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This year's Dyson Ireland Student Design Award went to the creator of a tree-shaped PC called 'The Cultivate -- The Sustainable Living Computer'. It allows people to upgrade parts separately, rather than completely replace a PC, which is far greener.
The 'trunk' is the motherboard, or heart of the PC, and each 'branch' houses a separate component -- such as a graphics or sound card. New parts can be added as and when the user needs, and redundant parts can be removed. In a sense, the PC grows and evolves with its owner.
The idea is that each branch can be easily plucked and sent back to be recycled, replaced, reused or rearranged as required. There are also aluminium 'leaves' dangling from the tree, which act as heatsinks to cool each component separately. These can be bent and twisted into any shape you want.
The design, by National College of Art and Design graduate Laura Caulwell, won her €2,000 and the chance to represent Ireland at the International James Dyson Award coming up in the new year.
Not to criticise, but we do wonder -- can't most PCs be upgraded easily already? Although components can be difficult to replace in things like the iMac and some laptops, desktop PCs are easily upgradeable. The Cultivate's design, though, is fantastic, and it's good to see green innovation in the PC arena.
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