Kozminski Techblog

In times of global pandemic, all governments all around the world said that is mandatory to wear a facemask. This creates a big problem with trash, also many people believe that a simple surgical mask doesn’t really work. UM System comes with the idea of building and producing facemask with changeable filters and UV-C technology that is purifying the air all day long. 

How does it work?

When you breathe air is sended thru a filter and two purifiers that are killing the bacteria and filtering the air. The company states that this technlology provides high protection from dust, tobacco, and other particles that might hurt our lungs. This device can work up to 6 hours and filter the air. What is the best that this avoids misting glasses and you don’t feel any discomfort while using. 

A great feature of this mask is that you can customize the design of this device. You can change the color of the front shells. Also, it can be very cheap to wear this mask, the company states that the average cost of using normal disposable surgical masks is over $500 per year. UVMask year use costs are only $100, for me it is a great deal.

What about health and protection certificates?

“UVMask has been tested by SGS to be completely safe according to UL1598 CRD (dated 2020-6-29), meaning the fully light sealed design guarantees UV light will not leak out from the Sterile-Vortex.”  

“The CE-FFP2 (EU Standards N95 equivalent) passive air filter has been tested according to the EN 149-2001+A1-2009 standards.”

Those tests prove that this relatively new technology works and performs great.

This idea at Kickstarter found 14,404 backers that pledged $3,019,833. It proves that people need this sort of idea. Many people working all day long in facemasks are struggling with a comfortable and efficient way to protect themselves. This company saw a demand and came up with this solution. I think that it’s a great project, in the future we will see how it will perform.

Source:https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/umsystems/uvmask-inactivate-9999-of-all-pathogens-and-air-pollutants?ref=phb.go2.fund&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=phb.go2.fund

One of many global problems is dealing with food waste and mismanagement of food. THRiVE’s Kickstarter campaign comes with the solution to this issue. They have created the revolutionary home gadget- home composter for bio thrashes such as peels of fruits and vegetables, meat, bones, eggshells, and so on. Instead of throwing them into the dumping ground, you can process them into bio-friendly compost for plants. Sounds great, but how it performs on the daily basis. The device looks like air purifier, it consumes only 0,7 kWh of electric energy per one use and it’s odorless.

“THRiVE is a smart waste recycling machine that transforms kitchen waste and food scraps into 100% organic ready-to-use compost for indoor or outdoor plants, gardens, and backyards. This revolutionary device has one-button simplicity, is super-fast, and is silent. It’s the best way to eliminate kitchen mess and odors, reduce waste, and provide an eco-friendly solution for leftovers.”

How does it work? 

Home composters heat the product and thanks to the temperature micro-organisms can develop and process the material. Then the mixture is blended and dried. The final product looks like garden soil. This process can reduce the weight of waste by 90%, this tenor of composting can decrease food waste by 50%. The company states that by using this device we can save up to 1800$ (this amount of money is calculated by prices of trash disposal in the USA) in waste disposal.

How much does it cost?

The price shapes around 209$, I think that it is a cheap deal. Because we can save money in buying fertilizers for garden and trash disposal. But what is the most important thing, is that we can stop a huge waste crisis in the world.

The Kickstarter campaign has risen to “over 2,105 backers pledged $523,674 to help bring this project to life” . This shows that people want to deal with this problem and are frustrated by the waste of food. I think that everyone should consider buying this product (when it will be available on the market). Developers show many advantages of this device, I’m glad that there are people like the founders of THRiVE who saw the demand in this market for eco-friendly solutions.

Sources:

https://www.interseroh.pl/fileadmin/user_upload/Interseroh_broszura_4_maszyny_OKLIN.pdf

Chinese government rations the electricity power for the industry. These days the Chinese industry is struggling with the shortages of electricity. What is interesting is that the Chinese government doesn’t hide this problem, those actions are affecting mainly the big factories and generally speaking the biggest industrial country in the world. But why do we have such a problem?

Firstly, we must describe and understand how the energy sector works in China. Who shapes the prices and production of the power? Prices of coal are dictated by the market, but the prices of electricity are shaped by the government. So, this creates a problem, if the price of coal is high then the powerplant must import cheaper material from abord. And the knowledge of this mechanism can partly explain to us why we have the biggest power crisis in the People’s Republic of China. When in the last year they faced the biggest Covid-19 crisis, the Chinese government elongated the holiday, all the industry halted. After a month all factories started to work, they had to face down this high demand in the market, so they worked for 110% (this creates a huge need for energy). What is interesting is that Prime Minister said that the prices of electricity can’t rise. But simultaneously prices of coal gone very high. This caused that powerplants started to burn the backup coal. The reserve of coal drastically went down (by 2020 there were over 80 million metric tons, it melted to 50 million tons by 2021). It was better to use the reseves than buying picey coal.

Secondly, China declared that they want to be a zero-emission country by 2060. It will be very tough because nowadays 70% of the electricity comes from coal. So, the local governments have developed their annual emission targets, to slowly prepare for this promise. When local authorities see that this level of emissions rapidly rises, they start to cut the power, by making days off for factories.

Thirdly, PRC’s diplomatic situation with Australia lately has gone very bad. Because of that case, China banned importing cheaper Australian coal. This forced power plants to buy local coal (more expensive than Australian). Also recently in many coal mines were more cases and accidents. The government decided to introduce more security restrictions that will improve working hygiene at the mine. This also affects the price of local coal.

How will this situation affect the Chinese industry and people? Chinese people have electricity in their houses and cities. There hasn’t been a situation of blackout in main cities in the country. But on the other hand, the industry can affect this very much. For example, Alibaba lately had a situation of cutting its power. I think that this problem will endanger the global market. Meaning that supplies shortages can be real, or many products assembled in PRC cannot be exported at the time to the customer. 

Sources:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-10/how-china-plans-to-become-carbon-neutral-by-2060-quicktake

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbeF3O84MaA

https://www.forbes.com/sites/arielcohen/2021/10/19/chinas-energy-crisis-deepens-with-potentially-fatal-consequences/

Samsung’s investment in the US is going to be a computer chip factory. South Korean giant wants to face a global crisis in semiconductors. They have chosen a Tailor city in Williamson County, located near Austin (Texas). This facility will be the biggest venture in Texas and the utmost foreign investment in the USA. 

Why do we have such a crisis? There are a few reasons. 

1.Covid-19 lockdowns have broken supply chains, chip producing factories were closed. More people switched to home-office; students were using computers for education.

2. We can observe rising prices of raw materials used in the chip-making process. Copper and other elements. 

3. In the past year many facilities faced a problem with weather in Texas. For example, chip plants in Austin were closed due to snowstorms. Other factories in Japan caught fire. In Taiwan, there was the biggest drought in 50 years (making semiconductors requires a huge amount of water). 

Over 17B $ facility will produce computer chips for AI and computers. Due to global shortages in this tech branch, the US government also wanted to secure the US industry from the shortfall. White House states that producing semiconductors is crucial for country security also for tech war with China. Joe Biden is concerned about the situation in the chips market. He wants to make domestic semiconductor production more efficient to cause the US industry less vulnerable to chips shortages. 

Why Texas? Because of the stable climate and existing Samsung’s foundry in Austin. This plant will offer over 2,000 workplaces for tech staff and over 6,500 vacancies for construction workers. 

“Samsung’s decision to locate its cutting-edge semiconductor fabrication plant in Taylor is the single most significant and consequential development for the local economy since the International & Great Northern Railroad laid tracks here in the 1870s,” said Taylor mayor Brandt Rydell. 

Williamson County is prepared to hold this venture, they promised Samsung with tax breaks. Also, they made deals with other neighboring counties to provide decent water and electricity supply. 

This plant will be ready in 2024. I think that the US is going to be the global leader in semiconductor production. It’s a great response to the current shortage of microprocessors and chips. Will we defeat this crisis? Yes, but it requires some time, building such facilities is a very complicated process. Also, Intel and TSMC (Taiwanese chip maker) are making ventures in Texas. Time will tell us how we face this crisis down.

=