KCCI Weather Beacon goes dark

Iowa lost two treasures in less than two days. First, Wall Lake native and famed singer Andy Williams died late Tuesday. Wednesday, word came from KCCI-TV the station was switching off its beloved Weather Beacon for good.

The beacon was to flicker off a final time at dawn Thursday. Station owners decided costs and upkeep of the colorful icon outweighed the benefits of keeping the beacon lit ― much to the anguish of central Iowans who grew up with the forecast lights.

“We are losing a true landmark,” said Bernard Harmeyer of Altoona. “I always looked to the tower to see what was going on with the weather. It made (KCCI) stand out from the other stations.”

First lit in 1960, strings of colored lights at the edges of the downtown transmitter tower for Des Moines’ CBS-TV affiliate gave an at-a-glance forecast on the capital’s skyline.

But the traffic light bulbs used to create the colorful forecast are no longer manufactured. Station officials ordered custom-made bulbs, but the color flaked off the red and green bulbs, which regularly forced engineers to scale the 500-foot tower to replace bulbs.

The tower, KCCI reported Wednesday, was built to meet 1980s code, and any remodeling would have forced expensive repairs.

The Weather Beacon went dark in 1973 because of high energy costs. When KCCI moved to its current location at 888 Ninth St., the tower was rebuilt and the beacon returned in 1987.

Former Des Moines Register Iowa Boy columnist Chuck Offenburger rallied the station to return the beacon in many columns through the 1970s and ’80s. Now retired and living on a Greene County farm, he was ready to sound reveille in the 21st century.

“Occupy KCCI!” he said Wednesday. “Look what other fine restorations there are around Des Moines ― the World Food Prize headquarters, the Temple for Performing Arts, Terry Branstad.

“Surely the Weather Beacon can be made over and given extended new life, too, can’t it?”

Connie McBurney Percival, a reporter and forecaster with KCCI for 24 years, flipped the switch on the resurrected beacon.

“It was extravagant at the time,” she said. She planned to take a last look at the beacon while visiting friends in Des Moines on Wednesday night. “A lot of people really liked it, but it’s probably about the electric bill. I’m sure it was quite costly.”

“Weather beacon dead, no weather ahead,” said Joseph Louis Vaughn of Ames. “We should start fund raising for a more efficient beacon with LED lights and bring it back to the Des Moines skyline.”

ViewSonic Announces LED-Laser Hybrid Home Theater Projector

ViewSonic, a global provider of computing, consumer electronics and communications solutions, continues its innovative leadership by launching today its breakthrough laser LED hybrid Full HD home cinema projector, the ViewSonic Pro9000.

Adopting state-of-the-art laser and LED hybrid illumination technologies, the lamp-free Pro9000 introduces an exciting new chapter to the home entertainment market, easily exceeding user expectations.

Intelligently combining breakthrough laser and LED technologies to provide more stable and safer hybrid lighting elements, the lamp-free Pro9000 enhances 50% colour range and has 100,000:1 contrast ratio. The Pro9000 delivers vibrant, sharp, saturated high quality images and a rich colour spectrum, enriching overall colour rendition and displaying high-definition multimedia content in Full HD resolution. With the Pro9000, users can enjoy dynamic multimedia content from high definition Blu ray DVD players, media players and games consoles projected onto large screens.

The ViewSonic Pro9000 also provides an environmentally friendly and sustainable solution in any environment calling for premium projection experience. Mercury-free laser and LED light sources efficiently increase projector lifespan to 20,000 hours, more than 5 times that of conventional systems, while dramatically reducing total cost of ownership. The Pro9000 also provides instant on/off, preventing the risk of damage from overheating.

“Our innovative Pro9000 enables users to enjoy a sensational visual experience, while saving money and sharing ViewSonic’s commitment to environmentally friendly products,” said Mark Lufkin, Managing Director for ViewSonic Europe. “We’re proud to introduce the Pro9000 as our flagship model to celebrate ViewSonic’s 25th anniversary. In keeping with our corporate pledge to provide excellent visual experience, the fully featured Pro9000 propels home cinema entertainment to a whole new level. Everyone will be overwhelmed by its spectacular performance and extended lifespan.”

The Pro9000 features a wide variety of connection options comprising of dual HDMI, Component (via VGA), Composite and S-video inputs. The integrated speakers are sufficient for most home entertainment situations with no need for external speakers.

Natural light is formed by a combination of red, green and blue colours; with the green spectrum playing a crucial role by occupying around 60% of colour composition. Advanced laser and LED illumination technology is designed to enhance green spectrum performance and enrich overall colour rendition. This technology combines blue and red LEDs and blue lasers along with green phosphors.

The blue laser passes through a clear part of the wheel and excites green phosphors on the other half. Then, the primary colours of light are consolidated. A digital light processor, smaller than a postage stamp, contains a matrix of hinged micro-mirrors that pivot to generate a complete image, reflected into the lens. By enhancing the green spectrum and solid-state blue laser and blue and red LED light sources, this technology enhances 50% colour gamut and 100,000:1 contrast ratio, delivering vibrant, sharp and saturated colour performance.

In addition, the mercury-free technology adopts a solid-state light source, increasing projector life time to 20,000 hours. No fans are needed to cool the lamp, so you can instantly turn the projector on and off without waiting for warming or cooling, efficiently reducing total cost of ownership and providing a quiet environment.

Museum aims to save energy

Energy saving is big business and something staff at Auckland War Memorial Museum take very seriously.

The company has reduced its carbon emissions bill by 12.1 per cent in the past year. That's equivalent to a one million kilometre trip in a 2 litre car or 54 single flights from Auckland to Europe.

The museum is on track to shave $200,000 off its energy bill this year.

The institution's sustainability engineer Karl Satchell says the result is largely due to the work he has done in collaboration with Honeywell New Zealand to improve the operation of the museum's air conditioning system.

Air conditioning is responsible for 70 per cent of energy consumption at the museum.

"We are getting the entire building's air conditioning system to relax. Previously we had heating fighting cooling. We had very tight operating conditions so we' ve just relaxed those slightly.

Systems maintenance is also key. "If you don't have your energy systems working efficiency, then what you've got is energy wastage.

"Any technology that goes into this building or anything that gets replaced or renewed, I would like to be researched. We need to make sure it's the most efficient and cost-effective technology. Not just replacing like for like."

Mr Satchell, along with the museum's newly appointed lighting manager, wants to make the switch to LED lights as much as possible throughout the building.

The museum has changed its recycling provider and is looking at erecting multilingual signs to encourage visitors to use the recycling bins.

Improving the environmental performance of the museum is a key part of the museum's strategy, director Roy Clare says.

"The 849,000 visitors and tourists who visit the museum each year increasingly expect institutions like ours to adopt environmentally sound practices."

The energy efficiency of the museum impressed CEMARS (Certified Emissions measurement and Reduction Scheme) enough to enable it to become the first museum in the world to gainits independent certification in June 2011.

Mr Satchell, 30, is an electrician by trade but has tended to work in institutions and was previously in the hospital sector as an onsite engineer.

"Sustainability encompasses so many different aspects of industry so coming from an electrical background and understanding efficiencies of systems is a huge advantage.

"Because I'm passionate about it, I don't really see what I do as a job," he says.

The Mission Bay resident is keeping an eye on advances in solar powered technology.

"Because it uses free energy we wouldn't have to rely on the electricity retail market, which is volatile. I believe we're just on the verge of seeing alternative energy technology which is so much better than what is currently on the market.

"In five years there may be solar power systems which generate two or three times more electricity."

Mr Satchell has attended more than a dozen conferences where he has shared knowledge with other institutions.

"There's a huge sustainability movement out there, not just in New Zealand but in the world."

Spreading green awareness thru' solar lamps, CFLs

‘Eco-man’ Gopal Dutt of Solan walks around every day with a loudspeaker in his hands and CFLs and solar lamps in his bag to generate ecological awareness among the hill folk.

Dutt is not a marketing man of any CFL or solar lamp company. His messages are brief, crispy and clear.

Sample these, “Please make doors and windows of your house big enough to let sunlight enter. This helps saving electricity. Don’t switch on the lights during the day. Keep curtains of the room open to allow sunlight in. Use CFLs and solar lamps to save power.”

Dutt’s daily routine is to trudge 20 to 30 km through six villages. Whenever he sees a house where he feels there is a need to drive home his eco notes, he stops and enlightens the people there.

“Your house needs bigger windows to get more natural light and air,” Dutt told a resident of Sanwara village, some 20 km from Solan, who is constructing a house. He told the man to install CFLs.

Further along, he advised a group of women outside a shop to go for CFLs in place of incandescent bulbs.

“You can save up to 80 per cent energy and these (CFLs) last six times longer than the standard incandescent bulbs. This means a big saving in your monthly kitchen budget,” Dutt told the women.

“But these need safe and proper disposal as they contain a small amount of mercury,” he said, explaining when the CFL lights don’t function and need to be disposed of.

He also advocated the need for solar lamps. “These are totally environment-friendly,” he said, while showing a solar lantern.

“I have been doing this over five years and people are now more aware about environment,” he said.

For locals, Dutt is either a marketing man or a government employee. “Sometime people view me with suspicion. But that doesn’t matter to me. My aim is to sensitise them as the temperatures are rising and the hills are turning barren,” he added.

His campaign also gives him an opportunity to earn his livelihood. He doesn’t mind advertising the products over his loudspeakers for shopkeepers.

“I am earning a little from selling CFLs and solar lanterns as these are not easily available in villages. But profit is not the sole motive,” Dutt added.

To promote the use of CFLs, the Himachal Pradesh government had distributed these bulbs to 16.5 lakh households free of cost in 2008-09.

According to the government, this resulted in saving about 270 million units of power worth INRs100 crore each year.

This month, the ministry of new and renewable energy sanctioned INRs 1.07 crore to the state government under the energy conservation scheme for distributing a total of 4,337 solar lanterns in pastoral settlements in non-electrified villages.

SunLED has taken a step forward towards supporting unique applications beyond basic indication that will broaden the spectrum of infinite design possibilities.

With the introduction of our new mid-power 660nm Red LED and their 450nm Blue LED, we are opening doors to fill a void in markets that traditionally used other light sources such as laser diodes, fluorescent tubes, or HPS bulbs to serve a function beyond indication.

The unique wavelengths of these two 1/2W SMD LEDs are in the range that can promote skin regeneration, hair rejuvenation, efficient plant growth, and even aquarium lighting to create an ecosystem out of an ordinary habitat. Their small package footprint provides a bright, wide spread of light and can be used in an array to create the necessary ambient light for any intended application.

Because of their mid-power nature with a 150mA operating current, the parts have better heat dissipation and lower heat build-up than high power LEDs that are 1W or greater.

Modular Home Industry Embraces Green Technology

For generations, the mobile home has remained an American icon that represents freedom and a sense of exploration in terms of discovering the open road. However, as more consumers become aware of green initiatives and cost-saving measures, fewer motorists have held onto their recreational vehicles, or RVs. In fact, when it comes to fuel costs alone, many travelers will not consider purchasing a new RV to travel the country. To fight stigma, a new article from Earth Techling highlights a new RV product known as the "Leaf House." The Leaf House has reinvented the mobile home to maximize space, comfort and energy costs -- a tactic that modular home company Homes by Vanderbuilt is very familiar with.

Homes by Vanderbuilt demonstrates, by its vast product line, that prefabricated homes can range anywhere from modular designs to double wide homes to RVs. Although the company only specializes in the construction of modular and double wide homes, it recognizes the need for energy-efficient technology and design in all structures. Homes by Vanderbuilt's line of Xtreme Green Homes feature many appliances that exceed Energy Star(TM) standards and involve a series of cost-saving designs to help the homeowner cut back on energy costs. In fact, the company's products have even allowed homeowners to take advantage of tax credits that reward citizens for taking part in green initiatives.

The company observes that the Leaf House is doing to RVs what Homes by Vanderbuilt has done for the modular home. In a recent press statement, Homes by Vanderbuilt responded to this innovation, "Technology and comfort in RVs is much more advanced than ever before." While the article describes the layout of the Leaf House as one that maximizes space, Homes by Vanderbuilt believes the real innovation is in the product's energy-efficient features.

The article describes the many revolutionary energy-saving tools that the Leaf House packs into its relatively small 20-foot space. It states, "Several large windows allow the natural light to flood in, and when it's dark, LED and halogen lighting fixtures go to work. Furthermore, the home features many self-sustaining elements including a composting toilet, propane tankless hot water system, propane GE range and half fridge, Ecoheat electric baseboards, and a 35-gallon water storage unit."

On a structural level, the Leaf House is reported to use "Forest Stewardship Certified timber, recycled materials, low-VOC wood finishes and paints." These materials are great, according to Homes by Vanderbuilt; using them shows that even in the creation of a structure, companies are thinking green. Homes by Vanderbuilt encourages similar construction options, noting that its efficient modular building systems reduce material waste in comparison with on-site construction methods.

Homes by Vanderbuilt constructs prefabricated modular and double wide homes. In doing so, the company provides the opportunity of homeownership to Americans living in North Carolina, southern Virginia, and the northern region of South Carolina. Homes by Vanderbuilt provide living spaces that are built one section at a time and monitored closely by the quality control department. Once the modules are complete, they are transported to the property of the homeowner. Homes by Vanderbuilt are proud to provide an avenue to homeownership to its customers.