Category Archives: Other Stuff
We’d got wind of BMW and Toyota planning a joint venture lately and speculations have been put to rest as the two automobile giants have officially announced the collaboration. As per reports, the companies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop low carbon technologies including a fuel cell system, architecture and components for a new sports vehicle, electric car drivetrains and fuel-saving, lightweight technologies! Together, the manufacturers look forward to developing better, cleaner and more eco-friendly vehicles for the world to drive in future, in an attempt to decrease reliance on fossil fuels and pull down carbon emissions in the air.
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Vending machines that pop out chilled cans of soda are essentially refrigerators that more often than not suck in considerable amounts of energy. Throw in a few hundred of these and scatter them around a city and you’re bound to strain the electricity grid more than ever. Coca Cola, the cola company that has one previous account taken initiatives to move towards greener practices, has come up with a groundbreaking innovation, a vending machine that keeps drinks cool without using power for up to 16 hours! Being developed in partnership with Fuji Electric Retail Systems, the A011 vending machine uses energy at night instead of the day-time and continues to keep the drinks cool inside during the thereafter. Using vacuum insulation and an airtight design, a vending machine like this could save soft drink manufacturers millions and could very well lead to a more eco-friendly tomorrow!
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Cooling down a supercomputer isn’t a breeze, and to keep Europe’s fastest and most powerful supercomputer calm and cool, IBM has come up with a revolutionary technique for the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre Campus, the home of the SuperMUC. Using warm water at 113°F, this giant cooling system is claimed to be 4,000 times more efficient than the conventional air cooling system that’s has been known to suck larger amounts of energy. Also, the new system will help the facility save a whopping $1.25 million annually while significantly reducing its carbon footprint. IBM’s development is also more compact than the air cooling systems used today and if incorporated worldwide, this could pretty much turn data centers more energy efficient!
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A battery running dry isn’t really one of those situations the most of us cope with without so much of a tantrum. Well, if you’re the type who loves their devices replenished and ready to use all the while with juicy batteries, here’s a great way to have all your gadgets juiced up on the go! Called the Powerbag, this amazing piece of luggage was unveiled at the CES 2012. Now, the bag in particular isn’t really a fashion statement and is bound to make you look like a dork, though that’s the price you pay for juiced-up devices on the go. Sporting a battery that feeds up to four mobile devices simultaneously, this $140 bag makes sure your devices never go parched, keeping you connected to the world of technology, while away from power grids and electricity sockets.
[engadget]
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Sirens are meant to alert people around in case of an emergency. However, when electricity fails in such emergency situations, these sirens are rendered useless without proper backup. Keeping this in mind, the Tennessee Valley Authority has planned to install solar powered sirens at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant that will scream out loud, even without grid power supply. Using a DC battery backup as well as a solar powered backup system, backup systems will be installed at three facilities at the cost of $7 million with the sirens finally being fitted into place by March 2012.
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While New York sees it every year, the rest of the world has awed at its magnificence through movies. The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is a legendary icon and every festive season since 1933 has been more colorful in mid-town Manhattan with scintillating lights from this majestic tree. This year, the 74-foot Norway Spruce is lit up with 30,000 LED solar powered bulbs. Combining brilliance with an eco-thought, this year’s tree will further serve heart-warming causes, namely, having the wood provided to homes for Habitat for Humanity. Also, the tree’s pulp will be used to make paper for children’s books. This is what a festive season signifies – a big heart and concern for the mankind at large.
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Scotland seems hell-bent on turning its grid 100% renewable-energy-powered and has been using the wind to its advantage since quite a while now. And to add to all that green juice, the Scottish are now preparing to bring in a colossal wind turbine, big enough to have its own helipad! From the looks of the rendered image of the same, this mighty turbine will sport a helipad to get the engineers to the top for maintenance work, since no-one in his right mind would attempt climbing a wind turbine this tall. To be located 70 feet offshore, the turbine is expected to generate six megawatts, enough to lighten up a few thousand Scottish homes.
[Dvice]
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The rock genre of music has been known to pretty much drive current-day issues into the awareness scope of common folk. Now, in an attempt to highlight the need for renewable energy and the use of the same, Indian rock band Parikrama with New York-based band Solar Punch and singer Kabul Rishi rock the stage at New Delhi and NCR during the upcoming My Earth My Duty concert. The concert will try to achieve a zero-carbon footprint, using solar energy and bio-diesel to power up. Also, invitations are to be handed out on recycled paper with people who’ve been working towards the betterment of the environment being given special consideration.
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Take a bit of art, mix it up with a load of green and a dash of technology and you’d probably come up with something like this installation by artist Spencer Finch. Propped high on the roof of the Art Institute of Chicago, this installation called the Lunar makes use of solar energy to glow at night. Shaped like a buckyball, the aluminum structure uses solar panels that collect sunlight during the day time. This is then used to illuminate the LED bulbs during the night time with the same luminosity as a full moon. Also, to keep this source of artificial moon-light in place without blowing off the roof, the installation was filled with lead and currently weighs in at about 2,500 pounds.
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Ice on a runway can spell disaster. Previously, chemicals, thermal, electric and microwave technologies were used to keep runways ice free and skid-proof. Engineers at the University of Arkansas lately stumbled across a pretty green way to keep runways free from ice, using solar energy! For this, the runway needs a bit of tweaks too, using a lower layer consisting of a single slab of non-conductive concrete on a gravel-laid bed measuring 20 x 24 feet above which is placed a second layer of concrete, made up of 12 panels each measuring 4 x 10 feet made from heat-conducting concrete.
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