| Sunday, July 15, 2007 |  |
| 2 comments |
| 15 Jul 2007 @ 15:51 I have recently redesigned and launched my new website, Simple Brilliance. After a hiatus for the last couple of years to pursue my own personal development, I am inspired to share with you the tools and techniques that have been of such benefit to me. Whether we are engaged or not in our work and play, a coach and mentor can give us the edge we need to live with more joy, enthusiasm and creative power. In a short, succinct manner Simple Brilliance shares with you, from my heart, the current services I am offering as a life coach, business advisor and transformational counselor. You're welcome to call or email me for more information and a free consultation. Please pass this on to friends, family and associates if appropriate. Also on the website is a free chapter for download from my forthcoming book, Simple Brilliance:A Conscious Approach To Re-membering and Re-Discovering Your True Nature. More > |
| Ultimate green machine: a car made of hemp | 1 comment |
| 15 Jul 2007 @ 15:07 From The Sunday London Times July 15, 2007 Ultimate green machine: a car made of hemp Jonathan Leake Environment Editor CAR buyers who suspect they have parted with money for old rope may soon be right. Ministers are to spend more than £500,000 in an attempt to develop the world’s first recyclable vehicle made from hemp. A deal between Defra, the environment department, Ford, the car manufacturer, and Hemcore, which grows plants closely related to the ones that produce cannabis, could see hemp being used as the basis for a wide range of components. The fibrous qualities of their stalks means they can be used to make clothes, paper and ropes. Defra’s funding is being used to create new materials based on fibres from hemp and other plants such as flax and willow, to replace metals and oil-based plastics. The fibres are blended with polypropylene and the resulting mixture can then be moulded into whatever shape is required. The hope is to make car manufacture more sustainable. Such materials would be easy to recycle for use in successive generations of vehicles. “We hope this could become a sustainable way of replacing metals, glass fibre and plastic in making new cars,” said Robert West of Qinetiq, the technology development firm that is overseeing the project. The most likely first use for hemp-based components is as a replacement for internal components such as mouldings and plastics. West’s team has already designed a pedal assembly that could replace the traditional metal accelerator, brake and clutch pedals. As the technology advances it could also be used to replace body panels and larger components. “Natural fibres offer many technical and environmental attractions,” said a Defra spokesman. “They have high strength and stiffness, low raw material and energy costs and the potential for very low environmental impact.” Growing hemp is strictly controlled because of the association with drug use. However, Hemcore now has licences for 3,000 hectares of industrial hemp, a plant with minimal drug content, from which the fibres will be extracted. It processes the plants at its factory in Essex. Early estimates suggest that hemp-based materials could replace up to 100kg of other plastics, metals and resins within the average car. Since hemp produces about two tonnes of fibre per hectare, each hectare could grow enough for 20 cars. CONTINUE READING More > |