SkySails is now offering a wind propulsion system based on large towing kites, which, for the first time, meets the requirements of shipping companies.
By using the SkySails-System, a ship‘s fuel costs can be reduced by 10- 35% on annual average, depending on wind conditions. Under optimal wind conditions, fuel consumption can temporarily be reduced by up to 50%.
There are a range of biofuels companies who recently got sales or added investment or larger production facilities.
GreenFuel Technologies has reached an agreement to build an algae-to-fuel plant in Europe, which could be worth as much as $92 million...GreenFuel uses a portfolio of technologies to profitably recycle CO2 from smokestack, fermentation, and geothermal gases via naturally occurring species of algae. Algae can be converted to transportation fuels and feed ingredients or recycled back to a combustion source as biomass for power generation. Industrial facilities need no internal modifications to host a GreenFuel algae farm. In addition, the system does not require fertile land or potable water.
Range Fuels said it is has secured $100 million to build a gasification plant that will make ethanol from blue chips...Range Fuels has invented a two-step thermo-chemical process to produce cellulosic ethanol. Even if these words are foreign to you, the positives are sure to resonate: the process is self-sustaining, produces virtually no waste products, emits very low levels of greenhouse gases, and produces high yields of clean ethanol.
ethanol company Coskata, which General Motors has invested in, was said to have landed $19 million to ramp up its operations...Coskata is a biology-based renewable energy company. Our technology enables the low-cost production of ethanol from a wide variety of input material including biomass, municipal solid waste and other carbonaceous material. Using proprietary microorganisms and patented bioreactor designs, we will produce ethanol for under US$1.00 per gallon.
"The path of the spiral exerts considerably less energy and friction than a straight line"... this is a core idea of Pax Scientific, which is developing a range of technologies taking as design cues a design theory called biomimicry, coined by Janine Benyus, who wrote a seminal book on the subject in 1997. Biomimicry argues that nature uses only the energy it needs, fits form to function, and recycles everything.
A discussion by one guy modifying his Honda Civic hatchback to be highly aerodynamic.
A discussion about drag coefficients, listings of "stock" (unmodified vehicle) drag ratings, etc.
This is a long table of drag coefficient data. It was harvested from a small computer program that has the capability to show speed through the gears, top speed, time to get there plus a lot of other neat stuff.
