CES 2010 - Nokia's New Mobile Game and Improved Travel Guide Higlight Green

Nokia earned the top spot on Greenpeace's latest Green Electronics Guide, earning props for their systematic elimination of hazardous materials from their products, reducing the size of their packaging, selecting recycled and recyclable materials for their products and so on. But it's not all about what's in the products, it's also about what you can do with them. Nokia is putting green thinking front and center with a new mobile game, and improvements to their Green Explorer website for travelers.

Nokia has beefed up its Green Explorer website, which helps travelers make as light a footprint on the planet as possible while moving around the globe. The site provides travelers with comparisons on transportation options, shows landmarks, gets feedback from locals on the eco-features of the destinations, and so on.

The site has added features such as a photo gallery that lets people explore the area without actually going there - which means making the lightest possible footprint - tips for what customs and regulations for eco-friendliness the area has in place, so you know recycling policies to follow and so forth, and an improved maps feature that guides you around the city from above, in 3D, or even offline, with quick reference to train schedules and green travel options.

Nokia also has a new game free to mobile users who have a touch-screen Nokia phone. It has a series of tasks you can do, such as strategic tree planting, helping ants collect pine needles, and other fun time-wasters that teach you about environmental issues as you play. The games are simplistic but fun to pull up while waiting for an appointment, or for kids. It's available free from Nokia's app store.

Source : http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/01/ces-2010-nokias-new-mobile-game-and-improved-travel-guide.php

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Solar Water Heaters Mandatory in Hawaii

As of January 1, 2010, building permits on all single-family new home construction in Hawaii may not be issued for homes that do not include a solar water heating system. This legislation, SB644, was enacted in June of 2009; however, the state energy resources coordinator may be able to provide a variance for this requirement if:

• Installation is impracticable due to poor solar resource;

• Installation is cost-prohibitive based upon a life cycle cost-benefit analysis that incorporates the average residential utility bill and the cost of the new solar water heating system with a life cycle that does not exceed 15 years;

• A renewable energy technology system is substituted for use as the primary energy source for heating water; or

• A demand water heater device approved by UL is installed; provided that at least one other gas appliance is installed in the dwelling. (A "demand water heater" means a gas-tankless instantaneous water heater that provides hot water only as it is needed.)

While the legislation is already in effect, the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission must still adopt specifications for the required performance, materials, components, durability, longevity, proper sizing, installation and quality of solar water heaters.

Already, even before the impact of this new legislation is felt, there are over 65,000 solar water heaters in use in Hawaii today, including thousands on the Big Island. In fact, Hawaii ranks number one in the nation when it comes to using energy from the sun to heat water.

With an eye toward the future, Hawaii law makers understand that conventional water heaters are typically the largest electricity consumer in the average household, gobbling up nearly 40% of consumption. Hawaii's move to force solar heating is a big step for a state that relies heavily on imported fossil fuels for 90% of its supply. This bill has been a long time coming - when the legislation was first introduced five years ago, a barrel of oil cost just $40. Since then, the price has more than tripled.

Overall, solar water heating may save about $6 to $12 or more per person per month when replacing a standard electric resistance water heater. The savings, of course, will vary by household based in part on each person's hot water usage.

Using solar water heating can help keep electric rates down by also reducing electricity demand during the peak evening times from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. when people often use hot water for washing dishes, taking showers, and so forth. To meet this evening peak demand, less efficient electricity generation units must be brought on-line by the power companies. These less efficient units cost more to run and this increase in cost is passed on to consumers.

Not surprisingly, builders and developers were against the new bill, saying it would add too much to the cost of new home constructions. Another surprising opponent was the Hawaii Solar Energy Association. Ron Richmond, with the association, said in an interview with the Star Bulletin, the new legislation would cost home buyers about $2,100 more to have the solar water heaters installed. The average solar water heater, according to the article, currently costs about $5,250, before rebates.

The length of time required to recoup your original investment (payback) will vary widely and depend on whether the purchase is paid for outright or financed and how much energy (electricity, gas, etc.) is saved. Simple payback is the length of time required to recover your investment through reduced or avoided costs. You can expect a shorter payback in areas that have higher energy costs, where the family uses a moderate to large amount of hot water per person, and for homes with more occupants. Finance charges will also lengthen the payback period.

While this new program may make some new homeowners balk at first, there are additional benefits when the cost of a solar water heating system is included in the mortgage for a home purchase. The interest rates are usually lower than on a short-term loan. In addition, the small additional increase in the monthly mortgage payment may be more than made up for in reduced energy costs (electricity or gas).

In the short run, those purchasing new homes in Hawaii may feel a pinch in their wallet upfront in having to install a solar hot water heater; however, over a short period of time, these new homeowners will easily recoup their investment. And, more importantly, by diversifying the State of Hawaii's mix of energy resources by using more renewable energy, such as solar, helps to make Hawaii less dependent on non-renewable energy sources and, in my opinion, a Greener place to live.

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Using Simulated Distillation as Efficient Tool for Modeling Biofuels

Researchers at the University of Graz are proposing the use of simulated distillation (SimDis) as an efficient and effective method to classify biodiesel fuels regarding boiling characteristics and quality. SimDis is a gas chromatographic method widely used in petroleum industries to determine the distillation behavior of different petroleum products and to ensure fuel quality.

In a paper published online 30 December 2009 in the ACS journal Energy & Fuels, Christine Bachler, Sigurd Schober, and Martin Mittelbach show that SimDis can be used to characterize boiling behaviors of different kinds of biodiesel, with a good correlation between data obtained using SimDis and conventional distillation.

Applying the method to two different kinds of biodiesel and biodiesel blends in their study, they show that shorter chain fatty acid methyl esters—e.g., as can be found in coconut oil—can significantly change the distillation characteristic to a more favorable distillation curve, which resembles a fossil diesel fuels boiling behavior.

Biodiesel can differ in chemical composition, unlike fossil hydrocarbon fuels. The fatty acid composition of biodiesel affects critical parameters such as cetane number, cold flow properties, and oxidation stability as well as distillation characteristics.

It is already known that biodiesel basically consists of methyl esters of C₁₆ and C₁₈ fatty acids with similar boiling points. Biodiesel therefore exhibits a narrow boiling range around 350 °C with initial boiling points at 300 °C. In contrast, fossil diesel additionally contains lower boiling compounds, resulting in a steadily increasing boiling behavior starting at 200 °C.

Generally, high-boiling compounds are connected to engine deposits, increase of exhaust gases, and higher cetane numbers, whereas a high amount of volatile compounds can reduce the flash point of the fuel. Further, there is a need to ensure a certain boiling behavior of the diesel fuel due to engine operability, start of the motors, and in the stage of preheating. Recently, the distillation curve is also of main interest in development of diesel fuel surrogates to ensure good engine performance and minimization of pollutants.

—Bachler et al.

Current methods and other procedures based on classic physical distillation suffer from poor reproducibility and are time-consuming and laborious, the authors note. Using simulated distillation simplifies the procedure to obtain distillation characteristics of novel kinds of fuel—e.g., from algae oil or new species of oilseed—where sample amounts are small-sized and fast methods are of great importance.

As a consequence of the general trend to create lower-boiling fuels in order to reduce emissions, simulated distillation is an efficient tool for fuel modeling.

—Bachler et al.

In the study, the researchers used biodiesel produced from rapeseed oil (RME) and from coconut oil (CME)—which differ in their fatty acid composition—along with a petroleum diesel fuel from BP. Among their findings were:

• RME shows a narrow boiling range at temperatures around 350 °C due to the fact of rather high boiling point components, namely fatty acid methyl esters of chain length C₁₆ to C₁₈.

• Coconut oil contains fatty acids of lower boiling point and therefore CME shows a reduced boiling behavior. CME exhibits a distillation characteristic resembling a fossil diesel fuel boiling behavior.

• By mixing RME with CME or fossil diesel fuel, the boiling behavior can be changed, resulting in favorable steadily increasing distillation characteristics.

• The use of pure CME as fuel is not favorable in most European countries due to bad cold properties. However, by mixing CME with RME or diesel fuel the CFPP value can be decreased to adequate values even for moderate climates by maintaining a boiling behavior that still shows ideal characteristics. A certain amount of lower boiling point methyl esters therefore always needs to be selected by consideration of the resulting cold properties of the fuel.

• Fuel blends containing 10% CME seem to represent a good solution.

Further it could be shown that simulated distillation is a powerful tool in analysis, development, and of course in improvement of different kinds of fuels by using widely available laboratory equipment for reduced time and non-negligible potential for automation.

—Bachler et al.

Resources

• Christine Bachler, Sigurd Schober, and Martin Mittelbach (2009) Simulated Distillation for Biofuel Analysis. Energy Fuels doi: 10.1021/ef901295s

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