Category Archives: Gadgets and Tech
IBM has stepped into the land of solar power and has joined hands with DelSolar Co. Ltd. From Taiwan to develop compound thin-film solar cells. These thin-film cells will help the world generate renewable energy cheaply, pushing away the need for fossil fuels. While IBM Corp showed some pretty awesome results using a copper zinc tin sulfur selenide that improves solar cell efficiency, DelSolar have developed a type of cell with conversion efficiencies up to 18.3 percent for mono-crystalline silicon cells and 16.8 percent for multi-crystalline silicon cells. IBM hopes to decrease the cost of producing solar cells, using cheaper alternatives like zinc and tin.
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The sun plays a game of hide and seek at times we least expect. This does create a problem for those who rely on the sun to power up. Here’s a system that can predict the sun’s behavior for the advantage of solar power generation. The system monitors how clouds, cold, heat and airborne dust effects solar power generation. Home-based users of solar power always have the alternative of switching to the grid incase the sun acts moody, whereas larger installations at a utility scale generation does face a drawback. Created by Sandia National Laborites, the system helps prepare for weather changes with all that information.
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Solar cells have their setbacks, one of which is being expensive. The more powerful ones always burn a large hole in your pocket, and to generate all that energy, they need to be thicker too. A new type of solar cell has recently been developed by researchers at the Stanford University that might just help save up on costs in the future. The cell is said to be thinner than the wavelength of light itself! And besides just be shockingly skinnier, the cell can also absorb around 10 times more sunlight than the solar cells today. By stopping the light from bouncing around using light trapping, the ultra-thin cell helps absorb more energy easily.
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Besides making sure those annoying burglars don’t try busting into your home and picking up stuff, the new ADT home security system does its share of energy saving too! Basically a home automation system, the new service by ADT scheduled to show up by next month, will hook up a bunch of wireless sensors and some pretty cutting edge technology, with which, users can control their home’s lighting, thermostats and at the same time, keep it secured. The ADT Pulse as it has been christened is packed with iControl’s software, a touch-screen tablet device, and loads of other goodies like weather informants and news applications.
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One Earth Designs, a U.S. based company came up with a cheap and affordable way to cook and produce a bit of electricity, using solar energy. Winning a €500,000 ($667,000) environmental prize for this, the company developed an umbrella-shaped contraption made of yak wool and a cheap Chinese insulation fabric that boasts a supremely high reflectivity to focus the sun’s rays and generate about 11 watts of power, weighing just 6 kilograms (13 pounds). The cooker and electricity generator combination costs about €10 ($13) and can last a whole 12 years! Designed by students from MIT, Harvard and Tsinghua universities, the money won at the competition, the Green Challenge, will be used for scale production of the system.
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Cutting off power to a plugged-in appliance repeatedly can have its adverse effects on the poor electronic, especially if that happens every time you walk out of a room. That’s probably the only thought the HiSAVER hasn’t come across. It means to be green though, and assures users reduced power consumption by simply stopping power supply to everything plugged into it once the rooms left empty. It’s intelligent and uses a bunch of sensors to detect presence. Well, if you really are skeptical of this one though, the makers have made sure a second selectable outlet option is available, plugging into which, power isn’t cut off with the sensors. If the motion sensors detect no movement for about 10 minutes, the strip cuts off power to all the appliances plugged into the specific sockets.
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The results for the Electrolux Design Lab 2010 are here, and the winner this time hails from the National Institute of Design, India, Peter Alwin with his invention, The Snail. Winning a cash prize of a sweet € 5000 with a six-month paid internship at one of Electrolux global design centers, Peter Alwin’s invention sure grabbed the hearts of the jury made up of Ineke Hans, founder of design office INEKEHANS/ARNHEM, Benjamin Hubert (Design of the year, British Design awards 2010), Jon Marshall, Studio Director at BarberOsgerby; and Henrik Otto, Senior Vice President of Global Design at Electrolux. Coming back to the invention, The Snail is basically a portable heating and cooking device that uses magnetic induction processes. This one can be used in pots, pans, mugs and can help heat up the contents. Taken that it reduces the amount of energy used to heat up food, this one sure is green. Its portable too, making cooking a lot easier, especially in places where full-fledged cooking-ranges are inaccessible.
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We’ve forever been complaining about just how noisy our gas-guzzling four-wheelers are. And so, when the electrics came, we were all excited about them being extremely silent and sneaky. Now we’ve got a reason to complain yet again! These electrics are just too silent! And too much silence can prove hazardous too. In comes the Electric Vehicle with Interactive Noise, ELVIN. This one has a range of sounds that can be used to alert pedestrians and motorists of its presence. Also, these sounds are meant to be alerts, and not to scare motorists and pedestrians into having them look around in shock, which could, of course, lead to accidents.
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Drive-thru conveyer systems haven’t given a damn about the environment before, until E.F. Bavis & Associates Inc. based in Maineville decided they should. Having developed a few solar powered conveyers of the type for banks before, the firm has now put into place pharmacy drive-thru lanes at a national convention for drug store chains in San Diego powered by solar energy. The system includes a roof-top solar collector and a heavy-duty carrier for larger pharmacy items along with a backup battery and a charger just incase the sun decides to ditch.
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At first, we thought this to be a basketball. A closer look made us realize, it hardly is one. No doubt it misses all those lines and engravings on it. It also is a lot smaller than a usual basketball. Besides that, this is a set of speakers shaped like a ball! Known as the Ecoball, this set of portable speakers splits up into two, revealing speakers and controls. Also, the strap used on this one is a lot more than just a handle to make mobility easier. It charges up the Ecoball with solar power! The strap is a solar panel in disguise that helps soak in the sun’s heat and charge up this set of portable speakers. Designed by Pedro Gomes, the Ecoball is perfect for a trip outdoors, where the sun shines just bright enough to charge up your speakers and blast out your favorite tunes!
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