu-Cycle

This is not the finished stand that comes next for the May 7th opening.

RMSC coming along.

This is a prototype for a standard bike to accommodate our bicycle powered exhibits. We used a old automatic car seat motor to adjust the seating position for a variety of visiter sizes. The next step is creating a safety mechanism for user interaction.

edu-cycle mock-ups

CONCEPT: a traveling exhibit that will be rode from k-12 science classroom to k-12 science classroom at another school by the hosting teacher. The kit is designed for multiple experiments depending on the level of student.

When the host receives the bike they can log into www.creatingcurrent.com and post pictures and talk about how they created their specific experiment.

What design Can do.

What design can do on XD Adobe.

Design Revolution Roadshow

http://designrevolutionroadshow.com/

This is an extremely popular example of what my thesis has now morphed into. The real idea behind this project as well as my own is "why mass produce products when you can mass produce ideas?" The education that the Roadshow is providing students all over the country and soon my classmates as well will work to inspire them in their own endeavors.

Great book as well as website.

Design Revolution is a project part of Project H, Product design initiatives for Humanity, Habitats, Health, and Happiness.

Here is a list of their itinerary-

Itinerary of School Stops

* February 1: Redwood High School, Larkspur, CA
* February 2: Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
* February 3: California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
* February 4: Academy of Art University (and Kick-off Party!), San Francisco, CA
* February 5: San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA
* February 8: Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
* February 9: The Design High School, Los Angeles, CA
* February 9: Reception at the Ecology Center, San Juan Capistrano, CA
* February 15: University of Texas, Austin, TX
* February 18: University of Louisiana, Lafayette, LA
* February 19: Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS
* February 22-23: Auburn University, Auburn, AL
* February 24-26: Hale County Workshop (Learning Landscape build), Greensboro, AL
* February 27: Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA
* March 1-2: North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
* March 4-5: Bertie County School District, Windsor, NC
* March 8: Chowan University, Murfreesboro, NC
* March 11: Maryland Institute College of Arts, Baltimore, MD
* March 12: The Park School, Baltimore, MD
* March 15: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
* March 22: Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
* March 23: Brooklyn Community Arts & Media High School (BCAM), Brooklyn, NY
* March 25: Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
* March 26: Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY
* March 29: Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH
* March 30: Design Lab High School, Cleveland, OH
* April 1: College for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI
* April 2: Cranbrook Academy of Art and High School, Detroit, MI
* April 5-6: School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
* April 7: Samata Mason + DesignCHAT, Chicago, IL
* April 12-13: University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, Stevens Point, WI
* April 15: University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
* April 16: Wilmington High School, Wilmington, OH