ChrisPrasojo

Electric cars and charge challenge

Japanese giant manufacturer Mitsubishi motor sell its first mass-market electric car in showrooms today. This electric-powered vehicle technology is one of the key answers to international calls for emission reduction in the automobile industry. And the great thing in 2010 is the affordability of this technology to reach the mass.

The electric car can travel 160 km in a single charge which takes about 14 hours using household electrical outlet or a quick 30 minutes charge using designated charging station at public places. Presently, there are about sixty public charging stations in Japan and the government is planning to increase the number in the coming years as more electrical cars hit the road and demand for such charging station increases.

Other car manufacturers like Nissan, Toyota, and Ford are preparing their electric cars for sale in the next 1-2 years. Meanwhile, Microsoft and Ford are collaborating to develop smart technology to manage and tackle the charging challenge which is likely to happen when there’s a surge of electric car ownership in a neighborhood.

Certainly, the automobile industry, electrical and utilities board, information-technology player, and our society in general are progressing towards a cleaner transportation mode which put less strain on our planet.

Earth Hour 2009

Earth Hour starts at 8.30 tonight! The Merlion, Fullerton, Esplanade, Singapore Flyer as well as major buildings and shopping malls are taking part.  Will you?

Visit the official Earth Hour’s website for Singapore to read related articles about this event and see Sydney, Hong Kong, Beijing, New Delhi, Athens, Berlin, Paris, London, Madrid and New York among other cities of the world take part in Earth Hour 2009; Catch the iconic buildings and landmarks in the dark.

New Zealanders are now having their Earth Hour. Follow the tweet as Earth Hour

Seeking Salvation and Profit in Greentech

“I don’t think we’re going to make it,” says John Doer, in an emotional talk about climate change and investment. His daughter even said, “I’m scared and angry. Dad, your generation created this problem; you’d better fix it.”

Will my children say so? Will they even have a chance to say it?

Morph

Take a look at this cool video (it’s just a concept!) about Nokia Morph. A great concept about future phone with nanotechnology and how it can change the way we interact with mobile phone.

I like the idea of battery self-recharge using sunlight and possibility of using it on building surface.

Distributed Computing

Sometimes I need to leave my computer on while I’m away. Some friends and colleagues do the same thing for many reasons, such as:

• downloading big files or torrents overnight.
• leaving it in “ready” state so when the owner back to use the computer, it can be used immediately without waiting for start-up/loading process.
• the computer is left on to process certain task such as backup, scan, or other maintenance tasks.
• the computer is left on so its owner can access it remotely from another computer.
• and so on…

Most activities listed above only take a small fraction of computer’s processing power, often leaving the processor idle for hours. Not many people know that there is a better way to utilise the unused processing power: donate it for grid computing. 

Some might have heard the term “Grid Computing” or “Distributed Computing” and relate it to scientific projects and geeky stuff in labs. Some think about DNA mapping and analysis. Some think about difficult mathematics or physics formula. Some even think about military project, UFO, and the outer space. 

Before going deeper into the subject, let’s take a look of what Wiki says about grid computing:

Grid computing is a phrase in distributed computing which can have several meanings:

• Multiple independent computing clusters which act like a “grid” because they are composed of resource nodes not located within a single administrative domain.
• The creation of a “virtual supercomputer” by using a network of geographically dispersed computers. Volunteer computing, which generally focuses on scientific, mathematical, and academic problems, is the most common application of this technology.

Continue reading grid computing’s wiki…

In a simpler concept, grid computing is about lending unused computing power to a collective cause, ranging from climate prediction to DNA analysis to UFO search. 

Join GridRepublic, a non-profit organisation that allow home users to be part in grid computing to solve various research projects such as climate prediction and DNA mapping for cancer study. I use GridRepublic to help research on climate changes, cancer study, and DNA mapping. It runs in the night time when my computer is on and unused.

If you occasionally leave your computer on overnight for certain tasks, I recommend you to install GridRepublic to donate your unused computing power for good causes. It is secure, does not interfere your privacy, and does not degrade your computer performance. Learn more about GridRepublic or see research projects you can take part in. 

Of course energy conservation is the best way. Turn off your computer when you don’t use it at all. Pass the positive influence to your friends and colleagues!  

LocalCooling

Everyone can be a hero.

Everyone can save the earth.

Start by conserving energy of the object you’re looking at.

Act now by getting yourself a LocalCooling.