Trina Solar to Supply 200MW of PV Modules to Zonergy
Changzhou, China (SPX) Jul 11, 2014 -
Trina Solar has announced it will supply 200MW of modules to Zonergy Company downstream projects in China, marking its largest single module supply agreement to date in 2014.
Trina Solar will supply approximately 800,000 pieces of its TSM-PC05A modules for Zonergy's downstream projects located across several provinces in China such as Jiangsu, Shandong, Xinjiang, Qinghai and Sichuan.
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SeaRoc makes first maintenance visit to Dogger Bank met masts
Chichester, UK (SPX) Jul 11, 2014 -
SeaRoc Group has successfully completed the first major maintenance visit to Forewind's Dogger Bank meteorological (met) masts in the North Sea at the beginning of June.
The East (DB-MME) and West (DB-MMW) masts have been installed for 15 and 8 months respectively and scheduled structural inspection, instrumentation and cleaning tasks were undertaken.
The met masts are collecting val ...
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Hunger for vegetable oil means trouble for Africa's great apes
Liverpool, UK (SPX) Jul 11, 2014 -
The vegetable oil found in your popcorn or soap might not be ape friendly, and the situation appears likely to get even worse, according to an analysis in the Cell Press journal Current Biology.
The growing demand for vegetable oil has already led to the conversion of Southeast Asian forest into oil palm plantations, bringing trouble for orangutans in particular. If guidelines are not put ...
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Speeding up data storage by a thousand times with 'spin current'
Eindhoven, Netherlands (SPX) Jul 11, 2014 -
A hard drive stores bits in the form of tiny magnetic domains. The directions of the magnetic north and south poles of these domains, which are referred to as the magnetization, determine whether they are a 0 or a 1.
Data is stored by changing the direction of the magnetization of the associated bits. At present this is done using a write head to create a local magnetic field, which makes ...
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Sophisticated radiation detector designed for broad public use
Corvallis OR (SPX) Jul 11, 2014 -
Nuclear engineers at Oregon State University have developed a small, portable and inexpensive radiation detection device that should help people all over the world better understand the radiation around them, its type and intensity, and whether or not it poses a health risk.
The device was developed in part due to public demand following the nuclear incident in Fukushima, Japan, in 2011, w ...
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Record levels of solar ultraviolet measured in South America
Mountain View CA (SPX) Jul 11, 2014 -
A team of researchers in the U.S. and Germany has measured the highest level of ultraviolet radiation ever recorded on the Earth's surface. The extraordinary UV fluxes, observed in the Bolivian Andes only 1,500 miles from the equator, are far above those normally considered to be harmful to both terrestrial and aquatic life. The results are being published in the open-access journal Frontiers in ...
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Dominion doing tests off Virginia coast for possible wind farm
Virginia Beach, Va. (UPI) Jul 11, 2013 -
Dominion Virginia Power said it's conducting tests off the coast of Virginia to determine the strength of the sea bed for wind turbine installations.
The company said the 110-foot vessel Inez Eymard is operating off the coast of Virginia Beach to determine composition and strength of soil on the sea floor to support wind turbine foundations and electrical cables.
Dominion receive ...
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Musk donates $1 million for new Tesla museum
Washington (AFP) July 11, 2014 -
Tesla Motors founder Elon Musk has agreed to donate $1 million to help fund a new museum dedicated to inventor Nikolai Tesla.
The organizer of a crowdfunding campaign for the new museum, Matthew Inman, made the announcement on his blog, weeks after publicly asking Musk for the donation for the center honoring the inventor who inspired the name for the electric car maker.
"Earlier this we ...
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China detains prominent financial TV anchor: reports
Shanghai (AFP) July 13, 2014 -
Chinese authorities have detained a prominent financial news anchor for state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV), according to media reports, in what appears to be the latest target in a corruption crackdown.
Authorities on Friday "took away" Rui Chenggang, 36, known for his fluent English and interviews with corporate and world leaders, along with the deputy director of CCTV's fina ...
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China's leader Xi departs for South America visit
Beijing (AFP) July 13, 2014 -
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday departed for a visit to four South American countries, including Brazil, to build ties in a resource-rich region traditionally considered the backyard of the United States.
Xi left Beijing on Sunday morning, the official Xinhua news agency reported, with a delegation which includes State Councillor Yang Jiechi, China's leading official for foreign affai ...
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Three Reforms to Protect Cap-and-Trade Policy
Berkeley CA (SPX) Jul 14, 2014 -
California's landmark cap-and-trade system for regulating greenhouse gases could be vulnerable to price spikes and market manipulation, according to a study released by scholars affiliated with the Energy Institute at Haas. But the state's air-quality regulators can prevent that outcome with three straightforward reforms, the study says.
Specifically, the California Air Resources Board sho ...
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Blind lead the way in brave new world of tactile technology
Berkeley CA (SPX) Jul 14, 2014 -
Imagine feeling a slimy jellyfish, a prickly cactus or map directions on your iPad mini Retina display, because that's where tactile technology is headed. But you'll need more than just an index finger to feel your way around.
New research at UC Berkeley has found that people are better and faster at navigating tactile technology when using both hands and several fingers. Moreover, blind p ...
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Getting a charge out of water droplets
Cambridge MA (SPX) Jul 14, 2014 -
Last year, MIT researchers discovered that when water droplets spontaneously jump away from superhydrophobic surfaces during condensation, they can gain electric charge in the process. Now, the same team has demonstrated that this process can generate small amounts of electricity that might be used to power electronic devices.
The new findings, by postdoc Nenad Miljkovic, associate profess ...
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Flexlab Opens Test Beds to Drive Dramatic Increase in Building Efficiency
Berkeley CA (SPX) Jul 14, 2014 -
The world's most advanced energy efficiency test bed for buildings is open for business, launched by U.S. Department of Energy Deputy Secretary Daniel Poneman. DOE's FLEXLAB at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is already signing up companies determined to reduce their energy use by testing and deploying the most energy efficient technologies as integrated systems under real-w ...
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Your next opponent in Angry Birds could be a robot
Atlanta GA (SPX) Jul 14, 2014 -
With the help of a smart tablet and Angry Birds, children can now do something typically reserved for engineers and computer scientists: program a robot to learn new skills. The Georgia Institute of Technology project is designed to serve as a rehabilitation tool and to help kids with disabilities.
The researchers have paired a small humanoid robot with an Android tablet. Kids teach it how ...
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Uncertainty gives scientists new confidence in search for novel materials
Menlo Park CA (SPX) Jul 14, 2014 -
Scientists at Stanford University and the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have found a way to estimate uncertainties in computer calculations that are widely used to speed the search for new materials for industry, electronics, energy, drug design and a host of other applications. The technique, reported in the July 11 issue of Science, should quickly be adopted in st ...
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IBM to spend $3 bn aiming for computer chip breakthrough
New York (AFP) July 10, 2014 -
IBM announced plans Wednesday to pump $3 billion into an overhaul of computer chip technology to better meet modern demands of "Big Data" and computing pushed to the Internet "cloud."
The New York-based technology veteran hopes to leave behind the silicon long used in computer chips for a material that could ramp up power while shrinking processors to molecular levels.
Services and progr ...
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Hollow optical fibres for UV light
Erlangen, Germany (SPX) Jul 14, 2014 -
If you want to send light on a trip through optical fibres - with as little loss as possible, you should opt for infrared light, as is the case, for example, in the telecommunication networks worldwide. For certain applications, such as spectroscopic investigations on ions or atoms, however, (laser) light in the ultraviolet range is required. But this type of light would quickly damage conventio ...
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'Nano-pixels' promise thin, flexible, high resolution displays
Cambridge, UK (SPX) Jul 14, 2014 -
A new discovery will make it possible to create pixels just a few hundred nanometres across that could pave the way for extremely high-resolution and low-energy thin, flexible displays for applications such as 'smart' glasses, synthetic retinas, and foldable screens.
A team led by Oxford University scientists explored the link between the electrical and optical properties of phase change m ...
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Chemists develop magnetically responsive liquid crystals
Riverside CA (SPX) Jul 14, 2014 -
Chemists at the University of California, Riverside have constructed liquid crystals with optical properties that can be instantly and reversibly controlled by an external magnetic field. The research paves the way for novel display applications relying on the instantaneous and contactless nature of magnetic manipulation-such as signage, posters, writing tablets, and billboards.
Commercial ...
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Israel, Hamas defy truce calls as deadly violence escalates
Gaza City, Palestinian Territories (AFP) July 13, 2014 -
The world has implored Israel and Hamas to end hostilities as the toll from Israeli air strikes rose to 162 and Gaza militants fired more rocket salvos, but both sides have rejected a truce.
Saturday was the bloodiest day since the conflict erupted on Tuesday, claiming 56 Palestinian lives including a two-year-old child and a 73-year-old woman.
Israel continued to build up troops along t ...
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Amazon seeks US permission for drone tests
Washington (AFP) July 11, 2014 -
Online giant Amazon has sought permission for drone test flights in the United States, saying it is moving forward on plans for deliveries using the unmanned aircraft.
In a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration made public this week, Amazon said that because of restrictions on drones in US airspace, it has been conducting test flights indoors and in other countries.
"Of course, A ...
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Chinese courts jail 32 in Xinjiang: Xinhua
Beijing (AFP) July 11, 2014 -
Chinese courts in the far-western region of Xinjiang have sentenced 32 people to prison terms ranging from four years to life for terrorism-related charges, state media reported Friday.
The sentences were handed down Thursday by courts in seven cities and prefectures in Xinjiang, the official Xinhua news agency said.
The verdicts covered spreading "terror-related audio and video and orga ...
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Japan able to aid US ships under attack: minister
Washington (AFP) July 11, 2014 -
Japan's new policy on military action would allow its forces to come to the aid of a US naval ship under attack, Tokyo's defense minister said Friday.
In a visit to Washington, Itsunori Onodera cited the hypothetical scenario as he sought to explain the Japanese government's controversial decision to ease decades-long restrictions on the country's military.
If US warships were sent to de ...
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In Gaza, war clouds Palestinian teen's dream of peace
Gaza City, Palestinian Territories (AFP) July 13, 2014 -
In 2012, Mohamed Abu Aisha took part in a US peace camp with Israelis, but now he wonders if some of them are flying the warplanes overhead in Gaza.
Standing in the Tuffah neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City, the 17-year-old stares at the devastation left by an Israeli strike in which 18 people were killed on Saturday night.
The target appears to have been a Hamas police chief, but the m ...
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