Tag Archives: Transport
A futuristic highway that can save energy and improve road safety is to be installed in the Dutch province of Brabant from mid-2013. The highway will include glow-in-the-dark road markings painted with photo-luminescent paint which are charged during the day and light up during the night; temperature-responsive paint which indicates slippery roads when temperatures fall below zero interactive lights along the highway that light up as cars approach wind lights that light up using the draft produced by cars and priority induction lanes that can recharge electric cars as they run along them. The luminous and weather indicating road markings … Continue Reading
The Tokyo University's Institute of Industrial Science, with the help of amusement ride firm Senyo Kogyo, is testing a prototype roller coaster train for commuter transportation. The train, which has no engine, coasts along a tubular track at a test facility in Chiba, about 40 kilometres from the centre of Tokyo. The train's speed is controlled by aerodynamics and "vertical curves" – sections of track that form the transition between two sloping segments. The train is set in motion and slowed at stations by rotating wheels between the rails that catch a fin underneath the train. It can reach s;eeds … Continue Reading
A system of powering hybrid trucks through overhead wires is being tested at Long Beach, Califormia. The basis of the "eHighway", developed by Siemens, is a series of overhead wires that would be installed over at least one lane of a highway, similar to the electrical wires of tram lines. Specially equipped hybrid trucks would connect to these wires via pantographs on their roofs. When connected, the truck runs exclusively on electrical power, switching to diesel when disconnected for passing, swerving, exiting and so on. When the truck brakes, energy can be fed back into the grid for use by … Continue Reading
ICL, Mitsubishi Chemical and Nippon Fruehauf have co-developed an idling/stopped air conditioning system for trucks that uses photovoltaic cells and batteries. The air conditioning system uses a Nippon Fruehauf mount to install Mitsubishi Chemical’s PV cell modules on the container of the truck. It stores electricity in an ICL storage battery while the truck is moving and uses it when the engine is not in operation, The system can save about 1.8 litres of diesel per hour when the truck is not moving. In a normal 10 tonne truck, the air conditioning system can save about 1,500 litres of diesel … Continue Reading
US Vice President Joe Biden has announced a "comprehensive plan" that dedicates $US53 billion over the next six years to achieving the goal of providing 80% of Americans with access to high speed rail within a generation. The plan, ehich aims to put rail "on equal footing with other surface transportation programs", envisages three kinds of rail corridors: Core Express: These corridors will form the backbone of the national high-speed rail system, with electrified trains traveling on dedicated tracks at speeds of 125-250 mph (200-400 kilometres per hour) or higher. Regional: Crucial regional corridors with train speeds of 90-125 mph … Continue Reading
An MIT-led team has designed a plane that is estimated to use 70 percent less fuel than current planes while also reducing noise and emission of nitrogen oxides. MIT was contracted ny NASA to evaluate the potential of quieter subsonic commercial planes that would burn 70 percent less fuel, emit 75 percent less nitrogen oxides and take off from shorter runways than todays commercial planes. The MIT design achieves this in an aircraft similar in size to a 180-passenger Boeing 737 by reconfiguring the tube-and-wing structure. Instead of using a single fuselage cylinder, they used two partial cylinders placed side … Continue Reading
The Chinese Government has blocked General Motors attempt to sell Hummer to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery, a private Chinese company that manufactures heavy vehicles and road-building equipment. As a result, General Motors will now dismantle the brand. John Smith, General Motors’ Vice President of Corporate Planning and Alliances, said that "GM will now work closely with Hummer employees, dealers and suppliers to wind down the business in an orderly and responsible manner." The Chinese Government did not give details of its reasons for blocking the purchase but according to Yale Zhang, a China auto-industry market analyst "The purchase of … Continue Reading
As the first step in its plan to eliminate all fossil fuel burning cars by 2030, Sweden has announced new taxes on car emissions and on diesel fuel. From January 2011, vehicle (registration) taxes will be increased by 5 krona (about 90 Australian cents) for every gram of carbon dioxide that the car emits per kilometre traveled above a base of 120 grams per kilometre. (This is slightly more than a Honda Civic Hybrid which emits 109 grams per kilometre.). "Green" cars, which emit less than 120 grams per kilometre will be completely exempt from vehicle tax for five years. … Continue Reading
Funding for a high-speed rail line that will go from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 2 hours and 40 minutes will be decided this November, when a $9.95 billion bond measure for the train is voted on. The 1,250 kilomentre bullet train system is expected to eventually carry up to 100 million passengers a year at speeds of up to 350 kilometres per hour. The train’s expected usage of 3,350 GWh a year will be generated using renewable energy and will produce no greenhouse gas emissions.
The American delivery company, UPS, has some 95,000 trucks. For 100 years, UPS employees have worked to find the most efficient routes for delivering packages in a safe and timely manner by physically driving each one and plotting them on maps. Over the last few years, UPS has been rolling out computer programs to automate the process that was performed manually in the past. One thing that the computer models showed was that drivers should make as few left turns across oncoming traffic as possible. Waiting for the oncoming traffic to pass was costing more time and fuel than making … Continue Reading
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Renewables News- Dysol Aiming to Print Storage with Solar CellsAustralia's Dyesol Limited has acquired an equity stake in Printed Power Pte Ltd, a spinoff company of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Printed Power is focussing on integrating dye solar cell technology with printed storage and power management systems to … Continue Reading → […]
- CSIRO Printer Makes 10m of Solar Cells a MinuteCSIRO researchers have built a gigantic printer that spits out solar cells at a rate of about ten metres a minute. The printer system uses existing technology to embed polymer solar cells (also known as organic solar cells) in thin … Continue Reading → […]
- New Aussie Technology to Clean Polluted WaterScientists from Deakin University, together with French colleagues, say that they have manufactured a lightweight and reusable material that can absorb up to 33 times its weight in a wide range of spilt oils, chemical solvents and dyes, while repelling … Continue Reading → […]
- Dysol Aiming to Print Storage with Solar Cells
