As the ball drops on New Year’s Eve, Times Square’s first Eco-Board, a billboard powered solely by wind and solar energy, will be the backdrop for New York City’s most famous celebration. Ricoh Company, Ltd., a global leader in digital office solutions, is continuing construction on the Eco-Board, which will lessen the amount of carbon emissions by 18 tons per year and will save enough electricity to light six average-sized homes for a year.

Although inclement weather and lengthy processes and inspections have prolonged the installation of the sign, the wind turbines, solar panels and vinyl have been installed, and the turbines are expected to be operational in the coming weeks. Live installation of the Eco-Board can be viewed at http://www.ricoh-eco.com/live.asp.

The implementation of the technology for generating electricity is “built into the road itself.” “Without any modification to the traveling vehicle, driving options or personal freedoms, our technology can be used to produce clean, efficient, and substantial electrical energy from merely driving in the normal course,” said the inventor and business partner co-founder, Mark Nejmeh.

The plant, scheduled to go into operation by 2011, is located 70 miles southwest of Phoenix, near Gila Bend, Arizona. It will sell the electricity produced to APS over the next 30 years for a total revenue of around $4 billion, bringing over $1 billion in economic benefits to the state of Arizona.

The solar plant has been named Solana, meaning “a sunny place” in Spanish. The Solana Generating Station will have a total capacity of 280 megawatts, enough to power 70,000 homes while avoiding over 400,000 tons of greenhouse gases that would otherwise contribute to global warming and climate change. The plant will employ a proprietary Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) trough technology developed by Abengoa Solar, and will cover a surface of around 1,900 acres. The construction of the Solana Generating Station will create about 1,500 construction jobs and employ 85 skilled full-time workers once completed.

Abengoa Solar has a team of 40 people in the United States and Spain dedicated to researching, developing and improving solar technologies. In December 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy selected Abengoa Solar for three research and developments projects to improve trough technology.

The construction of this solar plant and others under contract in the U.S. are subject to a long-term extension of the solar investment tax credit by the U.S. Congress.

Strategic Investments and Grants
“Lots of groups are doing great work trying to produce inexpensive renewable energy. We want to add something that moves these efforts toward even cheaper technologies a bit more quickly. Usual investment criteria may not deliver the super low-cost, clean, renewable energy soon enough to avoid the worst effects of climate change,” said Dr.
Larry Brilliant, Executive Director of Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm, “Google.org’s hope is that by funding research on promising technologies, investing in promising new companies, and doing a lot of R&D ourselves, we may help spark a green electricity revolution that will deliver breakthrough technologies priced lower than coal.”

The variable speed electronic controller drives the bike to speeds of up to 30 kilometers per hour. Overall weight of the bicycle is 75 lbs. and comes with 17 amp hr. batteries and a built in battery charger.

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PCNews Verdict: 7/10. Captain Planet, be proud of me!

Source breathingearth.net
VIA Random Good Stuff

I think the potato can be next big thing. Not for eat (I like French fries, but here is not about that… ) for power… I can’t wait to see the Potato Car.

Potato Powered MP3 Player video after jump…

Potato Powered MP3 Player video:

If you like it maybe you want to know how to make a your own potato clock or how to run a server with few potatoes…

The water becomes fuel before kids’ eyes as electrolysis (powered by a solar cell) breaks it into its separate components of hydrogen and oxygen, creating a gas that is then stored for use by the fuel cell when it’s time for the car to get going.

During the building process, children from age twelve can use the included 96-page Experiment Manual as a guide to performing thirty experiments on such subjects as the effects of direct and indirect radiation, the characteristics of a solar module, constructing and loading a reversible fuel cell, and decomposition of water in the fuel cell, plus they can design experiments of their own. The kit contains everything children need to build and experiment with their fuel cell and car (except 1 quart of distilled water).

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