Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Gas 2.0

Gas 2.0

Could Cowpower Replace Horsepower On The Rally Circuit?

Posted: 13 Oct 2009 01:22 PM PDT

Cow poop is a leading contributor of nitrous oxide and ammonia into the atmosphere, adding heartily to global warming. Cars, as we all know, provide their own fair share of noxious fumes to the environment. But a British team of engineers and racers is working on a way to kill two birds with one stone (metaphorically of course) by developing a race car that can run on cow poop.

Realizing that most technology found in our daily drivers was often first developed for the race track, Oaktec has announced plans to develop a manure-powered rally car, giving all new meaning to the phrase “This car runs like crap!” [ed. note: cow farts and burps contribute far more GHGs than poop, but hey, you gotta start somewhere]

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Report: Energy Secretary Chu Thinks Every Cent Should Go to Electric Cars

Posted: 13 Oct 2009 08:27 AM PDT

Attendees at a recent alternative fuels gathering in Washington are reporting that US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu remarked, “If it were up to me, I would put every cent into electric cars,” when referring to the way stimulus dollars should be distributed. With a focus on alternative and renewable fuels, the group was obviously shocked at the concept.

If this statement is being represented accurately, it would not only put Chu directly at odds with Obama administration policy, it would mean that he doesn’t really believe in how his department is distributing their $36.7 billion dollar slice of stimulus funds. The statement would also contradict Chu’s previous stances on biofuels development. Comment from DOE was not immediately available, but I’ve got a request in to confirm or deny the statement as accurate. I’ll update as soon as I hear word.

Considering that, as of today, the Department of Energy has provided stimulus loans of about half a billion dollars each to both Tesla and Fisker to develop and produce next generation electric cars, while at the same time Biofuels Digest claims that only about $20,000 of stimulus funds have so far made their way to biofuels developers, you might start to see the reason why alternative fuels folks are starting to feel a bit, well, shafted.

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Hydrogen Peroxide Drag Racers: Clean, Mean Rocket Machines

Posted: 13 Oct 2009 03:00 AM PDT

Drag racing is probably one of the most wasteful-yet-exciting forms of motorsports around. For those three and a half seconds, Top Fuel cars can go as fast as 300 mph and burn 5-6 gallons of high-octane fuel in 1/4 mile, the equivalent of using 20 gallons per mile [ed. note: not if they're electric drag racers!].

But not all drag racing with liquid fuels is so wasteful. The videos below show a hydrogen peroxide-powered drag bike rocketing off the start line. After seeing it, I did just a little digging and uncovered a whole lot more to hydrogen peroxide power than I ever imagined.

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