The Idea List

The Idea Center’s President, Barry Martin, and Operations Manager, Brian Gordon, were each awarded a Certificate of Commendation by the Henrico County Division of Fire last Wednesday, August 6th.  The commendation was the county’s response to Barry and Brian’s heroism in January of this year when they ran into the burning home of the Casazza family to rescue Jo Ann Casazza. 

“It was a very moving and humbling experience.  We were honored to receive this commendation from the men and women who risk their lives everyday,” Brian commented after the presentation.  Held at the Henrico County Training Building, the ceremony honors fire fighters that have gone above and beyond their calls of duty.  Barry and Brian were the only regular citizens among a number of fire fighters to receive awards during the program.  In attendance were the families and friends of those being commended for their selflessness, as well as a number of local officials and members of the media.

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The Idea Center would like to officially welcome the newest member of our team, Brian Gordon!

Brian has come to us from Richmond’s Martin Agency, bringing with him years of experience in media buying and broadcast supervision.  He will be using his talents to help our customers with their advertisement placement and purchasing needs as the in-house Media Guru.  Equally as importantly, he will be putting his knowledge of the inner-workings of the successful agency to good use as our new Operations Manager.

As a Hokie with a B.A. in Marketing Management, Brian brings a lot to the table and gives The Idea Center yet another tool with which to serve our clients.  And did we mention he plays a wicked harmonica?

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The Earth’s population is expected to grow to 9 billion by the year 2050, 80% of which is expected to live in urban areas. As a result of this anticipated urban population growth and the rising costs of fuel and transportation, there is a growing question: How do we provide fresh vegetables and farm produce to the cities at the lowest possible cost with the lowest ecological impact? One potential solution being considered is vertical farming, a space saving, energy efficient crossover farm that combines skyscrapers with traditional agriculture. Expected to arrive by 2015, these towering “sky-farms” will grow food indoors, no longer relying on mother nature to provide the perfect growing conditions, which, in turn, means no crop failures due to weather issues. Not only that, but the interiors are ultra-efficient, both with their energy and water frugality and in the sheer amount they can produce (4-6 times the production capacity, per acre, of a traditional flat farm!). Indoor farming is entirely organic, meaning there is no necessity for herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers, and significantly reduces issues of fossil fuel usage and agricultural waste, as the process uses no tractors or plows, and the customary shipping costs from rural to urban settings is nearly eliminated. Just picture it: reliable, clean, cost-effective farms where we need them, revitalized rural ecosystems where previous farmland has been reclaimed by nature, and a sustainably greener future.

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OCRAP.com is officially up and running!  The Idea Center teamed up with entrepreneurs Stacey Long and Allan Granger to create a new take on the common e-commerce site.  OCRAP.com, born of an idea from a 4th grade assignment, sells their products from the site, but it is the promotion of those products which is so unique.

The site, at its core, is a kind of hybrid social networking-video/image upload site.  The point is for people to get on the site and upload their favorite pictures and videos of the moments that made them say “OCRAP!” while browsing similar galleries from other people across the country and around the world.

We all have these moments, and as embarassed or angry or upset as we might have been at the time, in retrospect they are usually pretty funny.  This is the vision of the site: share your moments, laugh with the world, and pick up a fun teeshirt while you are here!

Try it out, come see what it’s all about.  http://www.ocrap.com

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In the United States, nearly one fifth of the energy we use goes to our households.  And of this, between 50 and 70 percent is expended on heating and cooling.  If we could find a way to insulate our homes more efficiently and with less waste, the reduction in energy costs could be astounding.  It is with this goal in mind that Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s recent graduates Gavin McIntyre and Eben Bayer created their grow-able insulation: Greensulate

Greensulate is made from mushrooms.  The process is fairly simple and relatively cheap.  The process starts with perlite, a highly absorptive volcanic material that is easy to produce, which makes up the base of the insulating tiles.  Combined in a square mold, the perlite is mixed with water and a starch for mushroom food.  This is where it gets interesting.  The two researchers then add the spores of oyster mushrooms, which thrive in the damp environment and feed off the starch.  As the spores grow, their tendril-like mycelium grow through and around the crushed perlite, forming a very tough and durable panel.  Once dried and cured, these panels are not only good insulators with R-values (measure of heat transfer) which are very competitive in the current market, but have the additional benefit of being fire retardant, making them excellent for use for fire walls. [...]

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