The greenest and fastest Bentley unveiled
Feb 28, 2009 Auto Tech
Bentley Continental Supersport
If you still have half a million dollars to splurge on a luxurious and insanely fast two-seater, while showing your concern for the environment, Bentley has just the car for you. It has unveiled the Bentley Continental Supersport, a coupe that can do 0-100 kmph in just 3.9 seconds and has a top speed of 329 kmph (204 mph).
For the environment friendly part, it is Bentley’s first car with Flexfuel technology. That means it can run on E85. Bentley claims CO2 emission reductions of up to 70% (”well-to-wheel - a measure of a fuel’s net
contribution to the atmosphere, not just tailpipe emissions….quantifying how much CO2 a fuel emits from its growth or extraction to its combustion or deployment. It includes refinement, distillation and transport of the fuel”).
Bentley says that the Supersport is the just beginning of its commitment to make its complete model range compatible with renewable fuels by 2012. Read the rest of this entry »
Renault looking at an electrifying future
Feb 28, 2009 Auto Tech, Green Technologies
Renault EVs coming soon!
Renault is stepping up its electric vehicle research and development efforts with the grand goal of having a third of its vehicle line-up go electric within a decade. In the recent future, Renault plans to have three battery-powered models on sale by 2011: an electric Kangoo van, a Clio-sized five-seat hatch and a larger saloon designed primarily for Israel but which would also be sold across Europe.
All three new models will use NEC lithion-ion batteries, jointly developed with Nissan, and have a range of at least 100 miles. Nissan-Renault has tied up with Better Place in several countries like US, Denmark and Israel to simultaneously set up public charging points and release electric vehicles.
Perhaps to hedge its technology bets, sister company Nissan is working on hybrids and fuel cell vehicles.
Tags: Better Place, Coulomb, EV, Nissan, Renault
Artificial trees to produce green energy
Feb 28, 2009 Green Architecture, Green Technologies
SolarBotanic
A company called SolarBotanic claims to have developed what they call Energy Harvesting Trees. The trees aren’t “real” ( just modeled on real ones); they are composed of Nanoleafs, which use nanotechnology derived designs to capture the “sun’s energy in photovoltaic and thermovoltaic cells, then convert the radiation into electricity.”
The artificial trees also have stems and twigs which house nano-piezovoltaic material which act as generators producing electricity from movement or kinetic energy caused by wind or rain. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Artificial tree, piezoelectricty, Solar Energy, Solarbotanic
Diomede offers greener and cheaper data storage
Feb 28, 2009 Carbon Trading Mechanisms, Green Architecture
Diomede
Diomede is a new new online data storage company, that recently launched in private beta with the goal of offering low cost cloud-based storage with the added benefit of being energy efficient.
Diomede increases efficiency by allowing customers to designate files that they don’t need instant access to, and places them either as ‘nearline’ or ‘offline’. These files have an access time of five minutes or four hours, respectively, but cost only 1/12 as much as standard cloud providers to store and take as little as 1/60th the amount of energy! Additionally, Diomede offsets its carbon footprint through Carbonfund. Read the rest of this entry »
Nissan-Renault and greentomatocars to bring EV taxis to London
Feb 28, 2009 Auto Tech, Green Technologies
Nissan-Renault has tied up with greentomatocars, a London based cab service to bring electric taxis and establish a network of car charging stations in London. greentomatocars already uses Toyota Priuses and offers carbon offsets as well.
Nissan Renault already has signed agreements with Better Place in development charging stations for electric vehicles and has memorandums signed in Denmark, Israel and Japan. It plans to introduce its first electric vehicle in 2010.
Tags: EVs, greentomatocars, London, Nissan, Renault
IBM to test smart grid in Denmark
Feb 26, 2009 Green Architecture, Green Technologies
IBM has announced that it is now a member of the EDISON project in Denmark, which plans rolling out a smart grid network on the Danish island of Bornholm. It had announced similar plans in Malta recently.
Electric Vehicles in a Distributed and Integrated Market using Sustainable Energy and Open Networks (or EDISON) is an initiative partly funded by the Danish government and has Siemens and Technical University of Denmark and DONG Energy, Denmark’s largest energy company as other collaborators. Initially the study will focus on the interaction of plug-in cars with the smart grid, including their use for energy storage to cope with the periodic nature of wind energy. But EDISON may also be applied to the management of other types of decentralized batteries throughout the system at a later stage. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Denmark, GE, Google, IBM, Smart grid
New York police gets hybrid patrol cars
Feb 26, 2009 Auto Tech, Stars, Policy and Finance
NYPD Nissan Altima
The New York Police Department is rolling out 40 Nissan Altima hybrids as patrol cars. The vehicles get around 35 miles per gallon, compared to the 16 mpg of the current fleet of Chevy Impalas and Ford Crown Victorias. The cars will be in operation within the next week and will be a small but significant greening step for the 3200 strong NYPD patrol fleet.
The NYPD will shell out more than $1 million, with 18 of the vehicles will be regular patrol cars costing 30 grand each, while the rest will be unmarked and come for 25 grand per car. More significant than the top speed of 113 mph will be their ability to cruise at speeds under 40mph solely on electric power, without consuming a drop of gas, ideal for inner-city driving conditions. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: hybrid, Nissan Altima, NYPD
NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory fails to reach orbit
Feb 25, 2009 Information of the Day
NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory satellite failed to reach orbit after its its liftoff on Feb. 24 from California. The first spacecraft dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon dioxide, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory was the latest mission in NASA’s ongoing study of the global carbon cycle.
Preliminary indications are that the fairing on the Taurus XL launch vehicle failed to separate. The fairing is a clamshell structure that encapsulates the satellite as it travels through the atmosphere. The spacecraft did not reach orbit and most likely landed in the ocean near Antarctica. Read the rest of this entry »
New findings could have shed light into the depth and nature of the global climate change problem. It could have given researchers concrete data to confront world’s political leaders ahead of the Copenhagen conference to hammer out a post-Kyoto protocol deal.
Tags: Carbon Dioxide, Carbon emissions, NASA, OCO
Rinspeed iChange coming to blow you away
Feb 24, 2009 Auto Tech
Rinspeed iChange
What if your car had a cockpit style opening instead of doors? What if you could dock your IPhone to the car dashboard and use it to start the car and operate the headlight and turn signals? And what if the car had an electric motor that helped it accelerate to 100 kmph from standstill in under 4 seconds? Surely you would not complain about not being able to steer the car by shaking the Iphone and using its inbuilt accelerometer?
Thought so! Move over Tesla and Fisker! Hail the Rinspeed iChange! (Video at the end of the story.) Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: electric vehicle, Fisker, IChange, Rinspeed, Tesla
Tesla teases with another Model S shot
Feb 23, 2009 Auto Tech, Green Technologies
Model S
Tesla has just released another teaser shot of its Model S sedan, that will be unveiled to the public on March 26. The Model S will be first available to the early adopters of the Tesla Roadster.
Tesla must be happy with the passing of the recent economic stimulus bill in US, as it is awaiting government funds for its future plans. It must also be feeling encouraged by the setting up of more public electric vehicle charging points, which will encourage the adoption of electric vehicles.
Tesla had released another shot of the Model S last week. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: EV, Model S, Tesla, Tesla Roadster