Recent Comments:
Chrysler explains details of the $2.99 gas price guarantee {Autoblog Green}
May 10th 2008 5:25PM $2.99 for diesel is a heck if a deal.
Samsung SpinPoint M6 500GB laptop drive finally on sale... in France {Engadget}
May 7th 2008 4:59PM Hank Scorpio: By the way, Homer. What's your least favourite country, Italy or France?
Homer: France.
Hank Scorpio: Heh-heh. Nobody ever says Italy.
Mexican crude oil supplies to U.S. to be cut back by 184,000 bpd {Autoblog Green}
May 6th 2008 10:23AM Failing to reinvest back into more production is not just a Mexican issue - as more and more oil is controlled solely by national governments, the temptation to milk the oil sector increases.
Venezuela has also seen a marked drop in its production, again, because the current government has chosen to loot the oil sector, even forgoing needed maintenance/repairs (forget new exploration/development)
It's also increaingly popular to turn to third world companies as a form of protest, but Chinese or Iranian firms are far behind Western firms such as Exxon-Mobil, BP, or Total in the ability to efficiently develop fields, especially the newer, harder to reach oil discoveries.
Sony creates micro-sized fuel cell system {Engadget}
May 5th 2008 3:32PM Most of these direct methanol fuel cells use heavily diluted methanol (mostly water)
So dilute, in fact, that as a poster above notes, refill cartridges have already been approved to be carried on aircraft.
You'll probably have to buy the refills, instead of rolling your own with straight methanol, but the refills won't poison you or be an ignition hazard.
Audi aims to produce electric car within ten years {Engadget}
May 5th 2008 2:09PM We are indeed still waiting on the technology - specifically large-format (not laptop-size) lithium batteries.
No, Ni-MH is not good enough for a 4-5 passenger series EV - it has a much lower energy density, and is much less efficient (charge/discharge) than lithium-based technologies.
For consumer acceptance, the battery in a series EV like the Volt will have to have a warranty no less than current hybrids - realistically, 8-10 years/80,000-100,000 miles.
Which means a LOT of accelerated testing of battery packs from different manufacturers, both in the lab and on the road, before the final candidate is selected.
Aptera crushing lots of its cars {Autoblog Green}
May 5th 2008 7:26AM Until an independent organization like the IIHS crash-tests the Aptera we don't know how well it will do in real world crash tests, not company-conducted testing (no conflict of interest there)
SUNRGI tempts us with solar power for ยข5Kwh {Autoblog Green}
May 3rd 2008 11:34PM With the size if that heat sink on the back/bottom, how much will a panel weigh?
Right now, most residental solar panels are roof-mounted, and they aren't exactly light in present form.
VW Sharan BlueMotion already on sale in Germany {Autoblog Green}
May 3rd 2008 8:01PM It wouldn't be much cheaper even if they did deign to sell it in the U.S.
Those who want such bland styling can get a fully loaded domestic minivan for under the "starting" price of this VW van.
A123: History and Progress {Autoblog Green}
Apr 30th 2008 8:08PM It's very clear Li, not Ni-MH is the future for EV propulsion.
Everyone seems to forget most EV1s were powered by lead-acid, not NiMH batteries.
Technology does improve, significantly, over time - isn't the Volt's battery pack only 1/3 the size of the EV1's?
FCC's broadband over power lines expansion hits major snag {Engadget}
Apr 29th 2008 5:27PM There's at least one BPL method/install approved by ARRL.
License that approach and use it for all BPL projects.
Though I'm still not convinced BPL is cost-effective compared to wireless implementations like WiMax.
