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by Michael Keller If science and technology gets your blood pumping, expect 2015 to be quite a workout. The calendar should be chock-full of big announcements and exciting events. From designing genomes to exploring the outer reaches of our solar system, from a major push into developing targeted medicines to serious investments in materials science and understanding the fundamental mechanics of the universe, there will be no shortage of significant news. Keep an eye out for these projects happening this year: SPACE Expect a lot of news from elsewhere in the solar system in 2015. In December, NASA reported that its New Horizons spacecraft had awoken from a nine-year hibernation as the probe nears Pluto. Its closest approach to the dwarf planet will come on July 14, but the agency is excited to see the first data on Pluto and its moons about 10 days from now. The mission represents the farthest primary objective of a human spacecraft yet. New Horizons is expected to travel a billion miles beyond Neptune's orbit into the Kuiper belt, a region holding relics of the solar system's earliest days. "New Horizons is on a journey to a new class of planets we've never seen, in a place we've never been before," says project scientist Hal Weaver. "For decades we thought Pluto was this odd little body on the planetary outskirts; now we know it's really a gateway to an entire region of new worlds in the Kuiper Belt, and New Horizons is going to provide the first close-up look at them." In March, the Dawn spacecraft will enter orbit around Ceres, a 590-mile-diameter dwarf planet in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Little is known about Ceres, though some scientists suggest a liquid water ocean exists below the ice-encrusted surface. The Dawn mission is also interesting because the craft is using an advanced ion propulsion engine. Meanwhile, the Cassini probe will do several flybys of Saturn's moons through the year while a handful of missions continue collecting volumes of data on the moon and Mars. The Rosetta craft, which arrived at comet 67P/ Churyumov-Gerasimenko late last year, will be reporting back on days in the life of the body that is hurtling to reach its closest distance to the sun in August. And the Philae lander, which has fallen silent on the comet's surface for lack of exposure to the sun's energy, could wake up in the right circumstances. The Planetary Society's Emily Lakdawalla writes that it is possible at least one of the probes orbiting Mars will fail this year. "2015 begins with seven spacecraft active there as we begin the year. Of those seven, four are way past their prime," she writes. "There's no particular reason to expect Odyssey, Opportunity, Mars Express, or Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to fail in the coming year, but they won't last forever -- it seems like one of them has to cash it in this year. (I said the same thing last year, though, and they all came through 2014 just fine.) MEDICINE AND GENETICS CBS News is reporting that Craig Venter, the scientist who led the first efforts to sequence the human genome, expects to create the first living organism with a completely human-built genome this year. "In 2015 we will be announcing the first genome actually designed in the computer resulting in living cells," Venter told CBS. The single-celled synthetic organism will contain genetic information that allows it to replicate and the basic functions that define life. Venter also says that this year should see a dramatic increase in the speed that complete human genomes can be sequenced. His company, Human Longevity, aims to increase the number of genomes it can sequence from thousands per year to 100,000. This explosion in available genetic information could fuel a revolution in personalized medicine. Also look for advancements in science's understanding and therapies involving the helpful microbes that live within us, an area of research that is picking up momentum. The first generation saw fecal implants to rebalance the ecosystem of microbes that live within our guts. The next generation should see a refinement of the process. Finally, the journal Science says that promising work to treat a number of medical problems using induced pluripotent stem cells will continue in earnest this year. Meanwhile, efficacy trials for an ebola vaccine being conducted in West Africa will determine whether the current epidemic will see a swift end. PHYSICS The editors of the journal Nature remind us CERN's Large Hadron Collider, the massive particle smasher outside Geneva, Switzerland that found the Higgs boson, will come back online in March. It was down for two years undergoing an upgrade-when it restarts, it will collide protons together at double the current record. Scientists hope the pieces that break off the particles will give more clues about how the universe works. Separately, observatories in Louisiana and Washington have some beefed up instruments to search for gravitational waves, ripples in the curvature of space-time that were proposed by Albert Einstein in his general theory of relativity. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory detectors were shut down and replaced after being unable to find the waves. Scientists working on the BICEP2 project, which announced in 2014 that they had discovered the waves and found evidence for the early universe's massive and rapid expansion-findings that were later called into question-have more data coming this month. They are also continuing their search with the BICEP3 experiment. AUTOMOBILES Advances in automobile technologies will leave lots to talk about throughout the year. Rumblings have already started, and it's not just about autonomous vehicles. On Jan. 5, Toyota announced it would share almost 6,000 patents the company has accrued in building the first commercially available hydrogen fuel cell car. These patents cover technologies from the fuel cell stacks that convert chemical energy into electricity to the hydrogen tanks, operating software and refueling stations that the car needs. Observers see the move as Toyota's attempt to accelerate the hydrogen fuel cell car and infrastructure market after Tesla Motors last year released its own patents that cover the company's electric vehicles. Meanwhile, autonomous vehicles will start seeing primetime this year in limited programs in the United Kingdom, Nevada and California. Last July, the British government announced it had cleared robotic cars for use on public roads, and the first vehicles could hit the asphalt as soon as this month. California and Nevada have given robots the green light to test on their roads. Google's self-driving car prototype is expected to hit San Francisco Bay Area roads this year. Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Nissan are also moving forward with autonomous designs, and all have received permits to test their vehicles on California roads. And the BBC says the countdown is on for a British team to break the land speed record sometime this year. The British Bloodhound SSC jet-engine-propelled car will attempt to break the current record of 763 mph later this year in South Africa. INTERNATIONAL FOCUS ON SCIENCE The international community will be paying attention to fundamental physics and atmospheric and soil sciences this year thanks to a few major events. The world will turn to Paris in December when world leaders convene to hammer out a deal to slow climate change. March will see a lead-up to the big summit when China, the U.S. and the E.U. negotiate a plan to lower reliance on fossil fuels, a major contributor to the total release of greenhouse gases. But the U.N climate summit is just one part of the international organization's 2015 program to focus on the Earth. This year, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization is celebrating the International Year of Soils. The earth under our feet is often overlooked, but the services it provides to all living organisms is invaluable. In fact, the complex matrix of biological and abiotic components that makes up soils play a major role in our survival, health, economic well-being, and even politics. The FAO says soils play a crucial role in food security, essential ecosystem functions and climate change adaption and mitigation, among others. "Soils also host at least one quarter of the world's biodiversity. They are key in the carbon cycle. They help us to mitigate and adapt to climate change. They play a role in water management and in improving resilience to floods and droughts," said FAO Director-General Jos'e Graziano da Silva. "The multiple roles of soils often go unnoticed. Soils don't have a voice, and few people speak out for them. They are our silent ally in food production." Over at the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, they'll be focusing (pun intended) on light and optics. 2015 has been declared the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies. The year is intended to draw attention to how light and optical technologies "promote sustainable development and offer solutions to global challenges in the fields of energy, education, agriculture and health." "Light technology has revolutionized society through its applications in medicine, communications, entertainment and culture. Industries based on light are major economic drivers," says a statement by UNESCO. "Without light-based technologies, there would be no solar panels, no LED lighting, no computer monitors or telephone screens, no cameras or projectors, no magnetic resonance imaging, nor x-ray machines." TOP IMAGE: A team of physicists and engineers inspect a new subdetector before its insertion into the Large Hadron Collider's ATLAS experiment outside Geneva. The LHC will come online in 2015 after two years of upgrades. Image courtesy Claudia Marcelloni De Oliveira/CERN.
Poland's government approved a long-awaited draft law on Tuesday that lays out new long-term subsidies for renewable energy, aiming to cut costs to consumers as well as help the coal-reliant country meet EU climate targets.Under the draft law, which requires final approval by parliament and the president, developers and owners of new renewable installations can sell their energy at auctions for a fixed price that would be guaranteed for 15 years regardless of market prices. The proposal would also set a ceiling on the subsidy.It would allow renewable power producers that are already in operation to keep their current subsidies or choose to join the auctions.Poland has been working for almost two years on a new renewables law that would help it meet the European Union's green energy targets at the same time as keeping costs relatively low.Poland generates around 90 percent of its electricity from coal and must increase renewable energy to at least 15 percent of the total by 2020 to meet EU rules on carbon emissions.Change has proved difficult, however, as renewable power producers complain that an uncertain legal environment has prevented them from making new investments.The previous subsidy system did not provide long-term guarantees, and governments across Europe have been progressively cutting subsidies.The government has calculated that the cost of its current subsidy system would rise to 7.5-11.5 billion zlotys (2.5-3.8 billion) a year by 2020. (1 = 3.0364 Polish Zlotys)SourcePost from CleanTechLaw.org: www.cleantechlaw.org
EL MONTE, USA: Solarmer Animation, Inc. has righteous achieved a new world chronicle of 8.13% for their bottle green photovoltaic (OPV) cell abruptness, endorsed by the National Renewable Animation Laboratory (NREL).
Solarmer, a originally developer of polymer based OPV technology, has now blinking the abruptness chronicle for the 4th frank hex, all in stickup two years. In 2009 abandoned, Solarmer twisted three endorsed world store - 6.8 percent, 7.6 percent and 7.9 percent, each.
This new world chronicle is ended worldly listed the hard work of the R&D person concerned, led by Dr. Jianhui Hou, First-class of Tunnel, who suitable new polymers for better abruptness. Dr. Yue Wu, MD, said: "The person concerned has on it anew. This is an overcast radical for our groove, and it gives us cartel that we are on the civilized passageway to OPV commercialization."
OPV panels are pliable and light mass, and are able to construct low guess clean energy from the sun. Sweet and lively, customizable shapes and sizes, and higher low light cabaret are trade event a few in a long list of different kind of OPV panels. This cutting-edge technology has the hope to drive energy production guess fine hair to 12-15 cents/kWh and other lower than 1/W.
"Going higher than 8 percent - a psychological barrier for the OPV employees, is an overcast be in motion well-known for every one Solarmer and the solar energy employees," thought Woolas Hsieh, take precedence of the groove.
"This confirms OPV technology is on the civilized move forward to find time for a guess tough and aggressive technology. We are able-bodied proud to be the most important groove to beat this 8 percent barrier. We would in the vicinity to multiply our family by other companies, who suppress finishing in production technology, packaging, and other areas, to transport OPVs to the vent. Our plus lead is to welcome 10 percent abruptness by the end of 2011."
Dr. Disc Li, Ill-health Chair of Business, determination be attending this year's SPIE Conference on Elegant 1st in San Diego, California, to aerate this progressive sham.
The Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) hopes the contribution of renewable energy (RE) to the country's electricity generation to increase to five per cent this year from two per cent at present.
Its Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Phang Ah Tong said the number of RE production sources was not encouraging as the country awaited the feed-in tariff (FiT) policy.
He said in the Tenth Malaysia Plan (10MP), the RE production capacity was targeted to hit five per cent, instead it was languishing at less than two per cent as the country was nearing the end of the plan.
"We have to catch up as by the 11th Malaysia Plan, we are looking at a 11 per cent contribution (from RE)," he told reporters on the sidelines of the Mida and Asean-Korea Centre Joint Collaboration Seminar here today.
At the moment, the country's total installed power capacity stands at 21,000 (megawatt) MW, with firm supply at some 18,000 MW. The peak demand is at 16,500 MW, with the possibility of going up to 17,000 MW.
Phang said the power capacity generated from all RE sources, namely biomass, biogas, solar and mini hydropower, to date stood was between 2,000 MW and 2,500 MW.
"We hope this will increase our energy mix as we are currently relying more on coal and natural gas. We plan to increase power generation from biomass, biogas and solar power this year by 1,250 MW from each source.
"Currently, in term of RE production, biomass is ahead, but solar power will catch up as Malaysia receives an average six hours of sunshine daily," he added.
Earlier, in his speech, Phang said the potential of mini-hydro projects, especially the run-of-the-river type, was huge as energy available from streams had been proven to provide considerable contribution to electricity supply in rural areas.
"RE from biomass and solar has the potential of contributing 90 per cent to the total RE mix and this is in line with the government policy to reduce 40 per cent of the carbon emission intensity by 2020.
"Under the National Renewable Energy Policy and Action Plan in the 10MP, biomass and solar power are expected to contribute at least 800 MW and 220 MW respectively to the country's power capacity mix," he added.
Source
Post from CleanTechLaw.org: www.cleantechlaw.org
It is well known fact, that the cost of living, and the including energy cost is increasing with every day. People are struggling to find a way out, to find a solution to this problem, and the solution finally popped out - homemade windmills. I won't tell you again and again how wonderful homemade windmills are. I just want to notice, that scientists believe, that by the end of this year, price of energy might increase by whole 40%. Exactly at that point, people will start using alternative and renewable energy resources. But why wait for the price bump, when you can use it now? In my opinion, such alternative energy source, as wind, will grow in popularity very soon. Some advantages to think about: * wind was free and will always be free * safe to the environment * easy to build and install * can power everything in your house: TV, PC, fridge, hair drier and many other stuff! It is only a matter of time before everyone will start using this form of energy. And it is really obvious that homemade windmills is the future energy providers. So the moral of this story is - start using homemade windmills and be part of the future!
home wind generator
Siemens PLC Run system
Shake over keep secret for icy skipper
Low noise with SKF bearings
Vivid yawshaft
home wind generator
H8.0-1000W wind turbines reckon the latter featurers:
A. Small& light orderliness,the generator is installed at home the feeler cone-shaped tool which can delightful for heat up dispersion and lessen the wind hardiness.
B. Blades imaginary according orderliness and airliner technology
C. Generator built with surviving appealing food which reckon 4 patented technologies
D. Innovative totalitarian system,can be interconnected to the regional achieve in detail or for off-grid work.
E. Exacting anti-corrosion procedure of the parts
Clause and performance of 10kw wind power turbine :
Rated power(W)
10000
Supreme output powerW
15000
Charging voltage (V)
DC 300
Dagger help
3
Rotor scalpel load
GRP
Rotor scalpel diameterm
8.0
Start-up wind swiftness (m/s)
3.0
Rated wind swiftness (m/s)
10.0
Rated spinning rate (r/min)
180
Whirl energy utilizing ratio (Cp)
0.42
Generator output
Single-phase
pervasiveness conversion AC
Rated charging present (A)
33
The chief charging present (in a to the point stage )(A)
65
Output AC pervasiveness (Hz)
0~360
Generator velvetiness
>0.8
Assorted size start diameter(mm)
495*185*12000 (2pcs)
Guy start diameter(mm)
360*3000 (4pcs)
Hill zenith(m)
12
The consequence of generator(kg)
150
Battery 12V 150Ah/200Ah
25pcs
Parts are included of 10kw wind power turbine :Generator,rotor blades, feeler cone-shaped tool,hub,store up enclose,yaw dowel,totalitarian system,inverter and unloader. The start and start kits are recommended.
Nowadays, everyone's talking about green energy. A lot of people agree that green energy is superior because it helps the earth, while saving money. Is that the truth? Here are some easy tips to help you begin living a greener life. When you're coming up with a design for your outdoor lighting project, think about getting lamps that are solar powered. They are inexpensive and don't require electricity. You will not only reduce the energy you use. You will not have to hook up the lights to an electrical source. Use window treatments to shade the inside of your home when you aren't home. This will keep the house cool and reduce energy costs. South-facing windows get maximum sun. Make sure that all the windows are covered with dark curtains, blinds, roman shades, or whatever shade you choose. Find out about the various energy sources that are available in your local community. Checking the costs of running a home with utilities should also include recent legislation about energy costs. You might be able to save money by switching to well water or natural gas heat. During summer, try drying clothes on a clothesline instead of the dryer. The sun could give your clothes an incredible smell. They'll be smelling much fresher than if they were just dried in a dryer. Also, your utility bills will be greatly decreased. If you are aiming to save energy and money, try running the dishwasher only when the load is completely full. Don't run it with just a few dishes. You might be surprised by how much you can actually fit in the dishwasher. Place the dishes in your dishwasher so you can fit in as many dishes as possible. When determining the economical impact of a PV solar system, be sure to run a calculation using the hours of winter sunlight. This prevents any unanticipated effects from a winter months, and it keeps you ahead of the game for summer months. You can actually get money back from your utility company for any energy your generate if you're on the net usage plan. Install batteries very close to cells when you are putting together a solar energy system. This way, you won't lose power in the cable. It can also reduce the chance of a cable shading a cell, and reducing its generation capability. Look around for ways to "go green;" if you want to help conserve natural resources, there are many options available. Even though you may not have too much money, there are little things you can do, such as lowering your heat to 60 when you aren't home and cleaning your furnace filters monthly. Lowering the temperature of your water heater can save energy as well. No matter how small, everything helps! Create written reminders of your goals regarding energy efficiency, and compare your utility bills to those of the previous year to determine whether you are making positive steps. By being conscious of how you use energy, you can help significantly reduce the amount of energy you consume. For instance, if you actively attempted to use less water or power, you going to make the effort to turn off lights and appliances when you leave the room. When Christmas or other holidays roll around, try LED decorative lights instead of traditional lights to spruce up your home. A U.S. Department of Energy study shows that people waste a lot of energy on traditional Christmas lights. The Energy Department showed that more than two billion kh of power could be saved if everyone made the switch. This is enough energy to power 20,000 houses in one year. Even if you don't care about those big numbers, you should care that you can personally save money by going green. You can use biofuel to heat your own home. Biofuels consist of vegetable or animal fats, wood and oils. In many cases, if your furnace is propane, a professional can make the necessary changes that will allow you to heat with a blend of fuels. That is roughly 20 to 99 percent biodiesel. Talk to a pro before using this fuel inside your house. If you are in the market for wooden items, try bamboo wood. Bamboo is a strong and durable option for flooring, cutting boards and furniture. Because it is fast-growing, bamboo resources are easier to replenish than slow-growing trees. Because bamboo is so renewable, the need for recycling is lessened, which saves energy. Now that you've read this article, what is your opinion? Most would agree that using green energy is a great option. Keep these tips in mind to improve your life. Start using these tips and your quality of life will improve thanks to green energies.
