In the future you could own a house under $1000 or even lesser than that. Unable to imagine right? But yes, it can be a reality if this concept, that I am proposing is implemented. You all must be beating around the bush trying to come out with various hypothesis, some of you might have started googling around for cheap construction materials, while other might be thinking of community houses, etc, etc. But wait, this would add more confusion in your thoughts.
As per this concept/proposal, you will get the same house made of same construction material as you live in or fantasize of. I guess you all might be scratching your head now, trying out all sorts of permutations and combination in deducing how is this possible and that too in today’s world.
Before coming to the concept, let me give a glimpse of the present problem in the present scenario. When we visit any of the shopping complexes nearby and try to purchase a product of our choice, we find thousands of options for the same product. Every other company comes out with the same product with a new package in the market every other day. Then they try to lure the consumers either through big billboard ad campaigns or by offering discounts. Also, we at times get trapped and buy those products, since we have no other options due to the ever-rising inflation rate.
I guess, you all might be furious and wondering by now, thinking what is the link between consumer products and building a House. Let me explain the concept and the link between the two. We have thousands of products, which we purchase either daily, monthly or yearly and pay huge amounts for the same. Also the companies producing such goods invest millions and trillions to lure the customers in order to sell their products. On the other hand in the realty space, you are paying anything blindly for purchasing a house of your choice, and at times paying your debts throughout your life as premium for loans taken for the same. So, this model is going to bridge the gap between the consumers and the company with mutual benefit.
As per the concept there will be a symbiotic relationship between the consumer and the companies producing the consumer products. We will be having 3 groups as below-
1. Consumers
2. Shopping Hub
3. Consumer Product Companies.
This would be a symbiotic way of getting what the different groups need.
The requirements of the consumer is to have a house constructed under $1000, where as in return can use their purchasing power to buy the products of Companies that has invested in building their houses for an agreed period of time like say 10 to 20 years. Now you might be wondering where does the Shopping Hub comes into picture. I would say Shopping Hub would be the key player as it would be the mediator between the two. It could be a chain of stores or a company or a shopping mall, which would take care of all the intricacies. It would create packages of list of products of the companies, which had invested in the property, and the consumers could purchase the products from the available options in the package for an agreed period of time. The Consumers would have to purchase the products for certain amount per year at a rate fixed by the Shopping Hub, however, they would have the liberty to buy other companies products as well. But by default they would have to make the purchases from the packages enlisted for the agreed period of time. The amount of purchase and various other parameters like terms of agreement will be between the Consumer and Shopping Hub. So there will not be any direct contact between the Consumer and the Company. It would be via Shopping Hub.
Lets take an example, about 5 Consumer Product Companies such as “A”-a toothpaste company; “B”- a grocery store; “C”- a furniture company; “D”- a television Company and “E”- a Public transport company. Now these 5 companies have invested about “$X” in a project for 100 families. Now as per the percentage invested by the companies a package or a catalogue of products is formed. The Shopping Hub will then sell the houses to the families at $1000 each with an agreement that the families have to purchase the products hereafter from the Shopping Hub from the packages enlisted by them for an agreed period of time. The Shopping Hub will disperse the profit gained on a yearly basis to the Companies as per their share and keep certain percentage for itself.
In this way the companies will get regular customers which will make their business more profitable and secure and in turn the consumers will get their dream houses at an affordable price. This in turn will increase the purchasing power of consumer to invest on other products, which will provide an opportunity for the companies to come out with new innovative products. So it will be a win-win game for both the groups, since the consumers need not invest huge amounts for properties and the companies need not have to spend trillions of rupees on ads or on purchasing retail space to lure customers, since they would get a regular set of consumers and will also increase their market share.
Hope this have made the concept clearer. Also, I would like to add that, this is applicable to both rural and urban sectors. It mainly depends on the purchasing power and the tenure of agreement, which can be variable as per the scenario.
Also, the same model of symbiotic merchandising can be applied to make any expensive product affordable to consumers.
Now you can really dream of a dream, which can be a reality, provided if this concept comes into existence.
So, if you are one of those who want to implement this concept, you are most welcome.
Most of you must be finding this as a joke or must have been lost in your own world imagining about this whole concept. But think again why not? The same must have been the dilemma through which our ancestors might have gone if the concept of web2.0 must have been told to them during their time.
Lets come to reality, the way energy is consumed, we will be starving for the same very soon, though various approaches are being made to create alternative sources of energy. But I would say, why cannot it be made open to the masses i.e. the consumers themselves becomes the producer of energy. Why cannot energy be harvested through crowdsourcing?
So, let’s see what is it all about. You all must be knowing of electric GRIDs, through which we get our electrical energy for our daily purpose. As per wikipedia, “Grid” may be used to refer to an entire continent’s electrical network, a regional transmission network or may be used to describe a subnetwork such as a local utility’s transmission grid or distribution grid.
A bit more clarification is needed I guess. Today,the process is, we have huge power plants at various odd regions to generate energy which is then distributed through various grids to our house hold. So, the moral of the story is the electricity which we use are powered by huge power plants which uses non-renewable sources of energy. This as you all will agree, we had read in our textbooks from our early days of schooling.
Now, imagine if the electricity which we use are being powered by ourselves and then again distributed to us for our own consumption.
You might be thinking I have gone crazy. But, I would say its nothing but transformation of energy, which we all had studied in our textbooks.
Imagine you will be able to produce power and as well as earn from it and there will be full freedom to use it as you produce. Also, you might have access to a networking site, where you can check out the power produced and consumed by each individual in his profile and have communities for generating power for various activities. You would be able to collaborate to generate certain units of power for certain events or activities.
Now the big question is how is it possible. I would say we are already approaching that way, but not the way I have portrayed.
The various ways through which humans can generate electricity-
1. Human Body heat (thermal energy)
2. Human body movement (kinetic energy)
3. Vehicular/Object movement (kinetic energy)
4. Gravity and many more
I would like to share an amazing fact before starting with the description- According to the scientists, in 15 per cent fat in a human body, it is possible to generate 11,000 watts of electricity per hour. In fact, different yielded energy levels are 81 watts from a sleeping person, 128 watts from a soldier standing at ease, 163 watts from a walking person, 407 watts from a briskly walking person, 1,048 watts from a long-distance runner, and 1,630 watts from a sprinter.
You have got the power!
These were just few of the numerous facts, there are many more. Can you imagine while you are driving your Car, you will actually be able to harvest energy from the rotating vehicle wheel. Manla, G. White, N.M. Tudor, J. of Southampton University, UK have developed a method to generate power from a rotating vehicle wheel using a Thundertrade piezoelectric generator. The approach uses centripetal force to generate an impact on the piezoelectric transducer. The device was designed to be mounted on a vehicle rim. A generator with a volume of 2 cm3 produced 4 mW of electrical power at 800 rpm using a test wheel with 0.12 m diameter. Analytical results showed that the same amount of power can be produced by mounting the generator on a vehicle wheel with a diameter of 13 inches and a linear speed of 28.4 miles/h.
Volvo Electric Car ReCharge Concept hybrid In-Wheel Motor EV
Did you ever imagine in your dreams that you can actually generate energy from falling water droplets. A team from CEA/Leti-Minatec has created a system that is capable of recovering kinetic energy from the impact of falling raindrops. For every square meter of surface, the process generates about 1 watt-hour per year. Though its less as of now, but there is still space for improvements.
Human Body might itself act as a battery in the future powering various electrical devices. The body heat, motion and even blood pressure are being considered as the potential sources of power. Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute have created a new thermoelectric system, which is at the forefront of these developments – running on a miniscule 200 millivolts the device is able to create an electrical charge from body heat and could go way beyond powering your own mobile phone.
A thermoelectric generator ((TEG)) draws electrical energy from differences in temperature. Due to a circuitry system created by the Fraunhofer Institute that runs on a miniscule 200 millivolts, TEGs are now able to create an electrical charge from body heat.
Body heat warms central Stockholm station
Japanese train stations are collecting the piezoelectric energy of commuters walking through the gates, and MIT is working on a “crowd farm” which would use a special floor to harness the energy created by the circulation of a large amount of people. So, you will be having Gyms and Discs in the future where you will be able to generate energy and as well earn from the power produced by yourselves.
Imagine having electric kiosks where an individual can get into and harvest some energy and withdraw the cash equivalent to the energy produced by him/her. So, we can create energy ATMs in the future where an individual can enter, swipe his card and generate energy through various equipments kept there, the amount of energy produced by him will get credited to his card in terms of his currency, which he can encash. The amount of energy will be collected and sent to a nearby grid. He/She could use the energy card by swiping it to get energy or encash the amount equivalent to the energy from energy cum Cash ATMs around his/her region. Too futuristic, you might be thinking, but think again before coming to a conclusion.
Now, I guess you will be thinking in the same line as I am. When the above methods of generating electricity is possible, then why cannot we have a internet kind of network for generating energy. I would say why not, its definitely possible.
As of 17 April 2010, the human population of the world is estimated by the United States Census Bureau to be 6,815,421,111. In 2008, total worldwide energy consumption was 474 exajoules (474×1018 J) with 80 to 90 percent derived from the combustion of fossil fuels. This is equivalent to an average power consumption rate of 15 terawatts (1.504×1013 W). US is the largest consumer of electricity accounting to 22.7% of global energy consumption, whereas China is second to US with 16.7%.
There is a large difference in Energy Consumption even between the most highly developed countries, such as Japan and Germany with 6 kW per person and United States with 11.4 kW per person. In developing countries particularly those which are sub-tropical or tropical such as India the per person energy use is closer to 0.7 kW. Bangladesh has the lowest consumption with 0.2 kW per person. As per the above data, lets take 5kWh per person per day is the average energy consumed globally.
Now coming to the calculation, based on the above methods if an individual is able to produce even 0.2kWh, it will be more than sufficient from the personal contribution of individuals. The rest can be produced by collaborative, public means and through other alternative sources of energy.
Let me share few more innovative methods which are being used and can be used in the future for harvesting energy.
Personal sources of energy- 1. BackPack capturing Energy-
Larry Rome of the University of Pennsylvania has created the Lightning Pack, a backpack that captures energyfrom the natural up-and-down movement of your hips. As you walk, a bag bounces on a spring, which connects through gears to an electrical generator. Wires carry the electricity to your batteries or gadgets. The output is impressive: 20 watts, enough for nearly all portable devices, Rome says.
2. Electricity generated by Knee Brace-
Max Donelan of the Locomotion Laboratory at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, in collaboration with American and Canadian researchers, is developing an electromagnetic generator fitted to a standard knee brace. The prototype, turns a one-minute walk into enough current for a half-hour cellphone conversation.
3.Multitasking Clothing-
Energy harvesters the size of a thread are being developed by Zhong Lin Wang and two colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology. These mini-generators can be woven into T-shirts or other clothing and will collect energy from the body’s smallest movements, piping electricity to mobile devices. The researchers predict that clothing with these fibers could generate up to 80 milliwatts of electricity per 11 square feet of fabric, which is almost enough to power a cellphone or other mobile electronic device.
Below video shows Washington State University students build energy harvesting clothing
Energy harvesting clothing
Community or public means of harvesting energy- 1. Human Powered Gyms-
The Green Microgym in Portland, Oregon, where machines like stationary bikes harvest energy during workouts. By being extremely energy-efficient and combining human power, solar and someday wind, they believe they will be able to be net-zero for electricity.
2.Dance clubs Powered by Dancers-
In the Netherlands, Rotterdam’s new Club WATT has a floor that harnesses the energy created by the dancers’ steps. Designed by a Dutch company called the Sustainable Dance Club, the floor is based on the piezoelectric effect, in which certain materials produce an electric current when compressed or bent.
3. Roads Designed to harvest Traffic energy to electricity-
Isreali engineers are about to begin testing a 100 metre stretch of roadway embedded with a network of Piezo Electric Generators (IPEG™). The piezoelectric effect converts mechanical strain into electrical current or voltage and the system is expected to scale up to 400 kilowatts from a 1-kilometre stretch of dual carriageway. Initially though, the system can be configured to generate and store energy from roads, airport runways and rail systems at the same time as delivering real-time data on the weight, frequency and spacing between passing vehicles. The harvested energy can be transferred back to the grid.
Innowattech breakthrough in alternative energy from road traffic
4. Heat from Datacenters and local computers to harvest Electricity-
Temperatures in most data center hot aisles range from 80 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit (27 to 46 degrees Celsius). A growing number of data centers are redirecting the heat from their hot aisles to nearby homes, offices, greenhouses and even pools. Example, an IBM data center in Switzerland is being used to heat a nearby swimming pool. Hot air generated by the Uitikon center will flow through heat exchangers to warm water that will be pumped into the nearby pool.
Alternative Sources of Energies-
Various alternative sources have been identified and are in use, which most of you might be aware off like Solar, Wind,etc. I have mentioned the one which most of you might have given a thought but never heard off.
Harvesting Energy from Gravity-
a> Generating electricity by means of Pendulums
As per the USPTO Patent Application 20070012518, there has been a patent on Gravity generator of electricity or how to use gravity to generate electricity by means of pendulums. Pendulums are a very efficient way of using the force of gravity, providing movement for a long time with small investment of energy. We only need a proportionally small investment of energy to make the swing return to the same position all the time by overcoming the lost in resistance by friction.
A wheel assembly with tangentially attached fluid receptacles around the perimeter rotates to power a gravity driven fluid electricity generating assembly. A plunger pump assembly with a drive wheel powered by the wheel assembly pumps a quantity of fluid to fill a fluid receptacle with each motion of a lever arm eccentrically attached to the drive wheel.
I guess my above explanations and the various facts about new technologies have not gone waste. Now, you all will be able to appreciate the concept of creating an Energy2.0 platform like web2.0, where energy harvesting can be crowdsourced, as well would be a means of livelihood for many people around the globe. This would really make the world more flat and bring power to both developed and under developed nation, since it will be based on the fundamentals that the more you contribute the more you gain or can harvest energy. Rural population will be the major contributor than urban population, since they are exposed to more of physical strain during their daily course and will become self sufficient in terms of electricity.
This approach in one way will bring down the differences or inequality between the rural and the urban population. This would really be a segment that the entrepreneurs, investors and the governments should take a look at.
Think Again Before making Any Conclusion. Just ask yourself- WHY NOT?
Confused by looking at the Topic?? Actually didn’t have any other way of describing this concept. The words Invisible and Monitor does not go together, however, that is what this whole concept is about. One second, some of you might have already guessed it, as to what really is this post all about, since you are one among those rare species of human, who still tries to use their neurological senses to really think and imagine.
Would you really be interested to have a pocket size PC cum phone with a resizable invisible monitor suspended in mid air, which you can carry along in your pocket or purse like an ipod or mobile phones. Imagine, you are walking down a road or a park and you pick up your call and you are able to interact with a life-sized person who might be in some other part of the world. You will be able to watch you favorite movie at a park or at a café or anywhere with screen size of your choice.
Too much of imagination right? Now lets come to the practical aspect, as to how this can be achieved, how can a screen be displayed in mid air and as well as be interactive, like the touch screens which we have today. This product would actually bring down our normal huge PCs to a pocket sized one, along with functionalities of a cell phone.
So guys you will no longer need to have a desktop or laptop and phone as separate entities. Great, I am predicting the merging of PC and Cellphone as a single entity. The era of laptops, desktops and cell phones will come to an end, if this product comes out.
So, what components will be really required to create such a product? Lets make a list-
2. An invisible monitor or in real terms a screen suspended in mid air or to be more precise, a Free Space Display Unit.
We have already come across mini pc and most of you will be knowing about the micro computers as I have mentioned above. So, getting such a device or creating one in today’s world is not an impossible task.
However, the second component is the one, which really makes us dream about the sci fi movies and keep us wondering whether such a product is really possible.
Lets see the feasibility of such a product, for a normal projector to display an image requires a non-transparent medium, like screen, walls or even water, however, displaying it in air, which is non-transparent is not feasible. So, how do we go about it? One logical way, which everyone will agree is to bring the air molecules closer in an enclosed environment, so that it forms a screen on which you can display the image. Fair enough, but you might be thinking that this can only be a theory but not practical.
You will be wrong, if you think that way, because the products are available in the market, though expensive as of now. Two of the companies who are into this technology are Fogscreen and IO2 technology. Both of them have a bit different technologies which are patented for the same concept.
FogScreen, creates an image in midair by employing a large, non-turbulent airflow to protect the dry fog generated within from turbulence. The result is a thin, stable sheet of fog, sandwiched between two layers of air, on which an image can be projected and even walked through.
Heliodisplay , a product of IO2 technology , creates a similar effect, but, instead of fog, it uses a cloud of microscopic particles whose specific nature is one of the secrets. It creates a particle cloud by passing the surrounding air through a heat pump, which in turn cools the air to a level below its dew point, where it condensates, and is then collected to create an artificial cloud. The particle cloud is composed of a vast number of individual micro droplets, between 1-10 microns in diameter, too small to be visible to the naked eye, held together by surface tension. The focus and illumination intensity of the projected image can be controlled by changing some of the cloud’s properties, enabling a sharper and brighter image.
I guess most of your minds are now clear that you can just go ahead, purchase these products and play around to create the product, which we were discussing till now an Hybrid of PC and Cellphone. I guess just you need to plug and play as mentioned in few of the company sites of IO2 Technology.
The exact product, which we want to see, is predicted to come by end of the next decade or so. But, hope through this article few of you might have started questioning as to why cannot it be done now or at the earliest, why do we have to wait till the end of next decade. I would say, please go ahead and bring such a product in the market for which everyone is eagerly waiting for and I request you to please come up with a great name for it, since I was unable to figure out one other than Cellputer – the next Hybrid of Computer and Cellphones.
Whenever, we speak about farm and the virtual media, one thing strikes in the minds of most of the Facebook users around the Globe and that is “FARMVILLE”. However, for those who don’t know about it, farmville is nothing, but an online game, which has become a success as the favorite pass time among facebook users.
We are facing so many challenges in the agriculture sector throughout the world, but we don’t give a damn about it. We have never spent a minute of our minds, thinking as to from where do we get our foodstuffs or how are they made, though it is the very basic ingredient of our survival. I would like to thank the creators of farmville to make people know about farming and enjoy at the same time, although it’s in the virtual world. This popularity of farmville shows that the act of farming is still in our genes.
This has led me to the quest of finding whether we can, really farm through virtual media at the comfort of our houses by playing a game like farmville and really grow food products in farms, which might be in any odd place in the world. Like you can own a farm in some odd region of this world and sitting in a coffee shop having a sip off coffee in a posh locality in a city of your choice, you are able to farm your fields and grow actual crops. You might be thinking, I am kidding. But think in a rational manner and you will get the answers.
Let me make it easy for you by explaining it with examples and already available technologies as to how it can be done. Below is the list of requirements, which will be handy to achieve our goal.
A laptop or a Cell Phone with internet will be required
GPS enabled driverless tractor
Of course a farm field to grow your crops.
You see only the above is needed to start off your venture into telefarming. First, in order to check out the weather condition, whether its suitable for you to start off, you can check many of the online sites like weather.com, which provides regular updates on the weather forecast in the region you want based on zipcodes.
Now, you need to remotely control the computer of the tractor through your computer which can be easily done through various software which are readily available and can be configured. Also, the tractor vendors might have that option too.
Another video about a GPS guided tractor.
For tractors, you can get it from any of the vendors like novariant.com, deere.com,etc, out there in the market, who provides GPS driven tractors, which are very precise in their work. Also, professors like Jay Katupitya at the University of New South Wales is working on Driverless tractors, which can be controlled from your computer, placed anywhere. Are you worried whether such tractors are available at your place, even if you are not able to get one you can use the existing ones available and modify them according to your needs with the help of some engineering college students and giving them as their project. I know there are numerous engineers looking out for such projects to work on.
So, now I guess you have gain some confidence in saying “yes” it is possible to have Farmville in real, through which you can play and really grow crops out there in your field and feel the difference. This might have inspired few of you out there to get into this field, which really requires innovation and people like us to bring a difference.
Imagine you are sitting in US or Australia and growing crops in some odd place in Africa and that too from the comfort of your home. Can you believe it, we have already entered the future, since we have all these technologies readily available to us. World cannot be more flat than this. Just the first step is needed, and you will find the real farmville in existence, which will be played through the Farmbook similar to facebook in the future.
Hope this article has brought some new opportunities for entrepreneurs to plunge into and we might see another game like farmville for the real world . Though it looks futuristic, but think again it is possible even today with the existing technologies.
