Hybrids
-
Monday link roundup
- An in-depth examination on how to build an energy efficient house
- Robot snipers in Israel
- Strobist begins Lighting 102
- No one thinks seriously about alternative energy. Check out this post from TreeHugger “New Battery Pushed Prius to 125 MPG“. It’s a great idea and invention, but it’s a plug-in hybrid. The motion is coming from the power grid. Granted electricity is usually more efficient than gasoline, but that’s like saying that a diesel engine gets infinite mileage because it doesn’t burn any gasoline at all.
-
Quick Monday rapid fire
- HomeSite meets C#
- Warlords of Afghanistan – not quite a fansite, but I think it’s safe to say the internet is complete.
- Windmills on Amazon
- Google invests in Plug-in Hybrids – Cal Cars curiously unmentioned.
- Martial arts and motion capture
- The quest for 100 mpg cars – doable but not pretty
- A really cool bike steady-cam I’ll probably be building soon.
- I wound up building (so to speak) this camera mount this weekend.
-
Yet more reasons to hate environmentalists
I just saw the creator of “Who Killed the Electric Car” on the Daily show. He did not address the problems raised by David Friedman (mainly cost), or any of the range argument. Instead it was the usual anti-corporate spiel.
That’s to be expected. What I found reprehensible was his not mentioning the new vehicle by Tesla Motors, or plug in hybrids from CalCars. Too many people in the alt-energy environmental front prefer a great excuse to a modest accomplishment and the director was no exception.
I suppose that’s why Solar Towers (CNN article here, WikiPedia here) don’t actually exist yet.
-
Tesla Motors seems way cool
The official unveiling of the Tesla Roadster is tomorrow, but Wired has photos and an article. It looks very cool.
Judging from the specs (I haven’t seen any independent reviews) it seems like a plausible model. 0-60 in four seconds, 250 mile range for an electric car, standard batteries (i.e. laptop batteries) fairly quick recharge time. It could work.
-
Wednesday rapid fire
- Driving with Mr T.
- Poorly written and misleading article in Newsweek about poverty. To quote:
The picture is clearest when you look at the number and fate of the world’s middle- class countries (rather than middle-class individuals, although the story there is not so terrific, either).
and
The absolute income levels of the poorest may be creeping up. But with the notable exceptions of India and China and a few others
Why is there no critical thinking anymore?
- Michael Jackson uses ladies room in Dubai
- Woman to marry man who shot her
- More on modded hybrid cars
- Solar power and Sterling Engines make the best chance for meaningful solar power I’ve seen so far.