Rooftop solar is now cheaper than grid electricity in these 6 US cities

For people living in six major US cities, the cost of installing and running rooftop solar panels is now the same price or cheaper than buying electricity from the grid, according to a new report - even without the help of government subsidies.
While experts have been predicting that the majority of the country will reach 'solar parity' - the point at which rooftop solar is as cheap or more affordable than grid electricity - by 2021, a new review by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) shows that many cities are already a lot closer than imagined.

The new review shows that for the 30 million people living in the below cities, grid electricity is no longer more affordable than renewable solar power. And that's not to mention the benefits to the environment. The cities now at solar parity are:

• Boston
• San Francisco
• San Diego
• San Jose
• Los Angeles
• Riverside

The review looked at data released by the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Centre earlier this year, which made headlines after stating that 42 cities in the US had already reached solar parity. In fact, the report even stated that: "In 46 of America’s 50 largest cities, a fully-financed, typically-sized solar PV system is a better investment than the stock market".
While these results were exciting, they were based on the cost of solar panels after generous government subsidies, which we can't rely on in the long-term. For solar to really be able to compete with and out-price grid electricity, we need to be able to make sure it's cheaper than the utility companies, even without help from the government.
So the ILSR team took the same data and looked at how the numbers would change when taking government subsidies out of the picture. And although the number of solar parity cities dropped down to six from 42, it's still a lot higher than the original two cities the ILSR had predicted back in 2012.
"That’s one-third more people living with solar at parity with utility electricity prices than in our original analysis, when we calculated that 2015 would bring parity to just two metro areas, totalling 22 million people," writes John Farrell in the ILSR review.
The review specifically compared solar installed at US$3.50 per Watt - with no incentives - to the city's average grid electricity rate. They also estimated that the cost of solar would decrease by 7 percent per year, while the price of grid electricity rises by 2 percent per year.
They've now used their new data to update their original 2012 predictions, and now project that by 2017, more than 71 million Americans will be at parity. You can see how your city compares below:

"What’s not captured in the table above ... is that the acceleration of grid parity seems to be concentrated in the largest metropolitan areas, pushing up the population at parity despite nearly as many cities losing ground toward parity as gained between our new and original analysis," writes Farrell.
With other promising development being made towards solar parity - and in some cases, total dependency on renewable energy - in other parts of the US and the rest of the world, we're feeling pretty positive about the future.

Sawfish are avoiding extinction by reproducing without sex This is the first time 'virgin births' have been seen in a vertebrate species in the wild.

A routine DNA study has discovered that endangered female sawfish in Florida are producing offspring without first mating with males.
This 'virgin birth' process is known as parthenogenesis, and has previously been observed in certain shark, snake and fish species living in captivity. But this is the first time scientists have observed asexual reproduction occurring in a wild vertebrate species, which suggests the process could be more common in vertebrates than previously thought.

The discovery was made while researchers were examining the DNA of 190 smalltooth sawfish captured in southern Florida to find out if they were regularly breeding with their family members because of their small population size. "What the DNA fingerprints told us was altogether more surprising: female sawfish are sometimes reproducing without even mating," said lead author Andrew Fields from Stony Brook University in the US. In fact, one population of sawfish was made up of 3 percent parthenogenesis births.
The team found that seven of the female sawfish were born via parthenogenesis, after analysing 16 different sites on the individuals' genomes - the same technique that's used in human paternity tests.
So how exactly does an animal give birth without having sex? Parthenogenesis is a common process in invertebrates, but it's rare in vertebrates. It's thought to occur when an unfertilised egg absorbs a genetically identical sister cell, producing an offspring with two identical chromosomes. This means that it has around half the genetic diversity of regular, sex-produced offspring.
"There was a general feeling that vertebrate parthenogenesis was a curiosity that didn't usually lead to viable offspring," said one of the researchers, Gregg Poulakis from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. But the seven virgin births found during this study all appeared to be perfectly healthy, and have now been tagged and released back into the wild. The team will continue to research the individuals, with the hopes of finding out whether they grow up to be fertile themselves.
Smalltooth sawfish have been driven close to extinction over the past century due to overfishing and habitat degradation, and the global population is thought to be around just 1 percent of 1990 levels. The researchers now believe that the sawfish may be using parthenogenesis as way to help maintain their numbers during this critical period.
In the long-term, this parthenogenesis strategy will greatly reduce genetic diversity, leaving the species susceptible to new threats, such as disease and climate change. It also makes them vulnerable to any genetic mutations. But in the short-term, it might help them keep their numbers high enough to survive extinction. "This should serve as a wake-up call that we need serious global efforts to save these animals," said Feldheim.
The researchers have published their results in the journal Current Biology, and are now hoping to find signs of other endangered species using this strategy in the wild

New app lets you control exactly how much energy each appliance uses

Australia's national science organisation, the CSIRO, has developed a new app that lets you remotely keep track of exactly how much money you're spending on electricity at any given time - and even lets you monitor and control individual appliances from your phone.
While we can already stay on top of how much electricity our houses are guzzling on a daily basis using smart meters, the new prototype app - which is called 'Eddy' - wants to take things one step further by putting people in control of their power consumption, with the overall aim of saving people money and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Right now the app only works on big devices such as air conditioners and pool pumps, but the developers are hoping that in the future they'll be able to take it down to the level of monitoring and turning on and off individual lightbulbs. 

This new $2.50 device extends disposable battery life by 800%

A

A new device is set to give any disposable battery - from AAA to D - eight times its usual lifespan by keeping its voltage boosted to just above what most appliances consider 'dead'. Developed by US-based start-up, Batteroo, the so-called 'Batteriser' is a stainless steel sleeve that you can clip onto any battery, and because it’s just 0.1 mm thick, it can fit into any kind of device, including TV remotes, torches, bluetooth keyboards, and console controllers.
The idea behind the Batteriser is that a new alkaline battery will be able to generate 1.5 Volts for some time, but as soon as its voltage drops to 1.4 Volts or below, most devices write it off as dead. This means that when we’re throwing out what we think are spent batteries, we’re throwing out something that still has 80 percent of its energy left inside. And that’s where this new voltage booster technology comes into play. 

"The Batteriser has boost circuitry that will boost the voltage from 0.6 volts to 1.5 volts and will maintain voltage at 1.5 - which is a brand new battery," one of the team behind the invention, electrical engineer Bob Roohparvar, told Jon Phillips at PCWorld.
While this technology behind the Batteriser voltage booster has been around for many years, the difference here is that Roohparvar and his team have managed to shrink it down enough so it will fit inside any battery compartment you throw at it. "The key is we’ve been able to miniaturise the boost circuit to a point that no one else has been able to achieve," Roohparvar said.
Testing the performance of the Batteriser is easy - Roohparvar just needs to take some 'dead’ batteries with a 1.3-Volt output, and slot them into a Bluetooth keyboard. Naturally, the keyboard doesn’t recognise these batteries as functional, and will not operate. The batteries are then fitted with Batteriser sleeves to boost the voltage back to 1.5 Volts, slotted back inside the Bluetooth keyboard, and "Voila: The Mac reported the battery level at 100 percent," Phillips reports.
"We tested the Batteriser sleeve in our lab and we confirmed that the Batteriser taps into 80 percent of energy that is usually thrown away," said physicist Kiumars Parvin from San Jose State University, who was asked to independently verify the results.
Roohparvar says the Batteriser will also work with rechargeable batteries that have slipped to a 1.2-Volt output, and will be sold in packs of four for $10. They’re planning on having them on the market by September this year, and will launch a crowd-funding Indiegogo campaign later this month. 
It’s the kind of technology that just might put a dent in the 15 billion batteries that end up in landfill around the world each year, so hopefully we’ll see these helpful little devices in stores soon.

These plantable coffee cups contain seeds to grow in your backyard

Each one is embedded with native seeds from the region it’s served in.

 

...

A new California-based start-up is marketing an environmentally friendly coffee cup that you can bury in the ground when you’re finished with it, and cultivate the seeds that are embedded in its fibres. And the best part about these cups is that, depending on where you buy one, you’ll be planting seeds that are native to your region.
Developed by a company called Reduce. Reuse. Grow., the cups are a response to the 25 billion styrofoam cups thrown out in the US every year - waste that will still be sitting in landfill somewhere 500 years from now. When you consider that on a global scale we’re drinking about 500 billion cups of coffee, most of which we’re not making at home, that’s a colossal amount of non-biodegradable cups to deal with.
As the team over at Earth Porm explains, even recycling isn’t much of an answer to this problem. "Once a product has been broken down about three times it is no longer effective to recycle it because it doesn’t have enough fibres left. This is how billions of coffee cups end up in landfills, even if they were originally recycled."

By planting a fully biodegradable cup in the ground - one that breaks down in 180 days and is guaranteed to sprout at least one tree - you’re not only removing your cups from the landfill equation, you’re growing something out of it too. 
The process involves flattening the cup out and soaking it in water for five minutes. The seed-rich cardboard is then buried in the ground, and then it’s up to you to tend to the seedlings when they sprout. If you’re good at it, you’ll end up cultivating a tree that can live for 40 years or beyond. And if you really just can’t be bothered with all that, Reduce. Reuse. Grow. will be providing special bins where their discarded cups will be collected up and planted by their staff.
Earth Porm reports that over 140,000 of these cups have already been planted in parts of California, and the company is now seeking donations on KickStarter to launch them in other locations, including San Francisco and Colorado. While the styrofoam cup has become truly ubiquitous all over the world, inventions like this, and decisions like New York City’s blanket ban on foam cups and containers by July 2015, just might put a meaningful dent in their numbers.

...............................MORE..........................

Your Plastic Bottle Is Killing You! Here’s What The Labels Mean

Bottled water is the bane of my existence as it stands. These companies bottle up tap water from drought-riddled communities and sell it to you for a 1900% profit. It’s one big sham. If you don’t like tap water, just filter your tap water. There are some good ones out there. But make no mistake, bottled water isn’t any better.
Even so, we sometimes find ourselves drinking out of plastic and eating off of plastic. Most of our food comes in plastic! What kind of health risks do these various types of plastic pose to us?
Let’s go down the list.

1. PET or PETE.

These bottles are typically single-use bottles. It’s possible that they emit a heavy metal antimony which interferes with hormonal actions in the body. It can also be carcinogenic.

2. HDP or HDPE.

These one is the “good” plastic. It poses the least threat to human health.

3. PVC or 3V

PVC also emits toxic chemicals that can impact hormones in the human body. According to one study:

Because of PVC’s heavy chlorine content, dioxins are released during the manufacturing, burning, or landfilling of PVC. Exposure to dioxins can cause reproductive, developmental, and other health problems, and at least one dioxin is classified as a carcinogen.

4. LDPE

This plastic is often used to make plastic bags and doesn’t pose a significant health risk.

5. PP

This type of plastic also doesn’t pose much of a health risk. This is the plastic commonly used to package yogurt and syrup.

6. PS

PS emits a carcinogen known as Stiren. This type of plastic is commonly used for food packaging and coffee cups.

7. PC or no label

This is the worst one for food products because it contains BPA, an endocrine disruptor. Often used as sports bottles and food containers
So when looking for the least toxic plastic, look for HDPE and PP. Avoid packaging labeled PETE, PVC, PS and PC.

This new aluminium battery can charge your phone in 60 seconds

 

 A new rechargeable aluminium battery has been developed by researchers in the US, and they’re saying the prototype can charge a smartphone in 60 seconds, plus it’s more environmentally friendly, durable, and cheaper than anything currently on the market. And it won’t spontaneously burst into flames like certain widely used lithium-ion batteries are capable of...
"We have developed a rechargeable aluminium battery that may replace existing storage devices, such as alkaline batteries, which are bad for the environment, and lithium-ion batteries, which occasionally burst into flames," said one of the team, chemist Hongjie Dai from Stanford University, in a press release. "Our new battery won't catch fire, even if you drill through it."
The new technology has done something scientists around the world have been chasing for decades - it puts aluminium to good use in the high-demand battery industry. The pros for aluminium are many, including its cheapness, availability, low-flammability, and high-charge storage capacity. But the challenge in building a viable aluminium battery has been in finding a material for the cathode - the device through which the electrical current flows - that can produce enough voltage to sustain it across a whole lot of charges.
Fortunately for the Stanford team, they found the perfect material... by accident. "People have tried different kinds of materials for the cathode," said Dai. "We accidentally discovered that a simple solution is to use graphite, which is basically carbon. In our study, we identified a few types of graphite material that give us very good performance." 
The team figured out that if they placed an aluminium anode - the part through which the electrical current enters the device - together with an graphite cathode, in a solution of iconic liquid electrolyte. This arrangement was then placed inside a flexible, polymer-coated pouch, which means it could be installed in a flexible and bendy device.
"The electrolyte is basically a salt that's liquid at room temperature, so it's very safe," said one of the team, graduate student Ming Gong. They tried their prototype out on some smartphones and report that they could fully charge one in 60 seconds - a vast improvement on the several hours it currently takes lithium-ion batteries to charge our phones. Plus the battery lasts for more than 7,500 recharge cycles, while current lithium-ion batteries can only withstand about 1,000 cycles. "This was the first time an ultra-fast aluminium-ion battery was constructed with stability over thousands of cycles," the team reports.
The battery also offers a safer option for those who are a little uneasy about powering their devices using a potential fire hazard. Case in point - United and Delta airlines have recently decided to ban bulk lithium-battery shipments on passenger planes, because it’s just not worth the risk.
"In our study, we have videos showing that you can drill through the aluminium battery pouch, and it will continue working for a while longer without catching fire," Dai said. "But lithium batteries can go off in an unpredictable manner - in the air, the car or in your pocket."
Sounds pretty perfect, right? It’s certainly promising, but before the researchers can think about replacing all the batteries on the market, they first need to get the voltage of their batteries to meet what lithium-ion batteries can achieve.
"Our battery produces about half the voltage of a typical lithium battery," Dai said in the press release. "But improving the cathode material could eventually increase the voltage and energy density. Otherwise, our battery has everything else you'd dream that a battery should have: inexpensive electrodes, good safety, high-speed charging, flexibility and long cycle life. I see this as a new battery in its early days. It's quite exciting." 
The battery will be described in an upcoming edition of Nature.

These new smartphone cameras could tell you what an object is made of

 

 

Imagine being able to take a photo or video of something, and get instant feedback on its chemical composition. You might want to know whether that $10 drink you ordered actually contains any alcohol, or whether the fruit you've bought from the supermarket is covered in pesticides.
Well, such a camera is on the horizon. Electrical engineers from Tel Aviv University in Israel have invented a device that could transform smartphone cameras into hyperspectral sensors, capable of detecting the chemical ingredients of an object or fluid simply by analysing a photo or video of it.
Hyperspectral imaging scans for light frequencies that humans can’t see in order to identify the unique chemical signatures of different substances.
Satellites use this type of imaging technology to detect water and nutrients in soil, helping farmers manage their crops, or mining companies locate mineral and gas deposits underground.
This type of chemical sensing can already be done with large, sophisticated cameras, but the team says their device - which combines a newly patented optical component and image processing software - can conceivably be integrated into a smartphone. Their optical component is based on existing microelectromechanical or MEMS technology, which relates to very small machines, less than a millimetre in size, consisting of a microprocessor and other components, such as sensors.
They say their device, which can be mass produced, is compatible with all standard smartphone cameras.  
“We predict hyperspectral imaging will play a major role in consumer electronics, the automotive industry, biotechnology, and homeland security,” said lead inventor, David Mendlovic, in a press release.


It sounds good, in theory, but for the captured images to mean anything, they'll need to be paired up with a database containing information on the hyperspectral signatures of a range of different chemicals, points out Ben Coxworth from Gizmag points.
With a database of chemical signatures, the researchers can extract information from their images, and match this against existing data to determine what chemicals a given object might contain.  
Mendlovic, along with doctoral student, Ariel Raz, have spun out a company called Unispectral Technologies, and are trying to partner with companies that can analyse its camera's images to build-up such a database.
The basic system was demonstrated at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last month, and the team is now developing a working prototype, which Gizmag says could be ready by June.
According to the Tel Aviv University press release, Unispectral has financial support from the Momentum Fund, which is backed by the large Indian engineering company Tata Group, as well as the flash memory firm SanDisk.