Page 81 - North American Clean Energy January/February 2019 Issue

What are the barriers to going green?
It starts with education. Research found that the more education respondents had, the more likely they were to report being eco-conscious. Learning more about our planet, and our responsibility to be environmental stewards, is a proven way to inspire behavioral change.
While the majority of conventional consumers (59 percent) have a desire to become more eco-conscious, they see a number of roadblocks getting in their way. Among these barriers was a belief that going green would be inconvenient; many conventional respondents believed their green counterparts engaged in signi cant lifestyle changes, like composting or driving an electric vehicle.
e data debunks this myth. Out of a list of 25 activities that might contribute to a green lifestyle, the top three among all respondents were recycling, using reusable shopping bags, and conserving water. In fact, people who consider themselves green and those who self-identify as a conventional consumer, exhibit many of the same behaviors.
e largest single reason conventional respondents gave (at 41 percent) was that going green would be too expensive. is is an outdated perception. Across the board, energy-e ciency products such as electric vehicles and solar panels are becoming more a ordable and easier to adopt. e price of solar energy has plummeted 86 percent since 2009; one megawatt of solar power now costs just $50 to produce at utility scale. Going green also delivers a tremendous return on investment. For example, smart thermostats can save the average customer up to $145 per year, paying for themselves in less than two years.
Solar is a gateway for embracing a green lifestyle
More than half of survey respondents have already installed solar panels, or were likely to do so in the next five years. Notably, younger people are leading this charge.
Among all respondents, solar seemed to serve as a kind of gateway to going green. Not only is installing solar panels becoming much more of a mainstream move, it also serves as an introduction for those who want to be more eco- friendly for ideological reasons, as well as those who are primarily focused on their nances. It’s a middle ground for both camps that makes a positive impact on both the environment, and their wallets.
David Bywater is CEO of Vivint Solar, a full-service residential solar provider. Vivint conducted a nationwide survey that polled more than 3,000 Americans, the results of which can be found in its 2018 Environmental Consumer Report.
Vivint Solar /// www.vivintsolar.com
Tailor-made energy ef cient axial piston pumps
Rexroth’s energy-e cient axial piston variable pumps reduce diesel consumption
in fork lift trucks - power class up to 3 tons load capacity. With size 28 in the A1VO axial piston pump series, Rexroth o ers an even ner gradation for application oriented, easy to install solutions. e variable pumps supply di erent functions of the working hydraulics, such as lifting and lowering, or the steering. e new variant increases the scalability of the A1VO series, which Rexroth already o ers in sizes 18 and 35. Despite the cube number of 28 ccm, the new size shares the same compact housing as the existing size 18. It can therefore be compactly installed in tight
spaces. e connections, which can be positioned laterally or to the rear, are easily accessible. At a nominal pressure of 250 bar and a maximum pressure of 280 bar,
the A1VO size 28 provides a high power density in a compact installation space and achieves an e ciency of nearly 90%. e high permissible self-priming speeds further complement this power comparison. Adjusting the cradle decouples the speed of the diesel engine from the pump power and produces the ow, according to the actual need. e speed in continuous operation and at maximum swivel angle has been set to 3,200 rpm, as a result, the A1VO size 28 covers a wide performance range.
Bosch Rexroth /// www.boschrexroth.ca
Connectivity and control
e new SeaConnect 370 IoT edge device allows users to monitor and control real-world processes and trigger actions with SeaCloud, a cloud-based, built-in event engine. Ideal for a variety of applications including asset management, data acquisition, environmental monitoring, and facility management, the SeaConnect 370 o ers an all-inclusive IoT solution that successfully enhances existing systems. Sealevel's product assesses environmental conditions and responds accordingly,
as well as provides historical reporting. e SeaConnect 370 can con gure trigger actions, con gures to the web by mobile device, and has integrated Wi-Fi or cellular connectivity. e SeaConnect 370 features two Form C relays, four digital inputs (wet or dry contact), two 12-bit A/D converters, a 1-Wire bus interface, and a TI SimpleLink CC3200 ARM Cortex-M4 microcontroller unit. An optional QuickStart Demonstration Kit is available for demonstration and testing purposes. With integrated Wi-Fi capability, the SeaConnect 370 can also be con gured with a Verizon Cat 1 cellular modem. For applications where geolocation is required, the SeaConnect 370 is available with an optional cellular and GPS module. For data logging, the 370 interfaces with Sealevel’s optional SeaCloud service. SeaCloud o ers a secure, robust, scalable, Industrial Internet of ings (IIoT) software platform and is designed to monitor, track, analyze, and control data from Sealevel I/O devices. SeaCloud can be private-labeled and customized to meet speci c user needs.
e current iteration is designed for data-at-rest applications such as condition monitoring and operational intelligence. Other options include dweet.io and custom interfaces to existing customer cloud applications.
Sealevel Systems /// www.sealevel.com
North American Clean Energy
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