SKYLANE SEATING SYSTEM ZEN4 RAZORTWO INNOVATIVE Irish entries in this year's James Dyson Awards, which aim to encourage and recognise young design engineers, claim to deliver significant environmental benefits.
Co Meath native Michelle Murphy, a graduate of the National College of Art and Design (NCAD), has designed a seating system that reduces cabin weight while maintaining baggage space and increasing space and legroom for passengers.
The Skylane Seating System claims to reduce fuel consumption and emissions, saving airlines up to €120,000 a year per plane.
Murphy’s design draws on her experiences of travelling on budget airlines and an internship in Germany during which she designed office seating and worked in interior design.
“I began my research by first looking at the broad area of air travel and low-cost airlines stood out as an area where there was room for improvement and development,” she says.
Conscious that oil prices remain high and the measures airlines are taking to reduce the weight of each flight in order to minimise fuel consumption and costs – which now include replacing heavy flight manuals with iPads – she discovered that some manufacturers are producing seats made from lightweight carbon fibre and set about looking how their design might be improved.
Meanwhile, Carlow Institute of Technology graduate John Merrigan from Co Wicklow has designed a revolutionary new razor, which uses extremely durable diamond-coated tungsten carbide blades, and does away with the need to use shaving foam.
“My idea emerged because of my own dissatisfaction with current razors, which are unreasonably expensive, possess an extremely short life span and are not recyclable, leading to a huge negative impact on the environment.
“My Zen4 Razor addresses these problems while providing innovative solutions to other problems that emerged during the design process,” he says.
Building on the inspiration he took from dismantling a water pistol and the analogue joystick of a game console control pad, his design results in several sustainability benefits, as it reduces the waste from razor blades, cuts out the use of shaving foam – most of which goes down the sink and into the wastewater system.
Because a small water pumping system is incorporated into the razor’s handle, users are encouraged not to leave the tap running, thereby minimising their water usage.