Environment

April 24, 2006 The soon-to-debut UK-built Modec van is the first zero emission van that is comparable in economy and performance to diesel equivalents, making it a real and viable urban delivery vehicle. Emmission-free, it covers up to 120 miles on a single charge and reaches a top speed of 50 mph carrying a load of up to two tonnes. And with only three moving parts in the electric motor instead of more than 300 in a typical diesel van engine, there’s less to go wrong. The battery can be recharged overnight at the fleet depot, allowing efficient and effective city delivery without the noise, smell or pollution traditionally associated with transit vans. The Modec van has been designed with large fleets in mind.  Read More

April 22, 2006 Today is Earth Day, when millions of people worldwide will participate in events to show their concern for the planet's environment and natural resources. The official web site lists an array of ways in which you can meaningfully involve yourself and your family and Yahoo! has also assembled a comprehensive microsite that helps people take simple steps to slow climate change. Environmental experts warn that greenhouse gas emissions will lead to disastrous consequences unless the earth's inhabitants make lifestyle changes.  Read More

April 21, 2006 Another wonderous enabling technology has been announced - a microreactor, about half the size of a credit card that produces biodiesel by combining alcohol and vegetable oil directly, greatly speeding and simplifying production compared to traditional methods. By stacking many of these microreactors in parallel, a device the size of a small suitcase could produce hundreds of thousands of gallons per year of biodiesel – enough to power several farms. The device could significantly reduce farmer dependence on mass-produced petroleum. "This is all about producing energy in such a way that it liberates people," said inventor and OSU Professor Goran Jovanovic. "Most people think large-scale, central production of energy is cheaper, because we've been raised with that paradigm. But distributed energy production means you can use local resources - farmers can produce all the energy they need from what they grow on their own farms." Jovanovic is seeking to partner in order to commercialize the technology.  Read More

April 20, 2006 In a significant development, Magnetek and VRB have announced a significant new multi-purpose 5kW energy storage as an alternative to traditional lead-acid battery backup systems. Housed in a ZONE-4 certified NEMA 3R type enclosure, Magnetek's 5kW Vanadium Redox Battery Energy Storage System (VRB-ESS) backup power system is comprised of a storage tank containing a vanadium-based electrolyte, flow-cell stacks, and pump system and provides cost effective, reliable and environmentally friendly backup power. Virtually maintenance-free, it affords substantially lower cost of ownership than lead-acid battery-based systems and provides unprecedented security-of-supply to meet the energy needs of a variety of applications.  Read More

March 8, 2006 The Alliance for Synthetic Fuels in Europe (ASFE) was launched yesterday. At a conference held in Brussels and attended by European Commissioners Gunter Verheugen and Andris Piebalgs and Austrian Minister for Environment Josef Proll, leading automotive manufacturers and fuel supply companies layed out their common vision of sustainable mobility in Europe. Founding members of the Alliance of Synthetic Fuels in Europe (ASFE) - DaimlerChrysler, Renault, Royal Dutch Shell, Sasol Chevron and the Volkswagen group – addressed the strategic role of synthetic fuels in tackling today’s energy and environmental challenges and reducing the environmental impact of road transport through improved energy efficiency and the use of cleaner fuels.  Read More

February 21, 2006 With around 20% of the world’s population struggling to get adequate supplies of safe drinking water, the rapid evolution of air-water technology (which extracts water from the air) could well become one of the most significant enabling technologies in the history of mankind. We’ve already awarded the invention of the century, but we believe air-water technology is close to being equally as significant as it will enable man to begin to reconsider the cultivation of vast tracts of previously inhospitable land. Believe it or not, there are approximately 4000 cubic miles of water in the earth’s atmosphere, which accounts for why it rains, why air conditioning units extract water from the air, and how Atmospheric Water Technologies’ machinery manages to extract thousands of litres of drinkable water per day from thin air. We wrote up the technology in detail 18 months ago, but things have changed a lot in the short time since that first article. Now the company produces an AW100i model which combines water extraction from the atmosphere with a built-in icemaker to make a unit that can be powered from a generator and produce 50 litre of ice and 50 litres of drinkable water per day. More significantly, the company has now developed a mobile version of its air-to-water machine known as the aw1000m (caution: large WMV video file). The tandem-wheeled trailer-mounted US$48,000 aw1000m will produce over 1,000 liters of purified and filtered water daily, store it in on-board water tanks, and dispense it for drinking, washing or via two built-in shower units as part of the total water producing system/concept. The machine was developed as an all-in-one solution for the needs of the Indian army in the field and is suitable for transportation over rugged terrain and powered by a diesel generator. The machine can be fitted with an automatic plastic pouch filling machine which produces 25 plastic pouches of purified drinking water per minute for US$0.01 per 800cc pack.  Read More

February 18, 2006 The potential for using the power of the tides to generate electricity for homes and businesses in Wales is being taken a step further. With funding from the Welsh Assembly Government, tidal energy firm Marine Current Turbines will examine and identify locations around the Welsh coastline where its tidal stream technology could be suitable. The project is supported by the Welsh Development Agency’s Energy Office, which has worked closely with Marine Current Turbines to facilitate the development of this project in Wales.  Read More

February 18, 2006 With the world going mobile and billions of new devices requiring electrical storage, battery technology is almost certainly due for a renaissance in the near future and recent developments suggest MIT will play a role in the next significant battery technology. Less than a week ago, we reported on work being done by MIT's Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems (LEES) that could become the first technologically significant and economically viable alternative to conventional batteries in 200 years. Now a second new and highly promising battery technology is emerging from MIT - a new type of lithium battery that could become a cheaper alternative to the batteries that now power hybrid electric cars.  Read More

February 14, 2006 Almost everything we use requires electrical storage via a battery - computers, cell phones, cars, personal entertainment devices and much more – and as compelling functionality has increased in the digital age, so too has our reliance on the traditional battery which has changed little since it was developed by Alessandro Volta in 1800. Now, work at MIT's Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems (LEES) holds the promise of the first technologically significant and economically viable alternative to conventional batteries in more than 200 years. Using nanotube structures, the LEES invention promises a significant increase on the storage capacity of existing commercial ultracapacitors by storing electrical fields at an atomic level. The new LEES ultracapacitors could replace the conventional battery in everything from the smallest MP3 players through to electric automobiles and beyond, yielding batteries with a lifetime equivalent to the product they power and recharging times inside a minute. Most significantly, they promise a much smaller and lighter “battery”, and will be an enabling technology for many new concepts such as electric bicycles with the “burst” peak power of a motorcycle, or electrical trams with the capacity of a train but without the infrastructure. In automotive terms, they raise the possibility of an integrated starter/generator and the capability of ultra-efficient regenerative braking systems. The work was presented at the recent 15th International Seminar on Double Layer Capacitors and Hybrid Energy Storage Devices and the LEES “batteries” could reach market within five years. A potentially disruptive technology!  Read More