GM expected the Chevrolet Volt to be a huge success. Though the car did enjoy great technology and clean credentials, it has been nowhere near the runaway hit it was expected to be. Now GM intends to take the same Voltec platform that powers the Volt to a new model, the Cadillac ELR. An electric Caddy has been in rumors ever since the Converj concept (pictured) was displayed at the Detroit Auto Show in 2009 and apparently this one will make a debut at the Detroit Auto Show next year.
As if the problems corals faced due to increasingly acidic ocean, water pollution, sedimentation, mining, coastal development, ozone depletion and coral bleaching were not enough, corals have found a new enemy in human poop.
Most human dwellings and communities remain dependent for power on the grid, but a few smart ones have taken it upon themselves to generate enough power for their needs. A very interesting example for this would be the village of Wildpoldsried in Bavaria, Germany. In fact, these wise souls produce much more power than their requirement, a 321% excess to be specific.
Conventionally, solar power plants have been limited to producing energy only during the day, and when the sun is shining bright. Gemasolar is the world’s first commercial high-temperature solar plant with the capability of working in the night as well.
Prefab homes get a lot of praise for being energy efficient and saving a whole lot of construction waste. This video checks out the ways of ZETA Communities, who has been a producer of net-zero energy multifamily housing since 2008.
Planktons are tiny marine organisms, mostly microscopic and rarely visible. Although they don’t have any reservations about making their presence felt. Every summer, they take over the Barents Sea north of Norway and make their numbers felt with a show so spectacular that it spreads over hundreds of kilometers in the Scandinavian Peninsula.
24 hours of LeMans is one of the toughest tests a car could ever face, and is actually considered an indicator of the car’s resilience towards taking a beating. This concept from Italy-based Turkish designer Ozgun Culam is a car born to race in the 24 hours of LeMans. Four electric motors individually power each wheel to propel the lightweight carbon fiber chassis.
A team of NASA-funded researchers have managed to create the first ever map of the speed and direction of ice flow in Antarctica. Rignot and UC Irvine scientists Jeremie Mouginot and Bernd Scheuchl made use of data points collected by European, Japanese and Canadian satellites to create an accurate map, removing any discrepancies that may have crept in due to cloud cover, solar glare and land features masking the glaciers.
A group of British companies are looking to convert the classic Morgan Aero into an electric drive. Morgan Aero has a nice niche carved for itself and has been on the market since 2001. Zytek, one of the contributors in the project is building electric motor and components for the car. Apparently, the electric Morgan will have 94hp and 221 pound-feet of torque.
We’re so totally in love with space adventures, that we tend to forget that rockets are nasty machines that consume tons of fuel in mere seconds. But it is only logical when faced with having to escape the gravity of our planet. We could of course, look at more “creative” options, like floating away into the upper atmosphere on a balloon.
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