This photo turned up on a Russian site that my wife uses to keep in touch with her friends.

This Is Renewable Energy,Thermal kettle Style.

Wow, a Thermal Kettle.

This photo turned up on a Russian site that my wife uses to keep in touch with her friends.

It looks to be out in the Russian steppes, or maybe Uzbekistan, but certainly somewhere very remote, where the people probably have never heard about solar energy, but they do know that there is a lot of heat in that sun, and that that heat can certainly be used to boil a kettle. The kettle is essentially being used as a thermal oven to heat the water, what could be more simple than that?

If this guy had the materials, he could very possibly build a quite serviceable thermal heating system for his house, just by using the method he is using there, so long as the sun is shining.

So, 10/10 for initiative, that man.

Hybrid Concept Car From Daimler Benz.

A really interesting and unique, Hybrid, fuel cell concept car from Mercedes Benz. New technology, with the classic lines of the old. This car was a design project for trainees of the Sindelfingen Daimler AG plant, more than 150 of whom were involved. There is not much in the way of technical specification available, which is understandable, other than the power plant is a 1.2KW hybrid drive, powered by a fuel cell. It has a top speed of 25kmh, and a range of 350km, and has a totally drive by wire system, with joy stick steering.

As a design project this allowed the Daimler Benz trainees to get to grips with new technology, and work as a team, designing a concept vehicle they can be truly proud of.

The YouTube video and official press release below, do a better job of explaining the intricacies of the car, and the sense of uplift and achievement felt by the trainees involved. So well done, all you young Daimler Benz engineers.





OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Mercedes-Benz F-CELL Roadster – trainees build a car of the future

* Young people unite high tech and tradition

* Alternative drive systems as a training topic

In a hitherto unique project bridging various fields of profession, the trainees of Daimler AG at the Sindelfingen Mercedes-Benz plant have built a Roadster with fuel cell drive. For about a year, more than 150 trainees and dual education system students worked on the overall concept, development, assembly, and completion of the F-CELL Roadster. This project involved junior employees from the fields of automotive mechatronics, model-building, electronics, coating technology, manufacturing mechanics, product design, and interior appointments. The prime objective of the project was to integrate the topic of alternative drive systems into training with hands-on experience.

“This project impressively demonstrates that the topic of sustainable mobility has become an integral part of our vocational training,” said Human Resources Board member and Labor Relations Manager Günther Fleig. “I am delighted to see how much initiative and creativity the young people have put into this project.”

Tradition meets the future

The F-CELL Roadster uniquely combines state-of-the-art technologies with the history of vehicle construction. As an allusion to the Benz Patent Motor Car from 1886, the vehicle is fitted with large spoked wheels. Moreover, the F-CELL Roadster incorporates stylistic elements from diverse eras of automotive history, such as the carbon-fiber bucket seats with hand-stitched leather covers and the distinctively styled fiberglass front section, based on the component from the Formula One racing bolides.

The F-CELL Roadster is controlled with drive-by-wire technology, and a joystick takes the place of a conventional steering wheel. The vehicle is powered by the emission-free fuel cell system located at the rear. With a power rating of 1.2 kW the F-CELL Roadster reaches a top speed of 25 km/h and has an operating range of up to 350 km.

Copyright © 2009, Daimler AG

Renewable Energy – Organic Photovoltaic Revolution

There is something very exciting on the near horizon in the Renewable energy field, namely Organic Photovoltaic cells, which are essentially plastic, fully recyclable and not least, much cheaper than the old silicon based cell technology.

Organic Photovoltaic’s are a relatively new innovation, and should, if the prices are allowed to be realistic, make, making your home fully self sufficient in renewable power a real and viable proposition. I know most of us would dearly love to be totally green in our power consumption, but at this moment the cost of that is prohibitive. Hopefully in the next couple of years all that will change, and the payback time for the installation of solar energy system will be down from 15 years to a mere 2 or 3 years, or less.

It will be hard for this new green technology to disappear without trace, when every concern from governments down, need to be seen to be green. Even the Chinese are getting in on the act, and in Russia, in some areas, they’re into green energy in a big way, so much so that it puts some of us Western countries to shame.

So folks, I’ll leave you with the usual selection of YouTube video’s which will give you a bit more of an insight into Organic Photovoltaic Cell technology.

A Happy Green Energy Christmas.

Christmas is here, or very nearly, and let’s make it a Green one. Love it or hate it, Christmas is traditionally a time of overindulgence, and turkey sandwiches for 6 months. Personally I love Christmas, it’s a very special time, when we take the time from our busy lives to really feel the love for our families and friends.

Being Green not only at Christmas, but all through the year, means being kind to our planet, and in so doing, helping to improve our environment. Whether you’re a proponent of man made climate change or not, the fact is, our environment, globally and locally, is suffering, and becoming in some areas an uncomfortable place to live. So think this Christmas about energy saving, and recycle all that you can, and have a very happy Yuletide, that is green for yourselves, and our lovely planet.

Below, I have included some more or less Christmassy videos, so break open a can, (don’t forget to recycle the can), and sit back and enjoy.








Oops! not exactly Green, but it’s a nice interlude, and rockin music.

Steam Power! A Contender? Maybe.

It’s about time I visited the topic of steam power as a renewable energy fuel. I don’t know if steam will be able to compete with all the other renewable energy fuelled motive devices that are coming into focus during these energy awareness times. It’s just possible though, that steam could be on the agenda.

The steam car land speed record, which has stood for 103 years at 127mph, has recently been broken by a British team, and now stands at 139.8mph. Ok, it’s not fast by today’s standards, and not much up on 103 years ago, but the modern car weighs 3 tons, which takes a lot of shoving. The steam car a 103 years ago was just a cart on wheels, mind you, it was a very quick cart, and the guy that drove it was certainly of fearless character, or just plain crazy. The pioneering spirit in those days, apart from killing a lot of people, got us to where we are today. Cars today have to be very safe, and all that safety comes at a heavy price, literally, so the achievement of the current steam cars’ land speed record was no mean feat.

Personally I do like the idea of steam, and maybe it will be a contender, but for it to be that, there needs to be people doing the research, and building the prototypes, but I have searched, and there is precious little out there, in fact I have found nothing relevant to steam cars today, apart from the recent land speed record. If anyone has better searching abilities than I do, and can find some information on modern steam car research, please leave a comment, which will be much appreciated, thank you.

It really is a great pity that steam cars were killed off, almost at their inception.

Below are some videos for you to enjoy, of the current record holders journey into the record books. Plus some really enjoyable stuff from Jay Leno’s garage, which is not all about steam, but does have some of that content, so I’m not really cheating, and Jay Leno is into renewable energy in a big way. So anyway, grab a cup of tea, or a beer, and enjoy.

Part 1 of the Steam Car Record story from Jeff Theobald on Vimeo.

Part 2 of the Steam Car Record Story from Jeff Theobald on Vimeo.

Land-Speed-Record-Run from Jeff Theobald on Vimeo.