Care2.com, a catch-all web site that distributes free e-greeting cards and a blend of new age health care, pet care, and environmental news, caught this editor’s attention with the news that solar power is now cheaper than Diesel-generated electricity in India – without subsidies – and by the manner in which private industry and government agencies are adapting to this. Two giants on the industrial side have thrown their substantial resources behind solar. BHARTI, the largest mobile phone company, is using the sun to power rural cell towers. Jaine Irrigation, the world’s biggest mango puree producer, is building an 8.5 megawatt solar power plant, according to Care2. On the governmental side, Sustainable Business.com explains the reverse auction approach that helps India get cheaper power than other countries manage. “In India, those that bid the lowest in a reverse auction win the right to build solar plants up to 20 megawatts (MW) and sell the electricity under a 25 year contract. “Winners are …
Formula 1 Cars and Mazda Recover Waste Energy
David Bettencourt, a criminal defense attorney and aviation lawyer in Hawaii, is a follower of Formula 1 racing and energy-efficient systems. He filed a brief with your editor on the following. Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) were a relatively new thing in Formula 1 racing in 2009, had significant development problems and were banned in 2010. Reinstated in 2011, the systems recover the kinetic energy present in the waste heat created by the brakes and exhausts. The energy is then stored in a battery or a light, extremely high-speed flywheel, converted into power and can then deliver a maximum of 60 kilowatts (80 horsepower), which can be called upon by the driver to boost acceleration for up to 6.6 seconds per lap. Williams is a major Formula 1 constructor and developer. Sam Michael, Williams technical director, explains. “The rules have changed since KERS was last used in F1. Re-fuelling is no longer permitted, so the packaging is different now. We …
Charging Your EV on the Move
Qualcomm is best known for its quirkily-named Wi-Fi and other wireless communications technologies; ETHOS®, Haystack®, and Gobi®, for starters. Relatively low-powered, they allow notebooks and smartphones access to broadband connectedness. Qualcomm has now expanded its reach, and its power, to inductive charging for electric vehicles. Its wireless electric vehicle charging (WEVC) technology, HaloIPT will first allow wireless recharging of electric vehicles which park over a “sweet spot” that has the capability of sending power “over an air gap of hundreds of millimeters while still maintaining high-energy transfer electricity,” according to the company. PCWorld reports that Halo’s inductive “WEVC can transfer up to 3.5 kilowatts of power at greater than 90 percent efficiency – that’s as good as, or even better, than wired charging. Instead of plugging in the EV to a charging station, the car will have a charging plate attached to its chassis. A charging mat, placed above or below the pavement, magnetically transfers power to the vehicle through …
We Know It Flies Well, But Does It Look Good?
Taja Boscarol, Public Relations Manager for Pipistrel, sends notice that their Taurus Electro G4 is a finalist in the Design Museum’s “Designs of the Year” competition for 2012 in the Transport category. This will be the second year in a row that an electric airplane has been nominated in the prestigious competition, last year’s win being taken by the Yuneec e430. The London-based Design Museum’s Design Awards are considered “the Oscars of the design world,” and are given in seven categories: Architecture, Digital, Fashion, Furniture, Graphics and Transport and Product. Pipistrel’s Green Flight Challenge-winning airplane will be up against a range of transportation-related designs, including: AUTOLIB’, a car-sharing program developed by SOCIÉTÉ AUTOLIB’ SAS AND Bertrand Delanoë, Mayor of Paris, France with the ambition of reducing car ownership. A Ferris-wheel-like bike hanger created by Manifesto Architecture of New York, New York. The Mia electric car, a three-seat van-like vehicle by Murat Guenak and David Wilkie of Mia Voiture Electrique. A re-design …
Measuring Up To Standards
ASTM International, formerly known as the American Society for Testing and Materials, develops “international consensus standards” for many industries, using input from its members in many fields and disciplines. Their D-7566-11 “Standard Specification for Aviation Turbine Fuel Containing Synthesized Hydrocarbons” governs what can be put into jet and turbo-prop aircraft. Updated in July 2011, it now allows the use of biologically-derived fuel “without the need for special permissions,” according to SAE International, itself a standards organization, and as reported by Patrick Ponticel. United Airlines was quick to take advantage of the revised standard, using “Solazyme-supplied algae oil that was refined into jet fuel by Honeywell’s UOP division near Houston. The blend used for the November 7, Boeing 737-800 flight was 40-percent Solazyme’s Solajet and 60-percent petroleum-derived commercial jet fuel (Jet-A).” SAE explains that, “Under the ASTM standard, up to 50-percent bio-derived synthetic blending components can be added to conventional jet fuel. These renewable fuel components, called hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids …
Better Batteries: Nickel Cobalt Manganese from Ricardo and Axeon
Ricardo and Allied Vehicles, a British engineering firm known for its work with racing vehicles and KERS technology, has announced an alliance with European battery manufacturer Axeon to produce a Nickel Cobalt Manganese (NCM) battery which would reputedly provide 35-percent greater range to electric vehicles than “existing technologies at the same weight.” The new battery would require “50 percent less volume and 30 percent less mass when compared to Lithium Iron Phosphate chemistry at cell level,” according to the Richardo fourth quarter, 2011 newsletter. Green Car Congress reports, “Electrochemically, the performance is superior to Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) and Lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO2) in terms of capacity and therefore energy density. In terms of rate capability and therefore power density the electrochemical performance is better than LiCoO2 but not as high as LiFePO4, Axeon says.” The chemistry compromise allows lower costs for these batteries. With a Ricard-designed battery management system (BMS) the NCM pouch cells, new technology for EVs, can be …
Early Warning for Li-Pos
Nobody wants an airplane fire. You’re way up in the air, can’t pull over to the curb, and have limited means of quelling the flames. The most energy-dense batteries, based on lithium chemistries, are subject to failure from physical and electrical abuse. Most cells run through their promised cycle life without giving a hint of trouble, but sometimes fate or mischance leads to disaster. Battery alternatives with lower risk usually possess lower energy and/or power density, crucial to use in aircraft, since weight is usually a primary consideration in vehicle design. Lithium fires are quite often spectacular, probably a consideration that prompts Dale Kramer to recharge his 100 pounds of cells in his fireplace – with the flue wide open. Even small cells found in laptop computers and cell phones have caused injury and death to their users. For all lithium battery users, some reassurance may be found in news from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in …
Going Over to the Dark Side
The University of Texas at Austin’s press release spells out the quantum-like behavior of photons striking solar cells, and provides some insight into why obtaining higher efficiencies so far has perplexed researchers. “AUSTIN, Texas — The efficiency of conventional solar cells could be significantly increased, according to new research on the mechanisms of solar energy conversion led by chemist Xiaoyang Zhu at The University of Texas at Austin. “Zhu and his team have discovered that it’s possible to double the number of electrons harvested from one photon of sunlight using an organic plastic semiconductor material. “’Plastic semiconductor solar cell production has great advantages, one of which is low cost,’ said Zhu, a professor of chemistry. ‘Combined with the vast capabilities for molecular design and synthesis, our discovery opens the door to an exciting new approach for solar energy conversion, leading to much higher efficiencies.’” Zhu and his team published their discovery December 16 in the journal Science, under the title …
Going Vintage Electrically
On December 21, 2011, Samy Dupland test flew Electravia’s latest adaptation of its electric power systems. The Electrolight 2, a Fauconnet A60 on which Electravia head Anne Lavrand and Dupland mounted their 26 hp motor and power pack, is a French version of the Scheibe L-Spatz (Sparrow) standard class sailplane. With a 5.55 kilowatt hour lithium polymer battery pack, the electric microlight glider can stay up for one hour, 45 minutes or gain up to 3,000 meters (9,842 feet). Its cruising speed is between 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour) and 150 km/h (93 mph), with its range doubtless dropping at higher speeds. Its maximum weight is 315 kilograms (693 pounds) with a recovery parachute, right at the limit for French ultralight rules. Electravia sells the complete system of electric propulsion (motors, controller, batteries, instruments, propeller), and provides integration of the system into light sailplanes like the Fauconnet. Several vintage sailplanes could be easily adapted to such a system. …
Concentrating Sunlight
The promise of solar energy is that, for all practical purposes, solar energy is unlimited and eternal (if the sun goes away, we go away). Despite this, only four percent of the world’s energy needs are supplied by solar resources today. Part of this is the relatively high cost of solar cells, their limited efficiency, and sometimes limited lifespans, which makes expensive replacements a regular necessity. The total amount of solar energy striking the earth is a strikingly high figure, something in the way of terajoules, according to one site. About 1,000 Watts of energy hit every square meter of the earth’s surface, varying by the angle at which the surface is tilted relative to the parallel rays from the sun. Most solar cells fall into a 12-to-40-percent efficiency range, though, limiting a photovoltaic array’s output to about 120 to 400 watts per square meter (10.76 square feet) at the best angle. That’s part of what makes solar aircraft problematical. …