Video Blog Review C

The Light Bulb Conspiracy

Cosima Dannoritzer’s documentary ‘The light bulb conspiracy’ portrays how planned obsolescence began and its effect on modern society. It is an educational documentary that should be watch by all so that we can make conscious decisions and fight against planned obsolescence.

Planned obsolescence is the deliberate shortening of a products life span to guarantee consumer demand. The growth of Modern society now relies on the accelerating cycle of production, consumption and throwing away which is the result of planned obsolescence.

Created by sir Humphrey Davy’s the light bulb was a symbol of innovation however it was the first official victim of planned obsolescence as a result of the Phebus Cartel set up in 1924. This set up deliberately limited the life of the single light bulb to 1000 hours by preventing technological development; this increased consumer demand and in turn company profits. The documentary shows the pre-cartel light bulb in the Livermore Firehouse, California is still functioning after a century.

When the US economy crashed and the depression was at its peak in the late 20’s Bernard London put forth the radical idea of making planned obsolescence a legal legislation, although this was ignored and never put into practice. Planned obsolescence however flourished in the 1950s with the birth of the consumer society; explained Brook Stevens;  ‘planned obsolescence the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than necessary...’ society was seduced by new designs and effective marketing techniques. Some companies went against this new concept for example depont created the ideal nylon stockings which had a increased life, however they were forced ‘back to the drawing board’ to make fibres weaker when high profits were not being made. In contrast at this time such countries as Germany did not follow this concept; with their post war lack of resources they saw no use for the production of products with shorter lives.

Planned obsolescence has a high impact on the environment including; the continuous use of materials is having a great impact on our non renewable resource supple, the increasing carbon output that results from continuous manufacturing and  the dumping of non biodegradable wastes. The dumping of wastes has increasingly occurred in 3^rd world countries which is causing devastation to not only the natural environment but causing disease epidemics.

Planned obsolescence is still well and alive in the modern society for example printers are embedded with chips and cause failure and apple ipods have a specific battery which has a shorter life. However people in the past did not have the power to change the rapidly growing concept however with the presence of advanced communication systems in modern society eg internet it is easy for our society to cause change.

Video Blog Reviews B

‘Giving packaging a new life’ and ‘How it’s made’ provide insight into the manufacturing and recyclability of particular packaging techniques and materials.  It is import for people to watch this clip as awareness is created through the in-depth detailing of various processes which forces the viewer to make conscious decisions both when designing and in day-to-day life in the future.

Glass

The natural resources of Celica sand, soda and limestone produce glass. Glass is relatively easy to recycle hence is a relatively sustainable material choice. About 2.7 million tonnes of glass waste are recycled each year.  However a key component to the recycling of glass is the removal of fragments which can be blown out by an optoelectronic devices. Although a sustainable choice, glass is increasingly being replaced by plastics as plastic weighs less which reduced transportation cost and is not as hazardous as glass when broken. Many worry that plastic is not as durable as glass however mixed plastics are heavy duty and are being increasingly used in high strength areas eg palettes, railway parts.

Plastics

½ million tonnes of plastic is recycled a year, this is 2/3 of the quantity produced.  A crucial aspect of recycling plastics is sorting; Optical sorting machines sort plastic into the various types before they can be recycled. This mechanical process is accurate and reliable enhancing the end quality of the recycled plastic being produced.  PET used to produce drinking bottles is the most popular type of plastic as it is the easiest to recycle. However only 10 percent of PET bottles can be recycled and this 10 percent is made up from the scraps of processing the new material. This low percentage is due to the material cannot be cleaned well enough to meet health regulations.

Aluminium

Aluminium uses 120^thof the energy of other goods and it can be recycled over and over again through melting- casted and being rolled into sheets. Water based coatings must be applied to aluminium before it can be created into food packaging like cans. This is to prevent contamination. Further when recycling cans the aluminium must go through a six stage of cleaning. Aluminium ‘foil’ is a key material which makes up Tertra Pac which is an ideal packaging technique for long shelf life products.  This packaging can be made from entirely recyclable materials, while the plastic and aluminium can be recycled to produce cement. New infrared technology has allowed separation of the cartoon relieving manual labour.  

CAD drawings

blog posts

http://romanradoczy.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/poster-bioinspired.html

http://ides2161-alexjackson.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/project-one-product-poster.html

http://richardtrajcevski.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/silver-fern-water-recycling-disk-rack.html?showComment=1332761006232

http://sarahoward1031.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/plant-storage.html#comment-form

http://clementyoongides2161.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/project-1-bioinspired.html#comment-form

Final Design- Poster

Final Design- Technical Drawings

Final Design-Rational

Biomorphic

This designs natural shaped pods were inspired by hanging pod like storage pockets found in nature such as gumnuts, grapes, coconuts ect but in particular cocoons.

In terms of aesthetics the elegantly rounded structure of cocoons is extremely beautiful. I wanted my design to capture its essence of flowing delicateness.

Biometric

In nature a plant has the ability to shy away or creep towards sunlight depending on their nutritional needs. I tried to mimic this quality in my design where pods can be moved higher or lower, or the opening can be swivelled from one side to the other or the whole chain can be moved along the decking railing or inside depending on the suns position and how much sun the plant desires.

This idea of pods being able to be added and removed depending on how many plants you keep has been inspired by natures ability to adapt eg grow or kill off particular parts depending on the natural surroundings.

The main inspiration for having this storage system ‘hanging’ was vines found in nature. I was mainly inspired by their sheer strength, their ability to clasp on to foreign bodies, the fact they hang above floor level, and their extensive elongation which allows multiple structures to hang from. 

Hanging pods from roof vs hanging them off a stand

Through the research I have done on people living in medium to high density housing; the abundance of kitchen bench space, floor space, deck/courtyard floor space is a particular problem. I found that by hanging you can create pockets of storage space without taking up valuable floor space, while storage systems which need stands do take up spaces in these areas.

People living in medium-high density living can’t always put hooks into the roof or many who even own the premises are reluctant too as they fear damage. Due to this I have made my designs connection versatile so that it can hang from a roof hook but also over a deck railing or fence.

Hanging chain vs hanging rope

A chain would  provide an ease in connecting and disconnecting pods however the industrial look of most chains was too harsh when placed next to my organic pods hence I chose to use a natural ‘Malin’ rope which is both highly strong with a long life (ten years), that would suit our environmental conscious brief.

End material- Plastic-Wood composite

This material takes on woods thermal properties which are ideal to protect the roots from heat and frost. It is sustainable as it is produced from recycled plastics and waste products from the wood industry. This product will not corrode and unlike wood its plastic properties allow it to be highly resistant to rot, decay, and bio-organism attack. This material can be PVC capped which further enhances this resistance and the entire strength of the material. It also does not require painting for maintenance and can be manufactured a variety of colours.  And in contrast to the high waste involved in turning wood, this material is able to be injection moulded which leads to near no waste. Due to this materials sustainability, high resistance to weather and bio-organism attack and low maintenance it is the ideal material for my plant pods.