Category: Energy

Auto Catch-Up

Two good vehicular announcements:

A 3-wheeled machine has been demonstrated in Bath, England. “The prototype Clever (Compact Low Emission Vehicle for Urban Transport) car is one metre wide and less polluting than normal vehicles.” It tilts into the turns and has a top speed of 100 km/h , a novel invention indeed.

And at the Geneva Auto Show a company debuted a very efficient automobile, the Loremo. “The combination of light weight and tunnel tested aerodynamics allow this car to travel 157 miles per gallon of gasoline or 1.5 l per 100km!”

Fridge Magnet

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have discovered a metal alloy that actually allows magnets to cool down a fridge than just hold up pictures on the fridge.

“When this alloy is placed in a magnetic field, it gets colder. Karl Sandeman and his co-workers think that their material – a blend of cobalt, manganese, silicon and germanium – could help to usher in a new type of refrigerator that is up to 40 percent more energy-efficient than conventional models.”

Concentrating Power

A cheaper way to use solar power energy has been created that concentrates the sun intense rays on a very small focal point. The key is using the sun as heat, opposed to turning the light directly into electricity.

“It uses an old principle—that concentrated light is a great heat source—to achieve a level of efficiency on par with conventional power sources and far higher than traditional solar cells. Instead of converting sunlight directly into electricity, as those familiar rooftop solar panels do, it uses a concave array of mirrors to focus light on a central point, where the resulting heat causes compressed hydrogen to expand, driving a four-cylinder engine that turns a 25-kilowatt generator. “