Archive for the ‘Energy’ Category

Beyond Pollution, Inc. - AirTap Water Heater Add-On

Friday, October 13th, 2006

Beyond Pollution, Inc. - AirTap Water Heater Add-On

Interesting concept.  Would have to see more info from some independent testing labs before investing that kind of money into an add on to a standard water heater.

CanadianDriver: Feature - VW 1-Litre-Car

Tuesday, October 10th, 2006

CanadianDriver: Feature - VW 1-Litre-Car

Total rethink of the car by VW.  Thing looks cool and the specs are amazing!

Architectural Wind: Clean Energy, Birds Like It, Too - Gizmodo

Monday, October 2nd, 2006

Architectural Wind: Clean Energy, Birds Like It, Too - Gizmodo

I like!  The design and the concept are both excelent.   What limited specs are given look good too.  Wonder what the lifespan is?  Is it designed to be easily onsite repairable or at least component replaceable?  What’s the cost?  Does it come with a syncronus (sp?) inverter?  AC or DC? Tomato or Tomoto? ;-)

Plasma Power Systems - How the Plasma Power System Works

Wednesday, September 27th, 2006

Plasma Power Systems - How the Plasma Power System Works

Somewhat simplistic but at least gives a basic understanding of how it works. Trash to gas and power.  Cool!

transatlantic21: Home

Monday, September 25th, 2006

transatlantic21: Home

This makes a LOT of sense.  I have wondered for years why this type of ocean transport wasn’t more common. Guess the tech is catching up.

Deep-sea oil rigs inspire MIT designs for giant wind turbines - MIT News Office

Monday, September 18th, 2006

Deep-sea oil rigs inspire MIT designs for giant wind turbines - MIT News Office

Interesting concept.  Though I wonder if tidal or wave energy wouldn’t be better use than wind.  Though as the article states the wind that far off shore (100 miles) will  be much more constant.

Engine on a chip promises to best the battery - MIT News Office

Monday, September 18th, 2006

Engine on a chip promises to best the battery - MIT News Office

Looks like MIT is close to getting the micro turbine functional. Article states that they hope to have it operational by the end of the year. 20,000 rpm revolutions per second (thanks for the correction Steve). Sucker is booking!

Gentleman, unplug your engines

Friday, September 15th, 2006

Gentleman, unplug your engines

Cool, racing electric cars! Or is that electric racing cars?  Or smoking electrics might fit the bill… ;-)

My Way News - Aspiring ‘Biotown’ Gets Visit From CSNY

Tuesday, September 5th, 2006

My Way News - Aspiring ‘Biotown’ Gets Visit From CSNY

people_crosby_stills_nash_youngsff_ny114_20060903181800.jpg

Still breaking new ground and putting their $ where their ideals are! Way to go guys!

Georgia Institute of Technology :: News Room :: Hydrogen Fuel Cells Power Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Tuesday, August 29th, 2006

Georgia Institute of Technology :: News Room :: Hydrogen Fuel Cells Power Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Above is the original article and site. Below is the physorg.com article

Flying on hydrogen

Now why couldn’t physorg.com add a link to their article linking to the original?

Treehugger: Nanosolar: Printing Solar Film Like Paper

Wednesday, August 23rd, 2006

Treehugger: Nanosolar: Printing Solar Film Like Paper

Cool!

Nomadic Research Labs

Friday, August 18th, 2006

Nomadic Research Labs

Been here and posted about it before but another link can’t hurt. Neat stuff!

Irish company challenges scientists to test ‘free energy’ technology

Friday, August 18th, 2006

Irish company challenges scientists to test ‘free energy’ technology

Okay, if they say so but only because they’re Irish… ;-)

The Bicycle Forest :: Couchbike

Tuesday, August 15th, 2006

The Bicycle Forest :: Couchbike

Wonderful and TOTALLY insane!

Model 1600 - Distillers - Waterwise

Monday, July 24th, 2006

Model 1600 - Distillers - Waterwise

My mother asked me which kind of water purification unit I wanted and this is the one I decided on.

Model 1600 water distiller

All stainless steel construction and no moving parts. Any heat source is supposed to work and they mention wood and coal fires. Only requirement is a level surface.

Another big plus is there are no filters or other expendables used so the only ongoing costs will be the cost of heat.

Technology Review: Emerging Technologies and their Impact

Saturday, July 22nd, 2006

Technology Review: Emerging Technologies and their Impact
How To Build a Solar Generator

Affordable solar power using auto parts could make this electricity source far more available.

Interesting ideas. Wish for more detail but that seems the norm.

Update — Steve mentioned the auto tracker thing in a comment on this post and rather than bury this info in a comment here it is…

The easiest auto tracker I know of is a power steering assist cylinder with 2 12 oz freon cans attached on either side of a metal plate and attached to the hub of the device needing to follow the sun.

The cylinder is hooked to the control arm of the device and each side charged to balance the unit with both cans covered.

Each can is attached to one of the lines on the cylinder so that when one is in the sun the pressure is higher than the one in the shade and the unit moves to keep them both equally shaded/in the sun.

Quite elegant actually. One moving part and that is the piston.

Any low boiling temp gas should work as long as it doesn’t eat the rubber in the seals or lines. Propane should be safe and is easier and cheaper than freon r 12 to obtain and nowhere near as bad for the ozone, just highly flammable. Will have to try it and see.

Cleaner combustion from Atlanta researchers | The Register

Thursday, June 22nd, 2006

Cleaner combustion from Atlanta researchers | The Register

So where is the link to more information? This sounds very interesting but without more info is pretty worthless.

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Radical turbine aims to take wind power to towns and cities

Friday, June 2nd, 2006

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Radical turbine aims to take wind power to towns and cities

Wish they had more actual info.

Treehugger: The Other Ethanol

Tuesday, May 30th, 2006

Treehugger: The Other Ethanol

Cool!

Wood Bikes You Can Make

Sunday, May 7th, 2006

Wood Bikes You Can Make

This stuff is great! WIsh I had thought of it years ago. Now for the time and energy to build some of my own!