Solar Streets: New Roadways May Ditch Asphalt for Energy-Generating Sunshine Collectors

May 18, 2014 By Kristina Bravo Kristina Bravo is a Los Angeles–based writer. She is a fellow at TakePart. full biofollow me  Shared from: An electrical engineer from Ohio wants to give our streets a solar upgrade. As a kid in the 1960s, before most people had even heard of solar power, Scott Brusaw imagined “electric roads.” Almost five decades and two government-funded prototypes later, the electrical engineer from Ohio is on his way to raising $1 million to start producing solar panels for our streets and highways. Not to power the light, mind you—to function as streets and highways. Soon you may be driving on solar panels that power the buildings you’re passing by. “We can use [photovoltaic panels] to create roads, parking lots, tarmacs—anything under the sun,” Brusaw says. “All of the current asphalt and concrete currently soaking up the sun can be covered with our technology to turn that sunlight into clean, renewable electricity.” The biggest challenge Brusaw faced was engineering a case to protect the fragile solar cells. He began by researching the technology used in black boxes for airplanes and ended up using thick hardened glass. It sounds fragile, but after impact resistance and traction testing, it has proved able to handle trucks weighing several times the legal limit. A prototype solar parking lot in Sandpoint, Idaho, has been successful as well. If Brusaw’s crowdfunding campaign reaches its goal, production of the roadway panels could begin within a few months.  It may take some time to see them on highways, though. Neil Fromer, executive director of the Resnick Sustainability Institute at the California Institute of Technology, says installing solar power on large structures will take a lot of testing and paperwork. “The regulatory challenges of putting solar panels on rooftops were significant over the last 20 or 30 years,” Fromer says. “It’s only an avalanche [of effort] that managed to get it really working, so doing the roads would be a big challenge.” Electric safety concerns would also need to be addressed, he says, considering that the road is not controlled. But the end product might be well worth it. “The tremendous amount of solar energy that hits the earth’s surface in an hour is enough to power the planet for a year,” Fromer explains. “So when you think about renewable energy in the long term, solar is a huge part of that.” Considering that pavement covers as much as half of many U.S. cities, a lot of electricity could be generated by covering it all with solar panels. Brusaw’s project could have a huge impact—if it overcomes the many challenges to getting it out into the real world. “I think this is pretty cool, and I don’t want to sound too pessimistic about it,” Fromer says. “It’s really just a question of integrating [solar energy] into our existing electrical system. Roads are great surfaces to try it.... Technology innovation always helps.”

The TRUTH will set you FREE.

JOHN DONOVAN MAY 24, 2013 ARTICLE

Shell found guilty of fuel price fixing in Italy

May 24th, 2014 

by John Donovan. 

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By John Donovan

An article published yesterday in Italy reports that Shell Italy SpA  been convicted of abuse of a dominant position by using discriminatory practices in the fuel distribution market, affecting retail fuel prices. This was before Royal Dutch Shell sold its Italian retail network to Q8 (Kuwait Petroleum).  

Such manipulation cannot possibly be in accordance with Shell’s claimed business principles. 

Printed below is a Google translation of the article into English. Happy to substitute a more accurate translation if anyone cares to supply it. 

Headline: Faib, Shell convicted of abuse of dominant position: practiced unfair and discriminatory

Double Shell sentence for abuse of dominant position and breach of fair and non -discriminatory. And ‘ what they have decided, the Court of Massa as a function of the Labour Court ( Judge Dr. Erminia Agostini ) in the first instance and the Court of Massa in a panel in the complaint of the Company.

Shell was ordered by the Court of Massa, with a single judge on the basis of the Labour Court, to apply to the manager who is a partner Faib a transfer price of fuel similar to that practiced in the plant site always Massa, (same trade area, Avenue of Democracy), net of discounts for the service of self-service and discounts on sales support relating to actions for which the applicant does not adhere manager.The judge also ordered Shell to pay court costs.

The Anglo-Dutch company, which has already sold its assets to Q8, reported the same sentence on appeal.

The manager had asked the judge to declare the illegality of the conduct of the Shell Italy SpA and order the same company applicargli a purchase price of fuel equivalent to the same price at which he sells to operators of distribution systems AICO ONE Srl in the same catchment managed directly by AICO, the Company owned and controlled by Shell, with the same loan agreement, or applicargli a purchase price that is at least competitive with the prices granted to the operators of these plants or even AICO praticargli purchase prices that enable them to apply the retail prices competitive with those hesitated by operators of installations AICO or with the prices of plant operators, even of different brands, are located in the surrounding areas . Alternatively, the manager asked the judge permission of failing to supply exclusive agreement, stipulated in the contract of bailment and administration, authorizing it to buy fuel on the open market until that Shell had not provided the same prices available to plants AICO ONE in the same catchment area.

The Judge considered as part of a thorough analysis of the context of the existing legislative and timely examination of the agreement between the operator and the Company, which, having regard to fuel prices by Shell managers of the plant in the province of Massa, not seeming justified the imposition of the applicant to manage a sale price higher, then being raised an abuse of official position , resulting in the nullity of the prices charged, the prohibition of discriminatory practices may help to identify how the transfer price of the future doses that same practiced by Shell plant closest to the one managed by the operator.

The double judgment gives reason to the manager and he condemns the Shell systematic use of trade policies which are essentially in the practice of unfair and discriminatory conditions, based on the abuse of dominant position, as prohibited by the laws of the state.

In the same category Read Federations have incessantly referenced in these years of hard discussions with the unions. Words in the wind in front of the rapacious desire of exploitation and manipulation of legal technicalities, perpetrated by a corporate management superficial and short-sighted, whose horizon was often reduced to mere survival of a few weeks, with no strategy but to plunder the margins of its managers, imagining great management skills.

The double pronouncement reaffirms the framework of legality, always called back and said Federations by category and by Faib, opens up a new and previously unpublished and leaves plenty of space for any damages actions for damages suffered .

We hope that sounds as a warning and will serve to restore the land managers and companies have been stunned by the incessant flow of money supplied by the underpaid labor of managers.

Satisfaction was expressed by President Faib Martin Landi who wanted to remember “the strong and unceasing commitment for the implementation of legislation on the ground , even in fuel distribution , the prediction of the Institute of abuse of dominant position by imposing conditions unfair and discriminatory . An innovation legislative strongly desired that today marks a turning point in the governance of the sector and will have a specific gravity also in industrial relations . After years of complaints that the behavior of the Companies avvisavamo we fell in all locations , not excluding the judiciary finally arrives an exemplary sentence , and invoked for a long time, which can balance the relationship between managers and insurance companies. ”

Satisfaction was also expressed by Faib Confesercenti Massa, who witnessed the manager. ” It seems to me that it creates a precedent that will sound as a warning to the world’s oil – said Adriano Rapaioli , Coordinator of seat area Confesercenti Mass – . The Court recognized that ” the abuse of economic dependence “ and condemned the practice manager at Shell meanwhile applicant the same prices dell’AICO , Society competitor , even if the system does not have the self and at the moment can not compete on do it yourself, but the price is served, the day following the publication of the judgment was reduced by about 15 cents . Now practice the same prices of its competitors, the course served. We are satisfied because justice is done and why this ruling could open interesting scenarios for the category, after years of complaints and suffering for the managers and the union.”

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Posted in: Business Principles, GoogleNews, Litigation, Oil Price Fixing, Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Tagged: Italy · Litigation · Oil Prices · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Shell Italy SpA

The TRUTH will set you FREE.