• Category Archives: Awareness and Hype

    The Boston Logan International Airport juiced by solar energy

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    The Boston Logan International Airport goes green, and no, we aren’t talking about a green painted landing strip. Joining the league of the Le Castellet International Airport in the South of France and the Page Field General Aviation Airport in Southwest Florida, the Boston Logon in East Boston will be one of the most energy efficient airports in the US. The airport is now powered by a 200kW solar system that will save around 3,500 barrels of oil annually. 1,000 solar panels power up the Terminal B garage, which will also be the first airport garage to be lit with LEDs.

    Posted in Awareness and Hype on April 9, 2010
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    Top 50 cities for cycling in US by the Bicycling Magazine

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    The Bicycling Magazine recently stuck up a list of the top 50 bike friendly cities in the United States. Including the cities of New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington D.C., the list also pulls up some trivial facts you should get a grab of if you live in the United States and are planning to cycle your way home from work. For instance, you probably didn’t know that Fargo, North Dakota, has over 200 miles of bike paths or that 5% of the people of Gainesville, Florida, use cycles to commute.

    Posted in Awareness and Hype on April 8, 2010
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    Inmates of Arizona jail to help the environment while burning some calories

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    Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona has devised a great way for the inmates of his jail to stay fit while generating electricity. Yup, that’s right! He arranged for a stationary bike equipped with a mechanism to generate electricity to be set up in the jail’s viewing centre. The TV is connected to this bike, if an inmate wants to watch TV, he has to pedal his way to entertainment. This bike, which the sheriff calls, “Pedal Vision”, can generate 12V of current, which is enough to power a 19-inch TV set. If all of US’s 2.5 million prisoners were to follow this practice, it could generate more than 363,641 kWh of electricity while saving millions of dollars. Currently, this facility is only available for the female inmates at Arpaio’s jail.

    Posted in Awareness and Hype on April 7, 2010
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    Solar energy powers up Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s office

    Prime_Minister_Sheikh_Hasinas_office.jpg 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.
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    Posted in Awareness and Hype on April 2, 2010
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    Nissan to launch rapid chargers for EVs at affordable price

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    In view of the large number of electric vehicles lined up to be launched, Nissan plans to launch rapid chargers for EVs at half the price of current market competition. Currently rapid chargers are available at a price of ¥3-4 million, while Nissan plans to launch its rapid chargers at ¥1.5-2 million. Considering the large charging time required to charge electric vehicles using a normal charger, rapid chargers are a must if electric vehicles are to be popularized. Nissan plans to deploy these chargers at 200 outlet stores at an average interval of 40km, thus covering entire Japan. Nissan’s Leaf can run up to 160 km on a single charge, hence these intervals are sufficient enough. This rapid charger is built on the standards specified by the CHAdeMO, a council set up to standardize charging equipment, and uses a voltage of 500V to produce 125A current and 50kW of power.

    Posted in Awareness and Hype on April 1, 2010
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    Energy-saving system developed by Ford and Microsoft

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    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.

    Posted in Awareness and Hype on April 1, 2010
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    Top 5 iconic structures go dark during Earth Hour

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    This year’s ‘Earth Hour’, held on the 27th of March from 8:30 to 9:30 pm was dedicated to fighting the extensive climate change. Over 1 billion people participated in it, making it a huge success. Not only commoners, but also major business organizations and cultural centers in countries across the world had turned their lights off to show their support towards the environment.Here is a list of the top 5 iconic structures to go dark during the earth hour:
    1. The Eiffel Tower, Paris, France
    2. The Petronas Towers, Malaysia
    3. The Empire State Building, New York, America
    4. The Burj Khalifa, Dubai (World’s tallest building)
    5. The Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia.

    Posted in Awareness and Hype on March 30, 2010
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    Nigerian capital Abuja all set for a green makeover

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    Most tourists form opinions about the place of visit with whatever catches their eye first. But it’s all going to change for one city, Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. The city will have a brand new solar powered gateway which will connect the new Abuja Airport to the city and freeways. This design by Ehrlich Architects was picked from an international competition. The green design will comprise of green roofs for buildings, a giant solar canopy and bricks made from the local laterite clay. One side of the gateway will be home to a public space spotting a photovoltaic canopy for solar power and to provide adequate shade from the sun.

    Posted in Awareness and Hype on March 29, 2010
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    Shutting of computers helps Ford save $1.2 million

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    Ford has considered blacking out their computer screens when not in use. Shutting down computers will help Ford save up on $1.2 million reducing its carbon footprint by around 16,000 to 25,000 metric tons every year. Using a program called PC Power Management laptops and desktops can be shut off centrally during the night. It also enables computers connected to the Ford Intranet receive software deliveries during power downs.

    Posted in Awareness and Hype on March 24, 2010
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    $3 billion dollar green investment bank to help turn Britain green

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    A $3 billion dollar green investment bank will soon help Britain transform into a clean and lower carbon emitting economy. This bank funded by government funds will also be having a half of private sector funds. This bank will finance green and environment friendly projects like offshore wind power generation and eco-friendly waste management. Modernizing UK’s energy sector will cost around $150 billion. Carbon reduction is a factor the government is making serious efforts towards and is keen to meet its pledges of reducing CO2 emissions by 30%. A 15% renewable energy standard needs to be achieved by 2020 for this.

    Posted in Awareness and Hype on March 23, 2010
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