Hasta La Gadget!

The California Air Resources Board will give four separate groups–Mebtahi Station Services, the San Francisco Airport, Shell Hydrogen,
and UCLA –a total of $1.7 million each to build four hydrogen refueling stations in Los Angeles and San Francisco, according to AutoblogGreen.

The four
stations will be compatible with fuel cell vehicles like the Honda FCX Clarity–and give Jamie Lee Curtis more refueling options. The report said that the four stations will double the amount of hydrogen fuel currently available to the public–which is amazing when you think about the bang-for-the-buck quotient. Specifically, the four stations in total will provide up to 460 kilograms of hydrogen every 24 hours. That’s enough to refuel about 100 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles per day.

“Hydrogen is one of the many
fuels in California’s future,” said Mary Nichols, CARB’s chairman, in a statement. “We need to cultivate the
industry’s early growth.”

It’s been a while since the first hybrid taxi cabs hit major cities. Now San Francisco’s first 15 hybrid taxis, all Ford Escapes, have made it
to about the 300,000-mile mark, according to the LA Times. The milestone means that those first cabs are nearing retirement age; the city will soon take them off the road as a result.

“Their longevity
shows that hybrid technology is more durable than previously imagined;
they also have saved drivers about $9,000 a year, depending on gas
prices and number of shifts driven,” the report said.

About 15 percent of both San Francisco and New York’s fleet of cabs are currently hybrids. Hybrids are considered ideal for taxi cab use. Not only do they get better mileage than conventional gasoline cars, but they also have cleaner emissions, and do better still at idling and lower speeds–where city taxis spend most of their time. (Image credit: Wikimedia Commons)

The California Energy Commission is proceeding with a proposal this summer to ban the sale of TV sets that do not meet new efficiency standards when they are turned on and displaying a picture — a measure of power consumption that is not currently regulated at all.

But the market and technological advances may already be advancing this goal, as large-screen plasma sets fall out of favor and LCDs become more energy efficient.

The CEC proposal is set up as a two-tiered system. The first enforces efficiency standards beginning in 2011 and would save 3,831 gigawatt hours (and bring down overall TV energy consumption by 33%) by placing a cap on the active mode power usage (in watts) of individual TVs. Current standards in California only regulate TVs in standby mode, at a cap of 3.0 watts.

According to the Commission, energy used in standby mode only represents about 5 percent of all TV energy consumption.

The proposal is based on the following formulas:

The program’s 2013 second stage promises to reduce energy use by 49%. If they are enforced, the new standards are expected to save Californians between $18 and $30 a year per TV set in energy costs. As noted by the Commission, current LCDs use about .27-watts per square inch and plasmas use 0.36-watts per square inch.

This isn’t the first time Government has stepped in to regulate the energy efficiency in a gadget. More than thirty years ago, regulations on always-on refrigerators were passed and were first seen by companies as oppressive. Those companies eventually adapted and the result was a more efficient product. Similar acts have managed the energy needs of air conditioners and other gadgets.

Not surprisingly, several TV companies are seeing this proposal as an all out declaration of war. On the front lines are the folks that put on the Consumer Electronics Show every year, members of the Consumer Electronics Association. They think they’ve done enough to self-regulate their industry, including setting up tougher energy criteria with the new Energy Star 3.0. 

Currently, the standards set up by the Energy Star project are not as stringent.

The Energy Star caps are set by a formula that uses native vertical resolution and visible screen area. Power Integrations recently noted that the Energy Star formula (PMax = 0.240*A + 27), with a TV-viewing area between 680 inches and 1045 inches, limits 42-inch TVs (754 in.sq.) to 208 watts in consumption. More than 300 TVs qualify at that limit right now, including some energy-hogging Plasmas. 

It’s important to note that the Energy Star program is voluntary, and most of the TVs that would be banned by the proposal would be larger TVs that are already losing steam in the market anyway.

The CEA, working on behalf of companies likely to be most affected by the proposal (over-40-inch CRT and Plasma television makers), says pushing through this law would immediately take out 25 percent of TVs off the market. They claim that removing any TV options would harm companies already hurting from the recession.

Those who’d benefit from the new law don’t share the same belief. The LCD Manufacturers Association, including up-and coming TV makers like Vizio, are supporting the proposal.

The Commission, says the law’s main goal is to reduce the strain on the energy grid, which will help avoid building expensive new power plants. It cites the fact that TVs are among the fastest growing electronics in the business and are slated to grow further.

But that’s a deceptive citation because recent TV growth has focused on LCDs and other ‘greener’ TVs.

Energy-hogging TVs are on their way out, without the help of the government or an overriding desire by consumers to own energy-efficient TVs. Most buy LCDs because they’re simply cheaper and are finally approximating the quality of larger plasma televisions.

As we noted recently, the next six years are expected to follow this model as well, with super-efficient OLEDs growing in popularity and availability.

So this might be a moot issue after all, even if you take into account the very largest TVs, which the CEA says will be ones most penalized.

Consider the Mitsubishi LaserVue Laser TV, which comes in huge sizes over 65 inches. Its laser technology not only produces good video, but is also the most energy-efficient, with long-lasting lasers that never need replacing.

So the intention of the commission is generally positive, but it looks like consumers are already ahead of the game here. No matter what happens with the proposal, energy-hogging TVs will be gone within two years.

The CEC has told Wired.com there will be further opportunities for the public to give input on this issue through public hearings and comments on its website, http://www.energy.ca.gov/commission/complaint.html. There’s currently no word on the exact date the proposal will come to vote in the summer, but we’ll update this post when we learn more.

Follow Jose Fermoso on Twitter at twitter.com/fermoso

A NASA satellite dedicated to monitoring greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere fell back to earth and crashed about three minutes after launch, CNN reports. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory, a $273 million satellite, would have helped better forecast changes in carbon-dioxide levels and their effect on the Earth’s climate.

“We could not make orbit,” NASA program manager John Brunschwyler said in the article. “Initial indications are the vehicle did not have enough [force] to reach orbit and landed just short of Antarctica in the ocean… Certainly for the science community, it’s a huge disappointment.”

The launch initially went well. But a few moments in, the clamshell-shaped payload fairing failed to separate from the main rocket, according to the report; the resultant exta weight caused the whole thing to come crashing down minutes later. An investigation has already begun into what caused the failure.

An Indian company has created a rechargeable rechargeable solar lamp that could provide a valuable solution to low-income students in developing countries. Apparently, the loss of valuable study time due to India’s power shortage problems and lack of proper, cheap lighting has been a source of consternation for educators for years.

The Studylite lamp comes with an attached solar panel that charges an NiMH battery lasting up to six hours. But the notorious part of the lamp is the simple halo design, where a ring of 24 LEDs provide the necessary glow. I like it in particular because it’s an efficient elimination of pointless materials, while still providing a base to keep a focused ‘beam’ on a subject. This is the better engineered version of the lamp I used in college, which was one single bulb with a cut out plastic cup as the top. Believe me, I wasn’t poor, I was just odd and consistently bored.

According to Studylite, the company created the lamp along with the Sankara Nethralaya University hospital, which specializes in the study of eye science. There, they came up with the most optimal levels of lighting ambiance and put them on the lamp. 

There’s one problem with this item though. At almost $33, it’s too expensive to make a dent in the poorest neighborhoods of India. Last we heard, the average Indian citizen makes about $41 a month.

Two weeks ago, another Indian company announced a product with great promise that within days, proved to be a bit of a dissapointment. The Sakshat computer was announced as the first $10 netbook, but we later found out it was neither a laptop or even $10. So to the makers of this lamp, I say, to avoid embarrassment due to over-promising, cut the price by two-thirds and you’ll have something that’s really a
lighting game changer in that community.

Plenty of other companies around the world are already exploring lighting solutions under $20 and so should you.