Solar Light Bulbs - An Invention that This Blog Has to Love

Considering that this blog is called "Showing Fossil Fuel the Fist," a product like the Nokero (for "no kerosene") solar light bulb has to be something to instantly fall in love with! While I can see from their website that they are marketing these bulbs in Pakistan, I hope that they plan on entering the Indian market next. India is a country where even large cities suffer from 8 to 12 hours of power failures a day. These bulbs should sell to both the poor as well as the not quite impoverished population in that country.

Here's wishing the Nokero guys good luck!

Using Used Vegetable Oil to Generate Power

I learned about the Vegawatt Power Generation System from the Smart Planet blog which I subscribe and link to over here. The units throw out several very interesting possibilities especially for India and the Middle east, all countries where a lot of fried food is consumed and where the used oil almost invariably goes down the drain. Needless to say, these are also nations with severe electricity shortages. The system could be used to supplement power generation in large hotels and possibly also on a community collection basis. I need to find out more - I'll shoot these guys an e-mail and report back. Some very interesting stuff here!

Pythagoras Photovoltaic Glass Units - Combining Windows and Solar PVs

This is a really interesting product that a friend alerted me about, and which has been featured on several green building websites - combining a transparent window and solar cells in such a way that light is let into the building while electricity is generated with an energy payback time of five years suggests some very exciting possibilities. I would think that the product would make a lot of sense in countries that have to build upwards because they lack land - India comes to mind, as do the various small Gulf Arab nations - and these are all nations with severe power shortages already. These are also nations that receive abundant sunlight. I would hope that someone in these countries (and in India in particular) checks these windows out.

Hydrogen Powered Electric Car to Race at Le Mans

This is simply amazing news in my opinion - the Swiss Green GT company has been invited to race its car at Le Mans. The fact that something that is as radical as a Hydrogen powered car will race in the toughest race in the world is an achievement itself, whether the Green GT wins or not. In recent years, Le Mans racing has become a very interesting form of racing with alternative fuels like diesel - and now hydrogen - being used in cars that compete with gasoline powered racers. Unlike Formula 1 which seems to look more and more like a silly parade with every passing year - I can't recall when I last bothered to even read Formula 1 results whereas, through the 80s and 90s, I was an addict - Le Mans has been working overtime to pit competing technologies against each other in its grueling racing format. At some point, one or another technology will win by demonstrating a clear superiority over others. But in that victory, the whole world will win because this will be a technology that will eventually filter down to the cars that everyone of us drives.

Green GT's website is well worth a visit.

Flying from New York to Paris on Biofuel

A major criticism leveled by Green Groups against air travel has been the amount of fossil fuel aircraft use. This Forbes article talks about a new biofuel developed by Honeywell's UOP division that works in conventional jet aircraft. By not using crude that has been taken out of the ground and by refining the fuel from the output of a non edible plant that grows overground, UOP only makes use of atmospheric carbon that has been absorbed by the Camelina plant. I do not know much about this plant but it does look like there could be a good opportunity for entrepreneurs to grow it in different parts of the world if the price of the biofuel extracted from it proves competitive with conventional aviation fuel.

New Design Electric Light Airplane

Via the Smart Planet website: the Fly Nano electric light aircraft. Somehow, I feel like we are living in a new golden era - a time that schoolboys read about in their Biggles novels, and older people in their Saint-Exupery novels. The coming of electric aircraft is a development that I find particularly interesting - here is one more aircraft, a single seat biplane with either electric or hybrid electric and internal combustion engines with ranges of 40 to 70 Km. Yes, this is a rich person's toy at the moment but in time, if the technology is developed, it would suit longer range aircraft for commercial purposes. Look at a Tiger Moth and then at a current light sport aircraft and you can see an evolution. Look at the even more sophisticated Fly Nano and just imagine where this technology would take us in the future . . .

The electric car that's one of a kind in Dubai - The National

The electric car that's one of a kind in Dubai - The National

The Tazzari Zero is one of the new crop of electric cars with expressway capabilities hat is available in Europe. This is an interesting piece in the UAE'a "The National" about the only one in Dubai, owned by a German enthusiast. There's a lot to be said about the owner's courage in buying this car and shipping it to a center of oil production to make a point - perhaps, in time, some of the UAE's rulers would see that cars like these which do not use gasoline or diesel, permit them to export more and earn more money for their country. That can't be a bad thing even for a country as wealthy as an oil emirate!