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MicroEmpowering Product Giveaway!

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 13:54:22 +0100

Microempowering would like to give a big thank you for all the support you have shown us.

We will be hosting a giveaway of more than 100 products. This product giveaway will start on May 1st and will end on June 1st. All you have to do for a chance to win is subscribe to our newsletter mailing list! You can do that right on our blog page.

The winners will be selected randomly but everyone has a high chance of winning! Once selected, the winners will be requested to provide us with their first name, last name, home address, and phone number for shipping purposes and for future announcements. Its as easy as that!

Here are some of the awesome products you can win:

EARTH DAY LOBBY DAY 2013!

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:29:40 +0100

Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013
9:30 A.M. – 3:00 P.M.New York State Capitol, Albany, NY

Can’t make it to Albany? Don’t fret! You can support this important day by pledging to call your legislator on the 23rd and provide back-up to the advocates pounding the halls of the capitol.

If you’re signing up to call, we will give you all the information you need to easily make the call!

This year's Earth Day Lobby Day will focus on critically important environmental issues such as expanding solar energy, curbing greenhouse gas emissions, keeping toxic chemicals out of children’s products, and protecting New York from the dangers of hydrofracking.

Join hundreds of environmentalists from across the state in advocating for measures to protect our air, water, land and health. No lobbying experience needed! This event is free and open to the public, but you must register to attend so we get you the information you need.

Earth Day Lobby Day 2013 is sponsored by Audubon New York, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Clean & Healthy New York, Environmental Advocates of New York, New York Interfaith Power and Light, NYPIRG, Sierra Club, and many other great organizations.

NASA Seeks Academic Partners for Smallsat Technology Collaboration

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:29:05 +0100

RELEASE : 13-094

NASA Seeks Academic Partners for Smallsat Technology Collaboration

WASHINGTON -- NASA is seeking small spacecraft technology project proposals from U.S. colleges and universities that would like to collaborate with agency researchers.

Small spacecraft, or smallsats, represent a growing field of space research and operations in which universities often have led the way in technology development. Smallsats, some of which are as small as a four-inch cube, are not expected to replace conventional spacecraft, but sometimes can provide an alternative to larger, more costly spacecraft. Smallsats can serve as platforms for rapid technology testing or specialized scientific research and exploration not otherwise possible. Smallsats also can be developed relatively quickly and inexpensively, and can share a ride to orbit with larger spacecraft.

"This new opportunity will engage university students and graduate researchers in advancing technology of value to NASA and the nation, and help strengthen our high-tech work force," said Andrew Petro, program executive for the Small Spacecraft Technology Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "There is a vibrant small spacecraft community emerging within America's universities and NASA is taking steps to increase our collaboration with that community. The universities will benefit from the deep experience NASA has in space research and technology, while NASA will benefit from fresh ideas and cost-conscious innovation at the universities."

NASA expects to competitively select approximately 10 proposals. Each team will form proposal partnerships with researchers from any of NASA's field centers. Awards for each project will include as much as $100,000 ($150,000 for teams of more than one school). Proposals submitted in response to this NASA cooperative agreement notice are due June 5.

In addition, NASA will fund the time for NASA employees to work with each selected team. Project funding is for one year with the potential to continue for a second year. Proposed projects could include anything from laboratory work to advance a particular spacecraft technology to flight testing of a new smallsat. For example, projects might focus on a technology area such as propulsion, power or communications, or on a smallsat capability, such as formation flight or satellite rendezvous.

Details of the opportunity and instructions for submitting proposals are provided in a Cooperative Agreement Notice that is available online at:

http://tinyurl.com/cb3mqdw

For additional information on the Small Spacecraft Technology Program, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/smallsats

Press Release From: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2013/apr/HQ_13-094_Smallsats_Partners.html

Quantum Dots that Assemble Themselves Could Bolster Quantum Photonics and Solar Cell Efficiency

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 22:18:43 +0100

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory and other labs have demonstrated a process whereby quantum dots can self-assemble at optimal locations in nanowires, a breakthrough that could improve solar cells, quantum computing, and lighting devices.

A paper on the new technology, "Self-assembled Quantum Dots in a Nanowire System for Quantum Photonics," appears in the current issue of the scientific journal Nature Materials.

Quantum dots are tiny crystals of semiconductor a few billionths of a meter in diameter. At that size they exhibit beneficial behaviors of quantum physics such as forming electron-hole pairs and harvesting excess energy.

The scientists demonstrated how quantum dots can self-assemble at the apex of the gallium arsenide/aluminum gallium arsenide core/shell nanowire interface. Crucially, the quantum dots, besides being highly stable, can be positioned precisely relative to the nanowire's center. That precision, combined with the materials' ability to provide quantum confinement for both the electrons and the holes, makes the approach a potential game-changer.

Electrons and holes typically locate in the lowest energy position within the confines of high-energy materials in the nanostructures. But in the new demonstration, the electron and hole, overlapping in a near-ideal way, are confined in the quantum dot itself at high energy rather than located at the lowest energy states. In this case, that's the gallium-arsenide core. It's like hitting the bulls-eye rather than the periphery.

The quantum dots, as a result, are very bright, spectrally narrow and highly anti-bunched, displaying excellent optical properties even when they are located just a few nanometers from the surface – a feature that even surprised the scientists.

"Some Swiss scientists announced that they had achieved this, but scientists at the conference had a hard time believing it," said NREL senior scientist Jun-Wei Luo, one of the co-authors of the study. Luo got to work constructing a quantum-dot-in-nanowire system using NREL's supercomputer and was able to demonstrate that despite the fact that the overall band edges are formed by the gallium Arsenide core, the thin aluminum-rich barriers provide quantum confinement both for the electrons and the holes inside the aluminum-poor quantum dot. That explains the origin of the highly unusual optical transitions.

Several practical applications are possible. The fact that stable quantum dots can be placed very close to the surface of the nanometers raises a huge potential for their use in detecting local electric and magnetic fields. The quantum dots also could be used to charge converters for better light-harvesting, as in the case of photovoltaic cells.

The team of scientists working on the project came from universities and laboratories in Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, and the United States.

Report Advises Utilities on Unintentional Islanding Risk for Distributed Generation

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 20:34:16 +0100

A Sandia National Laboratories report details a procedure to quickly determine whether utilities need an additional unintentional islanding study when evaluating the proposed interconnection of new distributed generation (DG), which includes photovoltaic (PV) systems.

Islanding occurs when the DG continues to energize a load well after it is disconnected from the utility source, and when established accidentally, islanding can adversely affect personnel safety and equipment integrity. Following Sandia's procedure can reduce the planning time — and cost — of interconnecting PV by identifying situations in which the risk of unintentional islanding is extremely low.

NASA Casts a Wide Net for STEM Education Partners

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 15:16:49 +0100

RELEASE : 13-056

NASA Casts a Wide Net for STEM Education Partners

WASHINGTON -- NASA is inviting potential partners to help the agency achieve its strategic goals for education.

Using its unique missions, discoveries, and assets, NASA supports education inside and outside the formal classroom to inspire and motivate educators and learners of all ages in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The agency is seeking unfunded partnerships with organizations to engage new or broader audiences across a national scale.

NASA recognizes the benefit of leveraging those unique resources and abilities that partners can provide in order to improve efficiency and maximize impact of its STEM efforts. This announcement requests information from organizations interested in working with NASA to improve STEM education in America.

Potential partnership activities are varied, and NASA is receptive to a wide range of possibilities. All categories of domestic groups, including U.S. federal government agencies, are eligible to respond to this announcement. NASA particularly seeks responses from creative organizations with wide-ranging areas of expertise that can affect systemic change for improving STEM education. NASA will accept responses through Dec. 31, 2014. Review of responses will begin April 1.

Press Release from http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2013/feb/HQ_13-056_Education_Partners.html

Why upcycling is beneficial towards the environment?

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 20:37:24 +0100

Upcycling is a method in which old or discarded materials are converted into something reusable.

The difference between upcycling and recycling is simple. Recycling takes consumer materials such as plastic, paper, metal, and glass and breaks them down so that they can be made into a new consumer product (usually of lesser quality). When you upcycle an item you aren’t breaking down ant materials, just purely refashioning it. Additionally the quality of the upcycled item has same or even better quality than the original.

Upcycling is beneficial towards the environment because the act saves or removes materials from the waste system. It also requires less energy than recycling and encourages innovative thought process

People who upcycle can take part in a plethora of upcycle projects, depending on skill and comfort ability level. You can upcycle almost anything, including wine bottles, jeans, wire hangers, etc.

Here are some links to examples of innovative upcycling projects:

Teacup Tiebacks for Curtain

Necktie Glasses Case

Keyboard Key Ring

Chalk Painted Clipboard

Fossil Fuels and the Rising Sea Levels

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 20:40:05 +0100

As stated in our “How Methane Heating Works” article, “Natural gas derives from animal and plant matter that was heated and pressurized in earth’s layers (hence why it is referred to as “fossil fuel”).” Within the last century, the burning of these fossil fuels combined with other human related activities, has released heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. In effect it has caused the Earth’s temperature and sea levels to rise.

This rise in sea level is linked to thermal expansion, melting of glaciers and polar ice caps, and ice loss from Greenland and West Antarctica.

Thermal expansion is when matter changes in volume due to a change in temperature. In the case of rising sea levels, water temperatures have increased; therefore, it has expanded.

The melting of glaciers and polar icecaps is generally a naturally occurring phenomenon. During the summer months these bodies of ice will undergo slight melting. Usually the cycle continues so that in the winter the snow balances out the melting. However, in recent years unusually high temperatures caused by climate change have led these ice formations to melt at greater rates and reduced snowfall. In turn the natural cycle has been disturbed causing more runoff than evaporation, which leads sea levels to rise.

Similarly to the glaciers and icecaps, the increase of temperatures has caused the ice sheets that cover Greenland and Antarctica to melt at an accelerated rate.

Overall the rises in sea levels have a negative effect on coastal communities. It can lead to erosion, flooding, and contamination. Additionally higher sea levels provide storms with dangerous amounts of force that can destroy everything in its path. An example of this would be hurricane Sandy who devastated areas in the Caribbean and along the east coast in the U.S. Ultimately rising sea levels affect the economy in terms of businesses that depend on tourists who visit beaches and coastal areas.

Should the temperatures continue to rise at this accelerated rate, cities on the east and west coast in the U.S., along with international areas like London and Greenland can potentially suffer from submersion.

Looking to the future we can improve drainage systems, elevate buildings, construct protective barriers that deter flooding, and build houses and other structures away from the coastline.

Coral Reef Conservation

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 22:50:47 +0100

Coral reefs are structures that have merged together into limestone. It consists of a collection of biological communities that make up one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. Corals themselves are actually small immobile animals that belong to the group cnidaria. They sustain themselves by catching prey, such as small fish and planktonic animals, with their tentacles. Corals generally live in colonies. Together these colonies secrete a hard calcium carbonate skeleton, which is what we see as the colorful shaped reef. These skeletons protect the coral from predators as well as help to create mutually beneficial relationship with algae.

Despite the fact that coral reefs only covers about .2% of the ocean’s bottom, they house more than 25% of marine life. Coral reefs are typically found in tropical regions such as Australia, Belize, and Hawaii. While they have been around for millions of years, scientists believe that due to human behavior, almost 10% of Earth’s coral reefs have been destroyed. Some causes of their destruction have been fishermen dynamiting the seas, human sewage, industrial runoff, etc. Fortunately as countries have realized the importance of coral reefs, some have placed special protections on them in order to defer further deterioration.

Coral reefs play a large role as nurseries and in fishery. They have also become popular sites among tourists, making them economically profitable. They provide protection from erosion to coastlines and sand for beaches. In recent years there has been an increasing amount of efforts to help conserve coral reefs. For example, the EPA is continuously working on developing a set of guidelines for watershed. To find out more information on what the EPA’s coral reef conservation efforts visit their Coastal Watershed Factsheet.

Turning Coal Into Clean Power

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 21:17:33 +0100