Zero Emissions Motorcycle

When we think about green energy vehicles we often think about modest designs and low speeds. But 6 final-year engineering students of Kingston University have designed a bike that dispels all myths about green vehicles. This bike has the ability to reach speeds of 102mph, race around a 38 mile mountainous course and is powered by batteries that can be charged from a standard household socket! They will take this bike to the world’s first zero-emissions Grand Prix this summer.

The Kingston team will be competing with 24 eco-bikes from America, India, Italy, Germany and Austria at the 2009 Isle of Man TTXGP. Mr. Paul Brandon who is the Course Director for motorsport and motorcycle engineering shared his views, “Being green doesn’t have to mean slow. There are too many skeptics when it comes to electric vehicles but we all need to reduce our CO2 output and this initiative is taking a huge leap in that direction. The ideas we and others put to the test on the racing circuit are the ones most likely to become commonplace on the road.”

Students were working on this project since October last year. This project is also a part of their final assessment. The bike is run from a custom-built, 72-volt battery. According to Mr. Brandon, “The energy density of batteries is far less than that of petrol or diesel so how we manage the energy we carry is critical to our success in the race. The bike we have designed has a whole vehicle efficiency of 90 per cent, so we are only wasting 10 per cent of what we carry. By comparison a petrol-based vehicle wastes 70 per cent of the energy it carries.”
Alex Jones-Dellaportas, one of the team members claimed they have designed the bike through different stages. They focused on making the bike faster and lighter. Most of the materials they used for the bike were recycled. Another student elaborated further that appearance wise the bike looks like any other bike but there is a huge difference.

This motorbike has no internal combustion engine, no exhaust system and no fuel tank. It goes without saying that the overall CO2 usage, including the carbon dioxide generated to charge the batteries, will be around 50 per cent less carbon dioxide than a petrol or diesel-power bike. Gonzalo Carrasco, another student of the team says, “People need to realize that this technology is the future. By entering green races and building green designs we are hoping policy-makers will see the potential for this technology and start investing in it.”

Azhar Hussain who is the founder of TTXGP motorcycle race, is quite enthusiastic about the team’s motorbike. He too wants to watch the motorbike in action when it would be racing against formidable competition from around the globe on one of the most challenging road race courses in the world. Azhar Hussain thinks that Kingston University team has done a great job and if everything goes right then the exposure for Kingston will be priceless.

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Solaren Corp. to Launch Solar Panels into Orbit

May 23rd, 2009

We keep hearing about harnessing the solar power from space. Some call it tall claims and some dismiss it as too costly an affair or pie in the sky. But it seems that in near future harvesting solar energy from space is becoming a reality. Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) from San Francisco is in the energy sector for decades. They have produced power from atomic energy, natural gas and water.

Now PG&E has gone ahead and collaborated with Manhattan Beach start-up called Solaren Corporation. But what put this deal apart from others? Actually Solaren Corporation aims to launch a series of giant solar collectors into orbit 23,000 miles above Fresno. They will beam the energy to earth in the form of radio waves. Now PG&E has finalized a contract with Solaren to buy the power on one condition if they can make the technology work.
Gary Spirnak , who is Solaren’s chief executive, shared his thoughts, “There is enormous potential for energy security, economic development, improved environmental stewardship, advancement of general space faring and overall national security for those nations who construct and possess a space-based solar power capability.”

Why should alternative energy people look up to space for generation of power? The first point that goes in favor for solar power from space is it’s a good renewable energy source and always available. That means 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 366 days a year. The sunlight is independent of the earth’s movement and shadow of the moon. We know that solar energy is clean as there are zero carbon emissions. Solaren executives claim that by 2016 they can make the technology operational to harness energy from space. Gary Spirnak commented, “If our numbers are anywhere near where we think they will be, we will be able to provide power at a cost that’s comparable with anything on Earth, that is much cleaner and all from space.” Solaren has an ambitious plan to produce enough electricity for 150,000 homes across much of Northern and Central California. The California Public Utilities Commission is evaluating Solaren’s agreement with PG&E.

How will they achieve such a feat? They will be using four or five rocket launches to install enough solar collectors into a stationary orbit. They are hopeful that it will generate 200 megawatts of power. This will be approximately half the output of a modern fossil fuel plant. They will convert the solar energy into radio waves. These radio waves will be received by a station in Fresno. There it will distributed to end users conventionally using wires and poles.
Spirnak is aware of the fact that nothing of this size has been done, but the basic technology is sound. Our commercial communications satellites have been powered by solar energy for more than four decades. The satellites are already utilizing the solar power.

No one has attempted with larger scale experimental radio transmissions. Jonathan Marshal who is PG&E spokesman acknowledges, “The challenge is putting enough hardware up in space and doing it economically.”

Solaren and PG&E are assuring the buyers of power that they won’t have to pay the price of Solaren’s costs until the company starts streaming power into their homes and businesses. PG&E isn’t investing in the project up front, agreeing only to buy power once it’s flowing, quite common in the utility business.

Frederick H. Pickel, who is an energy consultant and engineering economist in Los Angeles, elaborates on this project, “If this works, it changes the whole game. If they manage to reduce the cost sufficiently for space-based solar generation, the electric game changes, the natural gas game changes and, perhaps, even the oil game changes.”

What's energy????

It comes in different forms -- heat (thermal), light (radiant), mechanical, electrical, chemical, and nuclear energy. Energy is in everything. We use energy to do everything we do, from making a jump shot to baking our favorite cookies to sending astronauts into space -- energy is there, making sure we have the power to do it all. There are two types of energy -- stored (potential) energy and working (kinetic) energy. For example, the food you eat contains chemical energy, and your body stores this energy until you release it when you work or play.

All forms of energy are stored in different ways, in the energy sources that we use every day. These sources are divided into two groups -- renewable (an energy source that can be replenished in a short period of time) and nonrenewable (an energy source that we are using up and cannot recreate in a short period of time). Renewable and nonrenewable energy sources can be used to produce secondary energy sources including electricity and hydrogen.

Renewable energy sources include solar energy, which comes from the sun and can be turned into electricity and heat. Wind, geothermal energy from inside the earth, biomass from plants, and hydropower and ocean energy from water are also renewable energy sources.

However, we get most of our energy from nonrenewable energy sources, which include the fossil fuels -- oil, natural gas, and coal. They're called fossil fuels because they were formed over millions and millions of years by the action of heat from the Earth's core and pressure from rock and soil on the remains (or "fossils") of dead plants and animals. Another nonrenewable energy source is the element uranium, whose atoms we split (through a process called nuclear fission) to create heat and ultimately electricity.

We use all these energy sources to generate the electricity we need for our homes, businesses, schools, and factories. Electricity "energizes" our computers, lights, refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners, to name only a few uses.

We use energy to run our cars and trucks. Both the gasoline used in our cars, and the diesel fuel used in our trucks are made from oil. The propane that fuels our outdoor grills and makes hot air balloons soar is made from oil and natural gas..

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