Kerala State Electricity Board

Kerala State Electricity Board has deployed the ‘Kakatiya Nature Switch’ to help manage the switch-on and switch-off of street lights in Palakkad municipality.

This is part of the demand-side management initiative of the power utility, an official spokesman said here. Demand-side management aims to improve energy savings through an incentivised scheme in order to ensure public participation.
MANPOWER SAVING

The switch is expected to help squarely deal with the issues of energy wastage; mounting bills; and the carbon footprint that represents the total sets of greenhouse gas emissions caused by the streetlights.

Swaminathan K.B.,We have a great selection of blown glass backyard solar landscape lights and solar garden light. executive engineer of the power board, said that manpower otherwise needed to run maintenance vehicles from one place to another to switch lights on and off will now be saved.

The municipality has also reduced hefty maintenance costs due to the built-in protection mechanism provided by the switch, a product of Kakatiya Energy Systems. “Now we can deploy the same manpower for more productive work,” Swaminathan added.
COST SAVINGS

The Nature Switch automates streetlight controls in the Sultanpet and Big Bazaar areas of the city based on lux levels. It is not affected by artificial lights such as automobile headlamps and other ambient light sources.

The system has reduced the city’s power requirement, resulting in major cost savings and reducing its carbon footprint, Swaminathan said.

At least 160 streetlight points are controlled by the switch, which consists of high-pressure sodium vapour lamps of 150W and 250W; direction turning film; compact fluorescent lamp and incandescent lamps.
METER READING

The municipality has since been was able to cut down the monthly electricity bill as billing is based on meter reading. It is planning to install more units in uncovered areas in the near future.

Lakshman Rao, managing director of Kakatiya Energy Systems, said that the switch which will support Kerala’s efforts to providing timely lighting on the road; reducing energy wastage and minimising human supervision.A solar lantern uses this sunlight that is abundantly available to charge its batteries through a Solar Panel and gives light in nighttime.

It has been reported in Forbes that the city predicts electricity savings of at least $7million, as well as $2.5million in avoided maintenance fees every year, thanks to its switch to energy efficient LEDs. Since its announcement to make the transition many other cities have followed suit. During the second phase of the project L.A. is set to retrofit 70,000 decorative street lamps. With approximately 400 varieties of lamps operating in Los Angeles, the city is currently testing and analysing LED and induction fixtures to find appropriate replacements.

Famous for their home LED lighting, Visible Lighting also specialises in a range of LEDs for commercial and outdoor applications. With a dedication to pursuing industry activity, the specialists were excited to hear of the completion of this particular project. A representative from the firm explains what this means for the sector as a whole.

“Thanks to large scale, high profile LED transitions such as this one, more and more towns and cities across the world are swapping their traditional street lamps for LEDs, to become more environmentally friendly and save on energy bills. At Visible Lighting, our commercial solutions such as panel lights, bay lights and LED emergency lighting products are becoming increasingly popular amongst businesses who want to become more cost effective.”

Visible Lighting was established with a view to providing high quality lighting at affordable prices. Supplying a multitude of energy saving products, the company specialises in LED lighting including affordable LED strip lights,How does a solar charger work and where would you use a solar charger? LED ceiling and wall lights, LED flood lights as well as commercial LED lighting. All products take advantage of the latest technology, providing customers with the best value for money. Visible Lighting places customer service as its top priority, regularly expanding its product lines.

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Fresh from unveiling the new Hobo International

Fresh from unveiling the new Hobo International accessories truck, Koren Ray is ready to take her fashion show on the road.

In a couple of weeks, the owner of the Annapolis, Md.-based firm plans to cruise through the Mid-Atlantic to her most loyal retailers, using the truck as a mobile showroom. Inside, she displays handbags and leather accessories amid the same rustic, contemporary decor of her flagship store — right down to the live-edge wood shelving and lit Plexiglas walls. Eventually, she will use the truck to sell merchandise from sites such as festivals and the curbside of college campuses.

And she's just one of the latest entrepreneurs to study and pursue the mobile fashion movement.

"We've watched closely. It seemed like such a great fit for the brand,We have a great selection of blown glass backyard solar landscape lights and solar garden light." said Ray, who until now had focused on selling the 22-year-old company's products online and through department stores and boutiques.

Following the same road as the food truck craze, fashion trucks are attracting a variety of entrepreneurs who are going mobile to sell apparel. They say they like bringing merchandise directly to their customers and not being tied down by store leases.

Within the past year, at least eight trucks have started operating in Maryland alone. Two of them, including Ray's vehicle, hit the road this month. Nationally, the handful of trucks that existed two years ago has exploded to about 300, according to the American Mobile Retail Association.

"I predict that we will have a lot more retail trucks in the next year," said Stacey Steffe, president of the American Mobile Retail Association and an entrepreneur who opened her business, Le Truck, in Los Angeles when she knew of only two other fashion trucks in the nation. This past year, her organization has consulted with 200 potential truck owners.

Sally M. DiMarco, associate professor and fashion-design program coordinator in the School of Design at Stevenson University, has seen the trend balloon the past year.

"It's not just here in Baltimore. More and more, my Facebook site is lighting up with trucks popping up nationwide," she said. "I think it promotes the industry in general. It promotes small business. It is hard for these businesses to grow in malls."

For the mobile business model to work, prices must be low enough to attract a younger audience, according to DiMarco.How does a solar charger work and where would you use a solar charger? Most trucks offer apparel priced less than $100.

"I would be a little leery to put designer fashion out there," said DiMarco. "People don't want to spend a lot of money on clothes. With high-end clothing, you see an older population. I don't think they would like to go to the trucks."

Shelley Sarmiento, owner of Little White Fashion Truck, considers herself a "dinosaur" in the burgeoning field. This week, she celebrated her one-year anniversary in the business. In that short time, she has expanded to three trucks — she just purchased a fourth — and operates in Maryland, Northern Virginia and Nashville, Tenn.

The Severna Park, Md., resident, formerly a co-owner of White House Black Market, said the secret to her success is keeping costs low on her stock of casual, trendy apparel and jewelry.

"Nothing is over $79 in the truck," said Sarmiento, who also works as a professor of fashion business at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. "As long as I stick to my brand, I will be successful. This will work for us very well."

Alexa Kunowsky, a Severna Park resident who attends Vanderbilt University, shops at Little White Fashion Truck in Nashville and when she's home in Maryland.

"It's fun to be able to go in there," she said. "(The owner's) awesome with all the customers. She's really good at piecing outfits together. I like going in there for her input. ... It's also really cool that there is a truck near Severna Park, which is near my house. I really like the whole concept."

The pricing works for Kunowsky, who said she's purchased staples for her own wardrobe and Christmas gifts for her mother.

"It's all really affordable, which is the best part about it," Kunowsky said.

Like many other fashion and food trucks, Sarmiento's company uses social media to connect with customers and inform them of the truck's location on a given day. Sarmiento's truck has a mobile application that alerts customers on Facebook when the truck is within 10 miles.

"It will even give you directions to us," she said.

Startup costs for a fashion truck can range from $10,000 to $150,The world's largest independent online retailer for solar lighting, street lights & outdoor lighting fixtures.000, according to owners. By comparison, Sarmiento said, "You'd be hard-pressed to open a brick-and-mortar store for less than $200,000."

She said a retail boutique would typically pay rent ranging from $30,000 to $80,000 annually, plus utilities and other costs. That's considerably more than a truck owner would pay for permits, fuel, insurance and maintenance.

She spent $35,000 to get her first fashion truck on the road a year ago. That truck paid for itself within 10 weeks, she said. But she spent more on her second and third trucks, both of which cost upwards of $60,000.

"Now that I have a little more cash flow, I'm investing in a better truck," Sarmiento said of her vehicles, which are old FedEx and bread trucks. Her trucks each have hardwood floors, a dressing room and a generator that allows for lighting, air conditioning and heat.

Click on their website www.streetlights-solar.com for more information.

Amidst several teasers

Niro akan menyambut publik untuk pertama kalinya di Frankfurt Motor Show 2013 bulan depan. Mobil ini adalah buah karya studio desain KIA Eropa di Frankfurt, Jerman.

Niro adalah perpaduan antara crossover sporty berdesain dua pintu, dengan ground clearance yang tinggi. KIA bahkan berani menjejali mobil ini dengan pintu gullwing ala supercar mewah.

Wajah depannya terlihat agresif dengan LED Daytime Running Lights dan Fog Lamp persegi yang mencuri perhatian.The world's largest independent online retailer for solar lighting, street lights & outdoor lighting fixtures.

Di belakang, desainnya terlihat keren dan minimalis, dengan muffler kembar di bagian tengah lengkap dengan aksen serat karbon disekelilingnya.

Interiornya sangat futuristik dengan dashboard yang terlihat rapih bergaya retro,A solar bulb that charges up during the day and lights the night when the sun sets. dengan roda kemudi yang dilengkapi dengan paddle shift. Sejumlah tombol fungsinya membuat berada di kabin mobil serasa berada di dalam kabin pesawat, dengan dijejali fitur layar sentuh yang cukup besar.

Mobil berpenggerak empat roda ini juga disebut bakal dijejali drivetrain dari mobil-mobil raksasa Korea Selatan itu di masa depan, seperti dilansir LeftLaneNews.

Kabar baiknya, KIA menjanjikan bahwa mobil keren ini dapat diproduksi jika mendapat reaksi positif dari pengunjung selama dipamerkan di Frankfurt. Klik disini untuk melihat foto-foto dari KIA Niro.

Amidst several teasers that have reached the Interwebs, Volvo revealed their latest concept car due at this Frankfurt Motor Show, which provides the public with a clear eye of the Swedish automaker’s intended trajectory in terms of its corporate design philosophy. Volvos have never really been lookers, the kind that sticks to one’s memories, though this new Volvo Concept Coupe—which the brand touts as the “next-generation P1800”—appears to be putting Volvo’s years of complete obscurity into the past. Because holy wienerschnitzel, just look at it!

For those who need a quick history refresher, the Volvo P1800 was a very iconic and formidable sports car back in the 1960s and even went head-to-head with other icons like the Jaguar E-Type, Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint, the Aston Martin DB4, the BMW E9, Chevrolet Corvette, Mercedes-Benz SL-Class, and the Porsche 911. So despite Volvo’s modern day ho-hum characteristics, the new Volvo Concept Coupe seeks to relish the heritage of the original P1800 into the modern world.

Representative of Volvo’s latest Scalable Product Architecture, which adopts one of the latest industry trends of streamlining production, the new Volvo Concept Coupe is said to even provide a pointer to the first car that employs Volvo’s new SPA design, the all-new XC90 crossover due in 2014.

But for those even willing to postulate outside the box, the 2013 Volvo Concept Coupe sets the stage for the brand to reveal a new flagship coupe that could very much be in line with being a successor to the brand’s current C70.

The Volvo Concept Coupe was also used to showcase Volvo’s experimentation into gasoline plug-in hybrid powertrains, which features a 2.An emergency light is a battery-backed lighting device that comes on automatically when a building experiences a power outage.0L Drive-E gasoline engine (most likely a four-banger) designed with a supercharger and turbocharger. An electric motor is mounted to the rear axle, for a total combined output of 400hp and over 440 lb-ft of twist.
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Kerosene was traditionally burned

Indian scientists who have developed an improved lantern that uses kerosene have advised the government not to phase out the poor man's fuel on environmental grounds.

Kerosene was traditionally burned in rural homes in hurricane lamps to provide lighting or in pressure stoves to cook food.

Now the Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) at Phaltan in Maharashtra has developed a device that simultaneously provides light (equivalent to that from a 300 watt electric bulb) and cooks a complete meal (including chapattis) for a family of five.

The lanstove (combined lantern and cooking stove) thus makes kerosene an ideal fuel for rural households, says Anil Rajvanshi, an IIT graduate and NARI director.

He says it is unfortunate that the Indian government has decided to phase out kerosene as a result of tremendous tirade by the Western countries against the use of kerosene from a climate change point of view. This move, he says, will deprive the poor people in India of a convenient household fuel.

According to Rajvanshi, it is the way in which a fuel is burnt that makes it clean or dirty. Liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and compressed natural gas become clean fuels only because of excellent combustion technologies available.

No doubt hurricane lantern is an inefficient and unclean combustion device,How does a solar charger work and where would you use a solar charger? says Rajvanshi.

Lanstove was developed by his institute precisely to overcome these drawbacks, he says in a report published in the latest issue of "current science."

The research led to the device that burns kerosene efficiently and without causing any pollution.We have a great selection of blown glass backyard solar landscape lights and solar garden light.

Lanstove has been tested for the last eight months in 25 rural huts in western Maharashtra which do not have electricity. The users found that it is smokeless unlike the existing biomass-powered chulha, and gives excellent light compared to the presently used hurricane lanterns.

The levels of harmful carbon monoxide from these lanstoves are less than three parts per million whereas those from regular chulhas are 80 to 130 times more, according to the study.

"Thus the lanstove is an extremely clean device and equivalent to the LPG stove," Rajvanshi told IANS.

The lanstove has been designed so that kerosene is pressurized and stored in a small separate cylinder from where it flows into the combustor and burns cleanly just like in the LPG cookstove.

This detachable cylinder can be filled up in kerosene dispensing shops,We installed flexible LED Strip lighting in our kitchen for under cabinet and within cabinet lighting. the same way an LPG cylinder is now charged.

However, despite its advantages to the people in India's rural areas, the lanstove cannot be introduced at present on a large scale because of unavailability of kerosene, Rajvanshi says.

Today, below poverty line (BPL) families get only five litres of kerosene per household every month whereas lanstove users need at least 15-20 litres of kerosene per month. What is therefore needed is an enlightened policy that makes at least this much kerosene available to rural poor at subsidised price, the NARI report says.

Rajvanshi points out that around 300 million Indians are without electricity. Solar- powered light emitting diode (LED) lanterns promoted by various agencies and also government departments are not only costly and difficult to maintain but the LED light has recently been shown to be harmful to the eyes producing irreparable damage to the retina. "Besides, unlike lanstoves, these solar lanterns cannot cook," he says.

Although kerosene is a fossil fuel, there are extensive efforts currently the world over to produce kerosene-like fuel from agricultural residues so as to make it renewable, says Rajvanshi. "I hope these efforts are also undertaken in India which has a huge amount of agricultural residues."

All his life Mahatma Gandhi studied and wrote under the light of kerosene hurricane lanterns and he also used to apply kerosene to his body as a mosquito repellent, says Rajvanshi. "I am sure that if he were alive today, he would have wholeheartedly embraced the lanstove and promoted its use among the rural poor."

Trina Solar was selected to supply multicrystalline silicon modules for Sempra Energy’s 345-megawatt Copper Mountain 3 project -- and that could be a signal that PV module prices are flattening.

“The lowest prices for modules have been in the large-scale utility projects,” Trina Americas President Mark Mendenhall explained. “We didn’t participate a lot. We felt we could give up share in that segment until the market stabilized.”

Trina has been focused on the residential and commercial segments. “There was a gap in the relative costs,” Mendenhall said, “that made thin film and other technologies more competitive in utility-scale solar.”

But today's low silicon module prices make balance-of-system costs more significant than module costs. “The value of our multicrystalline PV efficiency became more important,” Mendenhall said. “And the number of gigawatts we have installed has reduced the perceived risk and increased the financeability of a project with our technology.”

Also, he added, consolidation has left fewer manufacturers capable of providing the 1.1 million high-quality modules needed by AMEC, the Copper Mountain EPC provider. The module order must be met for the Q1 2015 construction completion target to fulfill Sempra’s contracts with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the City of Burbank.

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Billboards on road

“Five years ago when it rained constantly for 10 hours, a motorcyclist took shelter from rain under a billboard.We carry a extensive line of Parking Lot Lighting inventory. It fell down on him and a few other people who had gathered under it,” recalls Amber Alibhai, a representative of Shehri a not-for-profit organisation which looks into civic problems facing the city. The misery caused by the recent rains in Karachi would have multiplied if these billboards had fallen down.

“In no civilised city are billboards placed on main roads. Not only are they a traffic distraction but also a threat to life if they fall down during a storm or heavy downpour,” she adds.An emergency light is a battery-backed lighting device that comes on automatically when a building experiences a power outage.

At the Ayesha Bawany School on Sharea Faisal putting up a 90-foot tall bill board on the rooftop caused quite a stir among the parents who considered it to be a threat to the life of their children. “What if it fell down on the head of a student?” claimed an anxious parent. The school already has two tall billboards perched at its rooftop. They belong to a brand of paint, which the school spokesperson claims, is owned by the owners.

“The school does not get paid for the two billboards, the paint brand belongs to the school owners,” he said, adding that work for the third billboard came to a halt after the cantonment board ordered against it.

At many places in Gulshan and NIPA, trees have been chopped to make way for billboards.

“From Hasan Square to the bus stand near my house, I used to walk under the shady trees which took up the entire service lane. Recently they have been chopped off and billboards have been placed there instead,” complained Fauzia Ali, a student at Karachi University.

Until recently huge billboards had been erected at the Kothari Parade, which had hid the fa?ade of the beautiful heritage site. Billboards with moving objects such as flash lights are a distraction, drivers claim. Opposite the Regent Plaza on Sharea Faisal, a washing powder company had placed a billboard with the flashing outlines of a water tub. “Sometimes I got so engrossed in looking at it that I missed vehicles,” said Aftab Ahmed, who drives from Saddar to PECHS everyday.

The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) has a strict size for billboards. In a pre-monsoon meeting held by former KMC administrator Hashim Raza Zaidi, directives to fix the billboards were given.

“Advertising devices, including billboards, should be installed in such a manner that their size and height doesn’t affect the traffic on roads and corridors and also do not cause accidents,” he had said.

But nothing happened after it. There is no controlling authority to keep a check on billboards in Karachi. It is distributed among the KMC, cantonment boards and the Karachi Development Authority. And that explains the different sizes of billboards spread all over the city. “Each body all has its own rules,” claims Alibhai.

WYNDHAM Vacation Resorts Coffs Harbour is the only Australian finalist in the prestigious "Go Green Awards" which recognise resorts that demonstrate extensive environmental initiatives.

Since placing third in the awards in 2010 Wyndham Coffs Harbour- Treetops has implemented a host of green initiatives, making it a strong contender for this year's top prize.

The property is now at stage three of its LED lighting upgrades, taking the resort to 50% LED lighting. A second 10Kw solar system was installed this year to reduce energy consumption. Eight new speed controlled pool pumps have also been implemented, leading to an impressive 85% reduction in power costs in the resort's pump room.

Together these initiatives have seen on average, a consistent 15% reduction in overall power usage.

The resort generates its own fertilizer for its extensive gardens, using a small tractor, a chipper-shredder and two bays for green waste and mulch.

An onsite worm farm assists the process, and is also used to dispose of food scraps. A new program is currently being developed which will also allow guests to contribute to the worm farm.

Apartments feature recycling bins,A solar bulb that charges up during the day and lights the night when the sun sets. water efficient washing machines and dishwashers and environmentally friendly taps and shower heads, while rainwater tanks are used for irrigation on the property.

Children at the resort are encouraged to learn about the environment, with each young guest receiving a "Wynnie and Friends" Adventure pack which includes games and educational material.

The childrens' characters were developed as part of the highly-successful, companywide Wyndham Green program, which aims to conserve resources, preserve natural habitats and prevent pollution.

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

Herman has just been diagnosed

Until recently, both Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox had been held in solitary confinement for 4 decades in Louisiana - longer than almost any other known prisoner in recent U.S. history. It's long enough for one's body to forget it ever knew anything else but four white walls and for the mind to be reshaped by extreme isolation. Juan Mendez, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, says that after 15 days, further isolation can cause permanent psychological damage and constitute torture.

Herman has just been diagnosed with stage 5 liver cancer. Unless Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana grants him clemency, he may likely die in prison.

After decades in isolation, people experience hyper-anxiety, paranoia, insomnia, hallucinations,A solar bulb that charges up during the day and lights the night when the sun sets. emotional detachment, panic attacks and uncontrollable rage. Many start fights with guards just for human contact. Others cut themselves just to be taken out of their cells for a few days in the prison hospital.

I spent over a year in solitary confinement when I was held as a political hostage by the Iranian government from 2009 to 10. I experienced all of these reactions at various times throughout my isolation. In some cases, these symptoms have increased since my release. Almost three years later, I am still trying to shake the mental damage and loss that was inflicted upon me during those 410 days.

After spending nearly 41 years in a cramped cell, the cancer diagnosis led prison officials in July to transfer 71-year-old Herman to a ten-bunk prison dorm.An emergency light is a battery-backed lighting device that comes on automatically when a building experiences a power outage.

"He can now open a door," says Marina Drummer, who has been advocating on his behalf for the past 15 years. "He can walk from the dorm room into the dayroom without being shackled."

After spending 23 hours a day isolated in a small cell akin to a coffin, this change is monumental.

In 1972, Albert and Herman, two young black men, were charged and convicted of the murder of prison guard Brent Miller, despite the fact that no DNA evidence linked them to the crime. They were locked in solitary: 23 hours a day alone in a small cell, and were denied any meaningful review of their continued isolation.

In the decades after the trial, significant flaws in the legal process have come to light. Evidence suggests that the key eye-witness was bribed by prison officials into giving statements against the men and that the state withheld evidence that pointed to Herman and Albert's innocence. Potentially exculpatory evidence mysteriously went "missing" before the trial and more witnesses later recanted their testimony.

After Herman's diagnosis became known, human rights groups around the country - most notably Amnesty International - have called for his release on compassionate and medical grounds. More than 46,000 people in the U.S. have called on Governor Jindal to release Herman Wallace in the months since his diagnosis; tens of thousands of appeals have also poured in from around the world.

Herman is not a dangerous criminal - he is a 71-year-old cancer patient who has already survived an unthinkable nightmare. His continued imprisonment serves no purpose: prison records demonstrate that he is no threat to himself or others. As his conviction continues to be challenged before the courts, his cancerous tumor continues to grow. Despite treatment, he does not have much time left.

I recently turned 35. Herman Wallace has survived more years being psychologically tortured in our prisons than I've even been alive. I think about him still waking up every morning, tired and sick,We turn your dark into light courtesy of our brilliant sun, solar street light, solar power generation. but still fighting for his life and his long-deserved freedom. As Herman's health fails, we have to fight for him - and there's not much time left.

Read the full story at www.hmhid.com!

Follow-Up on Khayelitsha Streetlights

Follow-Up on Khayelitsha Streetlights

In February, GroundUp published a report on the issue of street lights in Khayelitsha, in particular on Lansdowne Road and Mew Way. Activist organizations -- the Social Justice Coalition (SJC), Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and Equal Education (EE) -- held a march on 4 February in Khayelitsha.We have a great selection of blown glass backyard solar landscape lights and solar garden light.

City of Cape Town Mayor Patricia De Lille, who attended the march, received a memorandum that the City should ensure that street lights were functioning in Khayelitsha. It also demanded that the City implement the installation of street lights where they were not available and fix damaged and vandalized lights within Lansdowne Road and Khayelitsha.

GroundUp ran a follow-up story in April, and it seems there has been some improvement.

Councillor Danile Khatshwa of Ward 96 (Makhaza in Khayelitsha) said street lights in his ward from Lindela Road to Baden Powell Drive have been fixed and are working.

"Since I submitted complaints from residents within my ward, the street lights have been fixed and are functioning. You would only find that about one or two street lights are not working, but I can say that there's been an improvement," he said.

Zodwa Sinkempele (20), a Community Librarian at Equal Education said that she has some mixed feelings when it comes to the issue of street lights. "Since the march, I have seen some improvement in the functioning of the [street] lights. But I don't know whether the City only fixed the lights because we were pressuring them, or they only fixed the lights to get us out of their way then discontinued with the work they were supposed to do."

Khatshwa admitted there are however some parts of Khayelitsha that still remain in the dark.

"Despite the improvements on street lights in Makhaza, major sections in Khayelitsha still remain without functioning street lights,How does a solar charger work and where would you use a solar charger? particularly along Lansdowne Road .. Even some of the newly implemented streetlights are not of the best quality."

Councillor Danile felt that the newly installed lights were not as bright as the previously installed lights,A solar lantern uses this sunlight that is abundantly available to charge its batteries through a Solar Panel and gives light in nighttime. and felt that much brighter streetlights should have been installed. GroundUp went out at night to see whether this statement was true. The streetlights at Makhaza are very bright, and about 15 floodlights are providing light for the Site B, Town Two and Makhaza areas.

In addition to the three small bedrooms, the one-story house has two discreet sleeping lofts.

"We wanted small rooms," says Mr. Christiansen, which he says encourages the family to get together in the large central living and dining area. The master bedroom has a wall that opens entirely onto a private deck overlooking a tree-lined yard.

They hoped to finish by Christmas 2011, but delays on foundation and basement work meant a half-year postponement. They finally moved in July 2012, spending more than $500,00 on the project.

A basement is unusual for a summer house in the area, says Mr. Christiansen, but it was necessary to conceal the complicated technology involved in making the house energy efficient. Outfitted with a heat pump, solar panels and photovoltaic cells, the house can generate all of its heating, and can contribute electricity to the grid when the family is away.

Triple-glazed windows and near-total insulation mean that controlled ventilation is essential, and the house is programmed to ventilate itself four times a day. Heating can be controlled by a smartphone app,Shop funtional and elegant solar lights, outdoor solar lighting, solar garden lights, path lights and decorative solar lights. which allows the house to be just the right temperature when the family arrives for winter weekends.

In addition to the main house, the property has a new free-standing sauna, lined with ash wood and equipped with a large picture window. The wood-burning sauna oven is imported from Finland. Mr. Christiansen designed the sauna himself. "It is beautiful sitting here in 175-degree heat," he says, of his winter sauna sessions, which end with a roll in the snow.

Saunas aren't rare in Denmark, but "most Danes who build a sauna end up using them for storage," says Mr. Christiansen. The couple, looking ahead to the property's resale value, built the sauna to be easily converted into a guesthouse.

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Fuel as Lab in California Chases Dream

It sounds like magic, far-out fiction, a California dream. Yet earnest scientists are hard at work on a new alchemy: brewing fuel for cars -- synthetic gasoline -- from little more than water and sunshine.

Mimicking the way plants turn sunlight and carbon dioxide in the air into energy and oxygen, the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis at the California Institute of Technology is in a race to trump nature and slow global warming. Nate Lewis, a Caltech professor and solar energy research star, has a plan to remake fuel as we know it.

“If we couldn’t get to that, we wouldn’t be doing it,” Lewis said in an interview last month.

The effort is backed with $122 million of U.S. Energy Department funds and combines the talents of 120 scientists at Caltech; Stanford University; the University of California’s Berkeley,How does a solar charger work and where would you use a solar charger?Shop funtional and elegant solar lights, outdoor solar lighting, solar garden lights, path lights and decorative solar lights. Irvine and San Diego campuses; and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Along with electric powertrains, vehicles that drive themselves and cars rented by the hour, it’s another disruption of the global auto industry that dates back to the 19th century.

Just a few years ago, all-electric cars seemed fantastic, too. Now Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA), which makes only battery-powered vehicles, has a higher market value than some old-line automakers, such as Suzuki Motor Corp. (7269) and Fiat SpA. (F)
Two Leaps

To revolutionize transportation fuel, Lewis has a two-step plan. Really, it’s two leaps.We carry a extensive line of Parking Lot Lighting inventory.

First, the coalition aims to develop a system to make large amounts of hydrogen fuel using cheap solar-panel-like devices. Liquid or gaseous hydrogen, which can power super-clean fuel-cell cars, is needed for chemical plants and refineries.

Then comes the second leap: Applying that same research to a system that can blend the hydrogen fuel with carbon dioxide from the air, much as a plant does, to make liquid fuels that can power cars, heavy trucks, boats or aircraft. JCAP aims to get to that point by the mid-2020s, Lewis said.

Synthetic, carbon-free gasoline won’t come easy, quick or cheap.

Research labs worldwide are racing to find renewable alternatives to petroleum. Some are private endeavors; others are government-funded. While some seek to make fuel from algae, corn or other crops, Lewis argues that such solutions require too much water or land that will be needed for food production.
Innovation Race

Research projects like JCAP have the luxury of not having to satisfy investors’ short-term demands, said Pavel Molchanov, a Houston-based analyst for Raymond James & Associates Inc.

“Companies that rely on private capital, even venture capital, in most cases aim to be commercial within the next three years,” said Molchanov, who follows biofuel companies. “If we think about what private developers of biofuels are focusing on now, none of them have a commercialization road map that goes out to 2025.”

Startups such as KiOR Inc., Solazyme Inc., Ceres Inc., Gevo Inc. and Amyris Inc. have a lead over JCAP because they’re already commercializing biofuel alternatives to petroleum and grain-based ethanol.

What JCAP has going for it is the Energy Department, which deemed it an Energy Innovation Hub, one of three Manhattan Project-like efforts. Others are to improve nuclear power plants and make buildings more energy-efficient. With the government funding, Lewis can be methodical in search of a breakthrough.
Wright Brothers

“The first five years of JCAP, our goal is to show that this can be done; to make the pieces, components, to build an artificial photosynthetic system,” he said. That prototype “isn’t going to be commercializable,We have a great selection of blown glass backyard solar landscape lights and solar garden light. in the same way the Wright Brothers’ plane wasn’t a 747. We first have to show people there’s a there there.”

About five years after that, with “faster, better, cheaper” fuel-making technology, JCAP may be able to license its system to oil and energy companies, Lewis said.

The program is talking with potential industrial partners to help expand its analysis of promising “earth-abundant” materials needed for its solar-fuel distillery. Lewis declined to identify specific companies. JCAP’s technicians daily are testing hundreds of alloys made from metallic salts, seeking the optimal recipe of low-cost, light-absorbing materials and catalysts needed for hydrogen generation.

Urgency to increase low-carbon energy sources has intensified as extreme weather adds to concerns that heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere are making the Earth a less hospitable planet.

President Barack Obama, whose administration funded JCAP, signaled in June that U.S. action to curb carbon emissions will intensify with new steps to pare such pollution from power plants,A solar lantern uses this sunlight that is abundantly available to charge its batteries through a Solar Panel and gives light in nighttime. the biggest source of carbon dioxide emissions, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Transportation Fuels

Second is the use of petroleum-based fuel in transportation. Engines in autos, trucks, aircraft and ships produced 28 percent of the 6.7 million metric tons emitted by the U.S. in 2011, according to the EPA, trailing only electricity generation’s 33 percent. Obama also laid out a plan in 2011 to double vehicle fuel efficiency by 2025 to cut carbon pollution.

Carmakers are boosting vehicle efficiency with small, high-output engines; propulsion delivered by batteries; and even hydrogen fuel cells.

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Eugene art project makes light

Pedestrians and drivers in downtown Eugene might notice something different about the traffic signal boxes that occupy space at street corners with traffic lights.The difference will be if they notice the boxes at all.Last month, the gray cubes, which house electrical equipment to operate traffic lights, were made over with loud, whimsical, colorful murals, turning infrastructure into art.

You might have mistaken Bayne Gardner for a graffiti artist if you saw him drawing a masked face on the steel box at the corner of 10th Avenue and Oak Street. In fact, Eugene’s city government was paying Gardner to paint the drab, unassuming box with eye-catching art.Most modern headlight designs include Wholesale HID Kit.

Using money from Eugene’s percent-for-art ordinance, which dedicates 1 percent of the budget for eligible city-funded construction projects to public art, the city’s Cultural Services Department took an unusual approach to its latest project.

“People were tired of bronze sculptures,” says Isaac Marquez, the city’s public art manager.
Since last month, murals from four local artists have cropped up on 15 downtown street corners. A final one will be completed at the corner of Franklin Boulevard and Onyx Street within the next week or so.

The murals, which are unusual in appearance and in placement, interact with citizens more strongly than an oil painting tucked away in the library, and reflect the current art scene more aptly than a metal sculpture in the park. Marquez says city officials took the new approach in response to a 2010 survey, in which citizens expressed a desire for interactive, two-dimensional art in everyday settings.

The city recruited artists through social media and newspaper advertisements. Applicants were asked to submit an image of their proposed box, and a committee selected three winners — Alex Southworth, Wendy Huhn and Bryan Putnam — from a pool of 12 applicants.

The artists painted five boxes each, at a rate of $300 for small boxes and $500 for large boxes. Gardner won a people’s choice contest on Facebook and a $500 contract to paint the box on 10th and Oak. “I tried to make each side a little different,” he says. “I wanted, since it’s a four-sided object, to capture someone to look at all the sides.” Eugene isn’t the first to use its utility boxes as canvases. Santa Cruz, Calif., Seattle, Little Rock, Ark., and several other cities in the U.S. and abroad have sponsored initiatives similar to “Art the Box.”

In Eugene, artists’ work was strategically placed to fit the aesthetic of downtown streets.
Southworth’s murals, with their edgy, severe vibe, lined street corners on West 11th Avenue, near a heavy metal bar, a roller derby supply store and a tattoo parlor. Huhn’s bright and poppy murals line 13th Avenue,We installed flexible LED Strip lighting in our kitchen for under cabinet and within cabinet lighting. where a hair salon, a coffee shop and a computer repair store lead to the University of Oregon campus. “The response I wanted was exactly what I got from people,” Huhn says. “They said, ‘Oh, these just make me happy.'"Putnam’s work, inspired by Northwest mythology, is in the park blocks, where huge sequoia trees tower overhead.

As the artists worked, passers-by stopped to take pictures, offer lemonade, donuts and money, and inquire about whether the work was legal. “A couple of people called the cops on me,” Southworth says. The images are designed to last two years. They serve a dual purpose of enlivening a bland surface and deterring graffiti taggers. Each is covered with a layer of graffiti prevention coating. If a box is tagged, the graffiti can be wiped off without damaging the artwork.

Citizens toured the boxes during August’s First Friday ArtWalk, and listened as the artists talked about their work. Marquez says no more public events are planned, but those interested in touring the boxes can easily do so. Use the map with this story to conduct a personal walking tour of the artful infrastructure.There are all kinds of car daytime running lights with good quality. 

For more information, please visit www.hmhid.com.

DAN HARVEY was a fat kid

DAN HARVEY was a fat kid, which is probably why we became friends in the first place. In the rigid corporeal hierarchy of childhood, you’re either the right weight or you’re not: too big and you’re a fat-ass; too skinny and you’re a faggot. We were a perfect pair, like something out of a children’s tale: the Elephant and the Giraffe, as we nicknamed ourselves during a trip to the Toronto Zoo. What might it be like to take up a different kind of space in the world? But Dan and I were stuck with the bodies we had.

We grew up on neighbouring cul-de-sacs in Guelph, Ontario, and our elementary school was nearby. During recess, Dan sat by himself near the school doors, flicking pebbles at nothing. I was stick thin and bookish. Without a father, I had never learned to move like the other boys, didn’t know how to throw a football or swing a bat. So Dan and I found each other. In junior high, as cliques hardened, we drew closer, sitting for hours in his wood-panelled basement, where we talked about bands—Radiohead, Tool, Pink Floyd—in the rockist shorthand of teenage boys.

Dan played the saxophone then, and he looked as if he were fighting the thing, his cheeks red and puffed, his pudgy fingers manipulating the keys. He was, more than anyone I’ve ever known, an embodied person, moving like a tank and altering the gravity of any room he entered. He highlighted his curly brown hair with blond, and often wore two shirts at a time, as if trying to constrain his bulging proportions.

In grade nine, Dan and I attended the Halloween dance. Kids strutted around like pubescent bowerbirds, and we lurked on the fringes, terrified of the costumed girls around us. A few of them approached. One, a short brunette with blue eyes and a wide smile, had noticed Dan. She was dressed as a bee, black and yellow antennae wiggling on her head. I pushed Dan—who was convinced that he’d die a fat virgin—in her direction.

“I hear you like me,” Dan said.

“Yeah.”

“Do you want to go out?”

“Yeah.”

They danced the rest of the night, the girl’s hands reaching up to rest on Dan’s shoulders, his fingers closing around her waist. As we walked home, Dan realized that he had forgotten to ask her name. It was Jess.

By now, Dan’s rolls were starting to solidify. While I remained gawky, he developed into a natural athlete, his size—six feet four and nearly 300 pounds—an asset instead of a humiliation. He played football and basketball but grew to adore rugby, addicted to the sheer physicality of the sport. Acting also drew him in, and though he was usually typecast as the dumb jock or the idiot sheriff, he loved the attention. It was a way of attracting the spotlight on his own terms; you couldn’t call him fat if he called himself fat first. When we formed a band—I took up the guitar, Dan played bass—he sometimes prefaced performances with an apology. “If I mess up, it’s not my fault,” he told the audience. “I was born with fat fingers.”

He was still the closest friend I had, but I resented him, too. He had buddies on the football team and a girlfriend; he lost his virginity two years before I did. When he got his driver’s licence, I started treating him like a chauffeur. I was not allowed to stay out past midnight, and I was terrified of driving, so after parties Dan took me home in his parents’ Sebring before returning to the kegger to get drunk and sleep on the couch. Even as he ferried me around, I made sure he knew which of us was the smart one,We installed flexible LED Strip lighting in our kitchen for under cabinet and within cabinet lighting. who was the better musician, and who could name the studio where “The Bends” was recorded. Dan rarely said a word in reply. He just fidgeted uncomfortably, pushing his mass deeper into the seat, lifting one hand from the steering wheel to adjust his blue Tar Heels cap.

At the beginning of grade eleven, Dan got the red and yellow Superman logo tattooed on his right bicep. He had always been obsessed with the superhero, collecting comic books and Christopher Reeve movies and T-shirts.Most modern headlight designs include Wholesale HID Kit. Superman,There are all kinds of car daytime running lights with good quality. originally from the dying planet Krypton, is an attractive idol, his body a hard pile of muscle, capable of scattering bullets and soaring through solar systems. In “Superman: The Movie,” from 1978, he even turns back time by reversing Earth’s rotation. Superman is so unbeatable that his creators had to invent an antidote to his abilities: kryptonite, a mysterious green element that renders him powerless.
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JPMorgan’s China hiring

US regulators are investigating the hiring practices of JPMorgan Chase in Hong Kong,The world’s most efficient and cost effective hid lights? in a move that could cast an unflattering light on the relationships between Wall Street banks and the sons and daughters of Chinese government officials.

JPMorgan disclosed in a recent regulatory filing that it has received a request from the US Securities and Exchange Commission “seeking information and documents relating to, among other matters, the firm’s employment of certain former employees in Hong Kong and its business relationships with certain clients”.The world's largest independent online retailer for solar lighting, street lights & outdoor lighting fixtures.

A person familiar with the investigation said that it involves the bank’s hiring of Tang Xiaoning, son of a former Chinese banking regulator who is now chairman of the state-owned China Everbright Group, and Zhang Xixi, the daughter of a Chinese railway official.

A Beijing-based spokesperson for JPMorgan said the bank was fully co-operating with the US authorities but declined to comment further.

The investigation is likely to cause consternation on Wall Street and in the corridors of power in China, where hiring the sons and daughters of prominent politicians or business leaders is considered de rigueur as part of a system that places heavy emphasis on “guanxi,” or personal connections, as a way of securing new business.

In their rush to capitalise on China’s economic growth, virtually all the big Wall Street and European financial institutions with operations in the country have habitually hired “princelings”, as the children of senior Chinese officials are known.

Goldman Sachs once hired Jiang Zhicheng, grandson of the former Chinese president Jiang Zemin, for its direct private investment arm, for instance.

A senior Chinese official told the Financial Times that the Chinese government had not launched its own investigation into JPMorgan or its hiring practices in the country, but that the revelations are causing concern because the practice of hiring the children of senior officials to work at financial institutions is very common.

Some individual Chinese officials are worried their own children could also be named in media reports or in investigations in the US, the senior official said.

Two people familiar with the matter confirmed that Tang Xiaoning and Zhang Xixi had previously worked at JPMorgan and that Mr Tang left the company in December 2012. Attempts to reach Mr Tang and Ms Zhang were unsuccessful.

A spokesman for the SEC declined to comment on the investigation, which was first reported by the New York Times.Thank you for providing us with information to help us maintain street light.

US authorities have to date rarely investigated Wall Street’s business practices in China, though a former Morgan Stanley adviser was last year sent to prison after bribing a Chinese official to win lucrative real estate investments for the bank.

In recent years, foreign banks are said to have found it increasingly difficult to attract the offspring of the country’s most senior leaders thanks to the rise of a domestic private equity industry that provides lucrative opportunities for Chinese investors with powerful family backgrounds.

In private conversations, executives at western banks admit they are now more likely to hire the children of vice-ministers or provincial vice-governors, whereas a few years ago the parents of their recruits were usually minister level or above.

The investigation could add to JPMorgan’s recent regulatory woes. The investment bank faces a string of regulatory investigations related to its $6bn “London Whale” trading loss, as well as questions over its commodities and energy businesses.

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The Los Angeles State Historic Park

The Los Angeles State Historic Park was a whirlwind of cigarette smoke, heavy bass, fat beats, and electrifying energy on Aug. 3 and 4. Set in the heart of Chinatown, L.A. State Historic Park was home to HARD Summer Music Festival 2013, headlining artists such as Knife Party, Duck Sauce, Dog Blood, Justice, Bassnectar, and Empire of the Sun. With the L.A. skyline setting the city vibes, this electronic event proved that the bass will only get deeper, disco is not dead (and it is bringing funk back with it), the words hip-hop and EDM are synonymous, and that the traffic was well worth the drive.

This year, HARD Summer’s lineup was double the size of last year’s, starting at 12:30 p.m. and ending at midnight. Temperatures were in the mid 70s at daytime and the low 60s at night, allowing festival-goers in various attire reasonable comfort. Although the festival did not officially allow fur boots or candy bracelets, girls clad in booty shorts, pasties, bras, glitter, and fur boots could be spotted next to bros in tanks (or perhaps going shirtless), flip flops, and multi-colored plastic wayfarers. However, this typical rave style was minimal and many others sported the latest urban street wear, consisting of tailored shorts and pants, boots, kicks, dress shoes, flannels, dresses, gold chains, and, for some men, groovy facial hair. Thankfully, only a few could be spotted with feather headdresses and flower headbands.

The festival housed four stages that each gave off certain vibes depending on the line-up: HARD, HARDer, Summer, and Underground. The main stage, HARD Stage, was the destination of headlining artists and usually consisted of more visually stimulating props and performances because it had the largest LED screens and more stage space, allowing artists such as Duck Sauce, Empire of the Sun, and Bassnectar to further enhance the audience’s senses. HARDer Stage was what the name entailed — harder — but not hardstyle itself. This stage provided audiences bass heavy and high energy beats from artists such as RL Grime, Flying Lotus, Dillon Francis, and Flosstradamus. Summer Stage was like a getaway, where those looking for experimental, diverse, or peculiar sounds could wander off to. Even the layout entailed a journey to another part of the festival, as festival-goers would walk over a slight hill toward the city skyline to reach this stage. Artists such as Keys N’ Krates, Brodinski, Breakbot, and Justice (DJ set) performed here.A solar bulb that charges up during the day and lights the night when the sun sets. Lastly, the Underground Stage was the only tented stage and had an amazing sound system, allowing artists like Disclosure,It is also known as led dimmable driver, LED daytime running lamps. Breach, Oliver, and Claude Vonstroke an umbrella to reverberate their funky, deep house bass and flashing lights.

Even with Bondax and Azealia Banks cancelling their performances at HARD Summer, the talent from both emerging and established artists fulfilled the cravings of bass, hip-hop, rap, nu-disco, experimental, synth-pop, house, and electro heads alike. From live sets to DJ sets, and everything outside the box, HARD Summer proved that “EDM” is an overused blanket term for a large array of electronic styles. Keep your ears open for the following artists as they have demonstrated why they are, or will be, shaping the forefront of electronic music.

DAY 1:XXYYXX, Keys N’ Krates, RL Grime, Duke Dumont, Disclosure, Dog Blood, Duck Sauce, Oliver, and Knife Party

My day started late, as I had underestimated how congested the freeway and chaotic the parking would be. I arrived at the festival grounds too late to catch the Canadian DJ and producer Ryan Hemsworth’s electronic, abstract hip-hop set, but I did arrive in time for XXYYXX. Seventeen-year-old Marcel Everett set the mood of the Underground Stage with his chill, ambient beats. Marcel played his classic hits from the self-titled album XXYYXX, including “Closer,” “Set It Off,” and “Love Isn’t Made.” Marcel also infused his down-tempo beats and sounds with other works, like Rihanna’s “Cake,” to which the crowd delightfully licked the icing off.

Although I did not see two sets that I had anticipated, XXYYXX got the ball rolling, and I made my way to watch the trap trio Keys N’ Krates. As I passed HARDer Stage towards Summer, Just Blaze blasted his version of Major Lazer’s “Original Don,” followed by Bingo Player’s “When I Dip.”

Summer Stage felt like a small hip-hop show infused with an electro-house party as the live remix band, Keys N’ Krates, showcased their unique approach to electronic music. Hailing from Ontario, Canada, Keys N’ Krates includes Jr. Flo on turntables, David Matisse on the synthesizer, and Adam Tune on the 808 drum machine. Layering samples with tunes of their own to create clean blends and sharp melodies, the band played originals like “Treat Me Right” and a variety of hip-hop remixes, including Jay-Z’s “I’m A Hustler Baby” and “Dirt Off Your Shoulder.” The three instruments purred as Jr. Flo scratched to Adam’s meticulous drum beats and David pumped the crowd up from his synthesizer, saying, “Who here loves hip-hop?” The crowd bopped their lifted hands to the beat, to which David responded, “Keep those hands up. Here we go!” With build ups and drops created right on stage, Keys N’ Krates reminded the electronic scene that live, hands-on instrumentation and remixing can not only mimic computer programs but also outshine them.

From this show, I made my way to the Soundcloud famous trap/house artist RL Grime. RL Grime is a side project of Henry Steinway, who produces and DJs under the name Clockwork. RL Grime provided the trap heavy elements festival-goers could get crunk to with his originals “Trap On Acid,” “Flood,” and songs from his new EP, “High Beams.” He sampled Flosstradamus’ “Crowd Control,An emergency light is a battery-backed lighting device that comes on automatically when a building experiences a power outage.” Kanye West’s “Clique,” DJ Snake’s “Bird Machine,” Notorious BIG’s “Suicidal Thoughts,” and Cashmere Cat’s edit of “Do You Like…” by Miguel. Although the bass at HARDer Stage did not do his head-banging drops justice, RL Grime had the hyper crowd swaying, especially when he bumped the remix that first garnered him attention, “Satisfaction” by Benny Benassi.More information about the program is available on the web site at www.hmhid.com.

Doping Improves Thin Film

Flexible thin film solar cells that can be produced by roll-to-roll manufacturing are a highly promising route to cheap solar electricity. Now scientists from Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, have made significant progress in paving the way for the industrialization of flexible, light-weight and low-cost cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cells on metal foils. They succeeded in increasing their efficiency from below eight to 11.5 percent by doping the cells with copper, as they report in the current issue of Nature Communications.

In order to make solar energy widely affordable scientists and engineers all over the world are looking for low-cost production technologies. Flexible thin film solar cells have a huge potential in this regard because they require only a minimum amount of materials and can be manufactured in large quantities by roll-to-roll processing. One such technology relies on CdTe to convert sunlight into electricity. With a current market share that is second only to silicon-based solar cells CdTe cells already today are cheapest in terms of production costs.It is also known as led dimmable driver, LED daytime running lamps. Grown mainly on rigid glass plates, these so-called superstrate cells have, however, one drawback: they require a transparent supporting material that lets sunlight pass through to reach the light-harvesting CdTe layer, thus limiting the choice of carriers to transparent materials.

The inversion of the solar cell’s multi-layer structure – the so-called substrate configuration – would allow further cost-cuttings by using flexible foils made of, say, metal as supporting material. Sunlight now enters the cell from the other side, without having to pass through the supporting substrate. The problem, though, is that CdTe cells in substrate configuration on metal foil thus far exhibited infamously low efficiencies well below eight percent – a modest comparison to the recently reported record efficiency of 19.6 percent for a lab-scale superstrate CdTe cell on glass. (Commercially available CdTe superstrate modules reach efficiencies of between 11 and 12 percent.)

Copper doping for solar cells

One way to increase the low energy conversion efficiency of substrate CdTe cells is p-type doping of the semiconductor layer with minute amounts of metals such as copper (Cu). This would lead to an increase in the density of “holes” (positive charge carriers) as well as their lifetimes, and thus result in a high photovoltaic power, the amount of sunlight that is turned into electrical energy. A perfect idea – if CdTe weren’t so notoriously hard to dope. “People have tried to dope CdTe cells in substrate configuration before but failed time and again,” explains Ayodhya Nath Tiwari, head of Empa’s laboratory for Thin Films and Photovoltaics.

His team decided to try nonetheless using high-vacuum Cu evaporation onto the CdTe layer with a subsequent heat treatment to allow the Cu atoms to penetrate into the CdTe. They soon realized that the amount of Cu had to be painstakingly controlled: if they used too little, the efficiency wouldn’t improve much; the very same happened if they “over-doped.An emergency light is a battery-backed lighting device that comes on automatically when a building experiences a power outage.”

The electronic properties improved significantly, however, when Lukas Kranz, a PhD student in Tiwari’s lab, together with Christina Gretener and Julian Perrenoud fine-tuned the amount of Cu evaporation so that a mono-atomic layer of Cu would be deposited on the CdTe. “Efficiencies increased dramatically, from just under one percent to above 12,” says Kranz. Their best value was 13.6 percent for a CdTe cell grown on glass; on metal foils Tiwari’s team reached efficiencies up to 11.5 percent.

Increasingly ambitious targets: hitting the 20 percent ceiling

For now, the highest efficiencies of flexible CdTe solar cells on metal foil are still somewhat lower than those of flexible solar cells in superstrate configuration on a special (and expensive) transparent polyimide foil, developed by Tiwari’s team in 2011. But, says co-author Stephan Buecheler, a group leader in the lab, “Our results indicate that the substrate configuration technology has a great potential for improving the efficiency even further in the future.” Their short-term goal is to reach 15 percent. “But I’m convinced that the material has the potential for efficiencies exceeding 20 percent.” The next steps will focus on decreasing the thickness of the so-called window layer above the CdTe, including the electrical front contact. This would reduce light absorption and, therefore, allow more sunlight to be harvested by the CdTe layer. “Cutting the optical losses,A solar bulb that charges up during the day and lights the night when the sun sets.” is how Tiwari puts it.Please visit his website at www.hmhid.com.

MITSUBLISHI have taken a huge gamble with their replacement for the much-loved Colt.Instead of designing a model that will make a bold statement the Japanese car giant opted instead to simply give the customer what they want.So, just what is that magic ingredient punters crave?There is three in fact; fuel economy, space, reliability – and all tied together with a reasonable price tag.But more about that later.We offer solar photovoltaic system and commercial incentives to encourage our customers to install solar energy systems.Now, looks-wise the all-new Space Star is not going to blow your socks off and could be described at worst as bland and best as, well ... bland.

Designers have obviously steered clear of the retro look that worked so well for Fiat (500) and MINI probably because they don't have an iconic model to rework.The safe, almost generic lines mimics those of other Japanese marques and one could easily confuse the front with that of a Nissan Micra and the rear with the Toyota Aygo.Open the door and things begin to improve.Climb on-board and the space (hence the name) begins to manifest itself.For a little car the head, leg and elbow room is remarkable even in the rear pews where most adults will struggle with longer limbs.In the boot there is a decent 235 litres of luggage space but they could have pushed that a little more considering the absence of a spare wheel.

There's decent level of standard equipment on the two trims.The entry level Invite comes with Daytime running lights, air con, rear spoiler, electric front windows, electric mirrors, keyless entry,A solar lamp is a portable light fixture composed of an LED lamp, a photovoltaic solar panel, and a rechargeable battery. stability control and USB connectivity.Opt for the Intense spec ($3,000 more) and you get the bigger 1.2 litre engine, alloys, Bluetooth front fog lights and leather steering.But less (weight) is more with the Space Star thanks to the use of high-tensile steel, the little imp tips the scales at an astonishing 845kgs.Couple that with two new light-weight 3-cylinder engines returning an eye-watering 70mpg and you've pretty much cracked it.

They are ultra green too as the 1.0 litre has CO2 emissions of just 92g/km while the bigger 1.2 litre has a count of 100g/km – meaning the third lowest road tax of $180.We tested the bigger engine with the peppy 80bhp powerplant which proved perfect for a mix of motorway and city driving.The engine is naturally high revving and at first sounds a little gruff but soon settles down as you familiarise yourself.

In fact, as the week-long test wore on one became mesmerised with the colour coded eco read out flashing beside the speedo.Setting a challenge to stay in the green a slight lift on the accelerator made all difference – especially when the reserve fuel light came on.We averaged 52mpg, clocking up 450kms on a 35 litre tank which in any man's currency is mega.With figures like that, I think that gamble has well and truly paid off.

All in all the new Space Star is an excellent all-rounder and ticking all the right boxes especially for beginners, empty nesters and city dwellers.The only fault I could find was the location of the phone controls which were below the steering to the right instead of on the steering wheel which was filled with a blank panel.Still though, an awkwardly fitted Bluetooth is better than none.Another huge bonus is the unrivalled 8-year/150,000km warranty which comes with the car not the owner.I'm not sure how led downlight fit into that equation if they are left on. Prices start at $11,995.To read it in full at www.hmhid.com.

A team of astronomers

Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have solved a 40-year mystery on the origin of the Magellanic Stream, a long ribbon of gas stretching nearly halfway around our Milky Way galaxy. The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, two dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way, are at the head of the gaseous stream. Since the stream's discovery by radio telescopes in the early 1970s, astronomers have wondered whether the gas comes from one or both of the satellite galaxies. New Hubble observations reveal most of the gas was stripped from the Small Magellanic Cloud about 2 billion years ago, and a second region of the stream originated more recently from the Large Magellanic Cloud.

A team of astronomers, led by Andrew J. Fox of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD, determined the source of the gas filament by using Hubble's Cosmic Origins Spectrograph to measure the amount of heavy elements, such as oxygen and sulfur, at six locations along the Magellanic Stream. They observed faraway quasars--the brilliant cores of active galaxies--that emit light that passes through the stream. They detected the heavy elements from the way the elements absorb ultraviolet light.

Fox's team found a low amount of oxygen and sulfur along most of the stream, matching the levels in the Small Magellanic Cloud about 2 billion years ago, when the gaseous ribbon is thought to have formed. In a surprising twist, the team discovered a much higher level of sulfur in a region of the stream that is closer to the Magellanic Clouds. "We're finding a consistent amount of heavy elements in the stream until we get very close to the Magellanic Clouds, and then the heavy element levels go up," said Fox. "This inner region is very similar in composition to the Large Magellanic Cloud, suggesting it was ripped out of that galaxy more recently."

"Only Hubble can measure these abundances," Fox explained. "These abundances can only be measured in ultraviolet light, which Earth's atmosphere absorbs, and so the observations can only be done from a telescope in space."

Unlike other satellite galaxies of the Milky Way the Magellanic Clouds have been able to retain their gas and still are forming stars because they're more massive than the other satellites. However, as they're now approaching the Milky Way, they're feeling its gravity more and also encountering its halo of hot gas, which pushes their own gas out. That process, together with the gravitational tug-of-war between the Magellanic Clouds,Xenon HID Worlds make hid lighting affordable to everyone and for all your vehicle needs. leads to the production of a stream.

Ultimately, the gaseous stream may rain down onto the Milky Way's disk, fueling the birth of new stars. This infusion of fresh gas is part of a process that triggers star formation in a galaxy. Astronomers want to know the origin of that wayward gas in order to more fully understand how galaxies make new stars.

"We want to understand how galaxies like the Milky Way strip the gas from small galaxies that fall into them and then use it to form new stars," Fox explained. "This seems like it's an episodic process. It's not a smooth process where a slow stream of gas comes in continuously. Instead, once in a while a large gas cloud falls in. We have a way of testing that here, where two galaxies are coming in. We've shown which of them is producing the gas that ultimately will fall into the Milky Way."

The team reported its results in two papers that appeared in the Aug. 1 issue of The Astrophysical Journal.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD manages the telescope.

Philips hue, an LED light bulb containing ZigBee wireless electronics and controlled by an app,Thank you for providing us with information to help us maintain street light. turned out to be pretty popular when it became available not too long ago. Popular enough, it seems, to where Philips decided they would take the ball and run with it. Their new Friends of hue product line will work alongside that same app, this time offering more complementary light.

The two products, LivingColor Bloom and LightStrips, bring the atmosphere to the room. Unlike the hue bulbs, which just offer regular yellow or white light, LivingColor Bloom and LightStrips can project 16 million different hues of color each. The LivingColor Bloom is actually an older product (you can still find the previous model on Amazon) that has been updated with ZigBee electronics, pairing it with the hue app system. That’s the only thing different, though – it’s still putting out only 120 lumens, so don’t expect to light a room with it.Choose your favorite street lamp paintings from thousands of available designs. Do expect to give your room a cool colored lighting effect at your next party, though.

LightStrips are thin strips of LED lights producing the same amount of light as the LivingColor Bloom. You can bend and twist them however you want, to use as borders around furniture or paintings you might have at home. Philips says you can also trim any extra off the end, but that would probably mean the trimmed off parts would become useless, unless you’re particularly good at tinkering with spare parts.

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While holed up in a Washington

Like most of Juicy J's best ideas, "Bandz A Make Her Dance" was hatched in the bathroom.

While holed up in a Washington, D.C., hotel room in early 2012, the Memphis rapper was sifting through a collection of beats from rising Atlanta producer Mike Will Made It when he stumbled upon a track with an ominous bass thump and twinkling key line. At first, Juicy J thought it was the foundation of a love song. "The beat reminded me of some Quiet Storm shit… it starts so slow, and it's really melodic," he says. And then, in the hotel bathroom, he realized that the five-word hook that had been rolling around in his brain for a while might work on the track, if it was partnered with a more uptempo rhythm. Hours later, the beginnings of a love song had become the stripper anthem of 2012.

"A lot of times when I'm recording, I smoke weed, I freestyle, and if I'm trying to get that last bar or that ending of the song, I'll go to the bathroom, because I always come up with shit in the bathroom," Juicy J says. His face lights up when he recognizes the unintentional pun, and quickly adds, "I mean, I've written many, many songs in the bathroom."

Most successful hip-hop artists maintain a tireless work ethic, but Juicy J's dedication to his music -- bathroom breaks and all -- is almost inhuman. The MC (real name: Jordan Houston) boasts about turning down vacation time and working through Christmas to get songs completed. His manager, Will Dzombak, professes that "Juicy records anywhere, anytime -- in his hotel room, on a tour bus, backstage right before he goes onstage, in between interviews."

Juicy J doesn't necessarily need to be this unyielding. His days as a member of Memphis rap crew Three 6 Mafia, which produced two million-sellers (2000's "When the Smoke Clears" and 2005's "Most Known Unknown") and one Academy Award for best original song ("It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp"), have secured his legacy and kept his bank account flush. But the rapper also recalls growing up in a two-bedroom Memphis apartment with six people, wondering whether there'd be food in the refrigerator each day, and uses that experience as motivation.

"I come from nothing," he says. "When I got a chance to make some money, I was like, 'Man, I'm not ever going back.'"

During a mid-July stop in Manhattan, however, Juicy J is letting himself unwind a bit. Wearing a red camouflage collared T-shirt and a matching hat, Juicy J clutches a half-empty bottle of Champagne in his left hand and take swigs in between answering questions about "Stay Trippy," his new solo album due Aug. 27.Xenon HID Worlds make hid lighting affordable to everyone and for all your vehicle needs. The rapper certainly has reason to celebrate: "Bandz A Make Her Dance" was an out-of-nowhere career resuscitation for the 38-year-old MC, cracking the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 five years after Three 6 Mafia effectively fizzled out. A joint deal with Kemosabe Records (the imprint headed by pop maestro Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald) and Columbia Records soon followed, as did a slot on a tour last fall opening for Wiz Khalifa, whose Taylor Gang Records brought in Juicy J as a partner/A&R rep in 2011.

"Stay Trippy" is a long, bruising rap opus with a star-studded guest list (Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown, Big Sean, Wale), and Dr. Luke and Khalifa signed on as executive producers. It's an album that has conjured opportunities with big-box retailers and likely sponsorship deals. It's also an album that wouldn't exist if "Bandz A Make Her Dance" didn't take off last year, shaking awake the label that had indefinitely shelved Three 6 Mafia's last album.

The rap crew's downfall unexpectedly followed the most fruitful phase of its career, which began in 1995 with "Mystic Stylez" and led to a deal with Columbia in 2003. The brainchild of Juicy J and rapper/producer DJ Paul with a rotating cast of other members, Three 6 Mafia's brand of gritty hip-hop spilled into the mainstream in 2005, with the bombastic crossover single "Stay Fly" (961,000 downloads sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan) and a surprise Oscar win for "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp,Choose your favorite street lamp paintings from thousands of available designs.Thank you for providing us with information to help us maintain street light." from the Memphis-set film "Hustle & Flow."

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The rock flavour was on the menu

Thurs. - Sat. Hendrickson Field and Loggers Sports Grounds (Squamish)

If Friday had seen triumph in feel-good party vibes at the Squamish Valley Music Festival, Saturday's main purpose was to rock your socks off.

The rap, electro and dance explosion led by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis,They are called "solar" panels or solar module because most of the time, the most powerful source of light available is the Sun.Know about led high bay conversion kit and Bi-xenon HID kit. Jurassic 5 (and augmented by latenight sets by DJ whiz kid Madeon and Polaris nominees and powwow step trailblazers A Tribe Called Red) gave way to a more grizzled, hair of the dog celebration with Josh Homme and Queens of the Stone Age at the helm.

The rock flavour was on the menu early in the afternoon on the windswept Hendrickson Field in front of the Stawamus stage, with Vancouver indie rockers Yukon Blonde handing out a pulsating set of angular hooks. A jammy Everything In Every Way and set closer Stairway, where singer Jeff Innes bellowed, "I hear you calling out!" beckoned festivalgoers, many a tank-top sporting dude and dudette still haggard from the night before, through the main gates.

Even the hip hop and electro stuff on the schedule had a grittier edge, with British soul rockers The Heavy almost blowing the house down with a set that was completely bonkers, a crazed fan at one point quite literally standing atop a sea of hands, screaming every word with his arms outstretched. He made such an impression that singer Kelvin Swaby had to reach for his cellphone to snap a shot of the moment.

"How you like me now?" Swaby bellowed, closing the set with the band's signature single, the front of the stage a mass of tangled, jumping bodies.

If you were smart (and quick on your feet), you immediately ran over to the Market Square stage where Vancouver's Ballantynes were surprising more than a few with a double-drum, Hammond organ-heavy soul/gospel rock afternoon jam.

Of the many Vancouver acts to grace the smaller stages throughout the weekend (the Squamish Fest once again earned a badge of honour in its support for local artists), they really got your feet moving.

They certainly had more swing than Toronto's Diamond Rings, whose turn on the Garibaldi stage was flashy but ultimately too mechanical. Main man John O. is a solid glam/new-wave influenced songwriter, but in concert the click factor (yet again) wasn't really there. Too bad.

Divine Fits, a band regrouping members of indie rockers Spoon and defunct Canadian favourites Wolf Parade, gave a solid but drowsy performance that somehow acted as a short respite before Saturday's final stretch consisting of a series of runs between Fitz and the Tantrums, Childish Gambino (Community's Donald Glover, in a girl crazy turn) and a latenight set by electro act Pretty Lights on the Garibaldi stage; and Gogol Bordello, Band of Horses and QOTSA on the main Stawamus stage.

New York City's Gypsy party band Gogol Bordello have always had a certain celebratory festival flavour, which made them a natural fit to kick off the evening portion of Saturday's lineup.

Eugene Hutz and his pals stormed the stage for a solid hour with barely a break in between fiddle-and-guitar attacks blending klezmer, punk and old fashioned rock 'n' roll. No wonder each stop in Vancouver turns into three sold-out nights of pure insanity.

If one had to pick between Fitz and the Tantrums' derivative indie pop and Dear Rouge's transformative performance on the smaller Market Square stage,The world's largest independent online retailer for solar lighting, street lights & outdoor lighting fixtures. you had to go with the latter.

The Peak Performance Project alumni, who raised a few eyebrows when they won the music competition last year, clearly had the upper hand over Fitz's '80s-tinged pop rock, which owed its sound to much better acts like Hall & Oates and Eurythmics (which they covered in the form of Sweet Dreams).

Seattle indie rockers Band of Horses offered a solid set including an epic Is There A Ghost played in the gathering gloom, setting the stage for Queens of the Stone Age's big finale on the Stawamus stage, a merciful breeze cooling down the crowd.

Back from the brink after frontman Josh Homme almost died while having knee surgery a few years ago, QOTSA nailed a tremendous set that included old monster cuts from landmark 2003 album Songs for the Deaf (No One Knows) and excellent new album Like Clockwork (the road trip worthy My God Is The Sun), putting the final nail in the coffin of the biggest and arguably best edition of the Squamish Valley Music Festival to date.

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Just when it seemed Toyota

Just when it seemed Toyota had the Avalon’s sleepy, old-person-friendly image shook with a zesty redesign for 2013, along comes this hybrid variant to codger it right back up, right? But, lo, the Avalon hybrid doesn’t negate the cool points earned by the latest gas model. It is just as stylish as that version, and it is easily the belle of the big-sedan ball next to its only gas-electric competitor, Buick’s LaCrosse eAssist mild hybrid, and only asks that you sacrifice some acceleration and a little extra coin relative to the comparison-test-winning V-6 Avalon.



In place of the regular Avalon’s 268-hp, 3.5-liter V-6, the hybrid gets the 156-hp, 2.5-liter four-cylinder and 141-hp electric motor combination employed by the Camry hybrid. A CVT-like planetary gearbox transfers the system’s combined 200 horsepower to the front wheels, and a 1.6-kWh nickel-metal-hydride battery pack provides juice while only eating two cubic feet of trunk space. As you’d expect, the less-powerful hybrid’s 8.4-second 0-to-60 time is 2.3 seconds slower than the V-6 model, but it feels adequate in normal traffic.

In exchange for being slightly slower than the V-6, the Avalon hybrid gives much better fuel economy. The EPA estimates the hybrid will return 40 mpg in the city and 39 mpg on the highway—19 and 8 mpg higher than the gas model’s 21/31 ratings.

The fuel-economy story’s happy ending is partially provided by the hybrid’s EV-only mode. This locks the Avalon into electric-only operation up to around 20 mph for up to 1 mile, according to Toyota. With a fully charged battery (confirmed by the dashboard screen’s power flow display), we managed 2.6 dizzy, fossil-fuel-less miles circling our office parking lot on electric power. There are three other manually selectable drive modes: Normal is the default, Sport summons sharper throttle tuning and heavier steering effort for friskier moments, and Eco dulls throttle inputs and meters the A/C compressor to enhance efficiency.

Staying in EV mode—especially from a stop—demands a gentle right foot and a heaping helping of patience. We found that the Avalon could maintain up to 45 mph on electric power alone, but the engine is required to reach that speed. Lift off the accelerator while at a steady, sub-50-mph cruise on level ground or down a hill, and the electric motor takes over; gently step back onto the gas and you can sail along on electrons alone. A low battery, a grade, or abrupt throttle changes will reawaken the engine.

Abandon the eco-conscious agenda, and the hybrid won’t bore you silly. Like the V-6 Avalon, the hybrid is far more engaging to drive than Avalons of yore, as well as every other hybrid Toyota offers, thanks to a less willowy structure, beefed-up suspension uprights, and increased roll stiffness. But even as the car is more reactive, it still maintains a comfortable and quiet ride. The well-built, Lexus-like interior is stylish, and the capacitive-touch dashboard controls are nicely executed and respond quickly.

Our top-of-the-line, $42,210 Limited test model included HID headlights, a power sunroof, three-zone automatic climate control, a seven-inch Entune infotainment screen, a backup camera, a 10-way power driver’s seat, an eight-way passenger seat, perforated leather seating surfaces (heated and ventilated in front; heated in back), pushbutton start, and a power rear sunshade.More information about the program is available on the web site at www.hmhid.com.

The character remains true

The character remains true

I remember when Jeep launched its Commander and the PR told us all about how the company’s customers wanted to see a return to the rugged looks that complemented the go-anywhere ability of the vehicles. I thought of all those people who have no idea of the inherent ability of their Jeep, an ability I discovered a couple of years ago while tackling the legendary Rubicon Trail in the US in the iconic Wrangler.

Then my mind wandered to the statistics and figures. According to Barcroft, Jeep sales have risen 100% over the past three years and last year was its best year yet, selling 701,626 units.

Sales have risen in South Africa too, up 65% between 2011 and 2012 with our local market now the sixth biggest worldwide. Impressive, but then so is the new, or, if you like, the new new, Grand Cherokee.

Looking back on the drive, I have to admit that times have changed and vehicles like the Grand Cherokee, Range Rover, Toyota Land Cruiser and others tend to spend most of their time cruising along motorways and through urban arteries.

Occasionally, as we did on the launch, they might traverse a gravel track through a field to a nice picnic spot where the occupants can get out and admire the view, but they tend to live their lives on tarmac.

It is a shame, because the Grand Cherokee is a true Jeep at heart. In its latest iteration it features a refined Quadralift air suspension system as well as that seemingly bullet-proof four-wheel drive setup.

There is a new Selec-Terrain system that allows the driver to select anything from sport mode to rock, mud or sand. There is also a snow setting but unfortunately winter had not hit the Berg when we got there.

The drivetrain also features a new 8-speed gearbox, although it is perhaps not that new because it is the same box from ZF that BMW, Lexus and others use. Scott Seed, product strategy manager at Chrysler SA, did advise me that the box has been adapted by Chrysler for the diesel and SRT models.

It is a great gearbox, though, and while on occasion it felt the weight of the car, it provided smooth and relaxing shifts on the freeway while also offering some involvement through the paddle shifts when we found a bit of twisty tarmac.

Most of the changes to the vehicle are cosmetic and the list is actually more extensive than I first realised. There are the now seemingly compulsory LED daytime driving lights in the revised headlight clusters, although the SRT gets an extra set in the lower part of the front bumper, too.

The bumpers themselves have been revised front and rear and different models have different grilles to differentiate them. At the rear are new light clusters and a revised roof spoiler.

The biggest changes, though, are inside the cabin where there are all-new materials, redesigned seats and a host of trim options, most of which reflected the new attitude of the brand to the global village with materials from around the world.

The instrument cluster is now a very upmarket digital affair and Seed advised that there are more than 100 display options, again something that proved useful to know on the long drive back to Jozi.

There is a new U-Connect touchscreen infotainment system and you also get proper USB ports up front and fast-charging USB ports for the rear-seat occupants. On that note, the rear seats are now heated in some models and have a reclining function, too.For more information, please visit www.hmhid.com.

Lexus RX 350 F Sport

The new F SPORT is available only in all-wheel drive and features an eight-speed automatic transmission with razor-sharp responding paddle shifters, an F SPORT-tuned suspension to keep the exclusive 19X8 inch split five-spoke wheels in a Dark Graphic finish solidly planted on the ground.  In the front are an aggressive front bumper, HID headlamp clusters, and a deep mesh grille with the new signature chrome spindle design. Down below is a splitter and foglamps at the sides. Inside are a host of exclusive sporty cues making it even more fun to be piloting the new RX 350 F SPORT.

The new RX 350 F SPORT combines the standard 3.5 liter, DOHC, 24-valve, all-alloy V6 engine that generates 270hp at 6,200rpm and 248lb.ft. of torque at 4,700rpm.  Dual Variable Valve Timing with intelligence (VVT-i) is used to control both intake and exhaust camshafts independently; optimizing engine performance at many speeds and loads.  I would have liked to see a significantly increase in horsepower to really make the F SPORT go faster off the line.  It only got to 60mph from a standstill in just under 7 seconds, which is about the same for the regular RX 350. 

The RX SPORT’s eight-speed automatic is only available in the new F SPORT and comes with fun-to-use paddle shifters.  It gave me quicker shifting response with help from miniature high-flow linear solenoids that allowed for more precise clutch operation.  The torque converter uses a low-speed lockup damper to enable lock-up from first to eighth gear to help fuel economy.

All of the torque is transferred to all four wheels with an electronically controlled Active Torque Control AWD system.  Active Torque Control AWD uses an electronically controlled coupling ahead of the rear differential to vary torque distribution anywhere from 100:0 to 50:50 front to rear, depending on driving dynamics and road conditions.  When accelerating, or at launch on a low-grip surface, torque is quickly provided to all four wheels.  At steady speeds, torque is sent to the front wheels, enhancing fuel efficiency. 

Adding to the more aggressive handling prowess are the meaty Dunlop 235/55VR19 inch Grand Trek Touring A/S performance tires.  The wrap around aggressive 19X7.5 inch split-five spoke Dark Graphite finished alloy wheels.

The new exterior styling shows that this RX 350 F SPORT is more aggressive on the road.  The new distinctive and contemporary front fascia is highlighted with Lexus’ signature chrome spindle grille and a bolder sport bumper, featuring an F SPORT exclusive mesh grille.  The upper edge of the grille is set lower than the upper edge of the HID headlight assembly to establish a more aggressive look.  Standard LED daytime running lights and combination rear LED lamps reflect the ‘L’ design motif. 

Foglamps are integrated into the sculpted lower front bumper fascia that also includes a centered splitter.  Pronounced front fenders flow into the doors, and integrated rear fender flares neatly sweep around to pull together the taut rear corners of the vehicle.  The lower bodykit emphasizes the standard 19 inch wheels and tires.  Distinctive F SPORT exterior badges are seen on the top of the front fenders.  The profile shows steeply raked windshield A-pillars, a full perimeter chrome strip around the greenhouse, a chrome strip below the doors, aero-styled heated/self-dimming/power-folding rearview mirrors, pull-out door handles and an aluminum roof rack. 

The rear fascia features a spoiler on top of the power opening/closing liftgate, a step-up bumper with a rubber pad.  Down below is a diffuser to help better manage the airflow out the rear underside.  There is one exhaust tip hidden under the bumper to give it a cleaner look but I would have liked to see dual exhaust pipes spaced at each end for a more aggressive look from behind.