Fastest Bentley ever to run on ethanol
Jan 31, 2009 Auto Tech, Green Technologies
Bentley has released a teaser video for its upcoming “Extreme Bentley” flexfuel car. Touted as the fastest Bentley ever, the car can run on ethanol and petrol or blends of these and is scheduled for release in March 2009 during the Geneva Motorshow.
Watch the video below. Image after the jump.
Tags: Bentley, biofuel, ethanol, Extreme Bentley
Japan Airlines undertakes biofuel powered test flight
Jan 31, 2009 Green Technologies, Information of the Day
Japan Airlines
Japan Airlines (JAL) became the latest airline to conduct a demonstration flight using a biofuel blend. An approximately one and half-hour demo flight using a JAL-owned Boeing 747-300 aircraft, had a blend of 50% biofuel and 50% traditional Jet-A jet fuel powering one of the 4 engines.
The biofuel component tested was a mixture of three second-generation biofuel feedstocks: camelina (84%), jatropha (under 16%), and algae (under 1%). While biofuels derived from corn have been blamed for food crisis by competing with food crops , there are skeptics for even the second generation of biofuel which may not be as carbon neutral as they appear at first glance.
Virgin Atlantic had tested biofuels in jet engines in February 2008 while Continental Airlines and Air New Zealand had done their own tests recently. Even in today’s era of low oil prices, it is heartening to see the efforts of these airlines to test alternative fuel sources. Air travel contributes about 2% to overall emission ofgreenhouse gases. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: biofuel, Camelina, Jaan Airlines, Jatropha, Jet fuel
New LED design: 12 time efficient, at $2.85
Jan 31, 2009 Green Architecture, Green Technologies
LED from Cambridge
A LED designed by Cambridge researchers is on the threshold of revolutionizing our lightning needs. A team led by Professor Colin Humphreys has produced a new design that is 3 times as efficient as fluorescent lamps and 12 times as efficient as traditional incandescent lamps, yet costs a mere $2.85! Unlike other stuff coming out of research labs, this design is being prototyped and maybe ready for commercial production soon.
The researchers also claim that the lamp will have a lifetime of 10000 hours (~60 years) and will be flicker free and capable of instantaneous illumination. It also won’t contain mercury, like fluorescent lamps do. On the whole, features that will not leave any excuses for not embracing efficient lightning in all places. Read the rest of this entry »
Green Investing report from Davos
Jan 31, 2009 Natural Resource Conservation, Stars, Policy and Finance
A report christened “Green Investing: Towards a Clean Energy Infrastructure” was released in the ongoing World Economic Forum at Davos.
It talks about the future of the new energy sources as well as issues like Energy Efficiency, Smart Grid, Power Storage and Carbon Capture and Storage, amongst others. It also estimates that global investment in clean energy must reach $515 billion per year by 2030, almost triple that of 2008 investment, in order to avoid adverse climate change. Read the report here.
Tags: Davos, Energy, Environment, WEF
The Global Compact and Energy Outlook 2009 from Davos
Jan 31, 2009 Information of the Day, Stars, Policy and Finance
WEF 2009
Many of the world’s most powerful political and business leaders are currently in Davos attending the World Economic Forum (WEF). The mood is somber amidst the current global economic crisis. In fact, UN secretary general termed 2009 as the year of multiple crises.
Speaking at a special session on the United Nations Global Compact , the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon stressed that, amid worries over a global recession, climate change threatens all our goals for development and social progress, but that it also presents us with a gilt-edged opportunity to invest in sustainable technologies and spur long-term growth.he warned against protectionism and other shortsighted measures, encouraging a longer term view instead.
Tags: Ambani, Davos, Energy, Global Compact, WEF
NDTV India organising “Greenathon”
Jan 30, 2009 Natural Resource Conservation, Philanthropy and Corporate Initiatives, Social Initiatives
Greenathon
NDTV, one of India’s largest news channels is going to organise a “Greenathon” on 7 and 8th February. This will consist of extensive clean up drives across the country, movie screenings, music concerts and other activities organized across the country.
Toyota seems to be the main sponsor (though it was Honda which gave India its first hybrid last year, the Civic Hybrid) and celebrities and experts like Preity Zinta, popular actress and Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have come on board.
Check out more details at the website. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Greenathon, India, NDTV
OLPC XO-2 details discussed: $75, dualscreen etc
Jan 30, 2009 Philanthropy and Corporate Initiatives
"Possible" OLPC X2
The Guardian (UK) has a report fleshing out details of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) foundation’s next model, the XO-2.
Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman emeritus of MIT’s Media Lab and head of the OLPC project promises that the XO-2 will be a $75 dual-screen device that’s held like a book! You can also turn it around and use one of the (touch)screens as the keyboard.
While you may be rightly skeptical about the touted price tag (given that the original XO-1 retailed for almost double its initial $100 target), there are other interesting details. “One important thing about the XO-2 is that we’re going to do it as an open source hardware programme. ……. we’ll want people to copy it. We’ll make the constituent parts available. We’ll try and get it out there using the exact opposite approach that we did with the XO-1″, says Negroponte. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Negroponte, OLPC, OLPC xo-2
Tesla Model S coming in March
Jan 29, 2009 Auto Tech
Tesla held meetings with groups of disgruntled customers to explain the recent price hikes of its Roadster. Speaking at these, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, let it slip out that the company may show a drivable prototype of its sedan, codenamed Model S for the first time on March 5 in Los Angeles. Production may start from 2011. There was also news on a 440V charger that would facilitate 45-minute charges is in the works, possibly for 2010.
As Tesla navigates its financial and technological challenges, more and more competitors are coming up from other non-traditional manufacturers. Tesla would have to duel it out with Fisker, SSC and others in the coming years. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Fisker, Tesla Motors
Chinese subsidies to promote cleaner cars
Jan 28, 2009 Auto Tech, Stars, Policy and Finance
China’s central government has decided to subsidize purchases of clean-energy vehicles for public fleets in 13 cities to help the automobile industry develop green technology, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The trial scheme will promote the use of electric, hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles by public transport operators, taxi firms and postal and sanitary services in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. Subsidies will be based on the gap in prices between more energy-efficient vehicles and those with traditional engines. Local governments were asked to allocate money to build and maintain facilities for the green vehicles. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: China, Clean vehicles
EU environment commissioner calls for US action on climate change
Jan 28, 2009 Stars, Policy and Finance
Stavros Dimas
Posturing before the Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change seems to have begun with an EU official calling for bold US action. EU environment commissioner Stavros Dimas has published an open letter to US President Barack Obama, imploring the U.S. to take an ambitious lead. “If Europe’s efforts are to make a real difference,” Dimas writes, “then we need America to join us shoulder to shoulder in the battle against climate change.”
Dimas believes that American innovation and financial muscle will be important. Moreover, if US sets an example, it will become more difficult for China to resist call for action against the global fight against climate change. Dimas cautions against slacking off in the efforts to fight climate change, even in the current financial turmoil.
The European Commission itself is shortly expected to reveal its strategy for increasing climate-related investments to $231 billion per year by 2020 — a prelude to the successor to the Kyoto Protocol, to be negotiated in Copenhagen in March. It is expected to contain several strategies for financing low-carbon development, including new state investment in energy efficiency and the use of carbon-credit auction revenue for “clean investments” in the EU and abroad.
Read the letter here .
Tags: Barack Obama, Climate Change, Copenhagen, Kyoto, Stavros Dimas