Power Your Home of Tomorrow with Solar Energy

As you’ve seen here on Tech Today, there’s a lot of gadgets to look forward to. But they all run on some sort of power. So, how are we going to power the homes of tomorrow?

Coal, oil and gas are having a bit of an image problem, and they’re not even going to be around forever for us to use. So what are we going to do? Wait for some more to be found, or make a change to a new level of technologies?

I vote for the second option, and the big name for other energy sources at the moment are renewables.

Renewables are sources of energy that don’t run out, and there are so many different types. There’s solar, geothermal, wind, wave and tidal, and even biomass.

Some of these options are way too big to ever work on just a single home, but some of these renewable sources can be used on a much smaller scale. This means that you could heat up your home and charge all your new electronics without having to rely on the big energy firms.

Let’s take a look at the best choice for renewable home energy.

Solar Power

The UK isn’t exactly the most sunny country in the world, but don’t count out solar panels as an option to power your home of tomorrow. They actually work even when it’s cloudy outside!

Most people think that there’s only one type of panel, but there’s actually two: solar thermal and photovaltaic. The main difference between the two types is how they use sunlight to work. Solar thermal panels use the suns energy to create heat, which then powers a generator to make electricity, whereas photovaltaic directly converts the suns rays into electricity.

There’s already over 500,000 homes in the UK that have solar panels on their roofs, and if they create any energy that you don’t use, it gets fed back into the national grid. The government introduced the Feed-In Tariff schemes (FITS) a few years ago, which means that you get paid for the energy that you put into the national grid.

According to Which?, the Feed-In Tariff scheme will give a household nearly £600 pounds a year on average for the extra power that they generate.

Solar panels certainly look like their going to be a big part of our future, they certainly are an investment, but for more and more people, it’s the way to go for powering their homes of tomorrow.

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Stay Safe in the Sun with the Netatmo June

When the sun finally starts shining here in the UK, we’re all out in force, soaking up the rays in our gardens and parks. When it comes down to sun protection though, we can sometimes forget to top up, and nothing can spoil good weather like a bad case of sunburn.

For ladies though, there’s a new way to keep tabs on your sun exposure, it’s called the June, and it looks just like a bracelet.

The June, made by Netatmo and first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, is marketed specifically for women and is meant to look fashionable whilst protecting you from the sun. They’ve even bought in Camille Toupet, who’s worked with big brands such as Louis Vuitton, to design the ‘jewel’ which contains the UV sensors.

The bracelet itself doesn’t give you the information, it instead relays it to the mobile phone app, which is available for iPhone. The app is well designed and easy to use, and it gives you multiple readings. First, it tells you how much time you’ve spent in the sun that day and provides a UV index, which tells you the strength of the UV rays that you’re currently out it.

The app also has a personalised touch, taking into account your skin type and outdoor habits, it gives you notifications to reapply sun screen and also suggests times to maybe put on a hat and sunglasses too.

It’s a smart and innovative way to make people more aware of how much time they spend in the sun, and linking it to a smartphone ensures that the user will be able to easily see their exposure levels like they would their emails and messages.

There’s no news about whether Netatmo plan to make a version of the June that’s made for men, but if you’re a health conscious man who wants to take care of his skin, there are other wearable UV sensors out on the market including the UVeBand (which vibrates on your wrist when you need to reapply sunscreen) and the Sunfriend.

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Autonomous Cars – Enjoy the Ride

When you watch a sci-fi show or movie, cars can play a big part in setting the scene. Think of the DeLorean in Back to the Future or flying cars of 2015 in Back to the Future Part II. Pretty cool right?

We’re not quite at the level where cars can fly or travel through time, but we’re on the way to having cars that can drive themselves. Even Google are getting in on the act:

The Google driverless car uses laser radars and high definition maps to create routes that the car will follow. There aren’t any plans for Google to start selling their tech just yet, but they do hope that eventually other car makers will want to work with them in the future.

Volvo are also coming up with their own concept. They want to make a car that can take passengers on long distance rides, getting them safely from A to B. Instead of using huge computer systems and laser radars, they want to use the humble magnet, embedded into the road.

While it sounds like both a sensible and zany idea (how very Swedish), Volvo has already carried out some tests. They built a 100 metre test track and drove their modified S60 down the track at 90mph, keeping it in place with the magnets.

They say that all cars could be fitted with the new technology, costing only a few hundred pounds, compared to the Google car technology which costs tens of thousands. The only potential problems that could emerge from this idea is the amount of time and money required to line the roads of Sweden with magnets, which if improperly handled could quickly mount up.

Meanwhile, in Switzerland, the 2014 Geneva Motor show has been attracting another type of autonomous car. The Link & Go 2.0 by AKKA Technologies was unveiled in March as an improvement to the first model, which was unveiled at the previous years motor show. New features included a smartphone controlled parking system, a fully autonomous driving mode (as well as a steering wheel and pedals for when you want a turn to drive) and an ‘augmented reality display’ – so that passengers can watch the world go by within the cabin.

The car itself is powered by two electric motors, which according to AKKA, provides the car with a range of 124 miles. Not bad. In a similar fashion to the Google car, the Link & Go 2.0 uses lasers, cameras and other sensors to create a 360 degree view of the world around it.

AKKA also plan for individual cars to interact with each other, safely coordinating between lanes of cars, pedestrians and cyclists, with them all being part of the city of tomorrow. The other idea that AKKA has is that these cars will become the future of car sharing, picking up and dropping off colleagues who live in similar areas to one another.

When the car is in full autonomous mode, the steering wheel retracts and the front seats can be turned around the face the rear. This creates a relaxing cabin for passengers to socialise with one another, all whilst enjoying the view as the car safely takes them to their destinations.

This last car definitely looks the most futuristic and comfortable, but it may be a while yet before we see these self driving cars out and about on our roads. The Google car currently has the approval to road test their vehicles in California, Nevada, Florida and Michigan, and Volvo have only tested their car on an empty track.

But, I think that one day cars like this may be a common sight, especially for car sharing. Wouldn’t that be a nice way to get to work in the morning, not having to stress too much about being stuck in the morning traffic? You can just let the car do the driving, whilst you relax in the cabin.

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Let’s Play Star Trek with Medical Tricorders

Have you ever seen Star Trek? The doctor on board has a cure for just about everything!

One of the key pieces of tech that the ships doctor needs is the medical tricorder, a handheld device that scans the patient to find out what was wrong with them. Ever since these nifty little devices have been on our screens, people have been trying make ones of their own.

With the creation of smartphones and apps, the idea of a medical tricorder is becoming something of a reality.

One particular app that is available for iPhone, iPad and iPod users is VitaDock, an app that allows you to keep track of your blood sugar levels, body temperature, blood pressure and body weight. The company behind the app is MEDISANA, a German company that specialises in home healthcare technology, selling a variety of products ranging from blood glucose monitors and wrist heart monitors (for keen runners) to cellulite massagers.

The idea behind this bundle of technologies is that you can measure the statistics that you need and save the data on your app, creating a medical history for yourself and potentially setting goals for an improved health.

For the full package, you need to purchase the GlucoDock, ThermoDock, CardioDock and TargetScale equipment.

GlucoDock – if you have diabetes, or just want to keep an eye on your blood sugar levels, then GlucoDock is a way for you to keep track of your sugar. It works in a similar way to traditional blood sugar monitors, you prick your finger and let the test strip absorb the drop of blood, after a few seconds, you get a blood sugar reading. Et voila! Your data is now stored on the phone app, and you can see how your sugar levels change throughout the day.

ThermoDock – this add on will measure your body temperature simply by pointing it towards your forehead. Just like the GlucoDock add on, you plug the ThermoDock into your phone, and the infrared technology will take and record your temperature on the phone.

CardioDock – instead of inserting the add on and holding your phone to measure your stats, you plug your phone into the CardioDock, which is similar to an iPhone/iPod base station. Once the phone is plugged in, you place the cuff, which is similar to the ones used by doctors and nurses, around your arm before pressing start. The cuff will then inflate and take your blood pressure, before sending the data to your phone.

TargetScale – unlike the previous three add ons, the TargetScale works without being physically connected to the phone. Working via bluetooth, the scale is used in the traditional way, but instead of just taking body weight, it also measures body fat, body mass index (BMI), body composition and bone mass. Another feature is the balance test, to see if weight is evenly distributed on both legs.

While this bundle of technologies isn’t exactly on the level of Star Trek, they’re certainly an impressive example of personal health technologies. The look that MEDISANA has designed for them fits seamlessly with Apple’s designs, making the new technologies blend seamlessly with the ones you already have.

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Fridges – More Than Just Fresh Food

There’s no more milk in the fridge. It’s the problem that we’ve all had to face and there’s only two options: either you go out and buy more or you go without. Wouldn’t it just be easier if the fridge could fill itself?

Well, two years ago LG unveiled their new ‘smart fridge‘ at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, it retails here for around £2000 and includes a LCD touchscreen and internet connection to download new recipes based on the contents inside it.

The idea is that when you’ve bought some food, you scan in the barcodes using the scanner on the front door or describe the product to the fridge using the voice recognition technology. The fridge then keeps track of the freshness and amount of food remaining in the fridge. So, if you’re running low on milk, the fridge can use the internet to order more milk for you from websites such as Ocado. If you select a recipe that it suggests, it once again uses the internet to turn on your oven to the correct temperature and time.

For £2000, there’s definitely a lot of technology for the money, but there could be problems. The first is that you will have to buy more of LG’s smart technology to work with the fridge, which ups the cost. The second is that some people may not appreciate a fridge that gives you so much information, they may just want a box that keeps the food cool and fresh.

This fridge does look like recognisable as the a future part of our kitchens. But Electrolux, another big firm, has ideas that are slightly more out of the box.

Every year, Electrolux runs the Electrolux Design Lab competition, where people can send in their ideas for the technology of tomorrow. In 2010, one of their finalists was the Bio Robot Refrigerator, designed by Yuriy Dmitriev. Instead of a cool box to store your food, the fridge is filled with a gel containing bio nano robots. You insert the food into the gel which creates an airtight pocket around it, the bio nano robots then absorb the heat from the food and emit it in a form of bioluminescence.

This last idea is still a prototype at the moment, but one day in the far future, fridges like these could be a reality. As for now, internet fridges may be making their way towards your kitchen.

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