Small, clean, green machines

MIT CityCarWhile mass transportation systems such as trains or busses are hailed as the solution for urban mobility, there is often the problem with the last mile. MIT Media Lab (with support from GM) has developed a small car, the CityCar, specifically to be used in an urban context and for car sharing.The 2-seater cars are fully electric and also stackable. They work a bit like shopping carts in when the behind car touches a parked one in front, the front car lifts its body enabling stacking. When you want to drive off again, you merely touch a button and the front car disengages and moves slightly forward. The idea is that anyone uses any car.

A further feature is that the cars are capable of 360° steering, making parking a dream.

Because the cars are part of a single, computerized network, their placement can be coordinated to reduce traffic congestion or make transportation options available at peak times and places. Rental charges could fluctuate to encourage alternate routes. Commuters could keep track of where and when cars and parking spaces are available in real time, using cellphones or other hand-held devices to track the cheapest or the most convenient car, spot, or route.

Ryan Chin, one of team working on this project, said: “When you think of this, you shouldn’t think of a car. You should think of it as a new personal and sustainable mobility system and service. This is a clean and green machine.”

MIT has submitted a proposal to a government in Asia that is interested in building a network of these cars in one of their cities. The CityCar was part of the plan submitted by MIT that also recently won the 2009 Buckminster Fuller Challenge.

Lower cost Maglev transport solution

Engineers at LaunchPoint Technologies have been working with Applied Levitation and Fasttransit Inc, to develop a completely new, revolutionary mode of maglev transportation.

Using Applied Levitation’s no-contact Stabilized Permanent Magnet (“SPM”) levitation system it will permit incremental upgrade of current rail and subway systems. By installing SPM guideways on the same ties as existing tracks, with one maglev rail outside each of the existing steel rails and a motor rail down the center, SPM maglev vehicles can operate simultaneously with standard rail and subway vehicles. As a result, existing rail and subway cars can remain in operation while being gradually replaced with new maglev vehicles that cost less and perform far better. This capability avoids the need to completely overhaul current infrastructure at tremendous cost.

The FASTRANSIT system is a packet-switching transportation network that uses permanent magnetic levitation and linear motors for instant switching and direct routing on an ultra-high capacity network. The system can be used for mass transit, freight transport or personal rapid transit.
Some of the proposed benefits of this system are:

• Low capital cost–SPM maglev guideways can be built, mile for mile, for about the same cost as one lane of freeway with twenty times the carrying capacity.
• Easily integrated–Existing rail and subway systems can be easily retrofitted with SPM maglev capabilities, enabling incremental upgrades of an aging infrastructure.
• Fast switching–SPM maglev technology uses instant magnetic switching with no moving parts which enables more efficient routing of computer-controlled maglev vehicles.
• Network capability (Mag-Net^TM)–With SPM maglev technology and instant magnetic switching, transportation networks can be developed to route traffic in much the same way as information is routed over the internet.
• Highly scalable–SPM maglev technology can be used with smaller, lighter vehicles for more efficient passenger transportation, or with bigger, heavier vehicles for the transport of freight.

 The firms have already tested the system on a scale and a short indoor track, and is now planning a quarter mile outdoor track.

Maglev rails have been built and tested since about 1980 and a few high speed maglev railways are in operation, most famously the one between downtown Shanghai and Pudong International Airport. The California University of Pennsylvania is currently investigating an urban maglev system (not with SPM technology) for its campus.

‘Green Tax’ on imported vehicles to be implemented

South Africa’s National Treasury has confirmed that they intend to go ahead with the implementation of a carbon emission tax on imported vehicles from the 1st of March 2010.

The tax will be levied at the following rates:

• 8% on vehicles emitting greenhouse gasses of 240 grams per kilometre
• 10,7% on 280 grams per kilometre
• 12% on 300 grams per kilometre
• 0% for emissions of less than 120 grams per kilometre.

These taxes will be partly offset by a reduction in the import duties of vehicles.

There is big unhappiness from the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (NAAMSA) about the tax, partly because the fuel sold in South Africa does not comply with the new technological requirements necessary to avoid the green tax.Importers are aware of this shortcoming in South Africa’s fuel and subsequently do not fit the vehicles with the latest technology.

About R40bn will have to be invested in local refineries to make production of cleaner fuel possible. Once a final decision has been taken on the issue it will take about another five years before the fuel will be available across the market.

Original article: Fin24.com on 17 January 2010. Read here…

Hydrogen car to be ‘open-source’

The manufacturer of a hydrogen car unveiled in London recently will make its designs available online so the cars can be built and improved locally.

The Riversimple car can go 80km/h and travel 322km per re-fuelling, with an efficiency equivalent to 127 kilometers per litre. The company hopes to have the vehicles in production by 2013. Next year, it aims to release 10 prototypes in a UK city which has yet to be confirmed. Riversimple has partnered with gas supply company BOC to install hydrogen stations for the cars in the city where the prototypes are launched.

The car is an amalgam of high-efficiency approaches in automotive design. Its four motors are powered by a fuel cell rated at just six kilowatts, in contrast to current designs that are all in excess of 85 kilowatts – required because the acceleration from a standing start requires a great deal of power.
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GE’s green locomotives

General Electric has come out with its latest “green” locomotive, part of a broader push it is making in the field of fuel-efficient rail transportation. The ES44C4, the latest in GE’s “Evolution Series” locomotives, uses an alternating current motor instead of the direct current motors typical in older locomotives. That will make it 17 percent more fuel-efficient and cut greenhouse-gas emissions by about 70 percent compared to older models. The new locomotives also have fewer parts, making them easier to maintain. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway has bought 25 of the new locomotives so far.

GE says that 600 of the new locomotives can do the work of about 800 older ones. That switch would lead to fuel savings of about 260 million litres per year, equivalent to taking about 115,000 cars off the road. GE is putting a lot of money into better train technologies. Last week it announced it would put $100 million into a new battery factory in New York. The factory, which GE is seeking stimulus funding to help build, will make sodium batteries aimed at, among other things, powering its upcoming line of hybrid locomotives.

Railroads are already about three times more fuel efficient than trucks for freight hauling, according to railroad company CSX. That efficiency has led some to consider railroads as a “clean” form of transportation as they stand today. But trains also present a host of potential efficiency gains, like capturing the energy used in slowing them down through regenerative braking, much as Toyota’s Prius hybrids capture braking energy. The energy used in braking a 207-ton locomotive over the course of a year is equivalent to the power used by about 160 homes. Replacing all the pre-2001 locomotives in the country with GE hybrids that use regenerative braking would lead to emissions reductions equivalent of taking a third of America’s cars off the road, GE claims.

Original article: Jeff St. John. Greentechmedia. 18 May 2009. Read more…

Amyris Renewable Diesel

If you could dream up a renewable fuel, it might look a lot like diesel: far more energy intensive than ethanol and combustible in existing engines with no performance tradeoffs. But it would give off a fraction of the emissions of conventional diesel. That’s just what scientists Jack Newman, Kinkead Reiling and Neil Renninger, co-founders of Amyris Biotechnologies, concluded when they decided to apply their synthetic-biology expertise to creating a climate-friendly alternative to petroleum.

The team tinkered with brewer’s yeast, splicing in genes from an organism that produces hydrocarbons as a metabolic byproduct. Amyris’s new microbes metabolize sugar and churn out long hydrocarbon chains that are better known as diesel fuel. The liquid is purer than conventional diesel and burns more cleanly.

Amyris didn’t start out as a fuel company. It launched in 2003 with the goal of synthesizing an affordable substitute for a pricey component of malaria treatment that is extracted from a plant found only in China and Vietnam. The new compound is still in development. Meanwhile, Amyris has formed partnerships to build a diesel plant in Brazil, with the ambitious goal of pumping out a billion gallons within the next five years. Amyris also plans to develop renewably sourced gasoline and jet fuel—but diesel was an ideal place to start.

Most synthetic biologists familiar with Amyris’s research say that while the company may have created some promising compounds, the real challenge will be achieving 90% efficiency of conversion. John Doerr, leading venture capitalist and big supporter of the company states: “If you’re smart enough you can make a better fuel. But to have a business, you have to make it at the right yield and at the right cost.”

Original article: Logan Ward. Popular Mechanics. November 2008. Read more…

Electric Cars Driving the Revolution

General Motors’ EV1 was one of the first electric cars that the average person could actually drive. The company’s campaign to ‘kill the electric car’ might have ended that model, but electric vehicles are today widely trumpeted as the way of the future.

The poster child for electric cars is Tesla Motors’ sexy Roadster that has turned heads since its launch. Created to ‘take the pain out of driving an environmentally friendly car’ the Tesla has received rave reviews from environmentalists and car enthusiasts alike. Besides its desirable appearance the Roadster can travel from 0 – 100km/h in under 4 seconds, faster than a Porsche 911. Boasting with a range of 350km, it offers a real alternative to ‘traditional cars’, albeit an expansive one (they sell for about $100 000). Other manufacturers have followed Tesla’s lead in creating with sports models as their higher prices can subsidise much of the development costs. The Fisker Karma, an electric hybrid, is one such example and so is the Lightning GT.

Another approach by manufacturers is to go for smaller, more compact ‘city cars’. Some examples are: the i MiEV by Mitsubishi, the ZENN (Zero Emission, No Noise), THINK City Car and a new electric car by Mercedes built on the Smart fourtwo platform that should get 115 kilometers between charges and get the equivalent of 125 km/l.

As far as more traditional vehicles are concerned, those driving the revolution is the BYD F3DM, the much anticipated Chevrolet Volt (both plug-in hybrids), an electric version of the Toyota RAV 4 SUV and a trio of concept cars by Mercedes called BlueZERO . Much is also expected from the South African designed Joule electric sedan.

By far the most avant-garde looking of current electric car models is the Aptera 2e, a super-efficient electric vehicle that has attracted investment from Google. The all-electric model will sel for $27 000 while a plug-in hybrid, that would get 125 km/l, will sell for $30 000.

For a gallery of leading electric vehicles, click here…

Could Solar Highways Power our Cities?

In the search for a solar solution to power our cities, one of our biggest obstacles is the massive acreage required by conventional arrays. Photovoltaic panels are flat and expansive, and urban centres are at a serious loss for free space.

Now Australian renewable energy retailer Going Solar has conceived of a clever strategy that infuses urban transit systems with energy producing potential – install solar panels in highways as sound barriers! Going Solar’s first highway installation was completed on the Tullamarine Calder Interchange in Australia. The solar sound barrier comprises 500 meters of photovoltaic panels that are attached to a public display showing the project’s power output.

As the highway is located near some residential areas, energy doesn’t have to travel far to reach its destination and the massive solar panels provide much needed soundproofing to the houses nearby.
It is expected that the installation will produce 18.7 megawatts per year, which is enough to cover its cost in about 15 years. The innovative application has netted Going Solar the ATRAA’s award for best grid-connected system.

Original article: Jorge Chapa. Inhabitat. 30 August 2008. Read more…

Personal Rapid Transit System

A novel kind of transit system, in which cars are replaced by a network of automated electric vehicles, is about to get its first large-scale testing and deployment. Two of these Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) systems are being installed this year, one at Heathrow International Airport, near London, and one in the United Arab Emirates, where it will be the primary source of transportation in Masdar City

PRT systems are supposed to combine the convenience and privacy of automobiles with the environmental benefits of mass transit. Automated electric vehicles, or pods, each designed to carry from four to six people, wait at stations throughout a city or development, like taxis waiting at taxi stands. A person or group gets in a pod and selects a destination and the vehicle drives there directly.

Although PRT systems vary, the basic design involves a network of stations connected by a track that loops past all of the stations in a system. Large networks can include many interconnected loops. When a vehicle leaves a station, it travels along an on-ramp until it merges with the main loop. When it reaches the destination station, it exits this central loop via an off-ramp. The ramps allow individual pods to stop at a station while others pods continue to travel at top speed along the main track. As a result, it can be faster than buses, which have to stop frequently. Simulations suggest that the systems could run with as little as half a second between each vehicle, but the initial systems, such as the one in Masdar City, will keep the vehicles three to four seconds apart–enough to stop a pod should the one in front of it suddenly break down. A central computer controls the traffic.

At both Heathrow and Masdar City, the vehicles will be battery-powered, driverless cars.

The system at Heathrow – built by Advanced Transport Systems, based in Bristol, UK – uses cars powered by lead-acid batteries along a concrete track and guided by laser range finders, says Steve Raney, a consultant for the company. For Masdar City, a Dutch company called 2getthere has developed cars powered by more-advanced batteries made of lithium iron phosphate. The pods travel on pavement equipped with embedded magnets placed every five meters, which the vehicle uses, along with information about wheel angles and speed, to determine its location, says Robert Lohmann, the marketing manager at 2getthere. When a person selects a destination, a central computer designates a path for the vehicle, and an on-board computer makes sure the car sticks to the path. (The system is being used now to control vehicles that transport cargo in warehouses.)

Original article: Kevin Bullis. Technology Review. 9 February 2009. Read more…

San Jose Installs First Electric Vehicle Chargepoint

As support for electric vehicles sweep the world, thanks to better cars and the efforts of infrastructure projects such as Better Place, it is exciting to see the sparks that may spread into the massive uptake of plug-in vehicles.

In the latest Electric Vehicle infrastructure update Coulomb Technologies recently installed the first charging station in San Jose, California. Their Chargepoint features an ingenious design that is easily connected to an existing streetlamp and provides access to the municipal energy grid. As an incentive to try out the new technology they are currently offering access cards for a full year of free charging!

Original article: Jorge Chapa. Inhabitat. 14 January 2009. Read more…

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