Boat propels itself using water's energy
PITTSBURGH (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they've designed a "mini boat" that propels itself by harnessing energy contained in the water's surface.
University of Pittsburgh researchers said the technique destabilizes the surface tension surrounding the boat with an electric pulse and causes the craft to move using the surface's natural pull.
Professor Sung Kwon Cho, who led the research, said the method offers an efficient and low-maintenance mechanism for small robots and boats that monitor water quality in oceans, reservoirs and other bodies of water. Such devices are currently propeller-driven, but the Pitt system has no moving parts and the low-energy electrode that emits the pulse could be powered by batteries, radio waves or solar power, Cho said.
Cho and doctoral students Sang Kug Chung and Kyungjoo Ryu presented their findings Monday in Sorrento, Italy, during the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' 2009 Micro Electro Mechanical Systems conference.
"Skim over the existing hot political air". Innovation is the life blood of every nation. We encourage an idea exchange on any topics that is break through technology-simple or complex.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Green ink saves the environment
"Print books needed three times more raw materials and 78 times more water consumption than e-books. In another study out of the University of Berkeley, reading a newspaper electronically released 32-140 times less CO2 and used 27 times less water. "
reader information http://reviews.cnet.com/e-book-readers/sony-reader-digital-book/4505-3508_7-32672723.html?tag=rnav
Electronic ink Posted By VIVIAN SONG, SUN MEDIA
I find comfort in the esthetic of a bookcase fully lined with Pulitzer Prize winning fiction, cookbooks, chick lit and old English classics.
I keep my shelves stacked with at least a handful of unread novels, otherwise I feel as though I've run out of milk or bread -- the feeling of being short on something, the need to replenish.
While I loathe newsprint ink on my fingers, I love the crisp, brittle sound of newspaper pages being turned.
But the publishing industry is entering a new chapter, one that could go paperless and revolutionize the way we read.
The company that has blazed the paper trail in all this is E Ink, a spinoff company of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Its technology, electronic ink, is used in e-books which can store hundreds of book titles, magazines and newspapers in a portable device.
"If you can get lost in a story, it doesn't matter if it's electronic or paper," said Rita Toews, the Winnipeg woman behind the recently launched site ebookweek. week.com. Toews is also author of Body Traffic, , shortlisted for the Margaret Laurence Book Award.
Unlike the LCD screen, E Ink's technology enables the electronic reader to replicate the look and feel of a printed book: Displays have the visual appeal of ink-on-paper and use no backlight so that screens can be viewed under almost any lighting condition, including direct sunlight, all the while using little power. Typically, one battery charge of four hours can power 7,500 continuous page turns.
While the notion of e-readers may take the poetry out of curling into bed with a good book, Toews' site makes a compelling environmental argument for altering our reading behaviour.
In his 2003 thesis, University of Michigan student Greg Kozak studied the life-cycle assessment of paper books versus e-books. He found that a paper book created four times the greenhouse gas emissions of an e-book reader.
Print books needed three times more raw materials and 78 times more water consumption than e-books.
In another study out of the University of Berkeley, reading a newspaper electronically released 32-140 times less CO2 and used 27 times less water.
In the U. S., where e-reader sales have taken off, customers are able to download books, magazines and major daily newspapers such as USA Today. It's a future the newspaper industry is eyeing with careful suspicion -- online readership has already endangered the print format, putting thousands of traditional newspaper men and women out of work.
But French newspaper Les Echos has been offering its content on the e-reader iRex iLiad since 2007. Stories are delivered wirelessly and updated every hour. Cos t for the subscription and the unit is around $600 Cdn.
While newspaper subscription is not yet available on the only ebook in Canada, the Sony Reader Digital Book, company spokeswoman Candice Hayman said a major Canadian newspaper, which she declined to identify, recently expressed interest in the device.
The Sony reader launched last April in Canada and retails for $299. The cost of downloading books, however, is a fraction of its hardcopy edition, averaging about $10.
Meanwhile, Esquire published its 75th edition to much fanfare last October, the first magazine to use electronic ink on its cover. An animated cover flashed the words "The 21st Century Begins Now" on magazine stands, stealing the attention from the static images of its lifeless competitors.
"If we look at the publishing industry, the content is readable but not changeable," said E Ink spokesman Sriram Peruvemba from Cambridge, Mass.
"Electronic format is changeable but not readable. We tried to combine the two and get the best of both worlds."
For those still resistant to the idea, Toews points that the paperback novel was snubbed by the literary elite when it emerged in the 1930s. But it became popular during the war, allowing troops to carry them in their backpocket and is now a legitimate form of publishing.
"Paper's going to become more of a luxury," he said. "My daughter planted a sapling in school, but it will take 10 years for the sapling to grow. In the next 20 minutes you could change your reading behaviour, read an ebook and save a tree."
International Read an E-Book Week is March 8 to 14.
reader information http://reviews.cnet.com/e-book-readers/sony-reader-digital-book/4505-3508_7-32672723.html?tag=rnav
Electronic ink Posted By VIVIAN SONG, SUN MEDIA
I find comfort in the esthetic of a bookcase fully lined with Pulitzer Prize winning fiction, cookbooks, chick lit and old English classics.
I keep my shelves stacked with at least a handful of unread novels, otherwise I feel as though I've run out of milk or bread -- the feeling of being short on something, the need to replenish.
While I loathe newsprint ink on my fingers, I love the crisp, brittle sound of newspaper pages being turned.
But the publishing industry is entering a new chapter, one that could go paperless and revolutionize the way we read.
The company that has blazed the paper trail in all this is E Ink, a spinoff company of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Its technology, electronic ink, is used in e-books which can store hundreds of book titles, magazines and newspapers in a portable device.
"If you can get lost in a story, it doesn't matter if it's electronic or paper," said Rita Toews, the Winnipeg woman behind the recently launched site ebookweek. week.com. Toews is also author of Body Traffic, , shortlisted for the Margaret Laurence Book Award.
Unlike the LCD screen, E Ink's technology enables the electronic reader to replicate the look and feel of a printed book: Displays have the visual appeal of ink-on-paper and use no backlight so that screens can be viewed under almost any lighting condition, including direct sunlight, all the while using little power. Typically, one battery charge of four hours can power 7,500 continuous page turns.
While the notion of e-readers may take the poetry out of curling into bed with a good book, Toews' site makes a compelling environmental argument for altering our reading behaviour.
In his 2003 thesis, University of Michigan student Greg Kozak studied the life-cycle assessment of paper books versus e-books. He found that a paper book created four times the greenhouse gas emissions of an e-book reader.
Print books needed three times more raw materials and 78 times more water consumption than e-books.
In another study out of the University of Berkeley, reading a newspaper electronically released 32-140 times less CO2 and used 27 times less water.
In the U. S., where e-reader sales have taken off, customers are able to download books, magazines and major daily newspapers such as USA Today. It's a future the newspaper industry is eyeing with careful suspicion -- online readership has already endangered the print format, putting thousands of traditional newspaper men and women out of work.
But French newspaper Les Echos has been offering its content on the e-reader iRex iLiad since 2007. Stories are delivered wirelessly and updated every hour. Cos t for the subscription and the unit is around $600 Cdn.
While newspaper subscription is not yet available on the only ebook in Canada, the Sony Reader Digital Book, company spokeswoman Candice Hayman said a major Canadian newspaper, which she declined to identify, recently expressed interest in the device.
The Sony reader launched last April in Canada and retails for $299. The cost of downloading books, however, is a fraction of its hardcopy edition, averaging about $10.
Meanwhile, Esquire published its 75th edition to much fanfare last October, the first magazine to use electronic ink on its cover. An animated cover flashed the words "The 21st Century Begins Now" on magazine stands, stealing the attention from the static images of its lifeless competitors.
"If we look at the publishing industry, the content is readable but not changeable," said E Ink spokesman Sriram Peruvemba from Cambridge, Mass.
"Electronic format is changeable but not readable. We tried to combine the two and get the best of both worlds."
For those still resistant to the idea, Toews points that the paperback novel was snubbed by the literary elite when it emerged in the 1930s. But it became popular during the war, allowing troops to carry them in their backpocket and is now a legitimate form of publishing.
"Paper's going to become more of a luxury," he said. "My daughter planted a sapling in school, but it will take 10 years for the sapling to grow. In the next 20 minutes you could change your reading behaviour, read an ebook and save a tree."
International Read an E-Book Week is March 8 to 14.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
government help
Do you need money to upgrade your home or business for yourself or the environment. Here is a useful list of sources of government money. If you wish we will help you with solutions .
Rebates and Incentives
Government of Canada's ecoENERGY Retrofit - Homes Program
Province of Ontario'sHome Energy Audit Rebate ProgramHome Energy Retrofit Program
Home Energy Retrofit Program
Ontario Power Authority'sCool Savings Rebate
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation'sMortgage Loan Insurance Rebate
Genworth Financial'sMortgage Loan Insurance Rebate
Rebates and Incentives
Government of Canada's ecoENERGY Retrofit - Homes Program
Province of Ontario'sHome Energy Audit Rebate ProgramHome Energy Retrofit Program
Home Energy Retrofit Program
Ontario Power Authority'sCool Savings Rebate
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation'sMortgage Loan Insurance Rebate
Genworth Financial'sMortgage Loan Insurance Rebate
government help
Rebates and Incentives
Government of Canada's ecoENERGY Retrofit - Homes Program
Province of Ontario'sHome Energy Audit Rebate ProgramHome Energy Retrofit Program
Home Energy Retrofit Program
Ontario Power Authority'sCool Savings Rebate
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation'sMortgage Loan Insurance Rebate
Genworth Financial'sMortgage Loan Insurance Rebate
Government of Canada's ecoENERGY Retrofit - Homes Program
Province of Ontario'sHome Energy Audit Rebate ProgramHome Energy Retrofit Program
Home Energy Retrofit Program
Ontario Power Authority'sCool Savings Rebate
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation'sMortgage Loan Insurance Rebate
Genworth Financial'sMortgage Loan Insurance Rebate
arabs-Go where the money is in energy
Oil rich Arabia investing in green future
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (UPI) -- Arabian countries that rely on dollars from oil are now pumping enormous sums into green energy research to stay ahead of the curve. "Abu Dhabi is an oil-exporting country, and we want to become an energy-exporting country and to do that we need to excel at the newer forms of energy," said Khaled Awad, director of a zero-carbon city rising in the Abu Dhabi desert. The second annual World Future Energy Summit, which starts Monday in Abu Dhabi, signals the region's intent to maintain its hold on energy production, The New York Times reported Tuesday. While grant money is tight elsewhere, King Abdulla University of Science and Technology awarded a Stanford University researcher $25 million in 2008 to find a way to reduce the cost of solar energy production. The university also gave a California researcher $8 million to develop environmentally-friendly concrete. Abu Dhabi's crown prince said in January he will invest $15 billion in green energy, the same amount President-elect Barack Obama proposed to kick start "a clean energy future" in the United States, the Times said. In developing future energy sources, Arabian countries have two advantages: Money from oil to fund projects and plenty of sunshine to research solar power, the Times said.
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (UPI) -- Arabian countries that rely on dollars from oil are now pumping enormous sums into green energy research to stay ahead of the curve. "Abu Dhabi is an oil-exporting country, and we want to become an energy-exporting country and to do that we need to excel at the newer forms of energy," said Khaled Awad, director of a zero-carbon city rising in the Abu Dhabi desert. The second annual World Future Energy Summit, which starts Monday in Abu Dhabi, signals the region's intent to maintain its hold on energy production, The New York Times reported Tuesday. While grant money is tight elsewhere, King Abdulla University of Science and Technology awarded a Stanford University researcher $25 million in 2008 to find a way to reduce the cost of solar energy production. The university also gave a California researcher $8 million to develop environmentally-friendly concrete. Abu Dhabi's crown prince said in January he will invest $15 billion in green energy, the same amount President-elect Barack Obama proposed to kick start "a clean energy future" in the United States, the Times said. In developing future energy sources, Arabian countries have two advantages: Money from oil to fund projects and plenty of sunshine to research solar power, the Times said.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Energy conservation becomes sexy
Energy independence How Nova Scotia could lead the way to a greener Canada.
By Joe Castaldo
Nova Scotia may not be among the worst Canadian offenders when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions on an absolute basis, but the province is taking a unique step toward improving its performance.
Last year Nova Scotia commissioned David Wheeler, dean of the Dalhousie University’s faculty of management, to determine the most appropriate way to promote and implement energy efficiency measures in the province. Mainly, Wheeler focused on “demand side management,” which involves helping customers use less electricity.
Wheeler consulted with some 40-odd stakeholders — consumers, government, and industry representatives — and concluded the best approach would be to create an independent agency at arm’s length from the government, as opposed to having an entirely government- or utility-led initiative, as is typically done in the rest of Canada and the U.S. The provincial government announced this month it would move ahead with Wheeler’s recommendation and set up the agency by the end of next year.
The proposed model in Nova Scotia carries a number of advantages, such as increased flexibility and accountability. The agency will have performance standards, and the administrators can be removed if those goals are not met. Governments, on the other hand, may lack the technical expertise, while utilities have historically done a poor job when it comes to encouraging customers to consume less energy, according to Wheeler’s report. (Utilities are in the business of selling electricity, of course.) One potential downside, however, is Wheeler believes the new organization could have high startup costs, however, and that those costs will be covered by the ratepayers themselves.
Wheeler recommends leaving open the option of transforming the organization into a “one-stop-shop” for all energy efficiency measures, not just demand-side management. Such an organization can have spin-off benefits, too, he told Nova Scotia’s Chronicle Herald, such as motivating engineering firms to develop new energy efficient processes and products.
By Joe Castaldo
Nova Scotia may not be among the worst Canadian offenders when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions on an absolute basis, but the province is taking a unique step toward improving its performance.
Last year Nova Scotia commissioned David Wheeler, dean of the Dalhousie University’s faculty of management, to determine the most appropriate way to promote and implement energy efficiency measures in the province. Mainly, Wheeler focused on “demand side management,” which involves helping customers use less electricity.
Wheeler consulted with some 40-odd stakeholders — consumers, government, and industry representatives — and concluded the best approach would be to create an independent agency at arm’s length from the government, as opposed to having an entirely government- or utility-led initiative, as is typically done in the rest of Canada and the U.S. The provincial government announced this month it would move ahead with Wheeler’s recommendation and set up the agency by the end of next year.
The proposed model in Nova Scotia carries a number of advantages, such as increased flexibility and accountability. The agency will have performance standards, and the administrators can be removed if those goals are not met. Governments, on the other hand, may lack the technical expertise, while utilities have historically done a poor job when it comes to encouraging customers to consume less energy, according to Wheeler’s report. (Utilities are in the business of selling electricity, of course.) One potential downside, however, is Wheeler believes the new organization could have high startup costs, however, and that those costs will be covered by the ratepayers themselves.
Wheeler recommends leaving open the option of transforming the organization into a “one-stop-shop” for all energy efficiency measures, not just demand-side management. Such an organization can have spin-off benefits, too, he told Nova Scotia’s Chronicle Herald, such as motivating engineering firms to develop new energy efficient processes and products.
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