Sunday, June 22, 2014

The search of the day (June 22)



2014-06-22 Sunday

Grist (18 JUNE 2014) This magic bus recharges while you dig for your fare

Rocky Mountain Institute (JUNE 2014) SIMPLE Solar Balance of Systems (BoS)

Between 2008 and 2012, the price of sub-10-kilowatt rooftop systems in the U.S. decreased 37%, but 80% of that cost decline was due to decreasing solar PV module costs. Total soft costs—including customer acquisition; installation labor; permitting, inspection, and interconnection (PII); and margin and other associated costs—now make up approximately 70% of the total installed priced for a U.S. residential PV system. Thus soft costs represent a land of opportunity for cost reductions, which can help accelerate customer adoption of residential rooftop solar.

 Rocky Mountain Institute (12 JUNE 2014) Converting waste into energy in Kristianstad, Sweden

Rocky Mountain Institute (11 JUNE 2014) A technology park bets on energy innovation

Greentech Media – Storage is the new solar: Will batteries and PV create an unstoppable hybrid force?

Vox (17 JUNE 2014) SolarCity is trying to become the Apple of solar power

Business Week (5 JUNE 2014) Hydrogen fuel finally graduating from lab to city streets

Business Week (20 JUNE 2014) A new front line for China’s NIMBY environmental movement: waste incinerators

Mississauga.com (4 JUNE 2014) Flood project include ripping up ashphalt

Five cities across Canada will see some of their asphalt torn up and replaced with porous brick and gravel this summer to help mitigate the flash flooding that frequently follows extreme rainfall.

Modern cities are ever more sheathed in concrete and pavement, sealing off the absorbent ground and leaving heavy rain with nowhere to go — except basements, subway tunnels and underground corridors.

Last year, Calgary and Toronto homeowners and businesses were hit with severe flooding that was aggravated by sealed topsoil that could not absorb the sudden influx of water, costing billions in damages.

The University of Waterloo, Ont., and insurer Intact Financial Corp. announced a 20-project initiative today aimed at helping communities better survive the extreme weather that is the inevitable result of climate change.

CTV News (4 JUNE 2014) ‘Depave Paradise’ pilot project launched to stop cities flooding

Capital New York (2 APRIL 2014) A green part-solution to New York’s sewer problems

New York City still spews tens of billions of gallons of untreated water, including untreated sewage, into the city’s waterways each year.

The city’s $5.3 billion infrastructure plan will decrease this spill only by 40 percent over 20 years. This means that in the bright future of 2025 we’ll still be sending sewage into our waterways and some areas will still not be safe for all water activities.

In part this is because New York City’s aging sewer system consists of “combined sewers,” in which sewage—called sanitary waste—and storm water flows through the same system.

Capital New York (15 MAY 2012) Gray and green: The story of a big-city sewer system that worked too well

Design Observer Group (05.20.10) Video: Center for Urban Pedagogy, The Water Underground

The CUP staff and student researchers and videographers criss-crossed the five boroughs and assembled a multi-vocal primer on some essential urban infrastructure. We hear from engineers, plant superintendents, construction workers, marine biologists, urban divers, educators, and environmental justice advocates. We learn that New York City uses about 1.3 billion gallons of water per day (or 200 gallons per person; just slightly above the average for developed cities, according to the Colorado-based Water Information Program) and that all these gallons come from three watersheds (the Croton, Delaware, and Catskill) and are treated in 14 water pollution control plants. We learn that for many years just two tunnels — Water Tunnel No. 1, completed in 1917, and Water Tunnel No. 2, completed in 1935 — have carried water into New York, and that the city is finally constructing a much-needed third — Water Tunnel No. 3 — scheduled to be operational in 2012.


Lab Canada (5 JUNE 2014) Science tells when a sewage pipe needs repair, before it bursts

Grist (19 JUNE 2014) This is what your dairy aisle would look like if all the bees died off

UBER Blog (14 MARCH 2014) Eliminating ridesharing insurance ambiguity

Collaborative Consumption – Infographic: Uber and Lyft Insurance

Collaborative Consumption – Study: The consumer potential of collaborative consumption

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