James May tries to find smarter, brighter and bolder ways of powering the planet
Sunday 1 February 2009
Saturday 31 January 2009
World's fastest electric car
The world's fastest electric car that can reach speeds of 208mph has been unveiled.
The eco-vehicle created by Shelby Supercars can accelerate to 60mph in just 2.5 seconds.
It is powered by a twin motor system, which produces a staggering 1,000 horse power and 800lb-ft of torque.
In contrast the current electric sports car flagbearer, the Tesla Roadster which was recently tested by Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear, produces 250 horse power.
Makers Shelby Supercars, who also manufacture the world's fastest production car, say the Ultimate Aero EV is powered by a 'revolutionary All-Electric ScalableB Powertrain'.
According to Shelby, it will be possible to fully charge the batteries in just 10 minutes from the mains, thanks to an on-board system it is calling 'Charge on the Run'.
Once the Ultimate Aero EV's batteries are charged it will have a range of between 150 and 200 miles.
The manufacturer expects to roll out pre-production versions of the vehicle, which has a three-speed automatic gearbox, by June.
full article
Thursday 29 January 2009
diode (LED) bulbs that produce brilliant light but use very little electricity
A lighting revolution is on the way that could end at the flick of a switch the battle between supporters of conventional bulbs and the eco-friendly variety.
Cambridge University researchers have developed cheap, light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs that produce brilliant light but use very little electricity. They will cost £2 and last up to 60 years.
Despite being smaller than a penny, they are 12 times more efficient than conventional tungsten bulbs and three times more efficient than the unpopular fluorescent low-energy versions.
Even better, the bulbs fully illuminate instantly, unlike the current generation of eco-bulbs.
It is reckoned the bulbs, which were funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, could slash household lighting bills by three-quarters.
If installed in every home and office, they could cut the proportion of electricity used for lights from 20 per cent to 5 per cent a year. As well as lasting 100,000 hours, ten times as long as today's eco-bulbs, the LED bulbs do not contain mercury, so disposal is less damaging to the environment, and they do not flicker - a problem that has been blamed for migraines and epileptic fits.
Professor Humphreys says the LED bulbs developed at the centre are three times more efficient than the unpopular fluorescent low-energy bulbs
The Daily Mail revealed earlier this month that in the switchover to eco-bulbs, shops had stopped replenishing stocks of the traditional 100-watt incandescent version.
The move prompted panic buying among consumers. Whitehall claims the switch will reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by five million tons a year - the amount produced by a typical one gigawatt power station.
The new bulbs could cut emissions by eight times that amount.
They use gallium nitride, a man-made semiconductor used to make light-emitting diodes. LEDs are already in use in bicycle lights, mobile phones, camera flashes and Christmas lights because they are relatively cheap due to their size and brightness compared to normal bulbs.
But until now the production costs have been too expensive for widespread use because the material had to be 'grown' on sapphire wafers, meaning a single household bulb would have cost £20.
Scientists at the Cambridge University-based Centre for Gallium Nitride solved that problem by growing it on silicon wafers.
A manufacturer, RFMD in County Durham, has begun work on production prototypes and the first bulbs could be in the shops within two years.
The head of the centre, Professor Colin Humphreys, said: 'This could well be the holy grail in terms of providing our lighting needs for the future.
'We are very close to achieving highly efficient, low-cost white LEDs.
'That won't just be good news for the environment. It will also benefit consumers by cutting their electricity bills.
'It is our belief they will render current energy-efficiency bulbs redundant.'
full article
Cambridge University researchers have developed cheap, light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs that produce brilliant light but use very little electricity. They will cost £2 and last up to 60 years.
Despite being smaller than a penny, they are 12 times more efficient than conventional tungsten bulbs and three times more efficient than the unpopular fluorescent low-energy versions.
Even better, the bulbs fully illuminate instantly, unlike the current generation of eco-bulbs.
It is reckoned the bulbs, which were funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, could slash household lighting bills by three-quarters.
If installed in every home and office, they could cut the proportion of electricity used for lights from 20 per cent to 5 per cent a year. As well as lasting 100,000 hours, ten times as long as today's eco-bulbs, the LED bulbs do not contain mercury, so disposal is less damaging to the environment, and they do not flicker - a problem that has been blamed for migraines and epileptic fits.
Professor Humphreys says the LED bulbs developed at the centre are three times more efficient than the unpopular fluorescent low-energy bulbs
The Daily Mail revealed earlier this month that in the switchover to eco-bulbs, shops had stopped replenishing stocks of the traditional 100-watt incandescent version.
The move prompted panic buying among consumers. Whitehall claims the switch will reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by five million tons a year - the amount produced by a typical one gigawatt power station.
The new bulbs could cut emissions by eight times that amount.
They use gallium nitride, a man-made semiconductor used to make light-emitting diodes. LEDs are already in use in bicycle lights, mobile phones, camera flashes and Christmas lights because they are relatively cheap due to their size and brightness compared to normal bulbs.
But until now the production costs have been too expensive for widespread use because the material had to be 'grown' on sapphire wafers, meaning a single household bulb would have cost £20.
Scientists at the Cambridge University-based Centre for Gallium Nitride solved that problem by growing it on silicon wafers.
A manufacturer, RFMD in County Durham, has begun work on production prototypes and the first bulbs could be in the shops within two years.
The head of the centre, Professor Colin Humphreys, said: 'This could well be the holy grail in terms of providing our lighting needs for the future.
'We are very close to achieving highly efficient, low-cost white LEDs.
'That won't just be good news for the environment. It will also benefit consumers by cutting their electricity bills.
'It is our belief they will render current energy-efficiency bulbs redundant.'
full article
Wednesday 28 January 2009
Wood stoves are hot again
It has overtaken the Aga as the must-have lifestyle accessory – a wood-burning stove is becoming de rigueur in any stylish home, especially one that prides itself on its eco-credentials. Not only do they make a nice rustic detail in the corner of a room – or a contemporary, design-led centrepiece – they use a sustainable, nearly 100% carbon-neutral, source of fuel.
As energy bills soar and we enter a new age of frugality, overshadowed by concerns over the future supply of gas and electricity, wood is an increasingly attractive option: it costs about 1.6p per kilowatt hour, compared with 12p for electricity. David Knox, of Stovax, the UK’s largest manufacturer of wood-burning stoves, says demand was up by 50% in the last three months of 2008 compared with the same period the previous year.
“There has been a rise in demand countrywide, with a desire to return to organic living and to be independent of the grid,” he says. There are waiting lists for some of the company’s most popular models, which include the square, traditionally styled Stockton 5, which has a 4.9kW output and starts at £595 (01392 474056, www.stovax.com).
A secondhand stove can cost as little as £100, with prices rising to £5,000 for a brand-new, state-of-the-art model – Austroflamm’s slim, modern Glass Multi-Fuel Stove, also available from Stovax, starts at about £2,680. Although wood-burners work well when coupled with thermostatically controlled radiators, they are effective on their own: open fires may be romantic, but they waste up to 90% of the heat they produce. A stove in an enclosed unit, by contrast, “means that for every pound you spend on fuel, 88p of it is heating your home”, Knox estimates.Before ditching your energy supplier, however, there are a few things to consider. First, check if your home is in a “smoke control zone”; many UK cities and industrial areas restrict use of fires and stoves as a heating source. If you live in one (visit www.uksmokecontrolareas.co.uk to find out), make sure your stove is Defra-approved. All new models must be installed by an approved fitter from Hetas, the Heating Equipment Testing and Approval Scheme.
You must install a chimney, if you don’t already have one, line an existing one or have a flue pipe built for the gases to escape; this can cost several hundred pounds. And the gases need to be discharged above the roof line, so it’s not practical to have a stove if you live at basement level.
What about getting hold of the wood? With the increased demand for the dense, seasoned hardwood logs that emit the most heat, there are reports of a forthcoming shortage. And unless you own your own woodland, you can forget hunter-gathering, even for fallen logs: the Forestry Commission advises that most woodlands and commons will have restrictions.“If you don’t have a sawmill near you, or a friendly farmer, find a good local supplier,” says Stuart Burgess, of the commission. Based in Herefordshire, Certainly Wood sources wood from local estates and delivers nationally. A bag costs £180 for 1.4 cubic metres (01981 251796, www.certainlywood.co.uk); 4.5 cubic metres should run a stove for a year.
Britain grows up to 1m tons of domestic firewood per year, and the government recently announced its aim to bring another 2m tons to the market by 2020 – enough to heat 250,000 homes for a year. Welcome news for those homeowners about to make the switch.
full article
As energy bills soar and we enter a new age of frugality, overshadowed by concerns over the future supply of gas and electricity, wood is an increasingly attractive option: it costs about 1.6p per kilowatt hour, compared with 12p for electricity. David Knox, of Stovax, the UK’s largest manufacturer of wood-burning stoves, says demand was up by 50% in the last three months of 2008 compared with the same period the previous year.
“There has been a rise in demand countrywide, with a desire to return to organic living and to be independent of the grid,” he says. There are waiting lists for some of the company’s most popular models, which include the square, traditionally styled Stockton 5, which has a 4.9kW output and starts at £595 (01392 474056, www.stovax.com).
A secondhand stove can cost as little as £100, with prices rising to £5,000 for a brand-new, state-of-the-art model – Austroflamm’s slim, modern Glass Multi-Fuel Stove, also available from Stovax, starts at about £2,680. Although wood-burners work well when coupled with thermostatically controlled radiators, they are effective on their own: open fires may be romantic, but they waste up to 90% of the heat they produce. A stove in an enclosed unit, by contrast, “means that for every pound you spend on fuel, 88p of it is heating your home”, Knox estimates.Before ditching your energy supplier, however, there are a few things to consider. First, check if your home is in a “smoke control zone”; many UK cities and industrial areas restrict use of fires and stoves as a heating source. If you live in one (visit www.uksmokecontrolareas.co.uk to find out), make sure your stove is Defra-approved. All new models must be installed by an approved fitter from Hetas, the Heating Equipment Testing and Approval Scheme.
You must install a chimney, if you don’t already have one, line an existing one or have a flue pipe built for the gases to escape; this can cost several hundred pounds. And the gases need to be discharged above the roof line, so it’s not practical to have a stove if you live at basement level.
What about getting hold of the wood? With the increased demand for the dense, seasoned hardwood logs that emit the most heat, there are reports of a forthcoming shortage. And unless you own your own woodland, you can forget hunter-gathering, even for fallen logs: the Forestry Commission advises that most woodlands and commons will have restrictions.“If you don’t have a sawmill near you, or a friendly farmer, find a good local supplier,” says Stuart Burgess, of the commission. Based in Herefordshire, Certainly Wood sources wood from local estates and delivers nationally. A bag costs £180 for 1.4 cubic metres (01981 251796, www.certainlywood.co.uk); 4.5 cubic metres should run a stove for a year.
Britain grows up to 1m tons of domestic firewood per year, and the government recently announced its aim to bring another 2m tons to the market by 2020 – enough to heat 250,000 homes for a year. Welcome news for those homeowners about to make the switch.
full article
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