I know this isn't officially a politics blog, but I like Al Gore, I believe that he is an EcoGeek, and I would love to have an EcoGeek president.

Check out this interview. The guy asks Gore a couple of very interesting questions to which Gore gives very interesting answers.

 

 

The second interesting question first: If climate change is such a big deal, then couldn't you pretty much save the world by becoming president?  Isn't that a good enough reason to run?

Gore answered "I think it's still to early, I can't use that answer for much longer." But it isn't an answer he's been using for very long. At the beginning of An Inconvenient Truth, he didn't use that answer at all. It was a flat "no," which only transformed into a "maybe" a few months ago.

 

Gore was also asked about the Iraq War, and basically whether he, as president,  would retreat defeated from the Iraq War. Instead of using his famous "Bus Crashed, Fire Bus Driver" metaphor, he stumbled, said some incoherent B.S. and then moved onto the next question.

It was like Y2K Gore All Over Again!  What he's doing here is trying to seem more thoughtful about Iraq, a very divisive issue, while relying on climate change to be his main bedfellow. What he's actually doing is looking like a total weenie again, which is exactly what lost him the election in 2000. So Gore is officially campaigning, and he's officially looking like a dipstick doing it....alas.

While the cheesy photoshopped graphics from SkySail were cool, seeing these things attached to a real live barge (in choppy seas nonetheless) is much more impressive.

We've talked about the SkySail before, including them in the 'extremely old technology returns' category. But, honestly, these things are pretty advanced. Every SkySail sold comes with a software and hardware package used for optimizing efficiency of an ocean voyage.

The SkySail system can save up to 20% of fuel costs by harnessing the power of the wind on ocean voyages. The 500,000 to 2.5m euro devices can pay for themselves in as little as two year's time. That time period will also likely go down as the Sails get cheaper and fuel prices continue to rise. Already, 30 barges on the open ocean are using the system, and the firm predicts they will be in use on over 1,500 vessels by 2015.

 

Via YahooNews

 

 

Last month, we pointed out a AA size battery that could be recharged when plugged in to a USB port.

Now, a company called Ecosol has introduced a USB charged portable battery called the Powerstick. It's about the same size as a USB memory stick, and although it doesn't contain any flash memory, it's almost as smart. It contains a lithium polymer battery (a probable successor technology to lithium ion). It does not fit into electronic devices directly, but instead is used to recharge a whole range of phones, MP3 players, cell phones, PDAs, etc. using different power tips.

The thing we like best about the Powerstick is that it has a display on its side to show how much power the battery has remaining. It's one more step to make it easier to kick the "disposable" battery habit and use rechargable power for all our electronic devices.

via: Treehugger

While at the L.A. Auto Show last week, I had a chance to talk with Nick Zielinski, GMs director of Vehicle Technology Integration, and JB Straubel, the CTO of Tesla Motors. While conversing with each of these extremely well informed folks, I brought up supercapacitors.

Both of these guys are heavily reliant on battery technology and both of them are putting varying amounts of faith in Lithium Ion batteries. Obviously, it's working well for Tesla, and we can hope it will work well for GM.

When asked about supercapacitors, both men had the same response: Supercaps represent interesting technology, but they cannot replace batteries, and using them to augment batteries is too complex.

So, what on earth are Zenn and Eestor talking about when they discuss large cars that can run for hundreds of miles at high speeds using only power stored in supercapacitors? The answer is that NO ONE KNOWS what they're talking about. It's possible that not even Eestor knows what it's talking about. Maybe it's all a lie, maybe the scientific secret is just waiting for it's day in the light.

So now, I know two things for certain, 1.If Zenn's claims turn out to be true, it will be a marvelous leap forward. 2. People in the know are very skeptical that Zenn's claims will turn out to be true.

I'm really not sure, but if you want to save up to $100 bucks a year on your electricity bill, while doing your part to mitigate environmental impacts of computing, you should check out LocalCooling.

LocalCooling provides a really simple application that introduces some powerful power-saving functionality to Windows XP. The system also catalogs how much power it saves and sends that information back to the website. The software actually reads your system information so it knows exactly how much power your system draws. And, thus, exactly how much power can be saved by spinning down your hard disks, turning off your monitor and

That way, the LocalCooling site can keep track of how much power the software has saved (so far, around 6000 kwh.) The goal of LocalCooling is to be installed on 100,000,000 PCs across the world and thus prevent the release of 300 billion kilograms of CO2 per year.

I'm happy to be a part of it, you should try it out too.

 

Having a somewhat disturbing connection with my PC, I have often thought, "Wouldn't it be nice if I had to work out to work." For example, if my mouse weighed 50 lbs, I could probably be a champion arm wrestler in a month's time.

But, instead, I become softer for every minute I spend at this computer, and I spend a lot of minutes here. This YouTube video that I spotted at ecoIron shows a pretty impressive pedal power generating system. The beefy guy on the left does all the work, while the guy behind the camera, one can assume, put together the electronics for the system. They're using an ultracapacitor, it seems, to store and regulate the charge, and have a "watts up" power meter measuring the draw from the device. Zack, the pedaler, seems to have no problem keeping up the 20-30 watts it takes to power the IBM Thinkpad.

I would pay a lot of money for a desk chair that had a keyboard and mouse pad and pedals. The Pedal Chair: Stay fit, use renewable power, and strengthen the man-machine interface. No one was ever this ready for the apocalypse.

Via TechEBlog

 

That was me trying to fit a story into a headline and I think I did a pretty good job. The only really important number I left out was 2007, which is when the first 500 vehicles will be made available by Phoenix Motorcars, a California Company that specializes in all-electric vehicles.

The cars are powered by Lithium Ion batteries, which are somehow (this technology is getting very advances (and confusing)) significantly different from the ones used by Tesla and consumer electronics companies. Advanced battery technology is the keystone of the electric car right now. They weren't good enough when the EV1 came out, and now we have to worry that the expanded potential of Li-ion comes with the risk of 'thermal runaway events,' that could melt a cars to the pavement. This SUV, though expensive, can charge in 6 - 7 hours at any electrical socket, and could easily save thousands of dollars a year in gasoline costs.

I have a really hard time figuring how these small start-ups can do this, while large auto-companies can't manage an extra 50 miles of range, crash test the thing, and bring it to market. In the next five years, I bet we'll see it, but it really shouldn't have taken us this long...

 

Via Engadget 

 

Apparently Travelocity has partnered with the Conservation Fund to provide carbon offsets to it's customers. And they're advertising it with am absurdist bunny cartoon that I cant decide whether I like or not.

I mean, I guess I like it, because I've watched it four or five times now, so now I'm making it available to you, the EcoGeek reader, to puzzle over yourself. Oh, and you might want to consider carbon offsets too, though I'd go here, not to Travelocity to do it.

 

I just spotted this cool graphic that National Geographic produced a while back. It shows the chances of dying of various different diseases (the big red line represents the chances of dying of something (1 in 1) and the smaller circles represent your chances of dying of particular ailments. I would like to call attention to the 4th circle. That's right, motor vehicle accidents. It's worth noting that pedestrian and motorcycle accidents are not included in that (though they are also, technically, motor vehicle accidents) and they come in at number 8 and number 10 repsectively.

So, there you have it.  If you don't stop driving...it will kill you...so stop.   Video games are more fun, and much less dangerous (people dying of video games doesn't even make the list, and, with the Wii, you might actually get a workout!)

 

Full graphic here

 

Well, this was my very first auto show, so I have nothing to compare it to, but my overwhelming feeling is that it was a good one. I drooled over the high performance cars with their sequin-clad beauties. I got up-close with the Tesla Roadster, talked with executives from several auto-companies, and finally met some fellow members of the online media. I saw Tiger Woods and Arnold Schwarzenegger. But, most importantly, I felt a lot of excitement surrounding what I think is actually a kind of revolution of the automobile industry.

Now, I could be wrong about this, maybe every year seems revolutionary, but there was an overwhelming theme of this conference in my eyes, and it's one that has a lot of power. Diversity.

In Rick Wagoner's keynote, he pointed out that 100 years ago there was no standard way to power an automobile. Electric cars, steam cars and gasoline cars all shared the market. Now, that's not so much the case, but it's becoming obvious that gasoline is going to have to give up its monopoly on powering transportation.

The choices are expanding every year. Ethanol and bio-diesel are already interfering with petroleum's hegemony, and synthetic fuels are hot on their heals. BMW's new Hydrogen 7 lets the driver choose between hydrogen and gasoline while Honda is, for the first time, getting ready to release a fuel cell vehicle to the public market.

GM's Flex Fuel line lets people fill their tanks with gas or E85, the Tesla Roadster will soon be available as the first all-electric performance car and compressed natural gas vehicles, that you can fill up in your own garage, are becoming viable options as well.

I could be wrong, but I think I just mentioned around seven different ways that cars will definitely be powered in the future. Electricity, hydrogen combustion, hydrogen fuel cells, natural gas, ethanol, bio-diesel, and synthetic fuels...yep, seven. And that doesn't even include different types of powertrains and electricity storage.

People had fewer choices in 1990 than in 1910, but now, they have more. Diversity and choice is what this world needs right now. 100% reliance on gasoline does not work and every major auto manufacturer seems to recognize that. I thought the LA Auto Show was going to just be pomp and fluff, but it was a bunch of real people with good ideas who are  excited about the future of their industry. Honestly, I'm excited about the future of their industry as well, and I hope it comes soon.

 

 

Yes indeed! Hummer went up against eight other environmentally aware concept vehicles of the future and came out victorious. The awards ceremony was a little disappointing due to lack of any actual substance, but I guess that's what awards ceremonies are.

The Hummer O2, which is a fuel cell powered concept that is housed in algae-filled panels that 'give back to the environment' by converting CO2 to oxygen, won EcoGeek's "Most Peculiar Design" award a while back. While it is quite cool, we're still voting for the Toyota RLV, which is an electric vehicle that can also be powered by petals, when you're in the mood to save energy and get a workout.

Maybe we're focusing too much on how plausible the vehicles actually are. A vehicle that actually decreases the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is a pretty cool idea. Even if you could get the same effect by filling a few two liter bottles with lake water and putting them in the sun.

 

 

The Saturn Vue is a small SUV with sleek lines and good gas mileage (for an SUV). Already, the car has a hybrid option, and the LA Auto Show has seen two exciting announcements concerning the Vue. First, the 2007 Vue Hybrid will have significantly increased fuel economy, from 20% better than the non-hybrid to over 40% better than the non-hybrid. But, of course, the most exciting news is that GM is committing to a plug-in hybrid Vue. Simply, an expanded battery pack will be charged at home, and the electrical motor will run more frequently, significantly increasing the efficiency of the vehicle.

The specs aren't out yet, and neither is the release date. But GM is the first major auto company to release plans to produce a plug-in hybrid.

General Motors has repeatedly stated that it's not a huge fan of hybrid vehicles. The hybrid drivetrain, they say, is redundant, thus making the vehicle heavier, more complex, more expensive and more difficult to service an recycle. This is absolutely the truth, but besides a true EV, there aren't any other low emissions technologies out there...yet. With the plug-in Vue, I see an actual commitment to exploring technologies fast (though significantly slower than hobbyists, of course.) We'll see where this vision carries GM in the future, and whether they'll be the first company with plug-in vehicles on the road.