OneToRemember and EnergyBook

Milan Trade Fair Will Feature World’s Largest Rooftop Solar Array

Megan Treacy — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 02:31:00 +0000

The city of Milan will soon be home to a 2.9 million-square-foot, 18-MW solar array atop the Milan Trade Fair. The array will become the largest rooftop array in the world, surpassing the current record-holder, a 12-MW array on the General Motors factory in Zaragoza, Spain.

In comparison, the largest rooftop array in the U.S. is the 2.37-MW array on the Atlantic City Convention Center.

The massive array is expected to be completed by the end of 2010 and for a price of $97-111 million. The choice of developer and beginning construction date haven't been finalized, but certain details have been confirmed. The developer will pay for the cost of construction and will rent the system from the Milan Trade Fair, allowing them to market and sale the electricity produced. After 20 years, the Milan Trade Fair will take over control of the plant. It's not certain how much of the generated electricy will go to powering the Trade Fair.

Bidding for the project started yesterday and seven contractors have already submitted bids. The winner will be announced in September.

via Reuters

Fisker Delivering the Karma in Mid-2010

Megan Treacy — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:17:00 +0000

Fisker has established their timeline for delivering the Karma plug-in hybrid to customers. Originally, the company planned to start production sometime in 2009, but didn't have a set delivery window, but now they've set a schedule to begin production at the end of the year and start delivering the cars in May or June 2010.

That is, of course, if you've already gotten your name on the reservation list. Those that order now will have to wait until late summer 2010 to get theirs.

It will be interesting to see if the Fisker Karma takes any customers away from the Tesla. Both are luxury brands, but the Karma costs less than the Roadster and is making it to market ahead of the Model S. So, will it be healthy competition, or will there only be room for one luxury EV at a time? Regardless, it looks as though 2010 really is shaping up to be the year of the EV. Almost all of the major automakers have new hybrid or all-electric models coming out within the year. Let's hope that they're welcomed as a surge of new and better choices by consumers.

via Greentech Media

Power Saving Software Checks to Make Sure You’re at Your Computer

Philip Proefrock — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:55:00 +0000

With computers taking on more entertainment roles where user interaction is not as frequent, typical activity sensing power management sometimes becomes an annoyance rather than a helpful tool. A new webcam application called PecoBOO (with an emphasis on the 'eco') developed by the UK-based environmental computer manufacturer VeryPC uses facial recognition to determine whether or not there is a user in front of the PC. If the user moves away, after 15 minutes, the computer goes into its power-saving standby mode.

This software allows a user to maintain power management without having to constantly keep having to move a mouse or tap a key to let the PC know that a user is still there. "Current power management software doesn't work very well because it interferes with people's lives - they're watching the iPlayer and the monitor sleeps after fifteen minutes so they turn off the power management stuff. This is much simpler."

Occupancy sensors for rooms in buildings are a well-established method for controlling lights in spaces that are intermittently occupied. This provides a similar kind of function for computers.

It should be noted that this is just performing detection of a face, rather than 'facial recognition.' In one case, a glitch was encountered with the system not properly shutting down due to a poster (with a face) on a wall in the computer's field of view.

The software is available for Windows XP and Vista, and comes included with new VeryPC computers. It is also available (in the UK) along with the purchase of a webcam.

Links: PecoBOO and Very PC

Thanks flash751

Design Students Build Prosthetic Arm: Core77’s Allan Chochinov Shows How

TreeHugger — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:23:44 +0000

We're fans of Core77, "a gathering point for designers and enthusiasts alike". Clogger Allan Chochinov also teaches at the School of Visual Arts in New York, in a course called "MFA Designer As Author" where they look at the issues of design and-

Our focus is on authorship in the broadest sense: Beginning with a viable concept we encourage students to write, edit, film, compos...

With Help from Species Survival Plan, Red Wolves May Have a Future

TreeHugger — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:55:53 +0000

Photo from Gregory Koch Red wolves are one of the rarest mammals in North America. They are a mere 100 strong in their native habitat of North Carolina’s Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. But with the help of the Wolf Conservation Center (WCC) in South Salem, NY, the Canis rufus may grow in number…first in New York, and then in North Carolina....