The All Electric Audi R8 E-Tron [Video]

New Trends: Cars that Plug into your Surge Protector

Electric cars are slowly starting to replace high end automobiles as Jaguar C X-75, BMW, Tesla, GE Watt Stations, and Volvo all begin massive investment on electric car development. Now it's Audi's turn. The all new Audi E-Tron R8:

• Cost: $200,000
• 313 Horsepower at peak
• 3319 pounds/feet of torque
• 100 km/h in 4.8 seconds

The Battery:

• weighs 1212 pounds
• store 53 KWh of energy
• charges in 6 to 8 hours using a 220V outlet
• goes 150 miles on a single charge

As Audi releases its all new electric sports car, a clear trend in the auto industry is starting to develop. Electric is the way of the future, and in retrospect, always has been. We looking at movies that have depicted the future, Demolition Man, Total Recall, The Sixth Day... electric cars are being used. Since the green car revolution is very new, critics and the media are skeptical to call the future of the automobile industry an electric one, but the money being invested by the major car companies listed above proves a steady trend towards electric cars.

Sources: [CrunchGear]

Electric Cargo Vans

This 100% electric van uses Tesla batteries for power. It was created by Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation for eco-friendly deliveries. This is a major step in making the US transportation of goods system 100% electric.

Source: [TreeHugger]

Peru: Adorable Energy + Carbon Forests

Peruvian farmers produce more than 400 pounds of guinea pig poop into a form of combustible gas, that has a liquid byproduct plant food called anaerobic digestion. this allows Peruvian farmers to make enough gas to power themselves, plus a little bit extra. Currently, dairy farms in wisconsin use this process to make enough electricity to power 70 homes and sell this power back to the utilities companies.

The new United Nations monitoring system that measures Deforestation and forest Degradation [UN's Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) squad] uses satellite mapping, airborne-laser technology, and ground-based plot surveys to track carbon locked up in tropical forest vegetation in Peru.

Sources: [Boing Boing]

Cal Poly Eco Car Gets 2,752 Miles Per Gallon

Sources: [Tree Hugger]

Orange Peels + Newspaper = Ethanol Fuel

Green Tech of the Week

"Scientists may have just made the breakthrough of a lifetime, turning discarded fruit peels and other throwaways into cheap, clean fuel to power the world's vehicles."

Dr. Henry Daniell in his lab at the University of Central Florida

"Daniell's technique - developed with U.S. Department of Agriculture funding -- uses plant-derived enzyme cocktails to break down orange peels and other waste materials into sugar, which is then fermented into ethanol. Corn starch now is fermented and converted into ethanol. But ethanol derived from corn produces more greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline does. Ethanol created using Daniell's approach produces much lower greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline or electricity. There's also an abundance of waste products that could be used without reducing the world's food supply or driving up food prices. In Florida alone, discarded orange peels could create about 200 million gallons of ethanol each year..."

Sources: [Physorg] [Gizmodo]

The Tesla Roadster

A Glimpse at the 100% Electric 2010 Tesla Roadster

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Top Gear: Reviews Tesla Roadster

Cost: 

$98,000 - about 48,000£ 

Power Supply: 

Electricity (You Plug it in to your Home's Outlet)

Charge Time: 16 Hours

Miles Per Charge: Advertised at 200 miles/charge  -  Top Gear tested at 55 miles/charge

[Top Gear Review of Tesla Roadster Video Below]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OnCars.com - Tesla Model S Video

Sources:  [Engadget] [Engadget 2] [Green Technology] [Green Technology 2] [Top Gear]

Operation Green Goods: Electric 18 Wheeler

Kenworth Truck Company today introduced its new Kenworth T270 Class 6 hybrid-electric truck at the Mid-America Trucking Show.

The Kenworth T270 Class 6 hybrid medium duty conventional is powered by the new PACCAR PX-6 engine and features an integral transmission-mounted motor/generator, a frame-mounted 340-volt battery pack, and a dedicated power management system.

“During steady driving conditions above 30 mph, the T270 hybrid operates like a standard diesel vehicle with all power coming from the engine,” said Mike Dozier, Kenworth chief engineer. “Below 30 mph, it uses a combination of diesel and electricity. The system automatically switches between the two modes of operation and is seamless to the driver.”

The goal for the T270 hybrid is to improve fuel economy by 30% in start-and-stop applications, such as utility trucks and pick-up and delivery. “The more stop-and-go in the application, the better the truck’s performance,” said Dozier.

OPERATION GREEN GOODS: The use of electric trucks allows for the possible use of solar and wind energy to not only power the electrical applications of the truck [lights and refrigeration of cargo] but also save fuel and energy when driving the truck.


Source: Gizmodo + Kenworth Truck Company + Peterbilt Hybrid Electric Systems
Download Electric Truck PDF

What is Operation Green Goods?

OPERATION GREEN GOODS started as a paper I wrote during my junior year at Wesleyan on how to affectively create more green jobs for the US economy and promote environmental development world wide. Operation Green Goods is the systematic development of a green US goods transportation system.

By making all vehicles and mediums that transfer goods green throughout the US, green jobs would be created, the US would have a viable export and service to help shorten the current account deficit gap, and countries such as China and India that ship millions of goods into the US a year would have no choice but to adopt green standards in order to deliver goods within the US. The developed economy of the United States has been based off of reliable road systems [highways] that allow goods to travel across the country creating more market access, and high levels of education that spawn creativity and ingenuity. The systematic change of this system from one based on gas prices to how green transportation can be will completely change the foundation and definition of a green based economy.

Implementation:
By placing solar panels on the top of electric cargo trains in order to produce energy for cabin lights, refrigeration, and eventually locomotive power will reduce the goods transportation carbon foot print. Also by placing large roll-able solar panels on the top of 18-wheeler tractor trailers in order to create energy for refrigeration, cabin electricity, and power for electric trucks, the transportation industry in America could be green over night.


Through the advancement of solar technology uses in everyday lives, more jobs would be created in the solar panel production and installation industries. The teachings and selling of green technologies abroad will also create more jobs through the flow of technology transfers.

This section of OE Technology is dedicated to tracking the feasibility of the US GREEN TRANSPORTATION PROJECT.

Alternative Battery Technology

Coca-Cola Powered Cell Phone

This sugar fuel cell powered phone is working concept by "Chinese designer Daizi Zheng" who "has conjured up a vision for a soft drink-powered cylindrical Nokia of the future that pounds Coca-Colas to stay juiced: just screw off the top, pop the can, and pour." [Alternative Fuels]
Source: Engadget

Yogen Ripcord Charger

Charge your GPS in the middle of the desert, polar ice cap, or any other remote destination. [Alternative Energy]
Source: Engadget

Unusual Bio-Fuels

Cassava

The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization has looked at cassava, a potatolike crop grown across the developing world, as a possible feedstock for biofuel. Also known as tapioca and yucca, cassava is drought-resistant and needs less fertilizer than other crops, making it cheaper than corn.

Estimated production cost: $1.40 to $2.40/gallon.

Prospects: Moderate. Growing cassava for fuel could drive up food prices, either directly or by diverting land away from other crops. But developing countries may be eager to support a homegrown energy source.

Algae

Because it grows quickly, has a high oil content, and needs only sunlight and water, algae looks promising as a source of both ethanol and biodiesel. It also serves as a filter for dirty water and as a carbon sink. Ideally, an algae farm could be located downstream from a large-scale farm or factory, where it can clean the water of pesticides, carbon, and heavy metals.

Estimated production cost: $1 to $2/gallon.

Prospects: Good. Algae is cheap and easy to grow.

Beetle-infested timber

Thanks to the mountain pine beetle, some 500 million cubic meters of British Columbia's lodgepole pine forest have been turned into a hole-riddled tinderbox. The province's Lignol Energy Corp. is developing technology to turn the beetle-infested timber into ethanol. The job's made easier by the insects' own handiwork, which leaves the trees easier to break down.

Estimated cost: $1.50/gallon

Prospects: Moderate. Using trees for fuel will always risk pushback from environmentalists.

Cow manure

In 2004, the Central Vermont Public Service launched the Cow Power program, which pays dairy farmers to produce fuel in the form of methane, made from cow manure through a process called anaerobic digestion. There are 135 anaerobic digesters operating in the United States, according to the EPA. Those digesters produce enough energy to power some 25,000 homes.

Estimated production cost: Varied.

Prospects: Excellent. Anaerobic digesters are already widespread in Europe.

Chicken fat

Oklahoma-based Syntroleum Corp. converts chicken fat into synthetic fuel, using a process it calls hydro-processing. The company says the fuel produced from chicken fat is chemically identical to regular, petroleum-based fuels.

Estimated production cost: Less than $2.40/gallon.

Prospects: Good. Barring an explosion in vegetarianism, otherwise-useless chicken fat will continue to be scraped off the floor of America's industrial-size rendering plants for the foreseeable future.

Garbage

The ultimate alternative fuel source will need to boast some combination of worthlessness and abundance. The waste-to-ethanol process uses garbage that can't be recycled or composted, like plastics and construction-wood waste, and turns it first into a gas and then a liquid. The final product is meant to be chemically identical to ethanol made from corn.

Estimated production cost: Too soon to tell.

Prospects: Excellent. If the technology promised by these plants works, expect to see a lot more of them.

Adapted from: The Big Money