Chevrolet & Nissan reveal plans for second-life uses for old Volt & Leaf batteries

Uses for batteries which are no longer suitable for automotive purposes have been covered previously on these pages. Hybrid batteries have been repurposed at Yellowstone National Park.

General Motors has a system utilising five used Chevrolet Volt battery packs at its new Enterprise Data Center at its Milford Proving Ground in Michigan. Combined with wind turbines & a solar array, the site draws no net energy from the grid on an annual basis.


Credit: General Motors/Green Car Reports

Nissan has inked a deal with Green Charge Networks to deploy used automotive batteries for energy storage. GCN will share energy savings with host sites.

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1098734_chevy-nissan-reveal-second-life-uses-for-electric-car-batteries / most common questions electric cars what happens battery packs car junked thrown away recycled components lithium ion LiIon battery electric car vehicle EV electric-car batteries recycled second life removed taken out car they were supplied in pack store 70 percent original energy capacity considered no longer usable car viable energy storage device uses utility carmakers second-life reuse battery packs General Motors GM Nissan top three plug-in electric car makers five battery packs used Chevrolet Volts providing electricity help keep the lights on GM's new Enterprise Data Center Milford Proving Ground Michigan installation housing 2-kilowatt wind turbines 74-kW solar array energy producing 100 megawatt-hours of energy a year supply energy office building lights five Volt batteries wired in parallel supply power outage net zero energy annual basis grid-tied Nissan GCN Green Charge Networks deploy used lithium-ion battery packs electric cars stationary energy storage Green Charge Networks largest provider commercial energy storage install and manage energy storage unit cost advantage new markets for stationary storage host site shares savings energy cost GCN little or no upfront cost installing unit Nissan provide used packs electric cars Nissan Leaf engineering teams develop storage unit /

LastPass has been hacked — change your master password now

LastPass is a password manager — many people have so many passwords, they can’t remember them all. Password managers exist to store passwords in encrypted form. To access, the user needs a master password. That’s one more password, but with that one password, the user has access to all of his/her other passwords.

LastPass is widely regarded as one of the better ones.

One problem — LastPass has been hacked, so, time for users to update master passwords.

Redmond Pie:
http://www.redmondpie.com/psa-lastpass-was-hacked-change-your-master-password-right-now/

Engadget:
http://www.engadget.com/2015/06/15/lastpass-hacked/

Lifehacker
http://lifehacker.com/lastpass-hacked-time-to-change-your-master-password-1711463571

What LastPass has to say about it:
https://blog.lastpass.com/2015/06/lastpass-security-notice.html/ / security vitally important even more important store more more our lives online banking information photos our kids stored kept in the cloud our data information kept behind secure passwords passwords kept LastPass 1Password highly recommended users LastPass customers suffered data breach reset their passwords precaution LastPass confident hackers gain access any information user’s account LastPass account email addresses password reminders authentication hashes users should change LastPass master password as soon as possible time to panic confident encryption measures sufficient protect vast majority of users LastPass strengthens strong password authentication hash random salt 100,000 rounds of server-side PBKDF2-SHA256 rounds performed client-side additional strengthening makes it difficult attack stolen hashes significant speed LastPass user data passwords usernames sites stored accessible at any time reset your LastPass master password best course of action use that same password elsewhere change that password as well security notice LastPass website /

EVs Rock

Credit: Tesla Motors

Got that right! / EV electric vehicle battery LiIon lithium ion battery car Tesla Motors Model S vanity plate charge recharge range charge recharge /

The Great Suspender

Credit: suspensionlabs/Google Chrome Web Store

Chrome OS computers are built on the thin client model. Relatively modest hardware & most applications running in the Chrome browser keeps prices down. Frequently, this means a large number of browser tabs open, & lag is likely.

Typical solution to lag is to start closing browser tabs — & then re-open them later, when required. A better solution would be to keep all tabs open, but reduce system load by temporarily suspending i/o & processing, apart from the tab in active use.

Enter The Great Suspender extension from suspensionlabs. Default mode, is as described above: tabs which are open, but not in active use, are suspended, but can be restarted with a click.

Options include:
● delay before tabs are automatically suspended
● suspend active tab
● never suspend specified sites
● suspend all tabs, apart from the active tab, now
● unsuspend all tabs

Get it at:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/the-great-suspender/klbibkeccnjlkjkiokjodocebajanakg/support?utm_source=chrome-app-launcher-search

No mention is made in the Google Chrome OS Web Store, but judging from the message which has just appeared in one of my suspended tabs:
“Does this extension make you happy?”
with buttons labelled
[Donate with Bitcoin] & [Donate with Paypal]
The Great Suspender is donation-ware.

GitHub
https://github.com/deanoemcke/thegreatsuspender / ChromeOS Chrome OS Chromebook Chromebox Chromium operating system browser window tab automatic automatically suspend suspends unused tabs free up system resources time to suspend right-click context menu unload park suspend tabs tab reduce memory footprint Chrome tabs auto-suspend configurable period of time suspended manually tabs can be whitelisted avoid automatic suspension suspended tabs retained after closing reopening browser prevent preventing many tabs reloading after restart simple intuitive interface The Great Suspender lightweight chrome extension reduce chrome's memory footprint too many tabs open at the same time extension unload each tab retaining favicon title text tab restored clicking anywhere on the page reduces dom elements page no memory leaks javascripts running /

Furniture orchard

Furniture orchard?

Well, grow apples in an apple orchard.

So ... in a furniture orchard ...

By contrast with conventional furniture making, Full Grown, claims its furniture absorbs more carbon than is released into the atmosphere in its production.





Radio Canada
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/spark/288-grow-your-own-furniture-customize-your-city-and-more-1.3100727/why-buy-furniture-when-you-can-just-grow-your-own-1.3100733

Wired
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-04/09/full-grown-furniture

Full Grown company web site
http://fullgrown.co.uk/ / furniture designer Derbyshire unique approach making new pieces grow ground Gavin Munro design designs use trees grown around plastic frames chairs, tables lamps made single piece wood furniture grown ash sycamore hazel crabapple sessile oak royal oak years ready harvest first prototype chair five years to grow pendant lamps Munro's company Full Grown planting trees grow furniture 3,000 trees planted 2.5 acre site production trees planted shoots trained grow around frame shaped piece of furniture chair lamp table frame mirror company's website thicken few years harvested seasoned dries process different conventional methods mass-producing wooden furniture trees grown decades cut into small pieces manufacture method slow creates huge amounts of waste damages environment Full Grown first prototypes chair pendant lamp made from salix viminalis native English willow orders being taken ready-grown bespoke furniture furniture thousands of years history developments production process mechanisation machine machining modernisation Full Grown response 3D printing time of change future objects printed growing trees directly into shape objects more personal elegant durable /

watchOS 2 already in the works (update)

Credit: Apple/Mashable

watchOS 2 — second iteration of watchOS for the Apple Watch — will be available in the northern fall (spring in the southern hemisphere).

New features include:
● Time Travel — sorry, not what you think — lets users scroll forward in time to upcoming events & backward to past events, including meetings, weather information & events from third-party apps — sounds remarkably like the time line interface in the new Pebble Time smartwatch
● Nightstand Mode — Digital Crown & side button become snooze & off buttons for the alarm
● Activation Lock, which allows the user to secure the Watch with their Apple ID to prevent a thief from activating it

Access for third party apps to:
● Digital Crown
● Taptic Engine
● heart rate sensor
● new software APIs

Not-so-new feature:
● no third-party watch-faces

http://www.macworld.com.au/news/watchos-2-coming-in-spring-138710/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=eNewsletter+Friday+12+June+2015&utm_content=eNewsletter+Friday+12+June+2015+CID_fe859c70ee4976e92d6b495edea9f2f7&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=Continue%20reading#.VXqEUVX3_Gc

http://www.technobuffalo.com/videos/apple-watchos-2-hands-on-a-monumental-upgrade/

http://9to5mac.com/2015/06/08/apple-announces-new-version-of-watchos/ / haptic feedback OS operating system smartwatch smart watch Apple previewed watchOS 2 World Wide Developers Conference WWDC 2015 developers program programme programmatically access Digital Crown Taptic Engine heart rate sensor software APIs build new apps updated watchOS 2 new watch faces third-party app information watch face complications new communication capabilities Mail Friends Digital Touch new tools allow developers make apps more robust Strava more accurately track heart rate ride run data from the heart rate sensor accelerometer Insteon customers more precise controls dim lights control temperature Digital Crown Volkswagen owners haptic feedback car door locked watchOS 2 turn your favourite photo new watch face view pictures from your favourite photo album every raise of your wrist new Photo and Photo Album watch faces Time-Lapse watch face choose selection time-lapse videos shot over 24 hours iconic locations New York City London Shanghai new Time Travel feature users scroll Digital Crown events future past upcoming meetings activities temperature week information from third-party apps upcoming flight information latest Apple Watch software new ways to communicate Mail dictation Smart Replies emoji create multiple Friends screens up to 12 friends new friends added Apple Watch Digital Touch draw send sketches multiple colours same canvas more tools for creative sketches Nightstand Mode bedside alarm clock Digital Crown side button snooze off buttons workouts third-party fitness apps all-day Move Exercise goals Siri start specific workouts Activation Lock users secure their Apple Watch Apple ID preventing another user wiping activating device lost or stolen watchOS 2 will be available during the Australian spring free update to Apple Watch requires iPhone 5 iPhone 5c iPhone 5s iPhone 6 iPhone 6 Plus running iOS 8.2 iOS 9 SDK beta including WatchKit for watchOS 2 available immediately iOS Developer Program members /

Sun + seawater + Salicornia —> food + fuel

Sustainable sources exist for most of our energy needs:
● electric vehicles, bicycles, trams & trains for personal transport
● trains for freight
● solar, wind & hydro for domestic & commercial electricity

All of these are available as off-the-shelf solutions.

For commercial airlines, there appears to be no alternative to carbon based liquid fuels. At the moment, this fuel comes from fossil sources.

Biofuel alternatives have a number of problem to overcome if they are to be sustainable: diversion of food supply, arable land & fresh water, plus fossil fuel use in crop production.

ISEAS may be a solution:


Credit: ISEAS/RenewEconomy

http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/desert-farms-could-power-flight-with-sunshine-and-seawater-57366

Salicornia — salt tolerant, oil rich
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salicornia / aviation industry major source greenhouse gas emissions fuel aviation contributed climate change carbon dioxide CO2 improvements in efficiency global aviation emissions expected grow 70% 2020 2005 industry seeking new renewable fuel sources growing biofuels takes up valuable land water grow food grow biofuels land nobody wants using seawater sunlight produce food new project Abu Dhabi Integrated Seawater Energy and Agriculture System ISEAS grow sustainable food aviation fuel desert seawater sunshine transferable similar arid regions around the world project under construction solve biggest environmental problems triple dilemma energy water food problems compound each other each making the others more difficult to resolve wasteful irrigation water limits threatening reductions food production water energy food issues positive relations Sundrop Farms project South Australia abundant sunshine seawater produce electric power fresh water cultivate greenhouse crops tomatoes Sundrop Farms project won substantial financial support global venture capital firm KKR Clean Energy Finance Corporation contract to supply fresh produce supermarket chain Coles Abu Dhabi projectseawater farming salt-tolerant plants mangroves oil-rich Salicornia aquaculture seafood shrimp fish Sustainable Bioenergy Research Consortium Abu Dhabi partners airline Etihad Airways Masdar Institute of Science and Technology UAE United Arab Republics corporate giants Boeing General Electric UOP Honeywell corporation funding market rapidly scale up securing the biomass complementing associated activities complementary generate a closed loop operation seawater aquaculture ponds fish shrimp varieties grown food wastewater aquaculture rich organic nutrients irrigate salt-tolerant crop Salicornia crop harvested oil extracted seeds aviation biofuel water drained salt tolerant crops mangrove wetland naturally purified carbon sequestered solar energy input drive crop production energy production pumping chart process solving complex problems project solves problem waste disposal fish farming aquaculture channelling organic wastes irrigation fertiliser cultivation Salicornia plants halophytes salt-resistant species seawater grow on arid land project eliminates problem most biofuels water arable land used for food production Abu Dhabi project produces fuel food recycles everything non-arable land current pilot farm entirely closed-loop seawater drawn originally ocean passing various stages fed to mangrove plantations water is filtered through mangroves extracting final nutrients ocean recycled fish farms energy pumping water generated solar array no fossil fuel input backed financially large players Etihad principal airline Masdar Institute S&T corporate giants like Boeing scale up quickly pilot project plant covering 2 hectares 200 ha demonstration scale 140 ha Salicornia cultivation 30 ha aquaculture 20 ha mangrove plantation Australia vast arid areas copious quantities of seawater sunshine ingredients similar solar biofuel food project national air carrier Qantas experimented aviation biofuels national R&D organization CSIRO Australia long experience development agricultural models cope with high salinity levels strong research tradition cultivated West Australia CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity Future Farm Industries CRC lack of continued support project produce food domestic consumption export produce aviation biofuel restore fuel processing value chain domestic export product utilise water promote means halting desertification restoring fertility arid areas /