Start a Electric vehicle Charging Station

Start a Electric vehicle Charging Station



"Hundreds of charging stations have been built, thousands to go"

An electric vehicle charging station, also called EV charging station, electric recharging point, charging point,charge point and EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment), is an element in an infrastructure that supplies electric energy for the recharging of plug-in electric vehicles, including all electric cars neighborhood electric vehicle and plug-in hybrids.

Electric vehicles hitting the U.S. market. The all-electric Nissan Leaf completely sold out before the car even arrived in U.S. showrooms, according to Agence France-Presse. With that kind of demand, the charging stations to get those cars running are also going to be in high demand. "Our mission is to insure that people don't hesitate to buy electric because they're worried about fueling," says Richard Lowenthal, CEO of Coulomb Technologies, a Campbell (Calif.) company that builds charging stations. "The key is that they fuel a little differently." In general, the cars take hours to charge, so stations are needed where cars are parked. Although garages are often referred to as the perfect place, Lowenthal says there are better spots. "In the U.S. there are 250 million cars and only 50 million garages. We're busy putting them elsewhere, like the workplace."

EV Charging Station Infrastructure Costs

                                   

Electric vehicles seem to have finally gained a solid foothold. With continued adoption, there will be an increasing need for access to charging locations. We recognize that many drivers today do most of their charging at home, but many others still require access to a robust nationwide charging station network before even considering the purchase of an electric vehicle. But high costs of equipment and installation are currently impeding the build-out of such a network. Therefore, cost-effective solutions are needed to ensure future investment in charging stations.

We recently interviewed over a dozen companies involved with charging station infrastructure—including utilities, automakers, cities, research institutions, and charging station companies—to pull back the veil on current EV charging station infrastructure costs. From there, the next post in this series can then explore charging station business models and strategies to reduce those per-station costs.

We’ve broken down the cost into several categories: 1) the actual charging station hardware, 2) other hardware and materials, 3) electrician and other labor, 4) mobilization, which we define as time for the electrician and others to prep and get to the worksite (often including an initial on-site consultation), and 5) permitting.

Name of Some car charging  station companies

PS2000 Electric Car Charging Station : PEP Stations is a leading EV charging station company based in Detroit.  PEP's electric car chargers are commercial, dual Level 2 electric car charging stations with an architectural design and a flexible operating model that require no subscriptions for electric vehicle charging.   PEP's smart PS2000 is credit card capable electric vehicle charging station with monitoring and reporting features. PEP's charging stations for electric vehicles are represented by Hubbell, serviced by Service USA and monitored by Axeda Corporation.

Car Charging Group Inc (CCGI): Car Charging Group, Inc., a development stage company, acquires and installs electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. Its services enable EV drivers to recharge at various locations in the United States. The company also provides residential EV charging solutions; and site recommendations, and management and maintenance services.

Start a 3- D Printing Shop

3- D Printing Shop

"Fabricating items in low-cost printers"

3D printing or additive manufacturing (AM) is any of various processes of making a three- dimensional object from a 3D model or other electronic data source primarily through additive processes in which successive layers of material are laid down under computer control. A 3D printer is a type of industrial robot.

Need a new lens cap? Print it up. That's the way of the future. Instead of fabricating in a factory and shipping the item wherever it's needed, 3D printers are expected to produce everything from architect models to sinks to spare camera parts. "It's already happening at service bureaus," says Jackie Fenn, an analyst at Gartner. "It hasn't happened at a physical shop like Kinko's, but I think it's very possible."

History

Early AM equipment and materials were developed in the 1980s. They were expensive and most required special handling.The names 3D printing and additive manufacturing did not yet have currency as umbrella terms for the field; each AM technology usually went by its own name. In 1984, Chuck Hull of 3D Systems Corp, invented a process known asstereolithography employing UV lasers to cure photopolymers. Hull also developed the STL file format widely accepted by 3D printing software, as well as the digital slicing and infill strategies common to many processes today. Also during the 1980s, the metal-sintering forms of AM were being developed (such as selective laser sintering and direct metal laser sintering), although they were not yet called 3D printing or AM at the time.

In 1990, the plastic extrusion technology most widely associated with the term "3D printing" was commercialized by Stratasysunder the name fused deposition modeling (FDM). In 1995, Z Corporation commercialized an MIT-developed additive process under the trademark 3D printing (3DP), referring to a proprietary process inkjet deposition of liquid binder on powder. The term was later applied more loosely to distinct but related inkjet material deposition or drop-on-droptechnologies.

In 2005, a rapidly expanding hobbyist and home-use market was established with the inauguration of the open-source RepRap and Fab@Home projects. Virtually all home-use 3D printers released to-date have their technical roots in the on-going RepRap Project and associated open-source software initiatives "The RepRap's Heritage. In distributed manufacturing, one study has found 3D printing could become a mass market product enabling consumers to save money associated with purchasing common household objects.

General Principles

3D printable models

3D printable models may be created with a computer aided design package or via 3D scanner. The manual modelling process of preparing geometric data for 3D computer graphics is similar to plastic arts such as sculpting. 3D scanning is a process of analysing and collecting digital data on the shape and appearance of a real object. Based on this data, three-dimensional models of the scanned object can then be produced.

Both manual and automatic creation of 3D printable models is difficult for average consumers. This is why several 3D printing marketplaces have emerged over the last years. Among the most popular are Shapeways,Thingiverse, MyMiniFactory and Threeding 

Printing

To perform a print, the machine reads the design from 3D printable file (STL File) and lays down successive layers of liquid, powder, paper or sheet material to build the model from a series of cross sections. These layers, which correspond to the virtual cross sections from the CAD model, are joined or automatically fused to create the final shape. The primary advantage of this technique is its ability to create almost any shape or geometric feature.

Printer resolution describes layer thickness and X-Y resolution in dpi (dots per inch), or micrometres. Typical layer thickness is around 100 µm (250 DPI), although some machines such as theObjet Connex series and 3D Systems' ProJet series can print layers as thin as 16 µm (1,600 DPI). X-Y resolution is comparable to that of laser printers. The particles (3D dots) are around 50 to 100 µm (510 to 250 DPI) in diameter.

Construction of a model with contemporary methods can take anywhere from several hours to several days, depending on the method used and the size and complexity of the model. Additive systems can typically reduce this time to a few hours, although it varies widely depending on the type of machine used and the size and number of models being produced simultaneously.

Traditional techniques like injection moulding can be less expensive for manufacturing polymer products in high quantities, but additive manufacturing can be faster, more flexible and less expensive when producing relatively small quantities of parts. 3D printers give designers and concept development teams the ability to produce parts and concept models using a desktop size printer.

Finishing

Though the printer-produced resolution is sufficient for many applications, printing a slightly oversized version of the desired object in standard resolution and then removing material with a higher-resolution subtractive process can achieve greater precision. As with the LUMEX Avance-25  and other machines slated for IMTS 2014.

Some additive manufacturing techniques are capable of using multiple materials in the course of constructing parts. Some are able to print in multiple colours and color combinations simultaneously. Some also utilise supports when building. Supports are removable or dissolvable upon completion of the print, and are used to support overhanging features during construction.

Current Technologies

3D printing is an additive technology in which objects are built up in a great many very thin layers. The first commercial 3D printer was based on a technique called stereolithography. This was invented by Charles Hull in 1984. Stereolithographic 3D printers (known as SLAs orstereolithography apparatus) position a perforated platform just below the surface of a vat of liquid photopolymer.Stereolithographic printers remain one of the most accurate types of hardware for fabricating 3D output, with a minimum build layer thickness of only 0.06mm (0.0025 of an inch).

Another 3D printing technology based on the selective solidification of a tank of liquid -- or 'vat polymerization' -- is DLP projection. This uses a projector to solidify object layers one complete cross-section at a time, rather than using a laser to trace them out.

A final 3D printing technology that creates objects by using a light source to solidify a liquid photopolymer is known generically as 'material jetting', or commercially as 'polyjet matrix'. This was pioneered by a company called Object.

Commercial 3D Printers and Online Services

A wide range of commercial 3D printers for industrial application are now available from a range of manufactuers, the two largest of whom are 3D Systems (which works with most technologies and is rapidly acquiring many smaller manufacturers) and Stratasys (which offers FDM and polyjet matrix harware, as well as special 'drop on demand' wax 3D printers for dental work). Both of these companies had a market capitalization at the end of 2012 of over $3 billion.

Other large 3D printer manufactuers that are publically traded are Archam (which produces electron beam melting (EMB) machines), the aforementioned ExOne with their metal and sand binder jetting 3D printers, and Organovo, who specialize in bioprinting.

Other large but private 3D printer manufacturers of note include EnvisionTEC (who specialize in DLP projection hardware but also make a 'bioplotter' for tissue engineering), EOS (who make selective laser sintering devices for producing objects in metals or sand), Voxeljet (who make really large printers for binder jetting in sand or plastic powders), SLM Solutions (who specialize in selective laser melting), and Optomec (who produce directed energy deposition printers using their own 'laser engineered net shaping' (LENS) technology). You can find information on these and other industrial 3D printing manufactuers in my 3D Printing Directory.

Start a Business of Space Hotel

Start a Business of Space Hotel

"Space tourism:  Only for the very, very rich"

A new space race is on, and this time it's to see who can build the galaxy's best bed-and-breakfast. A Barcelona-based firm called Galactic Suite Limited claims it will be the first to build a space hotel, opening its $3 billion Galactic Suite to the (very rich) public in 2012.

"The punchline is that we are now seeing the birth of the Googles and Apples of the space business," says Peter H. Diamandis, a pioneer in the commercial space industry. "There are a number of companies working on space hotels." At the forefront is Bigelow Aerospace, which launched two prototypes of space hotels and currently plans a commercial space complex by 2014. Called Sundancer, the hotel is expected to have space for up to six people on a short-term basis. A Russian company called Orbital Technologies is also racing to have the first commercial space station. A vision of the station is in the photo above.

1. The Space Hotel is a large-scale space structure consisted with a 240m-long elevator shaft and four functional elements. Even non-trained people can enjoy staying in the Space Hotel in Low Earth Orbit.
2. Types of space hotel
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5. The hotels themselves will vary greatly - from being quite spartan in the early days, to huge luxury structures at a later date. It's actually surprising that as late as 1997 very few designs for space hotels have ever been published.This is mainly because those who might be expected to design them haven't expected launch costs to come down far enough to make them possible.Luckily it's easy to design basic accommodation in orbit - because it was already done in 1973 with the "Skylab" space station. Minimal living facilities require a cylindrical module with air-conditioning, some windows, and a kitchen and bathroom. But zero gravity allows you to build almost any shape and size, in almost any direction. So exploiting the full range of possibilities of zero gravity architecture will keep designers happy for decades! There'll also be rotating (and tethered) structures giving artificial gravity.
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7. Space Hotel as a Business
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11. "Galactic Suite", the first hotel planned in space, expects to open for business in 2012 and would allow guests to travel around the world in 80 minutes.
    Its Barcelona-based architects say the space hotel will be the most expensive in the galaxy, costing $4 million for a three-day stay.
    During that time guests would see the sun rise 15 times a day and use Velcro suits to crawl around their pod rooms by sticking themselves to the walls like Spiderman.
    Company director Xavier Claramunt says the three-bedroom boutique hotel's joined up pod structure, which makes it look like a model of molecules, was dictated by the fact that each pod room had to fit inside a rocket to be taken into space.
    "It's the bathrooms in zero gravity that are the biggest challenge," says Claramunt. "How to accommodate the more intimate activities of the guests is not easy."
    But they may have solved the issue of how to take a shower in weightlessness -- the guests will enter a spa room in which bubbles of water will float around.
    When guests are not admiring the view from their portholes they will take part in scientific experiments on space travel.
    Galactic Suite began as a hobby for former aerospace engineer Claramunt, until a space enthusiast decided to make the science fiction fantasy a reality by fronting most of the $3 billion needed to build the hotel.
    
    
    An American company intent on colonizing Mars, which sees Galaxy Suite as a first step, has since come on board, and private investors from Japan, the United States and the United Arab Emirates are in talks.
12. PLENTY RICH ENOUGH
    If Claramunt is secretive about the identity of his generous backer, he is more forthcoming about the custom he can expect.
    "We have calculated that there are 40,000 people in the world who could afford to stay at the hotel. Whether they will want to spend money on going into space, we just don't know."
    Four million dollars might be a lot to spend on a holiday, but those in the nascent space tourism industry say hoteliers have been slow on the uptake because no one thought the cost of space travel would come down as quickly as it has.
    Galactic Suite said the price included not only three nights in space. Guests also get eight weeks of intensive training at a James Bond-style space camp on a tropical island.
    "There is fear associated with going into space," said Claramunt. "That's why the shuttle rocket will remain fixed to the space hotel for the duration of the guests' stay, so they know they can get home again."
    In an era of concern over climate change, Galaxy Suite have no plans so far to offset the pollution implications of sending a rocket to carry just six guests at a time into space.
    "But," says Claramunt, "I'm hopeful that the impact of seeing the earth from a distance will stimulate the guests' urge to value and protect our planet."
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14. For More Details:
15. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1224629/Galactic-Suite-Space-Resort-hotel-2012-First-space-hotel-open-tourists.html
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17. http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/08/14/space.hotel.reut/index.html?eref=rss_space
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Start a Vertical Farming Business

Start a  Vertical Farming Business 


















                 

 "Local food in growing cities"

Vertical farming is cultivating plant or animal life within a skyscraper greenhouse or on vertically inclined surfaces. The modern idea of vertical farming uses techniques similar to glass houses, where natural sunlight can be augmented with artificial lighting.

Buzz words and pretty drawings Single-story, high-tech greenhouses save significant amounts of water and increase productivity. So why not stack them up and makes cities self-sufficient? The idea for vertical farms came from an infectious disease ecologist, Dickson Despommier, who turned his knowledge of parasites into a way of looking at cities. "Instead of the city behaving like a parasite, it should be a symbiant," Despommier says. "The future city has to take a big lesson from nature and start behaving like an ecosystem." By that, he means zero-waste cities: Even the idea of waste is anathema to a working ecosystem. So Despommier envisions skyscrapers of the future producing the majority of food consumed by citizens, with brown water and food compost used for farming. "City life," says Despommier, "demands city food."

 History

A commercial high-rise farm such as 'The Vertical Farm' has never been built, yet extensive photographic documentation and several historical books on the subject suggest that research on the subject was not diligently pursued. New sources indicate that a tower hydroponicum existed in Armenia prior to 1951.

Proponents argue that, by allowing traditional outdoor farms to revert to a natural state and reducing the energy costs needed to transport foods to consumers, vertical farms could significantly alleviate climate change produced by excess atmospheric carbon. Critics have noted that the costs of the additional energy needed for artificial lighting, heating and other vertical farming operations would outweigh the benefit of the building’s close proximity to the areas of consumption.

One of the earliest drawings of a tall building that cultivates food for the purposes of consumption was published as early as Life Magazine 1909. The reproduced drawings feature vertically stacked homesteads set amidst a farming landscape. This proposal can be seen in Rem Koolhaas's Delirious New York. Koolhaas wrote that this 1909 theorem is

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'The Skyscraper as Utopian device for the production of unlimited numbers of virgin sites on a metropolitan location' (1994, 82) . ” Vertical Farming as a Future It is estimated that by the year 2050, close to 80% of the world’s population will live in urban areas and the total population of the world will increase by 3 billion people. A very large amount of land may be required depending on the change in yield per hectare. Scientists are concerned that this large amount of required farmland will not be available and that severe damage to the earth will be caused by the added farmland. Vertical farms, if designed properly, may eliminate the need to create additional farmland and help create a cleaner environment. It's a beguilingly simple idea: make maximum use of a small amount of space by filling glass houses with plant beds stacked high one above the other. Financial and environmental pressures on modern agriculture have sparked new interest in vertical farming. With global population expected to exceed 9 billion by 2050, competition for land to grow both food and energy crops will become increasingly fierce. Four-fifths of us will live in dense urban areas, and increasing awareness of the carbon and water footprints of well-travelled food will have pushed locally grown produce even further up the list of desirables. So it's easy to see the appeal of a system which, its proponents insist, can surpass the productivity of existing agricultural spaces by up to 20 times, while using less water, cutting mileage and energy costs, and delivering food security. "It answers so many of the big questions of the future", says Caiger-Smith. Advantages Increase Crop Production Protection from Weather- Related Problems Conservation of Resources Organic Crop Urban Growth Technologies and devices Vertical farming relies on the use of various physical methods to become effective. Combining these technologies and devices in an integrated whole is necessary to make Vertical Farming a reality. Various methods are proposed and under research. The most common technologies suggested are: Greenhouses The Folkewall and other vertical growing architectures  Aeroponics /Hydroponics / Aquaponics Composting Grow light Phytoremediation Skyscraper Controlled-environment agriculture Vertical Farming as Business and consulting Vertical farming is a new phenomena, so the queston arises that is vertica farming a business opportunity? Definitely an actual business opportunity. Basically, growing crops outdoors will become too high-risk for farmers and too high-cost for consumers. Indoor has to pay for electricity and equipment, sure, but that'll be nothing compared to the cost of petroleum inputs alone. Plus, indoor farming companies will be able to capitalize on every supply shock that hits the market--potentially big profits there before it takes over as the dominant form of food production. There is a handful of companies who are actively working on a vertical farming business start-up. The business of vertical farming is a hot topic; and on the brink of going huge. As food prices continue to sky rocket more and more people are taking to growing (at least) some of their own food. When food prices get high enough, the costs associated with urban and vertical farming will become more justified and businesses will start to flourish. Consulting: The Green Guerrillas believe our salvation lies within the principals of urban agriculture and sustainable living – this means encouraging business to educate their staff and empower employees to become self sustainable and secure their own sources of food and water. It makes good business sense to invest in the well being of employee’s health, and encouraging sustainability not only at the work place but at home as well. Moving towards sustainability is not just a trend or lip service, it is a raw reality we all have to confront, and a responsibility we all have to undertake and the Green Guerrillas would like to give you the opportunity to introduce the principals of urban agriculture to your business. Some of the things we can do for you include: ·         Consulting on setting up Urban Agricultural Farms ·         Run half day urban homestead workshops for your staff. ·         Install working examples of urban farming around your business – veggie box’s, composting worms and vertical farming. ·         Engineer custom waste management solutions for your business. ·         Use urban farming to drive your business marketing efforts – edible green billboards, veggie box logos, reverse graffiti, business card that sprout vegetables and more! ·         Workshops on Urban agriculture, worm husbandry, animal husbandry ·         Eco school set ups ·         Sustainable apartment and green city living consultancies For More details: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/jul/29/vertical-farms-urban-food http://www.verticalfarm.com/blog/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1clRcxZS52s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1wQ2LXeF-k