August 12, 2008 by Rob.

AustinEV has been chasing an off topic thread about solar that I nudged into an ROI for conversions discussion.  I’ve been (trying to) think deeply about the balance between justification / enthusiasm for driving electric and the practical benefits for people who are not green zealots.  Generally, I don’t push EVs for people unless they are very passionate and I’m wondering if that is a mistake.

I’m still cogitating, but here are my posts on AustinEV…

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Solar, Alternate Fuels, Rants, Green Tech, AustinEV | 1 Comment »

June 13, 2008 by Rob.

I try to keep a eye out for news about Austin-based super-capacitor hopeful, EEStor.  A post surfaced claiming that they’ve got working prototypes.  I’m reluctant to credit reports about ZENN using EEStor super-caps in any real capacity; however, it’s interesting to see the remarkable level of enthusiam that the claims can generate.  Based on the comments from the post, EEStor will have a bigger impact than sliced bread.

Posted in Alternate Fuels, Commentary, Electric Vehicles, EV Tech | 3 Comments »

June 9, 2008 by Rob.

I’ve been resisting feeling the pull to comment more and more about non-EV topics on this blog.  To be true to this blog’s content and (imagined) readership, I’ve decided to start TribalGrid, a new blog, focused on broader social energy and sustainability topics.

I’m re-coining the term “social energy” to describe technology and attitudes that help people see energy as a limited community resource.  I believe that solving problems in our near-term future will require a deep change in public thinking about how we consume energy.

The blog has been in stealth mode since Earth Day so there are already some fresh rants for your enjoyment.

Posted in Commentary, Alternate Fuels, Rants, Blogroll, Storyline, EV Tech | No Comments »

June 9, 2008 by Rob.

A friend sent over a link about a car that runs on air so I thought I’d throw up the link and provide some color commentary.  The link is from a PBS “future car” series that must have run out of money - each hour segment rehashed the same 20 minutes of interviews interleaved with 90’s era futuristic dissolves.

The compressed air car story broke last year and generates a lot of wild speculation on the EV forums, but is usually considered implausible.  I like the concept, but have to agree with the doubters that the physics required to make it work won’t scale for mass production.  I have not heard much since Tata Motor’s claims of last year.  Like most alternative fuel stories, the primary fuel is green hype.

Here are the doubts raised:

• Compressing gas is inefficient in terms of recoverable energy stored vs. energy input
• Compressing gas stores lots of energy (yeah!) that can dissipate explosively (oops) under many circumstances
• Transferring gas between pressures also transfers lot of heat (thanks Boyle) that must be dealt with
• The safe containers are either heavy or expensive

As a kid, I was very excited about the air car concept.  Although, I was also thinking steam powered cars could be made to work.  As is usually the case, research is the spoiler of many an nerdy adolescent’s entrepreneurial fantasy.

Posted in Alternate Fuels | 2 Comments »