Inspirational and good news.
After being accused of killing the electric car, General Motors has decided to make another electric car. The Chevy Volt is the name and getting plugged in is its game.
“The Volt has a battery-powered electric motor that can run the car for up to 40 city miles on a single charge. Beyond that, a gasoline-powered, one-liter, three-cylinder engine can generate electricity to power the car and replenish the battery, with a range of up to 640 miles, GM said.”
A new study by the Opinion Research Corporation has found that 78% of Americans want a 40mpg fuel legislation. LeftLaneNews has the story on the survey results.
“A bipartisan 78 percent of Americans want the U.S. government to impose a 40 mile per gallon fuel-efficiency standard for vehicles sold in the United States, according to a new Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) national opinion survey. The report indicates nine out of 10 Americans expect gas prices to go up “in the near future,” with nearly half (46 percent) “definitely” expecting a resumption of higher fuel prices.”
The comments at LeftLaneNews break down into some sort of flame war proclaiming that lower mpg seems to be better. I just skimmed the comments so maybe there are some gems in their. One person made a comment mentioning that he doesn’t want the government telling him what mpg is acceptable.
It seems like that neat engine, which is powered by trash, in that car from Back to the Future is almost real! Researchers at UC Davis have found a way to turn leftovers from meals into biogas that can be used to generate electricity or make fuel. That in itself is not revolutionary, what is though, is that they found an effective (cheap) way to do this on a large scale.
The machine will use leftovers from restaurants to make energy, thus making it also a waster-diversion program to boot.
“The Biogas Energy Project is the first large-scale demonstration in the United States of a new technology developed in the past eight years by Ruihong Zhang, a UC Davis professor of biological and agricultural engineering. The technology, called an “anaerobic phased solids digester,” has been licensed from the university and adapted for commercial use by Onsite Power Systems Inc.”
Elegant Embellishments has created some groovy tiles that clean the air and add some aesthetic flair in cities. The tiles are still being developed, but this idea is really cool. The tiles are modular and can be mounted as a stand alone sculpture or attached to a building.
The technology behind the tiles is still being tweaked. Essentially, the tiles absorb pollutants that are generated from cars that lead to smog, while letting other gasses float on by. The tiles need to be located near the pollution source in order to be the most effective of course.
“The tiles provide councils, developers, and designers with an easy way simultaneously to improve the air quality and visual appeal of urban spaces. A London- and Berlin-based, interdisciplinary collaboration between innovators and materials manufacturers, architects and city councils, Elegant Embellishments produces lo-tech, interactive tiles in all shapes and sizes together with Millenium Chemicals TiO2. The tiles are modular and can thus be assembled to cover any surface or create any shape desired.”
Since it is Friday and we try to cover more ridiculous news, here is a gasoline made from pig poo.
A NASCAR feul specialists has found a way to take run of the mill pig waste and turn it into a high-octane adventure! Dean Gokel says he can produce 110 octane “pigoline” that is indistinguishable on a molecular level from petroleum-based additives.
“Here’s how it is supposed to work: First, he prepares the waste, turning it “into the consistency of a milkshake,” and then pumps it into the reactor. The hogs, kindly, do much of the hard work, breaking food into the big carbon-based molecules found in manure. Gokel’s process fractures long carbon chains and ring structures into chemicals closer to gasoline, such as C10 or better yet, C8 (basically, octane). Those smaller molecules are distilled off as a vapor, which is collected and eventually used as a fuel additive. The amines–nitrogen products–left behind can then be packed off and sold as commercial chemicals. Gokel is only running five-gallon batches, but there is no significant waste from it. The process takes about three hours.”