Eco friendly cars

There is no new ideea in Michelin Active Wheels. From some time, wheels powered by electrical engines got the attention of green cars manufacturers. Michelin succedeed to do a first step with a first finished product and now tries to make it popular with Opel.

Obviously,  wheels with engines means heavier wheels. Subsequently, both suspension and  direction must be included in the wheel body. With an engine of 7 kg, each wheel will have about 43 kg . For testing ,an opel aguila was used.  The car was wheeled with these new wheels, with LI-ion batteries, weighting 900 kg, 75 kg less than the standard configuration. New wheels gave a constant power of 41 hp, but on short distances this can reach 82 hp . The car named Heuliez will reach 100 km/h in 10 seconds and a maximum decent  speed of 140 km/h.

Michelin will officially launch Heuliez Will in 2010 and in the next year  the car will be available in the market. The price will be around 20 000- 25 000 euros . Although not quite cheap, Michelin electrical car has a relatively accesible price.  For the start , there is no cost for fuel.

Opel was not the only choice for Michelin. They had disscussion with Venturi, the manufacturer of the  first serial  electrical  sport car  they intend to use this type of wheel for their next model.

An USA car manufacturer plans to develop a new car that is fuelled by air. Although not a very fast car, the design developer, Zero Pollution Motors, bets that people will buy this car with 20, 000 USD. a carthat works with almost nothing, but air, and some vegetable oil or gas.

The principle is simple: the car, called CAV, is endowed with a compressed air  tank (a gas cylinder). the air is pumped to the cylinder head, simulating mixture explosion.

This car can reach about 56 kph only with compressed air and is just good for almost 80% of the consumers who drive at work or shopping. On the drive way, CAV can do about 1,300 km witth economic speed, helped by a little enginethat compresses air from the outside to keep a full tank.

The engine is not particulary difficult, and it can run  on gas or diesel and biodisel, ethanol, or vegetable oil. The vehicle will be available soon with an accesibile price.

Last year, the Indian car manufacturer, Tata, came with a similar ideea they were the first that intended to develop a car  that runs with compressed air, named Air Cat, the little craft is run with compressed air force that pushes on the engine cylinders. Tata wants to sell  with $15 milions the rights for the technology, machinery, tools, the assembly lines, all the know-how for car manufacturing along with training and the trademarks use. The indian comapny has no plan to produce the air car.

and a commercial:

more details: www.zeropollutionmotors.us and www.mdi.lu

A very interesting video about the water as source of energy. The ideea is not quite new, but seems that nobody wants to invest in this technology:

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Alternative Energy fantasies by

A good description of the eco-fascist cult’s rhetoric and the nonsense regarding the nirvana of ‘alternative energy’, is from the merry Marxist economist Keynes: “Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler a few years back.”

Voices in the air would be polls with scientific questions such as: ‘do you want your children to die from toxic fumes and lack of oxygen or do you want government to stop climate change?’ Being an academic scribbler of illogical interventionist drivel, even Keynes would recognize the gibberish around the eco-cult for what it is – political opportunism and corruption. Alternative energy is a fantasy in an age gone mad with earth-goddess cultism. All must bend on knee towards Gaia and chant in unison…… [the world is terrible, we will all die…the world is terrible, we will all die….]

The Romans and Greeks built illustrious temples to various Gods not only as places of awe-inspiring worship but also to collect money from tourists and pilgrims. The cult was necessary to keep the illiterate peasants awed, taxes high, and money in the government’s coffers. In our times the Vatican and Mecca are exemplars of such a policy but they are dwarfed by the massive industry and copious subsidization which exists around the earth-cult.

Cult members which benefit from eco-cult scare tactics include inter-alia: government ministries; regulators; firms in regulated markets that want hand-outs and to limit competition; ethanol producers who are mostly huge agri-businesses in politically sensitive areas; solar and wind power developers; climate change activists who live off government hand-outs; and the myriad numbers of lobby groups which make a living arm-twisting politicians with fake polls.

Poll question: Do you believe that a green planet is good for your children’s, children’s future? [answer meekly, yes]. Next question: If it is than don’t you support government action on alternative fuel technology or are you a fascist-capitalist-racist-baby eating immoral polluter? [answer meekly and apologetically of course I support government action].

It is depressing that the sewer of environmental activism has not had some light shed on it by the media.

Why is Oil king ?

King oil reigns because it is cheaper; more energy efficient [yes it is]; and simpler to distribute to real people in the real world, then the fantasy technologies of ‘alternative energy’. There is lots of oil left in the world – about 300 years at current levels of consumption – but newer oil resources must run the gamut of eco-fascist activism, hostility and over-regulation, not to mention constraints on distribution and refining capacity. Only about 15 % of US oil supply for example comes from the Middle East. There is enough oil reserves that are not yet drilled sitting within the Continental US to eliminate Persian gulf oil imports. But oil firms can’t drill and refine these reserves thanks to the eco-fascists that dominate politics.

What about all the chatter that alternative energy is cheaper and cleaner? Only nuclear power and cleaning burning coal provide clean burning alternatives to oil, but the media and the chattering elite focus of course on ‘alternative’ sources meaning everything but nuclear power, coal and reality. So what about these pristine and wonderful ‘other sources’?

It is hogwash. Lots of studies now exist which seriously question the benefits of: ethanol cars; wind turbines; and fuel-cell batteries. Not only are these ‘alternative’ sources of energy expensive to produce they also destroy the environment – something apparently the earth-goddess cult is deeply concerned about [tears rolling down cheeks].

Take ethanol. Serious academics are starting to question whether the environmental benefits of ethanol are all they are cracked up to be. A recent academic study from Cornell University calculates that ethanol uses up 70 per cent more energy in its production than the energy that is left in it. Not a smart return on energy investment one could say. Great swathes of farmland would need to be used to convert enough plant biomass including corn, or soya into ethanol. Doesn’t the earth cult whine about farmland and ‘green spaces’?

Waste production from making ethanol is immense and would need to be treated, stored or reused somehow. All of this would power up the pricing of ethanol fuel. The average American car, for one year, would require 11 acres of farmland, the same space needed to grow a year’s supply of food for seven people. The price per liter or gallon would be double or triple what you now pay. Your car’s speed and distance traveled would be halved. Are you willing to pay a higher price for worse performance? If yes congratulations, you are die-hard member of the eco-cult team. Personally I have no interest in higher prices for worse performance.

Look at wind turbines. A good example of wind-turbine nonsense is what British-Dutch developer Infinergy/LZN plans to build in the UK - 22 wind turbines, up to 410 feet high with wonderful promises of energy output, saving the world and the usual litany of eco-nonsense. Yet experts commissioned by locals who are against the project believe that the developer’s environmental plans exaggerate the carbon-saving benefits by up to 150 per cent; fail to provide critical wind-speed data [turbines lie idle most of the time]; contain misleading figures on electricity output; and lie about the number of birds killed by the turbines in any given year.

None of their concerns have or were refuted by either the government [which pays for the project] or LZN. This wind project is typical of the eco-nonsense one can see across the world. Heavily subsidized, not that eco-friendly, not that beneficial, not that logical, but hey we must do it! This is what the eco-club wants – no debate, no questionings, and no real science. Just march in lock step and raise your arms in the eco-cult salute, look to the eco-fuehrer for salvation and just obey.

The main beneficiaries of the eco-scam regarding alternative fuels are big-business; politicians and the political groups that gain power. In the US the special lobby interests that push for eco-nonsense are extremely well funded and powerful. One group, the Apollo Alliance, has pressured both US parties to spend up to $300 billion in recent years on subsidizing farmers [ie. ethanol production] most of which is given to huge agri-businesses who in turn kick back huge sums into political campaigns. If you are a US politician you can’t annoy the Agro-lobby.

It is not a spiritual conversion that forced British Petroleum to become Beyond Petroleum and waste billions in share-holder wealth buying off green activists with dumb investments in ethanol and other alternative fuels. It was conversion to buy peace; appear ‘green’; and re-brand themselves as likeable, lovable tree hugging types, whose business is only run for the benefit of the wonderful children they show on their TV adverts. BP like many other firms of course demands government subsidies to pay for their investments in ridiculous schemes of fantasy. In other words big business wants the little consumer and taxpayer to pay the costs of their alternative fuel fantasy. How tear-jerking.

As with most social dislocations the problem is with government. Governments lie, distort and conform to behind the scenes political pressure. Scare tactics, death cults, subsidies, pay-offs, kick-backs, trade-offs, all masked by dire doom and gloom scenarios emanate from the government and their various political-business allies who salivate at the idea of money, more power, and reduced competition.

Let’s repeat a fact: only 15% of US oil comes from the Persian Gulf. The US could stop sending money overseas within 5 years if the Americans decided to get serious about the problem. But in place of hard reality big spending Bush and friends along with Democrats in the pockets of special interest groups prefer rhetoric, handing out cash, and creating fear through eco-doom and gloom. If the US wants to stop sending money to Islamic fascist and terror regimes they could. But the Arab and eco-lobby will not allow it.

At some point in the future maybe some fuels will replace oil. But if it happens it should happen in transparent, open and non-subsidized markets. We don’t need government’s beholden to special interest groups, interested in poll numbers and intent on buying votes, to decide what is a good alternative to oil. The market will decide that. Allowing politicians and their lobby friends to set the agenda is the sure path to fiscal ruin and inefficient energy usage. Show me one government run and subsidized market that works [pause…waiting…waiting…]. I thought so. So then why do you support the eco-nonsense around ‘alternative energy’?

See also
-http://www.nationalreview.com/nrof_comment/reynolds200505270855.asp
-Alan Reynolds with the Cato Institute.
-Sheldon Richman senior fellow at The Future of Freedom Foundation, author of ‘Tethered Citizens: Time to Repeal the Welfare State’, and editor of The Freeman magazine.

After working for a few large IT firms Read born in 1966, is currently an entrepreneur and Venture Capital Advisor and Managing Consultant for Wireless and Mobile technologies [including the internet] and in particular, in software applications for the Wireless or Mobile Industry.
http://www.craigread.com/

RESOURCE:

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British Petroleum – Solar Products Manufacturer by Rick Solare

British Petroleum was once known for their petroleum products. How times have changed. BP is now one of the biggest producers of solar products.

British Petroleum – Solar Products Manufacture

Solar power is the way of the future. Whether you are interested in saving the environment or just saving money, solar products can provide you with the power you need to run a household while not using traditional fossil fuels or supplied electricity. Solar power can also be a great investment for your home’s future and your family’s well being.

BP solar products are backed by BP’s thirty years of experience in the solar energy industry. The company started out as Solarex Corporation in 1973, and has led the industry in solar power since that date. BP has been a world leader in petroleum based energy sources since 1901, but in the latter half of the 20th century took the opportunity to turn to solar energy as a means of supplying the world with power. Currently, BP Solar operates the largest fully-integrated solar power plant in the United States which is located in Frederick, Maryland. BP solar products are also sold by BP as one of the products made with the many solar cells produced annually by BP.

BP solar products, sold as part of BP Solar Home Solutions, are available in California, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. They are sold in these states through the Home Depot and other independent dealers. Non-residential customers (large businesses) can obtain BP solar products in the following states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Jersey and New York. Some states offer rebates up to 70 percent of the purchase price of a BP solar energy system, and others offer tax credits to homeowners that choose solar power.

BP contractors and independent dealers will assess your home and roof for the best options available to give you a solar powered house. They will assess the shape and pitch of your roof, as well as any potential shady spots, in order to ascertain the amount of BP solar products you will be able to accommodate. They contractors will also be able to take a survey of your house to see how much energy you need to run your household.

Choosing BP solar products to supply energy to your home is a cost effective and green way to help the Earth. You can help to save the environment for future generations as well as making a great monetary investment for the future. Solar energy is going to become more important as time goes on, so getting started now will help you to advance the cause of cleaner energy before it’s too late.

Rick Chapo is with SolarCompanies.com - a directory of solar energy companies.

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Greasecars Fill up For Free on Waste Vegetable Oil
By Kristopher Setchfield

How much did you spend on your last tank of gas?

If you are like most people in the US, then you probably are spending between $30 to $40 per tank of gas these days. Now most of us fill up at least once a week, and if you do the math, that can add up to over $1,000 per year on just gas!

What if there was a way that you could run on free fuel?

What if there was a way that you could reduce the effects of global warming at the same time by using an alternative fuel, like biodiesel–but better and way, way cheaper…(how much cheaper can you get than FREE!)…

Would you be interested?

Few people know that there is a readily available alternative fuel to gasoline that is available right now for FREE all over the country and is better than biodiesel.

Sound too good to be true?

I was originally very skeptical that this technology could actually work, so I read everything I could get my hands on. After years of research I finally took the plunge and converted my car to run on this free alternative fuel, and now–thousands of FREE miles later–I can unabashedly state that if you are paying for gasoline at the pump, then you are THROWING YOUR MONEY OUT THE WINDOW!

You don’t have to pay $2.00 or more per gallon to drive a car!

By using vegetable oil fuel technology, you can literally drive on a waste product that other people are throwing away!

My friends tell me that this all sounds like “Back to the Future,” and I admit that it is kind of similar, but let me ask you a question.

If you could drive for free and help the environment at the same time, would you?

Back in the early 1900’s a man by the name of Rudolph Diesel invented an engine that could run on any type of oil or grease. Petroleum oil, peanut oil, canola oil, you name it–his engine could run on it. Not only was his engine versatile, but many of his original prototypes are still in operation today, almost a hundred years later!

This engine was named the Diesel engine after its inventor, and shortly after its premier the petroleum oil industry developed a type of fuel specifically for the engine and named it Diesel fuel. An environmentally-friendly version that was made from plant based oils rather than petroleum also became available called BioDiesel.

The world then promptly forgot that the Diesel engine could run on vegetable oils, since Diesel fuel was so cheap and easy to get at the pump.

But today, with the soaring prices of Gasoline, Diesel, Biodiesel, Kerosene, and home heating fuel, this alternative fuel technology has been rediscovered!

It is possible to run any Diesel engine with straight waste vegetable oil (also known as WVO or SVO) if a conversion kit is installed to make it a “GreaseCar.” Vegetable oil or fryer grease is usuall free and it is readily available since many businesses and farmers throw it away as a waste product!

Isn’t that weird?

I mean, can you imagine people throwing away gasoline? Can you imagine anyone throwing away home heating oil or kerosene?

It’s absolutely ludicrous!

Every year in the US, the fast food industry alone throws away over six billion gallons of waste vegetable oil!

If you had a Diesel engine, you could use some of that as FREE FUEL!

Just imagine not having to pay for fuel again…you and your greasecar could take those long trips that you have been putting off because gas costs too much these days…

You could take the money you’d save on gas and use it to buy those sweet tires or that awesome stereo you’ve been wanting…

AND, at the same time you would actually be recycling! You see, using waste vegetable oil or grease as an alternative fuel is actually recycling a waste product. Instead of the waste oil going into a landfill you could be using it in a greasecar to commute to work. Instead of all of that oil from the local fast food restaurant going down the drain, you could use it to drive to the beach in your greasecar!

Since I converted my car to run on straight vegetable oil with a GreaseCar kit, I have driven literally thousands of miles without having to buy gas at a gas station. My friends are all amazed that it actually works, and they are all begging me to help them convert their cars!

There just aren’t enough hours in the day for me to help them all personally, so I am publishing articles and information like this to help everyone save money and the world. Do a google search for WVO or for greasecar, or visit your local library to find out how you can join the revolution. It doesn’t take much and you can reduce your ecological footprint and be the envy of every gas-guzzling friend around you!

Kristopher T. Setchfield
-Vegetable oil expert, lecturer, and founder of http://www.fillup4free.com

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Two Mercedes Models Receives Car Environment Certificate
By Dwayne Thomas

DaimlerChrysler AG’s Mercedes Car Group has proven their contribution with the environment by manufacturing vehicles with low fuel consumption and low exhaust emissions.

Oko Trend, one of the most internationally acclaimed environmental institutions based in Germany has awarded two Mercedes-Benz models: the Mercedes-Benz A 160 CDI compact car and the Mercedes-Benz B 200 CDI van with the prestigious “Car Environment Certificate”. Now on its tenth year, the Car Environment Certificate is awarded to the vehicle/s that meet the institute’s strict environmental standards for automobiles. Only 15 vehicles from international automakers have been awarded by Oko Trend since 1997, and that includes the Mercedes-Benz A 160 CDI and the Mercedes-Benz B 200 CDI.

The Oko Trend Institute for Environmental Research evaluated the two Mercedes vehicles along with other brands and selected the vehicles that achieved top ratings in various criteria. These include fuel consumption, exhaust/noise emissions, environmental friendly performance, and other environmental factors relating to the vehicle’s production, materials, logistics, and the environmental management systems done by the car manufacturer. The Mercedes-Benz A 160 CDI and Mercedes-Benz B 200 CDI obtained above average results in all of these criteria allowing the two vehicles to get Oko Trend’s Car Environment Certificate.

Oko Trend was impressed by the two Mercedes-Benz vehicles’ performance. Experts at Oko Trend commented: “The Mercedes-Benz A 160 CDI may be seen as one of the most eco-friendly vehicles with a conventional drive system. The development phase for this compact car was already based on a comprehensive environmental concept which takes the entire lifecycle of the vehicle into consideration. Numerous specific measures have reduced emissions during the production and operation of the new Mercedes-Benz A-Class by approximately 17 percent compared to the preceding model. All in all, Mercedes has set new ecological standards for conventionally powered vehicles with the new A-Class.”

The institute gave a distinctive special praise to the Mercedes-Benz B 200 CDI based on their evaluation. Oko Trend said: “The Mercedes-Benz B-Class is distinguished by a high degree of variability and spaciousness, as well as convincing environmental credentials”. The 140-hp diesel engine is equipped with a particulate filter as standard. Thanks to a high torque of 300 Nm, which is already available from 1600 rpm, this engine allows a relaxed style of driving and early upshifts. A fuel consumption of six litres per 100 km is feasible in practice. All in all, therefore, the Mercedes B 200 CDI achieves a very good environmental rating.”

Both Mercedes-Benz A 160 CDI compact car and the Mercedes-Benz B 200 CDI van are equipped with diesel engines that offer improved fuel efficiently and reduced harmful exhaust emissions, without affecting the handling and performance. Both models are also equipped with quality Mercedes parts inside and out like those Mercedes cargo liner and Mercedes cargo mat found on the luxurious GL-Class models.

You can look online for your Mercedes cargo liner needs.

Dwyane Thomas is a part time cook and full-time auto-enthusiast. This 31-year old Civil and Environmental graduate is a consultant at one of the engineering firms in Pennsylvania.

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