GE's artist rendering of Santa's sleigh
(Credit: GE)Author Gregory Mone is not the only one touting would-be Santa technology this year.
General Electric has released its own theory of how the legendary Santa Claus could make his yearly trip while communicating with Mrs. Claus and the elves back at HQ. This version, however, showcases real-world technology with a green bent under development at GE labs. While the Santa hook is child's play, the technology presented has useful applications in the adult world.
For example, the company is developing "icephobic" coatings that prevent ice and water from sticking to a vehicle even when driving through snow. It also has a ceramic matrix composite (CMC) material intended for use in the gas turbine engines used in aircraft. The material is lightweight and heat-resistant to high temperatures, but is not brittle like most ceramic materials. It's closer to metal in terms of durability, according to GE.
The paper-thin, bendable OLED lights for Santa's sleigh could be incorporated in all manner of gear like camping tents, wallpaper, or firefighters' uniforms.
Trip Optimizer calculates optimum speeds for a locomotive engine to save fuel depending on the route and makeup of the train, then self-adjusts the locomotive's throttle accordingly throughout the trip. GE suggests Santa might use the autopilot system for his sleigh, but Canadian Pacific Railway announced in July that it's equipping 200 of its freight locomotives with the system.
Other new technologies highlighted with the sleigh concept include: sodium batteries, a wireless medical sensor, and RFID (radio frequency identification) chips. More details on the technology, along with profiles of the scientists working them, can be found at GE's interactive Web site.
(Credit:
SmartSynch)
SmartSynch announced Wednesday night that it has a plan for allowing universal communications between appliances, smart grids, and utilities, regardless of which communication protocol is used.
In May 2008, the Jackson, Miss.-company garnered $20 million in a funding round led by Credit Suisse to develop its communications devices and software for smart meters.
What has emerged is the GridRouter, an Internet Protocol-based universal router with an open platform that can communicate with public and private networks whether they be using WiMax, municipal Wi-Fi, or a proprietary network system.
The GridRouter device could become a darling of utilities by enabling them to connect existing proprietary networks to the GridRouter without having to upgrade their entire system, and using existing off-the-self IT management tools to do it.
The company's public relations team has been telling the press that "SmartSynch sees this product doing for the smart grid what Cisco did for the Internet."
While such grid and appliance interoperability claims might only catch the eye of industry wonks, average consumers should also perk up their ears and listen. Progress on that front could mean the difference between paying a premium for a smart-grid-enabled appliance, or having it come standard on most mass-produced appliances within the next half-dozen years.
SmartSynch's upgradable GridRouter is built to allow utilities to add multiple communications technologies from difference companies and make them all interoperable.
(Credit: SmartSynch)Currently, companies and organizations are jockeying to back what they hope will be the standard of choice for smart-grid interaction when it comes to software and communications tools. The Wi-Fi Alliance announced in November, for instance, that it has a smart-grid task force reviewing how its standards might be modified to become the best choice for smart grids. Google's PowerMeter, while using its existing Web-based portal to provide a platform for smart-grid home data, has partnered with AlertMe, which uses ZigBee instead of Wi-Fi for home devices to communicate with a central hub and smart meter.
Appliance manufacturers like GE and Whirlpool have publicly expressed enthusiasm about incorporating smart technology into their products.
GE announced in July that it's testing Tendril as possible smart appliance software and started several pilot projects in places like Masdar City and Hawaii.
But there has also been some hesitation. Whirlpool said it would like to phase out all "dumb" appliances by 2015, but won't do so until a clear standard communications winner emerges.
Who could blame them? No one wants to be the one left with noncompliant technology once clear winners begin to emerge. But because of this, standardization squabbles could become a hold-up in the smart-grid evolution.
If SmartSynch's GridRouter can provide an easy an out-of-the-box solution to syncing everyone up, as the company claims, it could be the grease needed to quicken the smart-grid build-out.
Fuel efficiency is the No. 1 factor in equipment purchases within the trucking industry, a new report from IBM says.
At the same time, brand name has fallen to the bottom of the criteria list and "faces the risk of slow death," according to the report.
The combination of those two factors means that new players in the trucking industry will give established brands a run for their money.
(Credit:
IBM)
"The truck ecosystem will thrive because of--rather than in spite of--a chaotic introduction of new players," the report said.
"Truck 2020: Transcending Turbulence," which came out of IBM's Institute for Business Value, was based on interviews of 91 executives from 13 countries and from across the industry, including truck and bus original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), suppliers, regulators, and industry associations.
The trucking industry has been faced with financial hurdles, higher energy costs, and the image as a polluter in recent years, according to IBM. And the necessary advances for the industry are not restricted to strides in fuel efficiency.
Telematics will also be key, the report said. Evaluating and diagnosing vehicles remotely and in real time will be a useful tool in preventative maintenance. It will cut down on unexpected breakdowns that disrupt service and that cost trucking companies time and money, according to the report. Telematics tools that collect real-time data can also be useful for curbing litigation over accidents, the report noted.
While the growing significance of telematics may be entirely true, it should be noted that IBM has a vested interest in that field.
Big Blue has said it sees automotive computing as the company's next frontier and has been actively developing telematics and infrastructure technology for at least the last six years.
As far back as 2003, IBM began developing XML-based data retrieval architecture that would allow vehicles to receive real-time traffic and speed data from highways. In 2005, it signed a $125 million telematics deal with United Arab Emirates. And in 2006, it began partnering with manufacturer Magna Electronics to develop smart car parts.
Honda on Wednesday unveiled the U3-X, a stool with a unique directional wheel system that allows it to travel diagonally, as well as right, left, forward, and backward.
It's basically a robotic unicycle.
The device is able to readjust itself so that instead of riders having to constantly balance themselves, the robotic unicycle does the compensating.
Honda pointed out in its unveiling video that the U3-X's seat is slightly higher than an average person's waistline, forcing riders to jump up slightly to sit on it and place their feet on a foot rest. This elevated height of the robotic unicycle leaves riders at relative eye level with passing pedestrians while in motion, according to Honda.
It's a nice touch. A common complaint among people in wheelchairs are the social and psychological effects of literally being looked down upon while traveling the world in a sitting position. But requiring the rider to be able to hold upright while on a backless seat clearly disqualifies the U3-X as a wheelchair substitute for many.
And in this age of rising obesity, who among the fitness-conscious is really going to ride the streets on a robotic stool when they can get a little chance at some exercise during their busy day by walking?
It's just one of those things you know no one is really going to buy. So why, then, did Honda unveil the U3-X robotic unicycle?
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New Jersey to approve deal to install 200,000 solar panels around the state on its utility poles.
(Credit: Petra Solar)It looks like those unsightly utility poles throughout New Jersey will be getting yet another accessory.
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities is set to approve on Thursday a $200 million contract between Public Service Electric and Gas (PSE&G) and Petra Solar to install over 200,000 photovoltaic panels to tie in to the state's electrical grid.
Petra's SunWave solar panels, which have smart grid communication tools built-in, will be attached to utility and light poles that are owned and operated by PSE&G throughout the state.
The project to develop, install, and maintain the grid-connected solar system will create about 100 green jobs, according to both Petra and PSE&G.
"We are tripling in size and will start hiring immediately," Petra CEO Shihab Kuran said in a statement.
The installation is part of an initiative that PSE&G announced in February 2009 to bring solar panels to every town in its New Jersey coverage area.
The Petra Solar installation will be the "largest pole-attached solar installation in the world," according to PSE&G. But it's only part of the $515 million in 80 megawatts worth of solar energy projects that the New Jersey utility is expected to get approval for on Thursday.
PSE&G plans to implement solar installations on the rooftops of its offices and facilities throughout the state, as well as "solar gardens" on some of its properties. It was also approved to develop an additional 5 megawatts worth of solar power in New Jersey urban enterprise zones within its service area, and 10 megawatts in conjunction with third-parties wishing to participate in an installation on their properties.
"Our program will effectively double the size of New Jersey's installed solar capacity. That is more solar capacity than currently exists in any state other than California," Ralph LaRossa, PSE&G's president and COO, said in a statement.
LaRossa is referring to California's giant solar installation approved in February 2009, for the utility Pacific Gas & Electric to produce 500 megawatts worth of solar energy from distributed solar panels throughout the state.
Artist's rendering of the Universal Freight System loading a standard shipping container on to a train.
(Credit: Texas Transportation Institute)A group of Texas researchers would like to resurrect the train as chief freight mover in the U.S.
The Universal Freight Shuttle is the brainchild of Stephen Roop, assistant director Texas Transportation Institute (TTI), a branch of Texas A&M University's system chain.
The automated train, which is designed to accommodate standard shipping containers and trailers, would move forward along a track by linear induction motors powered with electricity.
Roop and others at TTI have been working on the concept and design for eight years, keeping in mind not just the technology, but how such an infrastructure would impact federal and state transportation departments, freight companies, shippers, and border security.
In addition to providing a cleaner option for shipping freight, the UFS includes a conveyor-like system to screen standard shipping containers at ports and borders while they're in motion, and automatically divert suspect containers to an area for further human inspection.
"It's moving into a commercial phase with prototyping and proposals for application in both Texas and California. This system is designed to offer an alternative to over-the-road trucking for heavily congested corridors. It is of course an electric, zero-emission solution," Roop said in an e-mail.
A UPS medium-duty truck containing Eaton's hybrid hydraulic system parked near the Capitol for 'Hybrid on the Hill Day.'
(Credit: Eaton Corp.)We often fret over our own gas mileage and that of our neighbors' cars, but how often do we stop to think about the commercial trucking industry's impact on the environment?
FedEx Express announced in November 2008 a plan to purchase vehicles that combine Azure Dynamics' hybrid system with a Ford gasoline engine and chassis. The company now claims to be one of the first to use gasoline hybrid-electric delivery trucks for commercial use.
Peterbilt began offering four hybrid models of commercial trucks in 2008.
UPS has begun using hybrid trucks containing Eaton's energy-saving Series Hybrid Hydraulic System technology.
But those changes barely made news outside of their industry despite the fact that commercial trucking is thought to be a significant contributor to carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S.
Perhaps that's why the Hybrid Truck Users Forum (HTUF) Incentive Working Group and Calstart saw fit to sponsor an event on the topic this Thursday.
And that is why Capitol Hill on Thursday is getting an upfront seat to the latest available in terms of hybrid commercial trucks at the "Hybrid on the Hill Day."
FedEx Express already has hybrid medium-duty trucks in its city fleets.
(Credit: FedEx Express)Unlike other Washington, D.C., events that have highlighted hybrid cars and SUVs, Thursday's event features 17 medium and heavy-duty commercial hybrid trucks with participants from companies in the HTUF group that include Mack, Peterbilt, Freightliner, Kenworth, and FedEx Express.
The event taking place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. EDT at the Capitol Reflecting Pool includes speakers discussing the benefits of hybrids in reducing emissions and cutting fuel use for the commercial trucking industry versus the initial cost layout of investing in new fleets during a tough economy, according to Calstart.
Duke University is also scheduled to unveil a report on the growth of the hybrid truck sector and what effects it may have on the commercial trucking industry.
Here is a mock-up of the EyeStop bus shelter.
(Credit: MIT Senseable City Lab)High-tech bus stops so cool they might actually entice you to take a ride will be installed next year in Florence, Italy.
The urban fixtures have been designed by a group of researchers led by Carlo Ratti, head of the Senseable City Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The EyeStop is a touch-screen bus shelter that monitors environmental conditions and real-time bus movement and also provides information and communication tools that can interact with your cell phone.
The EyeStop, which has touch sensitive e-Ink screens as well as LEDs, features a bus map plotting locations in real-time, e-mail and Web access, tools for planning a best route and getting directions, a community bulletin board, and, of course, a place for silent video advertisements. It will also use sensors to monitor and display local air quality.
Riders can choose to have their local EyeStop bus stop sync with their cell phone. The EyeStop you normally frequent, for example, could twitter you that your usual bus is running late that morning.
Intended for tourists as well as locals, the EyeStop tools will be accessible in several languages.
About 1,000 EyeStop bus poles will be installed in Florence, Italy, in 2010.
(Credit: MIT Senseable City Lab)A bus pole version of the EyeStop with similar mapping, info, and communication tools will also be introduced. It glows brighter as the next bus nears the stop to signal pedestrians from afar.
The design for the EyeStop was unveiled this week at the Genio Fiorentino festival in Florence, and a prototype will soon follow.
Florence residents will start testing the high-tech bus stop's usefulness, durability, and limitations in October. Following that, about 200 bus shelters and 1,000 bus poles are expected to be installed next year. The EyeStop was developed by Ratti's project team, in collaborartion with the Province of Florence and Florence's local transportation authority.
The bus shelter and bus pole versions of the EyeStop will power themselves with solar energy, but they won't be one-size-fits-all.
Each EyeStop will be customized by a computer program that takes into account the stop's immediate surroundings. As a result, each can be built to fit into the existing space using steel, glass, and gray stone local to Florence. The software also considers maximum sunlight exposure for the location to determine power generation needs.
But is it graffiti proof?
"We have looked into special glass surfaces that are self-cleaning and graffiti proof," Ratti said in an e-mail. "However, we will perform some real tests before building the prototype in October."
This is EyeStop bus shelter with an imaginary user.
(Credit: MIT Senseable City Lab)Ford Motor offered a glimpse into one of its testing labs on Tuesday. The showcase was assumably to promote the new safety features in its upcoming lineup of cars, and as you can imagine, the peek into this world of crash test dummies is rather amusing.
One of the technologies Ford talked about testing was a new air bag system, which was put in the 2009 F-150 and will be in the 2010 Ford Taurus. Instead of being acceleration-based, the new sensors are pressure-based, which makes them more accurate, according to Ford, but also more sensitive.
The company wanted to make sure the highly sensitive system in its cars was not set off by minor everyday annoyances. Obviously, there's no need for an air bag to deploy when things like shopping carts, baseballs, and bicycles hit the side of a car. To that end, Ford's safety group engineers incorporated real-world scenarios combined with robots and other sophisticated lab equipment that go beyond the usual car collision tests.
One of its tests involves a robot plowing a shopping cart filled with 110 pounds of weight (roughly one kid and a full cart of groceries) into the side of a Taurus at 10 miles per hour.
Another test has Ford engineers driving the cars at high speeds on a test track of curbs, potholes, and ditches to re-create the real-life carelessness most drivers engage in at some point, but likely never admit to.
Is this method really necessary, or just something Ford engineers came up with to break up the monotony of sifting through safety testing data?
"Blasting and ramming cars may seem over-the-top, but they're part of a serious testing regimen that Ford had to invent, because increasingly sophisticated technologies require more advanced testing," Sue Cischke, vice president of Ford's Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering Group, said in a statement.
Ford's new air bags are sensor-based so they can deploy before the full impact of a crash occurs, but not so sensitive they go off from an errant baseball or shopping cart. (Click above to see more photos.)
(Credit: Ford Motor)
Ford's Michigan Assembly Plant in city of Wayne.
(Credit: Ford Motor)Ford Motor plans to spend $550 million to retool its Michigan Assembly Plant so it will be capable of producing its new line of Ford Focus cars, the company announced Wednesday.
More than $160 million of the money Ford plans to invest in the Wayne, Mich.-based plant will come from tax credits and grants from the state of Michigan, Wayne County, and the city of Wayne.
The rebuilt plant, which Ford expects to support more than 3,000 jobs, will produce the new Ford Focus, and, eventually, the battery-electric version of Focus that the company plans to begin producing in 2011 for a 2012 release.
About 155 jobs will be salaried positions, and 3,180 jobs will be hourly worker positions at the Wayne location, according to Ford.
"This is about investing in modern, efficient and flexible American manufacturing. It is about fuel economy and the electrification of vehicles," Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally said in a statement.
The Michigan Assembly Plant (formerly known as the Michigan Truck Plant) originally opened in 1957 and has produced the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator, as well as the Ford Bronco and Ford F-Series, according to Ford.
The Michigan change is part of Ford's plan to convert three of its North American plants so that it can introduce six small cars to the American market by the end of 2012. The other two plants undergoing renovation are the Cuautitlan Assembly Plant in Mexico, which will begin producing the Ford Fiesta in 2010, and the Louisville, Ky., plant, which will begin producing cars build with the Ford Focus platform starting in 2011.
