Comments for Solar-Powered Taxi Arrives at Climate Conference at http://www.ecogeek.org , comment 1 to 14 out of 14 comments http://www.ecogeek.org Thu, 23 May 2013 04:20:46 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.ecogeek.org/home/38/2362-solar-powered-taxi-arrives-at-climate-conference#comment-32905 seems to be good, but is it an open air Cab? - Door Hinges Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:23:38 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/home/38/2362-solar-powered-taxi-arrives-at-climate-conference#comment-23240 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. - Sam Sun, 18 Jan 2009 04:05:26 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/home/38/2362-solar-powered-taxi-arrives-at-climate-conference#comment-22709 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.cfm?id=a-solar-grand-plan) - Uncle B Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:06:34 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/home/38/2362-solar-powered-taxi-arrives-at-climate-conference#comment-22265 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. - SRMORB Sat, 20 Dec 2008 00:16:09 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/home/38/2362-solar-powered-taxi-arrives-at-climate-conference#comment-21651 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. - sbrof Mon, 08 Dec 2008 07:11:41 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/home/38/2362-solar-powered-taxi-arrives-at-climate-conference#comment-21649 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... - Robert Stockham Mon, 08 Dec 2008 05:18:04 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/home/38/2362-solar-powered-taxi-arrives-at-climate-conference#comment-21645 Don't you think it's rather large for a taxi? :D - Noodlescape Mon, 08 Dec 2008 01:32:59 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/home/38/2362-solar-powered-taxi-arrives-at-climate-conference#comment-21633 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. - Twist9 Sun, 07 Dec 2008 09:14:07 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/home/38/2362-solar-powered-taxi-arrives-at-climate-conference#comment-21631 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 - norm Sun, 07 Dec 2008 08:33:47 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/home/38/2362-solar-powered-taxi-arrives-at-climate-conference#comment-21619 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. - Greely Sat, 06 Dec 2008 19:33:04 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/home/38/2362-solar-powered-taxi-arrives-at-climate-conference#comment-21610 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. - Matthew Weed Sat, 06 Dec 2008 09:36:07 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/home/38/2362-solar-powered-taxi-arrives-at-climate-conference#comment-21592 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. - Karl Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:42:24 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/home/38/2362-solar-powered-taxi-arrives-at-climate-conference#comment-21584 what the heck are they thinking? - CraigZoom.com - Craigslist Searcher Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:45:20 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/home/38/2362-solar-powered-taxi-arrives-at-climate-conference#comment-21578 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! - Hewlett Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:05:31 +0100