NEWS : TECH (NFPC)

A Household of Wi-Fi Bulbs Controlled By Remote

In one of the older "Treehouse of Horror" episodes from The Simpsons, Pierce Brosnan voiced a murderous home automation system. Back then, the idea of home automation was practically a dream (or a nightmare) to average folks, but now it's becoming an attainable reality. This set of Wi-Fi-controlled lightbulbs from Greenwave Reality will give homeowners control over their home's entire lighting system with a remote control.

The wireless LED lighting kit consists of four 40-watt equivalent bulbs, a remote control and a gateway box that connects to any home router. They won't be readily available at your local home improvement store -- instead the company plans to sell the sets through utility and lighting companies for around $200, with each new bulb costing under $20.

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Each bulb has its own IP address and once installed, automatically pairs with the gateway. Once all of the bulbs are paired and the gateway is connected to the router, lighting in the home can be controlled through the remote, which will be able to control up to 500 bulbs at one time.

An app downloaded to a smartphone or tablet controls brightness, timers or a large section of lights. Controlling lights through your mobile device might just seem like a novelty but it does serve a purpose. Setting up schedules and timers for when the lights need to come on, or setting dimmers is pretty easy and provides the same piece of mind that persnickety timers do.

via Technology Review

Credit: Greenwave Reality

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Kinetic Charger Makes You a Power Source

Just the other day, I read yet another article about the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle. I was sitting while I read it. Don't judge. Obviously, being active is good for our health, but what if it was good for our gadget's battery life? A concept device from design studen Toby Blake uses movement to power up your phone.

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The Kinetic Charger is a colorful little clip-on that uses a technique called reverse electrowetting to turn mechanical movement into electricity. Essentially,a microfluidic device pushes nano-droplets of liquid through channels embedded in a thin film. The movement of the droplets through the film produces an electrical current. This same process was used in a pair of electricity-generating shoes we covered last year.

The charger can store up to 4 watts of generated energy. And when one device is connected to another, the charging capacity doubles. Phones and other electronic devices connect to the charger through a USB cable.

It's a tiny package, but it packs alot of tech. Too bad it's just a concept for now. Until then, put your charger on the other side of the room, at least that forces you to get up and walk.

Credit: Toby Blake

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Glowing Driveway Sparkles Like a Galaxy

I grew up in a semi-rural town, where people had long gravel driveways spanning the massive acreage up to their homes. These driveways were almost never well lit, and sometimes if you weren't paying attention, you would trample the grass and possibly end up in a ditch. A batch of photo luminescent stones mixed in with the gravel would come in handy on those nights.

That's what Core Glow pebbles are. The pebbles are made of an aggregate of synthetic materials (basically a mashup of a bunch of different elements), resin and a hint of photo luminescent pigments. When exposed to sunlight, the pigments in the stone perk up and get excited. As day turns into night, the rocks emit an afterglow. They naturally illuminate a driveway to create a sparkling pathway that requires absolutely no electricity.

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Because there are no wires and no bulbs needed for this source of light, these rocks, that seem better suited for an aquarium than a driveway, are completely carbon emission-free. The glow lasts for 10 to 20 hours and slowly fades as the charge wanes. The photo luminescent pigments on the rocks have been engineered to be waterproof, so even if a nighttime shower pops up, driveways will still be easy to find.

Completely necessary? No. Cool and extremely helpful in an area otherwise hard to light? Yes. Also, great conversation starter for out-of-town visitors.

Credit: COREglow

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Solar Panels Light Up the NFL

 

The next time you sit down to watch a NY Jets home game, take a minute during those overhead shots to look at the MetLife Stadium's ring of colorful lights. Those are solar panels, part of a renewable energy push from the NFL to make stadiums more energy efficient.

The 1,350 panels change colors from green to blue, depending on who is playing. The panels aren't just for looks, though. They generate 350,000 kilowatt hours of power, about 10 percent of what the stadium needs on a typical game day, and 25 times the electricity needed to power the LED lights that illuminate the stadium.

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According to National Geographic, the power sector-focused company NRG Energy is responsible for this effort and many other renewable energy projects in sports. This includes a solar canopy still under construction at the New England Patriots' sports complex called Patriot Place and the 8,000-panel project in the parking area of the Redskins' FedEx Field in Maryland.

David Crane, CEO of NRG Energy, told National Geographic that projects like these are a good way to bring attention to sustainable efforts and building fan's team pride. He said that he understood fans weren't going to football games to look at rooves, but that when they do see the panels “fans will look at them and say, ‘my team is doing the right thing.’ It’s really about raising awareness with the fan base.”

via National Geographic

Credit: NRG

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Solar Charger Built For Occupiers

While not officially a part of the New York City Occupy protests, Tommy Mitchell did feel the need to contribute when he saw protestors charging their phones at a gas-guzzling hot dog vendor’s generator. Mitchell built a solar-powered cellphone charging station that can accommodate up to eight phones at a time.

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He told the New York Times he thought charging that way was “awful” and decided to invent something that would use natural energy in a public space without electrical outlets. After doing some research and buying parts on Amazon, Mitchell brought his station to the park and offered it up to Occupiers for free. Other stations in the area rely on electricity and charge a fee for use. He hopes that eventually, park officials will take notice and offer to buy or lease his invention for public use.

via New York Times Green Blog

Photo: The materials Mitchell used to build the charger, not the final product. Credit: Tommy Mitchell 

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Just How Much Energy Do You Consume?

 

 

Would knowing just how much energy you use in a day change the way you live? The creators of Leafully, Nathan Jhaveri and Tim Edgar seem to think so, and so does the U.S. Department of Energy. The Seattle start up won the federal agency’s “Apps for Energy” contest this week with their app.

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The application monitors home energy use by accessing information from a user’s utility provider. The homepage shows a person's estimated carbon footprint (indicated by the number of trees it would take to offset the carbon footprint), where the energy use is coming front and what can be done to lower that usage. Carbon emissions from vehicles are also included in the footprint using national averages, but can be modified according to a person's specific use.

One interesting chart shows the amount of “sleeping energy” a home uses. Sleeping energy is the amount of electricity appliances use when they're plugged in, but not necessarily being used. For example, a printer draws energy from an outlet when it's plugged in, even when it's not printing.

The goal is to provide an incentive for people to change their consumption habits or buy higher efficiency appliances whose initial costs may be higher, but even out after a few years.

Check out the demo video below, and if you think this is a good idea vote for it (or others) at the Apps For Energy website.

 

 

via GeekWire

Credit: Leafully

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Wristband Lets You Control Office Temperature

I had an old office mate who loved to crank up the heat whenever I went on lunch break. I'd return to find the office as hot as a Lakota sweat lodge. If only I had had WristQue, I could have just tapped a button on my wristband to adjust the temperature to a less-sweltering level.

WristQue is a project from a group of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who are creating a low-power wristband equipped with sensors that monitors how comfortable wearers feel to adjust temperature and lighting.

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Each plastic wristband will be 3D-printed and have a microprocessor containing environmental sensors to detect fluctuations in temperature, humidity and light. The wristband will also be embedded with a chip that will be able to detect a user's location to communicate with the 'smart building' via wide band radio signals.

WristQue will only have three buttons. Two will let users indicate that they are too hot or too cold. A third will trigger gesture controls and allow users to interact with nearby devices such as televisions or computers.

Joe Paradiso, director of the Responsive Environments Group at MIT's Media Lab told New Scientist that he envisions WristQue as a key element in controlling "the immersive world of interactive media that will one day surround us."

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Paradiso's group has designed and tested their system in the Media Lab building where they found the system is also an energy saver. Using motion sensor data, WristQue system software was able to predict when rooms would be occupied so that temperature and lighting levels could be adjusted accordingly. After a three-week trial run, researchers saw a 24 percent drop in energy usage.  

[Via New Scientist]

Credit: ColorBlind Images/Blend Images/Corbis

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Kick This Charger To Kill Energy Vampires

Mushroom GreenZero: $25 - $30

When a device is plugged in and has finished charging, it usually goes to standby mode. Unfortunately for your electric bill, it still draws a small amount of power from the outlet. The so-called “electrical energy vampire” is the bane of any environmentalist's existence. Several devices work to combat “vampire power.” But the Mushroom GreenZero  promises to give you a little more of a “kick” when it's time to charge. When plugged into a device and a power source, the Mushroom starts charging when it's tapped by hand or toe.

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When the gadget is fully charged, the Mushroom will automatically shut off and go into standby mode consuming zero energy. It’s compact with a cable reel and comes in three models for USB-connected devices (tablets, cameras), embedded microUSB cable and a 30-pin model compatible with Apple devices.

For those who own several devices in need of charging, the Mushroom may not be ideal, since it only works with one device at a time. Most chargers now have “trickle mode,” this is the mode where chargers trickle a small amount of power to devices once they're full to prevent the battery from naturally losing its charge. The cost for the Mushroom per device may exceed the cost that just letting trickle mode happen.

It’s a cute plugin that would make for a good travel or work charger, but don’t expect to see it used for daily overnight charging. 

Via: OhGizmo!

Credit: Bracketron 

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Go Fly A Kite For A Better Wind Farm

Why tap a trickle, if you could tap a torrent? That's the idea behind Italian company KiteGen's new system for harvesting strong-blowing, high-altitude winds. Their system would fly tethered kites 2,624 feet into the air where they would harness winds that are, on average, six miles per hour faster than wind harnessed by stationary turbines on the ground. The kites would attach to mechanical arms and be flown over a predetermined flight path to maximize torque while taking advantage of stronger wind.

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According to KiteGen's calculations, the technology could help lower energy costs to between $0.02 and $0.05 per kilowatt hour (kWh), compared to $0.05 and $0.09 per kWh for fossil fuel and $0.15 per kWh for current wind turbines.

On top of potentially being more efficient than wind turbines, the system would take up less space than convential wind farms. A 1,000 megawatt (MW) wind farm can cover up to 186 square miles, while KiteGen's says their system would take up as little as 3.5 square miles for the same output.

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While KiteGen's system is still in the development stage, the company is attempting to fund the first full-sized model with plans for an off-shore system also in the works.

 [Via GizMag]

Credit: KiteGen

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Wind Turbine Explodes Into Flames

Nothing is more emblematic of clean, renewable energy than the soothing blades of a wind turbine placidly turning in the breeze. Whenever I encounter a wind farm, I'm instantly calmed, dare I say hypnotized, by the tranquility.

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So when one of these gentle green giants catches fire, like it did in the above photo, the image is jarring to say the least. Most jarring is that this seems to happen more than you might think.

Most recently this happened in Androssan, North Ayrshire, Scotland, an area recently hammered by winds up to 160 mph, compliments of a beastly Atlantic storm that clobbered northern parts of the U.K. early this week.

As you can see from this photo, the turbine exploded, spewing large pieces of flaming material on the ground below.

The windfarm's operator, Infinis of Edinburgh, said the cause of the fire is not yet known and that the incident is under investigation.

It's not entirely clear what went wrong (normally wind turbines shut down when winds reach 55 mile per hour), so the investigation will likely focus on that mechanism and possibly the gearbox, which controls rotor speed.

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"As a standard precautionary measure, all Infinis staff vacate wind farms when wind speeds exceed 55 mph and therefore no one was present on site at the time of the incident," Infinis explained in a press release.

As well, the site has been disconnected from the electricity grid until further notice.

[Via NewScientist]

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