Category Archives: Alternative Energy
Solar energy has long been hailed as one of the best ways to light up the lives of those who live away from electricity grids. Keeping just that in mind, the world’s first SolarKiosk was officially unveiled at Lake Langano, Ethiopia, designed by Graft architects in Germany. With solar panels attached to the top, the SolarKiosk concept provides its surrounding neighborhood with energy to power up mobile phones, rejoice car batteries, laptop batteries, solar powered refrigerators and solar powered lighting solutions. And that’s not all. Locals will also have access to purchasable solar lanterns, mobile phones, recharge cards and refreshments too, making the SolarKiosk more than just an energy hub for developing countries.
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Bath Road, Heathrow, now plays home to electric-vehicle charging stations with ChargePoint Ltd taking the initiative of installing three of these charging points at the Euro Garages Eco Building! Providing 32amp each, these three GE DuraStation units are capable of IEC single type 2 mode 3 charging. Also, the building currently holds a Starbucks drive-thru and a KFC outlet and was built recently from recycled materials topped with solar energy to generate power and air-source pumps included to heat the building, making it sustainable and green. With a reduced charge-time of just three to four hours, these charging stations will juice up visitor’s cars and are GPRS and RFID enabled.
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Sailing the seas isn’t really an eco-friendly affair these days with fossil fuel prices rising out of the roof, even the richest treat travelling the high seas as a not-so-leisurely experience. Dutch design studio Van Geest has now pulled the veil off the 32M motor yacht Global Explorer that’s set apart from the rest, using energy from the sun to partly power up. sporting Caterpillar C18 Acert 2x 448kW (609 BHP) at 1800 rpm powered by diesel and solar panels cleverly arranged on the bridge deck that power up the lights onboard the yacht, the Global Explorer packs two guest cabins, one owner’s stateroom, a captain’s cabin, a cabin for crewmembers, two lounges, a laundry, crew mess, galley, storeroom and large lazarette. Beautifully built and energy-efficient indeed, the Global Explorer is an environment-friendly way to cruise the blues.
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Climbers hiking the Alps between the French and Italian sides can now breathe a sigh of relief. Designed by the Italy-based Leap Factory and commissioned by the Italian Alpine Club, this cleverly engineered hotel will now provide shelter to climbers in event of blizzards and nightfall. Powered by solar energy, this eco-friendly hotel seems to balance precariously on a cliff edge 1,000ft above jagged rock faces and is bound to leave quite a few visitors awestruck and frightened. Sporting a kitchen, dining room, storage racks, a living room and bunk beds, the hotel however is secured to the rock face using heavy-duty bolts and can play home to 12 climbers at a time. With internet connectivity and a digester system for waste, the hotel was built at a cost of 250,000 Euros ($304,425) and costs 30 Euros ($37) a night with reservations to be made online.
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And as the world’s biggest cities struggle to reach ‘100% Renewable-Energy Reliant” mark, a tiny village in Hyogo Prefecture in Japan has gone ahead to be crowned the first 100% solar powered village. Called Sanno, this little village, with just a dozen households, is now reliant on renewable energy. After Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster, the village folk joined hands to construct a solar array priced at a whopping 17 million yen (around $215,000). Now completed, this solar power plant provides the village with 40,000 kilowatt-hours, enough to satisfy the electricity needs of the village’s 42 residents. With clean, green and environment-friendly energy
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Heat pumps have generally never really been energy friendly before and more often than not, the ones we use domestically lend a hand in lengthening our electricity bills. Now, WaterFurnace International, Inc. has pulled the veil off what is termed as the world’s most energy-efficient heat pump. A manufacturer of geothermal and water-source heat pumps, WaterFurnace International’s 7 Series 700A11 exceeds quality star requirements too! With a 41 energy efficiency ratio and 5.3 coefficient of performance, this super green heat pump is available with a 30% federal tax credit and is quieter than the conventional heat pump.
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Ice cream is universally accepted as one of the best ways to beat the heat and Dutch design house Springtime has now come up with a sound way to use the sun to keep ice cream frozen! This ice cream cart design makes use of solar panels carefully propped up on its roof to generate energy, which in turn is stored onboard and used to work the freezers. Completely green and CFC and emission free, this solar powered ice cream cart was developed as part of a joint venture between IJS & Zopie and Odenwald Organics and works as an eco-friendly way to keeping the heat away with icy treats!
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The world has on previous account depended solely on gas or propane-powered power generators for emergency backup supplies. Well, with the solar power industry quickly sprouting up, these noisy and particularly smelly and polluting generators could soon turn obsolete! Recently, we spotted this fantastic solar powered emergency power generator that provides energy with zero-emissions. Silent and green as a leaf, this solar powered power generator uses two 30-watt monocrystalline solar panels that require just 20 hours of direct sunlight to power up a 1250-watt battery, capable of lighting up your home for a good few hours! Also, the generator unit can be used indoors and hook up directly to the solar panels placed outside with 8-feet long cords, making this generator a perfect answer to energy woes.
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New York City can add a big green feather to its cap as it can soon boast of a self-powered residential building. On 18th, Voltaic Solaire will unveil the first private building in New York City which will be powered by solar and wind energy only. Dubbed Delta, it is inspired by Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC goal of reducing New York’s carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2030. With such green steps, we can certainly hope for a clean NYC in the future. Constructed using eco-friendly and recycled materials, the Delta also houses one grand triplex apartment, a studio residence, as well as a retail or restaurant storefront.
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Formula 1 is known as one of the most expensive sports known to mankind and has never turned
to a more eco-efficient way of running the show before. British sports car manufacturer Lotus,
also a known name in the F1 circuit, is now looking towards energy-efficient possibilities for the
sport and has unveiled its new facility near the Enstone base, powered by solar energy. Using
128 solar panels arranged on its roof, the simulator building generates about 33,000kWh of solar
energy on a yearly basis, enough o meet 75% of the facility’s energy requirement. Also, Lotus
has on previous account been acknowledged as one of the first F1 teams to introduce solar panels
on its team trucks and the motor-homes used at race paddocks.
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