Even if it may sound like science fiction, the vision of the European Union is to be able to power the entire Continent with Green Energy: from solar panels to wind and wave turbines, from geothermal to hydroelectric power stations.
CSP stands for Concentrated Solar Power, and it really isn't a cutting edge technology. It uses solar power, focused through mirrors, to heat water in a central tower (like in the image on the left), create steam, and spin a turbine to generate electricity. It's so simple and effective that it can currently deliver electricity at €0.15 to €0.23 a kilowatt.
Scientists, in collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, have researched the rotation of molecules on a fixed surface. They want to develop nanoscale-level rotor-based electricity generators and electric motors.
Th!nk, the electric car from Norway, has started a relationship with Oerlikon Graziano, who makes gearboxes. So, they designed a special gearbox, the only one at this time made specially for electric vehicles. With this gearbox, th!nk wil have the most efficient transmission system, would not waste energy on useless rpm, and run quietly.
Solar powered cell phones are more and more looked for in the past few months. Many cell phone manufacturers release solar powered versions of their gadgets. Reacting on this (or anticipating a bubble), Sharp made solar cells specially designed for use in cell phones.
I was talking in an earlier article about the possibility of electric car battery swapping systems installed on the roads, instead of gas stations. Mercedes did some testing back in the 70's, and concluded that a battery swapping system was both inefficient and dangerous if it would have been implemented with the technology existing at the time.
It's time for some fun once in a while on The Green Optimistic. I wish I could do that a habit and, once a week, present some funny environmentally-related video. If there are lots of them, I'll even make a category.
The economical crisis is the best moment for auto industry's ruling players to fuse their forces and/or technologies, for increasing profit on everyone's side.
If you ever had a diesel car, you know that it's more fuel efficient than the gasoline counterpart. That's because diesel engines use compression to ignite the fuel, and gasoline engines use a spark to do that. Practically, diesel engines could work without any electricity - at all.
Although Obama's recent budgeting won't be allowing more than 40% of what's been allowed until May 9 for fuel cell research, others don't find his decision to quit financing this technology as easy as he or his administration does. Furthermore, there are people and institutions actively searching for other investment resources to pursue the fuel cell business and dream.
