Rise of the green machines

You have a wad of cash in your pocket and three chances to save the world – what do you do? At the Science Gallery, ARMINTA WALLACEtries to decide between a magic carpet and cardboard computer

‘TIME is running out. You’ve got €5 million to save the planet.” When you enter the Green Machines exhibition at the Science Gallery, you’re given a roll of coins to invest in whichever eco-friendly invention strikes you as the most likely to revolutionise people’s lives.

What do you fancy? A bamboo bicycle, perhaps? A house made from plastic bottles? A shower which uses its own intricate sculptural form, rather than electricity, to heat the water? As you jingle your coins in your pocket, you feel you can really make a difference by helping to create a more sustainable lifestyle. We know we have to do it. We just don’t know how.

And it’s tricky stuff, sustainability. Before you get to invest your €5 million, you spend some time at the gallery’s “investment bootcamp”, aka a sushi bar which slowly revolves, delivering some of the supposedly sustainable items which are already available to buy.

They’ve been graded in five categories: cost over life; energy use; transport; materials; and market. So it’s not just about whether something is cute, or even useful. It needs to tick as many of those eco-boxes as possible if it’s to be truly eco-friendly.

How expensive is it? How much fuel does it take to run? Does it have to be transported halfway across the planet from where it’s made to where it’s used? Is it made from recyclable and/or renewable materials? And finally, is there a limited market for the product or will it appeal to a large number of people worldwide?

The sushi bar brings me a kettle which looks a lot like the one I have at home. This one, however, “boils” water at 85 degrees instead of the usual 100 degrees – which saves a lot of electricity, since it’s the 85-to-100 bit of the boiling which uses the most fuel. And 85 degrees is plenty hot enough for a hot drink.

A squeezable water bottle with a built-in carbon filter also gets a good rating. Next is a personal wind-powered charger which you can attach to your bike and use to charge up your phone or MP3 player. Looks great: I pick it up.

“Hmm,” says the chap in the Green Machines T-shirt, shaking his head sadly. “It’s a good idea, but you’ve got to cycle for 14 miles or something before it starts to work, so . . .”

Hey ho. As I climb the stairs to the inspiration garden, I’m feeling a lot less like an eco-venture capitalist and a lot more like Homer Simpson. How to choose – in sustainability terms – between a lamp powered by algae and a loo with a tap on the back so you can flush with the water you use to wash your hands?

Happily, I’m not the only one with a dilemma. All around me, people are getting into lively discussions about the options. A young couple is asking questions. A father- and-son team are examining one of the exhibits from every conceivable angle – even wriggling underneath it – before rejecting it as not up to scratch in the transport department.

I feel the same about Recompute, a computer tower made from corrugated cardboard. Great for dismantling and recycling: but what if somebody spills a mug of coffee over it? What? Nobody ever spills coffee in your house?

“That’s the thing about Green Machines,” says Conor Courtney, who, when he’s not volunteering as a member of the Science Gallery’s green T-shirt brigade, is a recently graduated microbiologist.

“It began as an experimental show – but we’ve found that it’s training people to think critically.” A fellow volunteer, Jessie Doyle, describes herself as “a bit of an anomaly”; she’s a drama student from DIT. They’re both ready to chat at the drop of a hat, and keen for visitors to get up close and hands-on personal with the exhibits as well as reading the various bits of information provided about each.

When I wonder aloud how an office chair could be eco-friendly, they lift it bodily out of the display and invite me to try it out. It feels comfy, it prompts good sitting posture, it’s highly recyclable, and unlike most dull-as-ditchwater grey-black office chairs, it’s orange. Alas, says Courtney, the global market is up to its elbows in office chairs right now.

In the end I decide to go with the alternative-energy flow and invest my millions in three very different but equally exciting bits of kit.

First, the Wavebob. A big yellow floating buoy, it’s not the prettiest, but it seems to have masses of potential applications and it’s built to last 25 years or more. Second, Pavegen, which is the scientific equivalent of a magic carpet: spongy paving tiles which transfer kinetic energy from your footsteps to the ground, and can be used in heavily pedestrianised urban areas to power street lights.

So that’s the city sorted, and the oceans. Meanwhile, in my own back yard I wouldn’t mind a Revolutionair, which looks like a cool piece of sculpture but is actually a modestly sized, modestly priced personal wind turbine.

If it wins the Green Machines Investment Award 2010, I’ll be invited to the celebratory party at the Science Gallery in December. Maybe I’ll see you there . . .

Want more? Check out sciencegallery.ie for lots more information and pictures from Green Machines