Air Car Coming to U.S. by 2010: How would you like to be getting 868 miles on a single fill-up? A startup funded by Indian car company Tata Motors plans on bringing a car powered by compressed air to the U.S. automobile market sometime in 2009 or 2010. They company, named Zero Pollution Motors, has developed a car that runs entirely on compressed air for around-town driving, and uses minimal amounts of gasoline at highway speeds. [CNET News.com]
7:29:53 PM
Smart Car Sales Driven by Novelty Not Gas Milage: The two-seater Smart Car gets surprisingly poor gas milage, and initial sales appear to be based foremost on the novelty of owning such a cute little car. Looks like people are buying it for a 2nd (or 3rd? or 4th?) car for short hops around town or to pull behind their RV. Considering it's size, the Bear asks why oh why does it not get significantly better milage than other "normal" subcompacts? Reading the comments at end of the article confirms others are wondering exactly the same thing. [Wired]
5:50:49 PM
Friday, September 21, 2007
Arctic Sea Ice Shrinks to Record Low: Scientists who know are saying there's 22 percent less ice covering the earth's surface than the last recorded low in September 2005. The Bear thinks that's gotta be a serious change in environment for all our friends and wild things out there at the poles. If we're not out to drown the polar bears, I hope everyone can do a little something more to reduce our impact on the planet. [Bloomberg News via TameBear Radio]
8:42:38 PM
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Texas Startup Says It Has Batteries Beat: The patent application from EEStor of Austin Texas claims "technologies for replacement of electrochemical batteries," and if so, they're onto something big. Many in the industry view their claims with great cynicism... but that has not dissuaded Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers from investing $3 million in the little company. [Yahoo News]
8:14:02 AM
500 Miles on a Few Minutes Charge: Finally it looks like the all-electric vehicle is just around the corner. The Toronto Ontario Zenn Motor Company has teamed up with EEStor, developer of a novel energy storage product. The 100lb capacitor can be fully charged in just a few minutes, and delivers up to 500 miles of electric power travel between charges.
Reducing the weight of battery storage and shortening the recharge time is a formula for success, if Zenn can actually deliver. They plan to do so later this year, or early 2008. [TameBear Radio]
7:57:40 AM
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Heavenly Bodies: Whenever the Bear comes across such atronomical comparisons as these, it inspires awe, tinged with a great humility at our smallness in the celestial void, and gratitude and wonder that we even exist at all.
Portable power from trash: There are reportedly 90 sites throughout the US where garbage is burned to produce heat and electricity. The heat is used to dry burnable biomass, and the process burns relatively cleanly (meeting California's emissions standards.) Now a "portable" system produced by AgriPower can be moved to the source of the biomass, and will burn anything from nuts to old tires. [CNET News.com]
5:10:24 PM
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Aluminum Alloy Extracts Hydrogen From Water On Demand: While cleaning some lab equipment, a Purdue University engineer inadvertently stumbles upon a new method for producing hydrogen from water. The hydrogen is generated on demand, so you only produce as much as you need, when you need it. It's possible the technique could be used to replace gasoline in cars. [What's Next In Science & Technology]
7:41:05 AM
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Peak Uranium: "Limited supplies of uranium fuel for nuclear power plants may thwart the renewed and growing interest in nuclear energy in the United States and other nations, according to an industry expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology." [Reuters News via Futurismic]
8:09:47 AM
