ThoRR, the fully electric open-wheeler

If Caterham Seven-style open-wheelers are last century's pinnacle of pure performance machines, it seems the concept will survive the transition to the electric age. Evisol's ThoRR takes its body shape inspiration from a Lotus Super 7, and adds a 272hp Siemens electric motor with a Lithium Polymer battery pack. Quick, light, accurate and nearly silent apart from road noise, ThoRR fits the Caterham model of a driver's car - there's no power assisted steering or brakes, no ABS, gearbox or even a windshield, so you're in complete control and you feel completely connected to the road through your machine. A range of 140km if you're doing more than 100kmh limits ThoRR to being a Sunday afternoon thrasher, but new tech batteries like those in the Lightning GT will fix that in due time.

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Dithering governments blamed for biofuel tanker shortage

A Stolt tanker. Biodiesel must be carried on specially built vessels. Photograph: Alamy

Britain is facing a big shortage of ships for carrying biofuels unless politicians give clear guidelines about the future of renewable fuels, a leading maritime organisation warned last night.

The comments from Lloyd's Register that the world fleet might be "unable to cope" unless an extra 400 suitable vessels - 20% of the present fleet - were constructed, came after energy minister Malcolm Wicks questioned the use of biofuels at a time of rising food prices.

Richard Sadler, chief executive of Lloyd's Register, said more information was needed about the potentially destructive elements of first-generation biofuels, but second and third-generation looked highly promising and could trigger huge demand for transport.

Mixed messages from governments about whether they will stick to targets for biofuel use were creating problems, he said. "There is so much uncertainty that makes it very difficult for a shipowner to invest in a sector with so much political risk."

Biodiesel must be carried on special chemical carriers, but Sadler said the regulations may need to be changed so that it can be moved on oil tankers. He added: "If second- and third-generation technologies are successful, current projections of demand would see the world fleet unable to cope with the logistics demand."

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The Power of Pond Scum: Biodiesel and Hydrogen From Algae

A start-up may have the key to boosting algae's chances as a future fuel, and scientists see a path to hydrogen production from pond scum
Food riots erupting around the world have been partly blamed on the growing use of food products to produce fuels like biodiesel and corn ethanol. But biofuels need not come from food crops. According to some researchers, the best source of biofuel may be algae, best known as pesky green pond scum.

As anyone who has had to clean a swimming pool or fish tank knows, algae grow quickly. All they need is light, carbon dioxide, and a little water to grow like, well, weeds. It turns out that algae produce oil that can be processed to make biodiesel. In some species, this oil represents more than half of the plantlike organism’s mass. Researchers are also trying to genetically alter algae to make them give off copious amounts of hydrogen to meet the needs of future fuel-cell-powered cars.

Algae’s biodiesel capacity compares well with today’s sources, says Glen Kertz, president and CEO at Valcent Products, a Vancouver, B.C., start-up that aims to become a leading algae oil supplier. A single hectare planted with corn will yield about 40 liters of oil per year; a hectare planted with oil palm would yield 1000 L. But according to Kertz, an algae bioreactor occupying the same space could yield more than 48 000 L. “And we think we can do far better than that,” says Kertz. “In a few years, when we come to understand more about this crop we’re growing, we could see bioreactors producing more than [150 000 L per hectare per year].”

Valcent’s proprietary technique, called Vertigro (which the company is also applying to the cultivation of plants like lettuce), is one of a bunch of approaches to growing algae. Instead of growing pond scum in large open ponds —whose yields are affected by seasonal variations like air temperature and relative humidity—Valcent uses the area above a plot of land to increase its yield. Hence the name Vertigro.

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'Useless' green levy on drivers rakes in £4bn

The "green levy" on motorists announced in Alistair Darling's first Budget will double car tax revenue to £4 billion but reduce vehicle emissions by less than one per cent, Treasury figures have showed.
The Chancellor announced a significant increase in car tax in March.

This will result in the owners of family cars, estates and people carriers paying hundreds of pounds a year more to use the roads.

Mr Darling claimed that the duty increase was designed to encourage motorists to switch to greener cars and to reduce the environmental impact of driving.

However, the Telegraph has seen Treasury projections which disclose that while the amount raised from car tax will more than double - from £1.9 billion to £4.4 billion by 2010 - carbon dioxide emissions from motoring are expected to drop by less than one per cent.

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