Researchers Find The Key For Self-Healing Batteries

Researchers at Stanford University think they have come up with a solution to improve the lithium-ion battery, which could lead to improvements in the next generation of mobile phones and electric cars.

Currently lithium-ion batteries contain silicon electrodes. Although silicon is a great material because it has a high capacity for absorbing and releasing lithium ions during charging and discharging, it also swells to three times the size and shrinks again during a charge-discharge cycle. This means they often don’t last very long.

A poor service life may not be a big issue if it is in a smartphone as people tend to replace them frequently anyway but it becomes a much bigger problem when someone has purchased something more pricey, like an electric car for example. When a person wants to sell the car on, they expect it not to need any major component replacements and in an electric car, the battery is a pretty major component.

This is one of the reasons why the motor industry is so reluctant to produce more battery cars. Even Tesla Motors, who is well-known for electric cars, has admitted that battery life could be a major problem for the company as its cars get older.

Healing Polymer

So what have the experts at Stanford University come up with? Well, they have been able to develop a strong and stretchy polymer which can be used to coat a silicon electrode. As cracks form during the charge and discharge process, the coating is able to “heal” the cracks.

“Self-healing is very important for the survival and long lifetimes of animals and plants,” says Chao Wang, a postdoc researcher at Stanford. “We want to incorporate this feature into lithium ion batteries so they will have a long lifetime as well.”

At the moment the researchers have been only been able to get this marriage of silicon and polymer coating to last for 100 charge cycles before it starts to lose performance. There is still ground to cover, with the goal being to reach 500 cycles for a phone and 3,000 for an electric vehicle. But as Professor Yi Cui points out “the promise is there, and from all our data it looks like it’s working.”

Europe Approves In-Flight Electronics Use

By December, a new ruling from Europe’s Air Safety Agency could essentially allow electronic devices to be used at all points of flight.  Being warned to turn off your mobile phone may be a thing of the past.  The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has finally approved the use of electronic devices during take-off and landing on flights. However, guidance will be given on which devices can and cannot be used, by the end of this month.

Recently TechBeat reported the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved personal devices on airplanes such as tablet computers, eBook readers and portable games consoles. Mobile phones will also be allowed as long as phones are put in Airplane mode and cellular radios are disabled; however, laptop computers will still need to be stowed away during take-off and landing due to their size and the potential risk it puts people in should an emergency stop need to occur.

Patrick Ky, EASA executive director said, “This is a major step in the process of expanding the freedom to use personal electronic devices on-board aircraft without compromise in safety.”  Each airline will now have the choice to implement the use of electronic devices on an individual basis.  Any airline who would like to allow it will have to present a “safety case” to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in the UK (similar to the FAA in the US).

A CAA spokesperson said, “The airlines now have access to new methodology for the safety testing of devices, which could be a relatively quick process, especially as some airlines are likely to have already done a fair bit of testing…We will have to wait and see what the nature of the guidance will be, so it is difficult to predict an accurate timescale, but it is possible that UK airlines could be permitted to allow the use of personal electronic devices (PEDs) during all phases of flight before Christmas this year.”

EASA is also looking to allow the use of mobile phones on flights without needing to put them in safety mode.  EASA stated in a press release, “[we] recognise the wide proliferation of personal electronic devices and the wish of the travelling public to use them everywhere.”

Iain Rawlinson, chief executive of Monarch Airlines stated: “We recognise that passengers travel with a wide range of electronic devices for both communication and entertainment purposes and, pending the outcome of industry testing and CAA approval, Monarch expects to undertake its own tests and implement changes to policies regarding in-flight usage of personal electronic devices.”

Pretty soon, we will be able to preoccupy ourselves during even the most unsettling of flight take-offs.

15 Years In Orbit For The International Space Station

It has been 15 years since a Russian rocket lifted the first piece of the International Space Station (ISS) into orbit. NASA celebrates this momentous landmark, in the history of what is now the largest manmade structure ever built in space.

The first module of the ISS, named Zarya, or “Sunrise” in Russian, was one of many pieces that made up the structure. Five different space agencies representing 15 countries worked together on the project and by the year 2000, crews of astronauts were living on the $100 billion space station.

15 years later and the ISS is approximately the size of a football field and is second only to the moon in bright objects that light up the night sky.

Space industry leaders have been reminiscing about the day Zarya, which is now used mainly for storage, was launched into space.

“We were in the control center in Houston that night to watch Zarya launch, along with a good number of people from the program,” said Bill Bastedo, who was the launch package manager for the next piece of the space station, the U.S.-built module Unity, in a statement.

“It was actually, for us, exciting to have Zarya on orbit so we could get our chance to execute our mission,” Bastedo, now senior vice president of Booz Allen Hamilton, said in a statement.

The second module, or Unity as it is known, was taken into space on the shuttle Endeavour two weeks later and the two modules were then linked together.

“I was very confident in our ability to dock the two,” Bastedo added in a statement from NASA. “I was most worried about making sure we could verify that Unity, the mating adaptors and Zarya all worked as a system together and we could safely leave it on orbit, because it was going to be about a six-month gap until the next flight. It turns out it was a lot of worry about nothing, because it almost went flawlessly.”

Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana, who was the STS-88 mission’s commander said: “It’s hard to believe it’s been 15 years since we joined Unity and Zarya in orbit and laid the cornerstone for the International Space Station.

“I think one of the most enduring legacies will be the international cooperation we have achieved in building and operating it,” Cabana said in a statement from NASA. “It has provided us the framework for how we will move forward as we explore beyond our home planet, not as explorers from any one country, but as explorers from planet Earth. We have seen great results in areas such as biotechnology, Earth and space sciences, human research, the physical sciences and technology being accomplished in this remarkable laboratory in space.”

Google Invests $80 Million On Solar Panels

Google is to invest $80 million into solar-powered plants in a bid to secure power for its data centers in the future.

The plan is to build six new solar farms in the American Southwest, possibly in the desert regions of Arizona and Southern California.

Google, who are working along with investment firm KKR on this project, say that once the facilities are completed, they will generate 106MW of electricity at their peak. That is enough power to serve 17,000 US homes.

It is hoped these plants will be online by early 2014.

“These investments are all part of our drive toward a clean energy future — where renewable energy is abundant, accessible and affordable,” wrote Google head of corporate finance Kojo Ako-Asare.

“By continuing to invest in renewable energy projects, purchasing clean energy for our operations and working with our utility partners to create new options for ourselves and for other companies interest in buying renewable energy, we’re working hard to make that future a reality.”

Google has been investing heavily in renewable energy such as solar, wind and hydroelectric power. So far the company says it has more than $1 billion worth of investments in this area.

The company has revealed that it is also working with US utility provider Duke Electricity on a project that gives incentives for firms  that use alternative energy sources, as well as planning for a $600 million data center expansion.

It has been reported that Facebook too is pushing for greener energy sources. It has announced a plan to build a solely wind powered facility in Iowa.

Ray-Ban Sunglasses Feature Sun-Powered Phone Charger

When the sun comes out, so does everyone’s sunglasses. Sayalee Kaluskar from India has come up with the genuis idea of pairing sunglasses with solar power, so the wearer can charge a mobile phone.

The plan is to incorporate photovoltaic cells that are wired to a battery buried within the arms of a pair of sunglasses. While you enjoy the sunshine, the cells within your sunglasses charge the battery. Once you go inside, the arm comes off, revealing a microUSB or Lightening connector that can then be plugged into  your phone and charge it.

Now the first thing that may pop into your head is “Oh great, another piece of wearable tech that will make me look stupid,” but Kaluskar has been smart about this and employed the help of on-trend Ray-Ban.

The idea is to build this concept into a pair of classic Ray-Ban Wayfarers, so for the tech lovers who are also fashion conscious, this is the perfect “pair”.

FlyKly’s Smart Wheel Powers Your Bike & Charges Your Phone

We all want to do more to be environmentally conscious, don’t we? Most among us would agree that we should change a few things in our lives to help the planet.  What about cycling to work?  Or does that make you feel uncomfortable?  What with all the sweaty mess that you turn into after cycling to the workplace.  Some feel it is a big turn off.  But all is not lost, as a firm in the US has developed something that might be of interest to you.

FlyKly’s Smart Wheel can lock, track and powers your bike.  And it can also recharge your mobile phone!  FlyKly, is a firm based in New York and they have developed the Smart Wheel, a pedal assist technology which aims to help cyclists ride their bikes “effortlessly”.  According to FlyKly, the wheel, which has a lightweight 250W motor and battery attached to it, will fit to “practically any bicycle frame” and the designers make this technology to come in a variety of different colours and sizes to suit your needs.

Using the accompanying FlyKly app, which is compatible with iOS, Android and Pebble, the motor can be set to a desired top speed for cycling (the top speed is 20mph!) Once the app gathers information regarding your regular cycle routes, it will then be able to suggest alternative safer and quicker routes for you. The Smart Wheel’s app also monitors your regular routes, offering faster or more scenic paths for you to take, and there is a clip on light that also acts as both a dock and simultaneous charger for your smartphone!

FlyKly’s Smart Wheel can fit on to any bike and charges in three to four hours.  The Smart Wheel charges within a few hours and even recharges itself when you cycle downhill. While cycling, the bike also generates enough energy to power a small light fitted to the bike.  When it comes to wheel protection, the motor can be remotely locked via a companion app and in the unfortunate event of your new bike wheel being stolen, it can be tracked on a smartphone using GPS.

The sad news is currently, the Smart Wheel is only a prototype. To generate the funding needed to put the Smart Wheel into mass production, FlyKly has taken the campaign to Kickstarter, the crowdfunding website.  The initial $100,000 goal was achieved some time ago and now at the time of writing, the next target of $400,000 has just been reached. With the new funding the firm is able to develop a motor brake for the wheel. If the level of funding reaches another $100,000 then the Smart Wheel will glow in the dark, (another bonus to safety?).

Is this a good idea? Is it green enough? Would the theft factor be too high?  As always your comments are welcome.

Reduce A Bulky Wallet With The Coin Universal Credit Card

PayPal veteran Kanishk Parashar has founded a new company called Coin, which aims to build a better credit card.

Unlike contactless payment technologies, which tried to change the way we use our cards, Coin is trying to reduce all the debit, credit, gift and loyalty cards that clog up a wallet into one single piece of plastic. Basically it is a universal credit card that can reprogram its magnetic stripe on the fly to match any card you load into it.

It is about the size of a standard credit card but contains an interface that allows the user to cycle through stored cards. There is a small screen, which displays the user’s name, expiration dates, security codes and any other information that a merchant would need to accept a transaction, although not a signature.

The device connects to iOS or Android smartphones via Bluetooth. The app along with an accompanying mag-stripe dongle, allow new cards to be loaded and existing cards to be managed. This means there is no need for an internet connection in order for it to work.

All of the data is secured by 128-bit encryption, with Bluetooth adding the extra layer of protection needed for such sensitive information. If the device loses radio contact with the phone, it will lock and send an alert to the user. If the phone battery dies or Bluetooth loses connection, then Coin can be unlocked with a code.

The device is powered by a non-replaceable battery, which is said to last two years. Parashar says it is designed to take a lot more abuse than the average credit card, being shock and water resistant. Also the strip will not demagnetise in the presence of other magnets, credit cards or electronics.

Coin, which has the backing of Y Combinator and K9 Ventures, still needs to raise funds to manufacture the device. Therefore Parashar is seeking to raise $50,000 through crowdfunding. But rather than going through Kickstarter or Indiegogo, it is taking pre-orders through its website. The first to pledge will get the device for $50, that’s a reduction of 50 percent compared with the $100 retail price. Parashar expects the first shipments to reach buyers next summer.

Project Loon Balloon Capable Of Navigating Globe 3 Times

Project Loon is an interesting idea, although it maybe a little ‘out there’.  Know doubt you are aware ofthe story so far; the internet behemoth Google, is building balloons to remain floating for an unusually extended period of time in the stratosphere. These balloons are specifically designed by Google engineers to assist the company in a construction of a new Wi-Fi broadcasting network. The Balloons will be able to travel around the world three times, or for a period of 100 days.

A key component of the Google [x] Lab project to deliver Wi-Fi to the remotest parts of the earth is the material that the balloons are made of, according to a new video released by Google.  From the video, it sounds like Google hasn’t yet quite settled on a solution.

Each of the balloons is designed to stay afloat for 100 days or three global trips. That’s much longer than most weather balloons that travel at the stratospheric heights that the Loon balloons will achieve, Pam Desrochers, Google’s balloon manufacturing manager, explained in the video.  “100 days is long enough so that we get a good life out of it, but not so long that we have outmoded technology in the air,” she explained.  Descrochers described the balloon material, sort of like, a rubber-band.  Each balloon requires 500 square meters of this material. While originally the balloons that were tested in Project Loon’s demo in New Zealand were made out of polyethylene film; this video makes it sound like Google is still very much undecided on what kind of material is most appropriate for the journey which the balloon’s will undertake.

Project Loon’s balloons must be exceptionally resilient, because they will be subjected to both extremes of hot and cold on a daily basis.  This will obviously cause the material to expand and contract. Ultraviolet radiation and inclement weather are also issues that the balloons must compete with, as they could lead to pinhole leaks and maybe more serious faults.

Bloomberg: Samsung To Release Wrap Around Handset Next Year

According to Bloomberg, Samsung plan to release a handset that features a wraparound display at some point in 2014. The report says that the point of this three-sided display design is to allow users to read whatever is on the screen even when the device is viewed at an extreme angle.

Samsung has certainly led the way in curved display design, especially with its new Galaxy Round. It is not clear whether Samsung plan to incorporate this wraparound design into the future Galaxy S or Note smartphone, or whether the company will decide to go for a completely new model in order to showcase the technology.

The wraparound display will use the same Youm panels as the Galaxy Round

According to Bloomberg there is no definite release date but it is thought the product launch is likely to be sometime in the second half of next year.

Reports say that the new design is based on the Youm panels, which were also used in the Galaxy Round released last month.

What do you think of this new technology? Do wrap around displays appeal to you? Share your thoughts.

Microsoft Releases First Worldwide Telescope-Driven Planetarium

As kids, we all had dreams of what we wanted to be when we grow up. I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I think I’m not going out on a limb when I say that space and astronauts rank high up in that list of “what I want to be when I grow up”. This month, Microsoft just encouraged that dream even more withMicrosoft Research’s WorldWide Telescope’s planetarium in China.

The WorldWide Telescope (WWT) enables children and adults alike to view space via a desktop or a “real” planetarium – all thanks to the Internet. In order to make the experience educational, the project has taken on the help of experienced astronomers and educators to provide guided tours of the Universe – or at least the most interesting parts of it.

Going one step further, Microsoft Research launched the first WWT-driven planetarium in China. This means that Chinese school children (not exclusively, though) have the opportunity to discover space in the 8-meter dome edifice. The planetarium is installed at the Shixinlu primary school.

To make things even more interesting, not only can the children explore space via existing tours. They can also create their own custom space tours!

One might think that the world has so many other issues to deal with at the moment, but I think this project is just an invaluable. After all, instilling that desire to learn and explore in children at such an early age is something that we all should be paying attention to. And, while not all those children may grow up to be astronauts, the mere fact that they have this opportunity to learn in a high-tech environment will only bring them good.

For those of us who can’t resist the allure of space but are not in China, all is not lost. The WWT is still accessible via the Windows Client or the Web Client (for users of all other operating systems).

Google’s “Deep Learning” Computers Out-Smart The Creators

A Google software engineer has said that the company’s “deep learning” decision-making systems have been able to crack coding problems that the engineers who designed them can’t.

Quoc V.Le made the revelation at the Machine Learning Conference in San Francisco on Friday, where he also outlined how Google are able to use these large clusters of computers known as “deep learning” systems.

Google’s technology is based around a layered architecture, with each successive layer building upon what all the layers beneath it have learnt. So the bottom-most layer of the neural network can detect changes in color in an image’s pixels, and then the layer above may be able to use that to recognize certain types of edges. After adding successive analysis layers, different branches of the system can develop detection methods for faces, rocking chairs, computers, and so on.

This tech is used for services such as Google translate and Android’s voice-controlled search.

But as Quoc V.Le explains, the software has actually learnt to pick out features in objects that humans struggle to see, like a paper shredder for example.

Learning “how to engineer features to recognize that that’s a shredder – that’s very complicated,” he explained. “I spent a lot of thoughts on it and couldn’t do it.”

Qouc’s colleagues struggled to identify various models of paper shredders when shown photos of them, yet the computer system had no trouble and had a greater success rate. He admitted that he would be unable to write a program to do this.

“We had to rely on data to engineer the features for us, rather than engineer the features ourselves,” Quoc explained.

So for some things, Google researchers are no longer able to explain how the system has learnt to indentify certain objects. It would seem that the programming can think independently from those who created it and its complex learning processes are unfathomable. Although this “thinking” is limited to very specific situations, the proof is there that it can happen.

Cutting Back On The Human Experts

Google doesn’t think that this technology will ever develop into full blown artificial intelligence. But what is so appealing to the tech giant is that with “deep learning”, the company can hire fewer human experts because the systems will be able to solve problems the researchers can’t.

“Machine learning can be difficult because it turns out that even though in theory you could use logistic regression and so on, but in practice what happens is we spend a lot of time on data processing inventing features and so on. For every single problem we have to hire domain experts,” said Quoc.

“We want to move beyond that … there are certainly problems we can’t engineer features of and we want machines to do that.”

Although this is exciting stuff, it also has an air of Skynet about it don’t you think? Should we be excited or afraid? Share your thoughts.

Should plastic bags be recycled or banned?

CC BY 2.0 Flickr User Aaron Tango Tang

California has become an interesting test-case for both approaches to one plastic problem.

Back in 2006, California passed a law that mandated a system for recycling plastic shopping bags. Today, supermarkets and other large stores have receptacles where plastic bags can be returned for recycling.

However, a recent report from the Associated Press found that it's difficult to measure how successful this program has been. They found that the data collected by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery has not been analyzed since 2009, when about 3 percent of bags made to recycling. The department did provide reporters with the raw data: 

"Retailers reported purchasing 62.3 million pounds of bags in 2012, down from 107.4 million in 2008. They reported 4 million pounds of bags and 27 million pounds of mixed bags and plastic film were returned for recycling in 2012.

But those figures don't reveal how many bags were recycled. A study by California State University, Sacramento, which calculated previous recycling rates, showed the store-submitted totals for collected bags often included other materials. Without verifying the stores' totals, it's impossible to say how much was from bags, plastic film or general garbage."

Spokesman Mark Oldfield said the recycling department doesn't have enough funding to do the proper analysis.

The recycling program stands in contrast to plastic bag bans, which have been passed in over 80 California cities and municipalities. Los Angeles will have a ban going into effect in January.

Eric Bradley, reporting for the Press-Telegram, spoke with Environmental Services Bureau Manager Jim Kuhl about the success of Long Beach's ban. Kuhl says that the community now has 100 percent compliance, and has only had one infraction since the ban was introduced two years ago.

“There was really no push-back on it,” Kuhl said of the ban that went into effect Aug. 1, 2011, for large retailers and five months later for smaller shops. “I believe the grocers and the retailers realize the public would like to see a reduction in plastic bags.”

It's unfortunate that we don't have a quantifiable idea of how well the recycling program is working. On one hand, we should have a system to manage all of the plastic bags that are already out there, and it would be good to keep them out landfills and the landscape. On the other hand, recycling does come with embedded energy costs that can be avoided altogether by choosing a re-usable shopping bag–and bans are proving to be the best way to get everyone on board.

Scientists discover another cause of bee deaths, and it's really bad news

CC BY-ND 2.0 Johan J.Ingles-Le Nobel

So what is with all the dying bees? Scientists have been trying to discover this for years. Meanwhile, bees keep dropping like... well, you know.

Is it mites? Pesticides? Cell phone towers? What is really at the root? Turns out the real issue really scary, because it is more complex and pervasive than thought.

Quartz reports:

Scientists had struggled to find the trigger for so-called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) that has wiped out an estimated 10 million beehives, worth $2 billion, over the past six years. Suspects have included pesticides, disease-bearing parasites and poor nutrition. But in a first-of-its-kind study published today in the journal PLOS ONE, scientists at the University of Maryland and the US Department of Agriculture have identified a witch’s brew of pesticides and fungicides contaminating pollen that bees collect to feed their hives. The findings break new ground on why large numbers of bees are dying though they do not identify the specific cause of CCD, where an entire beehive dies at once.

The researchers behind that study in PLOS ONE -- Jeffery S. Pettis, Elinor M. Lichtenberg, Michael Andree, Jennie Stitzinger, Robyn Rose, Dennis vanEngelsdorp -- collected pollen from hives on the east coast, including cranberry and watermelon crops, and fed it to healthy bees. Those bees had a serious decline in their ability to resist a parasite that causes Colony Collapse Disorder. The pollen they were fed had an average of nine different pesticides and fungicides, though one sample of pollen contained a deadly brew of 21 different chemicals. Further, the researchers discovered that bees that ate pollen with fungicides were three times more likely to be infected by the parasite.

The discovery means that fungicides, thought harmless to bees, is actually a significant part of Colony Collapse Disorder. And that likely means farmers need a whole new set of regulations about how to use fungicides. While neonicotinoids have been linked to mass bee deaths -- the same type of chemical at the heart of the massive bumble bee die off in Oregon -- this study opens up an entirely new finding that it is more than one group of pesticides, but a combination of many chemicals, which makes the problem far more complex.

And it is not just the types of chemicals used that need to be considered, but also spraying practices. The bees sampled by the authors foraged not from crops, but almost exclusively from weeds and wildflowers, which means bees are more widely exposed to pesticides than thought.

The authors write, "[M]ore attention must be paid to how honey bees are exposed to pesticides outside of the field in which they are placed. We detected 35 different pesticides in the sampled pollen, and found high fungicide loads. The insecticides esfenvalerate and phosmet were at a concentration higher than their median lethal dose in at least one pollen sample. While fungicides are typically seen as fairly safe for honey bees, we found an increased probability of Nosema infection in bees that consumed pollen with a higher fungicide load. Our results highlight a need for research on sub-lethal effects of fungicides and other chemicals that bees placed in an agricultural setting are exposed to."

While the overarching issue is simple -- chemicals used on crops kill bees -- the details of the problem are increasingly more complex, including what can be sprayed, where, how, and when to minimize the negative effects on bees and other pollinators while still assisting in crop production. Right now, scientists are still working on discovering the degree to which bees are affected and by what. It will still likely be a long time before solutions are uncovered and put into place. When economics come into play, an outright halt in spraying anything at all anywhere is simply impossible.

Quartz notes, "Bee populations are so low in the US that it now takes 60% of the country’s surviving colonies just to pollinate one California crop, almonds. And that’s not just a west coast problem—California supplies 80% of the world’s almonds, a market worth $4 billion."

U.S. Carbon Dioxide Emissions Down 11 Percent Since 2007

CC BY 2.0 Albert Bridge

Carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels in the United States peaked at more than 1.6 billion tons of carbon in 2007. Since then they have fallen 11 percent, dropping to over 1.4 billion tons in 2013, according to estimates from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Emissions shrank rapidly during the recession, then bounced back slightly as the economy recovered. But shifting market conditions, pollution regulations, and changing behaviors are also behind the decline.

© Earth Policy Institute

Oil is the largest source of carbon emissions in the United States. After a steep drop following the 1979 oil crisis, emissions from oil climbed steadily until 2005, when they peaked at 715 million tons of carbon. Since then, these emissions have fallen by 14 percent, or 101 million tons of carbon—the equivalent of taking 77 million cars off the road. (See data.)

© Earth Policy Institute

Oil is mostly used for transportation, so vehicle fuel efficiency and the number of miles driven determine the amount of emissions. On both fronts things are improving. Average fuel efficiency, which had been deteriorating for years in the United States, started to increase in 2005 and keeps getting better. Americans are traveling farther on each gallon of gas than ever before.

Furthermore, people are driving less. For many years Americans as a group drove billions more miles each year than the previous one. But in 2007 this changed. Now more cars stay parked because more people live in urban areas, opt for public transit, work remotely, or retire and thus no longer commute to work.

© Earth Policy Institute

Coal—the dirtiest fossil fuel—has dominated the U.S. power grid, but its grip has weakened in recent years. As the price of natural gas has fallen, utilities are dropping coal. They are also deciding to retire old, inefficient coal plants and invest elsewhere rather than pay for retrofits in order to meet increasingly stringent pollution regulations.

Strong grassroots work, too, is helping to close the curtain on coal even faster. The Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign, which coordinates efforts across the country to retire old plants and prevent new ones from being built, tallies 149 coal plants that plan to retire or switch fuels out of more than 500. As falling natural gas prices, pollution regulations, and shrinking electricity demand reduce coal use, U.S. carbon emissions from coal have fallen 20 percent from their peak in 2005.

© Earth Policy Institute

Meanwhile, natural gas consumption for electricity generation and heating has increased. Carbon dioxide emissions from burning natural gas hit an all-time high of 373 million tons of carbon in 2012, up 17 percent above 2006 levels. They are projected to remain at that level in 2013. Natural gas emits about half as much carbon dioxide per unit of energy as coal does. With domestic production on the rise, the share of carbon emissions from natural gas are likely to continue to increase.

© Earth Policy Institute

But electricity does not have to come with a huge carbon hangover. Wind and solar power—carbon-free energy sources with no fuel costs—have been taking off. U.S. wind power capacity has more than tripled since 2007 and now produces enough energy to power over 15 million homes in the United States. Solar power capacity, starting from a smaller base, increased 14-fold in the same time period. Although wind and solar power currently account for only a small share of total energy production, their prices will continue to drop as deployment increases. In some areas wind is already cheaper than coal. This is just the beginning of reductions in carbon dioxide emissions as the explosive growth of wind and solar power cuts down the use of dirty fossil fuels.

© Earth Policy Institute

The switch to renewables cannot come soon enough. Accumulating greenhouse gas emissions from the United States and other countries have led to a global temperature increase of 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degrees Celsius) since the Industrial Revolution. Higher emissions will lead to higher temperatures that will bring more heat waves, melting glaciers, and rising sea levels. In 2009, President Obama set a goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. Putting a price on carbon would help accelerate the trends that are cutting the United States’ carbon contribution and allow the country to exceed this goal.

This robotic trash can enlists children to pick up litter

© ICD Lab

Picking up litter and putting it in its proper place, whether that's the trash can or the recycle bin, ought to be second nature for all of us by now, but it's obvious that there are still a lot of litterbugs trashing our planet.

So aside from trying to educate or guilt-trip all of the litterers into properly disposing of their waste, what could help make public spaces less trashy? If this project from Japan is any indication, we may need a little help from our robotic overlords and their cohort of children.

The Sociable Trash Box robot (STB), from Japan's Toyohashi University of Technology, doesn't pick up trash all by itself (and in fact, isn't meant to, although robotic trash collectors could be another method for keeping the streets and sidewalks clean). What it does do, however, is to induce kids to pick up garbage by using "interactive social cues and vocal interactions to build a social coupling with children."

"STB has two parts as its body (upper and lower), and the upper part contains three servomotors: one for twisting itself to the left and right, and the other two motors for bending forward and backward. The lower part has two servomotors for moving its entire body to the left and right directions. The STB contains three kinds of sensors and a single camera to obtain environmental informatics: a pyroelectric infrared sensor, an infrared ray sensor (IR sensor), and a distance sensor. The pyroelectric infrared sensor is capable of tracing human body temperatures which are used to discover the crowded space, and the IR sensor traces whether trash has arrived to its container. The STB uses a distance sensor for avoiding obstacles, and also utilize to make distance between other STBs. Single webcam used for trash detection and recognition of other STBs through image processing." - ICD Lab

Although these little robots seem like a viable method for actually cleaning up garbage, they're really meant more for investigating effective behaviors, social cues, and interactions between the robots and children. And while that may serve a worthwhile purpose for studying human-machine interactions, and perhaps advancing the state of robotic and human collaboration, I found myself wondering just what would happen if these little mechanical guys were instead programmed to identify and publicly shame litterers into cleaning up their messes. [Cue Big Brother comments now.]

Chrome 31 Browser Released

The time has come round once again for Google to release its latest Chrome Web browser.  The new Chrome Stable browser is known officially as Version 31.0.1650.48 and it is available for free to download for Windows, Mac, Linux and Chrome Frame, according to a recent post by Anthony Laforge of the Google Chrome team, on the Google Chrome Releases Blog. The 31′st Version of Google’s Chrome web browser has been officially released with a number of fixes and user improvements.

A total of 25 security fixes are included in the latest version, wrote Laforge.  These fixes address a wide variety of issues in the browser’s code. Also included is a Flash Player update to Version 11.9.900.152.  Now that this latest Stable version of Chrome has been released for users, Google continues to labour on the next beta release, Version 32.

One new feature being introduced into Version 32 beta is the ability for users to quickly get a warning on their browser tabs when there is a page that is producing disruptive sounds via a video clip or other content, according to a post by a Google software engineer, Yuri Wiitala, on the Google Chrome Blog.  “Have you ever shuffled through your tabs to figure out where that sound or music is coming from?” wrote Wiitala. “We hear you! With today’s latest Chrome Beta release, you can now visually scan your tabs for a speaker icon to quickly find the offender.

Chrome will also indicate which tabs are currently using your Webcam or are being cast to your TV.” The alert will display a small icon on the affected browser tab to let users know which tab is playing the unwanted sound at that moment, wrote Wiitala. The sound alert is also activated for Webcam sounds and Webcasting volumes.

Also of note in the beta 32 release is a new feature for Windows 8 users that allows better management of multiple Chrome windows at the same time, while accessing Chrome apps using an integrated app launcher, wrote Wiitala. Additionally, the latest beta 32 version includes a Safe Browsing alert that pops up to warn users before they are about to or download a malicious files visit a suspect Website.  The latest beta version now includes automatic blocking of malware files, according to Wiitala.

The beta Version 32, officially known as Version 32.0.1700.6 for Windows, Mac and Linux, also includes a number of new extension APIs and apps as well as a host of fixes and aimed at increasing performance and stability, according to a post by Karen Grünberg, a member of the Google Chrome team, on the Chrome Releases Blog.  As part of the introduction of Stable Version 31 and the beta Version 32 of Chrome, Google has introduced the latest Developer channel edition of Chrome, which is Version 33. By working on multiple browser versions simultaneously, the next versions are in the pipeline for future stable releases.

So what are you Chromesters waiting for?  Time to download and upgrade!