• Category Archives: Awareness and Hype

    The $11 million solar canopy for the Cincinnati Zoo

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    Besides the exotic wildlife that usually takes a visitor’s breath away, the Cincinnati Zoo now has yet another “exhibit” of sorts that’ll leave guests marveling and awestruck. One of the largest public urban solar displays in the country, the zoo now plays home to an $11 million solar “canopy”. This structure will keep the zoo’s electricity bills short and keep the elements away from the visitors too. Using 6,400 photovoltaic solar collection panels assembled on more than 100 metal arrays, 15 to 18 feet high, the canopy covers 800 of the 1,000 parking spaces at the zoo’s main entrance and is capable of generating 1.56 megawatts of electricity, enough power to lighten up 200 homes, fulfilling 20% of the zoo’s annual need.

    Posted in Awareness and Hype on March 28, 2011
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    United States Marine Corps Base Camp goes green with 1.4MW solar panels

    us-marines-solar-energy.jpg The United States Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton located north of San Diego, California, has just got an added touch of green. Kyocera Solar, Inc. and the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southwest teamed up to set up a 1.4 megawatt (MW) solar electric system at the base camp with 6,300 KD235 modules , all produced locally at Kyocera’s San Diego facility. This one’s one of the largest solar installations in the San Diego County and will help generate about 2,400 megawatt-hours (MWh) annually. That’s enough energy to light up 400 average homes. The installation will help the Marine Corps save $336,000 on a yearly basis.
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    Posted in Awareness and Hype on March 17, 2011
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    Plants in future to help detect toxic substances in the air

    5.jpgA few years in the future, we’ll have our little green buddies warning us of toxic gases in the air! Biologist Dr. June Medford at the Colorado State University (CSU) is currently busy working on plants that change color when toxins show up in the air. The plants simply stop producing chlorophyll on detecting explosives or pollutants in the air. Perfect for a scenario where chemical warfare could just break out, these plants will go white on detection. Tobacco plants work best for these and easily detect airborne substances. And the best part, these being plants require no external source of energy and do all the detecting and informing services free of cost! Just a little bit of water, and sunlight is all they need.

    Posted in Awareness and Hype on February 18, 2011
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    HabiHut solar powered water kiosks in Kenya


    Kenya now plays home to three new HabiHut solar water kiosks installed by HabiHut, LLC. These water kiosks installed in cooperation with Umande Trust, a Kenyan based NGO were set up quickly in just a single day. Water kiosks usually take a good 6 months to install, and cost three times more than the HabiHut. Also, the new HabiHut units use renewable energy to power up, and with the help of solar panels, bask in the glory of the sun and generate energy that can also be used to charge mobile phones. On an average, each of the HabiHut kiosks serves 2,600 customers per month and operates from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. The HabiHut works perfectly for far flung places like regions in Africa that are disconnected from the grid and have no access to clean drinking water, let alone mobile phone chargers.

    Posted in Awareness and Hype on February 15, 2011
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    Buckingham Palace on a lookout for a new green gardener

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    Looking for a job? You think you’ve got it in you to spread some green? Well, the Queen might just be pleased to have you tending to her gardens! Recently, the Buckingham Palace put out an ad and is on a lookout for a gardener who’ll keep the royal grounds, green, clean and environment friendly. And the job sure pays well too. With a handsome package of £15,000-a-year, the garden is to be tended to the highest standards and 99% of the waste needs to be recycled. That includes waste from the Royal Mews too. That’s not all. To apply for the post, one must be able to maintain shrub, herbaceous and rose borders using good organic horticultural practices while helping develop wildlife in the gardens.

    Posted in Awareness and Hype on February 8, 2011
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    TD Bank in Florida to have first net-zero bank branch powered by sun

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    Depositing and withdrawing money from your bank could now be a solar powered affair, if you’ve got your stash stored up at the TD Bank in Florida that is. The bank has finally found an opened out area that could be used to generate solar energy for its branch, generating more energy than it actually consumes. This will be the country’s first net-zero branch, that will show up in Ft. Lauderdale. The branch will have power requirements of 97,000 kilowatt-hours a year. The solar panels hooked on to this one will generate a whopping 100,000 kWh a year, taken that they cover the roof, the drive-thru canopy and surround the building too.

    Posted in Awareness and Hype on February 3, 2011
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    President Obama’s dream: One million electrics in USA by 2015 could be a reality!

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    While President Obama is busy dreaming of the United States being the first country in the world to play home to a good one million electric cars by the year 2015, we’ve been scratching our chins and chewing our pencil tops speculating if this could truely be true! Now mainstream car companies like Ford and Chevrolet sure have popped out some pretty electric cars on the road and analysts have been predicitng the sale of at least 60,000 Volts and Nissan Leafs anually, and considering these many cars being sold by the year 201d, we aren’t all that sure of the President’s dream, taken that these really are just ballpark figures. But with a few tens of thousands of Prius vehicles and Tesla’s babies, the one million mark sure seems achievable.

    Posted in Awareness and Hype on February 2, 2011
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    New York City to get Urban Technology Innovation Center for greener building tech

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    The Big Apple is turning greener by the day! Just a short while ago, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched the Urban Technology Innovation Center that will work on ways to improve building efficiency and is a partnership among they city universities and business that are working towards greener building tech. No specific location has beed chosen yet for this one, funded with $250,000 from the New York City Economic Development Corp.

    Posted in Awareness and Hype on January 24, 2011
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    TV zombies walk around in Vegas, spreading awareness regarding old-TV-disposal

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    The CES 2011 in Las Vegas sure has helped pull the veil of a load of products that are green and eco-friendly for the world to see. It also has, at the same time, spawned a bunch of zombies last seen walking around in Vegas. The Electronics TakeBack Coalition is busy trying to draw attention to the problem with television manufacturers and their lack of responsibility when it comes to taking back TV sets, and part of the activist campaign, has had these TV-headed zombie-like people walking around, spreading awareness. CES is usually about showing of the sparkling new, and no one really spares a second though as to just how well should the good old device back home should be disposed off, especially when it comes to TV sets.

    Posted in Awareness and Hype on January 14, 2011
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    The Water Vapor project, hydrating Africa with Vortex Tubes

    africa.jpgThe African Desert may not be a parched land scarce of water anymore in future, not if the ‘Water Vapor’ project dream turns into a reality. Designers Sangwook Park, Sinjeong Lee, Hoyoung Lee & Hyeonju Jo came up with the project as an answer to the African water woes, turning the barren desert into a lush green environment, hydrating the parched throats of the inhabitants. Simply using the concept of water vapors, this one uses a vortex tube that converts air in to vapor by causing temperature differences. Spinning at a rate of 1,000,000 RPM while compressing the air and releasing warm air between 30-90 degrees C, this project was also a part of the IIDA awards 2010 competition. The designer’s purpose is to create an environment where plants can live with soil moisture and water provided by the conversion of air to vapor in areas with contaminated drinking water and deserted soil.

    Posted in Awareness and Hype, Gadgets and Tech, Other Stuff on January 11, 2011
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