Dark Skies

[glenc (Glen)]

I think plug in electric cars are good for short trips. They can be solar powered.

"As Australia looks to cap carbon emissions with targets for renewable energy and the introduction of carbon credits, WorleyParsons said it aimed to deliver 40 percent of Australia's renewable energy needs with 34 solar power plants by 2020...
The first plants would cost around A$1 billion each, and the company is assuming it would cost around 15 cents a kilowatt hour to produce power. Meurs said as newer technology became available, the plant cost was likely to fall.
Carbon credits would have to be priced at well over A$10 a tonne to make the solar power plants commercially viable and at A$50 a tonne would make solar power look relatively cheap. By comparison in Europe, where carbon trading is active, credits have been trading at around 26 euros ($38.74) a tonne for December 2008 delivery."
http://au.biz.yahoo.com/080812/19/1voq5.html
also
http://www.smh.com.au/news/energy-sm...306901743.html

[glenc (Glen)]

This thread is about efficient forms of transport. Here is another example.
"Was it a boat? Was it a plane? A bit of both in fact. The Ekranoplan was one of the more obscure products of the fight for technological supremacy in the Cold War. Nigel Paterson, who joined Top Gear presenter James May for a test "flight", recounts its secret history.
In September 1966 an American spy satellite flew over a Soviet naval base on the Caspian Sea and took a series of photographs. This being the height of the Cold War, the results created quite a stir among the American intelligence community, because they showed an object, more than 100m long with inexplicably stubby, square wings, quite unlike anything they had seen before.
Their first guess was that this was a conventional aeroplane, possibly a seaplane, but one that was incomplete and much bigger than any aircraft the US had..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7638659.stm
also http://www.vincelewis.net/ekranoplan.html

[glenc (Glen)]

Continuing the theme of efficient energy sources, in this case at Fremantle WA.
"The CETO process consists of hundreds of underwater buoys, each attached to a pump. Movement of the buoys sends pressurised water to shore for use in generators or desalination plants. Tim Sawyer estimates 35% of Australia's energy needs is practically and economically extractable now."
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow...08/2378304.htm
http://www.carnegiecorp.com.au/index...o/what-is-ceto

[glenc (Glen)]

Staff and students at the University of South Australia have designed and built —Trev. Its features include:

• two comfortable seats, since more than 90% of urban trips have only one or two people in the car;
• enough luggage space for at least two overnight bags;
• 300 kg mass—because using a 2.5 tonne vehicle for commuting is ridiculous;
• energy-efficient tyres, brakes and suspension;
• a clean, quiet and efficient electric drive system;
• compliance with road safety and worthiness regulations;
• good performance, with a top speed of 120 km/h; and
• 150 km of city driving before the car must be recharged.
• The cost of recharging Trev is 1.1 cents per kilometre

http://www.unisa.edu.au/solarcar/trev/Q&A.asp

[CoombellKid]

Originally Posted by glenc

Staff and students at the University of South Australia have designed and built —Trev. Its features include:

• two comfortable seats, since more than 90% of urban trips have only one or two people in the car;
• enough luggage space for at least two overnight bags;
• 300 kg mass—because using a 2.5 tonne vehicle for commuting is ridiculous;
• energy-efficient tyres, brakes and suspension;
• a clean, quiet and efficient electric drive system;
• compliance with road safety and worthiness regulations;
• good performance, with a top speed of 120 km/h; and
• 150 km of city driving before the car must be recharged.
• The cost of recharging Trev is 1.1 cents per kilometre

http://www.unisa.edu.au/solarcar/trev/

That would be perfect for someone like me.

regards,CS

[glenc (Glen)]

It is not big enough for a 16".

[CoombellKid]

I dont think it would be big enough for the 20x80's and parra mount either lol
But it would make trips into town a lot cheaper thats for sure!

regards,CS

[Gargoyle_Steve (Steve)]

My brother has recently bought a 1985 Suzuki Alto (?) which aparently has a 548 cc 3 cylinder engine, and is basically a 2 seat hatchback. We're exploring to see if his 10" dob wil fit ok, the rear cargo area ia surprisingly large and unencumbered.

Will let you know how fuel economy goes, although I wouldn't mind looking at converting it to some kind of electric propulsion if wants to get rid of it!

[glenc (Glen)]

This can power a few electric cars.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=652670
"The plant will generate enough electricity to power 3,500 homes in central California...
The plant has a space age look, with 300m rows of mirrors designed to concentrate the sun's power on tubes carrying steam...
The company, now headquartered in Palo Alto near San Francisco, plans a larger solar-thermal plant at California's Carrizo Plain to power 120,000 homes..."

[glenc (Glen)]

Here is a new way to make biodiesel.
"A reddish microbe found on the inside of a tree at a secret location in the rainforests of northern Patagonia could unlock the biofuel of the future, say scientists.
Its potential is so startling that the discoverers have coined the term "myco-diesel" - a derivation of the word for fungus - to describe the bouquet of hydrocarbons that it breathes.
"This is the only organism that has ever been shown to produce such an important combination of fuel substances," said Gary Strobel, a professor of biology at Montana State University.
"The fungus can even make these diesel compounds from cellulose, which would make it a better source of biofuel that anything we use at the moment."
The study appears in a peer-reviewed British journal, Microbiology..."
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=660338

[glenc (Glen)]

This is on the ABC TV new inventors tonight at 8 pm.
http://www.biofuelpartnership.com/biocube.html

The BioCube is a compact self-contained machine, the size of a 10ft ISO shipping container, that expels oil from raw oil feedstock, then processes the oil by a continuous Lurgi transesterification reaction and filtration to produce international standard biodiesel.
Biodiesel produced by the BioCube meets European EN14214 standard if the feedstock quality permits.
Based on a 10-hour production day, the machine is designed to operate for a minimum of five years in hostile tropical environments with no major intervention, whilst being operated by unskilled labour specifically trained to operate the machine. It will produce 1,500 - 2,000 litres of biodiesel per day from an estimated six tons of Jatropha feedstock.

[glenc (Glen)]

"Google.org is confronting the climate crisis on two fronts:
We're working on developing utility scale renewable energy cheaper than coal (RE<C) and
accelerating the commercialization of plug-in vehicles through the RechargeIT initiative. Our over-arching vision is that one day a large portion of the world's vehicles will plug into an electric grid fueled by renewable energy."
http://www.google.org/rec.html

[glenc (Glen)]

http://www.google.org/recharge/experiment/
"The RechargeIT driving experiment consisted of three types of trips;
City trips driven exclusively on surface streets,
Combined City/Highway trips that were a mix of surface streets and highways, and
Highway trips that were almost exclusively on highways.
All trips from each trip type were grouped together to allow us to measure fuel efficiency specific to each type of trip. The graph above shows the overall MPG for the complete set of trips in the experiment, and the the graphs below show the MPG numbers for each specific trip type."
Note 30mpg US = 36 mpg UK = 7.8 L/100km

[glenc (Glen)]

I would like to see a plug-in biodiesel hybrid.
The electricity can be produced from renewable energy: wave, solar, wind, geothermal etc
The biodiesel can be produced from Algae, Chinese tallow etc.
Its production should not compete with food crops or destroy forests.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_o...el_crop_yields

[glenc (Glen)]

The area of Chinese tallow trees needed to supply Australia with its 2006 diesel needs is 18,300 square km which is 0.24% of our land area.
"Registered motor vehicles in Australia consumed 28,898 million litres of fuel in the 12 months ended 31 October 2006.
Of the total fuel consumed by motor vehicles in this period, 65.8% was petrol and 29.8% was diesel."
http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@....6?OpenDocument
The area of Australia is 7.74 million sq km and Chinese tallow produces 4700 L of fuel per ha.

[glenc (Glen)]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partner...on_of_Vehicles
"The Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles was a cooperative research program between the U.S. government and major auto corporations, aimed at establishing U.S. leadership in the development of extremely fuel-efficient (up to 80 mpg) vehicles while retaining the features that make them marketable and affordable. The partnership, formed in 1993, involved 8 federal agencies [1], the national laboratories, universities, and the United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR), which comprises DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor Company and General Motors Corporation. On track to achieving its objectives, the program was cancelled in 2001 at the request of the automakers, with some of its aspects shifted to the much more distant FreedomCAR program."

http://www.allpar.com/model/intrepid-esx3.html
Intrepid ESX-3
The ESX3 costs only about $7,500 more than a comparable gasoline-powered car, down from a $15,000 premium with the ESX2, and $60,000 with the ESX. The ESX3's mild hybrid electric (or "mybrid") powertrain combines a clean diesel engine, electric motor, and lithium-ion battery to achieve 72 miles per gallon (3.3 liters/100 km). That is two miles per gallon better than the fuel efficiency of its predecessor, the ESX2 in 1998, and close to PNGV's goal of up to 80 mpg (2.9 liters/100 km).

[glenc (Glen)]

"One of the key investments is in a unique solar powered battery re-charging centre. Built by the Austrian company Cellstrom, the centre is a shed-sized box with 24 solar panels on it that houses a revolutionary liquid-based [Australian] battery.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7669522.stm

"Cellstrom develops, produce and supply energy storage systems based on [UNSW] vanadium redox flow batteries integrated with photovoltaic and/ or other renewable energy sources as complete solutions.
http://www.cellstrom.at/index.php?id=17&L=1

[glenc (Glen)]

A plug-in car with a biodiesel generator sounds good.
http://www.webwombat.com.au/motoring...ge-concept.htm
http://p.webwombat.com.au/motoring/i...cept-5-big.jpg
http://www.caradvice.com.au/5374/vol...harge-concept/

[glenc (Glen)]

You can't carry a telescope to a dark site on this but it's ok if you have a scope permanently set up in a dark place.
http://globalmotors.net/piaggio-unve...ybrid-scooter/
It has better braking and handling than a 2 wheeler and you don't have to put your feet down at the lights.
http://www.scootersales.com.au/News-...-the-year.aspx
141 mpg US = 168 mpg UK

[glenc (Glen)]

2009 Mitsubishi i MiEV First Steer
http://www.caradvice.com.au/26642/20...v-first-steer/
Mitsubishi says that compared to a similar sized petrol car, the running costs per kilometre are around 33 per cent lower.
If charged during off-peak or night time hours the operating costs will be even less.

Mitsubishi i MiEV
Technical Specifications Overall Length x Width x Height: 3395 x 1475 x 1600mm
Curb Weight: 1080kg
Seating Capacity: four
Maximum Speed: 130km/h
Cruising Distance with a single charge (10-15 mode): 160km
Motor Type: Permanent magnet synchronous
Maximum Output: 47kW
Maximum Torque: 180Nm
Drive System: Rear-wheel-drive
Battery Type: Lithium-ion
Total Voltage: 330 Volts
Total Energy: 16kWh