Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Google Your Way to 100 Miles Per Gallon


Google’s recent announcement that they would create a for-profit charitable arm did a lot to raise the warm and fuzzy level of this week’s news but one item in particular caught our interest. One of the projects Google.org plans to fund is an effort to develop a 100 MPG car with the goal of dramatically reducing US dependence on foreign oil and production of greenhouse emissions.

An article in this month’s edition of Popular Science confirms that this is only one of several similar efforts including the latest x-prize. With plug-in hybrid conversion kits already for sale in California, can a practical, affordable 100 mpg car be that far off?



Monday, September 18, 2006

GM Fuel Cell by 2011?


GM is making a lot of noise lately about Fuel Cells, culminating in their announcement on Friday that they will have Fuel Cell powered cars in showrooms by 2011. If this ends up being true, and the obstacles surrounding cost and re-fueling infrastructure can be overcome, GM has the potential to leap frog their competition in a way that changes the auto-industry forever. If it fails (and it is starting to sound like they are betting the farm on this) it could mark the end of GM as the lead player in the auto industry.

While we have all heard GM making this kind of futuristic pronouncement before, the date has never seemed so close, and when you combine it with recent comments from the company about the importance of nuclear power as an emissions free energy source it starts to look like they might actually be serious about pulling this off.



Friday, September 15, 2006

The New Split-Cycle Engine


Even with advances in batteries and fuel cells, most of us will probably be driving something with an internal combustion engine in it for the foreseeable future. That’s one of the reasons a new kind of internal combustion engine being tested by the Scuderi Group is so intriguing.

The concept is a new take on the split-cycle engine, an old idea for dividing the work performed by a standard four-stroke engine cylinder between two paired cylinders. Historically, this has never been very efficient, but before his death in 2002 a Massachusetts inventor named Carmelo Scuderi may have figured out a way to make split-cycles work that is twice as efficient as a conventional engine.

Prototypes are in development, and major automakers are in talks with the Scuderi Group right now, but it will probably be some time before you can expect to see this at your local dealer.



Tuesday, September 05, 2006

The West Texas Wind Boom


Speaking of Wind, this article provides a great look at how the wind boom is changing west Texas, and quietly turning into a way of life for residents of some of the small former oil towns. After reading this I cant help but wonder about the potential for wind power to work the same magic in depressed rural communities across the American mid-west.



Friday, September 01, 2006

Ups and Downs of Wind Power


A recent episode of NPR’s All Things Considered walks through the debate within the environmental community regarding wind power. It seems greens are torn between the chance for renewable, pollution free power and the inevitable footprint of windmills blighting scenic and remote areas of ridgelines and coastlines.

The debate will go on, but apparently so will the march of new wind projects with the US approaching 10 Gigawatts of wind generation capacity.