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New York, 6:29 PM
Fri Nov 20
61 posts in the last 24 hours

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  • posts about #green more →

    Remainders - Stuff We Didn't Post (and Why)

    The Paint-Less Coca-Cola Would Save Earth One Can at a Time

    NEC's New TV Remote Uses No Batteries

    The Best of Samsung's Young Design Award 2009

    PowerZoa Would Be a Great Answer to the Question: "Did I Leave the Stove on?"

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    The Only Gadget Recycling List You Need
  • Your version of Internet Explorer is not supported. Please upgrade to the most recent version in order to view comments.
    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Fractal the Meek Fractal the Meek
    12:45 AM

    In reply to Remainders - Stuff We Didn't Post (and Why)
    Crunching numbers on this green house, I reckon $60k plus a generous $10k maintenance allowance for the power system over the years it takes to recoup the losses.

    Taking a true-cost approach, I'll ignore subsidies, though that certainly cuts the time in half for early buyers.

    Pulling $180 per month out of my butt as an estimate for conventional power, I come up with about 32 years to pay off the difference. Which... is actually pretty good aside from the pile of Li-ion and silicon waste left at end-of-life.
     Reply
    Fractal the Meek was starred Fractal the Meek was unstarred
    Image of Michai Michai
    11/19/09

    In reply to The Paint-Less Coca-Cola Would Save Earth One Can at a Time
    Some more math:
    1 empty can = 13.6 grams = 0.0299828677 pounds

    .029983 * 75,380,201,500 (cans/year) = around 2,260,124,580 pounds of aluminum a year or 1,130,062.29 tons.

    The Empire State Building weighs approximately 370,000 tons. The amount of cans produced every year by Coke alone is three times the weight of the Empire State Building.

    **All conversions and statistics are easily found doing simple Google searches.**
     Reply
    Michai was starred Michai was unstarred
    Image of MaQ MaQ
    11/19/09

    In reply to The Paint-Less Coca-Cola Would Save Earth One Can at a Time
    ^__^

    Great idea,

    But you r so right

    those two will get wet when they hear about it.

    ^__^
     Reply
    MaQ was starred MaQ was unstarred
    Image of BeyondtheTech BeyondtheTech
    11/19/09

    In reply to The Paint-Less Coca-Cola Would Save Earth One Can at a Time
    If only Scotty were still alive, we'd have transparent aluminum by now. Double dumb ass on you!
     Reply
    BeyondtheTech was starred BeyondtheTech was unstarred
    Image of DeLarge DeLarge
    11/19/09

    In reply to The Paint-Less Coca-Cola Would Save Earth One Can at a Time
    I am selling out all my stocks related to the pigment industry!!!
     Reply
    DeLarge was starred DeLarge was unstarred
    Image of Fractal the Meek Fractal the Meek
    11/19/09

    In reply to The Paint-Less Coca-Cola Would Save Earth One Can at a Time
    Nice try, Coke. Go ahead and take the red off your cans. We still know you're a bunch of communist hippies.
     Reply
    Fractal the Meek was starred Fractal the Meek was unstarred
    Image of Dr.Jeckyl Dr.Jeckyl
    11/19/09

    @Fractal the Meek: Heh, communist hippies.
     Reply
    Fractal the Meek promoted this comment Dr.Jeckyl was starred Dr.Jeckyl was unstarred
    Image of Jrsy Devil's Advocate® Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
    11/19/09

    In reply to The Paint-Less Coca-Cola Would Save Earth One Can at a Time
    Get ready for Coke Silver....
     Reply
    Jrsy Devil's Advocate® was starred Jrsy Devil's Advocate® was unstarred
    Image of semi-renaissance man semi-renaissance man
    11/19/09

    @Jrsy Devil's Advocate®: It's just like Coke Zero, but this time, No Caffeine! =D
     Reply
    Jrsy Devil's Advocate® promoted this comment semi-renaissance man was starred semi-renaissance man was unstarred
    Image of Jrsy Devil's Advocate® Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
    11/19/09

    @semi-renaissance man: No, it's like Coke with unpainted cans..

    #tips
     Reply
    Jrsy Devil's Advocate® was starred Jrsy Devil's Advocate® was unstarred
    Image of Monty Monty
    11/19/09

    In reply to The Paint-Less Coca-Cola Would Save Earth One Can at a Time
    It is a beautiful design and I would love to see how they list the ingredients and other required information with this naked concept. Wait - wait -- I know -- the can should be empty so then there is no information to list. Zero calories, zero contents, and nothing but a cool can. How refreshing.
     Reply
    Monty was starred Monty was unstarred
    Image of Chimaera Chimaera
    11/19/09

    In reply to The Paint-Less Coca-Cola Would Save Earth One Can at a Time
    Sure it's "unicolor", but I'm failing to see the "unibody."
     Reply
    Chimaera was starred Chimaera was unstarred
    Image of maven2k maven2k
    11/19/09

    @Chimaera: You're right, there is no design difference just nekkid. Great movie, btw.
     Reply
    maven2k was starred maven2k was unstarred
    Image of Homerjay is utterly alone. Homerjay is utterly alone.
    11/19/09

    In reply to The Paint-Less Coca-Cola Would Save Earth One Can at a Time
    Somewhere an office full of paint salesmen are FREAKING OUT.
     Reply
    Homerjay is utterly alone. was starred Homerjay is utterly alone. was unstarred
    Image of (Starman) Starman (Starman) Starman
    11/19/09

    @Homerjay is utterly alone.: And somewhere in a office full of aluminuminum salesman are FREAKING IN.
     Reply
    met2art promoted this comment (Starman) Starman was starred (Starman) Starman was unstarred
    Image of Alfisted Alfisted
    11/19/09

    In reply to The Paint-Less Coca-Cola Would Save Earth One Can at a Time
    Coke should be all over this. It's not as if they've invested billions of dollars in establishing red and white as fundamental components of their brand identity.
     Reply
    Alfisted was starred Alfisted was unstarred
    Image of Hello Mister Walrus Hello Mister Walrus
    11/19/09

    In reply to The Paint-Less Coca-Cola Would Save Earth One Can at a Time
    The problem is that only one company can do this for only one brand. If multiple types of drinks have the same silver color, none of them will stand out in a supermarket display. Consumers will not be able to pick them out at a distance, and overall sales will decrease. Coke/Pepsi aren't going to give up their market shares to save some paint.
     Reply
    Hello Mister Walrus was starred Hello Mister Walrus was unstarred
    Image of N@tedog N@tedog
    11/19/09

    @Hello Mister Walrus: Colored anodizing?
     Reply
    N@tedog was starred N@tedog was unstarred
    Image of reddingofish reddingofish
    11/19/09

    @Hello Mister Walrus: They will just put labels on the cans like they already do on the bottles. Or make the cans a different shape. Coke likes that Coke shaped container.
     Reply
    Hello Mister Walrus promoted this comment reddingofish was starred reddingofish was unstarred
    Image of Hello Mister Walrus Hello Mister Walrus
    11/19/09

    @reddingofish: Labels seem like they would create more waste than whatever method they're using to paint the cans though.
     Reply
    Hello Mister Walrus was starred Hello Mister Walrus was unstarred
    Image of reddingofish reddingofish
    11/19/09

    @Hello Mister Walrus: They might be saying they are doing this for the environment but you know they are really doing it to cut costs.
     Reply
    Edited by reddingofish at 11/19/09 9:32 AM reddingofish was starred reddingofish was unstarred
    Image of deliciousburglar deliciousburglar
    11/19/09

    @Hello Mister Walrus: would think it could work great in a 12/24 pack thats already covered up.
     Reply
    Hello Mister Walrus promoted this comment deliciousburglar was starred deliciousburglar was unstarred
    Image of Hello Mister Walrus Hello Mister Walrus
    11/19/09

    @deliciousburglar: I guess that's partially true. However, I think the marketing extends to beyond the supermarket shelves. Coke wants you to see their bright red logo whenever you retrieve a can from the fridge, go to a party and get a drink, or see cans floating in a cooler at a football tail gate. All this exposure is like a series of mini-advertisements so they need to have eye-catching, easily identifiable logos everywhere.
     Reply
    Hello Mister Walrus was starred Hello Mister Walrus was unstarred
    Image of CommodorePerry CommodorePerry
    11/19/09

    @N@tedog: If you think painting's bad for the environment...wait till you see the stuff they use to do anodizing!
     Reply
    N@tedog promoted this comment CommodorePerry was starred CommodorePerry was unstarred
    Image of Archangel1596 Archangel1596
    11/19/09

    @Hello Mister Walrus: I think that seeing a pretty original, all silver can would be a pretty good advertisement. If they actually implemented this, I would be all over it. No more store brand cola for me.
     Reply
    Hello Mister Walrus promoted this comment Archangel1596 was starred Archangel1596 was unstarred
    Image of Hello Mister Walrus Hello Mister Walrus
    11/19/09

    @Archangel1596: But the point I'm trying to make is that only one company can do this for one brand only. If there are more than one silver can, those two brands will not be distinguishable on a shelf, or in any other setting.

    Furthermore, they cannot apply this to existing brands, since brand images are so deeply burned into our brains. We are familiar with Coke having a red label, diet Coke having a grey label, Mountain Dew being green, etc. Coke cannot change this, or its customers will lose familiarity with the brands.
     Reply
    Hello Mister Walrus was starred Hello Mister Walrus was unstarred
    Image of N@tedog N@tedog
    11/19/09

    @CommodorePerry: The internet bible says it's earth healthy I guess: "Anodizing is one of the more environmentally-friendly metal finishing processes"

    [en.wikipedia.org]

    #tips
     Reply
    N@tedog was starred N@tedog was unstarred
    Image of ian.nai ian.nai
    11/19/09

    @Hello Mister Walrus: Sure they can. This only affects the cans. It doesn't affect the cardboard holder that they come in. (Granted, this argument only holds for more than 6 packs.)

    This doesn't have to be a pure switch. They could still produce their 6 packs the old way (paint and all) and their other packs the new way (nekkid).

    Or, who knows, paint only the label? That's got to save 75% of the paint.
     Reply
    Hello Mister Walrus promoted this comment ian.nai was starred ian.nai was unstarred
    Image of CommodorePerry CommodorePerry
    11/19/09

    @N@tedog: Eeesh, I just know that the anodizing places around where I am all have toxic cleanup operations going on as well...but it could be all the other metal plating they're doing, and not the anodizing.

    I know the base anodizing process is just a bunch of acids, but I wonder what the color dyes are made of. I also wonder if anodizing affects the recyclability of the aluminum?
     Reply
    CommodorePerry was starred CommodorePerry was unstarred
    Image of Hello Mister Walrus Hello Mister Walrus
    11/19/09

    @ian.nai: But they would still want the logos to be visible after people take the cans out of the cartons.
     Reply
    Hello Mister Walrus was starred Hello Mister Walrus was unstarred
    Image of ian.nai ian.nai
    11/19/09

    @Hello Mister Walrus: So paint only the label on. There's nothing saying it has to be 100% painted or 100% not painted.
     Reply
    ian.nai was starred ian.nai was unstarred
    Image of yantelope yantelope
    11/19/09

    In reply to The Paint-Less Coca-Cola Would Save Earth One Can at a Time
    "Huge amount of energy and paint required to manufacture colored cans will be saved." Here is the crux of the issue. This is going to save Coke millions of dollars. It's good to be green but only usually happens when it's profitable too.
     Reply
    yantelope was starred yantelope was unstarred
    Image of I Party With Smoot I Party With Smoot
    11/19/09

    In reply to The Paint-Less Coca-Cola Would Save Earth One Can at a Time
    Oh, no ya don't. I've seen this movie before. Next thing ya know, that can will be shape-shifting into your family members, killing all of your friends and you'll have to dip it in liquid nitrogen just to get rid of the fucker.
     Reply
    I Party With Smoot was starred I Party With Smoot was unstarred
    Image of Pope John Peeps II Pope John Peeps II
    11/19/09

    In reply to The Paint-Less Coca-Cola Would Save Earth One Can at a Time
    It looks amazing too. Whoever thought of this idea is pretty genius. It's great advertising through anti-advertising.
     Reply
    Pope John Peeps II was starred Pope John Peeps II was unstarred
    Image of Derek Clayton Twigg Derek Clayton Twigg
    11/19/09

    @Pope John Peeps II:

    coke does a good job of differentiating between the products by their color, you can see a coke can from 50 feet away and know what it is. By losing coke's trademark red coloring this will only add confusion.
     Reply
    Pope John Peeps II promoted this comment Derek Clayton Twigg was starred Derek Clayton Twigg was unstarred
    Image of Pope John Peeps II Pope John Peeps II
    11/19/09

    @Derek Clayton Twigg: Except that nobody else does this, so they'll still look unique.
     Reply
    Pope John Peeps II was starred Pope John Peeps II was unstarred
    Image of bigtimes bigtimes
    11/19/09

    @Pope John Peeps II: Until everyone started doing this. In the advertising business, if Coke does it, you're going to do it as well.
     Reply
    Pope John Peeps II promoted this comment bigtimes was starred bigtimes was unstarred
    Image of Pope John Peeps II Pope John Peeps II
    11/19/09

    @bigtimes: Not really. If one person does this they're unique, they're doing something that nobody else is doing and making something that looks like nothing else. That differentiates them.

    The SECOND person to do this, however, will be copying an existing product, making their product look exactly like something already on the market. Which I think an advertiser will tell you is a no no.
     Reply
    Pope John Peeps II was starred Pope John Peeps II was unstarred
    Image of Kris Aubuchon Kris Aubuchon
    11/19/09

    @Pope John Peeps II: Coke isn't about looking unique - it's about looking like Coke. Their brand does better than competitors based on pure nostalgia alone, they actually lose a majority of blind taste tests.
     Reply
    Pope John Peeps II promoted this comment Kris Aubuchon was starred Kris Aubuchon was unstarred
    Image of battra92 battra92
    11/19/09

    @Derek Clayton Twigg: unless they switched to making cans in the hoop skirt shape of their bottles.
     Reply
    battra92 was starred battra92 was unstarred
    Image of Pope John Peeps II Pope John Peeps II
    11/19/09

    @Kris Aubuchon: I doubt that's true. And I have the feeling there's no actual basis for that statement that you can show me.
     Reply
    Pope John Peeps II was starred Pope John Peeps II was unstarred
    Image of Derek Clayton Twigg Derek Clayton Twigg
    11/19/09

    @Pope John Peeps II: indeed it will be unique and I think it looks awesome but then again I love the trademark red of Coca~Cola and don't want it to go away :)

    #tips
     Reply
    Derek Clayton Twigg was starred Derek Clayton Twigg was unstarred
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