Green Fixers

Smoking Clean Cars

2008-11-16T01:56:00.000-08:00

Clean Diesel and Electric Roadsters are hitting the big leagues with Volkswagen and Tesla Motors, respectively.

[Sources: Popular Mechanics (VW) and Motor Trend (Tesla)]

It Does Grow On Trees!

2008-11-01T03:25:00.000-07:00

Plants draw water up and out through their leaves. Scientists have figured out how to duplicate the minute structure of a plant to use this anti-gravity process to our advantage. It can be used to humidify, purify and modified to disperse heat.

[Source: Science Daily]

Plants also scrub carbon dioxide out of the air. A scientist wants to develop huge air filter "trees" that will trap CO2. What to do with it once captured seems to be the sticking point.

[Source: BBC News]

You can't smoke a hemp rope

2008-07-19T01:55:00.000-07:00

Industrial Hemp has many uses from paper, rope, composites and textiles to fuels, fireproof building materials and even food, but one thing it's NOT good for is getting you high.

The THC content in marijuana (upwards of 20%) is what provides the psychoactive effect, but that is all but non-existent in Industrial Hemp (less than 1%).

Hemp, long a global cash crop for industrial uses, was first criminalized alongside its recreational cousin for numerous reasons in the early mid-20th century. Possibly to allow for greater profits in the powerful timber and chemical industries although public outcry was first raised with anti-psychedelic propaganda.

Canada has boldly allowed the hemp industry to return to North America for the first time in decades, which could pave the way for the U.S. to follow suit once the market potential is RE-realized.

Further Reading:

U.S Department of Agriculture's Market Potential Report from 2000

Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2007 proposed to Congress to amend the Controlled Substances Act

North American Industrial Hemp Council

X Marks the Prize

2008-07-17T00:37:00.000-07:00

The Progressive Automotive X Prize (the X Prize Foundation in partnership with Progressive Insurance) is a $10 million dollar prize open to any team in the world that can design, build and bring to market a consumer vehicle that can achieve the energy equivalent of 100 miles per gallon.

(The X Prize Foundation is best known for previously awarding $10 million to Scaled Composites in 2004 for private suborbital space flight).

Legendary rocker Neil Young and his team headed by mechanic John Goodwin have been developing a plug-in bio-fuel hybrid 1959 Lincoln Continental Mark IV convertible with a propulsion system designed by UQM Technologies to enter in the race for the Progressive Automotive X Prize. The film "Linc Volt" tracks their progress.

Solar Cell Rainbow

2008-07-11T13:13:00.000-07:00

Normally when a solar cell captures light energy it loses some of it before it can be captured and converted to electricity.

But Scientists at M.I.T. has discovered that by dyeing the surface of the collectors then more light can be retained and a more efficient system can result making solar cells cheaper and more efficient.

The same way fiber optics can send light down filaments, the edges of the dyed glass (or even thin plastic!) can collect light for productive use.

This could mean that instead of bulky and pricey panels on the roof you could use your own windows as solar collectors adding aesthetic value as well as cost and energy efficiency!

[Source: Wired.com, Technewsworld.com, Science Magazine]

Spray Me Solar

2008-05-22T04:38:00.000-07:00

Spray-on nano-polymers have the chance to trap infrared and not just visible sunlight. Even fabric could be made and photo-electric solar cell clothing developed! A cheap and easy solar abundance!

[Source: National Geographic]

Also (if that weren't enough) dye-sensitized photovoltaic paint can be adhered to steel sheeting in the manufacturing process turning any building made from them into solar collectors.

[Source: Swansea University]

Step Into The Helix

2008-05-22T04:26:00.000-07:00

Instead of the old propeller variety, wind turbines with a helical structure can grab even the smallest of breezes from any direction and generate power.

Mythbusters Busted

2008-04-11T12:40:00.000-07:00

Just because someone calls themselves a scientist doesn't make it so.

The Discovery Channel show "Mythbusters" likes to debunk science with some pretty shaky experimentation.

Take, for example, their claim that hydrogen is useless as a sustainable fuel source. [Episode 53]

Don't tell that to the Department of Energy and their work on Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles. [Source: Department of Energy]

To say nothing of the University of Hertfordshire's Sustainable Energy Technology Centre (SETC) that is developing engines that run assisted by electrolytic hydrogen (and recently produced the first Formula Student hydrogen-powered racing car) sponsored by ITM Power, a leading innovator in the emerging hydrogen economy.[Source: Univerity of Hertfordshire; ITM Power]

Retrofit Your Gas Engine

2008-04-10T00:05:00.000-07:00

Using a simple retrofit with some readily available parts the fuel efficiency of any engine can be improved with the addition of Oxyhydrogen gas (HHO) long used in torches and lamps.

Added to the fuel intake it allows for a leaner mixture and thus improves mileage and reduces emissions.

Oxyhydrogen gas is made from the electrolysis of water and so with a simple Retro-Kit any car, truck or generator can be boosted to run at peak performance.

Hindenberg Cars and Houses

2008-04-09T22:26:00.000-07:00

A couple of wires dipped in water and hooked up to a battery can boil away the oxygen and hydrogen. Storage and use of the gases has been in development for years.

And they have it in cars and houses now. The efficiency of engines and storage of energy in hydrogen cells in now here!

The Hopewell Project has created such a house and General Motors is among the manufacturers that have created the cars. Even though as of March 2008 GM and Toyota both expressed the impracticality of mass producing hydrogen calls for the average consumer in the light of current costs and advancing battery technology, but agree it is inevitably the fuel source of the future.

And for every conglomerate that gets on board a particular technology there are countless garage inventors working on their own.