ET Energy Technology

Better Place has collected Orders for 45.000 Electric Cars

Silicon Valley ET-startup Better Place has signed deals with 92 corporate fleet owners in Israel, in which they commit to replacing their conventional cars with electric vehicles as leasing contracts end. From 2011 on, 45.000 cars will be replaced with electric cars, many of them made by Renault in Turkey.
In order to ascertain the availability [...]

Nine European Countries plan huge Renewable Energy Grid

The German Newspaper “Süddeutsche Zeitung” has revealed a plan by nine Northern-European Countries to invest billions into a new Energy Grid that should transport Renewable Energy across the Continent. Germany, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and Danmark plan to exchange Renewable Energy in order to compensate for fluctuations in their Renewable Energy [...]

Panasonic plans home-use lithium-ion storage cell

Fumio Otsubo, president of Panasonic, announced that the Company plans to market a storage battery for home use, which can store sufficient electricity for about one week of use in a typical household. It is inteded to be combined with energy technology such as solar cells that can generate power but can’t store electricity, making [...]

Swimming Bacteria power Micromachines

Collaboration of scientists from Argonne National Laboratory and Northwestern University led to a surprising discovery: swimming bacteria can power microscopic gears or gear assemblies that are millions of times more massive than themselves. Rotation of the gears can be controlled by the amount of oxygen available to the bacteria.
The discovery demonstrates how microscopic swimming [...]

Personalized Solar Energy for every Home

A new report about the “Chemistry of Personalized Solar Energy” by Daniel G. Nocera of the Department of Chemistry describes an inexpensive method for solar energy storage that could help power homes and plug-in cars in the future while helping keep the environment clean. By capturing and storing solar energy at the individual or home [...]

Ultracapacitor Buses run on quick charge Batteries

In Shanghai 17 municipal buses runs entirely on ultracapacitor batteries that are charged up during their route at designated bus stops. Without recharging the buses could only go 3 to 5 miles, but the ultracapacitors allow them to charge rapidly. Even if the batteries are completely empty the bus has to stop only for a [...]

Lightweight Battery made from Algae

Albert Mihranyan of Uppsala University in Sweden and his colleagues have built a battery that is lightweight and thin like paper. It is based on algal cellulose which fibres are wispier than common cellulose extracted from trees. This provides greater surface area and thus allows it to store more electric charge.
The algae is coated in [...]

Better Place presents AutoOS

Shai Agassi, CEO of the Electric Car Battery-Provider “Better Place” has presented a first version of their car “operating system” AutoOS. The navigation software helps drivers of Electric Cars to locate the next battery station and provides information on the status of the car battery.
The System is based on MS Windows Embedded and runs [...]

Waste may be the best Source for Biofuel

As most of the ways to produce biofuel from natural sources have proven to use more energy for production than they deliver, attention has now turned to alternate sources that may seem surprising: municipal waste. Californian Pioneer Fulcrum BioEnergy is building a $100m plant in Nevada, where they plan to make 10m gallons of ethanol [...]

Exxon invests Millions into Algae Fuel Research

Exxon Mobil announced an investment of 600 million Dollar in a Research project aimed to produce liquid fuels from algae. The project will be a partnership between ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company (EMRE) and Synthetic Genomics (SGI), a genomic biotech company from La Jolla, California.
“This agreement between SGI and EMRE represents a comprehensive, long-term [...]

Audi President calls Chevy Volt “a Car for Idiots”

“There are not enough idiots who will buy it.” is Audi of America President Johan de Nysschens opinion on GMs take on the energy efficient and climate friendly car of the future, the hybrid Chevrolet Volt. His point is, that no one would buy a car for USD 40.000 that offers the same value as [...]

Nissan presses forward with EV “Leaf”

While many car makers are still discussing if EVs (Electronic Vehicle) can be built with todays technology, Nissan unveiled the “Leaf”, a compact car that is totally emission free and runs solely on lithium-manganese batteries. The car, that was specificly designed for the requirements of an EV, will have a range of about 160 kilometers [...]

African Solar Power for Germany

A group of 20 German companys is rumored to plan huge solar powerplants in Africa, that should provide clean energy for Germany within the next 10 years. The investment would be about 400 billion Euros.
The exact list of participants in the project “Desertec” is not yet public, but the group plans to constitute officially on [...]

Strip Steel with integrated Solar Cells

The Australian Solar Energy Developer “Dyesol” says it’s another step closer to the commercial production of Dye Solar Cells integrated onto strip steel in a coil coating line. These solar cells could be integrated into steel roofing and will be grid competitive in the normal light conditions, while other solar technologies require full sun [...]

Drinking water from air humidity

Even if deserts may seem dry, there is water available in the air. German scientists have now found a way to obtain drinking water from the humidity, and furthermore have based the process on the energy that is vastly available in deserts: the sun. The system uses solar panels as energy source and is therefore [...]

Tesla wins Viking Rally 2009

Surviving a Rallye seems to be the ultimate test for a car, therefore the Organizing Committee of the 24th International Electric Vehicle Symposium organized a Rallye for electric Cars along the 570 km Oslo Stavanger route. 26 Cars took place, and Tesla went home with the victory.

Conference Home: EVS24
Race Results: Viking Rallye

China invests 440 Billion Dollars in Renewable Energy

According to a report by the German Magazine “Der Aktionär”, China has decided to invest 440 Billion Dollars in Renewable Energy Projects during the next 10 years. The use of Wind Power will grow almost 10-fold and Solar power up to 100-fold in the coming years.
Today China generates about 80% of its energy from [...]

Air-fuelled Battery Could Last 10 Times Longer

Researchers at the University of St Andrews are working on a new type of air-fuelled battery, that could give up to ten times the energy storage of current designs. This step-change in capacity could pave the way for a new generation of electric cars, mobile phones and laptops.
The research work, funded by the Engineering and [...]

Huge Wind Turbines – The next big thing

Strong winds aren’t available everywhere, but this is no longer a limitation for generating wind power. Some wind-turbine makers are now building bigger and bigger turbines that can harvest also lower-speed winds that are available almost everywhere: their rotors have a diameter the size of a football field.
In times when the best areas for wind [...]

Renault-Nissan’s plan for Europes zero-emmission future

The Renault-Nissan Alliance together with LeasePlan, European market leader in fleet management, announced their collaboration for Zero-Emission Mobility. With LeasePlans customer base of 1.4 million company car drivers, this initiative targets the business market.
Vahid Daemi, LeasePlan’s Chief Executive Officer: “With the increasing awareness of environmental issues, company car drivers tend to change their behaviour in [...]