renewable energy
Chevy Volt’s Battery Backed by Extensive Warranty
President Barrack Obama surveys the Volt (White House Photo)
With the reduction of fuel consumption, car manufacturers focusing on the green consumer market have a new worry. Not surprisingly, car batteries simply don’t last quite as long in electric cars as car batteries did in the typical internal combustion engine cars. This fact, though incomparable to many other features of an electric car, is daunting for many an average consumer. In turn, it’s served as an obstacle to increase in sales in what may well be the future of cars.
For every market problem, there is generally a solution though. Either in clever marketing, research and development, or a combination of the two. And GM will be making use of both as it attempts to assuage consumer fears through a generous 8 year / 100,000 mile warranty. Only a short while back, GM became the first US automaker to run a battery pack plant, which is still building prototypes. And now, they’re already offering a warranty which applies to the popular Chevy Volt‘s battery. A warranty that the relevant GM press release accurately highlights as “the automotive industry’s longest, most comprehensive battery warranty for an electric vehicle.” › Continue reading
Solar Car Kits for Kids
A sample solar car concept
Conversely, people who begin learning additional languages as children tend to make a lot less mistakes common to later-learners and in addition, pick up the same languages much faster. Knowledge becomes more deeply rooted if it’s learned early, and bearing these facts in mind, one can also see why many professionals are able to trace their own passions as adults back to what they were brought up with.
With this in mind, it makes sense that the best way to instill green values in society would be to focus on the youth. That said, young kids won’t be too excited to read a dense non-fiction title on all the mistakes made by ourselves and our predecessors. They also wouldn’t be too keen on keeping up with environmental trends and gadgets. But few kids would shy away from being bought a new toy.
Solar Plane Begins 24-Hour Test Flight
Seven years of hard-work recently culminated in the beginning of a 24-hour test flight of the HB-SIA, an experimental solar-energy powered aircraft. This unveiling comes with a sigh of relief as the flight has already been delayed once due to technical issues with the communications equipment. The intentions of the team are to take the plane up to an altitude of approximately 28,000 feet after which the pilot will determine whether the plane can successfully fly during the night with the energy stored during the day’s sunlight.
Powered by 12,000 solar cells, the group hopes that the plane will be a harbinger of things to come – “to have a solar-powered plane flying day and night without fuel,” as the team’s co-founder Bertrand Piccard puts it. Though the group recognizes that solar airplanes won’t be replacing commercial airplanes with jet propulsion engines any time soon, the hope is that the project will be a means of moving towards a world with newer, cleaner technology.
YoGen: A Green Alternative to Emergency Energy
Image courtesy of Easy Energy, Inc.
I generally type at about 65 WPM, and I like to think that this is a quite a bit faster than a typical computer user especially considering that I’ve never actually taken any typing classes. I amassed this WPM on nothing but experience, hooked to a glaring computer screen since the age of five or six (we didn’t have cable and I was easily amused). In spite of my proficiency at typing, I have nothing on the speed at which my friends text. Not yet anyways.
Like my computer experience, kids are now growing up with cell-phones, rapidly pounding out messages that I would’ve actually had to say out loud. Regardless of what can be said about how this might depersonalize our communication with each other, it is an incontrovertible fact that the world is marching along in this direction – steadily becoming more and more dependent on these small all-encompassing tools. I’ve answered surveys where I was asked about one technology without which I couldn’t survive, and without even second guessing myself, I had to say my cell phone. I can always find easily accessible computers, but when it comes to my cell phone, it stores all of my contacts along with my music, pictures, videos and even some reminders of important appointments. I can’t leave home without it charged. And I can only imagine how much more important they would than be to people who lead far busier lives than my own.
It follows than, that in such a world, emergency energy has the potential for substantial business. I myself can’t say how many times I’ve purchased Cellboost to recharge my phone after I had realized that I hadn’t recharged it the previous night. I’ve also found similar technology that relies on you plugging in AAA batteries and the like as a source of energy, a rechargeable substitute for the disposable Cellboost (which is itself not much more than smaller batteries packaged in plastic).
5 Easy Things You Can Do For The Environment.
- Show your friends. Actions speak louder than words, and that’s certainly true of environmental issues too. You can talk all you want about helping the environment, but if your friends see your gas-guzzling Hummer parked in your driveway, all that talk isn’t going to do any good. You can show your friends by suggesting restaurants that serve local or organic cuisine for your next luncheon, or bring local wine to your next dinner party. Give them green gifts. If your friend is having a baby shower next week, purchase organic cotton onesies, or paraben-free baby cream. There are a million ways to demonstrate your environmental lifestyle to your friends, and to show how it’s benefiting your life. Be careful though, your goal is to make environmental decisions enticing, not ram it down their throats. No matter how frustrated you may be with your friends environmentally damaging decisions, slapping them in the face with a Go Organic sticker won’t achieve the desired results.
- Sign up for renewable energy through your utility provider. Call your utility provider and inquire about renewable energy. Most companies have some program to help you go green with your energy consumption, but unfortunately many of them don’t advertise it. Supporting green energy initiatives locally helps show your utility provider that you are committed to renewable energy, and you want to see those types of positive changes take place in your community.
- Identify your environmental saboteur. All of us have an area where we know we should be more environmentally conscious, but we don’t for whatever reason. For me, it’s clothes. I am horrible at buying clothing that is good for the environment. I see the $1 flip flops, and the 2 for $10 tank tops, and I can’t resist. I justify it since I’m so good about buying local and organic food, and I only buy green body products or cleaning products. But at the end of the day, no matter how good I am at all those things, I’m still supporting sweat shops that produce synthetic clothing that are damaging to myself and my environment. Take stock of your habits and find your environmental saboteur. Be rid of it. Take the initiative to cut back on whatever is keeping you from respecting the planet. You don’t have to do it overnight. Obviously I’m not going to go replace my entire wardrobe, but I can make the commitment to only buy reused or new clothes that are made with the environment in mind.
And the Winners (of the MIT Clean Energy Prize) Are…
The results are in; C3Nano Inc., a team from Stanford University, has won a competition amongst peers, the coveted MIT Clean Energy Prize. Barely three years old, the competition has brought some of the brightest minds from around the world, working with their respective teams, for a single common objective: becoming pioneers in the advancement of (relatively) clean energy.
Solar panels - from ncsc.ncsu.edu
A good idea isn’t enough to change the world, a good idea backed by significant capital and popular support is. The people behind the competition and the participants are well-aware of this reality, leading to the high turn-out of academics with futuristic ideas. And that’s where the competition comes in; the winning team earns $200,000, but more importantly, their idea gains wide recognition beyond the scholarly circle resulting in sponsorships from established organizations.
Solar Razor
I’ve recently come across the coolest little gadget for men, and perhaps even for women. It may be old news but it’s worth being brought up again: the Sol Shaver and other solar razors like it. These electric razors are solar powered, something I didn’t actually ever expect to see on the production line because most people only use their razors behind closed doors, in bathrooms, in the morning.
Sol Shaver
But for those of us with busy schedules, constantly moving around, often traveling, this device is simply perfect. If you go camping, you can’t really say no to bringing one of these along. Likewise, spring break is coming along quite soon and many of us will be taking a long road trip ending up on a beach somewhere (plenty of sun). Wouldn’t this be the handiest thing to have?
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Solio Mono-i Solar Charger
As we’re entering Spring, even in Seattle, we ought to start seeing a bit more sun. And nothing would show our gratitude for the change in weather than for us to actually harvest it’s potential with a solar charger.
Sold in a variety of makes and models, these little gadgets collect energy from the sun for your personal appliances. Be it a laptop, an I-Pod, or a cell phone, you can easily find a solar charger out there to match your needs, even essentially universal ones with a multitude of different plugs. One that’s caught my attention recently is the Solio Mono-i. The company boasts it’s compatibility with 3,200 devices, and also lists the other features typically found on a variety of such chargers.
Worlds Largest Solar Powered Yacht – PlanetSolar
Just unveiled in Germany, this Swiss built catamaran dubbed PlanetSolar is the largest of its kind with over 5,000 sqft of solar paneling covering most of the surfaces. With a top speed of 15 knots (17 miles per hour), this 66-ton boat carries 50 people with its crew of two. It’s 38,000 newer generation photovoltaic cells have an efficiency of at least 22% to help with converting the suns rays to turning the propeller. It’s no Code-X speed boat, but it is probably more efficient and practical.
Sticking to routes near the equator, the crew hopes to maximize the suns exposure to keep their average speed at 8 knots. They will be embarking on a 140 day voyage to cities like San Francisco, New York, Darwin (Australia), Hong Kong, Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Marseille. Maybe they could stop by the Pacific trash gyre on the way over.
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It’s Time to go Green
That sounds corny, right? It gets worse though. I almost said that as a response to somebody at a bus stop asking me if I had the time. It wasn’t without reason though, and it’s not as if absurd environmental phrases are constantly running through my head. The real reason is that I have a fairly decent-sized assortment of watches for somebody on a college student budget. Occasionally, one of them stands out – like today. A friend of mine, after noticing it and passing a quick compliment, noting my interest in green technology, suggested I check out a series of watches from the Citizen brand.
I
was never a believer when it came to solar-powered watches. Self-winding watches perform a relatively similar task albeit with some inaccuracy and cut the battery out of the equation completely. But it’s not that I thought this long-existent technology wasn’t feasible, I simply hadn’t heard much in terms of innovations in the market so I was never reminded about it and didn’t have enough initiative to give it much thought. The technology is relatively simple as these watches use solar panels not unlike those found in other common items like solar-powered calculators, the only difference being that a much greater amount of energy is than stored. I continued to be a skeptic though. I had always felt that these watches wouldn’t be at par with the ones I already owned. An inflated ego from a minor compliment and an all-to-human feeling of having to reciprocate for it forced me to give this concept some more thought and take the advice.
Green nPower Personal Energy Generator
Now you can be your own recharging station to all of your USB enabled devices. Cell phones, iPods, Kindles, GPS units, and just about any other hand-held electronic device can be charged by this renewable energy source.
A kinetic energy generator based on a wave energy converter, the nPower PEG (Personal Energy Generator) can go with you anywhere and will recharge your devices as you walk, run, hike or bike. By harvesting vertical movements of your everyday activities, they state that it is “able to charge handheld mobile electronic devices at the same rate as a wall charger, which means most devices reach an 80% charge with just an hour of walking throughout the day.” Just think of how much additional energy you could create at the green gym!
Some other great features of the PEG:
- Generating 4 Watts outputted through a USB 2.0 standard plug
- Constructed out of anodized aluminum
- Measures 9 inches tall and weighs 9 ounces
- Produces renewable energy
- 100% recyclable
- Components made of recycled ABS material
- RoHS Compliant
- Does not contain a battery
