Demo Fall: Going Green in Both Ways

Demo Fall: Going Green in Both Ways

Categories:   Demo, Show Reports

"Green" was the topic of the second morning session at Demo today, with both environmental and economic applications taking center stage. Mapflow uses an iPhone and its GPS capabilities to let people share rides along a similar route. You enter your route on its Avego .action web site, and it then finds other people who want rides on that route. It includes a "meter" for sharing costs (using a pincode system), ratings of drivers and passengers, etc. It's an interesting idea - and certainly more ride-sharing would be more efficient. But I'm not sure how many people will really do this. Microstaq has a MEMS-based chip it says will reduce the energy needed to run air-conditioning systems by 20-25 percent. The Ventilum chip works in a special valve that replaces mechanical valves and solenoids in AC systems. It says its valve will be much more efficient. This isn't really my area these days, but it certainly sounds great...