GlassPoint Greenhouse Uses Sun To Pump More Oil

GlassPoint's glass buildings are about 20 feet high and have mirrors inside which makes steam.(Credit: GlassPoint)

 

In a meeting of solar energy and oil and gas drilling, California start-up GlassPoint yesterday hosted the ribbon-cutting of an oil field partially run by solar-generated steam.

The company claims it's the only operation that uses solar power for enhanced oil recovery, where steam is pumped into wells to draw more oil from existing wells. The commissioning was in Kern County, California and construction of the facility took six weeks.

Right now, oil fields use natural gas steam generators whereas GlassPoint's system uses a series of mirrors in a greenhouse to generate heat. The mirrors reflect the light onto tubes carrying water, which turn into steam.

Solar generators for enhanced oil recovery were tried in the 1980s. GlassPoint says that it has driven down the cost to the point where oil drillers will use the technology for economic, not environmental, reasons.

With lower-cost options for making steam, oil drillers can get more from existing facilities rather than start new ones, GlassPoint CEO Rod MacGregor said yesterday, according to a report in the Bakersfield Californian. "If you move the economics, you can extract more oil," he said.

One of the company's executives is John O'Donnell, who was founder and former president of solar thermal company Ausra, which was acquired by energy company Areva. Concentrating solar power companies typically use mirrors to generate heat for making steam. To make electricity, that steam is passed through a turbine, but the steam has other industrial uses.

In a similar test, BrightSource Energy has been contracted by investor Chevron to build a solar thermal array to test the effectiveness in replacing natural gas for making steam.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20036475-54.html#ixzz1FHv2ARKA

Rolls-Royce Develops Its First Electric Vehicle

Luxury carmaker Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, a unit of German auto giant BMW, said over the weekend that it had developed a fully electric-powered car, but did not say when the model would enter production.

Rolls-Royce said the prototype, dubbed the 102EX and based on its top-end "Phantom" model, will be put through various tests during 2011.

The normal Phantom is powered by a 6.75 liter 12-cylinder engine, at least three to four times the size of the engine on a typical family sedan, and gets about 14 mpg.

Rolls-Royce said it will display the prototype at the Geneva Motor Show on March 1, but said there are no immediate plans to develop a production version.

Rolls-Royce says that the 102EX is "a one-off, fully electric powered Phantom," which it plans to show off at the Geneva Motor Show next week.

(Credit: Rolls Royce)

Story Copyright (c) 2010 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20034772-54.html#ixzz1Ej7p1Ave

Cisco Ties Knot With Control4 For Smart Home

Control4's Energy Management System (EMS) 100 will be used by Cisco in smart-grid deals.

(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET)

Cisco Systems has invested in Control4 and intends to use Control4's home automation software in large deals with utilities and cities.

The deal, announced today, calls for Cisco to sell Control4 products, such as its home energy management dashboard, under the Cisco brand and to create closer ties between the two companies' products. Cisco invested an undisclosed amount but was the lead investor in a recent round of private funding in Salt Lake City-based Control4.

Control4's software is like an operating system for connected devices in a home, including consumer electronics, home appliances, lights, and thermostats, said company CEO Will West. Having access to Cisco's sales force and relationships with cities and utilities will accelerate the move to the connected home and home automation, he said.

High-end home media systems use Control4's software and touch-screen controllers to, for example, stream video and audio to different rooms. Its home energy management system, a small dashboard device tied to a utility meter, has been picked by some utilities as part of smart-grid programs.

Cisco intends to tie Control4's software to its consumer products, such as its home networking gear, consumer videoconferencing, and voice over IP phones, said Paul Fulton, vice president and general manager of Cisco's prosumer business unit. Cisco also has an Internet-based development platform for writing applications for these connected devices.

The goal is to have a full suite of products when selling home automation to utilities, helping consumers to improve efficiency by controlling and monitoring energy use. It also ties into Cisco's "smart and connected communities" strategy for urban development through which cities invest in a modern technology infrastructure, including broadband access and connected devices.

Cisco already has its own home energy management system, similar to Control 4's Energy Management System 100. Fulton said that Cisco's product, which costs more, will continue to be offered to utilities. The deal between the two companies is not exclusive.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20031954-54.html#ixzz1EAJCTCwE

PowerTrekk Charges Phone With Water, Hydrogen

(Credit: PowerTrekk)

With the increasing number of tech gadgets we carry around, even on hiking trips, having a reliable power source is a serious consideration. While solar-powered battery packs have been around for a while, the reliance on a consistent sunlight source is a big concern in some regions.

The pocket-size PowerTrekk Fuel Cell charger out of Sweden offers two solutions to the personal energy crisis. Besides an internal battery pack that can be charged from the mains, the device also utilizes disposable fuel cell packs. The device splits water to create hydrogen that goes through the fuel cell to create an electric current, which can be used to either power up USB-connected devices or charge the internal battery pack.

The PowerTrekk is being demonstrated at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. While it's one of the first hydrogen fuel packs for phones and mobile devices to hit the market, others, like Horizon's HydroFill, operate on a similar principle.

Details on pricing and availability for the PowerTrekk are not provided at this time, as the company is still sourcing for distributors. In the meantime, see how the PowerTrekk works in the video below.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20031841-1.html#ixzz1Dyei4o9C

E-waste Recycler Goes High-Tech To Boost Volume

Tons of electronics will be transformed back into raw materials using a highly automated series of electronic machines in a new facility in Ontario, Canada.

Sims Recycling Solutions flipped the switch on an e-waste recycling and refurbishing operation yesterday in Mississauga outside Toronto, which converts all incoming material. The facility will be able to treat and resell 75,000 metric tons of e-waste annually, including CRT monitors, TVs, PCs, and other electronics gadgets, such as digital music players and mobile phones.

In the U.S., electronic waste is a fast-growing source of waste. In 2007, about 18 percent of TVs and PCs were recycled, and about 10 percent of cell phones were, according to the EPA.

The Sims operation will rely on a number of techniques to automatically separate and collect plastics, glass, and metals from the incoming stream of e-waste. Using belts, optical sensors, and metal-separation machines is already done for single-stream household recycling, but Sims is using this technology, rather than manual sorting, to handle e-waste.

Sims made the investment in anticipation of higher e-waste recycling rates due to mandates from Ontario and other Canadian provinces, said Cindy Couts, president of Sims Recycling Solutions. In Ontario, there is a fee on electronics at the time of purchase which is used to fund recycling programs, she explained.

"Without that eco-fee and the collection of funds, then there isn't enough economics in the program to drive higher rates of recycling," Couts said. The first year of the program fell far short of its target but now after some changes were made, Sims expects more significant uptake and a profitable operation.

X-Rays and optical scanners
The Mississauga center is built around a series of processes to shred and then separate different materials, even capturing the dust that's created from the shredding process for recycling.

After shredding, waste goes to through a shaking hopper to spread goods out evenly on conveyor belts. A magnet sorts out ferrous metals and then transparency sensors pick out glass from plastics. There's a step with an X-ray machine to differentiate glass from glass with lead, which is used in old CRT monitors.

Optical sorters, which can be calibrated for size, color, and density, identify different materials, such as printed circuit boards. To take out non-ferrous metals, there's a machine with an eddy current--a rapidly alternating magnetic field--which sends materials into a separate bin while the rest falls onto another belt.

Toxic material is sorted out beforehand by hand, such as florescent bulbs which contain mercury or batteries, according to the company.

Couts said that this center can handle so many different materials in one place because it incorporates e-waste recycling technologies from so many different sites. "It's high-tech in the demanufacturing world," she said.



Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20031323-54.html#ixzz1Db0gjCE2

LEDs, EnergyStar Drive Flat-Screen TV Efficiency

The newer your flat-screen TV is, the more energy-efficient it is, according to a study released today by industry group the Consumer Electronics Association.

The CEA commissioned an analysis, done by technical services company Tiax, which found a significant decrease in power consumption by flat-screen TVs from mid-decade to 2010. (Click for PDF.)

The average "active mode" power use of LCD flat-screen TVs in the 35-inch to 54-inch category was about 250 watts during the years 2005 to 2007, but is now closer to 100 watts, according to the study. From 2003 to 2010, the LCD power density--or wattage per square inch--fell 63 percent in active mode and dropped 87 percent in standby mode.

Plasma TVs have traditionally drawn more power than LCDs, the study said, but there was improvement in efficiency over the past few years. From 2008 to 2010, the active mode power density for plasma TVs fell 41 percent and the standby mode fell by 85 percent.

According to CNET's TV Energy Efficiency Guide, the average power consumption for plasma TVs is 301 watts. For a traditional LCD, it's 111 watts and 101 watts for LED-lit LCDs.

The three biggest factors determining power consumption are the size of the screen, the type of TV, and the picture settings, according to CNET's guide. The settings for stores are designed to be very bright but consumers can save a significant amount of energy by adjusting those retail settings.

Older cathode-ray tube TVs can be less efficient per square inch, but many consumers buy larger TVs when they buy flat-screen TVs.

EnergyStar and industry competition helped propel the efficiency trend, according to the study. On a technical level, the study said that increased use of LEDs, rather than fluorescent lighting, and improvements in power electronics helped cut standby power.

"Energy Star, competition, innovation, and technology improvements have all been responsible for lower power draw," it said.

The CEA-commissioned study did not examine what impact 3D TVs will have on power consumption. But initial tests by CNET's David Katzmaier found that 3D TVs will consume more, with plasmas showing about double the power than when they are 2D mode.

Update: On Friday February 4, the CEA released a revised study to note that plasma TVs as a group "traditionally drew more power than LCD TVs, primarily due to their relatively larger screen sizes." In 2010 models, both TV technologies have similar power densities, the CEA said. This article was changed to reflect the change in the study.

Also, because CNET tends to test larger, higher-end TVs, CNET's average wattage ratings do not reflect the average wattage for the market overall, Katzmaier said.



Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20030596-54.html#ixzz1DPMg3bS1