Uber Shelter, designed by Rafael Smith while a senior at Purdue University is a modular, quickly deployable emergency shelter, primarily intended for use within refugee camps. With no previous knowledge of refugee camps, he sought the advice of doctors, policy makers, aid workers, and a Sudanese refugee he met online.
His design was a finalist at the 2008 International Design Excellence Awards for students.

The concept for a portable housing unit would help meet immediate shelter needs. The shelter unfolds into a two-story home, complete with lights, stove, porch, mosquito nets, and a small refrigerator. It can be assembled with just a few tools. It provides a portable personal living space for those affected by catastrophic events and can be collapsed for ease in transportation. It’s also made from recyclable and reusable materials.

Smith focuses on fixing some of the problems that have plagued large refugee camps. The model is meant to reduce sprawl. Because the shelter can hold two families, one on each floor, the camp size can be reduced by half, and he equips each home with solar-powered electricity. The unit is made of lightweight recyclable aluminum, so it can be cheaply transported by car or parachuted into a disaster area. The shelter measures 7-by-12 feet when set up and collapses into a two-foot high section for ease in transportation. Once a crisis is resolved, the shelters can be cleaned out, packed up, and shipped to the next location that needs them.

No cost has been established yet because Smith plans to refine his design before thinking about patents. Indianapolis attorney Paul B. Overhauser read a short article about Smith’s Uber shelter in The New York Times and has offered to work pro bono to handle a patent application for Smith.

This is what I call thinking outside the 9 dots. Keep up the good work and good luck, Rafael!

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What if you had a car that made its own fuel? Dr. Jerry Woodall at Purdue University,
accidentally found a way. One day while doing semiconductor experiments in his lab, he
melted aluminum and gallium. When he added water to clean the melt out, he got a big
poof of steam and hydrogen.

Hydrogen on demand!

With this alloy you don’t have to worry about becoming a flaming rocket on the highway.
This stuff is safe to move around and has a high energy content and can be converted
into hydrogen when you need it.

You will just buy a tank full of pellets and plug it into your car. Add water and
away you go. It will reduce our dependency on foreign oil. The raw materials
(aluminum ore) is located in the United States. For instance, the southwest.

Dr. Woodall is now working on getting golf carts running utilizing this method.

Man, stuff like this just gives me goosebumps!