Archive for 'Science frontiers' Category
EEStor Ultracapacitor Battery Replacement
11 September 2007After my question about the potential for an electric Gold Wing and all of the thoughtful comments it generated, I thought I would touch on this ultracapacitor patent by EEStor that’s getting a lot of attention. EEStor says it has developed “technologies for replacement of electrochemical batteries.” A bold statement in the very least.
A capacitor [...]
Do Motorcycles Have a Future?
5 January 2007What is the future for motorcycles and motorcycling? I imagine this question gets tossed around on occasion in the boardrooms and design studios of motorcycle companies around the world, but I wonder how they answer it.
Technology Life Cycles
Technology has a life cycle from invention to maturity and finally supersedence by something else. Motorcycles were [...]
ENV Hydrogen Fuel Cell Motorcycle Video
8 October 2006We’ve talked about the ENV hydrogen powered fuel cell motorcycle many times here and there has been some discussion about what it might be like to ride and what it would sound like. Here’s a video of the bike in action which shows it to be a bit more responsive than you might first imagine. [...]
Biobutanol - A Better Biofuel?
21 June 2006Just when you thought you were getting the different biofuels sorted out with ethanol and biodiesel, along comes another one, biobutanol, that promises better mileage due to higher energy density. DuPont and BP have teamed up to create this new fuel produced by fermenting sugars from sugar beets.
DuPont and BP have been working on the [...]
The Methanol Economy
8 May 2006There’s so much talk about moving toward a hydrogen economy, the presumed future of transportation being the hydrogen fuel cell, it’s easy to overlook some of the other very real possibilities. Methanol, another form of alcohol, looks very promising.
A new book, Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy, highlights the advantages and benefits of methanol. [...]
New X Prize for High Mileage
15 March 2006After yesterday’s post about expanding our proven oil reserves, some seem to think The Kneeslider is an unrepentant gas guzzler. No comment. However, everyone may like this new Automotive X Prize that offers $25 million dollars for a car that gets 250mpg. Previous X Prizes for human powered flight and private space flight are done [...]
Enhanced Recovery Means More Oil
14 March 2006The Department of Energy released reports indicating the effect enhanced recovery techniques are having on recoverable oil reserves. With all of the hand wringing going on and predictions of “peak oil” doom, these reports don’t get a lot of publicity, but they should. Our current proven reserves of 21.4 billion barrels could be increased by [...]
What is a hybrid?
8 March 2006With the introduction of the Yamaha Gen-Ryu hybrid concept motorcycle, we keep our eyes on the topic of hybrids and yesterday a few articles appeared pointing to a website that underscores the willful misdirection used by some hybrid activists. (That wasn’t the intention of these other articles but it is clear when you follow [...]
