Company to blanket former Sears Tower with 2 MW solar panels
Pythagoras Solar power has cooked up a novel solution — transforming Chicago’s Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower) into the largest vertical solar farm in the US. The farm will produce up to 2 MW of solar energy, reducing the building’s reliance on the power grid. The company’s pane design is dubbed high-density photovoltaic glass units and acts similar to louvered windows. It contains a thin layer of monocrystalline silicon, sandwiched between glass, which acts as a cell. An internal plastic prism directs angled (direct) sunlight onto the cell, while allowing diffuse daylight and less intense sunlight through. DailyTech
Emerson user receives 2010 HART Plant of the Year award
The Danube Refinery of the MOL Group, Budapest, Hungary, has been named the 2010 HART Plant of the Year by the HART Communication Foundation. This marks the fourth year out of the last six where Emerson Process Management technologies have played a key role at plants winning the award, which recognises sites around the globe that are using the advanced capabilities of HART communication in real-time applications to improve operations, lower costs, and increase availability. MOL’s Danube refinery was selected for the 2010 award because of its commitment to establishing a predictive and proactive maintenance program. TMCnet.com
Membrane-free desalination process unveiled at MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have developed a membrane-free, solvent-extraction method to remove salt from seawater that works at low temperatures. Upon slight heating, this solvent dissolves the water out, leaving salts and impurities behind. Upon cooling, the mixture separates into two layers by gravity, releasing pure water. Unlike reverse osmosis, this method does not use expensive membranes and unlike evaporation processes, does not need heating to high temperatures. The process was shown to be effective at temperatures as low as 40°C and the recovered water met salinity standards set by the WHO. Desalination & Water Reuse
Siemens to revamp industry division says German magazine
Siemens plans to restructure its industry division and to completely dissolve one of its sub-divisions by the fourth quarter of 2011. The company’s industry sector is too big and unwieldy compared with its energy and healthcare sectors, Der Spiegel reported, without citing sources. The industry sector has six sub-divisions: Industry Automation, Motion Control, Building Technologies, Industry Solutions, Mobility and Osram — its lighting unit. By autumn, Chief Executive Peter Loescher and Siegfried Russwurm, head of the industry division, plan to dissolve industry solutions and transfer that unit’s 30,000 employees to other parts of the division. Reuters