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Apartment building owners typically meter the electricity of each of the apartment units they rent out individually, unlike the “common area” places such as the parking lots typically provided for their renters in general.

But that might change. We are approaching a future in which parking lots could be providing electricity, not just to keep the parking lot lights on, but to also  provide electricity to charge up any electric cars that will parked there at night.

How to get repaid for that soon-to-be greater use of “common area” electricity?

SemaConnect, a Maryland based company has the solution. Apartment owners and even homeowners might want to make vehicle charging an option, but need to be repaid for the electricity used.

While Coulomb Technologies and the other big players in vehicle charging are focusing on the municipal or large business charging market for cities, SemaConnect is looking out for the little guy.

This small wall mounted unit utilizes a smart card reader to charge for access to electricity. Those who wish to use the system will secure a smart card from the owner of the system. The smart card is swiped for access and the user is assessed a  fee.

Each unit costs between $2,500 and $3,000, and could easily collect from $125 to $150 a month for its electric charges, in which case the break even to repay the investment in the unit would be just a couple of years.

Depending on electricity costs in the region, there would some profit each year afterward. Probably enough to pay back an investment in solar panels on the parking lot roof, so the electricity provided is all clean wholesome sunshine power.

reference: Autoblog Green, cleantechnica.com

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Biotech company Novozymes calls for action, urging consumers to “do 30” when doing their laundry.

“I do 30” campaign was launched by Novozymes on July 2010. The campaign asks consumers to turn down the temperature on their washing machines to reduce their CO2 emissions, while still getting their clothes clean.

”By doing something as simple as this in our daily lives, each and every one of us can support the fight against climate change, encourage fashion to be more sustainable, and take better care of our precious clothes at the same time,” says Eva Kruse, CEO of the Danish Fashion Institute. “This is why we have chosen to support ‘I do 30’, and I hope many of the fashion people gathered here in Copenhagen will do the same,” she says.

Help make your planet as clean as your pants

A number of leading figures from Danish fashion, media and politics have already signed up to the campaign.

Join ”I do 30”, spread the word, and send a message

The campaign is counting the number of people who sign up via facebook or at www.ido30.org. For the moment more than 16 thousands people joined this green campaign. “I do 30” is about sending a clear message: we want a cleaner planet, we want climate-friendly products, and we are ready to make it happen!

Help fight climate change

“’I do 30′ is about washing clothes at low temperatures, but it’s also about something bigger than that,” says Steen Riisgaard, CEO of Novozymes. “It’s about raising awareness that there are already many technologies that can be used to help fight climate change. ‘I do 30’ asks consumers to make a statement that they’re willing to make climate-friendly choices in their daily lives,” he says.

Europe alone can save 12 million tons of CO2
By washing at lower temperatures, moving from 60 or 40 °C to 30 °C, Europeans can save 12 million tons of CO2 a year, the equivalent of taking 3 million cars off Europe’s roads – all this and the chance to save on the electricity bill too!

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If the energy people expend dancing and working out can power cellphones, lights and other electrical appliances, why not apply the same concept to all the energy spent by millions of people every day simply walking along city sidewalks? That’s exactly the premise behind Pavegen slabs, which can be inserted among regular sidewalk sections to capture the kinetic energy people spend just walking.

Each rubber slab from UK-based Pavegen Systems gets depressed by about 5 mm each time it gets stepped on. Using just that small movement, it can convert the kinetic energy used into electricity, which is then stored in the slab. Specifically, 5 percent of the energy harvested is used to make the slab’s LED glow, making it clear to users that their energy has been captured. The rest can be used to power pedestrian lighting, information displays and many other applications. Pavegen’s patent-protected green technology has also been used to harvest energy from users’ footsteps on stairs; custom branding is available.

Following recent tests in East London, Pavegen is now seeking both investors and additional testing sites for its eco-iconic innovation. One to get in on early…?

reference

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When you finally get sick of mainstream media, don’t ditch your dish, convert it to a solar…

According to the author of the invention,  his is one of the larger oval starchoice dish models.

“I did give the inside a good sanding to get it nice and smooth before applying the decal material which I did find helped. I did try a smaller dish and did a poor job of applying my mirrored surface and got similar results. On this size dish I would equate the heat to being similar to putting it on the stove turned up to medium, in that water will boil on medium but can take longer. Without a lid it’s much much harder to make water boil.
A black bottom pot with a glass lid is best, the pot was used in this video is 50% silver/50% black on the bottom. The tighter seal on the lid, the better.”

Such a way of using of old satellite dish as alternative source of energy has obvious advantages:

• Eco friendly technology of solar power
• Saving money due to electricity cost reduction
• It’s not so complicated so many people could try to make it at home
• It’s simply cool!

The only disadvantage is that it takes approximately two times longer than cooking  on the stove. Winter even doubles the time when cold winds working against your dish.

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When sun shines, take advantage of solar power with the Sunnan desk lamp from IKEA ($20 each). Charged by the sun’s rays, this LED-bulb lamp stays bright for 4 hours on a full charge.

While we wouldn’t suggest this as the only lighting source for a bed room or dorm room, Ikea’s colorful solar Sunnan lamp is a perfect supplement to a dull overhead light for computing and reading. And for the people with an eco-conscious streak, the price can’t be beat. This product can only be purchased at Ikea stores, so if you’re near one, this product could be worth a trip.

So, here’s how this 100% solar powered desk lamp works: Place it near a window during the day. In sunlight, the lamp will take between nine and 12 hours to charge. If it is a cloudy day, it will take a bit more than 12 hours to fully charge. When the power button is clicked, the light will shine for about four hours. The light it emits is unexpectedly bright (between 400 to 500 “lux,” according to Ikea)—make sure the bendable neck of the lamp is angled away from the eyes.

The battery and solar panel portion of the lamp is actually removable, so the whole lamp needn’t be moved to the charging location. Ikea claims that the LED light bulb will last four times longer than an equivalent incandescent bulb will.

We’re not sure that this lamp can reduce your electricity bill by much, but using it is a gesture in the right direction in terms of energy conservation.

And if you thought that IKEA just couldn’t get any cooler, hear this: for every Sunnan desk lamp sold, IKEA will donate a lamp (with backup rechargeable batteries) to UNICEF, who then sends them to children in underdeveloped countries around the world. The first batch are being sent to children in Pakistan without access to electricity. This allows kids to continue doing homework after dusk.

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The completed power plant in the province of Granada will  have around 210,000 parabolic mirrors designed to concentrate the Sun’s rays.

ESSEN – Stadtwerke München and RWE Innogy have started a solar thermal power plant Andasol 3 in the south of Spain in conjunction with MAN Ferrostaal, RheinEnergie, and Solar Millennium. The power plant was developed by Erlangen-based Solar Millennium AG.

Stadtwerke München has a 48.9% share in the project company Marquesado Solar S.L. RWE Innogy and RheinEnergie jointly hold 25.1% of the shares in this project via an investment holding company (RWE Innogy: 51%, RheinEnergie: 49%). The remaining 26% of the project company continues to be owned by an investment holding company of MAN Ferrostaal and Solar Millennium.

Construction of the power plant has already started. The solar thermal power plant is expected to start operation in 2011 with an output of approximately 50 megawatts (MW), and will be jointly operated by the project partners.

Chairman of the executive board of Stadtwerke München (SWM), Dr. Kurt Mühlhäuser, emphasised: “We have an ambitious objective: Munich will be the first city in Germany where all private households can be supplied with electricity generated from renewable sources in SWM’s own power plants.”

He continued: “We currently use hydroelectric power, wind energy, biomass, and photovoltaic cells. With our investment in the Andasol 3 project, we have chosen another ground-breaking technology. The parabolic trough power plant in the south of Spain will bring us a great deal closer to our objective.”

Thermal storage system

Chairman of the executive board of RWE Innogy, Prof. Fritz Vahrenholt, said: “Parabolic trough technology sets new benchmarks for solar electricity generation. It can be deployed on a large scale and generates electricity in a reliable and power grid-friendly way even after sunset, due to a huge molten salt thermal storage system.

He explained: “This allows the plant to generate electricity for almost twice the number of hours as a solar power plant without the storage system. For us, this investment is therefore a further important step toward a sustainable and safe method of providing energy on the basis of renewable energies.”

Chairman of the executive board of Solar Millennium, Christian Beltle, said: “As a result of our early entry into the market, we have extensive expertise in the development and implementation of solar thermal power plants. We have supplied the solar technology for the first parabolic trough power plants in Spain and Egypt. The fact that we are now joining forces with four leading German companies is a wonderful acknowledgement of our work to date.”

Chairman of the executive board of RheinEnergie, Dr. Dieter Steinkamp, said: “In the Rhine region, we have a responsibility towards around 2.5 million people. It is intended in the future that the basis for our own energy generation should increasingly come from renewable energy sources alongside the environmentally friendly combined heat and power generation.”

He continued: “Just a few days ago, we took over 19 wind farms across the country with an output of over 100 MW. With Andasol 3, we are now focusing on the future technology of solar energy.”

Enormous future potential

Head of Solar Power of MAN Ferrostaal, Dr. Rainer Kistner, is excited about the new partnership for Andasol 3. “Solar thermal power plants have enormous future potential. They are environmentally friendly, reliable, and predictable, since they are independent of fluctuating oil and gas prices.”

He added: “They ensure long-term security of energy supplies which, for us, is the most important argument to be involved in the project as an investor and as plant constructor. As a constructor of power plants and, in conjunction with our technology partner Solar Millennium, we have created the best conditions for making the project a success.”

With an electrical output of approximately 50 megawatts, Andasol 3 is the third solar thermal power plant that has been installed in the Spanish province of Granada by Solar Millennium. The neighbouring projects Andasol 1 and Andasol 2, which each have an electrical output of around 50 megawatts, are already connected to the grid or in the test phase.

Andasol 1 was officially inaugurated in early July. The power plants, which are almost identical in their construction, will have a collector surface area of over 1.5 million square metres – equal to the surface area of approximately 210 football fields – thus making it the largest solar energy site in Europe.

The expected gross energy production for each power plant is approximately 170 gigawatt-hours (GWh) a year. This means the power plants can collectively supply electricity to around half a million people each year, and avoid the production of approximately 450,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Gigantic arched mirrors

On completion of the Andasol 3 power plant, around 210,000 parabolic mirrors will capture the sunlight. These gigantic, arched mirrors concentrate the Sun’s rays. The heat generated by doing this is transferred to a heat transfer fluid. Trough heat exchanging devices the thermal energy is transferred the thermal energy to a water/steam circuit.

As in a conventional power station, this steam drives a turbine. The generator, which is attached to it, generates electricity. By means of a thermal storage system, electricity can be provided in a planned way. This thermal storage system comprises 28,500 tonnes of a special salt mixture; its capacity can run the turbine for 7.5 hours at full load. Andasol 3 is therefore able to reliably generate electricity even after the Sun has set.

The construction of Andasol 3 is already at an advanced stage: the early works has been completed as far as possible. The foundations for the collector mountings in the solar park are currently being cast. The assembly of the collectors and their subsequent incorporation into the solar park will begin shortly.

The construction of the Andasol 3 power plant is the responsibility of a joint venture company involving Solar Millennium and MAN Ferrostaal, along with the Spanish company Duro Felguera S.A. A subsidiary of Solar Millennium, Flagsol, is providing the technology for the solar park – just as it did for the sister projects Andasol 1 and 2.

More information:

• Stadtwerke München – www.swm.de
• RWE Innogy – www.rwe.com
• MAN Ferrostaal – www.manferrostaal.com
• RheinEnergie – www.rheinenergie.com
• Solar Millennium – www.solarmillennium.de
• Save the Planet – www.savetheplanetnews.com  http://www.savetheplanetnews.com

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Eco-engineers from the Ohio State University win gold. Engineering Students Design

‘Green’ Vehicles of the Future University of Victoria and Mississippi State University finish second and third.

TORONTO (June 12, 2009) University students from The Ohio State University earned top honors at the 2009 finals of the EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge competition in Toronto, Canada for their design of a Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV).

The Ohio State University took first place out of 17 universities in the U.S. and Canada that competed in the first major milestone of this three-year competition which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, General Motors, and many others including the Government of Canada. The competition challenges university engineering students across North America to re-engineer a 2009 Saturn VUE to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions while retaining the vehicle’s performance and consumer appeal.

During the past year, participating teams have logged countless hours working in their Green Garages to design the next generation of green vehicle technologies. For this first year of competition, students were tasked with creating innovative concepts for their vehicle design and given the opportunity to use advanced software and computer modeling tools which allowed for testing and refinement under the simulation of real-world conditions.

The winning team’s EREV provides a practical solution that will increase energy efficiency and reduce environmental impacts. The Ohio State’s design was powered by a 1.8 liter engine and fueled by E85 ethanol. The next-generation design predicts a 300% percent increase in fuel economy over the production 4 cylinder vehicle.

“My teammates and I are thrilled to be named this year’s winner of the EcoCAR competition,” said Eric Schacht, a student engineer and team leader from The Ohio State team. “The many long days and late nights spent perfecting our vehicle design paid off today, and we couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to participate in such an important competition.”

The second place vehicle design, engineered by students at the University of Victoria is also an EREV that runs on E85 ethanol. Mississippi State University was awarded third place for its EREV, B20 biodiesel.

“All 17 EcoCAR teams worked tirelessly, studying the available technologies, doing the necessary research, and formulating their incredible designs. I want to congratulate The Ohio State for their hard work and extraordinary concept – they have earned their first place honors,” said John Lushetsky, U.S. Department of Energy. “Each of the EcoCAR projects displayed a superior quality of work and the innovative spirit that will be critical as these future eco-engineers lead the country towards a clean energy future.”

“The vehicle designs that each team has created represent the kinds of technology that will drive our industry to a greener future. I commend all of the teams for their hard work and creative thinking,” said Elizabeth A. Lowery, GM vice president, Environment, Energy and Safety Policy.

“At GM, we are reinventing the automobile and the company, and green technology solutions are key to that reinvention. The EcoCAR competition embodies the innovation and drive needed for our future success and we are proud to be a part of this program.”

In year two of the competition, teams incorporate their unique powertrains into the Saturn VUE. In the final year, teams must refine their vehicles to near-showroom quality.

“The Government of Canada is proud to support the development of commercially viable, cleaner vehicle technologies which will only help to improve our economy and the environment,” said the Honourable Lisa Raitt, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources. “It is truly inspiring to see the dedication and innovative spirit every one of these teams has brought to the ecoCAR competition.”
Students were encouraged to explore a variety of solutions including hybrid, plug-in hybrid, fuel cell, electric, and extended range electric vehicles.

Extended Range Electric Vehicles (EREV): Almost half of the EcoCAR teams, including Ohio State, University of Wisconsin, and Virginia Tech chose to design Extended Range Electric Vehicles, which, like GM’s Chevy Volt, demonstrate full performance with an electric powertrain for all electric driving and an optimized combustion engine that can extend the range of the vehicle with its on-board fuel storage. The other EREV teams are Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Mississippi State University, North Carolina State University, Penn State and University of Victoria.

Full Function Electric Vehicle (FFEV): One team, University of Ontario Institute of Technology chose to design a Full Function Electric Vehicle, which emits zero emissions consuming no liquid or gaseous fuel.

Fuel Cell Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (FC-PHEV): Two of the seventeen EcoCAR teams, University of Waterloo and Missouri University of Science and Technology, have designed a Fuel Cell Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle which uses an onboard hydrogen fuel cell to either propel the vehicle or recharge a battery pack.

Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV): Six of the EcoCAR teams, including Texas Tech, West Virginia University, and Michigan Tech have designed Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles which utilize a large lithium ion battery. The other PHEV teams include Howard University, Georgia Tech, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

While each of the 17 EcoCAR designs is unique, the common attributes include:

Lithium Ion Battery Technology: All of the EcoCAR designs use state-of-the-art lithium ion battery technology, so the vehicles are able to store more electric energy in smaller, lighter packages.

Plug-In Capability: All of the EcoCAR vehicles have plug-in capability, which can significantly reduce on-road petroleum consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Renewable Fuels: All of the EcoCAR vehicles that require liquid fuels use types that blend in a renewable energy source, biodiesel or ethanol. This further displaces petroleum which significantly reduces the amount of greenhouse gases emitted from the vehicle’s tailpipes.

Powertrain Diversity: Many EcoCAR teams like The University of Victoria, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and Howard University have innovative powertrains that let one vehicle operate in engine-only, hybrid-electric, and electric only modes to optimize efficiency and performance.

About EcoCAR
EcoCAR is a three-year competition that builds on the 20-year history of DOE advanced vehicle technology competitions by giving engineering students the chance to design and build advanced vehicles that demonstrate leading-edge automotive technologies. General Motors provides production vehicles, vehicle components, seed money, technical mentoring and operational support. The U.S. Department of Energy and its research and development facility, Argonne National Laboratory provides competition management, team evaluation, technical and logistical support. Through this important partnership, EcoCAR aims to inspire and support the next generation of scientists and engineers to unite around the common goal of sustainable mobility.
reference: EcoCAR

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Biofuel is defined as solid, liquid or gaseous fuel obtained from relatively recently lifeless or living biological material and is different from fossil fuels, which are derived from long dead biological material. Also, various plants and plant-derived materials are used for biofuel manufacturing. Globally, biofuels are most commonly used to power vehicles, heat homes, and for cooking.(Wikipedia).

100 million pigs are slaughtered each year in the USA alone, producing 110 million tons of waste. Much of these ends up in rivers and fed the expansion of a New Jersey-sized dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Billions of dollars are spent on waste transportation and treatment, and regulations continue to become more stringent and cost-intensive to satisfy our desire for a clean environment. Meanwhile, we have a growing need for biofuels that would reduce our dependence on foreign oil and the world’s finite supply of crude petroleum.

Now, In a study published recently in the journal Fuel, researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology provided the most detailed analysis yet of pig manure-based biofuel. It’s not quite ready for the road, they found, but researchers now know what to fix. An experimental pig manure processing plant was designed two years ago by Yuanhui Zhang and Les Christianson at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. By heating and pressurizing manure, they turned it into crude oil.

Boasting a manure-to-fuel efficiency of 70 percent, the researchers predicted that a single pig’s production-cycle excretions could yield 21 gallons of crude oil and a neat per-pig profit of $10. Multiply that by the millions of  pigs slaughtered each year and it’s a multi-billion-dollar industry. And while the amount of oil produced would be relatively small in comparison to total U.S. fuel consumption, every drop counts. That, however, remains hypothetical. The NIST analysis showed that so-called pig manure crude is still quite crude. It’s about 15% water by volume, reducing its energy efficiency, and suffused with sulfur, heavy metals and nutritional supplements — all of which could end up back in the air.

source: livepaths.brinkster.net

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3. Mootral Neem Biotech, UK

Mootral Neem Biotech-the finalist of Climate Change Innovation Competition 2009

Mootral is a garlic-based feed additive that reduces the methane produced by cows, sheep and other ruminants.

The extract is a natural antibiotic that limits the growth of bacteria in the ruminant’s stomach. The key ingredient is allicin, a compound derived from garlic, which reduced methane production by 94 per cent in a laboratory trial simulating ruminants’ digestive processes. Animal trials have succeeded in cutting methane emissions by 15%, and they are continuing to work out the optimum dosage and frequency.

Methane is a greenhouse gas 22 times more potent than carbon dioxide. it is estimated that the digestive processes of the world’s herds and flocks are responsible for 20 per cent of global warming.

Neem Biotech, which is already producing the additive on a commercial scale for Carbon Mootral CIC (Community Interest Company), points out that the feed additives can get to work straight away.

“Many carbon-offsetting initiatives are frustratingly long-term, but Mootral can reduce methane emissions with immediate effect,” says director Professor Jeremy Stone.

The product also has potential for implementation on a global scale. Estonia is already implementing an emissions tax for farmers ‘per ruminant capita’, with Denmark and Ireland still chewing the idea over. “Meat production is huge in terms of business interests and livelihoods. This is a way to cut down on emissions without taxing beef.”

Professor Stone suggests the airline industry could assist in the roll-out of the project. “Airlines have a vast carbon footprint to mitigate,” he says. By encouraging their passengers to purchase carbon-offsetting credits, they could finance the distribution of the additive to farms beneath their flight path, and gain ‘Mootral’ status.

“A novel idea with the potential to have a real impact in reducing carbon emissions from the food chain”, Sir Terry Leahy, chief executive, Tesco

4. Ceiling Tiles Loughborough University, UK

Ceiling Tiles-the finalist of Climate Change Innovation Competition 2009

Loughborough University has produced ceiling tiles that can cool rooms with minimal energy use.

Instead of pumping cool air into a room, a false ceiling uses convection to draw warm exhaust air from the room. The air evaporates water held in a wick surface in the tiles, and the tiles cool instantly. Moreover, they don’t clog and the materials don’t degrade, so there are no significant maintenance costs.

“If you dip your hand into water and blow over it, you instantly feel cooler. Evaporation is a very powerful mechanism,” Dr Harry Salt explains. “To cool a room with a floor area of 100m2 you only need two cubic centimeters of water per second – and the effect is instantaneous.”

Dr Salt and his colleague Professor Dennis Loveday have spent the last ten years developing an effective cooling system that uses minimal energy. It can replace a traditional air conditioning system in most climates or, if used alongside AC, will halve overall energy consumption.

“This is something I’ve taken very personally because of the vast potential it has,” Dr Salt explains. “Air conditioning accounts for three per cent of the UK’s electricity, so if our system were to be rolled out it could save 1.5 per cent of that electricity. That’s two million tonnes of carbon a year.”

Dr Salt and Professor Loveday are hoping to have their tiles on the market by 2010. The product is in final trials, but they need to invest more time and money in demonstration and marketing. They anticipate a significant export potential to the United States and other hot climates.

Dr Salt says: “If it’s too hot, it’s harder for people to work. Global warming will see increased demand for cooling, and this innovation can provide cooling with minimal energy usage.”

“This is an innovative design that will likely provide emissions reductions in building cooling systems”, Eileen Claussen, president of Strategies for the Global Environment and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change

The long-list

Clean Gas Technology
“Thermal plasma” – gas heated to over 3000C – is used to treat combustion gases from factories and power plants and separate carbon and other pollutants. The technology has a valuable byproduct: raw materials that can be used to make products like plastics or paint. (CarbonoBrasil, Brazil)

Low-cost Bamboo Housing
Pre-fabricated housing kits made from bamboo will meet the growing demand for affordable housing in Latin America. The project aims to reduce demand for timber from rainforest trees and the use of expensive, energy-intensive materials like concrete and steel. (C02 BAMBU, USA/Nicaragua)

Biogas from Cassava Waste
Methane emitted from cassava crop waste will be used to generate zero emissions energy. The process will prevent emissions from rotting crops and create cheap, renewable, grid-connected electricity and organic fertiliser for low-income farmers. (GNEEDER, Nigeria)

Consumer Solar Packages
Owners of large-scale residential or commercial real-estate are offered free installation of solar thermal technology in return for signing a long-term utility agreement to purchase energy at a capped discounted rate. The innovative business model removes the key barriers to adoption: up-front costs and the risk of energy price fluctuations.(Lumen Earth, Canada)

Solar Powered ICT Centres
A franchise network of solar-powered multi-media service centres aims to transform impoverished communities in developing countries. They will provide computers with Internet access and a cinema, offering a portfolio of pay-per-use entertainment and education services. (NICE International, Gambia)

Customised Climate Forecasting
An easy-to-use, web-based tool will provide businesses and governments with the information they need to adapt to climate change. It will show how changes of temperature, rainfall and winds are likely to affect specific locations in the future, enabling customers to develop strategies for minimising risk. (Svante Scientific, Inc., USA)

Texting for shared taxis
This system will allow people to text their travel destinations to a central computer that will arrange for customers going to the same place to share taxi. It is designed to reduce congestion and fuel usage and meet the demand for quick and safe travel. (Texxi, United Kingdom)

link  forumforthefuture.org

See more finalists of Climate Change Green Innovations 2009:

The Winner of Climate Change Green Innovations 2009

The Finalists of Climate Change Green Innovations 2009: The Black Phantom and Deflecktors

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A solar-powered cardboard cooker which aims to transform the lives of hundreds of millions of villagers in developing countries is the award – winner of the global competition for true green innovation to tackle climate change.

Here are the finalists of Climate Change Challenge Green Innovation Competition 2009:

1. THE BLACK PHANTOM Carbonscape, New Zeland

Carbonscape-the finalist of Climate Change Innovation Competition 2009

The machine, small enough to fit inside a shipping container and be transported anywhere in the world, is “effectively one giant microwave”. In goes biomass – agricultural waste, wood thinnings, even sewage – and out comes a dense, carbon-rich material.

The technique has been used for tens of thousands of years by farmers worldwide to improve yields. But scientists have now discovered that charcoal remains “remarkably stable”, making an ideal carbon sink. The material could be buried underground in former coalmines or used to fertilise soil as ‘biochar’.

Another possibility is to burn the charcoal as a super-efficient fuel in power stations and cooking stoves. Even then, the process remains carbon-neutral as long as more biomass is grown to absorb the resulting emissions.
Professor Chris Turney explains that, while the unit runs off electricity, it still fixes more carbon than is created by generating that power. It is also possible to ‘recycle’ the gases produced and turn them into ‘green electricity’ to power the machine. Long-term, Carbonscape is looking to generate other green bi-products from their approach

Using charcoal as a carbon sink is attracting a lot of attention worldwide, with officials at the Poznan climate conference declaring the practice could eventually be eligible for carbon credits under the Kyoto Protocol. Carbon sink technology “could become a source of income for the developing world, and an incentive for them to plant trees on a cyclical basis,” he says.

“Combines nature’s ability to sequester carbon with a high-tech solution to make it permanent”, Mark Hurd, chief executive, president and chairman, HP

2. Deflecktors ADEF Ltd, USA

Deflector-the finalist of Climate Change Innovation Competition 2009

Deflecktors are inexpensive, lightweight covers fitted to truck wheels, which improve fuel efficiency by reducing drag.

Fitted onto the eight wheels of a truck and its trailer, the Deflecktor cover – made of lightweight fabric – is calculated to cut fuel consumption by two per cent. It works by covering the wheel holes to reduce turbulence as lorries move at speed. Entrepreneur Jon Fleck points out that on industrial-sized wheels, each of the holes is roughly the size of a car window.
The fuel-saving statistics have already aroused interest from multi-national trucking company Schneider National, which is testing the product on its 15,000-strong fleet. On average, it takes six months to break even on the $50 cost of each Deflecktor.

“I’m coming at this from an economic perspective,” says Mr Fleck. “Quite frankly, carbon emissions aren’t top of the agenda for these companies.” He adds that there is additional money-making potential from advertising on the fabric.

Mr Fleck designed his first wheel cover 20 years ago, but the product virtually made him bankrupt. Its 50-odd metal components were hard to fit and its weight (3.5kg) cancelled out some of the fuel efficiency gains. It wasn’t until he saw a pop-up laundry basket at a trade fair in Germany that he had the idea to use fabric and wire instead: “That was the lightbulb moment.” The Deflecktor, made of just nine parts, weighs just 800g.

If all American trucks used the covers, Mr Fleck calculates they would save 460 million gallons of diesel a year. He says recent landmark legislation in California requiring long-haul truckers to fit aerodynamic devices could be just what his invention needs to really take off.

“This simple idea could make a huge difference”, Sir Richard Branson, chairman, president and chief executive, the Virgin Group
“Easy to implement, very scalable – helps the environment and saves money”,  Leon Sandler, executive director of the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

See more finalists of Climate Change Green Innovations 2009:

The Winner of Climate Change Green Innovations 2009

The Finalists of Climate Change Green Innovations 2009: Mootral and Ceiling Tiles

ink  forumforthefuture.org

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