Port of Long Beach Retrofitting Old Tugboats
After debuting the world’s first hybrid tugboat in 2009 , the Port of Long Beach is partnering again with Foss Maritime Company to retrofit an existing tugboat with hybrid technology. The ship called the Campbell Foss is a conventional dolphin tugboat assisting ships in the San Pedro Bay. It will be fitted with motor generators, batteries and control systems by Foss at one of their shipyards. The retrofit should cut 1,340 tons of CO2 emissions and save 100,000 gallons of fuel per year. Foss and the Port plan to introduce more hybrid tugs over the coming years and see more retrofits in the future.
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Port of Long Beach Retrofitting Old Tugboats
Stanford researchers develop high-speed, low-cost filter
Eco Factor: High-speed filter purify water using electrified nanostructures. Our developing world is facing some serious diseases like cholera, typhoid and hepatitis, thanks to the dirty, unsafe water. In an attempt to provide a solution, researchers at Stanford University have developed a new high-speed, low-cost filter by simply dipping plain cotton cloth in a high-tech broth full of silver nanowires and carbon nanotubes, which could easily be implemented to purify water.
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Stanford researchers develop high-speed, low-cost filter
Color Filter Could Boost LCD Efficiency by 400%
Researchers at the University of Michigan have created a color filter that could boost the efficiency of LCDs, the power hog of all your gadgets, by more than 400 percent, and no, I didn’t add an extra zero there. The researchers made an optical film that colors and polarizes the light that passes through an LCD, taking the place of the several layers of optical devices that typically serve the same function in an LCD. Those multiple layers give rise to inefficiencies: the best LCDs out today only emit eight percent of the light their backlights produce.
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Color Filter Could Boost LCD Efficiency by 400%
Lithium-Ion Battery Prices Set to Drop
It looks like supply and demand is working out in the consumers’ favor when it comes to lithium-ion batteries. Production has been ramping up for the batteries as more electric cars go into production and that has led to an oversupply that may just keep piling up. Analysts are predicting a price drop of between 19 and 25 percent by the end of the year — a slash that could also spell cheaper electric cars in the very near future.
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Lithium-Ion Battery Prices Set to Drop
Schletter unveils P.CHARGE EV charging stations at ENTECH 2010
Eco Factor: Weather-proof charging stations for electric vehicles. Schletter has unveiled the P.CHARGE charging stations for electric vehicles at the ENTECH 2010 in Korea
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Schletter unveils P.CHARGE EV charging stations at ENTECH 2010
Global Solar intros flexible photovoltaic modules for rooftop installation
Eco Factor: Flexible solar modules require no racks. Installing racking systems to hold heavy polycrystalline silicon panels on a rooftop might just become obsolete with Global Solar ’s PowerFlex BIPV modules. The flexible solar modules can be glued onto the surface of a roof to generate renewable electricity.
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Global Solar intros flexible photovoltaic modules for rooftop installation
Coast Guard Implementing Net Zero Housing
The U.S.
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Coast Guard Implementing Net Zero Housing
EPA’s New Fuel Economy Labels Open For Public Comment
The US Environmental Protection Agency has released its new vehicle fuel economy labels which are proposed to replace the current vehicle labels starting with the 2012 model year. The new labels provide consumers with additional information and a comparative ranking for new cars, with a comparison bar (not unlike what is now provided on appliances like refrigerators and clothes dryers) showing where the particular vehicle falls along the line from best to worst in fuel efficiency, greenhouse gasses, and other pollutants. Two alternative forms of labels (plus a third option which is not proposed for use at this time) are now open for public comment .
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EPA’s New Fuel Economy Labels Open For Public Comment
Does the Nissan LEAF Have an Achilles Heel?
Starting tomorrow, you can officially order a Nissan LEAF , and I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone that we’ve been pretty excited about this vehicle. It will be the first mass-produced all-electric car on the market and, with federal and state incentives included, it will also be affordable. But I’m getting a bit nervous as well. As we’ve mentioned before , this crowning of the LEAF as the inaugural mass market electric vehicle is both a blessing and a curse for Nissan and those of us who strongly support electric cars. The LEAF will enjoy a bit of fame, but a lot of pressure rests on its wheels to prove that electric cars can easily take the place of their gas-fueled counterparts. And there’s one particular feature that may hold it back.
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Does the Nissan LEAF Have an Achilles Heel?
NEC plans to make cellphones from cashew nut shells
Eco Factor: Cellphones made from new form of bio-plastic. NEC has announced the development of a new kind of bio-plastic that can be used to make mobile phones. The bio-plastic is 70 percent cellulose and cardanol, a primary component of cashew nut shells.
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NEC plans to make cellphones from cashew nut shells