Wal-mart Goes Green, Opening Pandora's Box of Rock Bands, Scanning the Aisles, Singing Loos and Smart Clothespins

Wal-Mart goes green

There's something very different about the new Wal-Mart Supercenter in McKinney, Texas. For starters, photovoltaic solar panels run the length of the storefront. And the vaulted glass-ceiling entryways are made up of thin, clear solar panels encased in glass.

Welcome to the retail giant's first experimental environmentally friendly store, which opened in July. The 206,000-sq-ft building also features a 120-foot-tall wind turbine that is expected to produce about 5% of the store's energy and a rainwater-harvesting pond designed to provide 95% of the water needed for irrigation, according to a July 20 article by the Associated Press.

And that's not all. Black tubing around the frozen-food sections recycles the hot air generated by the refrigerators; low-hanging ductwork cuts electricity costs by cooling only the bottom half of the store; and recycled cooking oil from the store's deli and engine oil from the auto center are used to heat the building. What's more, the store is lit with long-lasting light-emitting diode bulbs instead of the typical fluorescent strips.

Wal-Mart hopes that these greener designs will translate into greener profits. The retailer is planning to open a second environmentally friendly store in Aurora, Colo., this fall.

Opening Pandora's box of rock bands

A previous Newscripts item (C&EN, Aug. 22, page 44) offered insights into the word Chemosphere, noting that it is also the name of a rock-and-roll band. This prompted Steven D. Ittel of DuPont to ask "whether there is any chemical word that is not the name of a rock band."

He sent us a list of other rock bands with chemical names: Ammonia, an alternative rock band from Australia; Attapulgite ("Do they know they are in Kaopectate? Probably," Ittel writes); the Benzene Ring; the Chemical Brothers; Cyanide Soup, Craving for Cyanide, and Cyanide Smyle ("Cyanide is obviously popular," Ittel jokes); Dopamine; Element; Fifth Element; Unknown Element; Emulsion; Lithium; Melatonin; My Chemical Romance; the Oxygen Bros Band; Platinum JAR; Prussian Blue (name held by two bands!); Rare Earth; Sodium65; Spectrum; and TAO Chemical Co.

"I am sure that publishing this would open Pandora's box," Ittel writes. "But it could be fun to see other more extreme examples."

Scanning the aisles

Shop without the hassle of pushing a shopping cart around, enjoy faster checkout, and have your purchases delivered to your home. That's the idea behind the Container Store's new service called GoShop Scan & Deliver.

According to the Aug. 29 AdAge.com, shoppers at the store's Manhattan location can register a credit card number at the counter and receive a wireless handheld scanner, which they can use to scan in bar codes on items they'd like to purchase. The items are then delivered--same day if requested--to their homes.

Singing loos and smart clothespins

The Swiss government has installed singing urinals in Switzerland's public lavatories to help diagnose prostate problems. The urinals are powered by sensors that can tell if the stream of urine is satisfactorily strong. If so, the urinal starts to sing the European football cheer "Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole." If not, a recorded message advises the user to go see a doctor.

In England, a student from Brunel University has invented clothespins that can predict when it's about to rain--potentially preventing laundry from being soaked in a storm. The clothespins can sense changes in air pressure and, if rain is projected within a half hour, lock up to prevent them from being used to fasten laundry. But if the pins are already in use, they won't lock up, so clothes can be removed before the rain arrives.

This week's column was written by Linda Wang. Please send comments and suggestions to newscripts@acs.org.