Category Archives: Other Stuff
The Golden State is sure keen on going as green as possible, and news of renewable energy plants and green initiatives is flowing out of the state time and again. Recently, we came across the Industry Metrolink Station going green with a solar powered parking lot and plans for building a molten salt solar power plant in California. Now, the state will receive three new hydrogen refuelling stations, making the lives of plug-in hybrid owners and fuel-cell car owners a lot easier. The California Energy Commission has generously released funds for these three new stations in Laguna Niguel, West Sacramento and South San Francisco. These stations will be strategically placed in high-traffic areas to help increase functionality and will produce 100 kilograms of hydrogen on a daily basis.
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Ever tried figuring out just how much water flows down your sink every time you remember human hygiene and go wash your hands? Well, here’s a sink that tells you just that. Every drop of water is accounted for and shown up on a little screen, that makes you feel ever-so guilty! Leading global bathroom brand Roca has designed a sink that keeps a check on your daily water consumption. At first, the sink looks just like any other, though once switched on, the numbers begin showing up, which to an extent gives you a guilty feeling.
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If you plan to set up shop and decided to go green, you really don’t need to invest in different systems and units to collect rainwater, generate energy and manage the waste your business produces. Seale Solar in cooperation with Atlantic Windshield Repair came up with a franchise facility that can be set up just about anywhere, generating its own energy from the sun, collecting its rainwater and recycling the waste it produces, completely self-contained and self-sustainable. Using solar panels to produce energy, a reverse-osmosis system that converts rain water into potable water and a composting toilet that processes human waste into a mulch material that can be used as fertilizer, this franchise facility measures just 17′ x 40′.
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Christie’s came up with a novel way to raise funds for the environment, offer a trip to the hottest Oscars parties or a day with former President Bill Clinton, and to grab an opportunity like this, bids flowed in for $100,000! The auction helped raise $1.4 million that will go to the Conservation International, Oceana, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and The Central Park Conservancy, environment saving forces. The proceeds will help the organizations in research work and projects that will do well for the environment as a whole. That’s not all. Funds will flow in from the online auction on charitybuzz.com that ends on April 7 and from sales of the Runway to Green pro-environment fashion world initiative fashion show too!
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The first football stadium to soak in the sun in UK, the Barnsley Football Club will now sun-bathe in glory. The club turned to solar energy to fulfill its energy needs lately, with the £1m project funded by installation company Solar Europa Limited. The company will profit by selling back extra energy sent back to the national grid. Stadiums usually have colossal roofs and Barnsley decided to put its roof area to good use. The move will also help the stadium decrease its carbon footprint to quite an extent. Two stands have photovoltaic panels crowning them already. The external wall of the south stand at Oakwell will be completed in June and is expected to generate 0.5 megawatts of electricity.
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Now a portable power source isn’t necessarily small. At times, these can turn into heavy and bulky space hogging monsters that just refuse to slip into your pocket. Times are changing and so is technology. Powering up your gadget on the go will soon be a piece of cake, a lot easier than it used to be before. This tiny keychain, the Piggy Power Bank, integrates a solar panel, that’ll soak in the sun’s heat to juice up your device. By Neon Green, this tiny power source will boost your cell phone, enough to make an important urgent call before it finally dies.
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The best way to decrease greenhouse gases on the runway indeed, researchers recently discovered that by simply holding planes at their gates at the Boston Logan International Airport, taxiing time dropped by 20 per cent and fuel use decreased by 75 liters per plane! The study funded by the US Federal Aviation Administration has been published as an MIT Technical Report. Domestic flights in the United States alone emit about 6 million tons of CO2 from taxiing per year. In Europe too, planes spend an estimated 10 to 30 per cent of their journey time taxiing on runways emitting astounding amounts of in the CO2 bargain. Also, airports these days have been optimizing flight paths for planes on arrivals.
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The world was a dark place to live in for 60 minutes on the 26th of March 2011, as the multitudes from cities all around the globe observed the Earth Hour. The initiative had environment and eco-conscious citizens switching off all forms of electricity use in their homes and offices for an hour, to save up on energy. People around the globe instead chose to live a live, isolated from electricity for an hour, with many exploring the outdoors, spending candle-light time with their loved ones, keeping away the buzz of electricity in an effort to save energy. Iconic landmarks dotted across the earth went dark too, including the 100-foot pylons at the Los Angeles International Airport, the Queen Mary Hotel, Gyeongbokgung Palace, Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, the Central Government Complex and Gwanghwamun Square, buildings in Marina Bay, and the Orhcard Road in Singapore, 67 cities and towns in Finland, the Empire State Building and Times Square in New York, the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
60 minutes of a black-out can help save a load of energy, especially when thousands across the globe take the initiative. Originated in just one city, the Earth Hour concept has now spread to 4,000 cities in 128 countries across the globe!
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Water has been in the news before, bidding for the 2022 Soccer World Cup. And then the country was in the news once again for having won the bid. Here’s a bit more from Qatar. The country is planning to make artificial clouds, to keep visitors cool during the games, taken that the weather there makes you wipe the sweat of your brow, every few seconds. Developed by scientists at the Qatar University, these artificial clouds are made from a lightweight carbon structure carrying a giant envelope of material containing helium gas and four solar-powered engines that will move the “cloud” into position to eclipse the sun during the games. A clever idea indeed and we do think this pretty much might just work, 11 years into the future.
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Well, you don’t really need to rip open your expensive photovoltaic cell up on your roof, just to figure out how it functions. You can now simply go buy yourself a Power House. This little kit by Thames and Kosmos teaches you about alternative energy and allows you to experiment with it. The kit enables you to perform at least 100 experiments related to alternative energy use. The Power House requires simple assembling and has experiments related to heating, cooling, conduction, convection, and insulation too. It also has a passive solar energy collection system, wind turbines a greenhouse and a 64-page, full-color experiment manual.
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