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Tag Archives: INNOVENTIONS

THINK presented by IBM opens in INNOVENTIONS at Epcot

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THINK presented by IBM has opened in INNOVENTIONS at Epcot® at the Walt Disney World® Resort

The exhibit combines three unique experiences to engage visitors in a conversation about how we can improve the way we live and work. For more information about visiting the exhibit.

 

Explore the process of progress through interactives, games and film.

Learn through play by interacting with a 40 foot gesture wall visualizing the complex systems around us.

Be inspired by the possibilities and history of progress while watching the THINK film.

Explore the elements of progress, Seeing, Mapping,
Understanding, Believing, and Acting through dynamic interactives.

Gesture wall
Visitors approaching the exhibit are drawn in by striking patterns displayed on a 40-foot gesture wall. The wall tells the stories of systems around us, transforming into an interactive space where visitor movement creates unique visualizations in dynamic shapes and color. To illustrate complex systems that are a part of daily life the wall also visualizes data from traffic, solar energy, and air quality.

Immersive film
Further inside the exhibit space, visitors discover a theater space featuring a 12-minute immersive film. A kaleidoscope of images and sound fill the large screen. They are enveloped in a rich narrative about the pattern of progress, told through awe-inspiring stories of the past and present. The film reveals how progress was made possible by a combination of people and technology, and by taking a distinct approach to making the world work better — seeing, mapping, understanding, believing and acting. Guests are inspired to think about humankind’s quest for progress, and about making our world work better, today.

Interactive experience
Visitors explore a media field composed of 20 seven-foot interactive touchscreens, transforming the space into a forest of discovery. Visitors can explore our quest to see more-from clocks and scales to microscopes and telescopes, RFID chips and biomedical sensors. They learn how maps have been used to track data, from early geographical maps to the most recent databases and data visualization platforms. They interact with the models used to understand the complex behaviors of our world-from weather prediction algorithms to virus spread simulations. They hear from leaders of world-changing initiatives about how they built belief. And they read about some of the most inspiring examples of systemic progress around the world.

Release: Pella Partners with Green Builder Media for VISION House in INNOVENTIONS

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It sounds like a futuristic movie scene: a woman at work uses her smart phone to remotely unlock her front door for a repairman. As the sunny winter day turns into evening, her time-activated home automation system lowers the blinds in the family room to help prevent heat loss.

Innovative home technology like this — including a new product from Pella Corporation — will soon be a reality in the new green home exhibit at INNOVENTIONS at Epcot®at the Walt Disney World® Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

The VISION House®in INNOVENTIONS at Epcot® — an experiential exhibit created by Walt Disney Imagineering in collaboration with Green Builder® Media, highlights the major themes of whole-home automation, energy efficiency, water conservation, indoor environmental quality, security, multi-generational design and durability. The home will utilize Pella Designer Series® windows in its design.

“As an industry leader dedicated to innovation, Pella is pleased to participate in this project that helps visitors learn how to make sustainable, energy-efficient choices in their own homes,” said Polly Tousey, Pella strategic programs manager.

Throughout the exhibit, opening in early spring in honor of Earth Day 2012, children and adults are encouraged to consider how they can reduce their personal impact on the planet, as well as changes they can implement in their own homes to help make them more sustainable, healthier, safer and more durable.

Why Pella Designer Series windows?
From their energy-efficient design to the stylish and innovative technology options, Pella Designer Series windows and patio doors are a smart choice for any home. Benefits include:

  • Home automation – Designer Series windows with the new Pella SmartSync™ technology can control optional snap-in shades or blinds with a smart home automation system, like Nexia™ Home Intelligence. Pella SmartSync technology — available for the emerging smart home market later in 2012 — is designed to quickly and conveniently adjust blinds or shades in Pella windows to control light, privacy and help save energy in a home or business.
  • Energy efficient – With their solid wood construction and superior insulating qualities, Pella Designer Series windows with triple-pane glass are up to 74 percent more energy efficient(1) and can help save nearly one-third on heating and cooling costs(2).
  • Improved indoor air quality – Optional between-the-glass blinds or shades help prevent and reduce certain indoor airborne allergens from accumulating on the surface area of blinds or shades. Windows with ordinary roomside blinds accumulate 200 times more of certain airborne allergens than Designer Series products with between-the-glass blinds.(3)
  • Safer design – Between-the-glass blinds and shades are a great choice for multi-generational homes because the blinds and shades are protected from dust and damage, requiring less maintenance and cleaning. They’re also safer for homes with children and pets because there are no potentially hazardous roomside cords.
  • Good for the environment – The water-based Pella factory finish for Designer Series windows and patio doors means fewer chemicals are used in the process, contrasted with solvent-based finishes that may be applied on the job site.

 

About VISION House in INNOVENTIONS
Inspired by Green Builder Media’s VISION House demonstration home series, the INNOVENTIONS exhibit teaches visitors that each house is a set of interactive systems and that proper management of those systems can maximize comfort and minimize operational costs.

Incorporated into the exhibit will be Pella SmartSync technology — an integrated system that allows shades or blinds to be controlled simply by a remote control or by a home or building automation system through Web-enabled devices like computers and most smart phones. In the VISION House, Pella SmartSync technology is powered through the Nexia™ Home Intelligence home automation system supported by brands like Schlage® and Trane® from Ingersoll Rand.

It’s a green world
Pella earned the ENERGY STAR® partner of the Year 2011 award and ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence Award 2011 — recognizing the commitment Pella has shown in successfully managing energy use and promoting ENERGY STAR products.

“Pella started recycling in 1925, the year our company was founded,” Tousey said. “Today our roots still run deep in recycling, sustainability and innovative ideas. SmartSync is our newest product designed with a purpose to help add convenience and peace of mind to today’s time-pressed and energy-conscious consumers.”

In addition to Pella Designer Series wood windows with SmartSync technology, the home will include these advanced products and technologies:

  • Electronic vehicle charging station by SIEMENS
  • Chevy Volt electric vehicle by GM
  • High efficiency heating and cooling systems and controls by Trane, door hardware by Schlage and an innovative whole-home automation system supported by both Ingersoll Rand brands
  • Durable and environmentally friendly exterior systems, including smog-eating tile roofs, cultured stone, bricks, permeable pavers and trim by Boral
  • Ventilation solutions by Panasonic
  • Water-conserving fixtures, faucets, showerheads and home standby generators by KOHLER

Epcot Attraction to Offer College Scholarships

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The new $22,500 scholarship program was created as a higher education extension of StormStruck: A Tale of Two Homes®, a popular interactive severe weather experience at INNOVENTIONS at Epcot® at the Walt Disney World® Resort. StormStruck is sponsored by FLASH and four of its partners: RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd.; WeatherPredict Consulting Inc., an affiliate of RenaissanceRe; Simpson Strong-Tie® and State Farm®.

One $1,500 annual scholarship will be awarded in each StormStruck sponsor’s name. All five scholarships are available to master and doctorate-degree students and are as follows:

    •      RenaissanceRe® Risk Management Scholarship – for students performing research on the identification, assessment or prioritization of risk as it relates to natural disaster liabilities.
    •      Simpson Strong-Tie® Structural Engineering & Construction Scholarship – for students performing research on resilient construction materials or techniques.
    •      State Farm® Financial Services Scholarship – for students performing research on financial analysis, investment management or corporate finance as they relate mitigating the effects of, responding to or recovery from natural disasters.
    •      WeatherPredict Consulting Inc. Meteorology Scholarship – for students performing research on meteorology or meteorological risk modeling as it relates to natural disasters.
    •      FLASH Social Science Scholarship – for students performing research on behavior change, societal effects or other social aspects as they relate to natural disaster mitigation or preparation.

“With these scholarships, FLASH and its partners are taking the study of mitigation to higher education for the first time ever,” said Leslie Chapman-Henderson, President and CEO of FLASH. “We’re creating an educational link between traditional disciplines that support mitigation – like meteorology, insurance, construction and engineering — as a field of study and practice.”

This year’s application process opens Dec. 1, 2011 and closes Feb. 15, 2012. Scholarship awardees will be notified in March regarding their selection as 2012/2013 recipients. Winners will be recognized at the 2012 FLASH Annual Meeting in October at Lake Buena Vista, FL at which they will be required to present their research findings as posters. For more details on the open application process, interested individuals are encouraged to visit http://www.flash.org/scholarship.

StormStruck is designed to help guests learn their risks for natural disasters, understand their property-protection and safety options and take action today to protect their families and their homes. In a 100,000-square-foot venue, StormStruck allows guests of all ages to experience a spectacular 4-D windstorm and team up to build a home that can withstand severe weather. Guests play fun-filled disaster safety games, create storm kits, take interactive quizzes on natural disasters local to their zip codes and can even create simulated mini-storms.