What a load of hot air!

When I first got into cars at a fairly young age there was a great, what I believed to be, urban mith. It involved an, I think Canadian engineer who developed a car that ran on water. Well, apparently when the oil companies found out about this, the man was paid a large amount of money and the car that ran on water disappeared.

It appears that the oil companies may have missed this one, and now it’s too late!

I can’t believe how amazing this is! A car that runs on nothing but AIR, with zero emissions is about to go on sale with the help of Tata Motors the Indian company who brought us the worlds cheapest car.

The car was developed by a French inventor and Formula One engineer who has now teamed up with Tata Motors with what is said to be ‘an environmentally friendly and scalable technology’. The idea can be used in cars, commercial vehicles and even power generation.

The engine uses compressed air stored in a tank at a pressure of about 300 bars to pump the pistons much in the same way a combustion engine does. The range of the tank is about 60 miles at 50 mph. The tank can be refilled at home using a regular outlet, which takes about 4 hours, but if you can find an industrial compressor capable if 3500 psi (like those found in scuba shops) the job can be done in a few minutes and cost between £1-£2. If the pressurised air can be heated then the car can drive for nearly 500 miles.

Tata, it is speculated may have an Air Car on the road by the end of 2008. Well I don’t know about anyone else but I want one. Of course there are those that think I talk alot of hot air anyway.

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Tags: air car, compressed air, Tata motors, zero emissions

We are sailing, even with engines!

I didn’t realise until today that the fuel burnt by cargo ships accounts for 4% of all global CO2 emissions, that’s almost twice as much as the aviation industry produces – why is it that we’re not told this? Why is the aviation industry being held up as the big bad carbon producer, is it because they’re an easy target?

Well, in a great attempt to combat these emissions the Dutch company SkySails GmbH has joined forces with Beluga Shipping to make a maiden voyage from Germany to Venezuela using a 160sq m, computer-controlled kite. This state-of-the-art kite will hopefully help reduce the carbon emissions by as much as 20%. This could have an amazing impact on global warming as reported by the BBC!

The high-tech on-board computer allows the kite to harness the full power of the wind, and hopefully over the next few months a few more practical tests of the technology will be able to show significant reduction in fuel consumption, and therefore cost and emissions.

A spokesman from SkySails said, ‘nevertheless, it differs very much from traditional sailing, as we do not have any bothersome masts on deck which might be a hindrance to cargo-loading operations.’

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Tags: cargo  ships, kite, fuel reduction, sailing, carbon emissions, global warming, skysails

Super Green – or do I mean orange!

According to the BBC, scientists in the USA have engineered a carrot that provides extra calcium. They hope that if this can be introduced into the normal diet it may help in the reduction in the instances of diseases like osteoporosis.

Now is it just me, or is not the point of a healthy varied diet to provide the majority of the nutrients we need! So if people aren’t eating the correct foods why pick a carrot to help increase calcium levels? Is it not the lack of vegetables in the western diet that’s causing the prevalence of the vast majority of modern diseases – so picking a vegetable, good idea! This was tried once before with the humble broccoli, I think that failed then too.

Although the history of the carrot on the BBC piece is quite interesting, I didn’t realise that the carrot we know and love so well was actually originally purple and was only turned orange in the 17th century.

As the for the veggies on my table this year, they’ll all be as normal as possible and if we have a good year in the garden hopefully the vast majority will be home grown.

 

Tags: carrots, calcium, healthy diet, home grown, osteoporosis, genetic engineering

No ditch for the Dutch!

A little while ago I posted a link to a piece of video about the great solar car race accross Australia, I also said I would be keeping an eye on things, unfortunately time ran away with me and I’ve only just go back to it! But, here it is, traveling over 3000 miles the Dutch team finally one the race by over one hour.

Well done, and lets hope the technology eventually works its way down to us lesser mortals!

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Starters Orders!

Despite the disapointment for Lewis Hamilton over the weekend, there today starts a race that hopefully will be great for everyone in the future.

I’ll keep an eye on this and inform you as the days go by. They should finish in about four days time!

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The Beast Stirs!

I’m fairly sure that one of the main reasons my carbon footprint is so high, is the number of vehicles we have in our household. When you calculate your footprint questions are asked about the types and numbers of vehicles in the household. My personal view on the issue is, you can only drive one car at a time, your not increasing the carbon you produce if only one car is running. If you only had one car and ran it for four hours a day you would not produce any less carbon than someone who has four cars and runs each for an hour a day.

This is of course might just be my internal justification for being a petrol head. I love all things internal combustion wise! I realise that this goes against the environmental grain, but as I said at the start of this blog, I try to be practical and realistic.

Anyway the real reason for this post is that my kit car has passed it’s MOT, which to be honest is a bloody miracle! 

So, now all I need to do is get the over heating sorted and we’re back in business.