Seiko's Solar Powered Electronic Ink Display Watch

 

Seiko Watch Corporation has announced the launch of the world's first Electrophoretic Display (EPD or electronic ink) watch. Available world-wide from December this year, this is a watch the company says will never need a battery replacement and is recharged courtesy of solar power.
 
The watch boasts a high-resolution screen of 300 dpi and offers incredible accuracy. The watch receives radio wave signals whenever in range of transmitters that help maintain accuracy to one second in every 30 million years. Accuracy when not in the range of a radio signal is 15 seconds per month.
 
Powered by a self-recharging solar battery, once charged, the new EPD watch can operate for up to nine months without further exposure to light. The watch also offers a sleep mode during which it can remember the time and receive radio signals for over three years. If in sleep mode, once a button is pressed or the solar cells are exposed to light, the watch reawakens and the display operates normally.
 
Much of the power saving magic is due to the Electrophoretic Display, which uses electronic ink technology. Electronic ink uses thousands of tiny microcapsules that are around the diameter of a human hair. Each capsule incorporates negatively charged white particles and positively charged black particles. When a negative electric field is applied, the white particles move to the top of the microcapsule where they become visible to the user and form the basis of the readout. Seiko's Active Matrix EPD watch offers a four-shade grey scale readout.
 

Peak Oil In 2010 - Leaked German Military Think Tank Report

 

A leaked report from a German military think tank predicts peak oil, the point in time when global oil reserves deplete to the point that production gradually begins to decline, may occur this year. On top of climate change challenges, this event would trigger many threats; but also many opportunities for solar power.
  
According to an article published on German news site, Spiegel Online, the study is an internal draft document from the Future Analysis department of the Bundeswehr Transformation Center.
  
The think tank believes that peak oil occurring this year will see a serious impact on security with 15 to 30 years; with oil exporting countries gaining increasing power and massive market failures due to the relative scarcity of petroleum.
  
The concept of Peak Oil was once disregarded by many, but increasing numbers of scientists and politicians now believe it to be a reality. Last year, the usually conservative International Energy Agency (IEA), sounded an alarm that global oil production is likely to peak in around 10 years.
  
While transportation is a major consumer of oil, it's also used in a multitude of other products. Petroleum and its by-products feature in everything from fertiliser to food and plastics.
  
Solar power holds some answers for the transportation issue, in conjunction with electric cars. 
  
While it would be impractical to have solar panels directly powering cars due to the surface area required to generate enough electricity, the use of grid connected home solar power systems can provide a clean energy source for recharging. 
  
A very recent example of this in action is the City Of Sydney's acquisition of a new Mitsubishi i-Miev - an electric car that will be recharged from the Sydney Town Hall's rooftop solar array.
  
Solar power recharged electric cars also offer another possibility - mains grid energy storage. Electric cars would take electricity from the grid during low-demand periods, such as overnight, and send electricity back into the grid at times of heavy demand.
  
A carbon-constrained, oil starved future also battling the effects of climate change may sound like a disaster; but it might also herald a prosperous new age for humanity; one run entirely on clean, renewable energy... but only if we move fast enough.
  

 

 

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News for Tuesday 07 September, 2010

 

• City of Sydney's Solar Powered Electric Car
  


• Labor Gains Power - What It Means For Solar Power
  


• Tasmanians Face Increased Electricity Bills
  


• EU Tops Solar Power System Growth List
  

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