Category Archives: Alternative Energy
Witnessing many highs and lows though the 2008, our globe can look forward to a greener 2009. Sky-rocketing gasoline prices and alarming CO2 levels in our atmosphere has pushed many airliners to experiment with alternative fuel options. One such successful airline has recently completed a two-hour flight in New Zealand. One engine of a Boeing 747-400 airplane was powered by a 50-50 blend of oil from jatropha plants and standard A1 jet fuel. Air New Zealand intends to wear the crown of world’s most environmentally sustainable airline by pursuing such eco-friendly flights options.
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Red is the new green for the New Year……at Times Square at least. Coca-Cola Company’s green move has aided a green tinge to the red bill board at this iconic location. The company agreed to pay a 10 percent premium on its bill to select clean, renewable wind power to light up the billboard located at 47th and Broadway. Following the cola giant, the sponsors of all 29 neighboring billboards on three buildings around Times Square agreed to do the same. This green leap will lead to a reduction of about 2,056 tons of carbon dioxide per year. With the bike-powered lights and the wind powered billboards, Times Square is slated to ring in 2009 in clean green style.
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Though it isn’t that time of the year when talking about air-conditioning will make my readers comfortable, I couldn’t give this news a miss. Renowned piano maker, Steinway & Sons cools or heats up their plant at Queens with solar panels. At the cost of $870,000, this alternative energy system will help to keep the factory cool. This move is to cool air will be helpful to dehumidify the hammers and other small moving parts that can be affected by changes in the moisture in the air. The fitted mirrored solar panels are automated and can twist to follow the path of the sun.
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‘One man’s junk is other man’s treasure’ Excuse me for repeating this adage again, but I couldn’t describe this news any better. However re-read it as one man’s fat is other man’s fuel and it will make more sense. Most of us know that liposuction is the easiest way to flaunt a svelte toned figure and right from celebs to layperson, every body has been through it. And Dr. Craig Allen Bittner, a plastic surgeon, who earns his bread and butter by sucking out fats from under the skin is using that same fatty trash to run his car. Inspired by his patients to do so, the doc fueled his Ford SUV and his girlfriend’s Lincoln Navigator with the biodiesel derived from the blubber. It’s the triglycerides in the fat that can be extracted and turned into diesel.
image for representational purpose only
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Inline with the changing trends, designers Hyun-Joong Kim and Kwang-Seok Jeong have conceptualized dual purpose sunglasses. Along with its primary function to keep out the harmful sunrays from entering your eyes, these shades are designed to charge up your gadgets on the go. Christened as Infinite Energy: SIG, these modish glasses look no different as they sport solar dyed lenses. Except for the wire jutting out to plug in to your music players, cell phones, gaming consoles and more. Tweaked to block as well as harness the harmful-to-eyes solar rays into much essential electrical energy, the lenses are caked with “cheap organic dye [used with] nano technology [providing] cheap but high energy efficiency.”
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Roll up the solar powered blinds to expose the photovoltaic glass window! Watch out for such solar windows at Hollywood and Las Vegas as Rainbow Solar, the company behind these green windows is already working on integrating them in signature projects. RSi PV-Glass Window uses the sun’s light and heat, to generate electricity, reduce heat, and provide a semi-transparent display. These energy efficient transparent windows are capable of generating 80 to 250 watts and at the same time cut down on bills by 50%.
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Fuel cells are an expensive green alternative to the internal combustion machines for the auto-industry. Though they can produce water and electricity from hydrogen and oxygen, it’s the essential presence of platinum that makes them unaffordable for mass production. Playing the role of a catalyst, platinum has so far been the metal of choice because of its ability to create acidic environment and non-corrosive nature. To defeat this precious metal’s reign, Lin Zhuang’s team at Wuhan University, China, has come up with a new alkali (non-acidic) nickel membrane that serves as a much cheaper catalyst.
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Most of us are harping about the solar power and its advantages in today’s day and age. Do you think the current generation is brighter (than their ancestors) as they are resorting to the sun’s energy for powering up almost everything under the sun? Nah! it is reported that almost 150 years ago, in1861 Auguste Mouchout developed the first steam engine powered entirely by the solar energy. And about a centaury ago, in 1913, European scientist experimented on the first solar power plant in the world in Maadi, Egypt. It was in operation for less than a year but has disappeared from history since then. At present, sand and houses cover the former location in Maadi, south of Cairo.
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Down Under, golf champions are brushing their skills for the Australia’s first Carbon Neutral Golf Championship. It is now official as the PGA of Australia has declared that the 2008 Cadbury Schweppes Australian PGA Championship was to be totally CARBON NEUTRAL event. With the vast acres of greens to be immaculately maintained, the game of golfing doesn’t carry a green tag. Hence this eco-friendly move is supposed to be a perfect shot in the green world. Touted to be the first major golf championship to be taking this step, PGA will work in conjunction with two companies to ascertain and tidy up the championship’s carbon footprints.
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This year end, Times Square will bring in 2009 with a green style as all the energy used to power up the New Year’s Eve lights will be free of grid connections. Liza Minnelli, the wheelchair-bound showbiz veteran set the wheels rolling as she pedaled on a snowmobike to demonstrate the eco-friendly arrangement. In fact any body can walk in to hop on these bikes and contribute their bit to the energy required to light up the Times Square on New Year’s Eve. Since this celebration on New York’s Square is watched by folks all over the world, it will not only greet people with New Year’s wishes but also demonstrate our potential to live and celebrate in green style!
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