Changespotting: So simple it hurts

Healthy eating seems like something almost everyone should be able to agree on - but it is becoming just another political football. Photo / Herald on Sunday

Think how fresh and cheap produce could be if it was grown in giant hydroponic greenhouses on top of your local supermarket. It's the ultimate harmony between farmers' markets and supermarket chains and would foster better quality food with fewer air miles. This is an initiative that Better Food Solutions will begin actualising in America this year, and isn't it just one of those ideas that seems so obvious it's a wonder it hasn't been done already?

Continuing in the "so simple, it hurts" vein, a design student has conceptualised an eject button for power sockets so they don't have to be wrenched out so ungracefully. Not only is this a more elegant way to pull a cable out of the wall, it will have big benefits for sufferers of arthritis or forms of motor disorders.

"Use solar, save lives" is a project spearheaded by Evans Wadongo. Wadongo grew up in West Kenya and studied engineering at University. When he was 19 he developed a solar lamp to replace the harmful kerosene lamps typically used in many Kenyan villages similar to that in which he grew up. Since 2004, 15,000 have been produced and his goal is 100,000 by 2015.