by opentucson
December 28, 2010 in News, Open Tucson by opentucson
Andrew found an interested article related to our SunTracker project.
“In D.C., as in many other places, the intention is that by giving people more information, more often, and more easily, they will make better choices about their mobility.”
Read the rest of the article here:
http://thecityfix.com/digital-displays-for-transit-can-more-information-mean-more-riders/
by Bob Hagen
December 28, 2010 in Imported by Bob Hagen
Tom Beal Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Tuesday, December 28, 2010 12:00 am
Using a small telescope atop Mount Bigelow, University of Arizona astronomer Steve Larson found a rare phenomenon in the night sky – an asteroid that suddenly developed a tail.
This recently recognized class of objects – cometoid, anyone? – is interesting enough to the astronomy community that it snared “discretionary” time Monday night on the Hubble Space Telescope.
Larson is eagerly awaiting data from those Hubble observations to help answer questions he has about the nature of asteroid (596) Scheila, which was discovered in 1906.
Larson was completing a routine photography run at the Catalina Sky Survey’s 0.6-meter telescope atop Mount Bigelow in the Santa Catalina Mountains on the morning of Dec. 11 when his computer program presented him with what looked to be a candidate for a comet. “This was one was fairly bright, and that usually means that it is known,” he said.
by Bob Hagen
December 22, 2010 in Imported by Bob Hagen
Tucson Water to receive 1 megawatt solar array
Inside Tucson Business
22 December 2010
Tucson Water is building a 1 megawatt, ground-mounted solar power system on city-owned land within Tucson Water Department’s underground water storage and recovery facility.
Tucson Water is working with Trico Electric SunWatts renewable energy program and SunPower Corp on the project.
The system is expected to be complete in March 2011, and will double the solar power system capacity hosted by the city.
SunPower was selected through a competitive bid process.
Under the terms of the agreement, Wells Fargo will finance and own the system that SunPower designs, builds, operates and maintains. Trico Electric, the utility serving the site, will provide additional funding via its SunWatts renewable energy incentive program. The city will host the system and buy the electricity produced by it. Trico Electric Cooperative will purchase the renewable energy credits associated with the system.
by Bob Hagen
December 21, 2010 in Imported by Bob Hagen
REhnu gets $1 million for large-scale solar research
21 December 2010
Inside Tucson Business Blog
REhnu LLC, a spinoff company from the University of Arizona working on the development of concentrated photovoltaic power for utility generation received a $1 million award from Science Foundation Arizona.
The grant will be matched by REhnu, which is in the process of developing the system it believes could bring large amounts of photovoltaic power to the Southwest.
The system was developed by Roger Angel, a UA researcher who is the director of the Steward Observatory Mirror Laboratory and the Center for Astronomical Adaptive Optics.
The system has eight mirrors installed on a single device that tracks the sun throughout the day. The mirrors reflect light onto a sphere of glass acting as a lens for a small, but efficient photovoltaic (PV) cell.
by Bob Hagen
December 20, 2010 in Imported by Bob Hagen
Invention Could Improve Cancer Drug Delivery, Lessen Harmful Effects of Chemotherapy
An invention by UA researchers may provide a way to deliver chemotherapeutic drugs to cancer tissues in controlled doses without harming healthy body cells.
By Shelley Littin, NASA Space Grant intern, University Communications, December 20, 2010
University of Arizona researchers may have found a way to deliver chemotherapeutic drugs to cancer tissues in controlled doses without harming healthy body cells.
If successful, the invention of gold-coated liposomes could make chemotherapy more effective to destroy cancer cells and alleviate the harmful side effects that can result from the treatment.
The invention by Marek Romanowski, an associate professor of biomedical engineering in the UA College of Engineering and a member of the BIO5 Institute and the Arizona Cancer Center, and his lab team doesn’t have a silver lining. Better: It has a lining of gold. The secret to non-invasively controlling the release of chemotherapeutic drugs lies in nano-scale capsules made of lipids and coated with a fine layer of gold.
by Bob Hagen
December 15, 2010 in Imported by Bob Hagen
UA supervises test of Tucson company’s remote-sensor device
Tom Beal Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 12:00 am
A Tucson engineering company thinks technology developed to monitor for leaks in oil and gas pipelines could help the Department of Homeland Security plug its leaky borders.
Zonge Engineering and Research Organization says a buried fiber-optic line may be a cheaper alternative to border fences and a complement to the expensive high-tech towers considered for our southern border.
A recent test of the technology, overseen by University of Arizona researchers, found that a buried fiber-optic line allows a remote sensor to instantly report traffic across it, with a precision that can differentiate between a human or animal coyote and tell the difference between a horse rider and a motorized vehicle.
by spoke6
December 14, 2010 in Spoke6, Updates by spoke6
Take a few minutes and fill out this Global Coworking survey by DeskMag:
by Bob Hagen
December 10, 2010 in Imported by Bob Hagen
City, county would have to kick in up to $40M for land, work on roads Plan aims to assist Raytheon expansion Rob O’Dell Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Friday, December 10, 2010 12:00 am Stung by Raytheon Missile Systems’ decision to build a new missile facility in Alabama rather than Tucson, Pima County and Tucson are drafting plans that could put up as much as $40 million to help Raytheon stay and expand in Tucson. Raytheon is the region’s largest overall employer and is by far its largest private employer. Most of the $40 million is planned to come from a county bond election that won’t occur until at least 2012. The remaining money would be $2 million from several county funds and $8 million that Tucson will receive from an annexation agreement with Raytheon approved in 2009.
by Bob Hagen
December 10, 2010 in Imported by Bob Hagen
Why launch electric vehicles in Tucson? Tucson lays claim to being a Solar America City – one of 25 in the country.
By Joe Pangbum, Inside Tucson Business
Published on Friday, December 10th, 2010
That reputation directly led to Tucson being named among the first markets where Nissan is introducing its all-electric Leaf vehicle. Since then, Ford also has announced Tucson will be among the 19 first markets where it introduces its Focus Electric vehicle late in 2011.
Next year, General Motors also is going to be introducing its Chevy Volt, an electric-powered car with gas-powered generator, but so far hasn’t annnounced any specifics for distribution.
by Bob Hagen
December 8, 2010 in Imported by Bob Hagen
TEP to lease 50 acres at airport for solar farm Carol Ann Alaimo Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Wednesday, December 8, 2010 12:00 am
Air travelers will soon have a bird’s-eye view of a solar farm when they peer out jet windows at Tucson International Airport.
On Tuesday, the board that runs the airport agreed to lease 50 acres of airport land to Tucson Electric Power Co. for the next 20 years for construction of a 5-megawatt photovoltaic array.
The facility, to be built on vacant land near South Alvernon Way and East Hughes Access Road, is due to be up and running by the end of 2011.
TEP is not releasing details of the project’s construction cost, said Joseph Barrios, a spokesman for the utility.
