Author: gavril

The Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has decided to go green, using solar power to light up her office. A solar panel installed by the Bangladeshi government on the rooftop of the office located at Dhaka will soak in the sun and power up the office. The system was recently inaugurated by the PM herself. With a capacity of 20.16 kilowatt, the system was installed on a 1,700-square feet steel structure costing around 10 million taka (around $144770.52). 126 solar panels were used to set up this array using five controllers with 80 amperes and 28 batteries with 1,320 amperes. This is a working example set by the PM herself to a nation suffering power shortages. Hopefully, the people of Bangladesh look up to this move and decide to use renewable energy sources instead.

[CCTV]

Renault has found itself in a soup now for an advertisement on TV. The advertisement exaggerated the company’s environmental credentials of its electric vehicles. Renault claimed that it would launch zero-emission next year. However, viewers complained that electricity used to charge these vehicles did produce greenhouse gases, rendering the ad misleading.

Renault’s argued that it intended only to portray the fact that there were no emissions when its cars were in use. Also, generating electricity using renewable sources like wind and solar energy to charge electric cars would lead to zero-emissions. Clearcast, an NGO however backs Renault stating that it wasn’t unusual for cars to advertise zero-emissions while operating the car, and not charging it. Maybe advertising watchdogs need something else to bark about.

[Businessgreen]

The Türanor will soon sail the seas if everything goes well. And no we aren’t talking the Elvish language from the Lord Of The Rings (from whom the name was inspired). We’re talking about an 85 ton mammoth solar powered boat launched recently. The “power of the sun” as the elves would like to call it will embark on a journey across the globe using just solar energy to power up to an average speed of 7.5 knots.

The vessel measures 31 meters long with 600 sq meters of photovoltaic cells to soak in the sun. The brainchild of Raphael Domjan and owned by Immo Ströher, the vessel will have its energy stored in the largest lithium-ion battery in the world. Costing £16m, skippers Raphael Domjan of Switzerland and Gerard D’Aboville of France will navigate the Türanor along an equatorial route. Here’s wishing them Bon Voyage!

[Guardian]

Here’s something to boost the use of solar energy. Qinhuangdao Boostsolar Photovoltaic Equipment will pull the veil of its new solar modules, the Solar Module Laminator, Solar Module Tester and Solar Cell Tester at the Green Energy Expo 2010. The guys at Qinhuangdao Boostsolar Photovoltaic Equipment are technically skilled geniuses who’ve come up with this high performance, reasonably structured, reliable quality solar cell encapsulating and testing equipment.

The company is the earliest manufacturer of equipment like this in China. With companies like these around working hard to build green energy equipment, the use and promotion of renewable power sources will be a lot easier and more efficient.

[Aving]

Planning to throw away those empty beer kegs that you’ve drained the last drop out of? Simply turn it into a bar stool instead! The Keg Stool, a patented design by P&P Imports is here. The apparatus converts a standard US keg shell into a comfortable bar stool. Complete with a powder coated footrest, a commercial grade vinyl swivel top and all the little screws and nuts needed to put it together, the Keg Stool is a better way to use empty keg shells instead of disposing them off.

The stool can be easily assembled and disassembled without causing harm to the keg shell. A “bar” necessity, the Keg Stool is sure to make the beer guzzling time a happy and cheerful one. A tap to drink right out of the stool would make perfect sense too!

Via – [Gizmodiva]

London might soon do away with those iconic black gas-guzzling taxis and use electric taxis instead. The Mercedes Vito E-Taxi juiced by electricity might be what Londoners commute in. The vehicle is designed to go up to 120 kilometers on charging it up for just six hours. This tweaked Mercedes Vito uses a 70kW 300Nm Zytek electric drivetrain and can pack in around six people. To make space for the lithium-ion battery pack underneath, the car has been converted to a front wheel drive. Its steerable axle enables a 25 ft (7.6 m) turning circle allowing cabbies to maneuver their cabs easily in gridlocked London streets.

This sure will help turn the streets of London a shade greener enabling cab users to travel without stamping a carbon footprint. Besides this, cab drivers will also benefit a whole lot taken that gasoline prizes are forever increasing with electricity as a much cleaner and cheaper option.

[Trendhunter]

The 2016 Summer Games in Rio hopes to be carbon-zero and are making a serious effort towards achieving it. Swiss architects, RAFAA Architecture and Design have come up with a concept design for the summer games. The Solar City Tower will be a solar power plant by day that will power up Rio de Janeiro and the Olympic village. At night, it will use a pumped seawater storage system to generate power. The building will also be a treat to the eyes with occasional waterfall created by pumping water over its edges.

It will also boast a plaza and an amphitheater, 60 meters above sea level. This can be used for social gatherings and events. The 105 meter tall tower will also have a cafeteria and shops on the side facing the Atlantic Ocean behind the waterfall. The top-most floor has an observation deck that lets you glimpse a breathtaking 360 degree view of Rio and the surrounding ocean. And if that’s not enough, you can pump up your adrenaline with the retractable bungee-jumping platform. If all goes as planned, the Solar City Tower is sure to be an attraction at the Summer Games in Rio.

[WorldArchitectureNews]

Green technologies are sprouting up faster then ever around us today. The JIT engine will be launched at the Green Energy Expo 2010 soon. Developed by JAEIN INDUSTRY TECHNOLOGY, this engine generates power using renewable energy sources. The JIT engine uses low-temperature thermal sources like solar thermal, geothermal and waste heat energy. This power is used to juice the generator that then generates electricity.

Unlike other technologies that use such energy sources, the JIT engine can work efficiently in low and normal temperatures. Owing to this, it can be used for public, commercial and independent power generation. It can be used to power up our homes, heat water and generate heat without stamping a carbon footprint. This will enable the dream of living in a zero-carbon home turn into a reality. The JIT engine will pave the way for a cleaner and greener environment by the efficient use of renewable energy sources in future.

[Aving]

The electric Ford Focus gets smarted with the newest innovation set to find a place in its belly in 2011. A system will detect when an electric car needs charging to avoid overloading utility power generators. Based on the Microsoft Hohm, a web-based energy usage tracking application, this system will help decide the best time to charge cars and reduce costs. The system will also help users hook up their charged car batteries to power up some home appliances.

This system is being developed as a joint effort by Microsoft and Ford. This deal announced at the recent New York International Auto Show will pave the way for better energy management in future and will help save up on large amounts of power while you have your electric car plugged in for juice.

[Popsci]

We’ve seen a herd of plug-in vehicles trampling down global automobile markets nowadays. Volkswagen can now proudly flaunt one of their own too! The company unveiled the 2011 Touareg Hybrid at the New York International Auto Show recently. This sparkly SUV is set to deliver 21 mpg on city streets and 25 mpg on the highway. It will also produce a 40% lighter carbon footprint.

So why chose an SUV to go hybrid? Simply because improving the gas mileage by 15% of an SUV has a larger impact on fleet efficiency then what it would have on a family car. The car has an evil looking grinning front end that will soon become a part of Volkswagens design statement. Expect future Polo and Golf models to have front fascias like this. The Touareg Hybrid will cost you around $100,000 when it debuts this fall.

[FastCompany]

Here’s a mobile phone that gives you that closer-to-nature feel. The Touch Wood phone by NTT DoCoMo was recently unveiled at the CTIA Wireless 2010. Now don’t go thinking that these phones resulted in a massive deforestation. They have a body made out of surplus wood obtained from trees cut during forest thinning processes. This apparently helps maintain healthy forests. Using a cypress wood body, the phone is available in its natural wood finish without any artificial colors. For those who choose to confirm to black plastic bodies, this phone isn’t meant for you. It’ll probably give your colleagues the impression of you trying to communicate using a block of wood.

But the green factor stops here. Its body may appeal to nature lovers, but its heart isn’t green at all! Maybe integrated solar cells would help turn this phone into the eco-friendly device that it looks like. Helping forests flourish seems to be a great idea, but saving energy is the need of the hour too!

[Aving]

Hamilton Architects rechristened itself as BFLS recently with a name clubbing the initials of the four founders, Ian Bogle, Jason Flanagan, David Lawrence and John Silver. Changing names isn’t all the company has done though. They have also taken a step greener with an added modification to the 408-apartment tower at Elephant and Castle.

Three wind turbines are currently being installed at this 43 storey tower, each having 15 blades. These turbines will have a 9m diameter rotor plane. The building, the Strata SE1 will be the first with integral wind turbines and will set a green example to companies around the world. These turbines will produce around 50Mwh of power annually and will provide 8% of the towers power consumption. More green buildings like these are sure welcome in our neighborhoods.

[Worldarchitecturenews]

Abu Dhabi is sure keen on setting up its green eco-friendly city soon. The Masdar City (the same city to use electric taxis and robots) is designed to be a zero waste and zero carbon city. That probably means that you won’t see back-alley dumpsters and smoke belching taxis here. This six square meter city will house around 50,000 people who will have their homes power up by solar energy. Masdar will also house a university and 1,000 businesses.

This city will be difficult to spot from a distance, thanks to its no-sky-scrapers policy. The houses will be placed close enough to provide shade to each other (don’t try walking into your neighbor’s window though). The boundary walls make sure the city remains compact and normal gas-guzzling cars will stay out. The futuristic Masdar city will cost around $15 – 30 billion with costs increasing as the sands of time go by.

[Gizmodo And Physorg]

The wind blew its self to glory in 2009 setting records with a cumulative installed wind power capacity growth of 158,000 megawatts. This 31% jump in wind power production helped spark the needs of around 250 million people. Globally, around 70 countries now harvest wind energy and 17 produce at least 1,000 megawatts. China tops the list with 13,000 megawatts by building more than 10,000 megawatts in just one year. China currently has seven more wind farms being chiseled out which together will produce 130,000 megawatts. USA reached a cumulative of 35,000 megawatts with the state of Texas as a leader.

Germany tops the European Union countries while Spain added the maximum wind power capacity of 26,000 megawatts. Italy, France and UK crossed 4,000 megawatts while India added 1,300 megawatts and Canada added 950 megawatts. Looks like the year 2009 had the wind used to its fullest!

[Energymatters]

The new Apple of the tree, the Apple iPad has managed to grab a whole lot of attention with its recent release. However, it has received stiff nods of disapproval from the green community. This is because devices like these depend on cloud computing. Cloud computing burn up a whole lot of fuel to get them working and greedily suck up energy. It requires large data centers to have them work efficiently. According to Greenpeace estimates, in 2020, these data centers will consume more energy than what France, Brazil, Canada, and Germany together use today.

The iPad and devices like it indirectly darken carbon footprints and increase energy consumption. This does make you wonder what powers up the Internet and how much more coal power will the IT industry demand to keep it alive. Hopefully, future iPads come equipped with solar cells to make up for this.

[Crunchgear]

Solar technology is finding more uses and applications as the days go by. This time, its RVs that go solar powered. With a few tweaks using products from AM Solar, you can now turn your gas-guzzling pile-your-family-in-and-drive RV into a clean eco-friendly one. The company offers the AM 100 Solar Panel made up of 44 high-efficiency mono-crystalline cells measuring 21.25” at 20.5 lbs. for maximum efficiency, couple this with the company’s charge controllers which boosts operations by 35-65%.

Besides this, a company known as RV Solar Electric offers a complete RV solar kit packed with of an LED solar regulator, Wiring, a solar panel, a fuse and roof sealer, mounting brackets, the much needed installation manual and a sweet 25-year warranty. Three kit sizes are available, 50 watt, 80 watt and 120 watt; with the smallest weighing 12 lbs. and the largest weighing 35 lbs. Silicon Solar has the 15 watt RV panel up for sale too. So the next time you decide to hop into your RV for a road trip, make sure its solar powered!

[Solarfeeds]

You might probably lose faith in the Energy Star label after reading this. This label is usually seen on energy efficient appliances around America in an effort to promote the manufacture and use of greener technology and saving energy. However, a gasoline powered alarm clock recently managed to cheat its way into being labeled with the Energy Star recently. By submitting false documents claiming that the clock was 20-percent more efficient than its peers, this gas-guzzling device managed an Energy Star label.

This might probably have an auto-approval system to blame that certified this product. The guys at Energy Star sure will have their heads hung in embarrassment after this incident. A gas-gulping clock sure doesn’t deserve an Energy Star label with solar-powered ones around.

[Autoblog]

The world’s greenest sky scraper will soon be completed in China. The Pearl River Tower will have a heart of green and has just had its top floor constructed. Located at Guangzhou, this near zero energy sky-scraper will house the CNTC Guangdong Tobacco Corporation and will be finished as the year ends. Using cutting edge technology with the help of renewable energy sources like wind and solar energy, this building will be an environment friendly architectural marvel of this age.

The sky scraper was strategically situated to make the most of wind and solar energy. It uses integrated photovoltaic cells and wind turbines to power up ventilation systems, heating and air-conditioning. Motorized rotating louvers keep the building ventilated and cool. This 71-storey building packs a load of green features that we’ll look for as it nears completion.

[Inhabitat]

Here’s a “car” that sure grabs attention everywhere. The Power One, driven by Marcelo da Luz for two-years on a 35,750-kilometre on a trip across Canada and the United States, is powered by solar energy. That probably explains why it looks like E.T.’s flying saucer. This car has managed to grab unwanted attention too, like that of law enforcements. Marcelo has been stopped 26 times on this trip by the U.S. Secret Service, a SWAT team from Washington, D.C., and even Alberta Mounties.

This 225 kilogram vehicle wasn’t allowed on roads in Ontario. With a top speed of 120kmph, the car has a 12hp engine. It can also go from zero to 85kmph in just six seconds. The Power One took Marcelo around 50,000 hours to build with help. This car has faced extreme weather conditions, hostility of the law and has faced a whole lot of adventurous experiences. Here’s wishing the Power One luck on its journey to the Beaufort Sea.

[MontrealGazette]

Honda has come up with a new compact generator. Known as the ENEPO EU9iGB, this generator powers-up using butane-canisters instead of gas-fuel. Moving the generator around is a piece of cake thanks to its compact size, two base wheels and its cherry-on-top fold-down handle. This generator can supply energy to any device using less than 900W, including computers, cooking equipment etc.

That’s not all. A parallel connecting chord that needs to be purchased separately can hook up two generators, increasing the maximum load to 1800W. Honda claims that this generator is reasonably priced and will not burn an extra large hole in your pocket. This butane-canister powered generator goes on sale in Japan this May at Honda dealers. Camping gets easier with the ENEPO EU9iGB.

[Gizmag]