TheHotSpring.net » zero-combustion

Saturation vs. Scalability: Old & Costly vs. Clean & Efficient

Joseph Robertson — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 19:02:43 +0000

The fossil fuel saturation problem, known to states like Texas as an ongoing "energy emergency", means we need to be actively searching not only for alternative fuels, but also for investment opportunities where we can build in drivers of more generalized prosperity, i.e. a restored and strengthened middle class, and accelerating returns in productive capacity.

Solar Impulse Achieves First Ever 24-hour Solar Flight

Joseph Robertson — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 08:00:18 +0000

Switzerland-based Solar Impulse has achieved the first-ever 24-hour solar-powered flight, flying both night and day on solar power alone. World Radio Switzerland reported "History is Made: Solar Plane Makes it through Night", and the first manned nighttime solar flight is a major technological achievement. The plane was flying, as company partners and engineers have said, at the limits of the technology.

Solar Impulse: Close to 1st Night Flight of Solar-only Plane (video)

staff — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 16:19:10 +0000

Solar Impulse, a revolutionary aerospace engineering project based in Switzerland, is closing in on the technological readiness to stage the world's first ever night-time flight of a zero-fuel, solar-only airplane. On the aircraft's third full flight, the design team was looking at "the expansion of the flying envelope of the airplane, which is to fly faster, to fly at low speed, to fly at greater bank angle", in order to understand the behavioral mechanics of the airplane and to know where improvements can be made that will allow for anywhere-anytime, night-or-day solar-powered flight.

Fuel Efficiency: Hybrid, Electric, Solar or ‘Exotics’ (discussion)

Joseph Robertson — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 19:15:20 +0000

The quest for the most fuel-efficient vehicles has entered a new phase, with major government private-sector investment in research and development for industrial-scale commercial production of a new class of gas-electric hybrid vehicles and EVs (all-electric cars). Swiss-based Solar Impulse is building the world's first 100% solar-powered airplane, an achievement that will revolutionize the travel, industrial production, transport and fuel sectors.

Green Vehicles for Public Services: Potential Watershed for Clean Fuel Economy

Joseph Robertson — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:17:35 +0000

One day, recently, I saw a fire-engine, crawling its way through a stop light, sirens blaring, hulking its way to provide the noble service of putting out someone's fire or performing some other rescue operation. It was pouring a dark grey exhaust from one side, looking shiny new and well cared for, but obviously lacking advanced exhaust filtering or clean-energy drive technologies.

High-speed Rail Program Integral to Energy Overhaul

Joseph Robertson — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:22:03 +0000

Pres. Barack Obama has proposed a national high-speed rail program that would develop eight to ten regions for high-speed rail (currently, only the so-called northeast corridor, running from Washington, DC, to Boston, through Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, has a regular high-speed service), as part of a phased-in long-term economic recovery plan. The rail project comes into play also as part of Obama's plans for a comprehensive energy-sector overhaul, aimed at reducing carbon emissions.

UK Announces Plan for 40% Low-carbon Energy by 2020

staff — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:57:53 +0000

The Labour party government of the United Kingdom has announced plans to establish an aggressive overhaul of national energy markets, shifting to 40% low-carbon energy sourcing, across all industries, by 2020. The energy secretary, Ed Milliband, will be given control of allocation of electricity across the energy grid, in an effort to speed the green-energy revolution to allow the UK to meet its legally-binding agreed emissions cuts of 34% by 2020.

Solar Impulse Unveils 1st 100% Solar-powered Airplane (discussion)

Joseph Robertson — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:02:05 +0000

Swiss-based Solar Impulse unveiled this month the first ever 100% solar-powered airplane with global reach. The HB-SIA is the culmination of six years of daring research and hard work. The aim of Solar Impulse is to demonstrate the ability of solar power to enable a plane to fly around the world with no combustible fuel.

‘WindCube’ Marks New Phase in Wind-power Amplification

staff — Mon, 11 May 2009 18:01:45 +0000

The wind-power generation paradigm is wind turbines turning due to the pressure of oncoming winds. The standard is a single fan with three blades that turns at a relatively slow and constant rate to maximize energy extraction from wind currents passing over the blades and turning the turbine. The 'WindCube', however, fits a wind-amplification paradigm, a possible first-step to a new era in wind-turbine technology.

Convert Pontiac into the First True Green ‘Muscle-car’ Maker

Joseph Robertson — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:14:20 +0000

We are witnessing the systematic implosion of the American auto industry. The situation is so grave that instead of seeking to reinvent, or spin off or sell off its Pontiac division, GM is simply closing it down and laying people off. No attempt to fix problems or to take advantage of the opportunity to comprehensively reinvent a company already fitted with major industrial manufacturing capacity, just the unilateral shuttering of major plants and an entire company.

Big Oil Needs to Adjust to Non-fuel Long-term Business Model

Joseph Robertson — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:30:05 +0000

The converging crises of carbon-induced climate destabilization and unsustainable transport-related costs and land-use are pushing global society toward a moment of major change, in which "fuel" as we know it will be less a matter of resourced-fuel combustion and more a matter of renewable clean electric power storage and delivery. The petroleum industry needs to adjust its business model to operate in a world where burning its prime resource is not the goal.

Global Climate Destabilization is Major Security & Economic Threat

Joseph Robertson — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:12:00 +0000

The new administration in Washington, DC, has taken notice: climate change is not about a mild 1º increase in temperature on any given day; it is about a sweeping destabilization of global climate patterns, which could undermine the entire layout of civilization across the world. Building the infrastructure necessary for implementing and sustaining a green energy economy is a security priority in this new environment.

Conventional Hybrid Super-computer Reaches 1,000 Trillion CPS

Joseph Robertson — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 19:44:04 +0000

A hybrid super-computer has reached the astounding speed of 1,000 trillion calculations per second, termed a petaflop. The Roadrunner super-computer at Los Alamos National Laboratory operates on a conventional paradigm of computational mechanics — meaning it operates over semiconductors and established systems of computer circuitry, not quantum computing innovations or molecular processors.

Zero-combustion Energy-resource Research Community: Join Us

Joseph Robertson — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:43:30 +0000

The Hot Spring is forming an ongoing research community project to develop zero-combustion energy sourcing technologies. The first phase of the project entails filling in the conceptual space of the zero-combustion paradigm for energy generation. Next, we propose thinking toward the "jump generation" technologies, which emerge from advances still not in practical application, but which will enable us to vastly expand the energy-productivity of our resource base.

Greening Detroit: the Automotive Industry Could Pave the Way to Green Transport

Joseph Robertson — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:01:59 +0000

Just a couple of years ago, the conventional wisdom dictated that financial minds must view "green technology" as pie in the sky, an unaffordable idealistic quest for something beyond the "easy" solution of endless oil. Then, almost overnight, the financial markets discovered that oil was not infinite, that the entire US economy was beholden to the pricing whims of an international cartel —this was long known, but tolerated—, and failure to go green could cripple the world's most powerful democracy.

Live-fueling Resources to Reduce Strain by Batteries on Range & Velocity

Joseph Robertson — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:59:08 +0000

The electric car has long been plagued by the problem of its range and the need to recharge a battery, which takes time, before continuing. So the implementation of new “live-fueling” technologies, like solar panels that help maintain the car’s charge and extend its range, will be key to bringing a shift toward [...]

Clean Desert Energy to Fix China’s Rampant Pollution & Energy Deficit?

Joseph Robertson — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:48:37 +0000

China is choking under a thick covering of contaminants produced from burning carbon-based fuels for industrial production, power-generation, and transport. Environmental degradation is so rampant that much of the northwest of the country is being lost to rapidly expanding deserts. And desertification threatens the already shaky balance between China's available arable land and its skyrocketing demand for cheap food. Policy makers and market theorists in China and abroad should be thinking about whether that desert can produce something to help China escape the mounting environmental and public health cataclysm.

Texas to Deliver Wind Power to Millions of Urban Homes

Joseph Robertson — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:41:26 +0000

The state of Texas has approved a major new project to build transmission lines for wind power, with funding in the amount of $4.93 billion. Already the national leader with 5,300 megawatts of installed wind-power generating capacity, Texas will, when the infrastructure development is completed in 2013, have more wind-energy capacity than Germany presently does.The project is a major step toward freeing the American economy from high-contaminant power generation.

High Gas Prices Direct Assault on American Commuter-Consumer Lifestyle

Joseph Robertson — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:00:21 +0000

As gasoline prices were escalating seemingly without hope of stalling or coming down, due to all-time record oil prices, and in the context of a severely weakened consumer economy, we found ourselves confronted with a major challenge to the basic assumptions of the dynamics of our economy. We have seen, in just one [...]

Gore’s Push for Carbon-free Energy Economy Suggests Green Tech Boom

Joseph Robertson — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:52:49 +0000

The former vice president of the United States, Al Gore, yesterday announced an ambitious goal, which he says the nation can meet, of transitioning its entire domestic energy production to clean resources by 2018. The speech marks a major moment in the process of transition to the green technology boom, which will be the next step in the ongoing economic development of the United States and the world. Gore, however, warned that failing to meet the challenge to date means "the United States of America as we know it is at risk".