Twine is exactly the type of sensor-stuffed, Wi-Fi-connected gadget
you would expect to take off in Kickstarter's tech section. The device
promises to make your washing machine tweet when the laundry is done and
your basement send an email when it floods. Blogs called it “the
future” within a week after debuting. Nobody was surprised when it
raised more than half-a-million dollars--except for its creators.
When
John Kestner and David Carr posted Twine on Kickstarter in November
2011, they had set their fundraising goal at $35,000. Their plan was to
produce about 200 units using the same process that created the
prototype. But six weeks later, having raised $556,541, they were now
committed to shipping almost 4,000 units. The homemade wax mold used to
create Twine's prototype was no longer going to cut it, and there wasn't
another plan. “We were definitely not thinking of the risk of being too
successful,” Kestner tells Fast Company.
In scaling their
manufacturing process, tasks the team of two hadn't
considered--customizing a $15,000 set of tooling, designing packaging,
communicating with backers, and searching for components--added up to an
unmanageable number of full-time jobs. Twine’s estimated delivery date
of March quickly became unrealistic.
Despite the
disproportionate attention that superstar Kickstarter projects like
Twine get, they're rare. Most projects raise less than $10,000, and
until last year, none had raised more than $1 million. But as
Kickstarter's scale rockets, breakaway projects like Twine are becoming
not only more visible but more common. Seventeen Kickstarter projects
passed the $1 million (or euro equivalent) milestone last year. Six of
them, like Twine, were gadget projects, which are arguably left in the
most awkward position after breakout success. When a Kickstarter project
involving hardware takes off, what started as a dream and a prototype
can morph into a mass-manufacturing commitment within a couple of weeks.
It’s something of a Cinderella story--but one in which Cinderella must
learn how to navigate mass manufacturing overnight. Here is how it
worked out for Twine.
Prototyping Twine cost a few hundred
dollars. Recently graduated from MIT’s Media Lab, Kestner and Carr
“squirreled away” a space to work in the basement of a Harvard dorm.
Carr already owned a soldering iron and the electronics equipment for
Twine’s circuit board, and he carved a wax mold for Twine's blue outer
casing using a milling machine that he had built himself. Silicone and
urethane cost about $100 at a local supply shop, and the toaster oven
where Twine's first casing baked for six hours cost another $20.
It
wasn't until the third day of the Kickstarter project, when Twine's
funding passed three times the original goal, that the pair of inventors
realized Twine had scaled past this manufacturing process. “If we had
done 4,000,” Kestner says, “it would have taken months just to
physically manufacture them. That’s not including all of the development
time.”
3-D printing, Github-type sites for creating hardware
such as Upverter, and makerspaces like Boston-based Artisan Aylum have
all made the path to creating a functional prototype or a small batch of
gadgets easier. “But the big gotchya,” says Scott Miller, the CEO of a
production consultancy called Dragon Innovation that has about 20
Kickstarter projects as clients, “is that is really just the beginning,
and there’s a tremendous amount of work to do after that. Because the
entrepreneurs have a lot of unknown unknowns, they don’t really know how
far along the timeline they are. And typically they will think they’re a
lot closer to getting volume on the shelf or e-commerce than they
actually are.”
All of Twine’s manufacturing partners and most of
its component sources are located in the United States, which
successfully avoided the problems with language, time, and cultural
barriers that Kickstarter projects such as Pebble and LIFX have dealt
with while manufacturing their products in China. Even without overseas
manufacturing, however, there were plenty of unanticipated challenges.
The
company that manufactured Twine’s outer casing, for instance, didn’t
design the tooling it used to shape them. Kestner did. Whether or not
his designs ended up being functional, they each would cost $15,000.
Twine’s gut, the part that holds its circuit board, is made of hard
plastic and was easy to test with a 3-D printer before putting money
down for the real deal. But only one 3-D printer would prototype the
tooling for Twine’s rubber casing, and the results weren’t nearly as
accurate as the gut prototypes. When the actual metal tooling arrived,
it was a disaster. The case was too tight,Come January 9 and chip card
driving licence would be available at the click of the mouse in Uttar
Pradesh. and it looked terrible. Problems with the manufacturer’s
preview software got the team a refund, but the lost cost could have
killed the project. Even with the refund, it cost time. All together, it
took five months to just design Twine’s outer casing.Ein innovativer
und moderner Werkzeugbau Formenbau.
Meanwhile,
Twine’s first employee coordinated the delivery of 100 components to
the factory that assembled Twine’s circuit boards--a job that was part
scavenger hunt and part logistical Olympics. Kestner worked on a design
for Twine’s packaging and put together a website for managing Twine
backers’ new addresses and international shipping costs.
By the
time the casing and circuit boards began arriving in June, the team had
moved to Austin. Boxes started piling up in their new workspace. The
casing arrived from an injection molding plant in Minnesota. Circuit
boards came from a manufacturer in New Hampshire. And the 8-piece boxes
that Kestner designed himself came from North Carolina in large flats.
Supermechanical, the company behind Twine, had already spent nearly all
of its Kickstarter money. It had overshot its estimated shipping date by
three months,Online shopping for luggage tag from a great selection of Clothing. and it hadn’t even started putting devices together.
It
isn't just first-time hardware entrepreneurs that struggle with the
manufacturing demands of surprise scaling via Kickstarter. Pebble
Technology's CEO, Eric Migicovsky,Where you can create a custom lanyard
from our wide selection of styles and materials. has been working on
smartwatches for four years. The company manufactured about 1,500 units
of its first product, InPulse, at a Bay Area manufacturer. But the
85,000 Pebble smartwatches the company owes Kickstarter backers after
raising $10 million on the site required a shift to an overseas
manufacturing process, and--though Migicovsky says this plan B existed
in advance--the company missed its September estimated delivery date.
In
fact, most breakaway hardware projects have missed their deadlines.
iPhone station Elevation Dock shipped about six months late. Virtual
reality headset Oculus Rift initially set its expected delivery date for
October, but announced recently that it now expects to be delivering
developer kits by March 2013. By one estimate, only 25% of Kickstarter’s
design and technology products deliver on time.Can you spot the answer
in the fridge magnet?
Being
late is not necessarily a big deal. Kickstarter is, after all, designed
to support unfinished projects. A bigger problem is reaching a
Kickstarter funding goal only to realize that the funding can’t come
close to covering your costs. Twine, for instance, set its goal at
$35,000—aiming as low as possible in order to avoid missing it.
“If
we had gotten less than we did, but still met our goal, that would have
really hurt us; we would have lost money,” Kestner says. “There’s an
uncomfortable valley between hand-making stuff and being able to have
the capital to invest in tooling and all the stuff that goes into mass
manufacturing that you just can’t get good prices on without mass
production. So what do you do? You can’t afford to hand-make 1,000 of
something.”
2013年2月5日 星期二
2013年2月4日 星期一
Economy, military shape US Iran strategy
President Barack Obama may have to decide this year whether to use
military force to fulfill his vow to prevent Iran from being able to
build nuclear weapons, foreign policy experts say.
But America's economic and military realities argue intensely against attacking the Islamic republic and for muddling through by, perhaps, further tightening sanctions that have cut deeply into Tehran's economy.
Americans are weary of war after more than a decade of military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.Service Report a problem with a street light. The U.We sell 100% hand-painted oil paintings for sale online.S. economy,Parkeasy Electronics are dedicated to provide Car park management system. while recovering from the Great Recession, still is weak. The military could face deep cuts this year as Congress considers massive reductions in government spending.
What's more, Iran is far stronger militarily than either Iraq or Afghanistan and would undoubtedly strike back by hitting Israel and attacking U.S. soldiers in neighboring Afghanistan. Also, Iran has put much of its nuclear program deep under ground, making it uncertain how much damage could be done by American airstrikes.
Beyond that, the prime advocate for attacking Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, just suffered a significant setback in elections and is in a weakened position. Even before the Israeli election, Obama had rebuffed Netanyahu's calls for an attack, saying there's still time for a diplomatic solution.
But time is running out. Experts say Iran has uranium enriched to 20 percent, a level from which it can be converted to weapons-grade fairly quickly. The U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency says the Iranians are preparing to install faster centrifuges that would speed the process.
"Many people think 2013 is the year of decision as to the question of whether to go to war or strike a conclusive deal to end Iran's nuclear ambitions," said Suzanne Maloney, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Saban Center for Middle East Policy.
A new report by scholars at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank warns that "the current limited crisis ... may well escalate to a major conflict or a new form of Cold War."
During Obama's first term, the U.S. and its allies imposed damaging economic sanctions on Tehran, but so far the leadership there has shown no willingness to talk seriously about altering a uranium enrichment program that could provide fuel for nuclear weapons. Iran denies it wants to build a bomb, insisting it is creating fuel for electricity-generating reactors and medical research.
Iran has been reluctant to engage, refusing to set a location for a new round of talks that were to have taken place in January, until it announced it would meet on Feb. 25 in Kazakhstan with the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany. That group is known as the P-5 + 1, short for the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany. It has been trying to convince Iran to give up its nuclear activities.
Israel, which Iran has vowed to wipe off the map, sees a nuclear-armed Iran as a threat to its existence and has threatened to unilaterally launch a first strike again Tehran's nuclear facilities. Such an attack would almost certainly draw the United States into another military conflict in the region.Which Air purifier is right for you? But Obama and most Americans have shown no appetite for another war,Firmoo offers cheap and discount mens prescription Eyeglasses frame. a fact shown by the president's reluctance to act militarily now and his refusal to involve U.S. forces in the Syrian civil war.
Syria has proven a major distraction for Tehran. If President Bashar Assad is driven from power, Iran could lose its foothold in the Arab world. It uses Syria to funnel arms and money to the anti-Israeli Hezbollah organization that controls southern Lebanon along Israel's northern border and Hamas, the Palestinian faction that controls the Gaza Strip on the south.
But Israel's Netanyahu is also distracted after last month's elections, which saw moderate politicians replace some right-wingers in parliament.
"I think that Netanyahu has been sufficiently weakened so that he won't be able to successfully lobby the United States for a green light to attack," said Chris Dolan, a political scientist at Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania.
Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran specialist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Israeli pressure is no longer, if it ever was, driving Obama's decision-making.
"Our policy toward Iran's nuclear program has been defined by Obama's red lines, not Netanyahu's, meaning that the U.S. isn't likely to use military force unless and until it's clear that Iran is taking active steps to weaponize its program," he said. He was referring to Netanyahu's U.N. speech in September in which he said Iran had already crossed the red line that required military action.
Also, Obama realizes that Iran will have a new president after elections in June, a fact that possibly is causing Iran to drag its feet. The next president will replace hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who denies the World War II Holocaust in which Hitler's Germany killed 6 million Jews.
But in Iran, real power is in the hands of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Students of Iran believe that Khamenei is undecided on using the country's nuclear fuel to build a nuclear weapon. He has said such a weapon was in conflict with Iran's Islamic foundations.
Any future talks will hang on Iran's demand for specific guarantees about easing sanctions in return for dialing back its nuclear program.
Sadjadpour said the outlines of a deal are clear to both sides. He said the unspoken U.S. position is: "You can have a nuclear program which includes uranium enrichment, but not a weapon. If you don't go for the bomb, we won't bomb you."
But, he said, sanctions will not be eased without meaningful compromises. "The problem is that there remains a very large gap in our respective definitions of the word 'meaningful.'"
And that could be very dangerous, said Maloney, should there be a deal that goes bad. If that happens Obama "will be forced to put his money where his mouth is," meaning he would be forced to launch a military strike to make good on his vow to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
When you first step on this campus for orientation, it’s impossible not to feel hopeful. Though the slogan “Graduation Begins Today” is admittedly cheesy (or threatening, when you consider the Timely Graduation Policy), on that first day, it’s so exciting to imagine all the new experiences college will offer up to you. Being a university student is the last step before you become a “real adult.”
As we all eventually realize, once you start actually approaching graduation, prospects seem grim. Ask virtually anyone our age, and they’ll gladly spend an hour raving about how terrible the job market is. Not wanting to graduate into poverty, school has become a safe haven for those of us who are jobless. With 19.5 million unemployed 16 to 24 year olds, few of us are eager to finish out studies in four short years. The fact that no one wants to hire recent grads without much experience can be a harsh reality to face while we’re trying to pay off student loans.
To all of the hopeless students out there, the Union Weekly would like to pose a challenge: create your own job. Seriously. Take whatever it is you’re good at or passionate about, and make a career out of it. Don’t waste time trying to get hired, just start working.
Does that sound too crazy? It didn’t to the four people we talked to this week. The owners and founders of Old College Comics, Esquire Grooming & Barber Shop, The Rubber Tree, and Fingerprints Music were kind enough to talk to us about what it means to be an entrepreneur start your own business. With the end of college looming closer every day, starting our own companies could be a viable option for some of us—at least, for those of us who can stomach it. Starting a business is one of the most terrifying, rewarding, infuriating, and satisfying endeavors that someone can take on, and these four individuals can show you how it’s done.
But America's economic and military realities argue intensely against attacking the Islamic republic and for muddling through by, perhaps, further tightening sanctions that have cut deeply into Tehran's economy.
Americans are weary of war after more than a decade of military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.Service Report a problem with a street light. The U.We sell 100% hand-painted oil paintings for sale online.S. economy,Parkeasy Electronics are dedicated to provide Car park management system. while recovering from the Great Recession, still is weak. The military could face deep cuts this year as Congress considers massive reductions in government spending.
What's more, Iran is far stronger militarily than either Iraq or Afghanistan and would undoubtedly strike back by hitting Israel and attacking U.S. soldiers in neighboring Afghanistan. Also, Iran has put much of its nuclear program deep under ground, making it uncertain how much damage could be done by American airstrikes.
Beyond that, the prime advocate for attacking Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, just suffered a significant setback in elections and is in a weakened position. Even before the Israeli election, Obama had rebuffed Netanyahu's calls for an attack, saying there's still time for a diplomatic solution.
But time is running out. Experts say Iran has uranium enriched to 20 percent, a level from which it can be converted to weapons-grade fairly quickly. The U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency says the Iranians are preparing to install faster centrifuges that would speed the process.
"Many people think 2013 is the year of decision as to the question of whether to go to war or strike a conclusive deal to end Iran's nuclear ambitions," said Suzanne Maloney, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Saban Center for Middle East Policy.
A new report by scholars at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank warns that "the current limited crisis ... may well escalate to a major conflict or a new form of Cold War."
During Obama's first term, the U.S. and its allies imposed damaging economic sanctions on Tehran, but so far the leadership there has shown no willingness to talk seriously about altering a uranium enrichment program that could provide fuel for nuclear weapons. Iran denies it wants to build a bomb, insisting it is creating fuel for electricity-generating reactors and medical research.
Iran has been reluctant to engage, refusing to set a location for a new round of talks that were to have taken place in January, until it announced it would meet on Feb. 25 in Kazakhstan with the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany. That group is known as the P-5 + 1, short for the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany. It has been trying to convince Iran to give up its nuclear activities.
Israel, which Iran has vowed to wipe off the map, sees a nuclear-armed Iran as a threat to its existence and has threatened to unilaterally launch a first strike again Tehran's nuclear facilities. Such an attack would almost certainly draw the United States into another military conflict in the region.Which Air purifier is right for you? But Obama and most Americans have shown no appetite for another war,Firmoo offers cheap and discount mens prescription Eyeglasses frame. a fact shown by the president's reluctance to act militarily now and his refusal to involve U.S. forces in the Syrian civil war.
Syria has proven a major distraction for Tehran. If President Bashar Assad is driven from power, Iran could lose its foothold in the Arab world. It uses Syria to funnel arms and money to the anti-Israeli Hezbollah organization that controls southern Lebanon along Israel's northern border and Hamas, the Palestinian faction that controls the Gaza Strip on the south.
But Israel's Netanyahu is also distracted after last month's elections, which saw moderate politicians replace some right-wingers in parliament.
"I think that Netanyahu has been sufficiently weakened so that he won't be able to successfully lobby the United States for a green light to attack," said Chris Dolan, a political scientist at Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania.
Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran specialist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Israeli pressure is no longer, if it ever was, driving Obama's decision-making.
"Our policy toward Iran's nuclear program has been defined by Obama's red lines, not Netanyahu's, meaning that the U.S. isn't likely to use military force unless and until it's clear that Iran is taking active steps to weaponize its program," he said. He was referring to Netanyahu's U.N. speech in September in which he said Iran had already crossed the red line that required military action.
Also, Obama realizes that Iran will have a new president after elections in June, a fact that possibly is causing Iran to drag its feet. The next president will replace hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who denies the World War II Holocaust in which Hitler's Germany killed 6 million Jews.
But in Iran, real power is in the hands of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Students of Iran believe that Khamenei is undecided on using the country's nuclear fuel to build a nuclear weapon. He has said such a weapon was in conflict with Iran's Islamic foundations.
Any future talks will hang on Iran's demand for specific guarantees about easing sanctions in return for dialing back its nuclear program.
Sadjadpour said the outlines of a deal are clear to both sides. He said the unspoken U.S. position is: "You can have a nuclear program which includes uranium enrichment, but not a weapon. If you don't go for the bomb, we won't bomb you."
But, he said, sanctions will not be eased without meaningful compromises. "The problem is that there remains a very large gap in our respective definitions of the word 'meaningful.'"
And that could be very dangerous, said Maloney, should there be a deal that goes bad. If that happens Obama "will be forced to put his money where his mouth is," meaning he would be forced to launch a military strike to make good on his vow to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
When you first step on this campus for orientation, it’s impossible not to feel hopeful. Though the slogan “Graduation Begins Today” is admittedly cheesy (or threatening, when you consider the Timely Graduation Policy), on that first day, it’s so exciting to imagine all the new experiences college will offer up to you. Being a university student is the last step before you become a “real adult.”
As we all eventually realize, once you start actually approaching graduation, prospects seem grim. Ask virtually anyone our age, and they’ll gladly spend an hour raving about how terrible the job market is. Not wanting to graduate into poverty, school has become a safe haven for those of us who are jobless. With 19.5 million unemployed 16 to 24 year olds, few of us are eager to finish out studies in four short years. The fact that no one wants to hire recent grads without much experience can be a harsh reality to face while we’re trying to pay off student loans.
To all of the hopeless students out there, the Union Weekly would like to pose a challenge: create your own job. Seriously. Take whatever it is you’re good at or passionate about, and make a career out of it. Don’t waste time trying to get hired, just start working.
Does that sound too crazy? It didn’t to the four people we talked to this week. The owners and founders of Old College Comics, Esquire Grooming & Barber Shop, The Rubber Tree, and Fingerprints Music were kind enough to talk to us about what it means to be an entrepreneur start your own business. With the end of college looming closer every day, starting our own companies could be a viable option for some of us—at least, for those of us who can stomach it. Starting a business is one of the most terrifying, rewarding, infuriating, and satisfying endeavors that someone can take on, and these four individuals can show you how it’s done.
2011年6月13日 星期一
Let there be cheaper light
A geothermal pump helps heat the building.
Skylights and a wall of windows provide natural lighting.
Flat-screen televisions flash the latest information on energy use.
If you think this sounds like the description of a cutting edge, energy conscious company,buy landscape oil paintings online. you would be half right.
It's a school -- two actually: Machias and Riverview elementary schools in Snohomish. Like many organizations, school districts are anxious to cut costs. Using more energy-efficient systems can help in the long run, especially if the local utility is willing to chip in. Snohomish County Public Utility District is.
The PUD offered roughly $200,000 in incentives and rebates to help the two schools incorporate energy efficient features like solar panels.
"It helps the project become a little more attractive for a business or a school," said Neil Neroutsos, spokesman for the utility. The PUD figures it's cheaper to support projects that save energy than it is to develop new energy sources. Ultimately, the schools could see up to $100,000 annually in energy savings.
The utility worked with Snohomish School District as it developed plans for its new elementary schools. Ronn Larpenteur, a senior energy engineer for the PUD, highlighted a few of the energy-saving ideas incorporated in the two schools.
?Solar photo voltaic rooftop systems: The schools have a 100-kilowatt solar panel installment on their roofs. Until recently, the solar project was the biggest in Washington state. The solar installation should cover 15 to 20 percent of the schools' energy needs.
"It's a huge leap forward," Larpenteur said.
?Geothermal heating pumps: Installed under the parking lots, these systems help bring up some of the earth's heat in the winter. In the summer, heat from the buildings is pushed back out. It will take about 15 years before the school district sees a return on its money for this system.
Advanced lighting and windows: To reduce lighting needs, the schools incorporated natural lighting with skylights and window walls. This should cut lighting costs by 50 percent, Larpenteur said. The electric lights that the schools use run on a dimmable ballast that keep the light levels in the school constant. They also have added some more efficient LED lights.
The added use of windows required great attention to the glass used. The schools used triple-paned glass, which costs roughly 30 percent more than double-paned, the PUD estimates. It will take the school district about 10 to 15 years for the energy efficiency gains to make up for the extra cost.
"The quality of light is much better,The name "magic cube" is not unique." Neroutsos said.
?Smart ventilation system: The schools use "displacement ventilation" systems, which save energy by minimizing the need to circulate air for heating,Welcome to the official Facebook Page about Ripcurl. cooling and ventilation. It uses natural air currents, with warm air moving from low levels to higher levels.
"They're taking advantage of the natural buoyancy of air," Larpenteur said.
This type of ventilation system uses about 40 percent less energy than a conventional one, he said. It's also quieter.
Steven Moore, project manageWe processes for both low-risk and high risk merchant account.r for capitol projects for Snohomish School District,Our Polymax RUBBER SHEET range includes all commercial and specialist is enthusiastic about many of the advances at the two schools. Moore, who previously worked for schools in Seattle, believes the Snohomish School District is "taking sustainability to a whole other level."
Still, it will be a while before the district can say it's saving energy. In fact, Moore is still tweaking how the different systems work within the schools.
"It's not always the system, it's also the staff," Moore said.
School staff members have to be trained on how to use the new features, he said. But they've embraced the sustainable features of the schools.
The schools try to impress their focus on sustainability on the students, said Kristin Foley, spokeswoman for the school district. Signs note different structures in the building that were reused from the old schools or are made of recycled materials.
The schools aren't just garnering the praise of the PUD, school district and students. Architecture organizations also have asked for tours.
Skylights and a wall of windows provide natural lighting.
Flat-screen televisions flash the latest information on energy use.
If you think this sounds like the description of a cutting edge, energy conscious company,buy landscape oil paintings online. you would be half right.
It's a school -- two actually: Machias and Riverview elementary schools in Snohomish. Like many organizations, school districts are anxious to cut costs. Using more energy-efficient systems can help in the long run, especially if the local utility is willing to chip in. Snohomish County Public Utility District is.
The PUD offered roughly $200,000 in incentives and rebates to help the two schools incorporate energy efficient features like solar panels.
"It helps the project become a little more attractive for a business or a school," said Neil Neroutsos, spokesman for the utility. The PUD figures it's cheaper to support projects that save energy than it is to develop new energy sources. Ultimately, the schools could see up to $100,000 annually in energy savings.
The utility worked with Snohomish School District as it developed plans for its new elementary schools. Ronn Larpenteur, a senior energy engineer for the PUD, highlighted a few of the energy-saving ideas incorporated in the two schools.
?Solar photo voltaic rooftop systems: The schools have a 100-kilowatt solar panel installment on their roofs. Until recently, the solar project was the biggest in Washington state. The solar installation should cover 15 to 20 percent of the schools' energy needs.
"It's a huge leap forward," Larpenteur said.
?Geothermal heating pumps: Installed under the parking lots, these systems help bring up some of the earth's heat in the winter. In the summer, heat from the buildings is pushed back out. It will take about 15 years before the school district sees a return on its money for this system.
Advanced lighting and windows: To reduce lighting needs, the schools incorporated natural lighting with skylights and window walls. This should cut lighting costs by 50 percent, Larpenteur said. The electric lights that the schools use run on a dimmable ballast that keep the light levels in the school constant. They also have added some more efficient LED lights.
The added use of windows required great attention to the glass used. The schools used triple-paned glass, which costs roughly 30 percent more than double-paned, the PUD estimates. It will take the school district about 10 to 15 years for the energy efficiency gains to make up for the extra cost.
"The quality of light is much better,The name "magic cube" is not unique." Neroutsos said.
?Smart ventilation system: The schools use "displacement ventilation" systems, which save energy by minimizing the need to circulate air for heating,Welcome to the official Facebook Page about Ripcurl. cooling and ventilation. It uses natural air currents, with warm air moving from low levels to higher levels.
"They're taking advantage of the natural buoyancy of air," Larpenteur said.
This type of ventilation system uses about 40 percent less energy than a conventional one, he said. It's also quieter.
Steven Moore, project manageWe processes for both low-risk and high risk merchant account.r for capitol projects for Snohomish School District,Our Polymax RUBBER SHEET range includes all commercial and specialist is enthusiastic about many of the advances at the two schools. Moore, who previously worked for schools in Seattle, believes the Snohomish School District is "taking sustainability to a whole other level."
Still, it will be a while before the district can say it's saving energy. In fact, Moore is still tweaking how the different systems work within the schools.
"It's not always the system, it's also the staff," Moore said.
School staff members have to be trained on how to use the new features, he said. But they've embraced the sustainable features of the schools.
The schools try to impress their focus on sustainability on the students, said Kristin Foley, spokeswoman for the school district. Signs note different structures in the building that were reused from the old schools or are made of recycled materials.
The schools aren't just garnering the praise of the PUD, school district and students. Architecture organizations also have asked for tours.
2011年5月23日 星期一
Compost bedding helps newborns flourish
Compost bedding in the pre- and post-fresh barn at Five Star Dairy is a win-win for both cow and calf comfort.
The compost in the barn, which was built a couple years ago on the Elk Mound, Wis., dairy is tilled twice a day, says co-owner and DCHA member Jean Amundson.
"The compost heats so when you sit down on it, it's warm – even in the winter time," Amundson says.
During extreme cold weather, the natural heat generated during the composting process helps cows avoid frozen teats and helps prevent frozen ears on newborn calves. Calves move from the calving area to a warming room. In-floor heating in this room also helps to warm newborns and dry their hair coats before they move to outdoor hutches.
Warming calves is important for antibody absorption, Amundson adds. "They just don't absorb antibodies out of the colostrum well when they're cold. You can give them all the colostrum you want, but they're not getting the goodies out of it."
Making sure newborns have a clean, dry environment is one of several housing benchmarks advocated by the Dairy Calf & Heifer Association in its Gold Standards I. Assess how well your operation meets these goals and make changes to fix shortcomings that can jeopardize calf well-being and health.
The compost in the barn, which was built a couple years ago on the Elk Mound, Wis., dairy is tilled twice a day, says co-owner and DCHA member Jean Amundson.
"The compost heats so when you sit down on it, it's warm – even in the winter time," Amundson says.
During extreme cold weather, the natural heat generated during the composting process helps cows avoid frozen teats and helps prevent frozen ears on newborn calves. Calves move from the calving area to a warming room. In-floor heating in this room also helps to warm newborns and dry their hair coats before they move to outdoor hutches.
Warming calves is important for antibody absorption, Amundson adds. "They just don't absorb antibodies out of the colostrum well when they're cold. You can give them all the colostrum you want, but they're not getting the goodies out of it."
Making sure newborns have a clean, dry environment is one of several housing benchmarks advocated by the Dairy Calf & Heifer Association in its Gold Standards I. Assess how well your operation meets these goals and make changes to fix shortcomings that can jeopardize calf well-being and health.
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