mPower consists of 2 units: Generation and Collection.

mPower Generation is a plant-shaped human-powered unit that produces electricity for immediate and future use. Users access their account using fingerprint recognition, stand on two pads at the base of the unit, and shift their weight from one pad to the other every ten seconds. The system, developed to take up the least amount of a user’s time and effort, can be adapted for the handicapped. A small portion of the electricity generated is used to power the interactive touch-screen at the top of the unit, which offers a broad range of informational services pre-customised by each user. The remaining majority of the electricity generated is sent to the city’s main power plant, to be used or stored. At their convenience, users receive payment for the electricity they generated by accessing their account at mPower Collection.

mPower Collection is a unit that, using the same fingerprint recognition technology, distributes payment and allows for account customisation to users of mPower Generation.

mPower taps into our greatest natural resource: people. Rather than expending energy to create more, mPower harnesses the excess energy we generate by providing a platform for individuals and companies to create electricity, make money, and improve lives. By offering payment to individuals, including those that are homeless, in exchange for a few minutes of minimal movement via a free-to-use system available to everyone, economic and environmental sustainability and empowerment is made available by involving citizens in generating what has become one of our most essential needs: electricity.

mPower units are established by electric companies. Businesses pay electric companies to advertise on mPower Generation touch-screens; these ads are geared to individuals who previously expressed interest in particular products/services as per information entered upon account set-up, thus negating . This negates the need for expensive market research, PR and advertising campaigns. Electric companies pay consumers for generating electricity via mPower; these payments are competitive with fees paid by consumers for power provided by the same electric companies.

The base of the unit consists of two pads, each mounted on a hydraulic cylinder. The cylinders are connected by a micro-hydro turbine. When a person steps onto one of the pads, the resulting pressure forces fluid from one cylinder into the other, causing it to rise. The more a person repeats the movement of shifting his/her weight from one pad to the other, the more electricity is generated. This system can be replaced with piezoelectric pads or other technologies as appropriate.

In addition to the exercise users get while generating electricity, they can also benefit from services available on Generation’s interactive network, including news, community events, traffic information, public transportation information, calendar, time, date, music, weather, radio, product and service information, mobile device charging, internet, widgets, city maps, games, phone calling services.

mPower fits into our daily activities and ways of life without disrupting them. Generation and Collection units can be placed on, in, or near streets and pavements, public transportation waiting areas, airports and other areas where waiting is involved, parks and community areas, schools and universities, libraries, common areas in apartment blocks, and countless other places.

The concept of mPower can be modified to fit into homes, casinos, gyms, phone booths, internet cafes, and wherever generated energy can be used as direct power or in exchange for services and products such as climate control, public lighting, charging mobile phones and other devices. Other generation methods can also be implemented, such as walking, pedaling and running, see-sawing, swinging, and using body weight/heat. The possibilities are endless, sustainable, and empowering.

Designer : Sofian Tallal

[Press Release]
MVRDV wins Gwanggyo City Centre Competition, near Seoul, South Korea

The Daewoo Consortium and the municipality of Gwanggyo announced the MVRDV concept design for a dense city centre winner of the developer’s competition for the future new town of Gwanggyo, located 35km south of the Korean capital Seoul. The plan consists of a series of overgrown hill shaped buildings with great programmatic diversity, aiming for high urban density and encouragement of further developments around this so-called ‘Power Centre’, one of the envisioned two centre’s of the future new town.

Since the beginning of the millennium local nodes with a high density concentration of mixed program are used in Korean town planning. These nodes consist of a mix of public, retail, culture, housing, offices and leisure generating life in new metropolitan areas and encouraging further developments around them: the Power Centre strategy. The Gwanggyo Power Centre will consist of 200,000m2 housing, 48,000m2 offices, 200,000m2 mix of culture, retail, leisure and education and 200,000m2 parking.

This diverse program has different needs for phasing, positioning and size. To facilitate this all elements are designed as rings. By pushing these rings outwards, every part of the program receives a terrace for outdoor life. Plantations around the terraces with a floor to floor circulation system store water and irrigate the plants. The roofs of these hills and the terraces are planted with box hedges creating a strong, recognizable, cohesive park. This vertical park will improve the climate and ventilation, reduce energy and water usage. As a result a series of overgrown green ‘hills’ appear in the landscape.

The site is surrounded by a beautiful lake and forested hills, the design aims to create a landscape on top of the new program that enlarges the green qualities and that links the surrounding parks by turning the site into a park.

The shifting of the floors causes as a counter effect hollow cores that form large atriums. They serve as lobbies for the housing and offices, plazas for the shopping center and halls for the museum and leisure functions. In each tower a number of voids connect to the atrium providing for light and ventilation and creating semi-public spaces. On the lower floors the atriums are connected through a series of public spaces on various levels linking the towers and serving the outdoor facilities of the culture, retail and leisure program. The Power Centre creates a dense urban program with a green regard.

The concept plan is currently at the Gyeonggi provincial authority’s Urban Innovation Corporation for further development and feasibility study, the entire new town will be a self sufficient city of 77,000 inhabitants. The estimated budget and timeframe are still in the process of being established, completion is envisioned for 2011. A consortium lead by Daewoo develops the project with local firm DA Group, which commissioned MVRDV to design the scheme. British firm Arup is involved as engineer.

Designer : MVRDV via IGreenSpot via WordArchitectureNews

Designer : Ricardo Baiao

Check all the latest news, e-mails, or any other important information on your breakfast table. Yuno is a regular coffee mug but it can be of great help for any professional business man who is always in a hurry. You can carry this mug along with you anywhere you want. This mug can instantly display your current chosen screensaver or picture. I don’t think any other device is capable of providing such a computer handy stuff.

I like this whole concept of Yuno PC mug which is invented by Jason Farsai. But it sounds a little weird, when you have to face your computer in a curved surface. Even though this Yuno mug works as a PC but still it will be difficult for anyone to use it on a regular basis. Never mind, you can still give it a try.

Designer : Jason Farsai

It also works well in the night as it has embedded flash light. It can help the police in their dangerous work. It works more effectively than a CCTV camera, CCTV camera has a limit range view, but this device has no range as it is in motion all the time with you, help you solving many problems such as theft in your daily life. This designer with his unique mind has bought out something fantastic and has done something good for the mankind and making them independent of cops and working towards their own security.

Designer : Gabriel Lam via Core77

Designer : Joel Lim via IGreenSpot

This motorcycle was developed in conjunction with British Intelligent Energy, which make this a great collaboration since British Intelligent has its own hydrogen generation plants. Energy has a portfolio that includes a range of world-class fuel cell, fuel processing, desulphurization and hydrogen generation technologies. The company�s existing home hydrogen generation system means you�ll be able to make your own hydrogen at home. So I guess this news means you will find this motorcycle in the nearest showroom somewhere near the future.

From : Suzuki

Designer : DeVillain Guitar Company

Source : Otto Bock