DEC 05

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Solar-Powered Taxi Arrives at Climate Conference

After an around-the-world trip, through more than 40 countries, a school teacher named Louis Palmer just pulled up to the hall holding this year's UN Climate Conference.

Louis says that his 17-month, 32,000 mile trip proves that solar power can be an alternative to gasoline and fossil fuels.

We're not quite so sure about the claim, but we are pretty impressed by his car. The three-wheeled two-seater is mostly made of batteries, and has to tow a trailer that is 100% covered in solar cells to help keep the charge. When full charged, the car can travel at 55 mph, but he has had to plug the vehicle in several times (for example, in not-so-sunny Poland) because there wasn't enough sunlight.

While solar power has, in this case, proved to be a possible method of transportation, I tend to think that putting the solar panels in places that are sunny all the time, and can be oriented toward the sun (thus maximizing their efficiency) is a better use for them. Sticking them directly on the car does minimize transmission losses, but that's generally more than made up for by the efficiency of utility-scale solar.

It's a great demonstration though, and I applaud Louis' efforts. Hopefully someday all of our cars will be solar (and wind and geothermal and hydro) powered...because our grid will be fed by renewable energy.



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WROOONNG!!!!
written by Hewlett, December 05, 2008
THIS IS WROOOONNGGG!!!
I'M GOING TO GO DRIVE MY HUMMER AROUND WITH NO DESTINATION IN MIND WITH THE SIMPLE GOAL OF BURNING GASOLINE AND HARMING THE ENVIRONMENT. SUCK IT LIB-TARD ENVIRONMENTAL HIPPIES!
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Very lame
written by CraigZoom.com - Craigslist Searcher, December 05, 2008
what the heck are they thinking?
0
...
written by Karl, December 05, 2008
I met him when he passed through San Diego. He was pretty friendly, from Switzerland...certainly an interesting venture and slightly unorthodox way of promoting solar power.
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AWESOME!!!
written by Matthew Weed, December 06, 2008
Yeah, it seems an odd solar-tech demo - but solar inventiveness is just getting started - these panels will keep getting smaller and smaller and soon you will be able to have a small vehicle powered in this manner, without the solar trailer bringing up the rear. Also, they have to be working on more efficient electric motors, too, don't they? Every advance made to the motor's efficiency reduces the power input side of the equation (or just increases range).

And to think he got it all done in time to get to the conference - great job! Tough enough to finish anything let alone on time.
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LAME
written by Greely, December 07, 2008
But I do like the trailer concept, however the problem is that solar energy is not dense enough to sustain continual travel, nor at night.

It would be better to carry a load of powdered anthracite. This could be converted into methane and fed to a fuel cell. The car could be driven several hundred miles before needed another load of powdered anthracite.
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portable versus grid
written by norm, December 07, 2008
I think most of these things are trade-offs. Reliability is a key issue, efficiency is another. Truth is, grids have enormous losses related to distribution. The portable solution as it is presented by you and the particular vehicle you're reporting on lacks the ability to orient for max efficiency to the light source. That can be overcome too, but at the price of other issues such as air drag. Then there's the reliability of the economic. Will the economy hold together enough that a grid maintains distribution ability at a price point that favors its usage? These are real questions these days. I don't think the grid is the automatic solution - even when localized generation points are brought into the picture. Losses are very high.

Norm
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Why not?
written by Twist9, December 07, 2008
The biggest question in my mind is why not put solar cells on the roofs of electric cars? Certainly they will not be the primary means of gaining charge unless there are vast leaps in thin-sheet photovoltaic in the near future, but they can help extend range on a single charge, and even help regain a bit of charge when parking in an area without grid access, or in combination with grid access (in order to account for a larger percentage of charge with renewable energy, and to make use of the aforementioned efficiency gain in transmission). There is, as far as I can see, no real drawbacks other than price and the materials/energy used to produce the cells. Of course those are two big drawbacks, but they might soon become irrelevant as prices continue to drop and plants become reliant on renewable energy/materials sources.
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Sorta large....
written by Noodlescape, December 08, 2008
Don't you think it's rather large for a taxi? smilies/cheesy.gif
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I saw this coming
written by Robert Stockham, December 08, 2008
I have seen this coming for a while. In sun drenched southern California, where one may sit for hours in the hot sun to get to work, solar powered cars would charge as they drive and sit between trips. In the evening, they would till have a second car, but imagine all the freeways of LA during the morning rush hour without emissions...
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Great Way to get the work out..
written by sbrof, December 08, 2008
I saw these guys in Buffalo, this past summer. They drove around a festival and many thousands of people saw and admired their work. Might not always be the most practical but it does prove a point that even with today's technology you could use solar for driving. It will only get more efficient, small and cheaper in the future.
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...
written by SRMORB, December 20, 2008
This solar energy vechicle is an example of the
saying "A 1000 mile journey starts with the first
step."
Solar energy has so much potential. I can
understand the use of the trailer attachment to
provide additional energy for the vechicle. This
is how we will learn to developemore efficient
solar energy systems. In time, instead of a
trailer solar energy attachment for a 3 wheeled
vechicle, There will be a solar generator system
the size of a 2 suit luggaage piece that would
provide the energy needed to operate an SUV. We
just have to keep taking the steps to complete
the journey that the developement of this energy
technology requires.
0
Step in the right direction for America
written by Uncle B, January 05, 2009
Think of your sons and daughters and grandchildren every time you use foreign oil! If not for unstated but very true facts of American life and the foreign oil supply, Iraq would never have happened! It is a Saudi obligation completed! As oil grows scarcer in the world, the Saudi and OPEC demands get higher! Who do we invade next to appease them, Iran, or do we give up Israel to make them happy enough to ship oil to our shores? We must quit this "mercenary for oil" position and get real about Wind see reference below:
There is as much wind power potential (900,000 megawatts) off our coasts as the current capacity of all power plants in the United States combined, according to a new report entitled, A Framework for Offshore Wind Energy Development in the United States, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, and General Electric. http://www.capecodtoday.com/news246.htm01/01/09
And remember:
If the U.S. had chosen to be a moral people, and leaving Iraqi oil alone, and following Al Gore, decided to develop the South Western deserts, with the technology of the times - solar/thermal-molten sodium - electricity installations, for the same amount of money as that war cost, ($650 Billion), today, we would be tapping into the largest, renewable, sustainable, PERPETUAL, energy source the world has ever known. It would have paid every energy bill in the U.S.A. for maintenance fees only - FOREVER! It would be equivalent to an oil field that can NEVER run dry! Low cost electric power, and storeable hydrogen gasoline replacement from the electricity, for all!
After the millions of murders, and $650 billions of dollars, borrowed from our children’s futures and pissed away, with thousands of our own and others maimed and disfigured for life, millions of families utterly destroyed, ours and theirs, we are no closer to Iraqi oil production than the Iraqis are!
The next time you hear a blithering idiot spoiled brat, drunken, drug addicted, sociopath, rich Arabic saber dancing daddie’s boy oilman, stand at a microphone and threaten YOUR safety with someone ELSE’S weapons, remember what you lost America, remember, and weep! (also see http://www.sciam.com/article.c...grand-plan)
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...
written by Sam, January 18, 2009
I actually joined Louis from Copenhagen to Poznan, and although the solar panels were very effective, in a more everyday world he would propose that they were placed on the roof of our homes. When he did have to plug in to the grid, it was offset against his own array of solar panels back in Switzerland that put electricity into the grid.
All the details are available on www.solartaxi.com.
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written by Ace, September 18, 2009
This is awesome. I wish I have onesmilies/grin.gif. I probably save thousand of dollar on gas by having this car.

I just have it pass DOT inspection.
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Solar energy should be taken seriously
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I think sooner or later, all things will be powered by solar. It is just a matter of time.
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nice work
written by Lowcostholidays Voucher Codes, November 01, 2009
I love that guy. We need to do something about climate change. Are we going to destructs the earth? It is the time to go green and back to nature.
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Crazy
written by On the Beach Voucher Codes, November 01, 2009
That guy is crazy. It's totally wrong. What the heck he's thinking? There are another better ways to do something about climate change
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