Gas 2.0 |
- Student-Built, Hydrogen Fuel Cell-Powered Boat to Set Sail on Hudson River
- Nissan LEAF EV Will Emit “Futuristic” Sounds to Alert Blind People
- On TV: Audi Clean Diesel Engines To Appear On “How It’s Made”
- Caterpillar Builds World’s First Hybrid Bulldozer
| Student-Built, Hydrogen Fuel Cell-Powered Boat to Set Sail on Hudson River Posted: 18 Sep 2009 01:14 PM PDT Welcome to another episode of “If college students can do it, why can’t the rest of the world figure it out too?”
An enterprising and organized group of undergraduate and graduate students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have fitted an old sail boat with a spiffy set of hydrogen fuel cells and plan to run the boat from Manhattan to upstate New York later this month in a “green power” tour of sorts. I love it when college students do this kind of stuff. Seriously. If I could have stayed in college forever, I would have. Believe me, I tried. |
| Nissan LEAF EV Will Emit “Futuristic” Sounds to Alert Blind People Posted: 18 Sep 2009 10:55 AM PDT
One of the things people who’ve driven electric cars seem to enjoy (including myself) is the complete silence of the electric motor. The only noises you hear while driving an EV are dependent on how fast you’re driving, the kind of tires you have, and the condition of the road. For a commuter, this feature alone can be worth millions in sanity. But at low speeds while driving around town, EVs represent a bit of a threat to people who aren’t able to pick up on the visual cues of such a silent car — namely the visually impaired, children and the elderly. In an effort to address this problem, Nissan has decided that at speeds under 12 mph, the upcoming LEAF EV will emit a “beautiful and futuristic” noise reminiscent of the sounds that flying cars emit in sci-fi movies such as Blade Runner. |
| On TV: Audi Clean Diesel Engines To Appear On “How It’s Made” Posted: 18 Sep 2009 10:22 AM PDT Set your DVRs: The Science Channel’s “How It’s Made” covers Audi clean diesel technology. Debuting TODAY, September 18th, 2009 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, with an encore broadcast on the Discovery Channel on Thursday, September 24, 2009, 7:00 and 11:00 p.m. ET/PT.
“How It’s Made” is one of those head scratchers of a show for me. Take one part horrible muzak and one part kind-of-boring monotone narrator; mix it with some cool behind-the-scenes manufacturing footage of stuff that you normally take for granted; throw in some occasional history and you’ve got yourself… a winner? As much as the show bores my wife to tears, for some reason I love it. It’s so cheesy and cool at the same time. So I was excited to hear that the show will be doing a segment on the building of an Audi V6 3.0 TDI clean diesel engine. Audi has recently started a push to bring their new clean diesels to the US and market them as a green alternative to gas cars and even electric cars. In fact, Johan de Nysschen, President of Audi America, recently got himself into a bit of hot water by extolling the virtues of diesel while insulting the people who would buy electric drive cars like the Chevy Volt. |
| Caterpillar Builds World’s First Hybrid Bulldozer Posted: 18 Sep 2009 09:31 AM PDT
This one may offend you more sensitive types as “ironic” or not green at all. But the fact is, the world needs bulldozers. Lots of them. But until now, anyone seeking a hybrid bulldozer was out of luck. But Caterpillar, the prolific maker of construction equipment has announced that for 2010 they will be selling the D7E, a diesel-electric bulldozer. |
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