Kwikot steps up production of solar water heaters

KWIKOT, the hot-water systems manufacturer, is rolling 1000 low-pressure solar-powered water heaters off its production line daily as part of a government plan to install 1-million heaters in disadvantaged communities by 2014.

In April, the Department of Trade and Industry announced that preferential procurement legislation would apply to components for the geysers, to encourage local manufacturing.

According to Piet Malan, MD of Kwikot, the roll-out of the geysers, each comprising 80% local materials, in a country where many live without electricity will help improve South Africans’ living standards.

Many municipalities used solar-powered geysers made in China, despite these being unsuitable to South African conditions, Mr Malan said, speaking at the opening of Kwikot’s Kwiksol solar-powered geyser production facility in Benoni on Friday.

The Department of Energy, the South African Bureau of Standards, municipalities and Eskom are all involved in the roll-out of locally produced solar-powered geysers.

For example, to counter the high installation cost of solar heating systems, Eskom, the national power utility, has launched a rebate system to allow consumers who install the geysers to be refunded a portion of the cost.

However, Mr Malan said Kwikot was still working with Eskom and other role players to put the right processes in place for municipalities to buy and install the geysers.

When the government first announced its plans to provide solar-heated water across South Africa, Kwikot decided to act fast to become the main supplier, he said ― a decision that also created jobs.

Mr Malan added that Kwikot could compete with Chinese manufacturers on quality and cost.

About 100000 low-pressure solar geysers had already been installed in South Africa, but the potential was still "massive", he said.

At Friday’s launch, Aubrey Nxumalo, Ekurhuleni municipal councillor for water and energy, invited other councillors and politicians to familiarise themselves with the heaters, as Ekurhuleni wanted "to form a relationship with Kwikot".

Mr Nxumalo said about 15000 solar-powered geysers had been installed in Ekurhuleni over the past two years, of a target of about 200000, mostly in Reconstruction and Development Programme houses.

"We are taking seriously the massive rollout of solar geysers," he said.

Mr Nxumalo added that while solar-powered geysers were usually imported from China, the municipality, which has 3-million residents, was turning to local suppliers.

Apart from Kwikot, its main supplier, the municipality also deals with Clean Heat Solar and Tasol Solar Energy Solutions.

Mr Nxumalo said the first step was to educate people about the advantages of solar-powered geysers, before starting a "huge roll-out" that would include schools.

Scion FR-S Base

Drifting, on the other hand, is not a race but an entirely different form of motorized competition where judges crown a winner based on four drifting criteria: line, angle, style and finally, speed. Think of it as a motorized form of gymnastics ― but faster and louder. And there’s no checkered flag.

Whatever it is, drifting is an extreme sport and it is spectacular to watch. This is why it’s so popular among Generation Y youth; many drift competitors come from BMX and motocross racing backgrounds.

Drifting is even more spectacular when riding shotgun, as I am with Mississauga’s Pat Cyr, who’s at the wheel of a manual-shift Scion FR-S. Cyr competes successfully in the Drift Mania Canadian Championship (DMCC) in an aging yet potent Toyota AE86, the car that inspired Toyota to design the FR-S in conjunction with Subaru (as the BRZ). One of the reasons the FR-S is being used for a drift demonstration at Autodrome St-Eustache, just north of Montreal, is that like the AE86 it’s a rear driver. But Toyota also wants to demonstrate that this car isn’t about the commute or family outings; it’s about the sheer enjoyment of driving, so they’ve also organized some lapping sessions at the track.

Cyr’s hands are a blur behind the wheel. I brace as he steers into a full-lock slide on pavement at about 70 km/h, then in a flash he swings the rear end over full lock to the other side. He initiates a slide by pulling momentarily on the handbrake, then keeping the gas pedal floored to maintain a steady drift. Without skipping a beat he fans the clutch and downshifts from third gear to second as the turn tightens up, all the while smoking the rear tires with the engine screaming near red line, often bumping the rev limiter. The only way I can describe this sideways madness is total mechanical abuse ― and more fun than you can shake a shifter at.

Despite the sadistic manner in which Cyr manhandles the FR-S, it manages an entire day of drift demonstrations without a hiccup ― aside from burning though about a half-dozen rear tires.

Although these drift demonstrations are remarkable, the FR-S is not yet competition ready. With 200 horsepower under the hood it can ― in the hands of a professional ― drift impressively at lower speeds in lower gears, but competition often calls for horsepower figures easily double what the Scion produces, and speeds in excess of 160 km/h.

Cyr plans to develop the FR-S throughout the 2012 season for competition in 2013, including dropping a modified 2.5-litre Impreza engine under the hood that will pump out more than 400 hp.

After a few sessions with Cyr, I come close to tossing my lunch, so I take to the track myself for some lapping. Like the Subaru BRZ I’d recently sampled, the FR-S is nimble, well-balanced and low. The only difference I notice driving the FR-S is that the suspension seems to have a bit more damping dialed in, providing a slightly firmer ride.

Aside from the logo on the steering wheel, it’s hard to tell the FR-S from the BRZ from the driver’s seat. There’s a slight variation in trim materials and a different style of the buttons and knobs on the dash, but otherwise they are very similar. The base FR-S has a touch fewer standard features than the base BRZ, lacking a standard-issue navigation system, HID headlights and LED daytime lights, but it also retails for $1,300 less at $25,990.

This makes it a pretty good value when you factor in the spec sheet of its competitors. Although it has a 110 kg weight deficit on a comparably equipped Mazda MX-5, it produces 33 more hp. And despite being 74 hp down on the turbocharged Genesis Coupe, it also carries 270 kg less weight. The real kicker is that it costs between two to three grand less than either of those cars.

New Practice Facility Earns LEED Platinum Rating

The University of Colorado Boulder’s volleyball and basketball practice facility has received a LEED platinum rating -- the highest designation -- from the United States Green Building Council.

It is the first LEED-certified athletic facility on the CU-Boulder campus and one of only two platinum-rated athletic facilities in the Pac-12. LEED certification is a U.S. benchmark for sustainable design and construction.

“Athletics is a great springboard for sustainability,” said Tom McGann, CU-Boulder associate athletic director. “We’re reducing our energy consumption and carbon footprint not only because it’s better for the environment and minimizes the money spent on building operations, but also because we hope it has an impression on many people, from our athletes to students, faculty, staff and fans.”

The 43,000-square-foot practice facility, adjacent to the Coors Events Center, opened in August 2011 and houses two NCAA-regulation-size basketball courts. They are shared by the men’s and women’s basketball programs, as well as the women’s volleyball program. Other spaces in the building include a ticket booth, lobby, locker rooms and offices.

“This facility promotes the success of our student athletes and programs and provides an addition to the Coors Events Center that improves the structure’s architectural integration with the campus,” said Paul Leef, campus architect and director of the Planning, Design and Construction office. “It also expands our portfolio of high-performance facilities with a new building type and challenges like not being able to introduce a lot of windows for natural light. Still, we were able to achieve the highest LEED rating.”

The practice facility is estimated to be 40 percent more energy efficient and 30 percent more water efficient than recent buildings of similar size and function.

Its features include rooftop solar panels that are capable of providing 10 to 12 percent of the building’s electricity. The structure is cooled with an evaporative system that uses less energy than traditional mechanical systems. The facility also is outfitted with low-flow water fixtures, high-performance insulation and windows, efficient lighting, and lighting and heating controls that are key to optimizing energy savings.

“We have recently built sustainable and very energy-efficient academic, research, residential and dining spaces,” said Moe Tabrizi, campus sustainability director. “The athletic facility adds to the sustainability learning opportunities and experiences for our students throughout campus, no matter where they are.”

In other athletic-related initiatives, CU-Boulder hosts zero-waste football games as part of Ralphie’s Green Stampede. The program topped two leader boards in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2011 Game Day Challenge -- a national competition to eliminate waste generated at college football games.

In March, CU-Boulder announced that the student government had reduced the net emissions of greenhouse gases from its student-run facilities -- including the Student Recreation Center.

A dim view of half-truths about CFL light bulbs at Elgin Green Expo

Earlier this year, the president ― without approval from Congress ― ordered bombing strikes against Libya, which by any definition constitutes an act of war. This action was a violation of Section 8 of Article I. And just recently, the president entered into an agreement/treaty with Afghanistan without obtaining concurrence from two-thirds of the Senate as required by Section 2 of Article II.

Republicans say that the president’s policies are destroying the country; yet when he exceeds his constitutional powers, they choose to do nothing.

Because of their failure to support and defend the Constitution, it is easy to get the impression that congressional Republicans believe that the Constitution consists of nothing more than the Second Amendment.

There is, however, a rather simple explanation as to why House Republicans prefer to overlook the president’s violations of the Constitution. They are afraid of setting a precedent ― and having to impeach a Republican president who also might exceed his/her constitutional powers by ordering air strikes against another country without approval from Congress.

There were the compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) pushers telling you of the savings you will realize, but very few mentioned they required special disposal because they contain mercury. No one mentioned that our government wants to mandate we use a potentially harmful light bulb to replace the incandescent (regular) bulb we are currently using.

No one mentioned that the CFL will be made in communist China. They couldn’t kill us with lead poisoning, so now they will try to poison us with mercury. And we live in a country that says we will not do business with countries that exploit children in the labor force, yet remain silent as CFL workers are being hospitalized. Or is it they do not want us to know?

Now, several CFL pushers insisted CFLs are safe and there is, or will be, sites you can safely dispose of them. Well, that is not entirely true:

CFLs contain a very small amount of mercury sealed within the glass tubing ― an average of 5 milligrams. If the bulb is broken, the mercury can leak out.

While transporting new or safely disposed CFLs, they could and have been broken while transporting. A report released in 2008 from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection revealed that when a CFL bulb is broken, it can release dangerously high levels of mercury into the air. Mercury-vapor standards generally allow for 300 nanograms of mercury per cubic meter of air; however, a broken CFL bulb can emit upward of 50,000 nanograms per cubic meter, or more than 166 times the safe upper threshold.

Compact fluorescent bulbs have to reach a threshold temperature for the gas to begin emitting light, and many won’t work in cold temperatures There are more disadvantages to CFL than advantages.

A better choice are the LED light bulbs. You save more on your electric bill, they are safe dispose of, and are made in the USA.

MIT students complete "The Holy Grail of Hacks" by turning building into playable Tetris game

We should know by now that whenever the bright minds at MIT set their sights on something, it's bound to happen eventually. According to the official MIT hacks gallery, the computer gurus at the institute have long considered turning the campus's Green Building ― a 21-story facility which houses the Earth and Planetary Sciences department ― into a mammoth game of Tetris to be "The Holy Grail of Hacks." Well, they did it, and yes, it's just as amazing as it sounds.

The building itself was originally built in the early 1960s, and its grid-like window layout has made it the perfect platform for a variety of interesting projects in the past. For example, on the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, the building was outfitted with a litany of LED lights to turn it into an animated American flag waving in the wind.

The following morning, the students tinkered with the lights to create a makeshift Tetris display, but it was too buggy to be played and quickly aborted. Apparently, that failure only served as motivation for the hacking experts, as they spent the next year and a half perfecting the concept. Debuting the official, completed version this month, the crew have clearly perfected the software and added a ton of cool touches.

The game is just as you remember it from your childhood ― or perhaps adulthood ― complete with a scrolling Tetris logo to start the game and brightly-colored blocks. The player can rotate and speed up the movement of the blocks just like in the original version, and yes, the beloved long, skinny block is still a rare commodity.

The MIT version of this classic puzzler includes a very unique difficulty curve, utilizing the LEDs to alter the colors of the blocks after a player completes each level. As the game progresses, the colors become paler and paler, making it harder to identify each block at first glance. More advanced levels feature color-changing blocks meant to disorient the player, and when the game eventually ends from too many misplaced pieces, the blocks tumble down the side of the structure creating a very cool visual effect.

So now that the goal of Tetris on the Green Building has been bested, what's next for the MIT hacking gurus? We're not entirely sure, but given the school's apparent affinity for retro games, we shouldn't mind seeing a 21-story version of Space Invaders as the next project.