Monthly Archives: July 2013

Scientists Adding Color to Solar Panels

Posted on by
1

See on Scoop.it – Green Building Design – Architecture & Engineering

If you have noticed the design and layout of solar panels around, you would have thought a minute or two about its aesthetics. Though not too bad, the dark

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>The Institute is developing a SIS (semiconductor-insulator-semiconductor) variety solar panel. The package consists of a silicon substrate which absorbs light and converts it into electricity.[…]

The change in color does not make solar cells less efficient. The cell’s working is also not affected by the thickness of the conductive oxide layer. The SIS cell has the same simulated efficiency of around 20%.

The technology might later on use a type of inkjet printing that deposits the oxide layer with more flexibility, which would allow complex designs too. With this, solar cells could turn out to be part of beautiful architectural designs in future.<

See on www.greenpacks.org

Solar Impulse successfully completes cross-country flight

Posted on by
Reply

Solar Powered Drone completes USA cross country flight …

vrzonesg's avatarTech News for Geeks

Solar Impulse is a solar-powered drone-plane that has just completed a trans-continental flight from north-western USA to New York City on the east coast.

Two months ago, Solar Impulse took off from Washington state in the north-western United States, with the mission to fly across the…

Read more: http://vr-zone.com/articles/solar-impulse-successfully-completes-cross-country-flight/44048.html

View original post

Fairware – Code of Conduct

Posted on by
Reply

See on Scoop.it – Twitter & Social Media

From our inception, Fairware has had a code of conduct that has guided our selection of suppliers.

See on www.fairware.com

Predictive Analytics And The Power of Prediction – Small Business Trends

Posted on by
Reply

See on Scoop.it – Twitter & Social Media

Predictive Analytics And The Power of Prediction
Small Business Trends
Another interesting correlation experiment is the “Anxiety Index,” a correlation of blog mentions against S&P 500 performance. Fun correlated …

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>“PA [predictive analytics]  in and of itself does not invade privacy – its core process is the opposite of privacy invasion. Although it’s sometimes called data mining, PA doesn’t “drill down” to peer at any individual’s data. Instead, PA actually “rolls up” learning patterns that hold true in general by way of rote number crunching across the masses of customer records.”<

See on smallbiztrends.com

The 21st century data center: You’re doing it wrong | ZDNet

Posted on by
Reply

See on Scoop.it – Green Building Design – Architecture & Engineering

Outdated designs are keeping data centers from reaching their full potential.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>One example of this are data centers that use raised floors for cooling. Many IT pundits have discredited this method of cooling as wasteful, including Schneider Electric’s territory manager for the Federal government and the ACT, Olaf Moon.

[…]

Cappuccio notes that engineering firms that are consulted to build data centers know about the newer and more efficient ways to do things. But rather than try something new, they prefer the stock standard cookie-cutter approach to creating data centers because it’s fast and easy, he said.

[…]

“I’ve seen a lot of data centers being built that are too big,” says Cappuccio. “We’re finding people with data centers that are three to four years old when they realise they have far too much space, and are still providing air conditioning to those areas. So they begin to shrink them, putting up walls, bringing down the ceiling so they don’t air condition the extra space.”

See on www.zdnet.com

The Obama Administration Proposes $8 Billion in Loans for ‘Clean’ Fossil Fuel Technologies

Posted on by
Reply

See on Scoop.it – Green & Sustainable News

As part of President Obama’s new energy initiative, the U.S. Department of Energy has proposed $8 billion in loan guarantees for fossil fuel technology projects that are able to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

> […]the U.S. Department of Energy has proposed $8 billion in loan guarantees for fossil fuel technologies to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. The proposal would fund schemes such as waste heat recovery and carbon dioxide capture, however it has unsurprisingly received criticism as it would draw focus away from green technology projects such as renewable energy and electric vehicles.

Speaking about the new proposal, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz stated:  “Coal and fossil fuels still provide 80% of our energy and 70% of electricity, and they will remain an important part of our future, as the president noted.”<

See on inhabitat.com

The Amazing Energy Race

Posted on by
Reply

See on Scoop.it – Green & Sustainable News

The United States is falling behind. To catch up, we need to reorder our priorities, find cleaner and smarter fuels and develop new technologies.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>“In reducing coal’s historic dominance, the president is formalizing a market trend that was already taking shape,” remarked Andy Karsner, who was an assistant secretary of energy in the last Bush administration. His bigger message, though, was “no matter where you find yourself on the political spectrum, it’s useful for the nation to discuss, debate and consider a strategy for climate change. The consequences of inaction are potentially greater than all the other noise out there.”<

See on www.nytimes.com

China opens city-sized shopping mall, with fake sun

Posted on by
Reply

See on Scoop.it – Green & Sustainable News

If you don’t care about authenticity, the New Century Global Center has everything you could want, including an artificial Mediterranean village. Read this article by Tim Hornyak on CNET.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>The New Century Global Center building opened recently in Chengu, a city of more than 14 million people in southwest China’s Sichuan province. It’s described as “the world’s largest standalone structure” by Chinese officials and is 328 feet high, 1,640 feet long, and 1,312 feet wide.

While Boeing’s plant in Everett, Wash., is the world’s biggest building by volume, the Chinese mall seems to be tops in floor space. Almost the area of Monaco, its 420 acres of floor space could fit nearly three Pentagons, four Vatican Cities, or 20 Sydney Opera Houses.

The cavernous structure will feature a mix of retail outlets, a 14-screen movie theater, a university complex, offices, hotels, a water park called Paradise Island, a skating rink that’s big enough to host international competitions, a pirate ship, 15,000 parking spots, and even a fake Mediterranean village.<

See on news.cnet.com

Changes in the Electrical and Micro Grid

Posted on by
1

See on Scoop.it – Green & Sustainable News

Microgrids are becoming a worldwide phenomenon. Currently an estimated $4.5 billion market in the US alone with 1,459 MW online and 1,122 MW in planning or development, the microgrid market is expected to continue to grow as the world demands ever more electricity usage and the grid struggles to keep up. The truth is that the traditional grid was not built to cope with the extraordinary level and fluctuations of present-day demand, and microgrids present the perfect solution. The question (to the utilities) is whether we are ready to embrace the change and adapt.

See on theenergycollective.com

Solar Energy and Community Projects

Posted on by
Reply

See on Scoop.it – Green & Sustainable News

What does it take to cook up a community solar project? A dash of crowdfunding, a pinch of grassroots outreach, and a generous helping of persistence. That’s the word from San Francisco nonprofits RE-volv and Everybody Solar.

See on theenergycollective.com