In a joint press conference, GM and Segway officially announced the P.U.M.A (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility) at prototype two wheeled urban transport vehicle. With a estimated rage of 35 miles on a single charge and capable of a top speed of 35 miles/hr. The PUMA aims at equipping legions of urbunites a cheep efficient way of commuting in crowded city streets (or golf courses).

The two seat vehicle will feature GM Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) technology, which allows two vehicle to communicate and avoid crashes.

[Engadget]

More great research coming out of MIT, scientists have found a way of improving the charging speed of Lithium Ion batteries.

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) report in Nature today that they devised a way for lithium ions in a battery to zip in and out about 100 times faster than previously demonstrated. “We took a basically great material called lithium iron phosphate [LiFePO4] and we tried to improve it further,”

“In an attempt to pick up the pace, the M.I.T. researchers coated the lithium iron phosphate material with an ion conductor, which in this case was a layer of glasslike lithium phosphate. Sure enough, the charge-carrying ions traveled much faster from their storage medium; a prototype battery the scientists built completely charged in about 10 to 20 seconds.” [Scientific American]

Think about it, being able to stop at a charging station with my electric car and have it topped off in under a minute.

Tesla’s yet to be released Model S electric sports sedan will have the capability to charge via a 440 volt fast charger. The new chargers will greatly improve recharging time of the on board batteries.

The more important question is the market will see the proliferation of fast-charging stations. There are no public 440-volt fast charging stations. ECOtality, a clean-electric transportation and technology company, has implemented 5100 of these stations in 13 airports across the country, but none is public, said Colin Read, marketing directory for ECOtality.

While no specific charging time was mentioned, the Tesla roadster features a 220 volt charger which can fully charge the batteries in 3.5 hours.

[CarTech]

H2O Multifunction Clock runs off of a replaceable H2O Water battery, which keeps the clock ticking for 2 to 3 months before needing a fill up.

“magical electrochemical reaction between the electrodes and water produces electrical energy”

All the parts in this ecological alarm clock are recyclable.

[Gadgetshop HQ]

Something that you can do to help the earth is to build your own compost pile. This can be done easily with some chicken wire or reused materials. Just make a small 4x4x4 box in your backyard. Making a small opening at the bottom is a good idea so that older compost can be raked out from the bottom to use in the garden. Leave an opening in the top, or make a lid, so that new materials such as leaves, cut grass, vegetables, and coffee grinds can be added to the compost. Be sure that your compost bin has holes so that your compost can get fresh air. Of coarse, if you are not the do-it-yourself type, you can always purchase a compost bin and still get the same benefits.

Fluorescent light bulbs save energy and are an easy change to make in your home. It makes sense to make the change. It is easy and cost effective. The bulbs come in all shapes and sizes and are sold at most stores. The following information is from the Energy Star website.

If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.

• ENERGY STAR qualified bulbs use about 75 percent less energy than standard incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer.
• Save about $30 or more in electricity costs over each bulb’s lifetime.
• Produce about 75 percent less heat, so they’re safer to operate and can cut energy costs associated with home cooling.