Chicago has just unveiled the first solar-powered electric vehicle charging station. The Solar Plug-In Stations will be used daily by the City of Chicago Department of Fleet Management to power the city’s electric cars.
Scott Emalfarb, CEO at Carbon Day said, “Without these stations it would be like driving around in traditional cars without the availability of gas stations. The day of true plug-in electric vehicles will be here sooner than most people realize and the world needs to be ready to accommodate them. Carbon Day will build them and they will come.”
Richard Lowenthal, CEO of Coulomb Technologies said, “Carbon Day and the City of Chicago are demonstrating true innovation, ingenuity and initiative… Solar energy and electric vehicles are an inevitable partnership that is one more step to reducing our dependence on foreign oil.”
Carbon Day Automotive’s Solar Plug-In Station(TM), built by Carbon Day Construction, was designed by the world renowned firm of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture.
Wanxiang America Corporation manufactured the solar panels that form a tree-like canopy built by Residential Steel. Pure Energy, LLC, Northbrook installed the sculpted piece and interfaced it with the concealed underground battery pack enhanced to store solar energy, specially designed and developed by ALL CELL Technologies.
Carbon Day Automotive hopes to have thousands of these stations nationwide by 2011. It’s time for the rest of the world, especially the sunnier parts, to get serious about a strategy to match the predicted decline in oil reserves with an increase in renewable energy sources.
Thats great. The Earth is getting cleaner and cleaner.
Hello;
I would like to take a moment to write a summary of my patent. It’s a national solar grid concept, which utilizes our existing infrastructure i.e., the trucking industry and the U.S. highway system, for generation, storage and management of energy, to supplement the national grid.
I would like to give you some numbers to illustrate the impact trucking industry has on the economy and the evironment.
– Nearly 80% of U.S. communities receive their goods by a truck.
– Trucking moves nearly 70% of all freight tonnage in U.S.
– Presently ther are nearly 2 million tractor-trailers registered in U.S., generating combined revenue of over $650 billion.
– Trucking consumes 54 billion gallons of diesel and gasoline per year, and as fuel prices have risen and remained high, profit margins have sharply decreased.
– Truck idling amounts to 1 billion gallons of fuel burned, without advancing the cargo towards its destination.
– Single long haul truck has to take 10 hours off after driving for 11 hours. At 1 gallon of fuel per hour spent idling, that translates to 10 gallons of fuel wasted per day.
– Truck idling emits an estimated 11 million tons of CO2, 18,000 tons of NOx, and 5,000 tons of particulate matter annually.
In view of these circumstances, there is a pressing need to reduce fuel consumption, offset rising fuel costs, and reduce the carbon foot print of each truck on the road, and the carbon foot print of the nation as a whole.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a mobile electricity distribution network that can accumulate, store and distribute electricity into existing power grid, in turn lowering the necessity of power plants to burn fossil fuels. Some of the “by products” of the invention are lowering of the fuel costs by eliminating idling which in turn will drive down the cost of the goods delivered, while reducing the carbon foot print of the trucking industry. This system could power up some of the charging stations for electric vehicles. Also, there is a pressing need to update the inefficient, and antiquated power grid, which will become prone to blackouts, as well as the possibility homeland security issues. By implementig this idea we will be able to create a backup power distribution network, which in the time of need will be at the least a back up system for emergency systems.
The aim of my invention is to lease the roof space of the trailers and install solar panels on them which will be tied to a battery and inverter module, which will be built into the chassis of the trailer. The stored energy will transfer to the power grid where ever the truck stops, for rest, refueling or back at the hub of operation. There the stored trailers will continue to produce power which can be used to power up the facilities or be sold back to the power grid. All of the onboard electric need will be supplied by the battery bank and eliminate idling. Back at the storage facilities the unused trailers will be able to interconnect and become a major power producing plant. This translates into trains and container shipping.
By utilizing thin film PV technology, we will be able to keep the weight down, and with the advancements in battery efficiency, I believe that innovation will catch up to the implementation of this solar grid backup.
This system will create many jobs which at the current state of economy is a very welcome sight. The power discharge stations will be manned by certifed electricians, the racking of the panels and discharge stations will employ many people. There is a very limited impact on the infrastructure as well as landscape, which many are concerned about. It takes care of the space allocation problems as well as the aestetic infrastructure required for installation of solar arrays.
Thank you for your time,
Konrad Kwiatkowski
Managing Partner
Interstate Solar Utilities, LLC
11 Main Street
Old Mystic, CT 06355
Office 860-572-0089
Fax 860-572-0084