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2010.11.02 10:12:22 AM
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Re: Google綠能投資 首購風力發電廠
Cyomo Electric Bike(E-Bike) boasts fold-in solar panels that juice it up In the future, driving to work or the grocery store across the neighborhood probably won’t be such a gas-guzzling affair. That maybe because there’s a better alternative than driving down there time and again. You could simply use an electric bike. Now we’ve seen a bunch of these concepts that need to be plugged into the grid to charge up. Designer Raymond Bessemer however came up with the Cyomo Electric Bike, a contraption on two wheels that powers up with energy from the sun. Parking this bike in a sunny place charges it up, owing to the fact that it’s loaded with solar cells. These solar panels are foldable and fold in vertically when you need to hop on to the Cyomo.
A better alternative to plugging in every time you run out of juice, the innovative and cleverly designed Cyomo Electric Bike with its sweet solar panels sure seems the best way to urban travel!
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2010.11.02 10:15:31 AM
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Re: Google綠能投資 首購風力發電廠
“Re-Energy” Bike Concept: Bicycling Generates and Stores Portable Source of Energy
Even the world is reading reams on perils of climate change and sky-rocketing figures of pollution, the common man is doing little to show his sensitivity towards these things. Non-profits and governmental organizations across the world are either imposing penalties or giving rewards to make people adhere to green standards. Too bad man has to be induced with incentives to work towards his own well being. Here is green gadget concept that rewards the user for choosing cycle as means of transport. The ‘Re;Energy’ concept by Jin Sik Kim and Bo Sung Seo from Korea is a bike designed to generate usable energy as its front wheel is pedaled by the user.
This conceptual bike can be dubbed as a mini generator of energy as when the wheels are pedaled, the rotational energy gets stashed up in front wheel which would have a socket to plug in small electrical devices. This makes me imagine a scenario where in say your cellphone or laptop suddenly goes ‘out-of-battery’ on you and you might go bicycling for like 2 3 kilometers just to generate enough power to juice up your gadgetry.
I think the gadget concept is pretty neat. It serves the purpose on encouraging people to go bicycling for short distances and in turn power their small electrical devices just anywhere.
Wireless keyboards are incredibly convenient when it comes to tapping away free of constricting USB cables -- until their batteries go dead. But a new solar-powered keyboard from Logitech promises to keep you typing long after traditional batteries have run out.
Available this month for $80, Logitech's K750 Wireless Solar Keyboard looks pretty much like your standard-issue keyboard. It is jet black; boasts a full complement of concave QWERTY keys, numeric keypad and function buttons; and measures just a third of an inch thick.
Look closer, though, and you'll see twin solar panels flanking the Logitech logo above the main keypad. The panels soak up light from the sun and even indoor light, according to Logitech—meaning, theoretically, that the keyboard could work indefinitely in a well-lit office.
Logitech stopped short of claiming that the K750 will keep you typing forever given enough light, but it did say that the fully charged keyboard will work up to three months in complete darkness. (Cool. But I can't imagine there'd be too many people willing to test that particular specification.)
You'll be able to keep track of the keyboard's charge with help from an integrated light, and a downloadable desktop app will tell you if there's enough ambient light to keep the keyboard powered up.
But Bluetooth fans will be disappointed to learn that the K750 connects to your desktop or laptop using a USB dongle over a 2.4GHz RF connection—so no, you won't be able to type on your iPhone with this solar keyboard. Bummer.
At least you'll be able to type away secure in the knowledge that your keystrokes are protected by 128-bit AES encryption.
Another potential downside: The minimum requirements for the K750 listed on Logitech's website list only Windows XP, Vista and 7—no Mac. I've got a query in to Logitech for clarification, and will update this post when I hear back. Update: The keyboard and its RF-enabled dongle will work on Macs, a Logitech spokesperson tells me; however, there's still no word on whether there will be a Mac OS version of the keyboard desktop app.
Still, I like the overall concept of the K750. Now all we need is a solar-powered mouse to go with it.
It is very rare that I use the title of the project as the title of the post, but this one is just too magically perfect not to do that. This project goes by the incredibly long name “Supersonic Stick on the Wrist for Blind People” and it rocks. It uses “supersonic signals” aka sonar to both send out signals and receive them when they bounce back, giving then warning to the user of oncoming danger through sounds and vibrations.
The beauty in this project lies in the simplicity. Think first of being able to see everything around you. Then think about not being able to see anything. Then think about how wonderful it would be to have an object so simple it can fit in your hand give you another sense to replace the one you lost. Not quite as good as eyes, but it’s certainly something.
Dentsu Facility Management Inc will start taking orders for the "Chef's Farm," a small vegetable plant that can be installed in, for example, a restaurant, in June 2010.
The vegetable plant, which will be released in the summer of 2010 in Japan, was exhibited at International Food Machinery & Technology Exhibition 2010 (FOOMA JAPAN 2010), which took place from June 8 to 11, 2010, in Tokyo. It is priced at about ¥8.3 million (approx US$90,552). Dentsu Facility Management claims that it is possible to harvest 60 heads of lettuce per day (20,000 per year) and recoup the investment in about five years.
The Chef's Farm comes with five nutriculture beds, each of which is 2,750mm in width and 1,270mm in depth. Each bed is installed with long and thin metal frames on which lettuce seeds can be planted in sponges (one piece of sponge for a seed).
The metal frames are moved from right to left by inches as the vegetables grow. Seeds are planted in the rightmost frame, and grown vegetables are harvested from the leftmost frame.
Though the metal frames have to be manually moved, they can be moved at the same time by using a chained mechanism. It takes about an hour to harvest 60 heads of lettuce, move the frames and plant seeds, Dentsu Facility Management said.
As lighting equipment, 12 40W fluorescent lamps are installed for each nutriculture bed. The lighting equipment, culture solution and temperature can be controlled for each bed. Therefore, five different vegetables can be cultivated by using the five beds.
The size of the Chef's Farm is 3,940 (W) x 1,460 (D) x 2,330mm (H) including the air shower unit. The cultivation space can be slid forward to make a space behind the nutriculture beds.
You’ve got to be living on Mars if you aren’t aware of the development of ‘The World’ in our existing world. Coming up in Dubai, it is a man-made archipelago of 300 islands constructed in the shape of a world map and located 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) off the coast. Since access to all these islands from the coast and also amongst themselves is only by water, Dennis Ingemansson has an ultra luxurious yet absolutely eco-friendly concept for such a marine transportation. Controlled by a satellite navigation system, this driverless sea limousine seems to be the best mode of conveyance over the blue channels. Powered by sun’s energy, it comes with solar cells integrated in the window skin. Moving forward with a hover craft, it doesn’t fail to deliver a new dimension of discrete sea limousine in terms of luxury yacht design.
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2010.11.08 10:46:13 AM
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Re: Google綠能投資 首購風力發電廠
Concept Car – Hybrid concept car aims to be low on emissions
Eco Factor: Concept car designed to get powered by solar energy and atmospheric CO2.
With none denying the fact that cars of the future will have to repair some of the pollution that the cars of the past produced, Argentine industrial designer Leonardo Achilli proposes a concept car that allows one to foresee how automobiles will run after 15 years or so. His concept car, dubbed as O2, will rely on solar energy and carbon dioxide in the air to offer a green commute.
An energy-harvesting solar roof will produce sufficient thrust to keep the vehicle moving. The concept vehicle will generate hydrocarbons – its energy source – and will ooze oxygen into the environment. And design-wise, it’s as elegant as the HUMMER 02 concept was with its phototropic body shell.
This French gym is so bizarre looking, it might compel you to do a few laps out of curiosity. But it's also highly functional—enormous windows provide lighting during the day, with a solar panels juicing bulbs at night.
The attractive compound, designed by French architect Jean Marc Rivet, also features a rooftop garden, and interiors that are almost as attractive (if not as outright strange) as what's outside. [designboom]