Air quality: Anything that exists in the air will enter the human body through the mouth, nose, eyes, and ears. Of course, entrance through the ears causes the least damage (allegedly). So, whether it be a communicable disease, dust, dander, exhaust from transportation vehicles, manufacturing and commercial emissions, or leaks from pipelines or natural deposits, if it is in the air it will enter you. We have the technology to vastly improve global air quality and internal building/workplace air quality but we choose to take in toxins, communicable diseases, and other harmful substances because corporations have profit margins and do not want to shift to new technologies because of initial investment costs. Profit margins are being used as an excise to poison humans. Just something to think about.
Contaminant-Filtering Water Heater: Imagine water heaters removed all contaminants from water using a two-chamber distillation process. The first chamber would heat the water until it reaches 212F/100C at which point the vapor would be ‘pushed’ through a metallic conduit to the second chamber where the water temperature is maintained at user-desired levels. The metallic conduit could be cooled using water that feeds the ‘dirty water’ chamber. The cooling pipe would be coiled around the metallic conduit to provide maximum cooling and pre-heating of water entering the hot (dirt-water) chamber. Having a water heater that removes all contaminants from all household hot water seems pretty amazing because poised local water sources (Flint MI, Parkersburg WV, etc.) would be less of a factor (just don’t drink the cold water)
Air Filtering Carpeting: what if your carpeting was the intake to a antimicrobial antibacterial filtration system? Carpeting could be designed and fabricated to be a large particle filter that lays upon an air conduit system that leads to a hepa filter and a UVC chamber that sterilizes the air. When you vacuum you are, in effect, cleaning your course material air filter and you can use a washable synthetic hepa filter to eliminate the need for replacements. This air filtration system would ensure a constant flow of filtered sterilized air in any environment from corporate to residential. Constant filtered and sterilized air without replacing filters? What a fresh idea.
Ultra-Violet CO2 Atmospheric Scrubbers: Why haven’t we developed solar-powered CO2 scrubbers that use UV to split CO2 into C and O2? Yes, this would be a highly sophisticated technology with multiple pre-processes that need to be successfully performed before the concentrated CO2 could be acted upon by highly concentrated UV lasers but it seems to me to be reasonably confident that we can start to scrub CO2 from the atmosphere.
Ocean Cleaning Bots: why hasn’t anyone developed a solar powered bot that uses sensors to identify human waste (such as plastic rubbish), collect the human rubbish, then bring it to a predetermined location for offloading and processing. I would imagine an advanced version could collect oil as well as multiple types of refuse, sort them, and perform some internal compressions and initial processing.
Solar Powered Desalinated Seawater: if you take a giant glass bell-jar, place it on a sandbar (that is 6 inches or less below the water line), put a drip nipple in the center of the dome, then place a cylinder in the middle (to catch the dripping condensate) you might be able to create a sustainable source of fresh water that only requires sunlight and an occasional polish. Depending on how well this is implemented it could be enhanced with a pressure valve that releases water from the center “cup” when a certain amount of water has collected. The trick is ensuring the “cup” is the correct size to permit maximum temperatures for maximum condensate. This design is extremely early in concept and needs further thought to be practical.
Air sanitizer: I am thinking about building an air sanitizer. The basic design is a box with mirrored interior walls. There are a series of chambers inside that are created using glass sheets that extend 85% of the vertical height. There are 3 uvc lights shining into the box from the top. There is a fan at the entrance pushing air through the series of chambers. There is a hepa filter for the air that is entering the box. The trick will be in determining the number of chambers and the speed of airflow to ensure maximum sanitization. Of course, my mirror-box experiment could fail to sanitize the air in any meaningful way but it’s only the first design I want to try. I would rather sanitize the air than take a vaccine. Something about intentionally putting harmful substances in me to prevent other substances from harming me feels problematic.
Clean Water Condensation: we know that humid environments are usually fairly ripe with sunlight. We also know that condensation yields very clean water. Why hasn’t anyone developed a solar powered condenser that pulls clean water out of the air? Seems like a reasonable way of ensuring clean water accessibility for a local community.
Clean Water Design: bell jar covered in solar cells. Solar cells power the heating element in the base. Small pin-inlets in edge of internal chamber in base permit salt water to enter. Insulate outer wall of bottom plate. Outer chamber collects moisture that condensed and streams down inner walls. Pressure release valve opens when collected water in outer chamber reaches certain height. Place in 1 meter depth saltwater to ensue internal temperature of outer chamber remains cool enough.