Green Machines

And from the BBC news site comes this really great idea thought up in the San Francisco Bay Area's Silicon Valley. A company called SolFocus has designed solar panels to focus the energy of the sun onto a small location thereby intensifying the energy from the sun. These panels use 1/1000th the material as traditional solar panels and are much more efficient and viable in today's demand for solar energy. Unlike flat panels it means the expensive materials used to convert the energy to electricity are concentrated in one place. SolFocus claims to use 1/1000th of the area needed by flat panels, which keeps the manufacturing costs low.

SolFocus explained: "These cells have efficiency over double that of the best silicon today. We concentrate the sun 500 times on that small amount of cell, hence the 1000th of the amount of material used, or the expensive part.

"When there is no sun, or you can't see the solar disc, our panels produce zero power. They only produce power in bright sunny locations or when the sun is out."

Contracts have already been signed with the Spanish government for a large scale solar farm in Southern Spain.


Technorati Tags: global warming

Toyota plug-in hybrid

Toyota took a big step Wednesday toward marketing plug-in hybrid cars -- vehicles that run mostly on rechargeable batteries and can go 100 miles on a gallon of gas -- when it announced it would provide two specially made Priuses to the University of California for testing on U.S. roads.

The Japanese company will be the first major carmaker to put the experimental electric-gas hybrid cars on American streets for daily driving when the Priuses take to the road in Berkeley and Irvine this fall.

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The news came less than a week after a study by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Electric Power Research Institute, a power-industry trade group, reported that widespread use of the gas-sipping cars would greatly reduce greenhouse gases as well as domestic oil consumption.

The plug-in test program will be conducted at UC Berkeley and UC Irvine, Toyota spokesman Bill Kwong said.

The cars look like normal Priuses, but unlike the showroom model, the experimental version runs mostly on its electric motor and plugs into a 110-volt house current for overnight charging. Kwong said the car will travel up to 7 miles on electricity alone and can go up to 60 mph in pure electric mode.

Hybrid cars are powered by a combination of a gasoline engine and an electric motor, which alternate giving power to the wheels to make the car move or sometimes act in combination. Advocates of alternative energy have argued for years that because most daily trips are frequently no more than a few dozen miles, those trips could be made on electric power, saving the gasoline side of the car for longer journeys.

A big problem with developing plug-in hybrid cars historically has been in their batteries. A few small firms that have converted showroom Priuses to plug-ins have done so by removing the car's nickel metal battery and replacing it with a lithium ion battery, twice as powerful as the original. But some lithium ion batteries, particularly those used in laptop computers, have overheated and caught fire.

Toyota's experimental hybrids will simply add a second nickel metal battery. Even the shops that are converting hybrids to plug-in hybrids welcomed the news about Toyota's new test cars. Toyota has been in the forefront of the hybrid world, sprinkling its Toyota and Lexus lineup with a number of hybrid cars.

Other car companies are working to catch up. General Motors says it is building a plug-in version of its conventional Saturn Vue SUV hybrid. It is also developing the Chevrolet Volt, a car that is essentially an electric vehicle with a gasoline or diesel engine that "generates enough electricity to keep the electric motor running," GM spokesman Dave Barthmuss said. The Volt is slated for production sometime after 2010.

DaimlerChrysler has had about half a dozen Dodge Sprinter plug-in hybrid vans in fleet use on American streets for the past year, but those are big vans mainly for commercial use. Ford is in a partnership with Southern California Edison to develop a fleet of about 20 plug-in hybrids to "test the technology and see how this works with the (electrical power) grid," Ford spokeswoman Jennifer Moore said.

The grid question is one that has troubled some critics of hybrid technology, who fear that if plug-ins are ever mass produced, all that recharging could produce strains on the electricity-delivery system. But I personally don't think that it will if the charging is done during off peak hours when most people are sleeping anyways.

Source: SFGate.com

Technorati Tags: Hybrid, Toyota

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Electric SUV Recharges In 10 Minutes

A company called Phoenix Motor Cars has developed an SUV that is fully electric and runs on zero emissions. Check out there website here. The company plans on releasing the models to public in late 2008 with sales expected to hit 6000. The stats for the vehicle are: re-charges in 10 minutes, up to 95 mph with full load, and can travel distances of 100 miles or more on a charge. The company is still developing a battery model that can allow for distances of up to 250 miles on a charge which would greatly improve the vehicle and make it far more attractive to the general public including myself.

Here is a little video that explains how this revolutionary battery technology utilizing nanotechnology works...



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Nissan Sees Future in Electric Cars

The automaker Nissan has recently announced that they are trying to develop smaller, lighter, and cheaper batteries for use in hybrid vehicles as well as full electric vehicles. The auto industry now can see that the demand for greener cars are rising and hopes to develop better batteries than the ones that are currently being used in hybrids(typically Ni-Mh).

The current problem with nickel metal hydride batteries is that they are not as efficient as lithium-ion batteries. However, the problem is that the costs of production for lithium-ion batteries are very expensive which would make the price of hybrids far too expensive.

Nissan plans to invest money in so called "green" technology in an attempt to catch up with competitors down the road. The CEO of Nissan recognizes that people are more interested in fuel efficient vehicles now because of higher gas prices and global warming.

"If you have an efficient battery for a hybrid, why not go all the way and go for electric cars?" he said. "It has zero emissions of anything."

Anyhow, Nissan has big plans for the future of auto making and it's quite inspiring for someone like me to learn about this information. So check this video out, it gives a glimpse into the types of available cars that could be coming out in 5 or 10 years time. Its so cool.








Nissan

Technorati Tags: Hybrids, Nissan, Lithium

First zero emission home unveiled

I found this article on digg.com and thought I'd share. A new house design that will be the first to meet the environmental standards all new UK homes must achieve by 2016 is being unveiled later. A very cool article and awsome design for a home...honestly check this out. The house is built with more insulation to prevent more than 60% of heat from escaping the home. Also solar panels are used for energy and rain capturing devices are used...which I believe more people should be doing.

read more | digg story

WatAir: Turning air into Water

There is an interesting new device out there aimed at solving the problems of no clean water. Large populations in Africa and elsewhere have lacked clean drinking water for years. This contraption was invented to literally suck the water out of the air and trickle it down into a well. Just one of these devices can generate enough drinking water for an entire family. The inverted pyramid shape was designed by two Israeli architects and is mimicked after leaves collecting the morning dew. Whats more is that this has been designed to exist in almost any climate. More of these should out there making a difference in the world.

The world has most recently seen an increase in new designs and new technologies

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that will hopefully arrive in time to save everyone from crisis. The news is often timed filled with more and more horror stories and tragic natural and social disasters.

A design such as WatAir would be perfect for countries with less fortunate water supplies in need of fresh water. A design such as this should be put to more use for the betterment of mankind. If you have a success story with this device, please email jt@theenvironmentalblog.org for your story.

Reware Solar Powered Backpacks for your Clean Energy Needs

There is this company called Reware that has designed a line of backpack products that contain solar cells on them to collect free energy from the sun. These cool and hip products can keep your electronic gadgets juiced while you may be in the great outdoors, suburbia, or even in the city. Believe it or not...these backpacks can power your cell phone, digital camera, i-pods, and even your laptop. The line of backpacks utilize ThinFilm Solar Power, a revolutionary thin and flexible solar charging system, for all your charging needs. Also, I think its worth mentioning that these backpacks are made from recycled fabrics. Each bag is keeping 8, 2-liter soda bottles from landfills...talk about true eco-friendly products. Being the environmentalist that I am, I would truly choose to charge all my gadgets from my backpack in the backyard rather than letting my energy company charge me. It allows someone to be a little more independent from power companies, while contributing to reducing the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere. Not only that but they also come packed with more features including water proof solar panels, military grade stitches for extra strength, and a ergonomic design. There are different styles of backpacks for all your needs, the ES100 comes with 2 cargo areas, the ES200 with one large cargo area, and the ES300 is a messenger bag. So before your next camping trip somewhere consider picking up one of these bad boys.

15% discount code: at checkout, enter fifteenpercentoff

Technorati Tags: Solar Power

Toyota to go all Hybrid by 2020

According to Motor Authority Toyota's VP, Masatami Takimoto, all Toyota vehicles will be hybrid by 2020! Toyota expects to have the prices of hybrid technology down to the same costs as gasoline only cars by 2010. With the success of the hybrid revolution for Toyota, achieving the goal of all cars being hyrbid by 2020 does not seem too far out.

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Its always nice to see other fellow hybrid drivers on the street while driving. Soon enough perhaps they will completely take over. Who knows?

Source:(CNET)

Technorati Tags: Toyota, Hybrids, Prius

Toyota Reaches 1 million Hybrid Sales

Toyota announced today that its hybrid sales have surpassed the one million mark after ten years of sales. The feat is a major landmark for Toyota, a pioneer in the development of petrol-electric hybrid cars, and comes as rival car makers around the world prepare for the launch of their own hybrids.

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Sales of Toyota hybrids have reached 345,000 in Japan, with the rest of the world accounting for 702,000 units. This brings its total hybrid sales to 1.047 million units. Of this, 757,600 of these were Prius cars, the clear leader in hybrid cars today.

Technorati Tags: Hybrids, Toyota

Dutch try to grow environment-friendly meat in lab

Dutch scientists are trying to grow meat in a laboratory with goal of feeding millions without the need to raise and and slaughter animals. Although I wouldn't exactly feel comfortable knowing that this meat had been grown in lab conditions, it would alleviate the stresses for feeding millions of animals for food production.

"Although it is in its early stages, the idea is to replace harvesting meat from livestock with a process that eliminates the need for animal feed, transport, land use and the methane expelled by animals, which all hurt the environment," said Bernard Roelen, a veterinary science professor at Utrecht University. But it will take years before meat grown in labs and eventually factories reaches supermarket shelves. And so far, Roelen and his team have managed to grow only thin layers of cells that bear no resemblance to pork chops.

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After perfecting that process, scientists will then need to figure out how to layer tissues to add more bulk, since meat grown in petri dishes lacks the blood vessels needed to deliver nutrients through thick muscle fibers.

Technorati Tags: Artificial Meat

Scientists Create a Fire Safe, Green Plastic

Scientists from the University of Massachusetts have created a synthetic polymer(a building block of plastic) that doesn't burn! This makes it an attractive alternative to our traditional plastics of which most are flammable. Also the traditional plastics used in buses, airplanes, etc must have fire retardant chemicals added to them for public safety. This new plastic would eliminate the need for the added chemicals which have been showing up in trace amounts in dust around the home or office, in breast milk, and in fat cells. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says that %40 of people who survive a plane crash die from the fire that follows. So having a fire proof cabin could save lives. The polymer has a naturally high char yield, 70 percent, and only releases water vapour when it is burned instead hazardous chemicals. I myself feel that this is a positive step forward that has benefits on all sides. This new plastic is environmentally safe and has the potential to save lives, its a win win situation for everyone. The scientists who developed this plastics say they will do more testing on aircraft parts with other consumer products to follow suit. Read the details of the article here.


Technorati Tags: Green Plastic

Energy Dept. to Fund Alternative Vehicles

In what appears to be a show of consideration to go "green," the US Department of Energy will be providing $19 million in funds to support the development of diesel hybrid plug-ins. The money is going to five research projects with a goal of improving plug-in hybrids and fuel cell technology.

The Energy department has a long way to go in order to reduce our dependence on energy from foreign body's. At least these baby steps will get our country going in the right direction.

Technorati Tags: Alternative Vehicles

Oregon looks to Technology to replace Gas Tax

As a resident of Oregon and as an owner of a hybrid vehicle I am appalled at what the state is trying to do in order to raise more tax money. Not only is this a blatant attempt to squander away more taxes out of Oregonians since they rejected a bill to raise gas taxes back in 2000, but it is also an invasion of privacy that is attracting interest by governments worldwide. The tax for one gallon of gas in Oregon is 24 cents per gallon. This is the states largest source of income to build and maintain roads. Since more and more hybrid vehicles are being driven, the state claims that they are losing money to them. So to make it "fair" they would rather tax you on the amount of miles you drive. How would they do that? Well this is where there is a possibility to infringe on privacy. They install a GPS system in your car that tracks every mile you drive in the state of Oregon and especially in the Portland Metro Area (because you'll get taxed if your stuck in traffic too), and when you go to fill up at the pump, a wireless receiver automatically detects your miles and charges you the tax. This GPS system has been tested by a group of 250 volunteers, but still has some bugs to work out. Before signing up for the program the volunteers were told that in case of a criminal investigation the GPS system would be used to subpoena them. What else would "they" use this system for?!? Many other states around the US and even the UK are looking towards Oregon as they finish up there final testing reports in June to one day replace the old gas tax. But if my gut tells me something it’s... the high failure rate of 15% which is unacceptable is on purpose. The failure occurs at the pumps, when receivers get confused on which cars go to which pump, in which it would revert to the old gas tax. So an easy way of "fixing" this problem would be the combo use of GPS and radio frequency identification, or RFID systems. This would solve the confusion problem and everyone in the state of Oregon would be tracked. Oregon already has RFID readers at various locations on I-5. I know what these look like, I know what they do, and I know what they are capable of doing. In San Francisco Bay Area, people who want to skip the long wait to cross a bridge are given a Fast Track RFID device that allows them to skip the traffic and cross the bridge with their toll being deducted straight from their bank accounts. Well the department of transportation alongside with Sprint developed a project to monitor traffic flow electronically through the use of two devices: radar guns installed on almost every major freeway and RFID wireless receivers. The system inputs all the information into a computer program and that was how 511.org was born. Meanwhile people who willingly signed up for Fast Track unknowingly are delivering data to computer systems all over as they drive about their daily lives. Not that this information is being used to spy on the American public, its the fact that it has the capability to spy on the American public at the discretion on some government agency that has become obsessed with Domestic Terrorism in the name of freedom. Any who, just to my two cents for the day...

Src:The Oregononian

Honda Fuel Cell Car due in 2008

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This sounds like a really great idea doesn't it? Here we have a car that tops out at 100 mph and travels up to 270 miles on a tank of compressed hydrogen...that through a chemical reaction releases nothing but water vapor through the tail pipe.

Is it that simple? Well Hydrogen(H) just so happens to be the most abundant gas on Earth in the Universe. However it is usually combined with so many other molecules, which makes it difficult to isolate the H atom all on its own. After all oxygen is attached to two hydrogen atoms to make the water compound...H20, as humans we are not designed to extract the oxygen from that compound. The government has sponsored millions of dollars to support fuel cell technology in recent years. So too has the auto industry's own Research and Development sectors put in time to develop the "so called" clean energy for cars. Honda has developed the Honda Energy Station 3...designed to be hooked up and installed to your natural gas line at home which converts and delivers one full tank of hydrogen everyday for fuel cell consumption. The molecular compound for natural gas is CH4.



How is this making the United Stated less reliant on fossil fuel and foreign imports?!? With natural disasters Hurricane Katrina and Rita, natural gas production hit an all time low causing plants to shutdown while a demand for natural gas has continued to increase. This has caused the United States to depend on the foreign import of Liquid Natural Gas...eliminating any chances of the US becoming energy self-sufficient in the short term.

In a report from Jose A. Villar from the Natural Gas division and Frederick L. Joutz from the Department of Economics the two state that "an increase in crude oil prices resulting from an increase in crude oil demand may lead to increased costs of natural gas production and development, putting upward pressure on natural gas prices."(read their 43 page assessment: The Relationship between Crude Oil and Natural Gas Prices)

This statement says it all. With China's increase in demand for oil, the scarcity of it can drive demand and prices through the roof. Prices of natural gas are bound to remain high and get higher. This solution of "clean" energy is not going to be able to lead this country out of its energy crisis in which it currently resides in. I am all for fuel cell technology, extracting hydrogen from CH4 is a bad idea which only keeps America in a never ending cycle of imports. Solutions can be developed to extract hydrogen from H20 if more funding went to serving that path instead...it only serves me to think that the powers that be had purposefully created this "solution" to keep them rich, and get them richer by forcing the United States to import fossil fuel source from countries like Canada.

At least for now people are still offered a way to be more efficient. Driving a hybrid or a fuel cell car derived from natural gas can help the situation and is a great transitional technology. This technology seems promising but still has major hurdles to overcome in this nasty energy market and infrastructure we have in place today.

Want to Learn more about Natural Gas...click here.

Now a member of: Hybrid Owners of America

I am now a proud member of a non profit organization that is actively involved in lobbying congress to pass legislation in favor of Hybrid Vehicles by providing more incentives for people to purchase Hybrids. Currently, there are 550,000 hybrid vehicles on the road in the United States right now, with 220,000 of those sold this year alone!! Hybrid vehicles offer a way for the average American to reduce our dependance on foreign oil while supporting new technology for alternative energy.

I have recently just wrote this letter to my senators as well as President Bush himself:

I am now a hybrid vehicle owner at 23 years old. I consider myself to be a global warming activist. There is an obvious reason to offer better solutions to help alleviate our reliance on foreign oil. To be honest, I find it irresponsible of our government to allow the recall and destruction of perfectly working, 100 percent electric vehicles designed by GM, Ford, and Toyota in the 1990's. These were vehicles that produced ZERO emissions and were being driven around parts of California. The big question is: What happened to the electric vehicle?

While I think hybrid cars are fine and dandy, I would love to purchase a zero emissions vehicle that I could drive to work everyday without ever having to fill up with gas. The amount of money being poured into research and development for hydrogen based vehicles should be going into improving the electric vehicle instead. But instead, the future will be based on extracting hydrogen from a fossil fuel (coal), the most abundant natural resource the United States owns. This seems like a good move, considering the fact that oil may become a scarce commodity considering how the oil in the Middle East is an insecure reliability at the current moment.

The American people are fed up with the war in Iraq; this is demonstrated in the recent democratic takeover of congress. Real changes need to occur, and the very least that congress can do at the moment is to support the 5 step action plan cited below. As a concerned American, I need to see positive changes take effect in order for me to feel proud of the country I live in. I am sick of all the lies and false promises, I want action taken now. There is absolutely no reason why the United States can not take the lead in curbing emissions by utilizing existing technology.

The Congress and the White House should be doing more to encourage hybrid vehicle purchases and production. California has been the leader in introducing legislation to help curb greenhouse gas emissions and the federal government should follow California's pursuit. To that end, I encourage you to endorse and act on the following five-step plan:

1. Broaden the federal tax credit for hybrid vehicle purchases so that more vehicle types are eligible for the credit faster and so that popular hybrid credits do not 'fade out' so quickly.

2. Create a new and additional tax incentive that provides further assistance to individuals who convert existing hybrids into plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) in order to further increase fuel efficiency and decrease oil consumption and pollution output.

3. Provide tax and other incentives to businesses that help employees to buy hybrids, particularly when such inducements are tied to corporate strategies to mitigate global warming pollution.

4. Provide U.S. automakers that commit to more hybrid vehicle research and production with major encouragement to do so, including aid with health care and other steep costs that make it tougher for American car companies to be competitive in today's global marketplace.

5. Set a target of switching over federal vehicle fleet purchases to hybrids of 10 percent for 2007, 20 percent for 2008 and 30 percent for 2009.

The benefits for Americans of promoting greater fuel efficiency through more hybrid auto purchases are clear: We can reduce dependence on Middle Eastern oil, making us more secure; we can lower the carbon emissions into the atmosphere that contribute to global warming; and we can put America's technology community to work on these important problems, creating jobs, ensuring that the U.S. leads in the development and sale of new technologies.

We need action now from Washington to get more hybrids on the road as soon as possible.

Please take steps now as my elected official to address this problem. I look forward to hearing what it is that you intend to do and when. Thank you for your time in this matter.

John Tarantino