great minds think alike
great minds think alike
from google news search:
http://news.google.com/news?q=fuel+cell+hybrid+electric+bus&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&tab=wn&sa=N&start=10
Source: QuantumSphere, Inc.
High Surface Area Nano-Enabled Electrodes Significantly Increase Reaction Efficiency in Water Electrolysis
SANTA ANA, Calif., Feb. 25, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- QuantumSphere, Inc., a leading manufacturer of nano metals and alloys for applications in renewable energy, portable power, defense, electronics and other markets demanding advanced materials, today announced that it has achieved a breakthrough in clean hydrogen production through water electrolysis. Leveraging a proprietary advanced catalyst formulation, QSI-Nano NiFe(tm), QuantumSphere has effectively increased the surface area of commercial electrodes by approximately 1000 times. This increase is due to unique physical characteristics of nanoparticles. For example, a gram of QSI-Nano(r) materials have the surface area of about the size of a soccer field. To date, the QSI-Nano NiFe(tm) coated electrodes have surpassed 1,000-hour durability testing under harsh conditions (33% KOH, 1 A/cm2). These nano-enabled electrodes demonstrate QuantumSphere's ability to produce larger amounts of clean hydrogen on demand at improved rates.
The process by which electricity is used to generate hydrogen and oxygen from water is called electrolysis. Through the use of a new proprietary nano catalyst formulation, QuantumSphere has demonstrated production of hydrogen and oxygen in an alkaline electrolyzer with 85 percent efficiency under ambient conditions, making it a commercially viable replacement for fossil fuel-based production methods.
Although identified as a candidate with the potential to lower dependency on petroleum, today's current large-scale hydrogen production techniques also produce an inordinate amount of greenhouse gases such as carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. For example, the steam-reformation process -- which accounts for roughly 85% of hydrogen production using natural gas -- produces four pounds of greenhouse gases for every one pound of hydrogen produced.
"While hydrogen has long been promoted for its clean energy potential, the most common method of production of the gas has been a dirty little secret in terms of the amount of fossil fuels used and the greenhouse gasses generated," said Kevin Maloney, president and CEO, QuantumSphere, Inc. "Now with the use of QSI-Nano NiFe(tm), we are literally splitting the water more efficiently and turning heads in the scientific, industrial, and transportation communities. Our nano scale nickel and iron particles improve this process by dramatically increasing the surface area available for the catalytic reaction to generate hydrogen on commercial electrodes."
Before the use of QSI-Nano(r) catalysts, production of hydrogen through electrolysis had been hindered by high-cost catalysts and low efficiency. The use of nanoparticles now makes it possible to produce hydrogen with an efficiency exceeding a key U.S. Department of Energy benchmark.
Hydrogen is in demand for several developing clean and renewable energy uses. Research now being conducted seeks to generate high rates of the gas via on-board electrolysis to fuel plug-in hybrid electric/hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and for stationary fuel cell back-up power systems. "Efficient hydrogen fuel generation enabled by QSI-Nano NiFe(tm) electrodes unlocks the potential to simplify the hydrogen infrastructure and accelerate fuel cell commercialization," said Kimberly McGrath, Ph.D., director of fuel cell research, QuantumSphere, Inc. "We envision the consumer being able to refuel their vehicles at home from garage electrolyzer units using water and off-peak electricity at night and solar power during the day."
About QuantumSphere, Inc.
QuantumSphere, Inc. (QSI) is a leading manufacturer of advanced catalytic materials and a developer of high performance electrode devices and related technologies for multiple clean-energy and electronics applications. Backed by a strong intellectual property portfolio, QSI products can lower costs and enable breakthrough performance in such multi-billion dollar growth markets as batteries, sensors, fuel cells, and hydrogen generation, among others.
Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Santa Ana, CA, QSI is driven by a mission to reduce dependence on non-renewable energy sources through continuous innovation and refinement of its advanced catalytic materials and electrode devices. QSI serves industry leading customers with its patented, automated, highly scalable, and environmentally friendly manufacturing processes. For more information, visit www.qsinano.com.
The photo is also available via AP Photo Express and at NewsCom, www.newscom.com
CONTACT: QuantumSphere
Michele Kinman
408-218-8815
Michelekinman@yahoo.com
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http://www.china.org.cn/english/environment/243568.htm
| They will drive you green without envy |
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Clean energy is the focus of the auto industry this year. It better be because the government is now determined to save energy and control the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs).
The clean energy wind began blowing across China's auto industry when Toyota introduced its hybrid car, Prius, in January 2006. Almost all global auto giants are bringing their energy-efficient technologies and vehicles to China, and domestic carmakers, too, have realized the importance of clean energy research and development (R&D).
A hybrid bus is displayed at the 2007 Beijing International Sci-tech Exhibition.
Clean energy has become a pre-requisite and must-do for all automakers. "It's a sound response to the energy crisis, the call for an environmentally-friendly world and the government's encouraging policies," says auto consulting firm Sinotrust's analyst Sun Qi.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) issued the Guiding Catalogue of Industrial Structure Regulation in 2005, encouraging new energy automobile R&D. In December last year, the NDRC issued a draft catalogue, reconfirming the importance and immediacy of clean energy in the auto industry. A month before releasing the draft, the NDRC had also drawn up management regulations for introduction of new energy in auto production.
Beijing will implement China IV emission standards from next month. The Beijing Olympic Games and Shanghai 2010 World Expo will further boost China's green drive, with promises of encouraging low or even zero emission vehicles. All this has made hybrid cars a lucrative prospect.
Another reason automakers are looking at hybrid cars is oil. Crude oil prices crossed the psychological barrier of $100 a barrel and were hovering around $98 yesterday. Just in 2003, the price was $25 a barrel.
Sun, however, says China's auto industry has yet to find the right direction and develop an efficient way to cut GHG emissions because R&D into clean energy has been diversified into many channels, from hybrid, electric vehicles to substitute energy of hydrogen, ethanol, ether and bio-fuel.
Most analysts generally consider hydrogen-powered vehicles to be the best way to achieve zero emission and high-energy efficiency. But they concede that the exorbitant R&D cost, difficulty in building facilities and getting enough and uninterrupted supply of hydrogen make manufacturing such vehicles almost impossible in the near future.
That's why 2008 can be the year of hybrid vehicles, a transitional and feasible solution in the clean energy journey, Sun says. Hybrid vehicles can cut energy consumption by 10 to 50 percent. Therefore, "gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles may only resolve the energy crisis for the moment".
Hybrid cars have gained so much favor among makers and buyers that European and US auto conglomerates, which till now had been concentrating on hydrogen-powered vehicles, have began shifting their focus. And analysts say hybrid cars offer domestic firms a chance to share the global stage with their international rivals.
Prius is the only one, with a small production unit in China, to receive a good response. Other imported hybrid models have not been that successful because of their high prices. As a result, in the past two years many auto joint ventures and domestic brands have set up projects in the hope of developing new models.
Chang'an Auto Corp, China's fourth largest automaker, is the first to go into mass production of hybrid cars. The country's first hybrid sedan Jiexun-HEV rolled off the production line at a Chang'an plant in Chongqing in December. To cost between 130,000 and 150,000 yuan ($18,200 and $21,000), it is expected to hit the market soon. Six years of intensive R&D preceded the mass production of Jiexun-HEV.
A Ministry of Science and Technology official says the new sedan has been developed using Chinese patents for the engine and hybrid power system, or the entire car. This is the beginning of mastering the core technologies of the hybrid-power system by a Chinese firm.
Chang'an Auto president Xu Liuping says Jiexun-HEV is a breakthrough in the "electricity run automobile program", which is part of the "863 plan", China's strategic high-tech research development plan created in 1987. The car has a fuel-battery hybrid technology and consumes 20 percent less fuel compared to traditional cars. Its emission meets standard IV, the highest yardstick in China.
Chery Automobile Co in Anhui province is also out to cash in on the hybrid car craze. The carmaker's spokesman Jin Yibo says a hybrid car model, based on A5, is already being tested as a taxi on the roads of Wuhu, where Chery's plant is located. The company may officially launch the car later this year.
Another Chery hybrid car could hit the market in the second half of the year, says Jin. Chery assigned British Ricardo Co, a leading provider of technology, product innovation and engineering solu tions, to develop a hybrid vehicle in 2004.
And then there's BYD Auto, a cell-phone battery company that entered the auto business in 2005 and plans to unveil a hybrid car model, F6DM, in the later half of the year. The car is expected to cost 150,000 yuan ($21,000).
Other domestic firms trying to enter the clean energy vehicle market include Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co and Great Wall Motor. But they are not concentrating on hybrid technologies only. As Jin says, hybrid vehicles are just the first step in its clean energy strategy, "for hybrid is well known to the public and easily accepted by the market".
Jin, however, concedes that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are the best answer to the problem now, even though it's difficult for automakers to produce them on a mass scale because of the high cost and technological constraints. Chery, however, is developing electric and other car models.
Great Wall has already begun four projects, including the use of methanol to run cars. All the projects are likely to be completed by next year.
But all the automakers hope the government would come up with policies to boost the demand for new energy vehicles, instead of just encouraging R&D. "After automakers commercialize the new energy vehicles, the government should encourage consumers to buy them by offering favorable taxation. That could help China's new energy auto dream become a reality," says analyst Zhong Shi.
Roewe 750 Hybrid car is featured at the Shanghai International Autoshow in April last year. The car, made by the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, can save as much as 25 percent of gas.
(China Daily February 22, 2008)
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Publish Date: 1/30/2008
Local company powers Neil Young’s car
Singer purchases electric propulsion motor by UQM Technologies for 1959 Continental
By Tony Kindelspire
Longmont Times-Call
LONGMONT — A rock ’n’ roll legend has tapped a Frederick company to help convert a classic automobile into a green machine.
An electric propulsion system manufactured by UQM Technologies will power a 1959 Lincoln Continental Mark IV owned by Neil Young, who is converting the vehicle into a “bio-hydro-electric series hybrid.”
The more than 19-foot-long, 21/2-ton car will use UQM’s PowerPhase 150 kilowatt propulsion system to power what was the heaviest car of its era.
The conversion is being done in collaboration with Wichita, Kan.-based H-Line Conversions. H-Line, owned by Jonathan Goodwin, specializes in custom vehicle conversions to turn gas-guzzlers like Hummers and Cadillac Escalades into clean-powered vehicles. MTV’s “Pimp my Ride” has featured some of the shop’s conversions, and others have been filmed for a television series slated for nationwide airtime.
Young contracted with Shakey pictures, the same company that made “CSNY/DÉJÀ VU,” a film that chronicles the 2006 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “Freedom of Speech” tour, to make a documentary about the conversion of the Lincoln.
He has renamed the car the Linc Volt, as part of a personal initiative he calls “Re-powering the American Dream.”
“By drawing on entrepreneurial companies’ advanced technology and good old American ingenuity, we intend to transform one of the largest and heaviest gas-guzzling vehicles of our generation into a highly energy-efficient vehicle, and demonstrate to the American public that we can repower the American dream by demanding environmentally friendly vehicles now,” Young said in a statement released by UQM Tuesday.
Once completed, the Linc Volt is projected to get 100 miles per gallon — a far cry from the 10 mpg the original engine got — and it will reach 60 mph in 6 seconds, which is faster than its original engine.
Young’s Lincoln is a “series” hybrid, which means the engine is not connected to the wheels, according to Don French, UQM’s chief financial officer.
Biodiesel fuel will power the engine, which generates electricity, French said. That electricity keeps the batteries full, and the batteries are what powers the vehicle.
“One hundred percent of the propulsion of the vehicle is done by electric motor,” French said.
UQM introduced its 150kw propulsion system last June, and the first buyer was Mobile Energy Solutions of Golden, which is using it to power a fuel cell hybrid electric bus.
French wasn’t sure how Young found out about UQM, except to say, “We’re pretty well-known in the propulsion field.”
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http://www.agis.com/Document/211/housing-and-technology.aspx
Housing and Technology
By KONCELIK, Encyclopedia of Aging
Anticipating the future needs of older adults
Predicting the future of technology is very similar to predicting the weather. The further forward in time one speculates about technological developments, the less reliable those predictions will be. There are lessons to be learned in this regard from those who looked forward from the nineteenth century into the twentieth. Railroads, mass public transportation within cities, and huge steamships were all technological marvels that were the basis for predictions about the future of technology into the twentieth century and beyond. However, under pressure from the emerging automobile companies, urban public transportation was largely relegated to bus transit in most cities. Automobiles supplanted railroads and the urban public transit systems of America by the 1930s, owing to preferences for personal transportation. America's railroad system is a very efficient method for hauling freight, but it carries very few passengers today. After numerous catastrophes at sea and the advent of air travel, steamships disappeared as a major inter-continental conveyance, and the largest moving objects ever built by man became recreational cruise ships by the 1970s.
On the other hand, the computer, a device that was a laboratory oddity built by the U.S. armed services in the 1940s, was transformed into one of the most significant consumer and business products ever devised, and no one predicted the emergence of the Internet from another defense department technology, a form of communications called Arpanet. Initially, Arpanet electronic communications was devised to provide a means of emergency connectivity between defense department installations if other forms of communication were cut or out of service in time of war. The use of Arpanet for personal communications, and its extension to university campuses, led to today's Internet. The Internet was never, in fact, invented, it evolved. Looking backward into the past, the reliability of technology prediction has been uneven—akin to driving an automobile into the future by looking only into the rearview mirror.
The level of reliability for predicting what might be available to serve the needs of older adults has been very high, however, at least for predictions of up to ten years away. It is difficult, however, to accurately envision the technologies the world will have at its disposal when the population of older adults peaks at midcentury. One very interesting aspect of all the technology that is either under development or can be envisioned is that it will depend upon energy to run. Ever-increasing applications of technology in the home will use increasing amounts of electrical and other forms of energy. This has important consequences for older adults who purchased their homes while working and are now balancing energy costs against health care requirements. Fortunately, most predictions foresee a world requiring products with lower power utilization requirements and homes that should be able to shift between energy from a grid and some level of naturally generated power, such as solar or wind.
The automobile can be seen as an extension of the home, and it is a very important part of the lives of older adults. It is unlikely that the automobile will disappear as a major form of conveyance, as the horse did in the early twentieth century. It is more likely that the use of motor vehicles as personal transportation will continue at least through 2050. It is also likely that the automobile will become more efficient through the use of alternative fuels, otherwise they will become useless as oil supplies become unavailable. Hybrid engines, combining gasoline and electric energy, are already in production, and it is likely that their adoption will be rapid within the first decade of the twenty-first century.
There is a connection that must be made between population trends and the evolution of technology that should, and must, meet human needs. There is virtual certainty about the inexorable growth of the population of older adults well into midcentury. According to census data, the inexorable growth of the total population of the United States will result in an unprecedented 50 percent increase in population between 2000 and 2055. Significantly, this population will be living largely near urban centers which will affect the type, density, and life-long requirements for housing. The fastest growing segment of this population is, and will continue to be, people over the age of sixty-five, with an increase of over 26 million people in this age group between 2000 and 2030. The profile of this population is also increasing in its diversity, becoming more multiracial, multi-ethnic, and multilingual.
Each generation or cohort of aging individuals reaching older adulthood will also bring their experience, education, lifestyle, human associations and connections, and their needs and desires with them as they age. Computerphobia, and technophobia in general, will eventually evaporate, even if it remains in the post–World War II generation. Indeed, discretionary income among older adults is generally high, and housing purchases of single-family dwellings at the upper end of the price spectrum is, and will remain, a purchase made mainly by older adults. With those housing purchases come all of the opportunities for technology; both that which is part of the original purchase and that acquired after purchase. Technology and affluence go hand-in-hand. The acquisition of goods and services, however, is made by older adults only if they meet certain lifestyle requirements.
Have the product development professions, technology innovators, and the homebuilders begun to anticipate new markets for houses, consumer products, and technologies? Those who generate technology have begun, albeit late in the game, to see the demographic changes that are coming, and they have established a variety of approaches to make their product development efforts inclusive. Universal design is an approach that recognizes the diversity of the world population. This philosophy of designing encompasses the diversity brought about by recognizing aging, the expansion of the racial and ethnic base, and the increasing prevalence of individuals with both moderate and severe disabilities, in the population (Covington and Hannah). Another philosophy of design is referred to as transgenerational design (Pirkl). Transgenerational design extends the human factors associated with product development to include characteristics of normal age related change. Theoretically, inclusiveness of this kind offsets disability. In both philosophic approaches, disability can be measured as the difference between a person's ability to cope with his or her environment with and without the support of technology. For many older adults, technology can be the difference between continuous participation in all forms of activity or exclusion from the spectrum of activities that give meaning and enhance and invigorate all people throughout life.
The federal government has recognized universal design as a theme for additions to civil rights legislation and is creating law parallel to the response from the technology producers and the design and engineering communities. The Rehabilitation Act of 1990, Section 508, and the new Information Technology Act of 2001 (in effect in June of 2001) Section 255, both mandate the development of universal products for all communications technology—including hardware and software products, Internet web sites, media productions, etc. Inclusiveness has become a watchword of a movement to extend accessibility to all (Hypponen). The focus on needs of the technology user is called human centered design within the manufacturing industry. Used as a general reference in the development of technology, human centering is another way to state that all technology and its manifestation in products can only be effective in the future if they respond to a broadening base of human capabilities and characteristics. Recognizing this diversity means attempting to understand differing needs and differing human capabilities and characteristics.
Technology trends
Matching technology trends to the wide range of human capabilities and characteristics may be an easier prospect than one would initially think. An important trend is the movement in industrial production from mass production to mass customization. By the 1960s, American industry was responding to a theoretically homogeneous population with massive quantities of individual product technologies. A mass-production line has little variability, however, and efforts to market such technologies requires a focused approach defining the American population in terms of limited stereotypes. Running parallel to the increasing diversity of the population, automated, robotic, and computer-controlled machining and manufacturing permit single production lines to produce as many as three hundred different products. In this way, smaller quantities of goods can be produced profitably, permitting the manufacturer to address diverse consumer needs. Additionally, manufacturing has moved from stockpiling goods in an inventory that must be sold over time to a form of production called just-in-time production, in which goods are produced only as they are required. Older Americans are more divergent in their characteristics than are younger adults. If housing, building products, appliances, and consumer products are going to be successful, they must address varying individual requirements—and do so quickly. Emerging production technologies and methods for product distribution are at hand that will address the new trend toward mass customization.
One of the most significant technologies related to this form of production may soon be seen in the apparel industry. As of 2001, several manufacturers of full-body scanning devices were planning to launch their technologies. This technology will make it possible to manufacture clothing within days of a person being measured by a computer-controlled imaging system. Various forms of full-body scanning technology presently exist, including laser-light, photo-optical, and holographic scanning. Since the technology is just emerging, advances are rapid and prices are dropping. So-called scanning salons have appeared in California and are in use by the catalogue distribution company Lands End. The scanning process takes seconds, and automatic computer-driven software determines the measurements required for a specific garment. The data are transferred to computer-controlled pattern and fabric cutters, and custom-fitted clothing is returned to the consumer in a matter of days. It is possible to speculate that such technology could eventually drop in price and increase in resolution, speed, and capacity to the point where it will become a built-in part of a dressing room in the home. Scanning will permit all clothing to be accurately tailored to fit any individual, and scanning on a continuous basis will permit accurate sizing as people change through time.
This technology has applications well beyond the provision of clothing. It can also be used to monitor overall healthfulness and the effectiveness of a person's diet. Body conformation and composition, differences in body shape over time, even determining measurements of static positioning and reach could be important aspects of determining early onset of osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. Indeed, full-body scanning could revolutionize the design and development of furniture, automobile interiors, and other products where fit is critical for support, healthfulness, and comfort.
With regard to overall trends in technology development, it is important to understand that technology development at the beginning of the twenty-first century shows no sign of reaching a plateau. There are more individuals and organizations than ever before generating technology and instantaneously sharing information about what they create. The combination of expanded technology generation and worldwide electronic communication has accelerated the rate at which technology can advance. Innovation and information can be dispersed on a global scale.
One source on innovation and technology trends is the Battelle Memorial Institute, an independent laboratory for technology development in numerous areas of activity, including energy supply, transportation, housing, and consumer product development. Battelle has issued forecasts of technology development, many of which will directly impact the home environment and the lives of older adults. They include wearable, voice-actuated microcomputers and the integration of sensor systems in the home and in appliances permitting communication between people and technology, and between products. Battelle also predicts important advances in energy and alternative fuels, such as fuel-cell development and alternative power sources for home environmental heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, as well as many more manifestations of current technologies—and new ones just ahead.
On the immediate horizon are many forms of wireless, miniaturized, interactive computer technologies that will be worn by a person rather than sit on a desktop. Computer sensors combined with a fitted garment called the Smartshirt is a next step in continuous monitoring of vital health signs in and away from the home. Smart clothing is being developed for the armed services to monitor the condition of armed-services personnel operating in battlefield conditions. An array of computer-controlled sensors imbedded in a T-shirt will provide continuous information on vital signs. If wounded, the smart clothing will provide data on the wound to a base station so that medical personnel will be adequately prepared to deal with the trauma once in the field.
Applications of this technology for civilian use and health care are already underway at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Older Americans, especially those enduring the long-term effects of heart disease and other cardiovascular problems will be among the first to benefit from this technology. Wireless communications will permit continuous monitoring of an individual's condition, including location, by a home computer. The base station in the home will automatically signal either the individual or a health care professional if any change, especially an injurious or life threatening change, takes place. Since voice input of data and synthetic voice output from computers is already at hand, the technology will be interactive in the most user-friendly way possible. Other means of communicating a condition will be possible for the deaf and hearing impaired.
Advanced residential technology—the house that learns
The instantaneous communication of information immediately begs questions of security and privacy. These issues are genuine and profound. Setting privacy issues aside, the benefits of nonintrusive continuous monitoring technologies are clear. Wearable, wireless, miniaturized computer technologies actuated by voice that permit sensor-detected organic changes or self-initiated body and vital-function scans allow the creation of a dramatic change in the dynamic of health care and extended independence. Clothing that is fit-mapped to the individual, containing an array of sensors that are tracked from home computing systems, will alter the long-term prognosis for extended independence among older adults.
Technology for monitoring the individual is already moving forward. Another step in the process is the elimination of hard-wired home electronics and the development of invisible technologies that not only monitor the individual but also control and regulate the home environment in response to individual needs. Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems will become both smart and aware, sensing individual changes and conditioning air through antibacterial filters. Antibacterial impregnations of carpeting have been available for over thirty years. The next step will be wall, floor, and ceiling surface treatments that are antiallergenic and antibacterial.
Gardening is an important activity among older adults, but asthma and other allergic reactions to both lawn and garden flora, and also to chemical treatments of lawns and gardens, can inhibit continuous gardening as susceptibility to allergic conditions increases. There is the possibility of the development of genetically engineered lawn and garden products that eliminate both the sources of allergy and the need for chemical treatments.
The major change on the horizon for the home environment is the development of invisible products and technologies. The development of communications between the home and the homeowner, and also between product technologies, with no interface except awareness, gives rise to a fundamental change in the way everyone interacts with their built environment. An aware house has been built at the Georgia Institute of Technology. It is fitted with nonobtrusive electronic monitoring devices that allows the home, through its computer technology, to sense the behaviors and patterns of the daily lives of individual adults. There are imaging devices implanted in the walls and ceiling, as well as worn on a person's body, that can observe daily routines, and the performance of tasks, and even learn to read gestures. One important area of the research is an attempt to understand changes in memory through observation of individual task performance. Specific experimentation is underway that will have older adults performing household tasks such as food preparation while there are intrusions of other adults during the process. By interfering with the performance of tasks, the focus required through short-term memory can be monitored. This awareness may render clues about the early onset of short-term memory loss and early onset of dementia. Knowing the patterns of an individual and monitoring the changes that occur over time may give rise to the interventions necessary to offset confusion and withdrawal. The goal becomes provision of subtle and progressive supports, technological as well as through the intervention of others, that will sustain an individual's ability to remain in his or her own home for as long as possible.
Transfer of this level of technology to applications in the realm of housing production is likely several years, if not decades, off. This research, using nonobtrusive computer-controlled monitoring, has just begun. However, the implications for future home development are clear. The technology is currently available, and will improve over time, that will not only permit monitoring of the physiological status of an individual, but will also permit observation and knowledge of the psychological, cognitive, and behavioral health of an individual. These developments are specifically directed at understanding older adults and providing support to aging in place.
Retirement, work, education, and leisure
Working at home is now a reality for a substantial number of Americans. The home office, with its computer, facsimile machine, and telephone, is now a definitive part of the household environment. The relationship between work and retirement is variable and flexible. Retirement for many may occur more than once or twice, and many that have left careers are at least partially employed. Clearly, new generations of older Americans can anticipate longer careers, several forms of employment, more changes of career, and intermittent work roles mixed with periods of retirement. This is a very different picture from the image of a person working for one company for three decades, being given a gold watch, and picking up a fishing pole with no thought of continuing in any form of active employment. Older adults in the twenty-first century may experience a much later onset of formal retirement and never be fully removed from the workforce until health changes alter their ability to continue working. The home office will grow in importance as this societal change inexorably moves forward. Many professional women will experience the ebb and flow of work, family, and retirement—all related to the options afforded through the home office.
The home is also becoming a primary location for education. America is at the beginning of a new age of life-long learning. The University of Phoenix has been among the leading institutions offering distance education and degree programs to a global student body. Before the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, many institutions of higher education will be offering courses to more students off-campus than are residents in dormitories on campus. The home is also a learning center for a growing number of older Americans. They may become involved in educational programs for intellectual stimulation, but many will be involved in degree programs through distance education.
Asynchronous education is the term applied to self-learning at one's own pace. Once again, computing permits an extension of many forms of learning without the presence of teachers. The classroom of the future may well be a large flat screen connected to a robust home-computing system that connects students all over the world. Windowing onscreen will allow real-time discussion. Instantaneous translations will permit a history teacher in India to offer a history course to a class of young and old students on campuses, at other locations, and in their own homes. Broadband technology will provide the teacher (and the student) the ability to call up still photographic visual materials and streaming video in electronic form. After the lecture, course notes, the lecture itself, and support materials will be available on an on-call basis. Indeed, the class itself will likely be prerecorded for logging on at any time, with prescribed times for exchanges with the teacher. It may not be possible to tell the difference between much of what will become available in the form of educational materials, actual courses, and entertainment. There are a variety of terms now applied to these mixed forms of presentation, including infotainment and edutainment. The presence of computer technology has already changed the classroom and the approach to teaching almost every subject.
For older adults, the implications of these changes in education, work, and entertainment may blur the distinction between activities. It will also be a means for continuous involvement and intellectual stimulation that could have a beneficial effect upon well-being and health and wellness. Computing could be used to support memory as well as continuing education. Repetition requires patience on the part of a teacher, but a computer doesn't care and can be called upon to repeat information continuously.
Home technologies and daily life
Imaginative films have depicted many forms of robotic assistance, most of them anthropomorphic in character, conducting household chores. This represents the visible technology that is less likely in the future, unless preferences among American consumers call for a walking, talking robot with a name. The 1999 film, Bicentennial Man, featuring the noted actor and comedian Robin Williams, explores a well-worn (some might argue threadbare) theme in movie making about such anthropomorphic robots. In actuality, robotic assistance in the performance of tasks is more likely to be dispersed among product technologies and appliances in areas such as lawn care, household surface cleaning, cooking, and home maintenance. The house will be aware, and the products within the house will be smart and able to communicate. Computer technologies imbedded within food-storage containment areas and refrigeration units will be able to read bar-coded supplies, determine dates of expiration, alert the homeowner about potential spoilage, and even communicate alternative menus to electronic display units or voice output devices. Smart appliances will augment the preparation of food by sensing the degree of cooking completion. Recycling in the kitchen will be accomplished with the assistance of trash sorting and compacting units. Water quality will be continuously monitored, as will all of the systems of the home, through on-call maintenance and service programs that will enhance the overall healthfulness of the home environment. Virtually all of this technology is at hand, and applications will soon emerge in the marketplace.
For older adults, the acquisition, monitoring, and use of medications is of great importance. Medication containment units will be available that will not only keep track of quantities, but will also read bar-coded information provided with the medication and provide appropriate reminders to the resident about medication intervals and dosage. Detoxification from drug interactions is a widespread problem among older adults. Technology applied to the appropriate control and dispensing of medications will be of great importance. Over time, these products can become part of a system of health care that is supported by technology and a new form of health care system that sustains individual independence, helps control the costs of health care through emphasis on awareness and preventative measures, and provides the appropriate interventions only when necessary.
Conclusions
Of the many assumptions made in predicting the future, one that is implied almost every time the future of technology is discussed is that technology is beneficial. Technology is benign, and the intention is to create benefit through the use of technology. But, is more of it better than less? In the end, older adults will choose what they want and inform the world about technology's viability and benefit. The unobtrusive characteristic of the technology to come is most appealing. However, its application and the interface with people are clearly significant. A house that is constantly attempting to communicate with its resident regardless of that individual's receptivity or desire to interact seems to be a future for domestic living that few would care to contemplate. A house that is a machine is also less than desirable. Thoughtful integration of smart and aware technologies that also manifest sensitivity about the user is the sort of quality that must be imparted to a living space. Currently, computers display none of this quality. Today, users are confronted with computer crashes that signal fatal errors and other admonitions as if the failings imbedded in the complexity of the machine are somehow the fault of the owner/operator. A house that is continually experiencing electronic crashes that have the user both mystified and worried will be unacceptable.
This phenomenon in computing systems is addressed in the book The Humane Interface (2000) by Jef Raskin. Raskin states that the future relationship of advanced computing to the novice user must be one of a much more friendly interface; one that does not present complexity in order to do the simplest operation. While the technology is at hand, or nearly within our grasp, to provide extended independence to older adults, the difficulty in creating this sophisticated home of the future does not lie in developing capacity, it is in making that capacity easily usable, with seamless transitions of interface from person to machine, machine to machine, and home to homeowner. Quality of life has always been the ultimate issue of aging. Americans will be spending more time in their lives as older adults than they will in any other time of life. The potential in the technological future of the home holds great promise for sustaining quality as well as maintaining independence.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Battelle Memorial Institute. The Business of Innovation: Technology Forecasts. BMI, 1995. Available at .
CAMPBELL, P. "Population Projections: States, 1995–2025." In Current Population Reports: Population Projections. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1997.
COVINGTON, G. A., and BRUCE, H. Access by Design. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1997.
DYCHTWALD, K., and FLOWER, J. Age Wave. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1990.
HYPPONEN, H., ed. Handbook on Inclusive Design of Telematics Applications. Helsinki, Finland: Stakes, 1999. Available at
PIRKL, J. J. Transgenerational Design: Products for an Aging Population. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1994.
RASKIN, J. The Humane Interface. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 2000.
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Liviu Panait
http://homepages.ius.edu/MCADY/Science_Briefs.htm#Hydrogen%20Production.
A Photochemical Cell for Hydrogen Production
The carbon monoxide of this methane reformation reaction is used to make more hydrogen with the "water gas shift" reaction at about 500 °C: H 2O + CO ® CO 2 + H 2. However, hydrocarbon fuels may become scarce and expensive in the future. The photochemical cell has the advantage of producing no carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) and no carbon dioxide is formed when hydrogen is used as a fuel: 2 H 2 + O 2 ® 2 H 2O. C&EN, 11, April 20, 1998 and O. Khaselev and J.A. Turner, Science, 280, 425 (1998)
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Xogen Secures First US Patent for Its Hydrogen Technology
Business Editors
CALGARY, Alberta--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 3, 2000
Tathacus Resources Ltd. (CDNX:TTC.) reports that the United States Patent and Trademark Office
(USPTO) today granted to Xogen Power Inc. ("Xogen") patent number 6,126,794.
The patent, which covers 37 claims, protects Xogen's hydrogen generator technology and excludes
others from making, using, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the
invention into the United States.
Xogen CEO, John Grove and Chief Science Officer, Stephen Chambers stated, "We are extremely
pleased to have received approval of our first patent application. The final granting of the patent
strengthens Xogen's ability to provide a revenue stream for its shareholders including Tathacus.
Revenues will be generated by licensing the technology to other companies for a wide variety of
important uses."
Tathacus currently owns 20 percent of Xogen, a private advanced fuel technology company.
The two companies are also partners in a joint venture to commercialize the technology's home
and commercial heating applications.
"Tathacus is very pleased by the news," said Barrie Shibley, Tathacus CEO. "Xogen has also advised
us that it's pursuing an aggressive program to expand the protection for its breakthrough technology
through additional US and international patent applications. In the meantime, we are working with
Chambers and the Xogen science team to finish building a hydrogen burning prototype home furnace
for the joint venture."
Tathacus is a Calgary-based energy company. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Crucero Resources,
Tathacus is positioned to optimize and grow its oil and gas assets that currently provide the company with
a solid revenue stream. Through its recent acquisition of twenty percent of Xogen, and an existing home
and commercial heating joint venture between the companies, Tathacus is the only publicly traded company
with an ownership interest in Xogen's exciting new hydrogen generation technology.
The Canadian Venture Exchange Inc. has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility
for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For more information please contact:
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