Results tagged “Renewable Energy” from Astranaut
March 3, 2009
Solar Electic Cars are the Future
The potential for electric cars to transform transportation around the world and here in the US is huge. Several factors need to be improved for this to really take off. The first is battery life. Yet, as I mentioned in a previous post, liquid batteries seem to have the potential for dramatically increasing the charge they can hold. What's important to remember is 80% of people drive less than 20 miles a day, and even the most conservative electric cars can travel 3 times that distance. If liquid batteries can be integrated into cars, the potential for 200-300 miles per charge seems reasonable, which is about the same as gas now. The difference however is electricity is a lot cheaper than gas, at 2 cents per mile. At current prices ($2.15/gallon), that's equivalent to 107mpg. When and if prices get to $4.00/gallon again, that price/performance increase to 200mpg! What's also nice about electric cars is they do not require a major infrastructure overhaul to get them on the roads. There are already electric outlets everywhere, and offering rapid charges at gas stations would be a minimal investment. At this point any research or development on biofuels is both economically and morally bankrupt, as the miles traveled per acre of energy generation use for solar vastly outstrips any biofuel alternative (see comparison chart below):
Continuing to use valuable arable land to grow fuel instead of food is unethical and in the increasing opinion of many, genocide, as it prices food out of the reach of the world's poor.
Generating electricity from solar for cars is both the economic and ethically right thing to do.
In the meantime, I'd like to point out two new entries in both solar and electric cars.
The first is Aptera's 2e, which goes 100 miles on a charge:
Some people think it's ugly, but I think it's beautiful. So apparently does the production staff for the new Star Trek Movie, which will feature the car in one of it's scenes. This car is a 2-seater with room for 15 grocery bags. Not bad for a commuter vehicle, and at 100 miles per charge, could account for more than 90% of the vehicals on the road today. Add liquid batteries, and electric cars would match gas for miles on a "fill", and be several times cheaper per mile.
The next car I'd like to talk is entirely solar car called Eleanor, generating ALL of it's electricity from it's surface using the sun, and it can go 90mph! Built by our lovely MIT team below:
Of course it's small, and exclusive designed to win the annual Australian 2000 mile World Solar Challenge, but think about this for a moment. A car that, as long as the sun is out, travel continuously without stopping, and obtain speeds in excess of 90mph at the same time. This to me is absolutely astounding, and straight out of the future! The only problems that I see with it (for the moment), are design issues to modify it for holding more passengers, and stronger materials to meet mandated safety standards. But add emerging carbon-based nanomaterials, with strengths 10 times stronger than steel, problem solved. Add compact liquid batteries, and no more need for eclectic grids, or charging stations. A Solar Electric Car that can travel non-stop during daylight hours, and if it's not traveling, stores all of it's solar energy while it sits, and available for you to drive at night. This would be THE solution to nearly all of our ground personal transportation needs indefinitely.
Continuing to use valuable arable land to grow fuel instead of food is unethical and in the increasing opinion of many, genocide, as it prices food out of the reach of the world's poor.
Generating electricity from solar for cars is both the economic and ethically right thing to do.
In the meantime, I'd like to point out two new entries in both solar and electric cars.
The first is Aptera's 2e, which goes 100 miles on a charge:
Some people think it's ugly, but I think it's beautiful. So apparently does the production staff for the new Star Trek Movie, which will feature the car in one of it's scenes. This car is a 2-seater with room for 15 grocery bags. Not bad for a commuter vehicle, and at 100 miles per charge, could account for more than 90% of the vehicals on the road today. Add liquid batteries, and electric cars would match gas for miles on a "fill", and be several times cheaper per mile.
The next car I'd like to talk is entirely solar car called Eleanor, generating ALL of it's electricity from it's surface using the sun, and it can go 90mph! Built by our lovely MIT team below:
Of course it's small, and exclusive designed to win the annual Australian 2000 mile World Solar Challenge, but think about this for a moment. A car that, as long as the sun is out, travel continuously without stopping, and obtain speeds in excess of 90mph at the same time. This to me is absolutely astounding, and straight out of the future! The only problems that I see with it (for the moment), are design issues to modify it for holding more passengers, and stronger materials to meet mandated safety standards. But add emerging carbon-based nanomaterials, with strengths 10 times stronger than steel, problem solved. Add compact liquid batteries, and no more need for eclectic grids, or charging stations. A Solar Electric Car that can travel non-stop during daylight hours, and if it's not traveling, stores all of it's solar energy while it sits, and available for you to drive at night. This would be THE solution to nearly all of our ground personal transportation needs indefinitely.
March 2, 2009
Solar Power at Night: The Liquid Battery
More of the onrushing news that we can indeed transition to a clean, green, renewable, regenerative, sustainable economy.
Being introduced today at the Emtech India Conference is the first liquid battery.
Based on prototypes already built, the operational data suggest these liquid batteries will cost less than a third as much as today's best batteries and could last significantly longer.
From Technology Review article, and video.
Being introduced today at the Emtech India Conference is the first liquid battery.
Based on prototypes already built, the operational data suggest these liquid batteries will cost less than a third as much as today's best batteries and could last significantly longer.
From Technology Review article, and video.
The battery is unlike any other. The electrodes are molten metals, and the electrolyte that conducts current between them is a molten salt. This results in an unusually resilient device that can quickly absorb large amounts of electricity. The electrodes can operate at electrical currents "tens of times higher than any [battery] that's ever been measured," says Donald R. Sadoway, a materials chemistry professor at MIT and one of the battery's inventors. What's more, the materials are cheap, and the design allows for simple manufacturing.
The first prototype consists of a container surrounded by insulating material. The researchers add molten raw materials: antimony on the bottom, an electrolyte such as sodium sulfide in the middle, and magnesium at the top. Since each material has a different density, they naturally remain in distinct layers, which simplifies manufacturing. The container doubles as a current collector, delivering electrons from a power supply, such as solar panels, or carrying them away to the electrical grid to supply electricity to homes and businesses.
As power flows into the battery, magnesium and antimony metal are generated from magnesium antimonide dissolved in the electrolyte. When the cell discharges, the metals of the two electrodes dissolve to again form magnesium antimonide, which dissolves in the electrolyte, causing the electrolyte to grow larger and the electrodes to shrink.
Sadoway envisions wiring together large cells to form enormous battery packs. One big enough to meet the peak electricity demand in New York City--about 13,000 megawatts--would only fill 60,000 square meters in an underground facility [about the size your average WalMart]. For New York it would require a solar farms of significant size, generating not only enough electricity to meet daytime power needs but enough excess power to charge the batteries for nighttime demand. The first systems will probably store energy produced during periods of low electricity demand for use during peak demand, thus reducing the need for new power plants and transmission lines.
The team hopes that a commercial version of the battery will be available in five years.
March 2, 2009
Aquatic Clean Energy
I just heard of this amazing new entry into clean, green energy in the second issue of Humanity Plus Magazine, from an article by Jamais Cascio, one of my favorite futurists.
Called VIVACE (Vortex Induced Vibrations Aquatic Clean Energy) from the company Vortex Hydro Energy, uses a new approach to collect energy from moving water currents, such as a river or ocean currents.
What makes VIVACE exciting is it can works in currents under 2 knots, and would cost only 5.5 cents per KwH. And you wouldn't see it, as it would be entirely underwater. Based on the these numbers, a few cylinders could power a small village, while an array the size of a running track 2 stories high could generate enough electricity to power 100,000 homes. The system works slowly so it doesn't threaten marine life.
Here's a video of it operating in a current of only 1.6 knots:
Called VIVACE (Vortex Induced Vibrations Aquatic Clean Energy) from the company Vortex Hydro Energy, uses a new approach to collect energy from moving water currents, such as a river or ocean currents.
VIVACE is based on the extensively studied phenomenon of Vortex Induced Vibrations (VIV), which was first observed 500 years ago by Leonardo DaVinci in the form of “Aeolian Tones.” For decades, engineers have been trying to prevent VIV from damaging offshore equipment and structures. By maximizing and exploiting VIV rather than spoiling and preventing it, VIVACE takes this ‘problem’ and transforms it into a valuable resource for mankind.Vortex Induced Vibrations (VIV) result from vortices forming and shedding on the downstream side of a bluff body in a current. Vortex shedding alternates from one side to the other, thereby creating a vibration or oscillation. The VIV phenomenon is non-linear, which means it can produce useful energy at high efficiency over a wide range of current speeds.
What makes VIVACE exciting is it can works in currents under 2 knots, and would cost only 5.5 cents per KwH. And you wouldn't see it, as it would be entirely underwater. Based on the these numbers, a few cylinders could power a small village, while an array the size of a running track 2 stories high could generate enough electricity to power 100,000 homes. The system works slowly so it doesn't threaten marine life.
Here's a video of it operating in a current of only 1.6 knots:
