Epic 'Evolution in 1 Minute' Video

The Evolution video condenses years of history into just 1 minute, it's a self-contained timepiece. Like a specialized clock, it gives one a sense of perspective.

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Let's put solar panels on every home

David Crane and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote an excellent op-ed in the New York Times calling for Solar Panels for Every Home, the price of which has dropped by 80% in the last five years.

Crane and Kennedy start by noting that utilities are urgently rebuilding the exact same antiquated electric power grid build of vulnerable copper wire and wooden poles that was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy, instead of superior 21st century options that should include solar panels on every home and building.

And, while many are investing in dirty, noisy, and expensive portable gas-powered generators to gain some degree of "grid independence," Kennedy and Crane suggest that placing solar panels on every home and building would be a far more cost-effective way of improving our energy security, reducing our energy costs, and reducing fossil fuel emissions.

Solar photovoltaic technology can significantly reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and our dependence on the grid. Electricity-producing photovoltaic panels installed on houses, on the roofs of warehouses and big box stores and over parking lots can be wired so that they deliver power when the grid fails.

Solar panels have dropped in price by 80 percent in the past five years and can provide electricity at a cost that is at or below the current retail cost of grid power in 20 states, including many of the Northeast states. So why isn’t there more of a push for this clean, affordable, safe and inexhaustible source of electricity? ...Today, navigating the regulatory red tape constitutes 25 percent to 30 percent of the total cost of solar installation in the United States, according to data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and, as such, represents a higher percentage of the overall cost than the solar equipment itself.

By comparison, the federal government of Germany streamlined and standardized permitting which can now be done in as little as 8 days, instead of the 120 to 180 days it can take in the U.S.

More than one million Germans have installed solar panels on their roofs. Australia also has a streamlined permitting process and has solar panels on 10 percent of its homes. Solar photovoltaic power would give America the potential to challenge the utility monopolies, democratize energy generation and transform millions of homes and small businesses into energy generators. Rational, market-based rules could turn every American into an energy entrepreneur. That transition to renewable power could create millions of domestic jobs and power in this country with American resourcefulness, initiative and entrepreneurial energy while taking a substantial bite out of the nation’s emissions of greenhouse gases and other dangerous pollutants.

I agree with Crane and Kennedy that we need to eliminate complex and fragmented web of "regulatory hurdles impeding solar generation" and also and renew the "renewable energy tax credit — which Congress seems poised to eliminate — to balance the subsidies enjoyed by fossil fuel producers."

What a tremendous opportunity for a jobs stimulus plan. As Kennedy and Crane conclude, "the technology is here, we just need the political will" to do it."

Please let your representatives know you care and support national streamlined regulation, (which I believe is sponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders,)  and an extension of the renewable energy tax credit so we can build a better future.

Using the Tesla Effect, Electric Buses Charge as They Go

Utah State University presented a first-of-its-kind electric bus that is charged through wireless charging technology.

The Aggie Bus rolled onto the streets carrying passengers ; just 16 months after USU demonstrated the first high-power, high-efficiency wireless power transfer system capable of transferring enough energy to quickly charge an electric vehicle. In July 2011, the USU Research Foundation demonstrated 90 percent electrical transfer efficiency of five kilowatts over an air gap of 10 inches. The demonstration validated that electric vehicles can efficiently be charged with wireless technology.

USU’s Wireless Power Transfer team, in cooperation with the Utah Science Technology and Research initiative’s Advanced Transportation Institute at USU, has designed a more efficient way to meet the nation’s transportation needs. By carefully applying a mix of modern advances in engineering and Nikola Tesla’s principles of induction, USU engineer Hunter Wu and his team have solved one of today’s vexing problems in WPT.
Their research has led to the development of a robust prototype, which has been fitted to the Aggie Bus. The prototype transfers power over an air gap where no physical contact is required. Wireless power transfer technology delivers a multitude of benefits to consumers that include greater reliability due to no moving parts or cords, added convenience through the elimination of plug-in charging, the assurance of safety by removing the risk of electrocution and aesthetically pleasing devices as a result of no visible wiring.

USU’s Aggie Bus has achieved several significant milestones. It is the first bus developed and designed by a North American organization that is charged with wireless power transfer technology and is the world’s first electric bus with WPT technology combining the three following performance metrics: A power level up to 25 kilowatts, greater than 90 percent efficiency from the power grid to the battery and a maximum misalignment of up to six inches.

“The unveiling of the Aggie Bus today is a historic achievement and a great leap forward in the science and engineering related to electric vehicles,” said Robert T. Behunin, Ph.D., USU vice president of commercialization and regional development. “As a result of the work done by Utah State engineers, scientists and partners, EV owners and operators will now be able to simply drive over a pad in the ground to recharge their batteries, the benefits of which reach far beyond convenience.”

WAVE Inc., a Utah State University spin-out company, worked in cooperation with the USTAR Advanced Transportation Institute to develop the Aggie Bus. WAVE tackles the problem of heavy and expensive electric vehicle batteries through wireless power that transfers electricity between vehicles and the roadway. The Aggie Bus represents a market-ready product that will be used to retire significant technical risk as WAVE moves onto full-scale projects next year.

WAVE, in partnership with the Utah Transit Authority, will launch its first commercial demonstration in mid-2013 on the University of Utah’s campus. It will feature a 40-foot transit bus on a public transit route and an increase in wireless power transfer charging from 25 kilowatts to 50 kilowatts. The project has been funded by a $2.7 million TIGGER grant from the Federal Transit Administration and the University of Utah which purchased the bus. WAVE intends to deliver a commercially ready product that operates with the same reliability as current public transit bus options, including diesel and compressed natural gas buses.

“Current battery limitations prevent an all-electric transit bus from operating all day from an overnight charge. WAVE solves that problem by charging the bus wirelessly during its daily operations when the bus stops to load and off-load passengers,” said Wesley Smith, CEO of WAVE. “This technology makes electric buses competitive with their diesel hybrid and CNG counterparts.”

Utah State University has refashioned the way in which it conducts its technology transfer operation. The office of Commercial Enterprises, a division of Commercialization and Regional Development, provides a one-stop-shop for industry partnership and intellectual property development. The Utah Science Technology and Research initiative is an innovative and far-reaching initiative of the Utah legislature to bolster Utah’s high-tech economy by investing in university research programs and recruiting new, high caliber faculty. Utah State’s wireless power transfer team is a significant part of USU’s USTAR portfolio.

SOURCE: Utah State University and WAVE Inc