Green Tech Part 2

This is part 2 of the Green Technology series; the idea is to discuss how technology is paving the future of environmentally friendly ideas and concepts into production with real world usage.

Last week, I discussed GE's new GEnx jet propulsion engine that is going to be incorporated into the new fleet of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. This week, I found the Chevy Volt. Chevy? Yes. Chevrolet? Yes. As in, GM? Yes, GM.

Probably the first good thing GM has done in a long time is revamp its electric car...after the company killed it in 2003 with the required return of all leased EV1 cars. Regardless of the past, the Chevy Volt is certainly a "jolt" to an industry that is currently dominated by Asian automakers. But before you judge the behemoth of a failure that GM has been, take a look at the Chevy Volt.

Is that really a Chevy?? Yeah, it surprised me too, yes it is real in all its glory; something that cannot be said about a GM vehicle, period. So what makes this car green?

The underlying concept, even though it is just a hybrid, is that it is an electric powered, gasoline assisted vehicle. Generally, its been the other way around, gasoline powered, electric assisted. However, the concept behind the Volt is that most Americans drive under 40 miles a day. So, if you make a vehicle that has an electric range of 40 miles, then you will be satisfying the need of most Americans without using a drop of gas. Of course, that range increases a bit with regenerative braking and constant recharging, etc.

Powering the Volt is also pretty straight forward; simply plug the car into a standard wall outlet and voila! By the time you wake up, the car will be fully juiced and ready to take you wherever
you need to go. Since it runs on an electric motor, there are no emissions of any kind, and its completely clean. In addition, an added benefit is that the motor does not have to shift into higher gears to reach optimal performance. You have 100% of the torque as soon as you touch the gas pedal, and that relates to some really fast 0 - 60mph timings. I won't delve into all those details but I will say that you will have no problem reaching highway speeds from take off.

Lithium-ion batteries, like the ones in a laptop, have made this technology possible. By coupling a bunch of lithium-ion batteries and adding a really sophisticated processor to the entire mix, you have a very useful system that is relatively cheap and also very environmentally friendly. After all, being environmentally friendly is what the green age is all about.

Green Tech Part 1

With all the talk about going green (make sure you check out the Experience Green blogs), I decided to take a look at how technology can help us achieve that goal. Obviously, technology is what got us into this rut in the first place; we might as well have technology clean it up. This is the first of a two part post which explores technology that is trying to make the world a better place.

Lets get a roundup of exactly what companies are producing to enter this new green age.

General Electric (or simply GE) has designed an aircraft engine, the GEnx, that has 15% better fuel economy, 60% less noise, and the ability to meet stringent NOx (emissions) regulations.

The blades and the external housing of the GEnx are made with composite materials that are lighter, stronger, and able to last much longer than aluminum, or steel. Such materials can reduce the weight of the entire engine by up to 350 lbs which translates into more fuel efficiency as the engine can burn less fuel with the same energy output.

However, since Boeing began production of the Dreamliner, they needed an engine that can produce more power and with all the cost saving features included. To achieve this, the GEnx engine, a standard on all of Boeing's new Dreamliners, will have a 23:1 compression ratio. This will effectively
allow the engine to generate up to 85,000 lbs of thrust for the massive aircraft.

Now, you would think that making bigger things is not necessarily in the best interest of the green age; it isn't size we should be concerned about (for the most part...) but rather, how we are able to energize and utilize whatever we make. If a bigger airplane has better fuel economy and more power than a regular airplane, then why not go bigger?

The question is not why, but rather, how can we make things that are efficient and provide the same or better utility while still being good for the environment.

Read more of this series.

Wireless Transfers

If you own a smartphone, then you would know that there are two types of data transmitting and receiving ways that are separate from regular phone signals from cell towers. I bring this up in a sort of celebration of the passing of older technology.

The advent of both technologies has revolutionized data transmission in their own right. The main difference between Bluetooth and Infrared is line of sight. This means that a Bluetooth device does not have to be facing another Bluetooth device to be able to interact with it whereas Infrared does. That TV remote which never works unless you point it directly at the TV...yea, thats Infrared.

The reason Infrared was adopted back in 1917 until present is because it is almost dirt cheap to utilize and also has almost no maintenance costs associated with it in civil use. Point and Click was the idea.

However, times have changed a bit since then. Once data transmission was included in the picture, infrared was just not fast enough....at all. And just like that, almost like a knight in shining armor appears Ericsson and a host of different companies including IBM, Toshiba, Intel, Microsoft, etc., with this new technology initially named multi-communicator link.

taken from: pioneer.co.uk

The beauty of Bluetooth is that it does almost all the work for you in terms of connecting to the device and figuring out what the device is and how to control it. Sending a picture or ringtone to a friend now is as easy as connecting the phones via Bluetooth and hitting send.

The future of wireless technology is in Bluetooth's adoption of Ultra-wideband radio technology (UWB) that is meant to increase speeds of transfer up to 480Mbps while still maintaining low power consumption. Pretty soon, HD video on your cell phone will be standard.

Battery Tech

Ever wonder why your laptop battery gets worse at holding a charge over time? What exactly is going on in the world of battery technology? Who is responsible for the next big breakthrough? My job seems to entail wondering about such things that people would otherwise not consider. Without further ado, lets just get right into it.

There are generally three types of common batteries:

• Alkaline (standard)
• Zinc-Chloride (heavy duty)
  
• Nickel Metal Hydride (rechargeable)

In a nutshell, an internal chemical reaction creates electrons that, when connected to something, such as a light bulb, will travel through the battery to the bulb and power it up. However, the reaction only occurs when the positive and negative terminals are connected to each other. This explains why batteries have long shelf-lives because without the chemical reaction, there are no electrons flowing.

Also, due to the chemical reaction that occurs in every battery, the only way to make a battery last longer is to make it bigger. However, we are trying to make everything (well...almost everything) smaller!

To make a battery that is smaller and lasts longer, we have to veer away from the chemical reaction process that is the norm these days. A new Texas startup called EEStor is doing just that. The exact workings of the batteries they are trying to produce are vague but what we do know is that they are making batteries that are a type of ultracapacitor hybrid based on barium-titanate powders. So what exactly does that mean? Yeah, I'm waiting for that explanation too, but the system is claimed to increase performance and power output by a factor of ten.

The next breakthrough occurred at Stanford University where research led by Yi Cui, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, has figured out a way to make Lithium-Ion batteries (commonly found in laptops and cellphones) produce ten times the amount of electricity as standard lithium ion batteries. This means they could also last up to 20 hours longer than regular batteries. The technology behind this is based on nano-technology.

Image source: Stanford University

Millions of silicon nano fibers that are about 1000 times smaller than the thickness of a strand of hair are used to capture electricity. They swell up to about 10 times their size when they store electricity and can last much longer than today's batteries.

Advancements such as the ones described above make it possible for us to create next-generation gadgets and devices that can stay on longer between charging. Such advancements also propel the alternative energy industry as more batteries are being used in automobiles everyday.

Soccer Tech

Having recently watched the Euro Cup finals, I began to wonder what kind of technology is employed into the world of soccer. Having watched every single game of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, I think its fair to say that I am a fan of the sport. With technology on the forefront of my grey matter (the brain), I set about to research my intended topic.

The two main types of technology utilized by the Soccer tournaments around the world are:

• RFID embeded tickets
• Soccer Ball Curved Panels

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is a method of tracking widely utilized in the retail industry. They look like stickers with a spiraling silver thread on the adhesive back. In a nut shell, when a transmitter sends out a radio signal, it is captured in the spiral on the back of the sticker and converted into a minute electrical charge that is used to transmit a weak, but detectable, signal. This signal is then captured by the original transmitter and then analyzed.









Basically, if the RFID is not disabled, it will emit a signal at the exit that will be recognized when you exit a store and all hell breaks loose. I do not suggest you rob a store to find out about this. Tickets to the 2006 FIFA World Cup had embeded RFID tags in them with the intention of deterring counterfeiters. After all, it is the World Cup.

One of the other major innovations in the sport was the reinvention of the Soccer Ball. Traditionally, the soccer ball is made up of hexagons, hand stitched into a circular shape. The more hexagons you use, the more circular the ball will be. However, hexagons still had corners, meaning that the ball would never be a true sphere. To overcome this hurdle, the folks at Adidas came up with an ingenious curved-paneling design.
Pictured above is the curved-paneling design that was employed in all the 2006 FIFA World Cup matches. It has become the standard for soccer ball design since. The curved-paneling design ensures that corners will be minimized and a more truer sphere will be achieved. The soccer ball pictured to the left is the final design that set the standard for all soccer balls made since. So what is the point of creating a truer sphere? Well, a ball that is more round will have better accuracy and will also travel faster and longer through the air. Though the distance might be a few feet extra, in the world of professional sport, that is enough distance to make or break any game. Players are more accurate with this new design and are more comfortable with it because it is easier to use once one is used to it.

Now this does not mean that any person can become an instant soccer star because aiming a soccer ball can still be challenging. What the folks at Adidas claim is that it will be a little bit easier than before.

The way technology shapes our lives is quite evident by merely looking around but it is the things that we do not really look at, like equipment in professional sports, where the true innovation lies. Competition is the fuel required to power a necessary part of technological development...so compete! And be victorious!