The WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation Index, a global index of clean-energy stocks, declined to a nine-year low as the industry faces oversupply, falling prices and uncertain government support.
The NEX index, as it’s known, fell 81 cents to $102.40 in New York last week, its fourth consecutive drop and its lowest price since April 2003. The index has lost 19 percent of its value this year.
NEX tracks 96 solar, power-storage, energy-efficiency, wind and biofuel companies, all industries that have been hard-hit as governments in Europe and the U.S. scale back subsidies and the weak global economy slows demand, said Joseph Salvatore, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance in London. That’s pushing some investors to seek safer havens.
“There is certainly a risk element to the sector,” Salvatore said in an interview yesterday. “There is a lot of policy uncertainty, which is not good for an industry that is still heavily reliant on government support.”
The NEX is falling while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 6.4 percent this year. Investors are seeking stability and shifting away from industries perceived as speculative and risky, such as renewable energy, he said.
“Investors are redeeming and exiting,” Salvatore said. “It’s been consistent for the last year.”
The NEX is down about 78 percent since a 2007 high, before the global economic crisis drove down valuations.
“Renewable-energy valuations got a bit out of hand and they crumpled,” said Aaron Chew, an analyst at Maxim Group LLC in New York.
The clean technology industries may follow the same pattern as previous emerging industries, he said. “In 1998 to 2000, there was an Internet sector and we now call it technology or media,” he said. “Maybe that’s the way to see it --alternative energy is really just the energy and utility sector.”
First Solar Inc., the world’s largest maker of thin-film solar panels, has lost 88 percent of its market value in the past year, making it the worst performer on the NEX over that period. Prices for solar panels fell by half last year, driving down earnings for the Tempe, Arizona-based company.
Dialight Plc, a U.K. maker of light-emitting diodes, was the best performer with a 30 percent gain as demand increased for the energy-efficient lighting technology.
Falling share prices may prompt acquisitions, as large companies or private equity investors buy up clean-energy providers, according to Andrew Musters, head of private equity for SAM Group Holding AG, a Zurich-based investment company.
“Clean technology has evolved into a key global industry with significant growth potential,” he said in a July 2 report. “The global structural drivers of clean growth are intact, and capital needs remain high given the global demand for clean technologies.”
2012年7月25日 星期三
Bold proposal to light up museum
It's already one of New Zealand's most photographed buildings and plans are under way to illuminate it at night.
Rotorua district councillors were presented with a new plan to illuminate the Rotorua Museum at a meeting of the council's economic and regulatory services committee on Tuesday.
In his report to councillors Rotorua Museum director Greg McManus said lighting the museum building would attract more people into the Government Gardens at night and add to the overall experience of the area, especially during summer.
"Now, with the completion of the building structure to its original intended specifications, it is an opportune time to revisit the need for the building to be properly lit to enhance it and the surrounding Government Gardens and to provide a dramatic focal point for visitors to the area," he said.
Auckland company LDP Ltd has put together a detailed concept design for the illumination of the entire building that would cost up to $1.8 million. The cost to illuminate just the front facade and roof is about $1 million.
The plan is the brainchild of the Rotorua Museum Centennial Trust and would be fully funded by the trust, at no cost to ratepayers.
The estimated cost to power and maintain the lighting would be in the region of $8000 a year and would be funded from rates.
However, the old fashioned street lights running through the centre of the Government Gardens would need to be removed, along with at least one tree.
The concept is to illuminate the roof and towers of the building along with its windows, facades and the main entrance, with the main path illuminated by ground level lights.
Centennial Trust chairman Lyall Thurston said fundraising would be the major issue in a tough economic climate.
"It really would be the icing on the cake and a major feature of one of New Zealand's most iconic buildings."
Mr Thurston said the trust were aware of the council's plans to upgrade feature and safety lighting in the area and any work would need to be done in consultation with the council.
Witham could be plunged into darkness as thousands of streetlights are set to be turned off to save energy and cash.
Essex County Council is consulting with Witham Town Council and surrounding parish councils about turning off lights between midnight and 5am.
Main roads such as Newland Street and Albert Road where Witham Station is will remain lit as will junctions and roundabouts.
But routes such as Hatfield Road, Collingwood Road, Spa Road, Guithavon Street and Mill Lane are set to have street lights turned off.
An Essex County Council spokesperson said “We operate around 12,000 streetlights across the Braintree district.
“The number of lights which will be switched to part-night will not be determined until after the end of the consultation period.”
The plans are expected to save tens of thousands of pounds per year and cut carbon emissions by 8,000 tonnes annually.
Rotorua district councillors were presented with a new plan to illuminate the Rotorua Museum at a meeting of the council's economic and regulatory services committee on Tuesday.
In his report to councillors Rotorua Museum director Greg McManus said lighting the museum building would attract more people into the Government Gardens at night and add to the overall experience of the area, especially during summer.
"Now, with the completion of the building structure to its original intended specifications, it is an opportune time to revisit the need for the building to be properly lit to enhance it and the surrounding Government Gardens and to provide a dramatic focal point for visitors to the area," he said.
Auckland company LDP Ltd has put together a detailed concept design for the illumination of the entire building that would cost up to $1.8 million. The cost to illuminate just the front facade and roof is about $1 million.
The plan is the brainchild of the Rotorua Museum Centennial Trust and would be fully funded by the trust, at no cost to ratepayers.
The estimated cost to power and maintain the lighting would be in the region of $8000 a year and would be funded from rates.
However, the old fashioned street lights running through the centre of the Government Gardens would need to be removed, along with at least one tree.
The concept is to illuminate the roof and towers of the building along with its windows, facades and the main entrance, with the main path illuminated by ground level lights.
Centennial Trust chairman Lyall Thurston said fundraising would be the major issue in a tough economic climate.
"It really would be the icing on the cake and a major feature of one of New Zealand's most iconic buildings."
Mr Thurston said the trust were aware of the council's plans to upgrade feature and safety lighting in the area and any work would need to be done in consultation with the council.
Witham could be plunged into darkness as thousands of streetlights are set to be turned off to save energy and cash.
Essex County Council is consulting with Witham Town Council and surrounding parish councils about turning off lights between midnight and 5am.
Main roads such as Newland Street and Albert Road where Witham Station is will remain lit as will junctions and roundabouts.
But routes such as Hatfield Road, Collingwood Road, Spa Road, Guithavon Street and Mill Lane are set to have street lights turned off.
An Essex County Council spokesperson said “We operate around 12,000 streetlights across the Braintree district.
“The number of lights which will be switched to part-night will not be determined until after the end of the consultation period.”
The plans are expected to save tens of thousands of pounds per year and cut carbon emissions by 8,000 tonnes annually.
2012年7月24日 星期二
Avignon Festival
Of course, classics needn’t be conservative. Just ask Thomas Ostermeier, artistic director of Berlin’s Schaubuhne. Actually, his updated An Enemy of the People is almost well behaved. He zaps Ibsen into the internet age, pops in some David Bowie, but leaves the plot largely intact. The spa water remains polluted, the town authorities still hush it up. It’s not an entirely successful update - lawsuits and penicillin make a bacterial swimming pool seem small fry - but that’s not really the point.
Ostermeier swaps Dr Stockmann’s speech for a recent French anarchist manifesto: “The economy is not in crisis. The economy is the crisis.” It opens into a genuine, real-life debate, in which the town authorities deftly shift the goalposts and Stockmann is finally silenced by paint bombs. If it’s frayed at the edges, there’s a robust and urgent core. Can we oppose the all-pervasive? Is it all or nothing?
Romeo Castellucci seems to think so. The Italian’s latest concerns eradication and self-sacrifice. It invokes stellar winds and black holes, Roman emperors and women that cut out their tongues, dead horses and an ancient philosopher, Empedocles, who threw himself into Mount Etna. Only Castellucci could - indeed, would - put a volcano mid-eruption onstage, but though The Four Seasons Restaurant is visually arresting, it’s also frustratingly indistinct.
Elfriede Jelinek wrote Die Kontrakte des Kaufmanns. Eine Wirtschaftskomodie (The Merchant’s Contracts. An Economic Comedy) in 2008, mere months before the collapse of Lehman Brothers. An unremitting and angry satire, rasping with cynicism, it mauls corporate greed and presents economics as a confidence trick. Onstage, bankers beg us to believe.
German director Nicolas Stemann takes on the task - the text is 260 pages of thick, formless prose - and, despite my barely understanding a word, concocts an enthralling event that’s part gig, part satire, part television broadcast and part protest.
Stemann directs live, leaving room for manoeuvre and, at one point, hands the script and stage over to an irate audience member. It is, perhaps, tonally one-note - furious scepticism - but the whirligig of cabaret singalongs and absurd financiers, together with a 20-minute off-piste section involving a fake magic trick that multiplies money, make it utterly essential.
Bruno Meyssat’s visual and verbatim piece 15%, which takes its name from the minimum required return on a pension fund, is best when it catches the same energy. He puts bankers in ice-hockey gear and arms them with lawnmowers. One walks around with a chainsaw whirring around his shins. Finance becomes a reckless boys’ club, a “modern form of alchemy”. The play can be overly descriptive in charting the banks’ rise and fall, but it leaves little doubt that, when confidence is restored and penitence paid, the shredding will restart.
In Tomorrow’s Parties, yet to premiere in the UK, Forced Entertainment isn’t so sure. Tim Etchells’ text, a litany of possible futures split between two performers, is by turns optimistic and apocalyptic. “Or,” the actors interrupt each other, “in the future…” It’s a low-fi sci-fi that conjures rising oceans and expanding cities, new inventions and old traditions and suicide pills in front of a string of fading fairground light bulbs. Etchells does lists beautifully, and there’s a touching melancholy to his latest. Its uncertainty makes it a sly companion piece to Katie Mitchell’s Ten Billion, currently at Avignon before it returns to London’s Royal Court.
Ostermeier swaps Dr Stockmann’s speech for a recent French anarchist manifesto: “The economy is not in crisis. The economy is the crisis.” It opens into a genuine, real-life debate, in which the town authorities deftly shift the goalposts and Stockmann is finally silenced by paint bombs. If it’s frayed at the edges, there’s a robust and urgent core. Can we oppose the all-pervasive? Is it all or nothing?
Romeo Castellucci seems to think so. The Italian’s latest concerns eradication and self-sacrifice. It invokes stellar winds and black holes, Roman emperors and women that cut out their tongues, dead horses and an ancient philosopher, Empedocles, who threw himself into Mount Etna. Only Castellucci could - indeed, would - put a volcano mid-eruption onstage, but though The Four Seasons Restaurant is visually arresting, it’s also frustratingly indistinct.
Elfriede Jelinek wrote Die Kontrakte des Kaufmanns. Eine Wirtschaftskomodie (The Merchant’s Contracts. An Economic Comedy) in 2008, mere months before the collapse of Lehman Brothers. An unremitting and angry satire, rasping with cynicism, it mauls corporate greed and presents economics as a confidence trick. Onstage, bankers beg us to believe.
German director Nicolas Stemann takes on the task - the text is 260 pages of thick, formless prose - and, despite my barely understanding a word, concocts an enthralling event that’s part gig, part satire, part television broadcast and part protest.
Stemann directs live, leaving room for manoeuvre and, at one point, hands the script and stage over to an irate audience member. It is, perhaps, tonally one-note - furious scepticism - but the whirligig of cabaret singalongs and absurd financiers, together with a 20-minute off-piste section involving a fake magic trick that multiplies money, make it utterly essential.
Bruno Meyssat’s visual and verbatim piece 15%, which takes its name from the minimum required return on a pension fund, is best when it catches the same energy. He puts bankers in ice-hockey gear and arms them with lawnmowers. One walks around with a chainsaw whirring around his shins. Finance becomes a reckless boys’ club, a “modern form of alchemy”. The play can be overly descriptive in charting the banks’ rise and fall, but it leaves little doubt that, when confidence is restored and penitence paid, the shredding will restart.
In Tomorrow’s Parties, yet to premiere in the UK, Forced Entertainment isn’t so sure. Tim Etchells’ text, a litany of possible futures split between two performers, is by turns optimistic and apocalyptic. “Or,” the actors interrupt each other, “in the future…” It’s a low-fi sci-fi that conjures rising oceans and expanding cities, new inventions and old traditions and suicide pills in front of a string of fading fairground light bulbs. Etchells does lists beautifully, and there’s a touching melancholy to his latest. Its uncertainty makes it a sly companion piece to Katie Mitchell’s Ten Billion, currently at Avignon before it returns to London’s Royal Court.
2012年7月22日 星期日
Proposed removal of trees causes outrage in Yellow Springs
A streetscape revitalization plan that calls for the removal of about a dozen 35-year-old Bradford pear trees from the heart of downtown has created a stir.
Protesters staged a demonstration a week ago and recently addressed village council who will next discuss the issue in August.
Village artists have tied writings about the value of trees to several of the trees that may meet the ax.
“Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money,” one message, supposedly taken from an Native American proverb, says.
Knitted rainbow colored tree covers attached to the trees as part of the village’s first Gay right parade have remained as part of the protest.
Some villagers want the trees removed and replaced with a native species.
“It is a lot of turmoil and expense that is unnecessary,” said retired villager Steve Hetzler, who moved back to Yellow Springs two years ago from California.
A project cost estimate was not available.
Still other villagers support the revitalization to be revisited by village council on Aug 6. They say the trees are Bradfords are invasive and dangerous and their roots have caused Xenia Avenue’s sidewalks to buckle and crumble.
Dino’s Cappuccinos owner Eric Brown said he’s seen several people fall in front of his business after tripping on the raised sidewalk. An ambulance was called after a woman injured her head a few years ago, he said.
“The streets are a mess,” Brown said. “They (the Bradford pears) are going to be replaced with trees that don’t bow the streets.”
Tree removal supporters Andrew Kline and Alex Melamed said nearly everyone wants to weigh in.
“You are in Yellow Springs,” Kline said. “Everyone has an opinion.”
The plan first presented to council June 4, calls for the replacement of sidewalks on the east side of Xenia Avenue as well as the burial of power lines and the replacement of streetlights with railroad theme pedestrian-scale lighting.
Councilwoman Karen Wintrow said 11 existing trees on the east side of Xenia and 2 on the west side would be removed. Eight new trees would be planted on the east side and 12 on the west side. The east side would be replaced this year and the west side completed in 2013. Two sycamore trees near the BP gas station will not be affected.
Wintrow said recently appointed Village Manager Laura Curliss proposed the downtown upgrades as an extension of a sidewalk work Lamont Excavating started on another section of Xenia Avenue in May.
She said there clearly should have been better communication and dialogue with villagers.
“That’s not the way things are done here,” Wintrow said. “We are a very deliberate community.”
Still she said the trees should be removed.
“These trees aren’t healthy trees,” Wintrow added.
Asanda Imports co-owner Molly Lunde said she likes watching the Bradford pears bloom in spring.
“When the wind blows it looks like it is snowing,” she said. “I think they are lovely.”
That said, Lunde has come to believe Bradford pear trees -like honeysuckle - are invasive species and these should be removed.
“Any shift is always difficult for people to go along with, but I don’t think it (change) is always a bad thing,” she said. “It makes sense to do it while we are having the sidewalks replaced.”
Introduced from China as root stock for ornamental pears and used heavily in landscaping, Bradfords, also known as Callery pear, are now considered invasive by the Ohio State Extension and other agencies.
It is clear however that village leaders will have a hard time convincing some residents of that.
Resident Sharon Mohler said alternatives to removing the trees should be explored and citizens should be involved in the process.
Protesters staged a demonstration a week ago and recently addressed village council who will next discuss the issue in August.
Village artists have tied writings about the value of trees to several of the trees that may meet the ax.
“Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money,” one message, supposedly taken from an Native American proverb, says.
Knitted rainbow colored tree covers attached to the trees as part of the village’s first Gay right parade have remained as part of the protest.
Some villagers want the trees removed and replaced with a native species.
“It is a lot of turmoil and expense that is unnecessary,” said retired villager Steve Hetzler, who moved back to Yellow Springs two years ago from California.
A project cost estimate was not available.
Still other villagers support the revitalization to be revisited by village council on Aug 6. They say the trees are Bradfords are invasive and dangerous and their roots have caused Xenia Avenue’s sidewalks to buckle and crumble.
Dino’s Cappuccinos owner Eric Brown said he’s seen several people fall in front of his business after tripping on the raised sidewalk. An ambulance was called after a woman injured her head a few years ago, he said.
“The streets are a mess,” Brown said. “They (the Bradford pears) are going to be replaced with trees that don’t bow the streets.”
Tree removal supporters Andrew Kline and Alex Melamed said nearly everyone wants to weigh in.
“You are in Yellow Springs,” Kline said. “Everyone has an opinion.”
The plan first presented to council June 4, calls for the replacement of sidewalks on the east side of Xenia Avenue as well as the burial of power lines and the replacement of streetlights with railroad theme pedestrian-scale lighting.
Councilwoman Karen Wintrow said 11 existing trees on the east side of Xenia and 2 on the west side would be removed. Eight new trees would be planted on the east side and 12 on the west side. The east side would be replaced this year and the west side completed in 2013. Two sycamore trees near the BP gas station will not be affected.
Wintrow said recently appointed Village Manager Laura Curliss proposed the downtown upgrades as an extension of a sidewalk work Lamont Excavating started on another section of Xenia Avenue in May.
She said there clearly should have been better communication and dialogue with villagers.
“That’s not the way things are done here,” Wintrow said. “We are a very deliberate community.”
Still she said the trees should be removed.
“These trees aren’t healthy trees,” Wintrow added.
Asanda Imports co-owner Molly Lunde said she likes watching the Bradford pears bloom in spring.
“When the wind blows it looks like it is snowing,” she said. “I think they are lovely.”
That said, Lunde has come to believe Bradford pear trees -like honeysuckle - are invasive species and these should be removed.
“Any shift is always difficult for people to go along with, but I don’t think it (change) is always a bad thing,” she said. “It makes sense to do it while we are having the sidewalks replaced.”
Introduced from China as root stock for ornamental pears and used heavily in landscaping, Bradfords, also known as Callery pear, are now considered invasive by the Ohio State Extension and other agencies.
It is clear however that village leaders will have a hard time convincing some residents of that.
Resident Sharon Mohler said alternatives to removing the trees should be explored and citizens should be involved in the process.
2012年7月18日 星期三
Solar Energy Provider Gets Kick From Soccer Industry
A leading solar energy provider is sponsoring a soccer championship in Beijing later this month in celebration of the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Germany and China.
Germany’s FC Bayern Munchen, one of the top soccer clubs in the world, and Beijing Guoan, a popular Chinese soccer team, will duel at the “Yingli Cup” July 24 at the Workers Stadium in Beijing. The game is sponsored by Yingli Green Energy, one of the world’s largest vertically integrated photovoltaic manufacturers.
The soccer match is a manifestation of the company’s desire to use innovative marketing techniques to advance social responsibility. The game will be the first of its kind to be hosted by a renewable energy company in China.
“We are excited that the Chinese fans will be able to enjoy and watch live a match between two of the most popular teams this summer in Beijing,” said Liangsheng Miao, chairman and chief executive officer of Yingli Green Energy. ”We are also honored to be utilizing our global marketing platforms not only to contribute to diplomatic relationships between China and Germany but also to give back to the community.”
There’s a legitimate link between soccer and solar energy, according to the Yingli Green Energy website. Viewership of the Men’s World Cup in the U.S. grew by 68 percent from 2006-2010, according to the site. During that same period, American solar system installations grew by 527 percent. And four of the top five solar energy markets are among the top five in U.S. Soccer attendance.
In 2010, the company sponsored the FIFA World Cup in an effort to capitalize on this soccer-solar energy connection. The company is currently signed on to sponsor the U.S. men’s, women’s and youth soccer teams through 2014.
Headquartered in Baoding, China, Yingli Green Energy manufactures every component of the solar systems it sells, from the solar cells to the modules that contain them. The company distributes its product to Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, France, South Korea, China and the United States.
Each year since 2010, another batch of 10 students travels to Tanzania to continue Oregon Tech's work providing energy for schools, hospitals and orphanages. This year the students will also take eight laptops allowing villages access to the internet as connections allow.
For the first time this trip, the group will revisit past sites to install equipment invented by last year's seniors that allow monitoring of the solar systems online. The data will allow Dr. Petrovic to ensure the installations stay working.
The humanitarian work also is made possible by donations from Hillsboro-based SolarWorld. SolarWorld has donated 30 panels to the program, and is invested in continuing to help it grow.
"This is about more than simply installing solar panels; it's about facilitating access to education, communications, medical services and clean, safe drinking water," says Gordon Brinser, president of SolarWorld Industries America.
The initial inspiration for the program came about during Dr. Petrovic's 2009 trip to Tanzania, when a terrible accident changed his perspective forever. "There was a girl in the dormitory in one of the schools using a candle hidden under her blanket so she could read," Dr. Petrovic says. "She fell asleep, and her blanket caught fire. Thirteen girls died. I want to prevent these tragedies."
In addition to installing solar panels, this year Dr. Petrovic and his students will build a large solar water pumping project to provide drinking water for a village of 3,000 people on Lake Nyasa.
Germany’s FC Bayern Munchen, one of the top soccer clubs in the world, and Beijing Guoan, a popular Chinese soccer team, will duel at the “Yingli Cup” July 24 at the Workers Stadium in Beijing. The game is sponsored by Yingli Green Energy, one of the world’s largest vertically integrated photovoltaic manufacturers.
The soccer match is a manifestation of the company’s desire to use innovative marketing techniques to advance social responsibility. The game will be the first of its kind to be hosted by a renewable energy company in China.
“We are excited that the Chinese fans will be able to enjoy and watch live a match between two of the most popular teams this summer in Beijing,” said Liangsheng Miao, chairman and chief executive officer of Yingli Green Energy. ”We are also honored to be utilizing our global marketing platforms not only to contribute to diplomatic relationships between China and Germany but also to give back to the community.”
There’s a legitimate link between soccer and solar energy, according to the Yingli Green Energy website. Viewership of the Men’s World Cup in the U.S. grew by 68 percent from 2006-2010, according to the site. During that same period, American solar system installations grew by 527 percent. And four of the top five solar energy markets are among the top five in U.S. Soccer attendance.
In 2010, the company sponsored the FIFA World Cup in an effort to capitalize on this soccer-solar energy connection. The company is currently signed on to sponsor the U.S. men’s, women’s and youth soccer teams through 2014.
Headquartered in Baoding, China, Yingli Green Energy manufactures every component of the solar systems it sells, from the solar cells to the modules that contain them. The company distributes its product to Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, France, South Korea, China and the United States.
Each year since 2010, another batch of 10 students travels to Tanzania to continue Oregon Tech's work providing energy for schools, hospitals and orphanages. This year the students will also take eight laptops allowing villages access to the internet as connections allow.
For the first time this trip, the group will revisit past sites to install equipment invented by last year's seniors that allow monitoring of the solar systems online. The data will allow Dr. Petrovic to ensure the installations stay working.
The humanitarian work also is made possible by donations from Hillsboro-based SolarWorld. SolarWorld has donated 30 panels to the program, and is invested in continuing to help it grow.
"This is about more than simply installing solar panels; it's about facilitating access to education, communications, medical services and clean, safe drinking water," says Gordon Brinser, president of SolarWorld Industries America.
The initial inspiration for the program came about during Dr. Petrovic's 2009 trip to Tanzania, when a terrible accident changed his perspective forever. "There was a girl in the dormitory in one of the schools using a candle hidden under her blanket so she could read," Dr. Petrovic says. "She fell asleep, and her blanket caught fire. Thirteen girls died. I want to prevent these tragedies."
In addition to installing solar panels, this year Dr. Petrovic and his students will build a large solar water pumping project to provide drinking water for a village of 3,000 people on Lake Nyasa.
2012年7月15日 星期日
Thunder grounds US lawn chair balloonists
A service station owner and an Iraqi adventurer trying to fly from Oregon to Montana in tandem lawn chairs suspended from party balloons made a hard landing after having to abort their flight because of thunderstorms.
Kent Couch and Fareed Lafta were about seven hours into their flight when they were forced to descend, coming down near a reservoir about 48km east of their starting point. But after they scrambled out of the contraption, it floated up again, flight organiser Mark Knowles said.
"They came down hard," Knowles said. "The craft went back up. It's sitting up in the sky right above us."
Earlier, about 90 volunteers and several hundred onlookers counted down and cheered as the pair lifted off from Couch's Shell service station. The duo safely cleared a two-storey motel, a coffee stand and a lamp post.
"The interesting thing is, anybody can do this," Couch, the veteran of several lawn chair balloon flights, said before the flight. "They don't have to sit on the couch thinking, 'I should have done it.' They can do it."
Lafta, a mountain climber and skydiver, said he had shared Couch's childhood dream of floating like a cloud.
"I want to inspire Iraqis and say we need to defeat terrorists," Lafta said. "We don't need just an army. We need ideology and to just have fun."
Volunteers filled 350 1.5m diameter red, white, blue and black balloons with helium and tied them to Couch's homemade tandem lawn chair rig. The balloons were arranged in bunches to represent the colours of the US and Iraqi flags. An American flag flew from the bottom of the framework supporting the chairs.
Just before lift-off, they had to ask children in the crowd to return four balloons to provide extra lift.
The rig included 360kg of ballast - red Kool-Aid in 150 litre barrels. Besides a GPS, navigation gear, satellite phone, oxygen, two-way radios, eight cameras, and parachutes, they were carrying two Red Ryder BB rifles and a pair of blowguns to shoot out enough balloons to come to earth.
"The landings are very tough," Couch said. "I don't think about the landings until I have to land. That's how I do it."
They had been expecting to float at 4572m to 5485m, where temperatures drop to near zero, and packed sleeping bags to stay warm.
Electronic gear was powered by a solar panel. A flare gun was tied on to the framework for emergencies. They also carried the ashes of a family friend to spread over the high desert.
Lance Schliep, an appliance repairman, helped Couch with the latest design, made from items bought at local hardware stores and junk from Couch's garage.
Couch said their biggest challenge was finding enough helium to fill the balloons. They sent as far as the Midwest for bottles. Each balloon that popped on inflation represented a US$50 ($63) loss, but Couch would not divulge the total cost.
The two men had hoped to fly through the night across the mountains of Idaho and touch down in southwestern Montana.
The flight was a warm-up for plans to fly a tandem lawn chair balloon rig in Baghdad in the future.
"My target is to inspire young people, especially in the Mideast," Lafta said.
"I want to tell them, 'I didn't give up. Keep standing. Smile. This is the way to defeat terrorists'."
Couch's first time up was in 2006, when he got 160km before the balloons started popping and he had to bail out.
Kent Couch and Fareed Lafta were about seven hours into their flight when they were forced to descend, coming down near a reservoir about 48km east of their starting point. But after they scrambled out of the contraption, it floated up again, flight organiser Mark Knowles said.
"They came down hard," Knowles said. "The craft went back up. It's sitting up in the sky right above us."
Earlier, about 90 volunteers and several hundred onlookers counted down and cheered as the pair lifted off from Couch's Shell service station. The duo safely cleared a two-storey motel, a coffee stand and a lamp post.
"The interesting thing is, anybody can do this," Couch, the veteran of several lawn chair balloon flights, said before the flight. "They don't have to sit on the couch thinking, 'I should have done it.' They can do it."
Lafta, a mountain climber and skydiver, said he had shared Couch's childhood dream of floating like a cloud.
"I want to inspire Iraqis and say we need to defeat terrorists," Lafta said. "We don't need just an army. We need ideology and to just have fun."
Volunteers filled 350 1.5m diameter red, white, blue and black balloons with helium and tied them to Couch's homemade tandem lawn chair rig. The balloons were arranged in bunches to represent the colours of the US and Iraqi flags. An American flag flew from the bottom of the framework supporting the chairs.
Just before lift-off, they had to ask children in the crowd to return four balloons to provide extra lift.
The rig included 360kg of ballast - red Kool-Aid in 150 litre barrels. Besides a GPS, navigation gear, satellite phone, oxygen, two-way radios, eight cameras, and parachutes, they were carrying two Red Ryder BB rifles and a pair of blowguns to shoot out enough balloons to come to earth.
"The landings are very tough," Couch said. "I don't think about the landings until I have to land. That's how I do it."
They had been expecting to float at 4572m to 5485m, where temperatures drop to near zero, and packed sleeping bags to stay warm.
Electronic gear was powered by a solar panel. A flare gun was tied on to the framework for emergencies. They also carried the ashes of a family friend to spread over the high desert.
Lance Schliep, an appliance repairman, helped Couch with the latest design, made from items bought at local hardware stores and junk from Couch's garage.
Couch said their biggest challenge was finding enough helium to fill the balloons. They sent as far as the Midwest for bottles. Each balloon that popped on inflation represented a US$50 ($63) loss, but Couch would not divulge the total cost.
The two men had hoped to fly through the night across the mountains of Idaho and touch down in southwestern Montana.
The flight was a warm-up for plans to fly a tandem lawn chair balloon rig in Baghdad in the future.
"My target is to inspire young people, especially in the Mideast," Lafta said.
"I want to tell them, 'I didn't give up. Keep standing. Smile. This is the way to defeat terrorists'."
Couch's first time up was in 2006, when he got 160km before the balloons started popping and he had to bail out.
2012年7月10日 星期二
Solar panels extending electric power distribution grid
Valentine Mukanyarwaya, a 48 year old woman farmer and mother of five, has always lived without electricity in a small remote village in the central region of Rwanda. Kerosene has been her source of lighting until receiving a loan from a local microfinance service to buy a solar panel, battery, regulator, and a set of compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) and LED lights.
With no electrical installations in the area, Valentine never dreamt that she might acquire such a solar system, and with a deposit of only 20 per cent, with the balance paid in 24 monthly installments. "I think this is the best investment I have ever made since I no longer need to walk several kilometers to charge my mobile phone,” Mukanyarwaya said. “And this has provided extended working hours for my children, who are attending school."
Thanks to government incentives, including exemption from import tax on solar equipment and financial support, several financial institutions have received grants to provide loans in favour of local communities’ initiatives for various forms of renewable energy. To incentivize the private sector, expatriates working with renewables are offered a year free of income tax.
Since 2007, projects of this kind have been set up in different parts of Rwanda, especially on hill tops and on the roofs of schools, clinics and health centers across several rural villages in the tiny Central African nation.
It is estimated that only 16 percent of Rwanda's 11 million people have access to electricity from the national grid but for Rwandan officials, much of the success of solar energy depends on how many local communities will accept this novel innovation in their remote villages.
"The most important thing is not only government and political will but we also need these communities to understand that without using this kind of renewable energy they could be waiting for several years to get electricity from the national grid," says Yusuf Uwamahoro , the Deputy Director General in charge of Energy at Rwanda Energy and Water Sanitation Agency (EWSA).
Mugabo Baligira, a former shoe vendor, became a local sales representative for a foreign solar installation company, which has invested in Rwanda since 2008. "I was looking for a full-time paying job in my new business, but the major challenge is the mindset of the public in adopting new practices for using renewable energies," he observes. Because solar energy suffers from this grass-roots ignorance of its importance in the mindset by local communities, analysts argue that several remote areas across Rwanda remain in need of green energy solutions.
Nevertheless, the Rwanda government, recognizing that it is facing an energy crisis, has invested in diversifying its sources, particularly by shifting to renewable energy, which will cover at least 60 per cent of the country’s electricity demand by 2020.
In addition to an existing, German-built 250 Kilowatt solar plant project, which was inaugurated in 2007 at Mount Jali, a hill overlooking the city of Kigali, Rwandan officials have identified and reserved 25 hectares of land for the construction of a 10 Megawatts photovoltaic solar plant in the North eastern region. And in 2012, the installation of a new solar power plant was sponsored by the European Union as part of a larger project aimed at electrifying schools in all 27 rural districts across Rwanda.
This project to serve rural areas was launched because the Rwandan government recognizes that currently 80 per cent of the electricity already generated in Rwanda (mainly by hydroelectric dams), is distributed just in the city of Kigali and its vicinity, where only five per cent of Rwandans live.
According to official figures, firewood remains the main source of energy in Rwanda, particularly in remote rural areas, with about 93 per cent of the population heavily dependent on this resource.
With no electrical installations in the area, Valentine never dreamt that she might acquire such a solar system, and with a deposit of only 20 per cent, with the balance paid in 24 monthly installments. "I think this is the best investment I have ever made since I no longer need to walk several kilometers to charge my mobile phone,” Mukanyarwaya said. “And this has provided extended working hours for my children, who are attending school."
Thanks to government incentives, including exemption from import tax on solar equipment and financial support, several financial institutions have received grants to provide loans in favour of local communities’ initiatives for various forms of renewable energy. To incentivize the private sector, expatriates working with renewables are offered a year free of income tax.
Since 2007, projects of this kind have been set up in different parts of Rwanda, especially on hill tops and on the roofs of schools, clinics and health centers across several rural villages in the tiny Central African nation.
It is estimated that only 16 percent of Rwanda's 11 million people have access to electricity from the national grid but for Rwandan officials, much of the success of solar energy depends on how many local communities will accept this novel innovation in their remote villages.
"The most important thing is not only government and political will but we also need these communities to understand that without using this kind of renewable energy they could be waiting for several years to get electricity from the national grid," says Yusuf Uwamahoro , the Deputy Director General in charge of Energy at Rwanda Energy and Water Sanitation Agency (EWSA).
Mugabo Baligira, a former shoe vendor, became a local sales representative for a foreign solar installation company, which has invested in Rwanda since 2008. "I was looking for a full-time paying job in my new business, but the major challenge is the mindset of the public in adopting new practices for using renewable energies," he observes. Because solar energy suffers from this grass-roots ignorance of its importance in the mindset by local communities, analysts argue that several remote areas across Rwanda remain in need of green energy solutions.
Nevertheless, the Rwanda government, recognizing that it is facing an energy crisis, has invested in diversifying its sources, particularly by shifting to renewable energy, which will cover at least 60 per cent of the country’s electricity demand by 2020.
In addition to an existing, German-built 250 Kilowatt solar plant project, which was inaugurated in 2007 at Mount Jali, a hill overlooking the city of Kigali, Rwandan officials have identified and reserved 25 hectares of land for the construction of a 10 Megawatts photovoltaic solar plant in the North eastern region. And in 2012, the installation of a new solar power plant was sponsored by the European Union as part of a larger project aimed at electrifying schools in all 27 rural districts across Rwanda.
This project to serve rural areas was launched because the Rwandan government recognizes that currently 80 per cent of the electricity already generated in Rwanda (mainly by hydroelectric dams), is distributed just in the city of Kigali and its vicinity, where only five per cent of Rwandans live.
According to official figures, firewood remains the main source of energy in Rwanda, particularly in remote rural areas, with about 93 per cent of the population heavily dependent on this resource.
2012年7月8日 星期日
Solar, wind energy a missed opportunity for Cuba
The sleepy country setting that farmer Juan Alonso calls home hasn't changed much since he was born 74 years ago, with the two rustic wooden houses nestled among palm trees against a backdrop of green hills and clear skies.
Incongruously perched atop the homes are the only visual clues that his 150-acre (60-hectare) farm inhabits the 21st century: the gleaming solar panels that revolutionized the lives of Alonso and his family.
"Just imagine, you toil all day in the field and then when you get home you have to grope around doing things with a gas lantern, with a torch to illuminate the patio at night," Alonso said, describing life during decades past. Now his family has electric lights, a television and a DVD player. "It's a change as radical as night to day."
Cuba is proud of its success in using alternative energy to bring electricity to isolated hamlets like Ramon Gordo, 90 miles (150 kilometers) west of Havana. Some 2,000 schools and at least 400 hospitals are lit up by solar panels in rural areas not plugged into the national grid. But scientists say the island, blessed with year-around sunshine and sea breezes but plagued with chronic energy shortages, could be doing much more on the national level, and that its communist government is missing a golden opportunity to reduce its dependence on subsidized oil from uber-ally Venezuela, where President Hugo Chavez is sick with cancer.
It is vital that Cuba expand its energy horizons "so it doesn't remain at the mercy of political changes in the region that could affect it adversely," said Judith Cherni, an alternative energy expert at the Imperial College London Center for Environmental Policy.
The urgency to find alternative energy sources was driven home last month when an exploratory offshore oil well drilled by Spanish company Repsol turned out to be dry, a setback to Cuba's hopes for a big strike that could be a boon for the limping economy, though exploration continues.
Despite recent essays by revolutionary hero Fidel Castro on impending global catastrophe due to climate change, Cuba gets just 3.8 percent of its electricity from renewables, a pittance even by regional standards and far behind global leaders.
In the nearby Dominican Republic, where a 2007 law establishes tax breaks for investment in alternative energy, renewables account for 14 percent of electrical generation. Germany, the gold standard for high-tech green energy, gets 20 percent of its considerably larger electrical consumption from renewables, mostly from wind.
The reality in Cuba today is that wind and solar energy sources are almost exclusively for local consumption and there has been little attempt to expand them to augment the national grid, which is powered mostly by fossil fuels. Scientists say the country lacks the investment and expertise for such a move.
Around the region, examples abound for Cuba to emulate. Central American nations are using hydroelectric facilities to harness the power of rivers. Caribbean islands are passing laws stimulating foreign investment in renewables. Wind and solar farms are popping up where viable. Faraway in Europe, and nearby in the United States, individuals with solar panels can get paid for any extra energy they generate that goes back into the grid.
"Possessing apt natural resources to generate energies is a tremendous boon, but that alone is not enough to create energy," said Cherni.
Another obstacle to boosting renewable energy is a stubbornly fixed mindset that equates development with oil.
Memories are still vivid here of the "Special Period" of the 1990s, when the island's economy tanked with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, ushering in years of hunger, prolonged blackouts and fuel shortages. People thumbed rides to work on the back of bicycles as cars sat idle and empty-tanked.
Incongruously perched atop the homes are the only visual clues that his 150-acre (60-hectare) farm inhabits the 21st century: the gleaming solar panels that revolutionized the lives of Alonso and his family.
"Just imagine, you toil all day in the field and then when you get home you have to grope around doing things with a gas lantern, with a torch to illuminate the patio at night," Alonso said, describing life during decades past. Now his family has electric lights, a television and a DVD player. "It's a change as radical as night to day."
Cuba is proud of its success in using alternative energy to bring electricity to isolated hamlets like Ramon Gordo, 90 miles (150 kilometers) west of Havana. Some 2,000 schools and at least 400 hospitals are lit up by solar panels in rural areas not plugged into the national grid. But scientists say the island, blessed with year-around sunshine and sea breezes but plagued with chronic energy shortages, could be doing much more on the national level, and that its communist government is missing a golden opportunity to reduce its dependence on subsidized oil from uber-ally Venezuela, where President Hugo Chavez is sick with cancer.
It is vital that Cuba expand its energy horizons "so it doesn't remain at the mercy of political changes in the region that could affect it adversely," said Judith Cherni, an alternative energy expert at the Imperial College London Center for Environmental Policy.
The urgency to find alternative energy sources was driven home last month when an exploratory offshore oil well drilled by Spanish company Repsol turned out to be dry, a setback to Cuba's hopes for a big strike that could be a boon for the limping economy, though exploration continues.
Despite recent essays by revolutionary hero Fidel Castro on impending global catastrophe due to climate change, Cuba gets just 3.8 percent of its electricity from renewables, a pittance even by regional standards and far behind global leaders.
In the nearby Dominican Republic, where a 2007 law establishes tax breaks for investment in alternative energy, renewables account for 14 percent of electrical generation. Germany, the gold standard for high-tech green energy, gets 20 percent of its considerably larger electrical consumption from renewables, mostly from wind.
The reality in Cuba today is that wind and solar energy sources are almost exclusively for local consumption and there has been little attempt to expand them to augment the national grid, which is powered mostly by fossil fuels. Scientists say the country lacks the investment and expertise for such a move.
Around the region, examples abound for Cuba to emulate. Central American nations are using hydroelectric facilities to harness the power of rivers. Caribbean islands are passing laws stimulating foreign investment in renewables. Wind and solar farms are popping up where viable. Faraway in Europe, and nearby in the United States, individuals with solar panels can get paid for any extra energy they generate that goes back into the grid.
"Possessing apt natural resources to generate energies is a tremendous boon, but that alone is not enough to create energy," said Cherni.
Another obstacle to boosting renewable energy is a stubbornly fixed mindset that equates development with oil.
Memories are still vivid here of the "Special Period" of the 1990s, when the island's economy tanked with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, ushering in years of hunger, prolonged blackouts and fuel shortages. People thumbed rides to work on the back of bicycles as cars sat idle and empty-tanked.
2012年7月4日 星期三
Lights go out in last 'Big House'
The lights are finally going out in Mount Congreve, Ireland’s last ‘Big House’, and the contents will be sold during a huge two-day auction next week
A POLISHED Rolls Royce is moored, like a cruise liner from another era, in a sea of gravelled driveway. The car’s cream leather and walnut interior is as comfortably sprung as a sedia gestatoria – the ceremonial chair used to carry a pope aloft. The front door to the house is framed by a classical portico. Inside, a liveried Indian servant pads silently across a Persian silk carpet beneath a sparkling crystal chandelier. The distant rustle of a skirt might be Cook scurrying to the kitchen below-stairs to make a Peach Melba with ripe fruit from the walled-garden’s glasshouses. The chauffeur is on stand-by. Waiting for his master’s voice.
Didn’t the “Big House” go out with a bang during the War of Independence? Well, not quite. A handful of Anglo-Irish families hung in there and the twilight world of the ascendancy somehow survived into the 21st century.
For more than 250 years, eight generations of the wealthy Congreve family have lived at the eponymous Mount Congreve estate near Kilmeaden village, Co Waterford. The last surviving member, Ambrose Congreve, born in 1907, died, “without issue”, last year at the remarkable age of 104. He was the “end of the line” and Ireland’s last link to the Edwardian era.
During the boom, this 25-bedroom mansion on 70 acres might have fetched 10 million. Maybe much more. But speculation about its value is, thankfully, now academic. Mount Congreve is not for sale. In fact, it has been gifted to the people of Ireland – a rare piece of good news in a country much in need of it.
In a grand philanthropic gesture, Congreve left both the house and the surrounding world-renowned gardens (which he planted) in trust to the State. His generous legacy poignantly fulfils the Congreve family motto: Non moritur cuius fama vivit (He does not die, whose good name lives on).
The Office of Public Works will take over the estate and, while plans for the house have yet to be announced, it is hoped that the gardens – currently open to the public just one day a week – will become a major visitor attraction in the southeast.
However, although the State gets the house, the contents are being sold by joint auctioneers Christie’s and Mealy’s.
Ambrose Congreve also had a town house in London – next door to St James’s Palace – and spent many years in business in Britain where he ran Humphreys Glasgow, gasworks manufacturers and petrochemical engineers. He lived most of his later years in Mount Congreve with his wife, Marjorie, who predeceased him in 1995. He was a multi-millionaire and spent a fortune on his gardens and on assembling one of Ireland’s greatest – and hitherto publicly unseen – collections of fine art and antiques.
Three days of viewing begin at noon on Saturday, allowing the Irish public a first – and last – opportunity to glimpse the interior of Mount Congreve with the furniture and decor still in situ. A chance, then, to see inside the “Big House” – which has never been open to the public before – and to glimpse a way of life that has largely vanished.
Walking though the house offers an insight into a world of privileged elegance normally only seen in television period drama.
The household staff are busy discreetly cleaning and packing as they prepare to depart forever.
Many of the rooms have magnificent plaster-work ceilings and ornate marble fireplaces featuring bas-relief putti and panels of green Connemara marble. The furniture, like the rest of the contents, reflects Congreve’s decades of extensive collecting and his eye for items with a good provenance including pieces formerly owned by royalty and aristocrats.
A POLISHED Rolls Royce is moored, like a cruise liner from another era, in a sea of gravelled driveway. The car’s cream leather and walnut interior is as comfortably sprung as a sedia gestatoria – the ceremonial chair used to carry a pope aloft. The front door to the house is framed by a classical portico. Inside, a liveried Indian servant pads silently across a Persian silk carpet beneath a sparkling crystal chandelier. The distant rustle of a skirt might be Cook scurrying to the kitchen below-stairs to make a Peach Melba with ripe fruit from the walled-garden’s glasshouses. The chauffeur is on stand-by. Waiting for his master’s voice.
Didn’t the “Big House” go out with a bang during the War of Independence? Well, not quite. A handful of Anglo-Irish families hung in there and the twilight world of the ascendancy somehow survived into the 21st century.
For more than 250 years, eight generations of the wealthy Congreve family have lived at the eponymous Mount Congreve estate near Kilmeaden village, Co Waterford. The last surviving member, Ambrose Congreve, born in 1907, died, “without issue”, last year at the remarkable age of 104. He was the “end of the line” and Ireland’s last link to the Edwardian era.
During the boom, this 25-bedroom mansion on 70 acres might have fetched 10 million. Maybe much more. But speculation about its value is, thankfully, now academic. Mount Congreve is not for sale. In fact, it has been gifted to the people of Ireland – a rare piece of good news in a country much in need of it.
In a grand philanthropic gesture, Congreve left both the house and the surrounding world-renowned gardens (which he planted) in trust to the State. His generous legacy poignantly fulfils the Congreve family motto: Non moritur cuius fama vivit (He does not die, whose good name lives on).
The Office of Public Works will take over the estate and, while plans for the house have yet to be announced, it is hoped that the gardens – currently open to the public just one day a week – will become a major visitor attraction in the southeast.
However, although the State gets the house, the contents are being sold by joint auctioneers Christie’s and Mealy’s.
Ambrose Congreve also had a town house in London – next door to St James’s Palace – and spent many years in business in Britain where he ran Humphreys Glasgow, gasworks manufacturers and petrochemical engineers. He lived most of his later years in Mount Congreve with his wife, Marjorie, who predeceased him in 1995. He was a multi-millionaire and spent a fortune on his gardens and on assembling one of Ireland’s greatest – and hitherto publicly unseen – collections of fine art and antiques.
Three days of viewing begin at noon on Saturday, allowing the Irish public a first – and last – opportunity to glimpse the interior of Mount Congreve with the furniture and decor still in situ. A chance, then, to see inside the “Big House” – which has never been open to the public before – and to glimpse a way of life that has largely vanished.
Walking though the house offers an insight into a world of privileged elegance normally only seen in television period drama.
The household staff are busy discreetly cleaning and packing as they prepare to depart forever.
Many of the rooms have magnificent plaster-work ceilings and ornate marble fireplaces featuring bas-relief putti and panels of green Connemara marble. The furniture, like the rest of the contents, reflects Congreve’s decades of extensive collecting and his eye for items with a good provenance including pieces formerly owned by royalty and aristocrats.
2012年7月2日 星期一
LG Optimus L7
Most of the devices that LG introduced this year at Mobile World Congress have a standout feature. The LG Optimus 3D Max has, you guessed it, 3D imaging. The flagship Optimus 4X HD has its quad-core processor going for it. And the Vu can flaunt its 5-inch screen.
Designed as a mid-level Android device, the L7 has no outstanding identifying features. Its run-of-the-mill specs include a 5-megapixel camera and a disappointing 1GHz processor. However, if you consider the fact that it runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and has NFC capabilities, suddenly the term "mid-level" doesn't seem so deflating any more.
The LG Optimus L7's humdrum design is nothing to write home about. With its sharp corners, plastic backing and tapered edges, the device looks similar to all the other minimalist Optimus handsets we've seen recently. It is one of LG's smaller devices, and can snugly fit in a front or back jean pocket. It's easy to pack into a small purse, and handling it with one hand is a cinch.
On its left side is a volume rocker, up top there is a 3.5mm headphone jack and a sleep/power button, and at the bottom is a micro-USB port.
At the back centre is a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash. Below that, to the left, are two small slits for the output speaker. Unlike most phones, the L7 doesn't have an indentation to make it easy to pry off the back of the phone. Instead, you'll have to just insert your fingernails anywhere within the seams of the back plate. Once you remove it, you can access the microSD slot, SIM card and 1,700mAh battery. On the opposite side of the backing are two small gold antennas for the NFC capabilities.
Though generally we don't mind plastic battery covers, since they keep a phone light and durable, the L7 is an exception. There are ways to give plastic a more luxurious feel, either by giving it a matte coating or unique texture. But the L7 just has lined grooves like a 3D baseball card, which makes it feel really cheap and almost like a toy.
The L7 sports a 4.3-inch WVGA Nova display with an 800x480-pixel resolution and 450 units of brightness. Though the lowered specs aren't as impressive as those of other phones, like the LG Optimus 4X HD, the screen is still decent in its own right. App icons were crisp, text was sharp and at maximum brightness, colours were vivid. Although gradient patterns looked somewhat streaky, on the whole, images were rich and highly saturated.
Above the display, in the right corner, is a proximity sensor, and to the left is a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera. Below is a physical Home button, with a Back and Menu front key on either side of it, that light up when in use.
The LG Optimus L7 runs on a disappointingly slow A5 1GHz single-core processor. Basic tasks like unlocking the screen, opening the camera app and even transitioning back to the four home screen pages, took noticeably longer than usual on other phones. The lag time made the screen feel unresponsive sometimes. After tapping on an app, nothing would happen for a few seconds. At first, we were unsure whether the display had registered the input at all, but, by the time we went to open the app again, it would finally launch.
On the upside, the device runs on the latest version of Google's mobile OS, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and comes with all the Google goodies you expect: Gmail, Search, Plus, Latitude, Play Store, Messenger, Maps with Navigation, Places, Talk and YouTube. Other preloaded content includes a finance app, for keeping track of your stocks; a news and weather app; the Polaris Office mobile suite; RemoteCall, an app that lets LG support services remotely access your phone for troubleshooting; SmartShare, a content distribution app; LG SmartWorld, for downloading LG apps and ringtones; an FM radio; and an app that enables you to receive cell broadcast messages.
Designed as a mid-level Android device, the L7 has no outstanding identifying features. Its run-of-the-mill specs include a 5-megapixel camera and a disappointing 1GHz processor. However, if you consider the fact that it runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and has NFC capabilities, suddenly the term "mid-level" doesn't seem so deflating any more.
The LG Optimus L7's humdrum design is nothing to write home about. With its sharp corners, plastic backing and tapered edges, the device looks similar to all the other minimalist Optimus handsets we've seen recently. It is one of LG's smaller devices, and can snugly fit in a front or back jean pocket. It's easy to pack into a small purse, and handling it with one hand is a cinch.
On its left side is a volume rocker, up top there is a 3.5mm headphone jack and a sleep/power button, and at the bottom is a micro-USB port.
At the back centre is a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash. Below that, to the left, are two small slits for the output speaker. Unlike most phones, the L7 doesn't have an indentation to make it easy to pry off the back of the phone. Instead, you'll have to just insert your fingernails anywhere within the seams of the back plate. Once you remove it, you can access the microSD slot, SIM card and 1,700mAh battery. On the opposite side of the backing are two small gold antennas for the NFC capabilities.
Though generally we don't mind plastic battery covers, since they keep a phone light and durable, the L7 is an exception. There are ways to give plastic a more luxurious feel, either by giving it a matte coating or unique texture. But the L7 just has lined grooves like a 3D baseball card, which makes it feel really cheap and almost like a toy.
The L7 sports a 4.3-inch WVGA Nova display with an 800x480-pixel resolution and 450 units of brightness. Though the lowered specs aren't as impressive as those of other phones, like the LG Optimus 4X HD, the screen is still decent in its own right. App icons were crisp, text was sharp and at maximum brightness, colours were vivid. Although gradient patterns looked somewhat streaky, on the whole, images were rich and highly saturated.
Above the display, in the right corner, is a proximity sensor, and to the left is a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera. Below is a physical Home button, with a Back and Menu front key on either side of it, that light up when in use.
The LG Optimus L7 runs on a disappointingly slow A5 1GHz single-core processor. Basic tasks like unlocking the screen, opening the camera app and even transitioning back to the four home screen pages, took noticeably longer than usual on other phones. The lag time made the screen feel unresponsive sometimes. After tapping on an app, nothing would happen for a few seconds. At first, we were unsure whether the display had registered the input at all, but, by the time we went to open the app again, it would finally launch.
On the upside, the device runs on the latest version of Google's mobile OS, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and comes with all the Google goodies you expect: Gmail, Search, Plus, Latitude, Play Store, Messenger, Maps with Navigation, Places, Talk and YouTube. Other preloaded content includes a finance app, for keeping track of your stocks; a news and weather app; the Polaris Office mobile suite; RemoteCall, an app that lets LG support services remotely access your phone for troubleshooting; SmartShare, a content distribution app; LG SmartWorld, for downloading LG apps and ringtones; an FM radio; and an app that enables you to receive cell broadcast messages.
訂閱：
文章 (Atom)