Sanyo thinks its joint strengths in
solar and in batteries make solar charging stations an obvious market to
pursue. Here's one solar station - Sanyo unveiled its HIT prototype charging
station at CES and plans a more modest canopy to be unveiled in Portland
within the first quarter of this year.
The idea of solar-powered charging
stations is enticing. Sanyo, one company preparing many solar canopies and
parking lot panel solutions, believes a 10 ft. by 20 ft. solar canopy parking
space cover can generate enough electricity to run the electric vehicle
annually. Here are three other visions for implementing solar charging for
electric vehicles either in the works, or already out on the streets.
Photo via Beautiful
Earth Group.2. Beautiful Earth Group's Brooklyn
container-based charging station.
This is the container-box vision of a charging station now on view in Red Hook,
Brookly.n The system is just a demonstration unit, and its builder Beautiful
Earth Group is coy about the cost. Yet it is a great use of
decommissioned steel shipping containers, a TreeHugger favorite, and blends
right into a gritty urban landscape. Currently, this is not a public charging
station, instead providing the juice for Beautiful Earth's electric MINI E.
According to the company, the car takes three hours to charge at the station.
3. Toyota Solar Charging Station. Toyota Industries has plans to build a network of
these charging stations in Tokyo's Aichi Prefecture -- 21 stations at eleven
locations are scheduled to be installed over the next few months -- and then
test them out with Toyota 
Priuses. Eventually the system is intended to be for
public use. The output of the solar panel is 1.9 kW, and the capacity of the
storage battery is 8.4kWh.
Priuses. Eventually the system is intended to be for
public use. The output of the solar panel is 1.9 kW, and the capacity of the
storage battery is 8.4kWh.
4. Columb Technologies and Envision Solar
Grove McDonald's installation.
This charger canopy at a McDonald's
restaurant in Pacific Beach, California
, is
one of the many Columb/Envision projects. Dell
's HQ parking lot has a similar
system consisting of 11 "Solar Trees" which provide shade for 56 cars
and 131,000 kilowatt hours annually. However, Envision says that the Solar 
Tree
at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado 
is the
charging model for the future. It is a 3kW system and powers two NREL
hybrid-electric vehicles.
restaurant in Pacific Beach, California, is
one of the many Columb/Envision projects. Dell's HQ parking lot has a similar
system consisting of 11 "Solar Trees" which provide shade for 56 cars
and 131,000 kilowatt hours annually. However, Envision says that the Solar Tree
at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado is the
charging model for the future. It is a 3kW system and powers two NREL
hybrid-electric vehicles.Article by April Streeter Courtesy of Treehugger.com http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/01/solar-powered-charging-four-visions.php?campaign=daily_nl
, "despite a lack of sustained government support in the past decade." This is expected to increase with fresh help from the Obama administration. In 2008 alone, private investors directed $5.9 billion into American businesses in this sector, a 48% increase over 2007. This rate should continue to accelerate.
will have many opportunities in the future. However, you don't have to wait to start in green areas of this field. Nearly all energy areas, including wind and solar, need these engineers. 
s are expected to see a 30% increase in jobs over the next ten years. They will be vital in the wind and solar fields. In addition, environmental engineer technicians and civil engineers should see a 25% growth. 
, many community colleges have expanded offerings in courses like 
and 
; universities have expanded environmental policy and politics offerings, often developing entirely new departments and curricula; and graduate programs are routinely offering advanced courses in a range of subjects, like 
. There are even green MBA programs. All of these new positions need teachers to fill them. 
can not only put more money in your pocket, it will save the customer money in the long term and help them go green. Installers are able to put some of the most cutting edge energy-saving products to use right away. 
, supported by the 
help protect plants from disease and pests with less-toxic, environmentally friendly techniques. They can also work to minimize harmful runoff, protect watersheds, and shade property, which leads to less energy demands for cooling. A good place to start learning about the career is the 
.
are one of the most rapidly expanding areas in which you could start looking for a new career. The catch is that many of these careers are brand new and as a result, you will need training to understand how they can be performed. Therefore, you are going to need to find 
training as you are expanding into an exciting new field. 
, practices, and laws, you can become more of an asset toward anyone who is hiring for a new position. The better that you are able to understand all of the current practices going on, the less green jobs training you will need.
companies and organizations can be another way to get the green jobs training which will ultimately help you to land a new career. Once you start to fully understand exactly how every single action that you take is going to have a major impact on the environment, you will begin to see why it is so important for you to move into the future with looking for environmentally friendly jobs. 
project in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in India. The project, which innovatively tracks the reduction in carbon emissions that result from D.light solar lamps replacing kerosene lanterns, is the first of its kind to receive UNFCCC approval. The decision by the UN body, the only organization with a global mandate to evaluate the effectiveness of emission control systems, acknowledges the extent to which portable solar lighting products can contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale.
in the developing world. It is estimated that a single kerosene lantern may emit as much as 1 ton of carbon dioxide over the course of five years; each year, 
are responsible for over 100 tons of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.
or other fixed, large-scale solar PV (photovoltaic) systems, which makes tracking carbon offsets fairly simple.
are individually utilized by hundreds of thousands of different households who regularly transport the lanterns between the home, workplace and field. As part of meeting UNFCCC requirements, D.light is pioneering an innovative monitoring and tracking system that will change the way carbon offsets are measured. The streamlined monitoring process will allow D.light to scale the project quickly across diverse distribution channels and geographic regions.
, 
, 
, and the 
. It is financed by prestigious venture capital firms including Nexus Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Garage Technology Ventures, the Mahindra Group; with investment from leading social enterprise funds Acumen Fund and Gray Matters Capital. To learn more, please visit their 
. I was under the impression, like most people are, that you put something in your recycle bin and that's it. But 
is a market and if there's no one to buy it, it just sits there or it gets landfilled. Most of our recycling and other materials get shipped to China and other Asian countries.
died and I took to a computer repair guy. He figured out what was wrong and called HP 
to get the part, but HP wouldn't sell the part—they would only say to send it back and they'd replace it. Supposedly I have an HP representative that I'm supposed to talk with about that, we'll see. Things these days are built to break and not to last. So I went on 
and found a used monitor.
, and stainless steel takeout containers—things for leftovers or takeout that I take with me everywhere I go. I bought a soda maker—I make soda water, put a little bit of lemon or something in it, and store in a glass carafe so I'm not putting it into plastic.
has been really pushing on the green bandwagon, saying plastic is better because it weighs less than glass. But there are so many other considerations—the chemicals and toxicity, the harm that's being done to wildlife. It's a false dichotomy because the answer really is cutting consumption. If the plastics industry can define what green is, they can define themselves as green, but green is so much more than that.
for kids because they don't want to give cough syrup to kids anymore.
and jackets. Synthetic carpets. Most athletic wear. Polyester, acrylic, spandex are all types of plastic. I avoid buying fabrics made from synthetic materials.
Debate.
seem to encourage healthy eating and alternative educational experiences, but in a bankrupt school system with high dropout rates, it is not so simple, at least not to Flanagan.
, Corby Kummer, who often writes on food topics for the magazine, responds to her attacks. He cites cases where student grades and understanding of lessons has improved with the addition of school gardens. He defends the program and Alice Waters and discusses the effects the gardens have on children's diets and the effect they could have on the rising problem of childhood obesity. What the gardens appear to have little effect on is the state's budget, as they use no additional public funds.
in Long Island, N.Y. Waldorf schools' principles are based on Rudolf Steiner philosophies -- he developed biodynamic farming among many other achievements. As you might imagine we had a school garden. We didn't spend a lot of time in the garden, perhaps as much time as another class would spend studying a class pet, but it gave me a good perspective on where food comes from. I was actively part of the story of growing food. During childhood (and even now) the lessons that stuck with me best had a great story or were taught in a unique way. I believe I have a healthy appetite and a respect for where my food comes from, because I was involved in the weeding, the composting, the creation of food. This was a novel experience for me. My parents didn't garden and before coming to school I wouldn't have been exposed to this lesson. To me a school garden's simplest and perhaps greatest 
is putting your food into context. This is how a carrot grows; this is how it's picked. I don't have that kind of relationship with 
, so I don't eat them very much. In the same vein, my teacher told us a story of a licorice factory to help us learn subtraction, and I do have fond mathematical memories I associate with licorice -- but that's a whole other story.