Two Seater “Green” Plane For Jetsetters Looking For A Way To Reduce Their Carbon Footprint

People who clock up flying miles faster than the “Doctor” on his Yamaha M1 and are worried about how much they are polluting the air, fret not, cause Pipistrel has come with a two-seater, electric-powered commercial jet which it plans to mass produce at the end of the year.

Hope all you CEO’s and “rich enough to afford a private jet” people out there do take notice that Taurus Electro gliders from Pipistrel costs $133,000. You can now jet around the globe and sport the “green” label too, which is the latest thing to show off considering the hordes of celebrities lining up in front of hybrid car maker’s doors to buy their products; cause they wanna go green.

Enough of me ranting about erasing the guilt of humanity and lets get to the features and specs of this aircraft. Ivo Boscarol of owner of Pipistrel based in Slovenia has come with a worthy successor for Sinus, a microlight motorglider named Taurus. Taurus according to Pipistrel is a fully equipped aircraft with a separate ventilation system for each pilot and side-by-side seating arrangement; featuring a fully retractable engine and glide ratio of at least 1:40; also featuring a total rescue ballistic parachute system which saves the aircraft and both pilots, all instruments, radio etc. at a reasonable price. Whew!

The “green” part comes here. The internal combustion engine is substituted with its electric counterpart. Pipistrel says that “Using the latest findings in the fields of batteries and charge storage as well as the recent developments of synchronous electric motors with small mass and high specific torque, the flight of electric-powered aircraft can now become a reality.”

Pipistrel has not delved deeper into the technicalities of the engine on its website and I could not get my hands on any aviation magazine which has featured Taurus Electro Glider. Hence, please visit Pipistrel website for more details or contact them. My job is done here. I have just provided a spark and you guys reading the posting have to make the fire. Oops! Not too environment friendly is it? Lets hope Taurus Electro Glider lives up to its expectations.

Source: Pipistrel.

Disappearing Ink To Prevent Trees From Disappearing From The Face Of Earth

I stumbled across an interesting piece of news on CNETnews.com. Michael Kanellos had written about vanishing ink to help in the recycling of paper. It was too good an invitation to ignore and I started digging for information on this topic.

Xerox Research Centre and Palo Alto Research Center Inc. (PARC) have come up with a concept to make the printed words and images last only a day, so that the paper can be used again and again. They say that the technology is still in a preliminary state.

This piece of paper is blank, but about eight hours ago it said,
'Reusable Paper. Xerox Parc Inside Innovation at Xerox' in block purple letters
(Credit: Michael Kanellos/CNET Networks)

Xerox has filed for patents on the technology, which it calls "erasable paper."

Meanwhile, PARC are researching on a device capable of writing the images onto the special paper. A prototype printer that creates the image on the paper using a light bar that provides a specific wavelength of light as a writing source. The written image fades naturally over time or can be immediately erased by exposing it to heat.

Paul Smith, Manager of XRCC's new materials design and synthesis lab says “Self-erasing documents for short-term use offers the best of both worlds."

Xerox also has apart from temporary documents, solid ink printing technology, which generates 90 percent less waste than comparable laser printers; more energy-efficient printers, copiers and multifunction devices; and other paper-saving innovations. Erasing the guilt of humanity are we?

Though this is an old news dated November 27, 2006, I stumbled across an even older piece of news regarding “decolorable printing ink” from Toshiba Corporation. It had developed a prototype decolorable ink in September 1998, culminating in the launch of “e-blueTM.” The innovative ink that is entirely free of carbon and that decolors when exposed to a high level of heat. The toner prints words and images on standard plain paper in blue to distinguish it from carbon-black-based toner. The erasing machine removes words and images printed with the decolorable toner on plain paper, in batches of approximately 400-500 A4-sized pages, or 200-250 A3-sized pages, in three hours.

Toshiba also offers a e-blueTM pen and marker which contains decolorable ink that can be erased by the erasing machine and can be used to write on documents that are printed by e-blueTM toner.

Both these concepts have pro’s and con’s. In case of Xerox corporation, the printed words disappears after a day. There is a time limit. However, the technology has absolutely no energy wastages. Meanwhile, in case of Toshiba corporation, the words can be erased according to our convenience but at the cost of using a eraser which again uses electricity contributing energy wastage.

The choice is yours.

Source: CNETnews.com, Xerox Research Centre, Palo Alto Research Center Inc., Toshiba Corporation

Hydrogen Bikes Anyone?

Continuing with the environment friendly initiatives on which I have been posting, this is a gem. The article is from BikeSite.com. Though I have not been able to determine the date, it’s still a must read for all those enthusiasts who have been waiting for and environment friendly bike to come along.

Intelligent Energy, British based company has developed a bike titled ENV. It stands for Emissions Neutral Vehicle. Intelligent Energy has partnered with Seymourpowell which has been working on this fuel cell technology for over 10 years to come up with this eco-friendly bike. The motorbike is powered by hydrogen cells. It has a top speed of 50 mph and a fuel range of 100 miles. The bike hardly makes any noise and is estimated to cost £3000 on the market. The cost might come down with the sops from the government. The design of the bike may not be to everybody's tastes according to the website.

Sadly, I could not find any pictures of this bike and further information was also scarce.

One can read the full article at Bike Site at the following link:

http://www.bikesite.co.uk/articles-21/75.htm

Cyclone Power To Ensure Our Planet Remains Green

Society of Automotive Engineering (SAE) World Congress in Detroit, touted as one of the premier conferences of automotive engineers, executives and suppliers in the world saw some innovative ideas and concepts being showcased and discussed. One of them piqued my interest and I started digging for more information.

Cyclone Power Technologies Inc. has developed what it calls a Cyclone Engine. It is described as an environmentally friendly and highly efficient external combustion, heat-regenerative engine. It’s a water-lubricated external combustion engine that uses steam to power automobiles, lawn mowers and stationary generators. The company claims that the engine is capable of running on any liquid or gaseous fuel, including ethanol, bio-diesel and propane.

Developed by the company's President and CEO, Harry Schoell, the Cyclone Engine regenerates (or recycles) its heat, which allows it to run cleaner, cooler and more efficiently than traditional internal combustion engines. Charles J. Murray for Design News reports that according to Schoell, the engine doesn’t need a transmission, clutches, mufflers or catalytic converters. At the show, the company demonstrated a 100-hp version of the engine that weighed just 35 lbs. Schoell said the automotive version of the engine uses six cylinders.

The engine works by burning fuel in an external combustion chamber and sending its hot gases through three heat exchangers. The first of those three heat exchangers heats water to 1,100-1,200 deg F and raises the water’s pressure to 3,200 psi. The superheated water is subsequently injected into the cylinders where it expands by a factor of approximately 1,800, therefore generating rotary motion.

The engine is lubricated with de-ionized water instead of motor oil because it has no metal-to-metal bearings. Thus, it eliminates many subsystems like oil pumps, radiators, catalytic converters and fuel injectors. The Cyclone engines are expected to cost less to manufacture, operate and maintain and are highly scalable and sufficiently powerful for applications ranging from lawn equipment and small home generators, large stand-alone generators, to cars, trucks, buses, RVs, boats and ships, as well as earth moving equipment and locomotives.

Cyclone holds the U.S. patent, international patent applications, and exclusive commercial rights to the Cyclone Engine. But one sad thing is that no automaker has come forward to adopt this technology. Innovative technologies like these need outright support from major automakers that are now under pressure to make their technology green. Otherwise it would be an excellent opportunity lost to limit and prevent undue damage to our planet.

Source: Press Release, Design News

Erasing The Guilt Of Humanity

The World is moving at a rapid pace in terms of automotive technological development. Inevitably development is achieved at the cost of Mother Nature. Therefore, a huge guilt of humanity exists in each and every one of us. The guilt of not able to provide better hospitable living conditions, for our future offspring’s is making mankind search for greener technology. At least, implement green technology in a symbiotic relationship with existing polluting ones. Try and erase some of the guilt. And how successful it has been! Billions of dollars are spent in the search for feasible green technology and finally thanks to the advancement in the cutting edge sciences such as Nanotechnology, Corporates across the world have come with concepts which they claim will significantly reduce the carbon footprint.

Renaissance Of The Wheel

The humble Wheel as we know has its origin most likely in ancient Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium BC. The invention of the wheel thus falls in the late Neolithic and may be seen in conjunction with the other technological advances that gave rise to the early Bronze Age.

But the Boffins at Michelin have given an entirely new functionality to the Wheel. Imagine if one could just strap on a pair of wheels to one’s favorite couch and couple it with a battery pack and a rudimentary steering mechanism, you are looking at the most advanced form of transportation. It does not require any engine to run.

Michelin demonstrated two intertwined concepts at the Challenge Bibendum 2004, held in Shanghai, China. One of the concepts was the Hy-Light, is a light vehicle that weighs just 850 kg and is fuel cell propelled. Besides being an almost pollution-free car, the Hy-Light integrates active wheels. The idea was remarkably simple. There is plenty of empty space in a tire, so why not fill it with something useful? So the active wheels of the Hy-Light contain a traction motor to turn the wheel and all suspension components such as springs. Michelin intends to share this technology with car makers and expects it should be integrated in our cars within ten to fifteen years.

A wheel equipped with Michelin's active wheel technology appears from the outside to be a standard wheel and tire package. But on the inside, it houses an active suspension unit, a drive motor and braking components. Voila! Complete mobility solution in a Wheel. Car makers in the near future will have to start building their cars around the wheel instead of the engine. What a difference that would make!

Electric motors not only turn the wheels, but can be used to slow and stop them, so traditional disc or drum brakes might eventually be eliminated, or at least reduced to smaller, redundant systems. And by using electric motors to turn the wheels, large and heavy transmissions and differentials become obsolete. These motors provide peak torque output of 1000Nm per wheel which enables phenomenal acceleration force of 1g. This kind of acceleration is seen in Formula 1.

With Michelin's active wheel system, vehicle designers could become more creative because suspension components that now intrude on interior space would be repackaged within each of the vehicle's four wheels, creating more room for people and cargo.

Challenge Bibendum 2007

With China's car use expanding as rapidly as its supercharged economy, Michelin decided to hold its annual Challenge Bibendum in traffic-choked Shanghai. The event, now in its ninth year, showcased the latest developments in green car technology.

Where 20 years ago the streets were full of bicycles, now the car is king and it is choking the city. Rather than trying to persuade people to drive cars less frequently, the solution proposed by the auto industry is to make cars greener.

Hybrids, it seems is the most popular solution to combat the problem of pollution and more importantly Global Warming. Any vehicle which combines two or more different sources of power to propel the vehicle is termed as a Hybrid. However, it is not that simple as it seems. There are different kinds of Hybrid implementations out there and each manufacturer touting that theirs is the best. Let’s take a look at the different types of hybrids out there in the market.

Electric-Internal Combustion Hybrid: These are the more ubiquitous ones found in the market. A petrol / diesel engine is mated to an electric motor. The electric motor is used to propel the vehicles from standstill especially at the traffic lights and the main petrol / diesel engine kicks in only when higher speeds are required. In lighter cars the electric motor is used to putter around the city at low speeds thus conserving the fuel and contributing significantly less to the carbon footprint. The electric motor also charges the batteries while braking through ‘regenerative braking’.

Fuel Cell Hybrid: It involves a hydrogen fuel cell generator teamed up with Lithium ion batteries. The generator powers an electric motor which is in turn coupled with a normal engine. However, auto manufacturers have come with concepts of stand alone fuel cell vehicles.

Hydraulic Hybrid: Hydraulic hybrids use an engine to charge a pressure accumulator to drive the wheels via hydraulic drive units. A hydraulic accumulator replaces the batteries.

Pneumatic Hybrid: This concept uses compressed air to power a hybrid car. The car runs on fossil fuel while the compressor refills the compressed air tanks.

Silicon Implants For Greener Tires

Now ladies, if this idea catches up you are looking at sky rocketing prices for silicon...ahem…silica that is. I guess that was bit of an over statement since silica is available abundantly in nature. Who would have guessed natural elements/products found in the nature would be used in technology to save nature from technology. Okay, my mind is spinning after that one. Here is the deal. Michelin in a never ending pursuit of reducing carbon footprint had come up with the Energy Tire. And it was a great success. However very few people were aware of it, me included. In 1992, Michelin came up with a concept of using silica in the tread of the tire to reduce rolling resistance to about 20% when compared to its normal tires without affecting performance and grip. If a tire has a certain degree of rolling resistance then the engine has to exert more energy to overcome the resistance. This means more fuel consumption. Thus, the Energy Tire with its reduced rolling resistance saves fuel consumption thereby reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Overdrive magazine reports that Michelin Energy Saver (the new moniker for the tire) reduces 0.2 liters/100km. This equates to a reduction of 4g/km of CO₂/km. In other words, Michelin invented a tire that prevents nearly one ton of carbon dioxide being released into the air.

Your Footprint Can Affect The Environment !

Footprint here refers to the “Carbon Footprint”. A Carbon Footprint is a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases we produce. It is measured in units of carbon dioxide. Burning of fossil fuels including domestic energy consumption, transportation, lifecycle of products we use (their manufacture and eventual breakdown) all contribute to our carbon footprint. We can reduce our carbon footprint by following some basic steps:

• Use of solar water heaters can result in significant reductions in electricity and gas bills (especially in the metros).
• Use bicycles to work. Does wonders for your fitness and stamina. Try walking for short distances. Carpooling and use of public transport where ever and whenever possible.
• Big corporations can tap natural energy sources for their energy requirements.
• Turn off lights, taps and computer monitors when not in use. Set water heaters to a lower temperature in summers (reduction in a couple of degree C’s will make a significant saving in electricity over the season).

Sources: Nick Mead for The Guardian, Larry Edsall, for The Detroit News, Overdrive Magazine, Michelin, Challenge Bibendum