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Thursday, December 04, 2008

SolarMetro.com domain and Solar Metro Online website are for sale--These are great name brands for a solar products company!

Ron S. Nolan, Ph.D.
222 Santa Cruz Avenue, No. 11
Aptos, CA 95003
(831) 688-3158
nolan@solarmetro.com

Subject: SolarMetro.com domain, website and Solar Metro trade names are offered for sale.

Please pass this on to the director of marketing.

Dear Sir or Madam:

The SolarMetro.com domain and website and the trade names SolarMetro™, Solar Metro™ and Solar Metro Online™ are for sale--These are great name brands for companies in the fields of solar energy applications, transportation, alternate energy applications and solar products.

I have owned the SolarMetro.com domain name and have operated the website, Solar Metro Online™ since August, 2005,. For personal reasons, I have decided to part with this property in spite of many positive trends that have been developing recently. I am now offering these properties and all associated rights at a price of $49,750 USD. You are welcome to make a counter offer, but please note that I am a motivated seller and am contacting many prospective buyers in the solar and transportation industries. You may never get another chance to own the worldwide domain, solarmetro.com.

Date of First Use of Trade Names in Commerce


9/1/2006 Quiznos advertisement on Solar Metro Online™.

The offered properties include the Solar Metro Online™ website which you
may do with what you wish; expand it or make changes to suit your needs. Here are a few examples of the exceptional search engine results for solarmetro.com which can be checked independently.

Solar Metro Online™
Search Engine Rankings

Search Topic: Solar Product Reviews

“Solar Product Reviews”, entered into Google search gives solarmetro.com ranks No. 2 out of 1,370.000 entries.

“Solar Product Reviews” entered into Yahoo search gives solarmetro.com a rank of
No 2 out of 34,300,000 entries!

Search Topic: Monterey Bay Environment

“Monterey Bay Environment” entered into Google search gives solarmetro.com a rank of No 1 out of 575,00 entries.

“Monterey Bay Environment” entered into Yahoo search gives solarmetro.com a rank of No 2 out of 6,940,000 entries.


Website Stats
http://www.solarmetro.com/stats/

I am now offering the domain SolarMetro.com, website--plus the trade names Solar Metro and Solar Metro Online and all associated rights. My asking price is $49,750 USD. You are welcome to make a counter offer, but please note that I am a motivated seller and am contacting many prospective buyers in the solar and transportation industries. You may never get another chance to own the worldwide domain, solarmetro.com.

For our mutual protection, the exchange of property and funds will be conducted by escrow.com; a quality, independent escrow service. You may consult WHOIS to verify that I am the owner of SolarMetro.com at:
https://www.networksolutions.com/whois-search/solarmetro.com

Please contact me ASAP if you want this domain to be your own. I reserve the right to alter my minimum asking price without notice.

Regards
Ron S. Nolan, Ph.D.
222 Santa Cruz Avenue, No. 11
Aptos, CA 95003
(831) 688-3158
nolan@solarmetro.com


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Saturday, November 15, 2008

GRANT'S PET SHOP





Grant's Pet Shop

A New Techno-Thriller
by Ron S. Nolan
(head Solar Metron)



In GRANT’S PET SHOP a brilliant parapsychologist discovers that two of her experimental subjects, bottle-nosed dolphins, possess telepathic powers. The dolphin's clairvoyance ultimately draws Dr. Sandra Grant into the high-tech world of computer espionage. There she discovers a secret, government plot to annihilate Iran. The story fuses paranormal processes and computer viruses into a fast paced adventure that may be of interest to both readers of contemporary fiction and enthusiasts of science fiction. Although Grant's Pet Shop ventures into the supernatural, the events are not so extreme as to seem implausible. The novel is about a young Berkeley professor, Sandra Grant, who was raised by a grandmother endowed with keen psychic powers. Grandma Grant manifested a remarkable rapport with animals in the pet shop, had prescient visions, and was telepathic. During a life-long search to scientifically document paranormal phenomena, Sandra discovers that dolphins offer idea research subjects. Through a chain of fortuitous events, a pair of twin dolphins are made available to Grant by a paranoid general intent upon the ultimate destruction of Iran. General Pratt Houston's intelligence sources indicate that Iran has finally acquired nuclear ICBM's. Houston wants to initiate a preemptive strike against Iran but is overuled by the President. Driven mad by the government's reluctance to use full military force in Viet Nam, and with the long-drawn out war in Iraq still unsettled, Houston forces a computer programmer to create a virus designed to wreak havoc in the Iran defense network. When Iran panics and launches their missiles out of desperation, the subsequent U.S. counter attack will permanently solve the Mid-East problem--at least according to the general's twisted thinking. The computer virus is such an extremely virulent strain that it must be assembled in secret on an isolated atoll in the Pacific--a location only a few miles from where Professor Grant is conducting her research. As Grant suspects, the dolphins do have well developed telepathic abilities and one of the twins becomes infected with the computer virus. After the dolphin spreads the viral code to the lab computer, Grant and her assistant piece together the general's plan...and their lives become endangered. After a tense chase across the Pacific, the dolphins and Grant escape to the boarded up pet shop in Key West. They hastily conceive a plan to warn the President about the pending disaster. Using their powers, the dolphins are able to convince the President that Grant's wild accusations are true. The story is exciting and takes place in colorful locations. The characters are realistic and the events reasonable. GRANT’S PET SHOP is a thriller that takes place in a setting of espionage and high technology.





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Friday, June 01, 2007

New Electric Scooter


Eco-Scooter


I picked up my E-Scooter from Rick at the Volks Café at 1823 Soquel Avenue Wednesday the 16th and put the first 12 miles on it to take it home to Seacliff Beach. I had a loaner bike for a few days and liked it a lot. I was presently surprised to find my new bike to be much quicker in acceleration that the loaner with good speed (30 mph) on the flats and about 20-25 mph or so on slight uphills.

Cool Look


Eco-Scooter


Wherever I go, people wave. Big guy, small scooter. When I park, people gather around and ask questions; usually where can they get one. More on that to come.

The bike design is striking and functional, sort of retro Vespa-like. You do need to plan excursions in advance because unlike other e-bikes, the Eco-Cruz has no pedals. Run out of juice and you will be pushing the scooter home. The AMP gauge in the instrument cluster does give you an easy-to-view display of remaining battery capacity.


Eco-Scooter


The bike has a strong headlight with bright and low beam settings and is equipped with running lights, turn signals and indicator, brake light and speedometer in mph and kph. It is driven by a 1 kw drum motor in the rear wheel powerd by a 48 volt system. The scooter has 13" tires and front and rear drum brakes. It has two mirrors and is available in four flavors: strawberry, lemon, liquorice and blueberry.

The scooter comes with an AC to DC charger which fits under the seat. You can lock the seat while charging to keep it from getting ripped off. All you need to do is to run an extension cord from a wall socket to the charger plug.


Eco-Scooter


In the rear luggage compartment you will find a shiny new helmet (required) and a custom vinyl cover to keep your new wheels nice and shiny,.

Performance: What to Expect

Although the scooter's brochure states a max speed of 22 mph and range of 22 miles, my flat speed varies between 25-30 mph (depending on the state of battery charge). I did the first re-charge at 30 miles and the battery was not fully discharged before charging it. Electric motors accelerate nearly instantly so you can impress your friends with a fast takeoff, but steep grades are another matter.

To optimize performance, my recommendation is to lose weight. At 245 pounds, my bike slows to a snail pace on steep uphills, but going down hill, watch out. These bikes are heavy and love to accelerate on the down slope. And just like a pedal bike or motor scooter or cycle, if you hit the front brake too hard or before applying the back brake, you could do a headstand on the handlebars. On a steep downgrade, I learned to slide my butt back on the seat, lean back, apply left brake first, then the right, then pump them both. Just don't allow the scooter to get away from you, brake early to maintain control.

If you have not ridden a bike for a while, you might want to take a bike safety class, which I did because I had to to get a subsidy voucher from the county, and to my surprise I learned a lot. These bikes are faster than most commuter pedal bikes and traffic permitting, I frequently move directly into the center of the lane. You have to do this if you want to turn left at intersections. These scooter are legally able to use the bike lane as well which is cool because you can zoom past a line of cars stopped at a signal light then blend into the flow if you can maintain reasonable speed.

Another thing to remember is to lean into turns and bank the bike. For some reason, the Vespa-like shape looks like it would prefer to stay vertical, but with practise you will get the hang of making turns with a little g-force. You might want to find a vacant parking lot and try some emergency stops and tight turns before you face the busy byways.

Did I mention that this bike is virtually silent. This allows the rider to clearly hear the seemingly never ending procession of back-up truck alarms that seem to characterize our urban soundscape. Also seagull squaks.

License, Registration, Insurance

No driver's license needed.
Registration is $17 at the DMV.
Proof of insurance is not required.

Price of Bike and Cost of Operations

The price is being adjusted but should be around $850. If you want to be notified once we have the price structure set, please send me an e-mail. Summer is coming and this scooter is a fun way to get around.

The brochure claims an average per charge cost of $.20. So with a conservative range of 20 miles, this works out to be a penny a mile. But check this out, our corporate partner, Innergy Power and I have just intalled a solar charging capability for my scooter. More about this in the next post.


Eco-Scooter






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Thursday, February 01, 2007

Solar Cell Phone Charger-Review Innergy Power 22W Solar Binder

Need to recharge your mobile phone where there is no place to plug in your charger? The Innergy Power 22W Solar Binder offers a convenient, reliable way to use sunshine to charge your cell phone or PDA.

Emergency Preparedness
Severe weather this winter downed power lines and caused prolonged power outages for millions of Americans. After the weather cleared in the Pacific Northwest and Midwest, it still took several days to restore electrical service. Recharging a phone under these conditions can pose a challenge, but if the sun is shining, a solar charger can get the job done. Beware though, that many solar chargers have small, inefficient collector surfaces that charge very slowly. The Innergy Power 22W Solar Binder sports a whopping four square feet of solar collector surface area cutting charging time considerably.

22W Solar Binder

Sleek Design
The solar binder consists of three lightweight fiberglass solar modules packaged in a zippered, ballistic nylon case. When closed, it’s a slim attaché case with a comfortable handle and shoulder strap that makes the unit easy to tote. There’s also a side pouch where you can stash your cell phone, adapter cord and a first aid kit or other items.

22W Solar Binder Closed

The binder comes with a cigarette lighter receptacle at the end of a 10’ cord. Take it on a wilderness trip in your backpack and you will be able to stay in contact with the world you left behind if an emergency should arise.

How it Works
Operating the solar binder is a snap. Simply place it in a sunny spot, open the panels and plug in your cell phone or PDA using an auto power adapter. This winter with the sun at a relatively low angle to the horizon, I oriented the panels to maximize solar exposure by placing the open binder on a board resting on a pair of sneakers. You can place it flat on the ground or on your patio deck in the summer when the sun is higher.

As soon as sun hits the modules, they start generating electricity and the charging light on the cell phone glows green. There are no moving parts, no noise, and no mechanisms to wear out.

What Else You Need
If you don’t already have one, you will need an automobile power adapter cord and power tip to connect your specific model cell phone to the solar binder. You can buy them at most stores that sell cell phones or PDAs. The model I use is made by iGo and it lets me plug my cell phone into my car’s cigarette lighter. You can also order one for your specific phone from iGo.com. Mine cost about $40.

iGo Auto Adapter

What to Expect
The time needed to fully recharge your mobile phone or PDA depends upon the amount of solar energy available, which in turn depends upon latitude, time of day, season and the amount of cloud cover. I did performance testing using a Sony Ericsson T610 in December on the deck of my apartment on the Central California Coast. Lux levels were recorded hourly.

Test 1 was initiated on 12/19/06 at 11:30 AM under clear skies. Lux levels ranged from 86,500 to 98,000 with a mean of 93,250. Charge time was three hours.

Test 2 was initiated on 12/20/06 at noon under high cirrus clouds. At 3:30 PM the sky was overcast and the test was halted. It rained over the next two days. The test was resumed at 12:15 PM on 12/23/06 under overcast conditions. Over the entire test period, lux ranged from 9,800 to 88,000 with an overall average of 49,496. Total charge time was 5.5 hours.

Conclusions: On a clear winter day, my cell phone was fully charged in three hours. The charge time rose to 5.5 hours under overcast conditions.

How Much it Costs
The 22W solar binder is priced around $170. You can also add an auxiliary battery, which lets you to capture and store solar energy during the daytime then charge your cell phone at night, for around $100.

Coolness Factor
Using the Innergy Power 22W Solar Binder charger makes the case that you support energy conservation and you are doing your part to reduce global warming. Definitely cool; maybe someday we will all be Talking on Sunshine(TM).

22W Solar Binder in Action

All Rights Reserved. This article was written by Dr. Ron S. Nolan and edited by Michael H.D. Dormer. You may use this article but it must contain this exact resource text and the links must remain viable. Details and specifications about the Innergy Power 22W Solar Binder. More information about solar technology and solar products can be found on http://www.solarmetro.com.


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Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Next Review Innergy Power Solar Binder/Power Plant Bundle

We have been experimenting with this system for over a month and it is awesome. You can check the specs out at www.solarmetro.com/innergybundle22w.htm

We should be finished in time to order for Christmas!

We are also taking the electric bike class on November 8th and will keep you posted as the Solar Metron Angels hist the back roads of Santa Cruz County.