Josh Davis of Wired (the lucky bastard) was the first journalist to strap in to the long-awaited, top-secret Tesla Roadster.  There was supposed to be an embargo on press for another day or so, but Wired couldn't hold back and published a story and pictures a few hours ago.  And man...is it worth a look!

 

If you don't know about Tesla motors, it's a car company backed by the likes of Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin as well as a former head of Ebay and a founder of PayPal.  It's Silicon Valley's first car company and they aren't messing around.  The Roadster hits 60 in 3 seconds and is powered by around 7,000 small Li-ion batteries.  

 

So, yes, I want one.  And apparently it's going to be 'comparatively cheap' when it hits markets.  No word on the price.  Anyhow, feast your eyes and check out the excellent article and see-through image at Wired.  And keep your eyes open, a video and more pictures will be released at AutoBlog later tonight.

 

 

 

For hundreds of years intercontinental shipping was a wind-powered apparatus.  Those were the days, right?  So, I guess we can’t really file this under ‘innovation…’  Sails for ships, it’s a darn good idea, one whose time has come…again.   SkySails, a German company, has developed a retrofit package that will give any ship larger than 80 feet the ability to harness the power of the wind in order to travel more quickly and fuel-efficiently. 

 

The retrofit package, which includes sails as well as software for plotting efficient routes, costs from 300,000 to 3 million dollars and the first one was just purchased by Beluga Shipping who says the sail will help the company meet environmental goals. 

SkySails says their system can reduce fuel use by as much as one third and, as global shipping is such a ridiculously inefficient system, we hope they’re right.  We also hope that their estimate of 300 sales on the open ocean by 2011 is accurate.  

Via EcoFriend

OK, I'm having a hard time deciphering exactly how this works, but it is very cool.

 

I was browsing Cellular News when I found this tidbit:  Two Japanese firms with ridiculous names (DoCoMo and Aquafairy,) are joining their techy powers to create a mirco-fuel-cell, water-powered cell-phone charger. 

I'm having a hard time believing what I'm reading, but the story seems to be that a catalyst splits the water into hydrogen and oxygen without the need for additional energy, and the pure hydrogen is used in a thin film fuel cell producing two watts, enough to charge a cell-phone in 120 minutes.  It is probable that this isn't a true catalyst and must be occasionally replaced. 

 

If it's a true catalyst, it would seem we have more than a cell phone charger on our hands. 

 

The hydrogen fuel cell charger has a much greater power density than DoCoMo's recently-released methanol fuel cell charger.  This device has twice the wattage of the methanol fuel cells and is one fourth the size.  Also, water is easier to come across and more environmentally benign than methanol.  This leaves us wondering...what exactly is in that catalyst.  How does it work...where can I get some!

It's good to see the world moving away from traditional batteries.  If this device is any indication, the future of fuel cells is getting a lot brighter.

 

DoCoMo press release

 

 

We can't seem to get off this solar-power kick.  It's getting cheaper and (after thirty years of work) it's going mainstream.  TechEBlog recently chronicled a bit of this explosion of solar gadgetry with their "Top 10 Strangest Solar Gadgets."  Largely, these things are pretty useless, (a helicopter who's propellers spin slowly in the sun tops out the list.)  But the solar powered, hat-mounted, mini-fan looks like it could come in handy.  Also on the list: MP3 Player, rain gauge, and a gadget charging purse. 

Pictured to the right is the SunFlower Solar Power Station, probably the coolest thing on the list.  The rotatable solar panel catches light from the window during the day and uses it to power the on board music system and the three standard American electrical sockets in the base.  If not all of the energy is used, it can be stored in the internal rechargeable batteries.  Of course, this thing is a long way from your local Best Buy, probably close to 20 years away. 

Since I've gotten myself on the subject of Solar Power (thanks to Superman's Selfish concealment of his powers) I'm pleased that everyone with an Internet connection how has access to this 45 minute video from the President and Chief Technology Officer of Sunpower, Dr. Richard Swanson. 

What Superman won't tell us, we're figuring out on our own.  Sunpower makes the most efficient solar cells on earth and their doing it cheaper every year.  While a lot of research has gone into alternative methods for creating solar cells (concentrators and thin films particularly) traditional silicon wafer cells have gotten much cheaper and are completely in control of the solar power market.

Next year, Dr. Swanson proudly proclaims, the solar industry will consume more tons of silicon than the electronics industry.  Considering that creating silicon wafers is a ridiculously dirty process requiring enormous refineries, he probably shouldn't be so proud.  But it's good to see the industry in such good health and growing. 

 

No matter what he says, though, I'm still voting for thin films and concentrators, just because they use less silicon (or none at all.)  The video is a great history of silicon solar power and also gives a good account of where the industry is headed (though possibly somewhat biased, as the guy is the president of the second leading producer of solar cells in the world.)

 

Via TreeHugger

 

OK, I just got home from Superman Returns and I think Lex Luthor was right.  I mean...Superman, sure he saves a lot of people, but usually small groups of individuals in straightforward ways.  What he doesn't do is use the combined knowledge of the 28 known galaxies stored in his crystalline supercomputer to serve the interests of Mankind.  

Let's just take one example: Superman is solar powered.  He gets all of his amazing strength and energy from our yellow sun, but you've never seen him go to a laboratory and try to figure out how exactly that energy conversion takes place.  

 

Instead of taking the easy way out, I guess we'll have to just labor through the next 20 or 30 years of solar power breakthroughs before we can truly rely on it as an economically viable source of power.  

No thanks to Superman...

Remember those little CO2 cartridges that powered the acceleration of tiny balls of paint at your hoodlum friends?  Well…I do.  Now a similar principle is being used to power the acceleration of entire cars.  Or, in this case, entire rickshaws. 

Tuctuc limited has created several rickshaws powered by compressed nitrogen gas.  These vehicles will run a regular route around Brighton, England and will refuel at a proprietary fuel stop. 

Refueling is basically filling the tank with compressed gas which, upon expansion, powers the car.  Of course, electricity is used to compress the nitrogen, but, overall, it’s a much more efficient and less polluting use of energy than a gasoline engine. 

Via Green Car Congress
 

Markus Antonietti of the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces (whatever that means) in Germany has pretty much figured out how to convert plant matter into coal without all of the millions of years of waiting inherent in the traditional methods. 

Basically, Antonietti sticks plant matter, water and citric acid into an autoclave (pressure cooker) and then cooks the mixture at a few hundred degrees for about 12 hours.  The result is coal, well…wet coal, which can be filtered and dried until it’s ready to burn.   

The amazing thing is, the process produces no excess CO2, and all of the CO2 produced when the mixture is burned was recently fixed by modern plants (so there’s no net CO2 increase.) Maybe not as impressive as The Doc's Mr Fusion home fusion generator, but a step in the right direction. 

Antionietti says that there’s nothing standing in the way of industrializing this process and creating a mine-free, carbon-neutral form of coal.  Of course, he also says, as he rubs his faux coal between his fingers, that it has a strong masculine scent.  The look in his eyes… is one of love.

  Full article and Video available at DW-World

On a hot day in Florida, you might as well be baking cookies in your car.  The sensation of  damp skin sticking to hot pleather is not something I miss about the Sunshine State.  But now there’s a solution, a partial solution anyhow, that harnesses the very power that causes car-broiling. 

This cute little solar powered fan clips onto the top of your window, blows out the hot car-trapped air, and sucks in ambient air that is a mere 98 degrees.  Apprently it can reduce the temperature inside the car by as much as 25 degrees. 

What I want to see is a device that harnesses the in-car heat and converts water into hydrogen or something while cooling the car off.  I guess this is a good first step though.  Priced at around $30 at Froogle.

Continuing the pattern of making electric cars tiny and peculiar, DaimlerChrysler just released their plans to sell an all-electric version of the Fortwo Smart Car.   The EV version actually performs better than its gasoline brother.  The rather lame standard measure of 0 to 30 mph was brought down to 6.5 seconds, no word on how fast it gets up to 60.  The good news is, it does indeed get to 60, and a bit beyond. 

The EV Fortwo Smart Car is slated for release in the EU in 2007 and a year later in the US. 

Via Left Lane News

The direct conversion of sunlight to electricity is looking to become economically competitive with traditional burning-hot-stuff electricity within the next ten or fifteen years.  Every time something happens to shorten that period of time, we do a little dance here at EcoGeek.  No, we aren’t going to tell you about the dance…we’re going to tell you about Holographic Solar photovoltaics.  

It’s actually kinda difficult to get a photovoltaic cell to absorb a wide wavelength of light.  While some work is being done to increase the spectrum of light PVs can absorb (even into the infrared range) Prism Solar Technologies is splitting sunlight and concentrating specific wavelengths onto a variety of cells designed to collect those specific wavelengths.  

In their most recent trial, the holographic concentrators boosted the efficiency per square inch of photo-cell by 25%.  Excellent because the concentrators are cheaper than the silicon solar cells, and also because they’re less environmentally costly to create.  If the cost of the concetrators drops enough, we could see economicall competitive solar panels (that you can see through most of) even sooner.) 

Via TreeHugger

 

"If you want to start a revolution, don't pick up a gun. Do it with science and technology." So says Stanford R. Ovshinsky Chairman and CEO of United Solar Ovonic and President and Chief Technology Officer of Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. We couldn't agree more.

 

Stan is a feature character in the recent movie "Who Killed the Electic Car" which EcoGeek has been entirely lax in promoting. We're not overly fond of battery-powered transit, batteries are heavy, toxic, hot and expensive, but who are we to deride any alternative to gasoline. A slew of other idealistic EcoGeeks are featured in the movie including Alan Cocconi, designer of the GM EV1 and the GM SunRaycer, Consumer Advocate Ralph Nader and the former CIA director R. James. Woolsey. 

The real star of "Who Killed the Electric Car" however, is General Motors' EV1. The celebrated electric car was developed in reaction to California's Zero Emissions Mandate (ZEV) issued in 1990 by CARB (California Air Resource Board). In many ways the EV1 was revolutionary; quiet, non-polluting and fast yet requiring no gas or oil changes and a very simple maintenance routine. But before it really caught on, it all but disappeared… As the facts unfold the movie makes the case that it was a carefully planned and executed murder.

Who is guilty? Big Auto, Big Oil, Fickle Consumers, CARB, The US Government, Wimpy Batteries, Fuel Cell Technology? The creators of the film certainly have their opinions, but we at EcoGeek are firm believers in the theory of all-of-the-above. Whether you see the movie or not, whether you buy their case or not, the website is packed full of facts and definitely worth a look.