October 11, 2011

Leviton Evr-Green EV charging station mounted on a stucco wall, with coiled cable and charging connector, surrounded by soft landscaping and natural lighting.

Leviton and Ford Launch Certified EV Charger

October 11, 2011 No Comments

Leviton and Ford Motor Company announced the new Ford Electric Vehicle (EV) Home Charging Station got the UL certification for UL 2231, UL 2251 and UL 2594 it needed to be considered a perfect electrical device!!
The new upgrade home charging station also meets the standards for SAE J1772™(engineering and technical standards) and NEC 625 (fire code type stuff). Ford people added:
“We are excited to partner with Ford to give Focus Electric owners an industry leading, easy-to-use vehicle charger that provides the safety features for which Leviton products are known,” said Mike Mattei, Vice President and General Manager for Leviton’s Commercial and Industrial Division. “Ford and Leviton have both built reputations based on safety and quality, which is why achieving UL certification for this home device is so important, as it offers customers a solution they can’t find elsewhere.”
The Ford Electric Vehicle Home Charging Station provides up to 32 amps at 240 volts AC (7.7 kW output) – fully charging a Ford Focus Electric’s battery in a little over three hours, more than four times faster than the standard portable charger. The device’s energy-efficient design – the enclosure is made from nearly 60 percent recycled materials – features a low-energy standby power design, contributing to a 50 to 80 percent reduced carbon footprint.

Description Biofuel picture from La Jolla. La Jolla is biotech mecca... The 92121 zip code, just North of San Diego, has the most biotech companies, 2.8x that of second place (South San Francisco). Fuel efficiency

Toyota Goes Cellulosic Ethanol Fuel Bet

October 11, 2011 No Comments

Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) today held an event at its Toyota Biotechnology and Afforestation Laboratory in Aichi prefecture to showcase technologies developed there as part of its biotechnology and afforestation businesses. Technology on display included a newly developed yeast that increases the production yield of cellulosic ethanol bio-fuel, new technologies for the greening of parking lots and walls, and a new “cool-spot creation technology” for simulating and analyzing the effects of greening.
Development status of bio-fuels (cellulosic ethanol)
TMC, through the use of gene recombination technology, has recently developed a new strain of yeast that will play an important role in the fermentation process for producing cellulosic ethanol.
Fermentation of xylose, one of the sugars produced when plant fibers are broken down in the enzymatic saccharification process, is normally difficult to achieve with naturally occurring yeasts. However, TMC’s newly developed yeast is not only highly efficient at fermenting xylose but also highly resistant to such fermentation-inhibiting substances as acetic acid. As a result, the yeast has achieved one of the highest ethanol fermentation density levels in the world* (approximately 47 g/liter), and is expected to improve bio-fuel yield and significantly reduce production costs.

Phased steps for soil contamination site cleanup from assessment to restoration

Ground Soil Contamination Site Cleanup Phased Plan

October 11, 2011 No Comments

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finalized a plan to contain and control soil and ground water contamination at the Quanta Resources Superfund Site in Edgewater, New Jersey, which is located along the Hudson River. Soil and ground water underneath the site and adjacent properties are contaminated with arsenic, lead, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and volatile organic compounds resulting from over 100 years of past industrial activities in the area. Exposure to these pollutants can have serious health effects, and in some cases, increase the risk of cancer. Because of the nature and complexity of the contamination at the 15-acre site, EPA divided the investigation and cleanup into two phases – one addressing the contaminated soil and ground water and the other focused on contamination in the river. The final plan announced today is the first phase of the long-term cleanup. A future cleanup plan will address contamination in the Hudson River.
The plan to address the contaminated soil and ground water was proposed in July 2010. To encourage public participation, EPA held a public comment period that ran over 60 days, conducted two public meetings and carefully reviewed input from over 70 interested individuals or parties.

Boxes of Numi organic tea varieties including Moroccan Mint, Aged Earl Grey, Rooibos, Jasmine Green, and Chamomile Lemon on a wooden shelf

Numi Organic Delivers Fair Trade Certified Blends

October 11, 2011 No Comments

Celebrate Fair Trade Month this October with a delicious cup of Numi Organic Tea, recently named the leading brand importer of Fair Trade Certified teas and teasans in the United States for 2010. Numi’s Fair Trade Certified teas are certified by Fair Trade USA, which guarantees that farmers are paid a fair wage for their labor and receive a community development premium which they can collectively invest in programs including new roads and schools, cooking stoves, and college scholarships.
In honor of Fair Trade Month, Numi asks consumers to take a deeper look into what goes in their shopping cart – and their teacup. As a result of Fair Trade, the Dazhangshan Organic Tea Farmer Association in China was able to purchase new tea processing equipment to improve the quality of its tea and the living conditions of its members. Members of the association, nearly 35 percent of which are women, now make nearly 20 percent more than other families in the area.
“From our humble beginnings in 1999, we are thrilled and honored to announce that from all the Tea Brands on the market, Numi is officially the leading importer of Fair Trade Certified Teas and Teasans in North America,” says Ahmed Rahim, CEO and Co-Founder of Numi. “Since our inception, we have made it a major part of our mission to source from suppliers who believe in not just Organic farming but in ethically supporting their workers through Fair Trade initiatives such as access to healthcare, higher wages, to better education, homes, roads and overall, a more balanced quality of life.”