2013 - Page 3 of 15 - Green Businesses

Driverless Electric Shuttle debuts in Singapore (VIDEO)

My dream of one day being a shuttle driver in Singapore may now be in the gutter…but this video does show that all is not lost–especially if you’re on this 100% electric, 100% driverless shuttle.

by Jo Borrás for CleanTechnica.

One of my favorite things about St. Augustine are the tourist trolleys that shuttle people around the historic sites and let you learn the history of that old city without worrying too much about the traffic, pedestrians, drunken pub-crawlers, etc. Despite cutting down on the number of rental cars, the trolleys aren’t nearly as clean as they can be. The ones I experienced were Ford V8-powered machines, or else not-so-clean diesels with train bodies. So, how do we get the benefits of a downtown trolley without so much combustion? Singapore has the answer: an electric shuttle that drives itself called the Navia.

Here’s a quick video, from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, that …

Copenhagen Bike-Sharing Service peddles The Most High-Tech Program Yet

Where I grew up, a bike sharing meant the bike you were riding probably belonged to another kid on the street. Sometimes the bikes were even given back. I love bikes and gadgets, and I found the following article "spoke" to me. Originally published on Bikocity. For the next generation of bike-sharing innovations, take a look at Copenhagen and smile. Trains and a bike-sharing program working as one travel option now offer a GPS built into the bike. Not only do you know where to pick up your next connection – you have a schedule of all local train times between your front bars. The Europeans and Copenhageners (again) increase a bike lover’s convenience in transit with this new innovation. With an Android tablet offering a built-in GPS, real-time train departures and ticket integration, and real-time info on available bikes and docks in the area, one glides easily from destination to destination. Paul DeMaio writes: For the Blog’s U.S. readers, can you imagine Amtrak g…

Geothermal, Solar Put Oregon Tech On All-Renewables Course

Pete Danko for Earthtechling Oregon Tech thinks it’s back on track with its ambitious goal of becoming the first university in North America to generate all of the electrical power it requires – from renewable sources, no less. The university, in Klamath Falls on the eastern slope of the Cascade Mountains in southern Oregon, is in a great spot for renewable energy. Klamath Falls boasts that it gets nearly 300 days of sunshine a year, and the Klamath Basin sits atop a geothermal reservoir. Geothermal already serves campus heating needs and there’s a 280-kilowatt geothermal combined heat and power plant on campus. Geothermal also provides process heat to the local wastewater treatment plant and keeps dozens of city buildings, schools, swimming pools and more warm. Two-megawatt solar array going in at Oregon Tech (image via Oregon Institute of Technology) What the 3,900-student university has been aiming to do for some years now is add a 1.75 megawatt geothermal power …

White House To Finally Get Solar Panels

How many years ago was it promised that the White House would have solar panels installed on the roof? Three that seemed more like twelve. The disappointments that resulted from the unfulfilled promise were great and not at all necessary. How hard is it to get a small number of them on the roof of the White House? Offers were made to provide the technology and installation for free, and they were ignored. Finally, the installation appears to be happening, according to the Washington Post. It’s hard to tell if this great news or just sort of a buzz kill drawn out over what seemed like a less than magical drought. The premise behind having them installed back in the 1970s by then President Jimmy Carter was simple enough and that was the main appeal. If the number one house in America could be powered by solar, at least partly, then many members of the public might come to see they could use them too. They didn’t last too long though, because the center of American culture was…

HyRef Technology Revolutionizes Renewable Energy Forecasting

IBM has long been known for building some of the world’s most powerful supercomputers, but what happens when it applies advanced modeling to solving the intermittency of renewable energy? The answer, it turns out, is “Hybrid Renewable Energy Forecasting” (HyRef). This new technology, already online in China, is able to produce accurate local weather and renewable energy forecasts as far as one month in advance, down to 15-minute increments. The HyRef technology combines advanced power and weather computer modeling, sophisticated cloud imaging, sky-facing cameras, and on-site sensors to accurately predict solar power and wind energy output and increase the amount of renewable electricity flowing onto grids across the world. HyRef forecast system graphic via IBM Crowded Field In Renewable Energy Forecasting Race HyRef joins an increasingly crowded field of innovative technologies seeking to accurately predict the output of renewable energy resources. The National…

GM Drops Sticker Price For Chevy Volt For 2014

Nino Marchetti for Earthtechling General Motors is set to debut the 2014 Chevrolet Volt, and with the new model year of what’s noted as being the best selling plug-in vehicle in America comes a price drop. The extended range electric vehicle will start for $34,995 which, with a federal tax credit of up to $7,500, could drop the starting price to $27,495 before one applies other price reductions such as green vehicle rebates in select states. GM is looking to broaden the vehicle’s exposure to price-sensitive prospective buyers, especially in regards to trying to make the Volt competitive against lower cost gas-powered sedans. Those who pony up for the car will be joining those, according to the automaker, who, when charging regularly, drive 900 miles between fill-ups and visit the gas station about once a month. The 2014 Volt will continue to provide owners with [a] fuel economy of 98 MPGe (electric) and 35 city/40 highway on gasoline power without any need to change thei…