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Articles Archive for April 2009

Transportation »

[30 Apr 2009 | Comments Off | ]

A2B Electric Bike at Vespa Soho.jpg
Photo by Yours Truly

If you’re looking for a vehicle that has the heart of a bicycle and the soul of a scooter – do I have the thing for you! The A2B by Ultra Motor is a Light Electric Vehicle (LEV) that addresses the need for zero-emission transportation while offering h…

SURE Energy, Wind Energy »

[30 Apr 2009 | Comments Off | ]

wind energizer image
image: Leviathan Energy

It’s very much true that most new developments in wind turbines have to do with tweaking the mechanics of turbine itself. Not so with the Wind Energizer from Leviathan Energy:…

Transportation »

[30 Apr 2009 | Comments Off | ]

david letterman elon musk tesla model s

You Can Also Get the “Elon Musk” Fragrance…
Below is the video of Elon Musk on youtube, and it’s pretty effective as a commercial for electric cars (except the part where Letterman doesn’t seem to understand that the Volt’s total range is more than 40 miles) with Elon Musk of Tesla Motors playing the good cop, and David Letterman playing the angry EV fan. If you’re in NYC, the Tesla Model S is still on display at the Plaza Hotel today and tomorrow….

Transportation »

[30 Apr 2009 | Comments Off | ]

2010 mercedes e-class coupe photo
Photo: Mercedes

Could Make a Big Difference at Highway Speeds
Mercedes certainly isn’t short on green goals. It wasn’t so long ago that it announced that it wanted a car lineup free of fossil fuels by 2015 (though it’s not 100% clear what that means when it comes to biofuels…), and it is now saying that it wants to sell cars with a drag coefficient (Cd) of 0.20 and less within 5 years. For comparison, the 2010 Toyot…

Transportation »

[30 Apr 2009 | Comments Off | ]

sonicwall telecommuter calculator image
Image via SonicWALL

We at TreeHugger often make the point that telecommuting makes green sense in many situations. The trouble is convincing business managers of this. A new calculator by SonicWALL could help turn more managers on to allowing employees to telecommute once they see the financial and environmental benefits. …

Bio Fuels, SURE Energy, Solar Power, Water/Hydro, Wind Energy »

[30 Apr 2009 | Comments Off | ]

oil wells photo
photo: L Gnome

According to two reports in Nature, if we want to keep global temperature rise due to climate change below 2°C then we will have to leave about three-quarters of all proven reserves of fossil fuels unused in the ground:…

Transportation »

[29 Apr 2009 | Comments Off | ]

gps navigation system photo
Photo: Flickr, CC

“drivers using navigation devices drove shorter distances and spent less time driving”
Before getting started, I must point out that this study was funded by Navteq (owned by Nokia), a digital mapping firm. The methodology and conclusions might still be spotless, but full disclosure is always best. Now back to the study: It “evaluated drivers without a navigation system, drivers with a navigation system, and drivers with a navigation system that included traffic”, and all participants were people who had not used a GPS navigation devic…

SURE Energy, Wind Energy »

[29 Apr 2009 | Comments Off | ]

Passive structure design of “Wind Energizer” by Leviathan Energy reportedly increases wind turbine efficiency 30% in field tests.

Technological advancements in wind energy efficiency have generally come incrementally and usually made via a process of increasingly large wind turbine blades. Put simply, the model has been: longer blades = more output per turbine.

But that pattern of incremental improvements may be a thing of the past if Leviathan Energy has anything to say about it. Leviathan Energy has completed initial testing on their Wind Energizer unit and is reporting gains in wind turbine output in the ballpark of 30% — and as much as 150% at lower wind speeds.

The principle theory at work is that by placing passive objects around a wind farm it will change the circulation around a large wind turbine. The advancement is not in the turbine itself, but rather in the area around it, as such, units can be adapted to any wind turbine from any manufacturer.

“This is a disruptive technology,” Leviathan Energy CEO Dr. Daniel Farb told me via telephone from Israel last week. “We are changing the environment of the wind turbine; this is a very different approach.”

Read more of this story »

SURE Energy, Uncategorized »

[29 Apr 2009 | Comments Off | ]

reegle search engine image

Though it’s been billed as a new search engine for renewable energy, reegle is really much much more than that. It aggregates energy news, has a pretty great map detailing renewable energy projects around the world (as well as country profiles), and provides links for energy industry players in government, business, media and academia across the globe:…

Bio Fuels, SURE Energy »

[29 Apr 2009 | Comments Off | ]

soybeans photo
Watering soybeans in Nebraska, photo: John Holm

If you follow biofuel news on TreeHugger you’ve probably read about ethanol manufacturers not having an easy time of it in the past six months. Well, apparently Nebraska biodiesel producers aren’t doing so well either:…