Lamp Lit by Gravity? Maybe...

from http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/story.php?relyear=2008&itemno=111

Lamp lit by gravity wins Greener Gadget award

By Susan Trulove

Gravia lamp

BLACKSBURG, Va., February 19, 2008 -- A Virginia Tech student has created a floor lamp powered by gravity.

Feb. 21 Update:

While many people want to know when the lamp will be available, many others point out that it won't actually work.

The criticism is that a great deal of weight –- tons -- would be required and current LEDs are not sufficiently efficient.

Designer Clay Moulton acknowledges that the current state of the art isn't sufficient to actually build the lamp. The news release should have said: “based on future developments in LED technology."

Moulton said: “I was told it was not possible given current LED's, but given the rapid pace of innovation in low powered lighting, it would be a conceptual challenge. The mechanism itself is the novelty. I hope everyone understands that this criticism and even failure is all part of a process, and that my job as a designer is to take this feedback and work on."

The award was for a conceptual design project based on future technology, and the lamp was one of many futuristic designs recognized at the Greener Gadgets Conference.

Clay Moulton of Springfield, Va., who received his master of science degree in architecture (concentration in industrial design) from the College of Architecture and Urban Studies in 2007, created the lamp when he was an industrial design graduate student. The light-emitting diode (LED) lamp, named Gravia, has just won second place in the Greener Gadgets Design Competition as part of the Greener Gadgets Conference in New York City.

Concept illustrations of Gravia depict an acrylic column a little over four feet high. The entire column glows when activated. The electricity is generated by the slow fall of a mass that spins a rotor. The resulting energy powers 10 high-output LEDs that fire into the acrylic lens, creating a diffuse light. The operation is silent and the housing is elegant and cord free -- completely independent of electrical infrastructure.

The light output will be 600-800 lumens - roughly equal to a 40-watt incandescent bulb over a period of four hours.

To "turn on" the lamp, the user moves weights from the bottom to the top of the lamp. An hour glass-like mechanism is turned over and the weights are placed in the mass sled near the top of the lamp. The sled begins its gentle glide back down and, within a few seconds, the LEDs come on and light the lamp, Moulton said. "It's more complicated than flipping a switch but can be an acceptable, even enjoyable routine, like winding a beautiful clock or making good coffee," he said.

Moulton estimates that Gravia's mechanisms will last more than 200 years, if used eight hours a day, 365 days a year. "The LEDs, which are generally considered long-life devices, become short-life components in comparison to the drive mechanisms," he said.

The acrylic lens will be altered by time in an attractive fashion, Moulton said. "The LEDs produce a slightly unnatural blue-ish light. As the acrylic ages, it becomes slightly yellowed and crazed through exposure to ultraviolet light," he said. "The yellowing and crazing will tend to mitigate the unnatural blue hue of the LED light. Thus, Gravia will produce a more natural color of light with age."

He predicted that the acrylic will begin to yellow within 10 to 15 years when Gravia is used in a home's interior room.

A patent is pending on the Gravia. To learn more, contact Jackie Reed of Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties Inc. (http://www.vtip.org) at jreed@vtip.org or call (540) 443-9217.

Learn more about the lamp and the designer's philosophy at http://www.core77.com/competitions/greenergadgets/projects/4306/.

PHOTO INFORMATION: The Gravia LED lamp will be powered by gravity. The entire column will glow.

Contact Susan Trulove at strulove@vt.edu or (540) 231-5646.

Electric Motorcycle Prototype by Maxdon

Bionix Brushless E-Bike Motor

DPX Systems Products

Drill Powered Bike from DPX Systems

Home-made Air Bike

1989 Air Car Prototype

I built this when i was 15 which was about 18 years ago. I could make no progress with car companies on starting a working car prototype as I was a minor and had no degrees."

Two Different Developers of an Air Car

Air Car Backed by Indian Conglomerate

from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7243247.stm

India's Tata backs air-power car

By Roger Harrabin Environment analyst, BBC News

The Aircar can be filled with air in just three minutes

An engineer has promised that within a year he will start selling a car in India that runs on compressed air, producing no emissions at all in towns.

The OneCAT will be a five-seater with a glass fibre body, weighing just 350kg and could cost just over £2,500.

The project is being backed by the Indian conglomerate, Tata for an undisclosed sum. It says the technology may also be used for power generation.

The car will be driven by compressed air stored in carbon-fibre tanks.

The tanks, built into the chassis, can be filled with air from a compressor in just three minutes - much quicker than a battery car.

Alternatively, it can be plugged into the mains for four hours and an on-board compressor will do the job.

For long journeys the compressed air driving the pistons can be boosted by a fuel burner which heats the air so it expands and increases the pressure on the pistons. The burner will use all kinds of liquid fuel.

The designers say on long journeys the car will do the equivalent of 120mpg. In town, running on air, it will be cheaper than that.

Analysts say the fact that the project has the backing of an internationally well known company such as Tata makes the idea much more marketable.

The Indian company - which will put the finishing touches to the engine - says it is even considering using the technology for power generation.

Parts of the country are desperately short of electricity supplies. On Tuesday officials announced that Delhi and Moscow had finalised plans for Russia to build four new nuclear power stations in India.

Breakthrough

"The first buyers [of the compressed air car] will be people who care about the environment," says French inventor Guy Negre.

"It also has to be economical."

Mr Negre has been promising for more than a decade to be on the verge of a breakthrough.

The compressed air is stored in carbon-fibre tanks

Tata is the only big firm he'll license to sell the car - and they are limited to India. For the rest of the world he hopes to persuade hundreds of investors to set up their own factories, making the car from 80% locally-sourced materials.

"This will be a major saving in total emissions," he says.

"Imagine we will be able to save all those components travelling the world and all those transporters."

He wants each local factory to sell its own cars to cut out the middle man and he aims for 1% of global sales - about 680,000 per year.

Terry Spall from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers says: "I really hope he succeeds. It is a really brave experiment in producing a sustainable car."

But he said he was interested to see how the car would fare with safety tests and how much it would appeal to a public conditioned to expect luxury fittings adding to the weight of the vehicle.

Mr Negre says there's no issue with safety - if the air-car crashes the air tanks won't shatter - they will split with a very loud bang. "The biggest risk is to the ears."

How Your Body Could Generate Energy

from http://green.yahoo.com/news/ap/20080208/ap_on_sc/power_walking.html

Device on knee can produce electricity

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer | Posted Fri Feb 8, 2008 3:13pm PST

WASHINGTON - Call it the ultimate power walk. Researchers have developed a device that generates electrical power from the swing of a walking person's knee. With each stride the leg accelerates and then decelerates, using energy both for moving and braking.

Max Donelan and colleagues reasoned that a device that helps the leg decelerate could generate power without requiring much additional energy from the person.

It's sort of like the way that some hybrid-electric cars produce electricity from braking.

With the device, a minute of walking can power a cell phone for 10 minutes, Donelan, of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, said in a telephone interview. Other potential uses include powering a portable GPS locator, a motorized prosthetic joint or implanted drug pumps.

Donelan and colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Michigan report development of the new device in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

The first practical use for the generator is likely to be in producing power for artificial limbs, said Donelan, who with his co-authors has founded a company to develop the device commercially.

The generator weighs about 3.5 pounds so users do burn energy carrying it on their knee, but they don't notice whether it is switched on or off when walking on a treadmill, he said.

However, they miss it when it's removed because they get used to its extra braking action, he added.

With one generator on each knee, people walking on a treadmill were able to generate about 5 watts of power.

Lawrence C. Rome of the University of Pennsylvania called the development "extremely clever."

Other people have thought of rotational devices around joints, Rome said, "but what's really clever is these guys only turn on resistance when person trying to brake, so it helps you."

Rome, who was not part of the research team, previously developed a backpack that generates electricity from the movement of the person carrying it.

The backpack was comfortable so it was an easy sell, he said. Whether the new knee generator is practical will depend on it being comfortable so people will want to wear it, he said in a telephone interview.

Arthur Kuo, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan and a co-author of the report, called the device "a cocktail-napkin idea."

"There is power to be harvested from various places in the body, and you can use that to generate electricity. The knee is probably the best place," Kuo said in a statement. "During walking, you dissipate energy in various places, when your foot hits the ground, for example. You have to make up for this by performing work with your muscles. ... We believe that when you're slowing down the knee at the end of swinging the leg, most of that energy normally is just wasted."

The prototype is bulky, he said, but the energy generation part itself has very little effect on the wearer.

"We hope to improve the device so that it is easier to carry, and to retain the energy-harvesting capabilities," he said.

The research was funded by the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research and the Canadian Institute of Health Research.

Zap Alias Video

Zap Planning $30k Electric Sports Car

from http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/01/zap-says-its-al.html?mbid=yhp

So you want an electric sports car but don't have $98,000 to drop on a Tesla Roadster? Never fear, the ZAP Alias is here. Almost. Maybe.

The company known for its funky Xebra electric commuter cars said it will break into the high-performance market with a 320-horsepower, three-wheeled sports car by mid-2009. That timeline seems wildly optimistic, if not downright impossible, given the company only recently invited suppliers to design components for the $30,000 car.

"Right now, ... it takes GM and Toyota three-to-five years all told to go from a clean-sheet to vehicles selling on showroom floors," said Aaron Bragman, an auto industry analyst with Global Insight who worked for nearly a decade as both a salesman for a parts supplier and a buyer for an automaker. "And this is with staffs of trained engineers, processes, plants and suppliers already in place."

Nevertheless, ZAP - which has a history of announcements that seem to peter out -- said it can meet that deadline.

"Looking at our initial project development plan and our discussion with a number of key engineering and technology partners, I believe we can go into production by the second quarter of 2009," said Albert Lam, former CEO of Lotus Engineering and chairman of the joint venture developing the Alias.

Lotus Engineering helped develop the Tesla Roadster, and ZAP says it's lending a hand with the Alias. The car looks good - from a performance, if not an aesthetic, perspective - on paper.

ZAP says the Alias will feature two in-wheel motors producing 320 horsepower, giving the car a zero to 60 time of 5.7 seconds. It claims the Alias will have a top speed approaching 120 mph and a range of "at least" 150 miles per charge.

"The performance goals are attainable because the pace of new technology is accelerating,' said Steve Schneider, the company's chief executive officer.

ZAP says it is considering options like fast-charge capacity and a hybrid range extender.

The idea for the Alias was hatched last year when ZAP started developing the $60,000 ZAP-X crossover utility vehicle that ZAP plans to launch later this year.

ZAP and China Youngman Automotive Group - one of China's leading bus manufacturers - have launched a joint venture to build the Alias, which will be sold under a new brand name. Lam said the Alias will be built on Youngman's assembly lines. ZAP says it will outline its progress on the Alias at the National Automobile Dealers Association conference in February.

We're trying to get ahold of ZAP to learn more about the Alias. Actually, we're about to post a story about the Alias and used some of the info from that piece to update this post. We'll link to the story as soon as it's up.

Obvio from Brazil

LED Lamp Review

from http://www.metaefficient.com/lamps/led-desk-lamps-a-review-2008-update.html

LED Desk Lamps: A Review (2008 Update)
February 1st, 2008

LEDs really shine as reading lights and desk lights. I like LED reading lights, because they have a directed beam, so they do not disturb your bedroom companions. LEDs desk lamps are also efficient, because they do not get hot, so there’s no risk of burns, or excess heat in the summer. Because LED light is so focused, a 100 lumen LED desk lamp will seem quite bright. Let’s take a survey of what’s currently available:

The Night Reader light (shown above) comes in two versions: a “warm white” version and a “daylight” version. It consumes only 4 watts and outputs 100 lumens of light. It’s available from The LED Light for about $60. This online store tends to have the newest LED products available.
http://www.theledlight.com/night-reader.html

Another new release from Alliance Optotek is this classy Libra desk light, which illuminates with 280 lumens using only 12 watts. It’s available from The LED Light for $195.
http://www.aoptk.com/index.htm
http://www.theledlight.com/libra-lamp.html

The minimalist Z-Bar LED Lamp by Koncept has 66 LEDs and generates 112 lumens, enough to help it win an I.D. Magazine “best of category” award. It comes in three colors, and is available from Amazon for about $125. There’s a 40 LED version of this light, the Mini-Z LED Lamp, but apparently it not bright enough to make most buyers happy
http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/B000NYA0EO/105-1275658-6929211?SubscriptionId=1N9AHEAQ2F6SVD97BE02

The Adesso Eternity Gooseneck Desk Lamp is another flexible LED desk lamp. I have this one on my desk, it’s a nice little light, and quite bright. It has 20 LEDs and is rated at 2 watts. It’s available from Amazon for about $68.
http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/B000PRNU14/105-1275658-6929211?SubscriptionId=1N9AHEAQ2F6SVD97BE02

Tesla to Make Gas-Electric Car

from http://www.news.com/8301-11128_3-9863202-54.html

February 1, 2008 3:14 PM PST
Tesla to make gas-electric car
Posted by Michael Kanellos

Tesla Motors, the people who put the all-electric car on the map, are going to work with gas too.

The San Carlos, Calif.-based company will produce two basic types of its Whitestar sedan, due toward the end of 2009. One will run completely on batteries. The other will be a range-extended vehicle, or REV, CEO Ze'ev Drori said in an interview. In an REV, a small gas motor recharges the battery pack while the car is being driven. The battery pack on these types of cars only goes about 40 to 50 miles on a charge, but because it gets recharged while driving, the range of these cars will be longer.

"It is more than research. We intend to have it as part of the offering," Drori said. "The Whitestar can be all-electric or it can be an REV."

The idea behind coming out with an REV is to reach prospective buyers who are worried about range, said Elon Musk, Tesla's chairman. (Drori and Musk were holding a press conference at corporate headquarters to mark the delivery of the first commercial version of the Tesla Roadster. Musk owns it.). The all-electric version of Whitestar is expected to go for 150 to 200 miles on a charge.

If the competition is an indication, the REV version of Whitestar will go much further. GM was the first major car company to tout REVs with its Chevy Volt, due around 2010. The Volt is expected to go around 400 miles before completely conking.

Range has been one of the historical problems with electric cars. The distance an electric car can drive is controlled by the size and performance of its battery pack. The Tesla Roadster, coming out this year, can go more than 200 miles on a charge, but it costs $98,000. GM's fated EV1 only went 80 or so miles on a charge, CEO Rick Wagoner said in a recent interview.

The gas-electric version of Whitestar will cost a little less than the all-electric version, Musk added, but the difference will be fairly minimal. Building a gas-electric isn't cheap. Automakers have to insert generators. The battery pack also requires different cells.

A Tesla Roadster prototype
(Credit: Michael Kanellos/CNET News.com)

Whitestar is expected to sell in the $50,000 to $70,000 range, depending on the configuration (some of the all-electric cars will have bigger batteries than others and vary in price, for instance). The car will likely compete against luxury sedans from companies like BMW. Later, Tesla will also come out with an economy car, Musk said.

Still, the REV concept can be used to lower prices. GM wants to sell the Volt for around $30,000. The Volt is expected to go 400 miles before completely conking out.

Tesla has hinted that it might go the REV direction. As reported earlier, Tesla executives complimented the design of the Volt, calling it elegant, back in December. At that time, however, executives only said that Tesla was looking at all options.