Category Archives: Gadgets and Tech
Appliances in the future will be a lot smarter and intelligent than they are today, and it isn’t only the living room appliances that we’re talking about. Homes in future will use network connected appliances and gadgets, controlled remotely, with better functionbility, cutting-edge features and energy efficiency. And this year’s CES trade show in Las Vegas will see veils pulled of some of this fresh new technology. Take LG’s line of Thing “smart” appliances for instance, with Wi-Fi connectivity, smart meters and programmable functions that help them diagnose peak hours and adjust energy consumption. Washers, dryers, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners and just about every household appliance with connectivity to network PCs and tablets and smart phones too have shown up at CES 2011.
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Solar powered air conditioning gets pushed up the ladder towards being more than just a dream and turning into a reality, with Hitachi now joining forces to develop one of these systems. The Hitachi Plant Technologies Ltd, a subsidiary of the Hitachi group, using its own solar energy collector, is developing a solar activated air conditioning system. To be mainly used in the Mediterranean, the interior of North America, Western Asia, and Australia for commercial buildings, Hitachi has been reading the stars and has come up with a prediction for sales touching £40m by 2015. The sun has been burning down our backs all this while, and it’s about time it helps cool our skins too! Solar powered air-conditioners are the next best thing to look out for!
[Acr-news]
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Paper as we know it can be recycled, and typically, paper fibers are recycled five to seven times. However, this recycling process is long and tedious. So, designers Sharsha Lee came up with an innovative design to save paper and reuse it, after printing for the Liteon Technology Corp. The Eco Printer basically uses erasable ink, that when printed on paper, can be erased off when required, allowing the paper to be re-printed on. A 2010 Red Dot Concept Design winner, Eco Printer uses specialized ink composed of photographic materials that disappear from UV irradiation, allowing non-sensitive documents to be reprinted over and over again!
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A well deserved Red Dot Award indeed, the “Turn the Energy” design by designers Han Ji An, Kuang Yuxiang, Niu Zhenbo, Chen Xinying and Ma Chao sure steals the limelight. A tweak to the normal disk brake, the design enables the rotating brake disks of an electric car to generate energy by converting the mechanical energy into electrical energy. The system uses the rotor of the brake disks by cutting its magnetic lines of force to generate energy. The built-in coil rotor is turned every time the car moves. The armature of the generator is used to cut the magnetic lines of force. This energy can then be used to transform all the mechanical energy from the brakes into electrical energy which can then be used to power up the headlamps, the air-conditioning, the sound systems and the rest of an electric car’s devices.
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We came across a pretty sweet lamp that pinches out coins from your pocket every time you decide to switch it on. This concept simply reminds us of the fact that energy needs to be conserved, just like the coins in our pockets. By Finnish designer Tima Naskanen, the Change – Coin Deposit Lamp is perfect for use in places like libraries or just about anywhere that is used by the public and needs a lamp to be switched on. To have this one glow, all you need to do is deposit a coin in a slot on the supporting base. And you won’t leave this lamp on after you’re done, taken that you’re sure to pull out your coin once you’ve finished using it. The Change – Coin Deposit Lamp makes sure you waste no energy by leaving it plugged on and glowing when unused.
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The iconic every New Year’s Eve Ball that glows with all it’s glory and takes a one minute trip down at the Times Square had a lot of green in it this year. Designed by Waterford Crystal and Philips Lighting, this gigantic ball was illuminated by thousands of little LED lights. Also, the 2-0-1-1 sign used human power to light up its LED’s instead of the energy sucking halogens! The Duracell Smart Power Lab has lent a helping hand into powering this one up with some green energy. The New Year Ball consisted of 2,688 crystal triangles, 2 feet in diameter, weighing 11,875 pounds and containing 32,256 Philips Luxeon Rebel LEDs. With 672 LED modules each containing 2 red, 12 blue, 12 green, and 12 whites, these can be programmed to display different patterns.
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We’ve come across quite a few applications for solar energy before; so many that we’ve just lost count. Here’s one that has left a smile on our faces. What could get better and greener than a jolly good fountain powered by the sun! Built by the students of California Lutheran University, this fountain on the Thousand Oaks campus, south of Memorial Parkway between the Ahmanson Science Center and E building was built with a 245-watt module donated for the project. The fountain uses a handcrafted waterwheel too. And this isn’t the first time some green landscaping has been sown at the CLU. A community garden was planted in November by faculty, staff and students, while the CLU was also titled a climate action leader for participating in a voluntary greenhouse gas reporting program back in 2009.
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Headphones are meant to be mobile, though they usually end up mobility-stricken, when plugged into a desktop computer. Here’s a pair of wireless headphones, allowing you with full outdoor mobility, designed by Zhong-Fa Lie. The Hexound isn’t just the conventional pair of wireless headphones though. It doubles up as speakers too! With solar panels integrated, this one works for hours in the outdoors without the need to recharge over and over again. The headphone comes apart in three pieces that enables it to be used as speakers, and a foldable solar energy collecting device too.
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It’s in New York and so it is great news! US Energy has finalised a $17.1 million loan for the construction of a 20 megawatt energy storage system using advanced lithium ion battery. The AES project will be located in Johnson City and will improve stability for the associated mains power grid and reduce carbon emissions. This project will use battery technology and a new software to provide the same regulation currently being used but at a lower price.
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What a thoughtful Christmas gift! For folks in Japan that is, for the rest of the world’s green-loving book worms, maybe a birthday gift. Japan is launching the KDDI biblio leaf SPO2 e-reader tomorrow, on Christmas Day. A few of the e-reader features are a 6-inch E Ink display, a microSD expansion slot, a stylus and in-built 3G. The device has a battery life of up to 13,000 pages thanks to the small solar panel located on its bottom right. So if you are located in one of the hotter regions of the globe, the more you sit and bask in the sun for a perfect tan, the more enlightened you can be by reading. The e-reader uses the LISMO Book store and currently provides 20,000 titles which the company explains will increase by five times by the year 2012.
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