CANADIAN 'FREEZEWAY' WILL LET COMMUTERS ICE SKATE TO WORK

Artist's Rendering of Edmonton Freezeway Artist's Rendering of Edmonton Freezeway Edmonton Freezeway It's an idea after Ben Wyatt's heart. The BBC reports that the Canadian city of Edmonton is thinking about taking advantage of the cold, dark nature of its winters and creating an 11-kilometer-long (almost 7 miles) 'Freezeway.' The Freezeway would function as a bike path and greenway in the summer, then, once the weather started getting cold, flooded and frozen, creating an icy surface that residents could use to skate to work. The idea was presented at the 2015 Winter Cities Shake-Up a conference for urban planners and others based in chilly cities. Having outdoor skating paths isn't a totally new idea in Canada--Ottawa's Rideau Canal is approaching a record number of consecutive days of skating this winter. While the idea seems to have gained enthusiastic support from some people in Edmonton, others, including City Council member Mike Nickel are skeptical. Nickel told the BBC the Freezeway was "the stupidest idea I've heard."

Using 'fuzzy logic' to optimize hybrid solar/battery systems

In the Journal of Renewable & Sustainable Energy,from AIP Publishing, the group describes a new sizing system of a solar array and a battery in a standalone photovoltaic system that is based on fuzzy logic -- a many-valued logic system designed to reason outputs by considering a range of possibilities rather than a simple, binary yes or no, as with classical logic.

"The fuzzy logic system accepts the consumed energy and the monthly average of daily solar radiations as inputs and then outputs photovoltaic panel surfaces and the battery capacity," explained Chokri Ben Salah, a researcher in the Control and Energy Management Lab in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the National School of Engineers of Sfax, as well as an assistant professor at the Higher Institute of Applied Science and Technology of Sousse in Tunisia.

"Our method applies Matlab/Simulink interfaces, which aren't complicated compared with other forms of simulation and model-based design," said Ben Salah. In fact, it's possible to build up a graphic integrated user interface to facilitate the usage of the proposed system. The group verified system performance with different inputs by simulations using calculated outputs.

Their results demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach, Ben Salah added. For example, an expansion-planning model of photovoltaic panels and battery systems for a domestic "smart" house performed well in simulations.

The sizing photovoltaic/battery system provides the capacity of batteries used in the hybrid system and determines the surface of the PVP to be used. Its primary significance is "characterized by its simplicity in the usage and its efficiency in optimizing the cost and losses," they report.

In terms of applications, the system may find use in a number of areas, including domestic dwellings, public buildings and industrial electrical settings, as well as for agricultural water pumping in the field.

What's the next step for the team's work? "An extension of the present system is possible -- such as appending a wind or fuel cell energy source," noted Ben Salah. "Our system can also be improved by adding an electrolyzer system to permit it to convert lost photovoltaic solar energy into hydrogen that can be stored in a special tank and then be used elsewhere."

NET NEUTRALITY PROPOSAL MOVING AHEAD

FCC

Net neutrality appears to be coming soon to a broadband pipe near you! Several months after President Obama first laid out his plan to keep the Internet playing field level and just weeks after FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler announced his intent to follow the White House's lead, the path for new rules governing Internet providers appears to be clear.

According to the New York Times, Republicans such as Senate Commerce Committee chairman Senator John Thune of South Dakota had looked to block the rule change and instead find a legislative option, but Democrats had largely sided with the president and Chairman Wheeler's plan, stymieing any hope of a bill. With no alternative in sight, those objections have now been dropped.

The proposed rule change would reclassify broadband Internet services under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, giving the FCC the authority to enforce rules preventing Internet providers from providing favorable treatment—such as faster speeds—to companies in exchange for money. In other words, Netflix or Hulu can't pay to have their video delivered more quickly than a competing but smaller company. Perhaps more importantly, these rules also apply to mobile broadband, meaning that cell phone companies can't decide to throttle or block data coming from certain services. The hope is to give all Internet companies, regardless of the size of their wallets, a fair shake at competing, and make sure that consumers have access to the content they want, without interference from providers.

But the politicking isn't quite over yet. The official vote of the FCC is scheduled for Thursday, and though the vote is expected to pass, at least one of the agency's commissioners has raised strident objections. Stay tuned.