Urban and Residential Living in a World with Climate Change
The theme for Earth Day 2015 revolves around climate change. Our lifestyles can have the effect of contributing to increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, a major symptom and causal effect of climate change. For example, urban areas account for two-thirds of driving-related greenhouse gases despite public transportation opportunities. There’s been some research lately into the effects of climate change on urban areas, such as those areas of California that have been slammed by drought conditions, and a growing population is an issue that has to be taken into account. With the environment on our mind, we thought a close look at climate-change tech would be appropriate. We focus on a couple of innovations that will keep our society running in the face of a warmer atmosphere and higher sea levels, assuming that sea levels do increase as we keep being told they will.
As our atmosphere warms, there will be more of our country’s population that lives in a hot-humid or hot-arid climate rather than a temperate climate. Keeping energy costs within the home to a minimum is the objective of the technology protected by U.S. Patent No. 8978342, which is titled Residential Radiant Barrier Assemblies. Issued to Auburn University in March, it claims a method of radiant heat rejection by providing a radiant barrier material in a roof of a building along a bottom edge of a rafter to separate an airspace while supporting convective airflow that removes heat from the radiant barrier material. This radiant barrier could be installed in homes and other buildings to reduce summer heat gain in warm climates.
A Greener Footprint with Carbon Capture and Next Generation Energy Production
On Wednesday, April 22, 2015, more than 22,000 partner organizations and more than one billion people in 192 different countries will honor the 45th annual Earth Day. According to organizers, this will be the world’s largest non-secular celebration. The theme of this year’s festivities is “It’s Our Turn to Lead,” sounding a call to action among anyone with an interest in environmental issues. With this in mind, we thought we would take a look at some intriguing, recently patented green innovation relating to carbon capture and energy production.
Our society is tied to our quick access to electricity throughout the home and across our communities. It’s hard to picture a consumer economy without the easy ability to obtain electrical energy from a wall outlet to power a variety of electronics. All of that electricity generation occurs at power plants which release a lot of carbon dioxide directly into the atmosphere. As a result, many have discussed the use of carbon capture and storage technologies as a way of counteracting some of the negative aspects of energy production.
04.21.15 | Patent Issues | Gene Quinn
Top 5 Patent Law Blog Posts of the Week
Today we continue our weekly installment highlighting the best of the patent blogosphere from the past week. If there are any patent blogs you think should be highlighted by our Top 5, please comment on this post and we’ll check them out.
1) Chicago IP Litigation Blog: Court Finds Claim Preamble Limiting – This post reports on the matter of The Metraflex Co. v. Flex-Hose Co., No. 10 C 302, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Sep. 8, 2011). It discusses how Judge Leinenweber construed the claims of the patent related to displaying a product selection on a website by highlighting the specific definitions reached upon by the court.
2) Patently-O: Federal Circuit Continues Split on Patentable Subject Matter – This post notes how the Federal Circuit decided in Myspace, Inc. v. GraphOn Corp. (Fed. Cir. 2012), once again not reaching a set standard regarding patentable subject matter. “The majority opinion here – penned by Judge Plager and joined by Judge Newman – argues that courts should avoid the metaphysical question of whether an invention is unpatentably abstract whenever possible and instead focus on the conditions of patentability found in §§ 102, 103, and 112 of the patent act.” (more…)
03.9.12 | Federal Circuit Cases, posts | Mark Dighton
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04.22.15 | Patent Issues | Gene Quinn