Apple Store Sells Wi-Fi Enabled Philips Light Bulbs

The idea of making ordinary household objects extraordinary with the addition of Wi-Fi isn't a new one. The Nest thermostat, for example, works with a home's Wi-Fi set up to enable wireless and remote control operations. Instead of getting up to turn the air off, you only have to reach as far as your iPhone.The light bulb has also seen its day in the glow of Wi-Fi greatness. The LIFX bulb, one example of many, will enable users to control energy efficient LED bulbs remotely and even change the bulb's color, all via a smartphone app.Today, Philips is announcing their entrance into the Wi-Fi-enabled light bulb market and, just like the Nest thermostat before it, China Solar chargers for Iphone Offers will be able to pick it up at any Apple store across the nation. Actually, the new Philips system will be available at Apple stores only in the beginning, starting October 30th.
Called "Hue," Philip's smart bulb system is built on top of the ZigBee Light Link standard. Philips' competitors, such as GE and Sylvania are also working with the same standard.
While placing such energy efficient LEDs in the Wi-Fi halo is already a fine idea, these bulbs are often only as good as the apps that run them. This is where Hue looks to excel. Each bulb can be controlled separately, meaning each bulb can change into different colors. What makes Hue stand out is the way in which these colors can be changed. Rather than pick a color from a spectrum wheel, the Hue app lets you choose colors from pictures. It's a feature which Phillips is touting as a way to recreate the special moments in your life. For instance, if you've taken a picture of a candle lighting ceremony, you'll be able to pick which oranges and yellows you'd like your bulbs to take on.
The app even allows users to place China Solar radio and charger Offers bulbs on timers, dimming and lighting up at specific times. This feature is not only handy for those with kids, but it could also make waking up a little more pleasant. Imagine waking up to a soft and warm light as opposed to a loud ringing alarm and the harsh rays of a fluorescent bulb. These timers can also add another important piece to the home-automation puzzle, with lights turning on and off in perfect cycle. All you have to do is simply live in the house and move from room to room.These settings are the result of research conducted by Philips to help facilitate different moods. For instance, users who have just come home from work can select "relax" for a soothing glow. Those who need to spend some time studying can choose "concentrate" to change their room into a well-lit area conducive for work.

Major retailer in Liberty goes green with solar panels

The crowds who come to the Walmart in Liberty Township have little clue about the work being done just above their heads.For the last three weeks, workers have been installing 1,927 solar panels on the roof of the business, said Steve Fife, from Joe Dickey Electric, job foreman for the project.This is the largest solar project so far within the Mahoning Valley, say those involved in the work. Nearly the entire roof of the store is covered with panels that will convert solar energy to electricity and be used to help power the store.In total, the panels will provide up to 455 kilowatts of energy per hour, said Dave Dickey, president of Joe Dickey Electric. The project will be completed in the next week."On a good bright day it will provide about half the power needed for the store," Dickey said. "On an average day it will be about 30 percent."
The panels are designed to last 25 years, about the same time as a roof. Based on the amount of power the panels will produce combined, it will take a couple of years for them to pay for the cost of the panels and installation, Fife said.There won't be any type of battery to collect power; it will just go straight into the grid, he said.It just makes good business sense to put up the panels and reduce energy costs if you have the roof space, Dickey said."If you look at how much power they're saving, it makes a huge difference in their carbon footprint," he said.
Walmart has completed eight similar projects in Cincinnati and two in the Columbus, said Matt Giles, project manager from The Romanoff Group, a Gahanna, Ohio-based electric, heating and cooling company. Romanoff has overseen all the projects.The panels work better in the winter, he said. They can continue to operate effectively when covered by as much as 2 inches of snow."We were very fortunate when we called the union and said we needed 16 guys to do this job, they were already trained," Dickey said.Both the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers unions in Warren and Youngstown have trained workers in solar and wind energy through their apprenticeship program.In the 1970s when solar technology started to become available, it simply would not work in this area, Dickey said."It was just too overcast here. In the last couple of years, the technology has improved to the point where it works even if it's overcast," he said.Ohio has the same number of overcast days as Oregon or Washington, which use a lot of solar power, Fife said.Solar-panel technology continues to improve as panels are being designed that produce more energy, Fife said. In addition the cost is about 75 cents per watt for the panels plus installation.

University celebrates 50th anniversary of Holonyak's LED

You may not know his invention, but you use it every day. From the iPhone and iPad, to laptops, flat-screen TVs, traffic lights and alarm clocks, this invention has been prevalent in modern life: the light-emitting diodes, better know as LED.Fifty years ago this month, the work done by alumnus Nick Holonyak Jr. at General Electric transformed the science of light as we know it.Although most know Thomas Edison as the inventor of the incandescent light bulb, Holonyak now stands on his shoulders with his invention of this solid-state device that can emit visible red light without generating heat like a lightbulb. While other groups have developed light-emitting devices, Holonyak's device was the first practical one to emit light in the visible range, rather than the invisible, infrared light."It is the ultimate lamp,"  China Solar Light Offers said. "You can maybe rival it, but you can never improve on it. If I know how to build mine right, it will have 100 percent conversion of electrical energy to light energy without any loss. It's just a little heat loss of moving electrons that I'm paying the price for ... but that's it."
The LED 50th Anniversary Symposium starts Wednesday at the I Hotel and Conference Center to honor Holonoyak's work, achievements and other developments over the past 50 years. Brad Petersen, associate director of external relations in the department of electrical and computer engineering, said many lectures will be held about the history and the future of LEDs, solid-state lighting and related work. Many people who are considered pioneers in the field will speak about their work, including multiple Nobel laureates in physics from around the world."It's particularly a celebration of Nick and his initial development of the LED, but it's also much broader than that," Petersen said. "The event is intended to celebrate all 50 years of the development of the China Outdoor Offers... from Nick's first invention to the work people are still doing today."
Holonyak's story shows the power of knowledge and research that come along with hard work. Born to immigrant parents from Ukraine, he came to the University and received his bachelor's, master's and doctorate in electrical engineering. He developed a background studying under John Bardeen, a two-time Nobel laureate who co-invented the transistor. Now Holonyak holds the title of his mentor: He is the John Bardeen Endowed Chair in electrical and computer engineering."I was Bardeen's student. He came in 1951 when I was already a grad student. We set up a lab in 1952, and for two years I'm ... learning about semiconductors and transistors," Holonyak said. "Then I went to Bell Labs working on electric switches and silicon material, the same stuff that later went into making Silicon Valley that became Intel and all the chips used in phones and computers nowadays."

Mapping the Potential for Solar Power On Every Roof

 Within the borders of Cambridge, Massachusetts, are 17,000 rooftops, or 17,000 individual surfaces on which it might make sense one day to install photovoltaic cells. Of course, these roofs are not all equally fit for solar power. Some of them have weird chimneys or sloping architecture or tree shade. Some buildings are oriented in the wrong direction (for the sun's purposes, at least), or they're boxed in by even taller structures that block out natural daylight.
From the sun's point of view, all of this means that Cambridge looks about like the aerial image above. The gold dots are the solar sweet spots, the brown ones are more or less untouchable. The image comes from a new mapping tool built by MIT's Sustainable Design Lab and the Boston design firm Modern Development Studio. They've mashed together some pretty remarkable datasets about Cambridge to model the solar potential of just about every square meter of rooftop space in the city (literally, each of those dots represents one square meter). And the model they've developed could potentially give us the same information about every surface on the planet.
 "When an owner uses the map, they get a very good evaluation of how good the solar potential of their roof is," says Christoph Reinhart, an MIT associate professor working on the project. Modern Development Studio's web platform can even translate that solar potential into a financial cost, a payback period, a carbon emissions reduction and equivalent calculations for how many trees you'd have to plant or fewer miles you'd have to drive to achieve the same effect. "But we'd like to now say, what does it mean for the city?" Reinhart asks. "Where should we support putting photovoltaics on roofs?"
This project assumes that we will one day be making decisions about where to put this stuff at the community level rather than the household one. "Right now it's a bit about me, me, me," Reinhart says, light-heartedly. "How do I get the most money?"This map illustrates that just because you want to be that guy on the block with solar panels doesn't mean your house is the best place to put them.MIT came up with all of this leveraging a couple of giant datasets with fine-tuned algorithms. The model relies upon hourly solar radiation data collected at nearby Logan International Airport (data that measures, in effect, how much sun the city gets in this climate), as well as on Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) data previously collected in an aerial flyover of the city. LIDAR data, which captures how far each treetop or roof is from the ground, is commonly used to make three-dimensional models of cities (or to measure things like tree cover).

California Solar Beats Wind For Several Days This Autumn

As California heads into the slightly less windy days of autumn with more solar power generating capacity than it's ever had, something interesting is starting to happen -- there are days when solar provides more power to California's grid than wind does.For at least three days this fall, the state's solar power generators pumped more total power into the grid than all the state's wind turbines, which usually provide more power than any other form of renewable energy. And it looks like we're on track for the same thing to happen today.On September 27, according to figures from the California Independent System Operator (CaISO), which operates most of the state's grid, solar power facilities pumped a total of 8,257 megawatt-hours into CaISO's grid. That's enough power to keep a 100W incandescent Best Custom Solar laptop charger burning for 9,419 years and seven months. On that day, wind turbines -- which usually feed somewhere between 25,000 and 50,000 megawatt-hours into the grid each day -- provided only 6,914 megawatt-hours to CaISO.
ReWire contacted CaISO's Steven Greenlee the next day for an explanation, and he might just as well have told us to open a window:The weather pattern we had yesterday was very similar to a hot summer day where there is ridging over California and low pressure off the coast, which keeps the pressure gradient from building up along the coast. This pressure gradient along with a thermal gradient is the main source for wind production during summer conditions. (The pressure gradient is stronger from west to east and you have temperatures hotter from east to west, which causes air to move from the coast to inland.) Thus, we had low amounts of wind and nice sunny weather.
The same thing happened on October 1, when China Motion Sensor Lights Exporters output 7,333 megawatt hours to wind's 5,424, and on October 14, with solar and wind providing 7,364 and 5,712 megawatt-hours, respectively.That's not to say that solar outpaced all other forms of renewable energy on those days. Even on October 1, when solar beat wind by 1909 megawatt-hours, the state's geothermal power plants -- which run 24/7 unless they're being repaired or upgraded -- put a reliable 20,869 megawatt-hours into the grid.And for perspective's sake, the three days mentioned here -- and possibly October 15, from the looks of CaISO's preliminary figures -- are unusual even for autumn. On October 5 wind produced nearly ten times the power solar did in California, at 52,340 and 5,509 megawatt-hours, respectively.But still, this is an indication that the state's solar capacity -- most of it PV -- is growing by leaps and bounds. And it's a reminder that -- despite what your in-laws in Ohio tell you -- California actually does have seasons.

Ease of use is further supported by the long lifespan of agricultural LED lightbars

The operating ease, longer lifespan and ease-of-installation of the new LED lightbars also provide significant performance enhancements compared to alternative technologies. The SunBrite Agricultural LED Lightbar can be easily incorporated into programmable, digitally controlled systems that allow for red and blue light arrays to be zoned and controlled in order meet the specific light requirements of different types of plants and different stages in the growing process (that respond better to blue or red light, respectively). Also, unlike emerging technologies such as Light Emitting Plasma (LEP), LEDs also offer instant turn-on for greater operating ease.
Ease of use is further supported by the long lifespan of agricultural LED lightbars which can last up to 4x longer than HID technologies and reduce maintenance time requirements by up to 75%.The SunBrite Agricultural LED Lightbar also comes with three unique mounting clip options and optional transformer for easy plug-and-play performance.These efficiency and ease-of-use performance enhancements allow the SunBrite Agricultural LED Lightbar generate up to 80% cost savings compared to some HID technologies. Though initial up-front investment is higher, these efficiency and ease-of-use savings allow for ROI often within one to two years.
"Agricultural is one of the fastest growing application sectors for LED technology," explained Kay Fernandez, Product Design Engineer at Lumex. "The SunBrite Agricultural LED Lightbar is a powerful new tool in that it combines significant performance benefits and cost savings."The RoHS and CE compliant SunBrite Agricultural LED Lightbar (SSP-LB24 series) is available in both red and blue for a wide variety of agricultural applications.Transformers are available for easy plug and play performance.Pricing for the SunBrite Agricultural LED Lightbar is dependent on size and quantity ordered and is approximately $75 per unit in production volumes.  Production lead times range from eight to ten weeks. Stock is available through Digi-Key, Future Electronics, Mouser Electronics and Newark Electronics. To ensure long LED life, a heat sink must be adequately dimensioned and consideration must be given to the conducting materials, often aluminum or copper. Alternatively, forced convection can be used, with air pushed through the heat sink using a fan or an air jet. Even a relatively low air velocity of 2 m/s can cut the overall thermal resistance of a heat sink by half. Using a mechanical air mover to cool the LED, however, is also a more costly solution than the standard extruded heat sink. Another downside is noise, and the mechanical construct can also eat into the reliability overhead. Similarly, liquid cooling via pipes can transfer heat away from the LED assembly but it, too, comes with a cost and weight penalty.

Chelsea Sexton forming Advisory Board to help Nissan learn how to market the Leaf

The Nissan Leaf battery pack capacity loss controversy has exposed a weakness on Nissan's part in communicating openly with Leaf owners, and a new Advisory Board being formed by EV Advocate Chelsea Sexton aims to help Nissan learn how to communicate.In the wake of revelations about Nissan Leaf premature driving range, Nissan agreed with Chelsea Sexton to start an independent advisory board. The advisory board was first announced in an open letter Nissan published last month via the MyNissanLeaf discussion board (MNL). Yesterday, Sexton disclosed, a long posting on the MNL discussion board, some details about the purpose and scope of this advisory board.
While the advisory board was not, according to Sexton, "convened specifically to address the Arizona battery issue" the context for this board is strongly influenced by that issue. The issue is that Nissan Leaf owners in Arizona, and some other states, are suffering from overly rapid loss of battery pack capacity and a loss of driving range. A growing chorus of China Motion Sensor Lights Offers are documenting battery pack capacity loss, including a massive test convened in Phoenix independently by Leaf owners. Nissan has made two public responses, in June and in September, and it's clear that Nissan has on its hands a product quality controversy. Most of Nissan's responses have been in the form of downplaying the issue, minimizing the number of Leaf owners affected. Nissan did bring in seven Leaf's for intensive study, and have since suggested that rather than Arizona's famously hot climate ("at least it's a dry heat") the problem exists with Leaf owners who drive an above-average number of miles per year.
Rather than convene this advisory group to address the battery issue, Sexton says "it was conceived to help Nissan learn how to better communicate and engage with the EV community, both current drivers and potential ones." One way to interpret the controversy we just summarized, is difficulty within Nissan's marketing of holding a two-way conversation with the public Best Custom Remote Controlled LED. This sort of difficulty is facing marketing departments all over the world, because normal traditional marketing methodology is a one-way dissemination of "messaging" from a corporation. Corporations rarely do a good job of responding to individual customers, but with the rise of social media and other interactive services on the Internet, corporations are having to learn new ways of communicating with their customers.Beyond this focus on teaching Nissan how to communicate with the public, Sexton says "they're pretty open-minded on the group's focus" and goes on to detail the broad brush strokes of the advisory board's role.