Sammy Roger is really making an impact on the awareness for Solar Power and driving electric cars.. but running for President???
Krolicki
DETROIT, July 7 (Reuters) – General Motors Corp is rushing to finish the production version of its Chevy Volt and plans to unveil a showroom-ready model of the heavily touted electric car in September, people familiar with the project say.
Battered by a deepening slump in sales and concerns about whether it can ride out the downturn, GM is counting on the Volt to break its costly association with gas-guzzling vehicles at a time when truck sales are tumbling and gas prices are near record levels.
GM is likely to complete the production version of the Volt by early August and plans to show it off in September, just when the embattled automaker celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founding, people familiar with the plans said.
A GM spokesman declined to comment on the timeline for its next announcements on the Volt, which will include naming a supplier for the vehicle’s lithium-ion battery pack, the single most expensive element of the vehicle and the component seen as critical to its success.
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Duke Energy Carolinas is proposing a $100 million plan to install electricity generating solar panels at up to 850 North Carolina sites including homes, schools, stores and factories.
Last Friday, the company filed an application with the North Carolina Utilities Commission asking for approval to implement this solar distributed generation program. Distributed generation is energy created close to where it is used, rather than being produced in large power plants and transported to customers over power lines.
“We believe an initiative of this scope and scale will help us meet the requirement of North Carolina’s new Renewable and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard (REPS),” said Keith Trent, group executive and chief strategy, policy and regulatory officer. “This program also will enable us to evaluate the role of distributed generation on our system, and gain experience in owning and operating renewable energy resources.”
If the program is approved by regulators, Duke Energy Carolinas would spend two years installing approximately 20 megawatts of distributed solar generation on rooftops of customer businesses and homes or on ground sites within the company’s North Carolina service area.
Solar power has to be converted from direct to alternating current. Once that’s done, Duke Energy Carolinas customers will benefit from more than 16 megawatts of power, enough energy to serve more than 2,600 homes.
Hey. There’s been a lot of pressure lately to open up protected areas for oil drilling.
Of course, that pressure is fueled by stampeding lobbyists and oil companies who benefit the most from America’s addiction to oil. What’s their solution to our oil addiction? More oil!
Common sense says drilling in protected areas is not the answer. Switching is.
Switching to 100% clean, renewable electricity within 10 years.
Check out this video to see what I mean: The breakthrough revolves around storing energy when the sun isn’t shining—an expensive pitfall until now. The new method uses the sun’s energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. Like photosynthesis. Later the two can be recombined inside a fuel cell to create carbon-free electricity. Like running a fuel cell backwards. The good part is the system would work day or night. The other good part is it requires nothing but abundant, nontoxic natural materials. “This is the nirvana of what we’ve been talking about for years,” said senior author Daniel Nocera. “Now we can seriously think about solar power as unlimited and soon.” For those who want to know how it works… A new catalyst produces oxygen gas from water. Another catalyst produces hydrogen gas. The new catalyst is a combination of cobalt metal, phosphate, and an electrode, placed in water. When electricity (from photovoltaic cell, wind turbine, or other source) runs through the electrode, the cobalt and phosphate form a thin film on the electrode and oxygen gas is produced. Combined with another catalyst like platinum (which can produce hydrogen gas from water) the system duplicates the water-splitting reaction of photosynthesis. Also good: the catalyst works at room temperature, in neutral pH water, and is easy to set up. “That’s why I know this is going to work,” says Nocera. “It’s so easy to implement.” Well, by George, implement away! BTW, this study has interesting hybrid parentage between government and philanthropy. May they couple more often. Julia Whitty is Mother Jones’ environmental correspondent, lecturer, and 2008 winner of the Kiriyama Prize and the John Burroughs Medal Award.
Solar Nirvana
Saturday, August 9th, 2008 at
9:53 pm
Solar Nirvana
Science is publishing an MIT paper (in press) outlining a revolutionary leap that could transform solar power from a marginal boutique energy source into the mainstream.
T Boone Pickens, one of the most powerful men in the US as a supporter of the oil industry, is now making it known that we must look at alternative energy sources if we are to survive as a nation.
Glenn Seymour
Sammy is currently building a Bug E. We think this is the first Bug E in North Carolina. Speeds of up to 45 miles per hour. 40 cents to fillup and a price tag of under $9500 is sure to make this a very popular electric vehicle.
