Hello, dear reader. It's me, Ovidiu, your news man from the Green Optimistic. 2010 is quickly approaching its end, and we've had lots of good, interesting and fun with writing news for you this year. It's been the year of launch for Nissan Leaf the first mass-produced electric car, and the year of many breakthroughs in solar, wind and tidal power.
Just like you see all the latest automotive technologies applied to high-end class Mercedes cars, the newest innovations in the field of electric cars of a few years ago start to show up in "regular" automobiles, to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
The Pershing County School District from Nevada is the latest of many across the United States that have installed solar arrays this year. The solar photovoltaic system is expected to produce much of the electricity needed by three schools in Lovelock, Nev.
Winter is surely here, and heating the homes is something most of the people pay for, at least in moderate climate countries. The example of how a Maine company implemented a scheme for heating homes with the electricity generated during the night should spark interest for companies interested in both the profits and the green kudos.
Can you remember MDI Cat? They're the company who designed an engine powered completely by compressed air a few years ago. It looks like they gathered funding from a Tata Motors venture and are now developing a new and more efficient vehicle: the AirPod.
I've known for years that solar concentrators do a good job at harnessing heat. You may also use them to generate electricity, but it's not their best job possible. A recent article published in the journal Science shows how solar concentrators can be used to directly extract hydrogen from water, without any middlemen such as photovoltaic panels and electricity.
The "Dimitrie Leonida" National Technical Museum from Romania hosts a weird kind of battery. Built by Vasile Karpen, the pile is working uninterrupted for 60 years. "I admit it's also hard for me to advance the idea of an overunity generator without sounding ridiculous, even if the object exists," says Nicolae Diaconescu, engineer and director of the museum.
The Ames National Laboratory and the University of Colorado have compiled a new research, with suggestive evidence that wind turbines sited on farmlands may actually help certain crops thrive even when weather conditions are less than ideal.
The Japanese group Honda announced a new domain of interest for its customers; the vehicle charging stations that will be part of the company's goal of reducing CO2 emissions.
In the region of New England, the land and ocean winds may be an alternative source of electricity in the next ten years. A research conducted by GE Energy Applications & Systems Engineering revealed that 24% of the electricity can be taken from the power of wind.
