Apple updates site with environmental impact

Friendly Computers loves that Apple has decided to make its company more green-friendly by providing information about the environmental impact of its products. Read more below…

Apple on Thursday updated its Web site with a new section on how its products are impacting the environment.

Apple has made public information in several categories including Life Cycle Impact, Product Usage Impact, and Product Environmental Reports. The company also created a section dedicated to its own environmental updates.

Taking a look at the power management section will give you an idea of how extensive the information is that Apple provided. According to Apple, Mac OS X even regulates the processor in between keystrokes, saving power.

"Designing green products includes considering the environmental impact of the materials used to make them," reads Apple's Web site. "From the glass, plastic, and metal in our products to the paper and ink in our packaging, our goal is to continue leading the industry in reducing or eliminating environmentally harmful substances."

To show how things like packaging can affect the environment, Apple compares the 2006 13-inch MacBook to that of the 2009 13-inch MacBook Pro. The end result: "By reducing our packaging over 40 percent between 2006 and 2009, we ship 50 percent more boxes in each airline shipping container. That saves one 747 flight for every 32,000 units we ship," according to Apple.

The Web site features a lot more information including emissions per hour of product use, recycling efforts, and what the company has done to reduce energy in its facilities.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10361282-37.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Inhabitat Colored Solar Panels Don’t Need Direct Sunlight

Friendly Computers stumbled upon information about new solar panels that are as technologically advanced as they are pretty. Read more below…

With normal solar cells, you need direct sunlight for them to generate power, and if the panels are at all shaded the efficiency drops significantly. A new type of solar cell, being developed in Jerusalem, is making huge waves because it can generate power from diffuse light using a specialized colored panel. They look a bit like colored plexi-glass but are actually panes made with fluorescent dyes and nanoparticle metals, and could possibly eclipse traditional solar panels in terms of price.

The smarter panel is being developed by GreenSun Energy, a Tel Aviv-based energy start-up. The new solar panels also use 80% less silicon than traditional solar cells. As the direct or indirect sunlight hits the panels, it diffuses across and the nanoparticles of metal direct and concentrate the sunlight to the edges where the silicon is.

So far, GreenSun has achieved a 12% efficiency rate with their panels and can produce them for $2.10/W compared to around $4.54/W for a conventional panel. They can achieve such lower costs because they use so much less silicon. Also in normal cells, there is some efficiency loss due to heat, which cannot be converted into energy. With GreenSun’s panels, the sunlight is diffused over the whole panel and the nanoparticles deliver light at the right energy to the edges where it can be converted, which means less efficiency loss due to heat.

GreenSun is still working hard on making their panels more efficient – 12% is good, but it’s not great compared to the world’s most efficient solar cell at 43%. They hope to achieve an efficiency of 20% and reduce the cost even further to $0.94/W. For those with aesthetic interests in the look of solar cells, these might be right up your alley. Imagine all the amazing designs that could be created from colored panels on the sides and tops of buildings.

Source: http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/09/18/colored-solar-panels-dont-need-direct-sunlight/

Panasonic: New LED bulbs shine for 19 years

Friendly Computers found some new light bulbs by Panasonic that last 19 years! Combined with the fact that LED lights use much less energy than regular incandescent bulbs, these light bulbs cut energy use by quite a bit. Read more below…

Panasonic has launched a new household LED lightbulb in Japan that it says lasts 40 times longer than incandescent bulbs.

The screw-in bulbs are part of the EverLed line, and they're scheduled to hit stores in Japan on October 21, with monthly production at 50,000 units. No changes to lighting equipment used for incandescents are required.

If used an average of five and a half hours per day, the new bulbs can last up to 19 years, according to Panasonic. That's 40 times longer than incandescent bulbs.

The bulbs use only an eighth the power of incandescents. That means a 60-watt-equivalent LED bulb would cost only 300 yen (about $3) a year instead of 2,380 yen ($25.80)--a significant savings over a lifetime.

Panasonic hasn't set a price for the new EverLeds, but Nikkei suggests standard versions will cost about 4,000 yen (about $40).

LED bulbs aren't new. Their relatively high cost is one factor keeping them from gaining popularity, but in Japan at least, Panasonic represents about 50 percent of the domestic bulb market. That means EverLeds should raise the LED profile there considerably.

Panasonic is also doing market research to launch EverLeds in the U.S., Europe, and Southeast Asia.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10350053-1.html

Say no to the supersized TV, EPA hints

The EPA is going to be setting stricter standards for its Energy Star ratings for televisions, starting in May 2010. Friendly Computers thinks this is a great idea and could help reduce the amount of energy we use. Read more below…

How big is too big when it comes to TV screen size? How much energy does the U.S. gobble up watching television?

If you ask the Environmental Protection Agency, the answers would be (a) anything over 50 inches and (b) about 4 percent of all household electricity.

"There are about 275 million TVs currently in use in the U.S., consuming over 50 billion kWh of energy each year - or 4 percent of all households' electricity use. This is enough electricity to power all the homes in the state of New York for an entire year," according to the Energy Star program, a joint effort of the EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Energy Star, which sets the standard for energy efficiency ratings on consumer products, says that televisions will have to become more efficient in order to earn its coveted sticker.

For their products to qualify, television manufacturers will have to meet a new standard by May 2010 and an even stricter standard by May 2012.

The version 4.0 Energy Star sticker, the standard set for May 2010, will require 40 percent greater efficiency, while the version 5.0 sticker will require 65 percent more efficiency than a TV sold today.

Generally, the new requirements put restrictions on the amount of power a TV can consume when it's in use ("on" mode), and when it's figuratively off but downloading programming information (DAM, or download acquisition mode).

The agency has also taken a stand on what it sees as responsible consumerism with regard to energy and the environment.

"EPA has decided to proceed with a requirement that TVs greater than 50 inches in size meet the same On Mode requirements as a screen of 50 inches - 108 watts," Katharine Kaplan, the spokeswoman for the EPA's Energy Star program, said in her cover letter (PDF) to the version 4.0 and 5.0 technical specifications for manufacturers.

By comparison, past CNET reviews have found that in viewing mode the 52-inch Sony Bravia KDL-52XBR7 consumes 161.11 watts and the 52-inch Sharp Aquos LC-52D65 consumes 121.6 watts.)

Through this new policy, Kaplan and the agency have essentially said that anyone who feels the need to buy a television bigger than 50 inches is being a tad gluttonous. As an agency dedicated to energy savings, it's not going to condone that behavior with a feel-good sticker no matter how comparatively efficient the TV may be for its size.

"The issue in this case is what TV sizes can the federal government credibly designate as preferable from an energy and environmental perspective. This has become an important issue as the sizes of TVs and energy use continue to grow," Kaplan said in her letter.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10347497-54.html

Mitsubishi, IHI to Join $21 Bln Space Solar Project

It looks like Japan is taking solar power to the next level with a project to put a power plant in space and beam electricity back to earth. Friendly Computers thinks this revolutionary idea could be just what we need to break our dependence on fossil fuels, which harm the environment. Read more below…

Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and IHI Corp. will join a 2 trillion yen ($21 billion) Japanese project intending to build a giant solar-power generator in space within three decades and beam electricity to earth.

A research group representing 16 companies, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., will spend four years developing technology to send electricity without cables in the form of microwaves, according to a statement on the trade ministry’s Web site today.

“It sounds like a science-fiction cartoon, but solar power generation in space may be a significant alternative energy source in the century ahead as fossil fuel disappears,” said Kensuke Kanekiyo, managing director of the Institute of Energy Economics, a government research body.

Japan is developing the technology for the 1-gigawatt solar station, fitted with four square kilometers of solar panels, and hopes to have it running in three decades, according to a 15- page background document prepared by the trade ministry in August. Being in space it will generate power from the sun regardless of weather conditions, unlike earth-based solar generators, according to the document. One gigawatt is enough to supply about 294,000 average Tokyo homes.

Takashi Imai, a spokesman for the Institute of Unmanned Space Experiment Free Flyer, which represents the 16 companies, confirmed the selection when reached by phone in Tokyo.

Mitsubishi Electric gained 0.1 percent to 693 yen at the morning break in Tokyo trading, while IHI fell 0.5 percent to 189 yen and Mitsubishi Heavy slipped 0.3 percent to 384 yen. The benchmark Topix index rose 0.3 percent.

Far, Far Away

Transporting panels to the solar station 36,000 kilometers above the earth’s surface will be prohibitively costly, so Japan has to figure out a way to slash expenses to make the solar station commercially viable, said Hiroshi Yoshida, Chief Executive Officer of Excalibur KK, a Tokyo-based space and defense-policy consulting company.

“These expenses need to be lowered to a hundredth of current estimates,” Yoshida said by phone from Tokyo.

The project to generate electricity in space and transmit it to earth may cost at least 2 trillion yen, said Koji Umehara, deputy director of space development and utilization at the science ministry. Launching a single rocket costs about 10 billion yen, he said.

“Humankind will some day need this technology, but it will take a long time before we use it,” Yoshida said.

The trade ministry and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which are leading the project, plan to launch a small satellite fitted with solar panels in 2015, and test beaming the electricity from space through the ionosphere, the outermost layer of the earth’s atmosphere, according to the trade ministry document. The government hopes to have the solar station fully operational in the 2030s, it said.

In the U.S., the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the energy department have spent $80 million over three decades in sporadic efforts to study solar generation in space, according to a 2007 report by the U.S. National Security Space Office.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aJ529lsdk9HI