The Volvo Concept Coupe

Have you ever felt a tad restricted by the options list when choosing a new car?

Then check out Vauxhall’s new ADAM – the urban chic supermini that can be personalised in over a million different ways.Rather than going retro, the three-door, four seater ADAM instead uses fresh contemporary bold styling, that Vauxhall claims ‘defies convention’.Penned by Brit designer Mark Adams’ team in Europe, ADAM incorporates a ‘floating’ roof which is visually disconnected from the body, making the use of two-tone colour schemes.

Sharp looks utilise existing Vauxhall design cues from the new Astra GTC and it boasts being the first car in its class to have the option of LED daytime running lights.Available in three trims from launch – JAM (fashionable/colourful), GLAM (elegant/sophisticated) and SLAM (racy/sporty) – ADAM customers can effectively ‘design’ their own car.There are almost unlimited visual combinations, with a wide variety of exterior colours – including two different roof colours - interior colours, equipment and materials.

Customers can even choose their headlining, including an LED-lit starlight roof trim.Round, mechanical clock-style instruments with chrome bezels mark a departure from those seen in other Vauxhalls, while ADAM customers can also opt for a heated steering wheel.How are solar outdoor lighting products different from other lighting, like fluorescent or incandescent?On the dashboard can be found a seven-inch touch screen, incorporating a new high-spec infotainment system, designed to support new media sources, including Bluetooth, as well as connectivity for smartphones, enabling access to internet-based applications and GPS navigation.

The ADAM comes with a choice of three efficient ecoFLEX four-cylinder petrol engines: a 1.2-litre 70PS, plus two 1.4-litre engines with either 87PS or 100PS.All are available with optional Start/Stop technology and will be mated to a five-speed manual gearbox. This will be followed by a new-generation small petrol engine, featuring direct injection and forced induction.

According to Vauxhall, ADAM will break new ground in the supermini class, by offering technology normally only found in higher-end cars.Being well suited to towns thanks to its compact dimensions, ADAM can also be customised to take the chore of parking out of your hands – literally! With the Advanced Park Assist II system, drivers engage the system with a button on the dashboard and it tells them when they reach a parking space large enough to accommodate the car.

The system then automatically steers them into the parking space, using ultrasonic sensors to work its magic.Although small, measuring just 3.7 metres in length and 1.72 metres in width – ADAM is a tough cookie - thanks to a high-strength ultra-rigid passenger cell, complimented by front, side and head curtain airbags, as well as dual seat belt pre-tensioners for front occupants which offer additional knee and leg protection.The firm’s latest generation ESP system will help to keep ADAM on the straight and narrow,Shop funtional and elegant solar lights, outdoor solar lighting, solar garden lights, path lights and decorative solar lights. too.Soli-lite provides the world with high-performance solar roadway and solar street lighting solutions.As with all Vauxhalls, ADAM comes with Lifetime Warranty, which covers first owners for the lifetime of the car, or up to 100,000 miles.

Volvo is testing the idea of a modern take on the brand's iconic P1800 coupe of the 1960s.

The Volvo Concept Coupe is modern and angular, but has the low-slung look that could, indeed, resonate with folks old enough to recall the P1800, and those who've come late to its appeal but are infatuated nonetheless.

Volvo says the car is the first of a series of three concept cars that are harbingers of the next Volvos.

It is the first design by Volvo's new Senior Vice President of Design, Thomas Ingenlath. He says, "The Volvo Concept Coupe is no futuristic dream car. It is designed to demonstrate the capability of our new architecture: the confident stance, the proportions and the most prominent design signatures. Even though the all-new XC90 is an entirely different type of car, you will recognize the connection instantly when it is revealed next year."

It is based on what the car company calls Scalable Product Architecture (SPA), which the automaker says was "developed in-house for Volvo Cars only," and -- taking a slap at former owner Ford Motor -- "liberates Volvo's designers and engineers from the limitations of previous cross-brand platforms."

Signature touches include a handcrafted crystal shift lever and a big touchscreen in the center of the dashboard, much like Telsa uses.

Read the full story at www.soli-lite.com!

Navy Sees Fuel Cells Ready

Fuel cells are not a renewable energy source, of course, although they can be tied to renewable energy. But even using fossil fuels their ability to produce electricity through an electrochemical process – instead of combustion – can make them flexible, relatively clean and efficient energy producers.

And quiet, too, the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research points out, and you can imagine how that might be a big benefit to the military.

The ONR, the scientific research arm of the Navy and Marine Corps, is talking up the new Solid-Oxide Fuel Cell Tactical Electrical Power Unit that uses technology developed through its programs. A 10-kilowatt unit was demonstrated at the Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland earlier this summer, and it used 44 percent less fuel than a similarly sized conventional generator, the ONR said.

“Fuel cells are real and are ready for transition to our warfighters,” Don Hoffman, a program officer in ONR’s Sea Warfare and Weapons Department, said in a statement. “We’re pushing forward to examine adapting this technology for use aboard ships as well.”

We’ve written frequently about the U.S. military’s deep interest in turning to more efficient energy sources for its front-line operations. This has led to initiatives like RENEWS – the Reusing Existing Natural Energy, Wind & Solar system – that enables the harvesting and utilization of wind and/or solar power and is intended to produce up to 300 watts of energy in silent, remote operations where the supply of power and fuel resupply is difficult or risk.

This, and the fuel cell development, flows from the Department of Defense’s Operational Energy Strategy to be less reliant on risky-to-transport fossil fuels.RGB LED Color-changing led grow light headlight accent light system for headlight halo effect. The sought-after payoff is quite tangible: “Using less fuel ultimately means fewer convoys and more lives saved,” John Pazik, director of ONR’s Ship Systems and Engineering Research Division, said.How are solar outdoor lighting products different from other lighting, like fluorescent or incandescent?

Solid-oxide fuel cells are the same technology Bloom Energy uses (there’s a good animated primer on the Bloom site that shows how it works). Bloom Boxes are most frequently fed natural gas as the hydrogen source. The Navy has different needs:

A key component to the new system is a small reformer inside the unit that converts high-sulfur military fuels – such as JP-8 jet fuel – into a hydrogen-rich gas capable of use in the fuel cell. Previous systems required heavy maintenance to operate with such fuels. In addition to an easy-to-deploy modular and compact design, the new technology allows for near-silent operation. Instead of the roar of a diesel generator, the fuel cell unit’s cooling fan produces a sound similar to the quiet hum of a refrigerator or air conditioner.

The Buffalo campus is adding 2 million square feet of research space. The medical center’s job total has increased from 7,000 in 2002 to 17,000 this year.

The collaboration has spread past the state’s colleges and research centers.How solar panel cells work and where to buy solar kits for home use. Cornell University last spring announced it was teaming up with the Canandaigua center on ways to turn its research of nanotechnology into the manufacturing of new computer chips. Cornell has its own NanoScale Science and Technology Facility, which has more than 600 students, 30 employees and a 16,000-square-foot clean room.

Donald Tennant, the Cornell center’s director of operations, said he’s optimistic that more attention to the work upstate can spark a sustainable outgrowth of the center in Albany.

“There’s tons of industries that could be promoted here and not go offshore, with a tiny fraction of the investment that has gone on in Albany,” Tennant said. “We’re a place where that’s happening, and it could happen on a greater scale here and elsewhere with some strategic bets placed.”

Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy, a former Rochester mayor, said the governor is trying to leverage the success in Albany and push the industry to other parts of upstate.

Read the full story at www.soli-lite.com!

Holy Water

My parents seemed neither to believe nor even recall the old Catholic school stories. At home, throughout those weeks of chaos and tears and strange casseroles cooked by the neighbors, a small vial of holy water from the spring in Lourdes sat atop our refrigerator, untouched, covered with the same layer of dust as the unpaid bills and the pack of cigarettes my grandmother left on one of her visits. 

Instead, my parents were captivated by a book titled Healed of Cancer by Dodie Osteen, mother of Joel, the multimillionaire televangelist. Dodie had been diagnosed with liver cancer and told to go home and die, but had miraculously lived, and was cancer free. We gorged ourselves on her inspirational stories. We abandoned the Rosary for Dodie’s favorite Bible verses, our new mantras. 

They still bob to the surface in times of need. I hear my dad whispering to us in the night, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 

The Osteens called their Houston church “an oasis of love in a troubled world,” and it became the spring of hope for my mother in the short weeks when hope was still possible. On one of her many pilgrimages there, she felt the heat of Dodie’s hands running through her body and thought, it’s working. 

Soon we all ended up in what appeared to be a Jacuzzi bathtub sunk into the altar—no, the stage—in the First Assembly of God on the I-10 service road in Slidell. It didn’t seem like too much to ask, to get saved. I would have eaten the grass and dug a spring in the mud too, like Bernadette, if she’d asked me to. 

I had no knowledge of the Reformation, didn’t even know the word catechism. I’d never been anywhere but a Catholic church and had only the barest glimmer that there was any difference at all between being this kind of Christian or that kind of Christian except that here at the First Assembly it was definitely not okay to ask Mary to get your healing. 

So we waded into the lukewarm water. I was last. The pastor smiled at me expectantly, then took my hand as if leading me to the dance floor. He braced my forehead and the small of my back, and then dunked me with surprising force.More information about the program is available on the web site at soli-lite. I remember being shocked that he wasn’t gentler, thinking, I’m only a child! I gasped and wiped my eyes as the music surged, and then, the applause. 

My mother was waiting on the other side of the tub, clapping. She seemed so proud as I emerged dripping in my gym shorts. 

But the world was unchanged. Same fluorescent lights. Same frizzy-haired lady changing the transparencies of the hymns on the overhead projector. Same felt banners with cotton-ball clouds. And my mother was still sick. It wasn’t working. None of it worked. Six months later, she was gone. 

At bedtime on the last day of church camp, I opened my daughter’s holy water bottle, sprinkled a few drops on my fingertips and made the sign of the cross on her forehead, as the catechist had suggested. “The sign of the cross is a prayer in itself,We can produce all kinds of China emergency light products even according to your own designs.” she’d said, scolding them gently for their sloppy execution. “You’re professing your belief in the trinity, so do it with some respect,LED street lighting is the ideal solution for energy efficient Abuja solar street light due to their long life. please.” 

As I blessed my daughter, she looked up at me, shyly, almost embarrassed. In her eyes I thought I saw a question: Do you really believe this stuff? Her own credulity often surprises me, makes me wonder at the responsibility of passing faith down to a child.

City to set standard for neon displays

A compulsory standard on the maximum degree of brightness allowed on LED screens at public venues will be implemented in September to control light pollution, the city's quality watchdog said yesterday.

The standard will regulate permitted light and measuring methods, targeting both LED screens installed outdoors and indoors, based on their locations and sizes.

The new standard is expected to be welcome by residents living in the luminous glare as a large number of LED screen users were found lighting extremely dazzling advertisements to attract customers, the Shanghai Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau said.

Lighting operators should modify or remove the lights if required, or face penalties for breaking the standard, bureau officials said.

Regulations about light pollution lag far behind the development of commercial facilities. The city has a local lighting norm issued in 2004, but it has no legal effect, meaning violators don't face any punishment.

It does not include the brightness of LED screens, which were not widely in use at that time, nor does it specify which government watchdogs should take the responsibility of measuring lights, making residents hard to forward complaints as the Shanghai Greenery and Public Sanitation Bureau and Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau passed the buck to each other.

Glowing LED screens are more common nowadays with the rapid development of commercial facilities.

Wang Xiaomei, a resident of Hongkou District, has struggled with light pollution for about a year after the opening of One Prime Plaza, a shopping mall next to her residential complex. Huge LED screen changed colors from red to blue and sprayed welcome messages.

Wang said the bed rooms and sitting room were lit bright like daytime from 5:30pm to 10pm every day.

"I have no way but to draw curtains in deep color all the time. In summer, it can become very muggy," Wang said. She said the leaves of the plant on the balcony were also turning yellow at the side, triggering fears that long time exposure to the glowing lights could harm her health.

On the concourse, construction is underway to renovate all bathroom locations and add women's restrooms.  Installation is scheduled to begin shortly on two elevators located on the northeast and northwest sides of the building, which will allow fans to easily access the hospitality areas  in each of the four corners of the Robins Center.

As the calendar turns towards late summer and early fall, the Robins Center court will be refinished and repainted.  At the same time, new LED lighting will be installed (the newest in sports lighting technology) in the ceiling, which earlier this spring received a new look with a fresh coat of dark blue paint.

Also during the fall prior to the start of the basketball season, four video boards and scoreboards will be installed on the facades of the hospitality areas, giving fans live video action, replays, time and score and player statistics.
Click on their website solaronlamp for more information.