Friday, August 6, 2010

Gas 2.0

Gas 2.0

China Building 1,000 KPH Super Train

Posted: 06 Aug 2010 10:28 AM PDT


It has been awhile since I’ve talked about high speed trains here because, well, there hasn’t been a lot to talk about. America’s high speed rail system is slowly doling out money to Florida, the MidWest, and California, but it will be years before we see anything substantial. China, however, is moving ahead full speed with its plans for a high speed rail network, pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into such a network.

The latest plan from the People’s Republic calls for a high speed train that will combine the maglev system used in Japan and France with vacuum tubes. In theory, this train will be able to go 1,000 kph, or about 620 mph. That is twice as fast as most high speed trains travel today. How?

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VW Bug Powered By Your Poop

Posted: 06 Aug 2010 10:25 AM PDT


There’s something about defecation that seems to both fascinate and revulse humans at the same time. In other words, there’s just something funny about poop and I can’t explain it. I will however, direct your attention to a poop-powered VW Bug built by some enterprising Brits.

GENeco has streamlined a process that allows this VW Bug to run on methane. This has been done before, but many methane vehicles had decreased performance because the fecal fuel wasn’t “clean” enough. GENeco seems to have solved this problem, and the Bio Bug as it is being called, is being hailed as a breakthough in poop-power.

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GM Will Re-Introduce “Mild Hybrids”

Posted: 06 Aug 2010 10:20 AM PDT


Remember a few years back, when all of the sudden the market was flooded with hybrids? I’m not talking about the Prius or the Insight, genuine hybrid cars, but rather the “half-hybrids” cranked out by GM and Chrysler prior to their bankruptcy proceedings. There was the Saturn Vue Green Line, Cadillac Escalade Hybrid, the Chrysler Aspen Hybrid, even the Chevy Silverado Hybrid. Rather than running on electric engines at low speeds, some of these systems (like those in the Vue) used stop-start technology to save fuel when at a stop sign. Kinda half-hearted if you ask me.

After canceling all their hybrids, GM is set to return with their “mild-hybrid” system sometime next year. So will it meet with more success than the first time around?

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