Avondale police add new technology

Two cameras that can scan thousands of license plates in a single officer's shift are the newest technology to come to the Avondale Police Department.

The automatic license-plate reader system works faster than police could alone, taking color, black-and-white or infrared pictures of every vehicle that it passes, said patrol Officer Adam Lewis, who helped train the rest of the department in the new system.

Reading license plates primarily allows police to recover stolen vehicles, but the system can alert police about a specific vehicle's presence, for example, during an Amber Alert.

"It helps me multitask," Lewis said. "I can be looking for other offenses . . . while the camera is looking for cars."

During one shift, Lewis scanned 600 to 800 plates while responding to his normal calls.

Since the system was installed on an undercover police truck about three months ago, he has recovered several stolen vehicles, he said.

Two cameras sit on the sides of the truck's bed. One can look across four lanes of traffic, while the other looks close up at passing cars.

Cables connect the cameras to a computer unit inside the truck, under the backseat.

Information from the cameras feeds into a laptop at the driver's right side.

As the truck passes traffic and parked cars, the cameras snap pictures of the license plates and check them against a Department of Public Safety database of stolen vehicles.

When a match is found, alarms go off, alerting the officer.

The system cost about $20,000 and was paid for with money seized from drug and other criminal activity.

Lewis said that when a stolen vehicle is found, officers always call back to dispatch to confirm the finding.

Then, he said, he makes a traffic stop or calls for marked police cars as backup.

"It's been very effective," Lewis said.

He said that the system found one stolen vehicle while the department was still testing its software.

[Via www.azcentral.com]

New Car Technology Guarantees Green Lights All the Times



Traffic lights exist to control the flow of traffic, ensuring that we don't all go driving like maniacs on the road. But what if there was a technology that made it so we never had to stop at a light -- ever? Believe it or not, that's the idea behind Audi's new Travolution device -- and if early test results are to be believed, the wireless attachment could significantly reduce traffic congestion as well as exhaust emissions.

By connecting wirelessly to "smart" traffic lights, the Travolution calculates the distance of an upcoming light and then tells you how fast you need to go in order to reach the light as soon as it turns green. It's just like driving down your favorite road where you have the timing of the signal changes memorized, only it'll work with every road (well, the ones that have intelligent signals). By having cars constantly moving, traffic inevitably speeds up, gas mileage improves due to less stopping and starting, and less idling means less CO2 production. Can this device do no wrong?

Well, it's clear that the Travolution system has many potential benefits, and as mentioned, a two-year test that Audi conducted saw significant improvements in traffic congestion. But remember that in less than optimum situations (e.g. standstill traffic), the device may not provide any benefit at all. And don't forget that traffic lights will need to be refitted and reprogrammed to be compatible with the Travolution. So while we love the idea of a traffic-free city, we won't hold our breath for an actual release date. [From: Daily Mail]

A place for clean technology

MASSACHUSETTS, known throughout the world as a center of innovation in high tech, life sciences, and information technology, has an opportunity to add clean technologies to this list and lead a worldwide transition toward a cleaner, healthier economy.

Current ways of doing business have contributed to climate change, resource depletion, habitat destruction, and increasing rates of cancer and other diseases. In contrast, clean technologies are products, services, and production processes that greatly reduce or eliminate negative environmental and health impacts, and use resources more responsibly. They reduce our exposures to toxins in our work, homes, and environment; reduce pollution, waste, energy, and water use; and provide good jobs, from entry level to executive.

While we have been hearing a lot about the state's outstanding efforts in renewable energy and energy efficiency, the University of Massachusetts Lowell's Clean Tech Initiative has found that the Commonwealth has a leading edge in four other key areas:

  • Green chemistry: the design and use of safer chemicals in products and manufacturing processes.
  • Green buildings: products and services that reduce health and environmental impacts of constructing, renovating, and operating buildings.
  • Materials reuse: returning products and materials to the economic mainstream through reuse, remanufacturing, composting, and recycling.
  • Emerging materials: such as bio and nano-materials, which, when designed responsibly, have the ability to yield significant efficiencies in energy and materials use.

    These technologies work alone or in synergy with each other. Examples include water-based substitutes for the cancer-causing chemical perchloroethylene in dry cleaning; building insulation made from recycled paper or textiles; flooring that reduces asthma triggers; and solar panels incorporating nano-technologies to increase energy output.

    Massachusetts already has great strengths in these fields, including world-renowned leaders in green chemistry; the highest concentration of architects, designers, engineers, and builders in the country; a recycling infrastructure that employs close to 20,000 people in collection, processing, and turning these resources into new products; and two of the top five nano-manufacturing research centers in the United States.

    The Milken Institute's 2008 State Technology and Science Index lists Massachusetts as being in the best position of any state to achieve high-quality economic growth thanks to its world-class research institutions, cutting-edge firms, and its ability to leverage these assets in attracting and retaining a skilled work force. Massachusetts also has an advantage in transitioning to a clean-tech economy because of its expertise in specialized manufacturing, its strong export ties to Europe and Asia where demand for green products is growing, its ability to attract public and private investment, and high environmental awareness.

    No state yet has developed a comprehensive strategy to reorient its economy around the idea of clean tech, and internationally only Germany is undertaking a strategic initiative to build its economy in this way. Taking advantage of this opportunity will require leadership from both Governor Patrick's office and the Legislature. Such leadership exists for clean energy, but a coherent vision that links our state's economic development strategies with a wide range of sustainable, clean technologies is lacking.

    Our clean-tech initiative has convened labor, health, environment, business, and academic leaders to discuss how Massachusetts can build a vibrant clean-tech economy and identity. The group's recommendations include:

  • Establishing a state Office of Clean Technologies to coordinate state activities that support tax and other incentives for investment in and application of clean technologies, as well as research, business assistance, collaborations, and markets development;
  • Passing new legislation, such as the safer alternatives bill, which would help firms transition to less toxic substances;
  • Restoring funding for the state's recycling programs to reduce the need for new disposal facilities;
  • Promoting Massachusetts as a state that welcomes and supports all types of genuinely cleaner technologies.

    There is great enthusiasm throughout the state for taking bold action to make Massachusetts the hub for innovation and adoption of clean technologies. We must take advantage of this enthusiasm and the Commonwealth's competitive advantages to become a world leader of the green economy of the future.

    Amy Perlmutter is a fellow of the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production. Joel Tickner is an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell and project director of the Lowell Center.

  • [Via www.boston.com]