Smart Fortwo MHD: Hybrid Car Without a Battery
Smart Fortwo Micro Hybrid Drive (MHD) has been available for quite a while on Europe's car markets. It's Smart's way of saying "I am cleaner than the cleanest", and a quite impressive innovation that brings some kind of a "hybrid" system into play by using a start-stop mechanism of the engine. It uses regenerative brakes, like all hybrids do, to recharge the battery, and it stops the engine when you halt at a stop light (in fact, when your speed drops below 8km/h).
NiFe Nanoparticles Raise Electrolysis Hydrogen Production by 300%
A company, named QuantumSphere, has designed a metal coating system made for electrolyzers, made out of nanoparticles of NiFe (Fero-Nickel, or in plain english, a combination between iron and nickel). This coating would cover the electrolyzers' anode and cathode and increase the actual contact surface with water by over 1000 times!
UK Researchers Use Bacteria to Generate Hydrogen from Landfills
As you already know, Earth's ecosystems are in a closed-loop. Researchers from the University of Birmingham have created a closed loop hydrogen energy eco-system based on two types of bacteria and a twist of fuel cell technology. How did they do that?
Fuel Cells to Become a Viable Business Only 15 Years from Now
Vehicles based on hydrogen fuel cells are still 15 years away to becoming a viable business for manufacturers, informs Reuters. In the best case, the manufacturers will be able to sell only two million electric vehicles based on fuel cells until 2020, according to a study conducted by the National Research Council. This figure represents less than 1% of the cars located at that time on U.S. roads.
Solar Panel Coating to Increase Efficiency up to 6%
Xerocoat, a newcomer in the solar industry, has patented a system that will make solar panels better and more efficient. They made a coating for the solar panels so that when covered with it, they receive 3% more light at noon and as much as 6% during early morning and evening hours. So they increase sensibly the solar panels' efficiency and decrease the cost/watt.
Water Powered Cars Weekly Gathering from Van Nuys, CA
Van Nuys, CA, is the place where hydrogen car fanatics meet every weekend, for about an hour, in a park. There they discuss their HHO boosters, exchange opinions and schematics, but the gathering is not only for that! They also welcome "outside" people, skeptics, who want to touch, feel and smell cleaner burning gasoline and (or) diesel. They can buy some kits or gather instructions on how to build their own hydrogen boosters.
Toyota Prius Will Have Solar Panels by Next Year
Toyota Motor Corp. announced that it will introduce an air conditioning system based on solar energy to the new Prius models next year. General Motors (GM), on the other hand, will launch the small environment-friendly Chevrolet Beat.
MIT Window Coating Collects Solar Energy
MIT researchers have found a way to give your ordinary windows other uses than allow you to look through it. They invented a special coating that can be applied to the window, which in turn transmits the light its edges, to some solar cells. In this way you'll still be able to see clearly through the window and collect solar energy.
Home Made Hydrogen for Your Car
A British company, ITM, has invented a device that does electrolysis and splits water into hydrogen. They even modified a Ford Focus to run on the hydrogen they make(basically no big deal, just a few adjustments to the top dead center of the pistons and a little chip tricking on the exhaust).
Israel – the World Leader in Solar Powered Water Heating
Did you know that Israel has 90% of the population heating their water from the sun? This has happened because of the 1950 energy crisis, fact that led them into buying solar water heaters. In 1983, about 60% of the Israelis had solar water heating.
