hybrid

Toronto Begins Implementing Clinton Cities Challenge

- Adam Clare

Shortly after returning from the meeting of 16 mayors who are getting support from Clinton et. all to green their cities, Toronto mayor David Miller has announced a hybrid car campaign. Toronto will begin testing plug-in hybrids to test the feasibility of a mass rollout of the cars. The testing phase will start small but get progressively larger over time.

“The key purpose is to determine if plug-in hybrid technology is suitable to Toronto’s climate
and roads,” Miller said in Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square on Saturday, at the launch of the program.

There are suggestions that the converted vehicles would be able to feed electricity back into the grid, serving as mobile power stations to homes during a blackout. Or they could be plugged into the electricity grid during periods of peak demand to supply power and prevent blackouts.

Future Ships to Float on Air

- Adam Clare

hulledSome researchers are trying to find a way to let ships ride bubbles through the water. Ships built in the future my have a specially built hull that releases tiny bubbles using an air pump to provide less friction than water.

The New Scientist article goes into the technical challenges of designing what they call a slippery ship and the positive impact that these ships can have on the environment.

“A craft that has less friction as it slides through the water will be far more efficient than standard ships. Slippery ships could travel across the sea much faster or carry a bigger load on the same amount of fuel, saving money and reducing pollution. This is crucial, considering that in 2003 more than 90 per cent of all goods that were sent around the globe went by ship – that’s more than 6 billion tonnes, and the figure is set to increase.”

A Free Energy Future?

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

Here’s a documentary that aired in 1995 that looks at the feasibility of free energy. Energy from water is brought up a few times. It is very optimistic about the idea of free energy and I’m hoping that one day we get free energy that doesn’t damage the environment.

Most people scoff at the idea of free energy but it wasn’t that long ago that people scoffed at the thought of using water to power machines (steam trains for example) and oil to power more machines (smog machines for example). That being said there is some questionable science in the vide, but we can dream can’t we?

From the movies description at Google Video:
“In the opening stages Arthur C. Clarke explained how there were four stages in the way scientists react to the development of anything of a revolutionary nature. “Free energy” was now working its way through these four stages of reaction, which were:

a: “It’s nonsense,” b: “It is not important,” c: “I always said it was a good idea,” and d: “I thought of it first.””

Catch the Hybrid Train

- Adam Clare

tracks ala googleEurope will soon begin trial runs of the first European high-speed hybrid train. Compared to other trains there is an expected emissions cut of 50%!

“The system, which has been developed by Hitachi in Japan, consists of a battery-assisted diesel-electric traction engine. The traction unit uses the battery when the train is at rest and in the early stages of acceleration up to around 30 kilometres an hour (19mph), at which point the conventional diesel engine kicks in.”

Seven Hybrid Concerns?

- Adam Clare 4 Comments

People seem to not like change and changing from a car that produces smog to a car that produces less smog is shocking for some. They don’t know what is true and what isn’t true when it comes to information about hybrid vehicles. CNN has tried to clarify what people should consider when buying a hybrid car and other points that aren’t that important.

Of their list below only three are “legitimate” concerns.

  1. Hybrids have complicated technology that is difficult or expensive to fix
  2. Hybrids have limited battery pack life
  3. Hybrids have technical problems like stalling and sputtering
  4. Hybrids do not pay for themselves to justify their premium cost
  5. Hybrids do not offer the driving performance needed
  6. Hybrids will not hold resale value
  7. Hybrids do not get the level of mileage promised
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