Author: deepa

The guys at Washington DC are sure striving hard to keep their city clean and green, and the streets sparkling. The SmartBike program, the first of its kind in the United States, a bike sharing program, is all set to expand and grow. To be based on Montreal’s Bixi, there will soon be ten times more stations and bikes in this program. Currently, the SmartBike program has just 120 bikes and 10 stations, though the new initiative will extend to 1,100 bikes and 114 stations, spreading around the district and into Arlington County too. The costs of memberships will double up too, increasing from the current $40 to $80 for a year.

A monthly membership will cost around $30 while a daily membership fee costs $5. The first 30 minutes of usage will be free, with fees charged after the 30 minute mark. Also, Clear Channel will no longer head the initiative. Bike sharing sure needs to spread across the United States and the world for greener and cleaner commute.

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Making a little craft flower isn’t the only way to reuse and recycle pencil shavings now. You can make an eraser out of it too! Pull your jaw back on and get a hold of this. Designed by Hao Gin Weng, Siang Yin Ke, and Che Hao Li, this little machine uses the shavings from a pencil to make erasers. Now there are a few doubts as to how exactly would bits of wood combined with lead help erasing pencil marks off paper, but the designer has thought about that too while putting this baby together. So all you need to do is, draw out a picture, then somehow break the pencil point, stick it into the sharpener, turn the crank, have a sharp pencil, and an eraser too!. A great way to put to use all those bits off wood shopped out of your pencil by the sharpener. This indeed is the best way to recycle, at your study table.
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Ever wondered what would come between the A1 and the A3? Well, Audi now have the new A2, waiting to be unleashed. The new A2, unlike all the other A series cars will be a green and clean one though. The car will be a fuel electric vehicle, to give the BMW Megacity and a similar Mercedes-Benz a bit of competition. The previous A2 was phased out by Audi five year ago and used an aluminum space frame construction. The new A2 however will use traditional steel, to instead of aluminum, due to costs. The car will also borrow some of its styling from the older version, meaning that it might retain its tall one-box design structure and narrow tracks. Audi is sure to take the EV industry by storm with the new A2.
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The automobile industry is slowly but surely turning towards the greener horizon, with green designs, cars and technology being developed on a regular basis. Well, Sanyo has made its mark in the Guinness World Records now with some of their electric vehicle technology. Sanyo pepped up a Mira EV, powered by a Sanyo lithium-ion battery, and set out to break the world record for the longest drive in an electric vehicle on a single charge. And that’s exactly what happened, with the car travelling 1,003.84 kilometers without charging the battery. The Japan EV Club drove 555.6km last month on a single charge, from Tokyo to Osaka. This time the distance was doubled, using a Sanyo lithium-ion designed by 8,320 cylindrical lithium-ion batteries. The Mira EV ran for 27 hours at a speed of 40km/h, completing the journey and breaking the record. An awesome efficiency indeed, hopefully our future electric cars go this far on a single charge.
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Quite a few of us have been cursing the sun for burning into our skin and scorching our lives this summer. So to keep the sun away and cool you down, designer Tyson Steele came up with a design of a Solar Arch to cover roads. Well, keeping the sun at bay isn’t all that the Solar Arch system does. It also generates electricity that can be used to power up highway lighting and satisfy the electricity needs of areas nearby. And when the weather changes and the sun hides away, the Solar Arch comes handy yet again, by helping reduce icing problems in winter. The designs have been compiled with AASHTO Standards for US interstate bridges and passageways with a ground clearance of over 18 feet and have a width of 40 feet with 10 feet long sections. The Solar Arch will be a welcome addition to roadways around today.
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Give a modern artist to create a wind turbine and he’ll probably come up with something like this. Eddy is a modern art rendition of a wind turbine, and no, it’s not meant for an art museum. Instead, it’s made to sit comfortable atop your home. The turbine manufactured by Urban Green Energy uses the vertical axis design, enabling it to harvest the power of the wind from all directions. Eddy measures 1.38 meters wide and 1.6 meters tall. The system weighs just 81 kilograms. The vertical axis design of the Eddy wind turbine makes it ideal for use in urban areas where buffeting occurs due to obstructions and obstacles. The turbine boasts a rated power of 600 watts with a cut-in speed of 3.5 meters a second and a maximum safe wind speed of 120mph and above. The blades made of carbon fiber and fiberglass spin at a maximum of 200 revolutions per minute. Eddy is designed to live for 20 years, a whole lot of time to generate enough green energy to power up your homes.
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’s mass transit system goes greener by the day and will be at its greenest by 2025. The entire bus fleet, about 1,300 of them in all, will go electric by the time 2025 looms. And if all goes as planned, Montreal will be the first North American city with an all-electric bus fleet. Currently, The Societe de Transport de Montreal (STM) awaits the arrival of 380 high-efficiency diesel buses, ordered to replace the old exhaust spewing aged ones. The city is also eager to add hybrids to its fleet in the near future. By the start of 2012, all the fleet additions will either be electric or hybrid, with electric bus testing beginning in 2011. These electric buses will be powered up by overhead wires, similar to trams, and will commute on the cities busy routes. By the year 2025, the cities 1,300 strong bus-fleet will be clean and green, with zero emissions. Other cities around the world should follow this sparkling green example by Montreal.
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New Jersey is going a shade greener, this time with an all green port. A new container port is being built in Bayonne, New Jersey. Being constructed together by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the port will consume energy equivalent to that used to power up 2,000 homes! But fear not! Put your skin back on, the wind will do the work of powering up this port, without exhausting the grid. The port is currently being chiseled out, and the wind turbines will follow suit. Five 288 foot tall turbines will be built on a 70 acre area just east of the Global Terminal. The port will play host to huge cargo ships increasing the cargo intake above its current 323,000 containers annually. After all, there isn’t a better way to power up a port than the wind itself, earlier responsible for powering up old sail-boats too.
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Who said beer drinking is bad for the environment? It might have been, but beer manufacturing is clearing up its act, and choosing to go green, to produce the world’s favorite alcoholic beverage. Well, Anheuser-Busch have decided to use solar energy help them aide beer manufacturing. The brewery at Newark, NJ brewery will generate about 525,000 kilowatt hours a year of solar power. The array will be set up on the roof of the brewery and will power up the machinery used to make that cool glass of golden frothing liquid. The system, designed and installed by Orion Energy Systems is just another green initiative taken by the company. Anheuser-Busch also uses wastewater-to-biogas recovery systems at 10 of its 12 U.S. breweries. Cheers to the green beer!
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The titans meet, and produce enough of green energy to power up 1,800 homes. If you’re wondering what we’re talking about, get a hold of this. The giant 2.5-megawatt dynamometer at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory supplied 12.6 million inch pounds of torque at Samsung’s 185,000-pound wind turbine drive train. When a giant meets a giant, the earth is bound to rumble and roar. And that’s exactly what happened at this largest full-scale dynamometer test of a wind turbine drive train ever done in the United States. The NREL 2.5-megawatt dynamometer is powerful enough to produce speeds up to 30 revolutions per minute. The test enabled the Samsung guys understand just how well their 250-foot-high “baby” would survive in harsh weather conditions for 25 years. One hell of a test, this one sure will help Samsung’s green dream fulfill.

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Carrying a wind turbine around to power up your trips outdoors hasn’t really been a great option before. Well, things are changing, for the better. Here’s a green product that will make sure all your gadgets are powered on while you spend time out, away from home and grid connectivity. The device designed by Cheng Peng, this little look alike of a full scale wind turbine keeps you powered up outdoors. No longer do you need to fear running out of charge on your mobile phone, when you’re camping out there, far away from civilization. The device, known as With The Source, powers up gadgets by harvesting solar and wind energy. With The Source also incorporates a LED torch, just incase you need a bit of light out there. This thoughtful little device is sure to keep you powered on outdoors.
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Skiing isn’t just a snow-white adventure sport anymore. It has a touch of green to it now, in Switzerland. A scarcely populated Swiss village, Tenna, has made use of the sun’s energy in the best way possible. Powering a ski lift using solar energy, shows just how much applicability sustainable sources like these, have in our world today. Placed on top of the drag lift, solar panels will harvest the sun’s energy and will be adjustable to track the sun better, and keep the snow away too. The system is expected to harvest around 0,000 kWh per year, of which only 22,000 kWh will be needed for the operation of the lift. The rest will be used to power up homes. The lift, costing AUD$1.27 million for construction will have its funds donated by sponsors and donations. Tenna deserves a pat on the back for setting an example like this.
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Keeping a tab on time in green style is the latest luxurious trend. And Cabestan’s high-priced solar powered timepiece demonstrates that. Dubbed, Sol Invictus, it is fitted with a new technique that has been evolved for producing and treating silicium crystals that can be used to produce highly efficient solar cells that are suitable for small surfaces and low luminosity. A technical genius, this timepiece holds the title of being the world’s first commercial utilization of this groundbreaking technology. The blending of solar technology with traditional watch making skills has resulted in this spectacular timepiece. Roll over to understand the mechanism of this eco-luxurious watch…….

Two brushless micromotors (typically used in medical field) are used, one for rewinding the movement and the other for setting the time. A miniature controller regulates and amplifies the electrical charge, manages the two micromotors via a programmable oscillator and assures the direction and the speed of the motor while a twin-blade electromechanical contact is used to open and close the electrical circuit. Jean-François Ruchonnet, working with Marc Alfieri (whose designs have inspired the watchcase of this timepiece), placed his spectacular vertical Cabestan movement in the center of the timepiece. He then added two solar panels mounted in metal frames that are held in place by skillfully designed pivots. The micromotors and rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are visible under the solar cells. The complex mechanism that links the crown to the movement also features a striking 30 mm long axle that traverses the movement in its width.

Jean-François Ruchonnet has added his own touch to the watchcase restyling it by giving it an elegantly curved shape, a single curved crystal, a lateral window at 9 o’clock and a sapphire case back.

The mechanical wonder, that is the Sol Invictus, will boast of a $560,000 price tag and be made on demand according to customer’s requirements.

Via – [Luxurylaunches]

You’ve got to be driven by an insistent force to follow your heart even at the age of 74. And Bruce Maynard is doing just that! Neither for a cause nor for money but just to demonstrate that he (enjoys and) can walk in spite of not-so-strong knees across the United States. To support his decision is his companion, a solar powered stroller. Christened Sam, it is a solar- and battery-powered contraption that will be his mobile office and campsite on the road. The batteries will feed on sun’s energy to power Sam to hike up the mountains and hills with ease. All this while the dude is intending to work as well. The stroller will cart along his computer and phone which will help him to keep in touch with his company’s customers. A monthly break to fly back home to check on paper work is on cards too.

Maynard believes that people should do things for themselves and for others from the ground-up, not demand help from the top-down. Accordingly, he plans to find quiet ways to help folks while on the road; perhaps raking someone’s yard, or helping build a house for Habitat for Humanity.
‘Where there is a will, there is a way’ holds true for Bruce Maynard.

[Bellinghamherald]

Old wine in new bottle holds true for the new look of Luxurylaunches. All set to elevate the LUXURY quotient and mesmerize every luxury-seeker in this all-new avatar, Luxurylaunches promises to bring the best of every bit of opulent news to our reader’s attention.

Though it resembles a golf buggy, this $45,000 battery-operated Anti-Terrorist Assault Cart (ATAC) is a mean beast in disguise. Designed to overcome the limitations of armed forces to tackle terrorism and war-like situations in urban setup, this mini armored car can be navigated in cramped spaces like airports, hotels or stadiums. Manufactured Metaltech Motor Bodies Pvt Ltd., it comes with four firing ports and is compact enough to fit inside elevators too. Fitted with bullet-proof windows, this armored vehicle can withstand grenade blasts too. However let’s talk about its green feature too. The ATAC can last for six hours on a single charge with a top speed of 25 km an hour.

Inspired by the terrorist attacks of 2008 in Mumbai, this Anti-Terrorist Assault Cart (ATAC) can carry two fully-armed security personnel. The company said it was offering the prototype for trials with the sponsors of the Commonwealth Games to be held in November in New Delhi and to India’s elite National Security Guards.

[Times Of India]

Sanyo Denki Sanups PV Monitor eliminates the need of having monitoring personnel at photovoltaic power system installation sites such as mega solar power generation stations. It can display the quantity of power generated and a power trend graph in real-time. When trouble occurs with the PV inverter an e-mail is automatically sent. Conversely, when a request mail is sent by the monitoring personnel, the sending personnel receives a response regarding power conditions and conditioner information.

Via – [Fareastgizmos]

Sharp will commercialize a mobile phone equipped with a solar cell module for the Chinese market from this February. Sharp SH6230C will be the first solar-powered mobile phone by Sharp for the overseas markets. The SH6230C is equipped with advanced technology originally developed in Japan, including Sharp’s proprietary solar cell module, a large 2.9-inch LCD screen, and a 5-megapixel autofocus camera. Given the increasing demand for the solar charging function, Sharp will bring the solar-powered mobile phones to the global markets.

Sharp will also introduce into the Chinese market two models (SH6220C and SH6228C) incorporating Memory LCD. The Memory LCD is a low-power-consuming display with high visibility under the daylight. The Memory LCD can display such information as the time and e-mail status at all times. Sharp introduced solar-powered mobile phones into the Japanese market in 2009.

Via – [Fareastgizmos]

We’ve seen various solar powered water vessels like the Auriga Leader ship, the Loon boat and PlanetSolar, the world’s largest solar catamaran. But today, its a battery powered plug-in ship that is making waves in the green world of water transport. IHI Marine United, a subsidiary of heavy machinery maker IHI Corp, Japan is developing a plug-in ship powered by lithium-ion batteries. Its Zero Emission Electric Propulsion Ship will use batteries that can be recharged at charging stations in ports it visits. The plug-in ship powered by lithium-ion batteries would run without a diesel engine, thus cutting its carbon dioxide or nitrogen oxide emissions to zero. The design prototype of the Plug-in 30-meter passenger ferry will be able to carry 800 people.

The maximum output required for the plug-in ship batteries would be 200 to 300 times greater than needed for electric cars. The designers hope the ship will be able to travel 80 kilometers per battery charge, sufficient for short journeys only. The target date for a commercial vessel is 2015, by which time low-cost lithium-ion batteries are expected to be available.

Via – [Fareastgizmos]

We have talked about the solar powered air-conditioned trucks by Mitsubishi Chemical earlier. Today, the company is again basking in green limelight by developing the container vegetable plant. This 40-feet heat insulated container has temperature controlled interior with water treatment facilities for water circulation, filtration and recycling. It is also fitted with fluorescent and LED lights to facilitate photosynthesis. All these features will help to grow plants in unfavorable circumstances too. Ideal for barren lands and deserts, such a green container can be powered with solar energy and lithium-ion battery too. Priced at about $60,000- $770,000, Mitsubishi Chemical’s container vegetable plant may not be an affordable option for third world countries. However the company is all set to deliver the first plant to Qatar in April.

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[Techon]