This week at TreeHugger: We could all be driving electric-powered cars sooner than we thought, with a bevy of new developments in electric car accoutrements. TreeHugger loves the idea of solar powered air conditioning, but the current (and heavy-handed) approach&mdas;spending a lot of money on photovoltaics to run conventional units—seems unwieldy and silly; we surmise there has to be a lower-cost, more efficient method (and there is!).
The computer geeks at Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Apple have been tripping over themselves to appear greener to consumers, pledging to “zero-out” this and “recycle” that, but how green are they, really? We investigate. Lastly, the tinfoil hat brigade has something new to worry about: WiTricity, or wireless transfer of electricity from source to device without a cord. The dust bunnies will be running scared….
We could all be driving electric powered cars sooner than we thought possible as new developments in battery technology gather pace, new companies form to develop the next generation lithium-ion cells, and the imminent opening of massive new battery producing factories in Asia gets underway. Among the latest news is that leading battery maker A123Systems is planning to introduce lithium-ion cells for use in gas-electric hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars, trucks, and buses; the move will push one of the key technologies for alternative vehicles closer to market at a time when fuel prices are soaring. Mitsubishi plans to install the batteries in its next generation EV “i MiEV” (Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle), which it hopes to have on sale by 2010, a mere three years away.
Seeking to capitalize on the growing “green” consumer trend, computer makers such as HP, Apple and Dell have all been staking bold positions and claims. To wit: In a recent speech he gave in Europe, Michael Dell unveiled plans to turn Dell into the “greenest technology company on earth”; plus, HP, which just released the world’s most environmentally-friendly PC, has committed to reduce its energy consumption by 20% in three years, while Apple, hardly a slouch in the sustainability movement, has pledged to remove all toxic components from its computer equipment. They’re all duking it out, trying to appear the most green, but are any of them doing any real green walking to back up their big talk?
Lastly, the tinfoil hat brigade has something new to worry about: WiTricity, or wireless transfer of electricity from source to device without a cord. The dust bunnies will have nowhere to hide when the mess of wires under the desk is banished, replaced by a resonating receiver. Scientists have been playing with this for a while; back in the day, Nikola Tesla experimented with long-range wireless energy transfer, but his most ambitious attempt—the 29 meter (that’s almost 100 feet) high aerial known as Wardenclyffe Tower, in New York—failed when he ran out of money. Now researchers have lit a 60W lightbulb from a distance of seven feet. It could be a viable power source for the future, or it could be a big load of crap; only the future will tell.
TreeHugger’s EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.
