Hasta La Gadget!

Car manufacturer Volvo has teamed up with the Imperial College in London in an attempt to solve one of the biggest problems currently facing electric cars: the size and weight of their batteries. Though it’s still a ways off, one potential solution could see future Volvos with batteries actual built into the body panels.

The new technology consists of a composite blend of carbon fibres and polymer resin, which is able to both store and charge energy. And according to Volvo it can do this faster than the current generation of electric car batteries. The material is also very flexible so that it can be molded into a variety of shapes, but strong enough that it can actually be used to serve as the vehicle’s body. According to Volvo, replacing steel panels with the new material could reduce vehicle weight by up to 15 percent.

“Our role is to contribute expertise on how this technology can be integrated in the future and to input ideas about the advantages and disadvantages in terms of cost and user-friendliness,” Per-Ivar Sellergren, development engineer at the Volvo Cars Materials Centre, said. The project will begin experimenting by turning a spare wheel recess into a composite battery. “This is a relatively large structure that is easy to replace. Not sufficiently large to power the entire car, but enough to switch the engine off and on when the car is at a standstill, for instance at traffic lights.”

Research is expected to continue for the next three years and is also being funded in part by the European Union.

Via GOOD.

The government of Laos is hoping to utilize its natural resources to boost the economy, starting with a hydropower dam in the Mekong river. Unfortunately, while the dam will give the country a financial boost, it also endangers the native species, including four of the 10 largest freshwater fish in the world, which make the Mekong their home.

The majority of the energy produced by the proposed dam–somewhere around 90 percent–would be sold to neighboring countries. According to Viraphone Viravong, director general of the country’s energy and mines department, the energy produced and sold from this and future dams could account for 20 percent of Laos’ GDP. “We don’t want to be poor any more,” Viravong said. “If we want to grow, we need this dam.”

The Mekong is home to an astounding array of very large fish, including the giant pangasius, the Siamese giant carp, and the Mekong freshwater stingray. But the most famous of all is the Mekong giant catfish, widely regarded as the largest freshwater fish in the world, with some measuring nearly three meters in length. The dam would likely threaten the existence of these and other fish who make the Mekong their home.

“This dam is the greatest challenge the MRC [Mekong River Commission] has faced since it was formed. It is the most serious test of its usefulness and relevance,” the WWF’s Marc Goichot said. “It is already very clear this dam would amplify and accelerate the negative impacts of Chinese dams to the Mekong delta. What are the other impacts?”

Via the Guardian.

Image courtesy National Geographic.

If you’re a city-dweller and rely on your bike to get around town, or just like to get some exercise by pedaling around a local park or your neighborhood, the Energysport concept generator could potentially help charge your phone and other gadgets when you get to your destination. The generator and battery would mount on the back of your bicycle and harness some of the energy you put into your bike to power your electronics, and when you get to your destination you can pull the battery pack out of the generator and plug in your devices to it for some extra juice.

The Energysport is just a concept right now, but it’s the kind of design that makes sense. You put a lot of energy into keeping your bike moving when you push those pedals, why not take a fraction of it to charge up a battery so you don’t finish your trip only to find out your phone’s battery is dead? In addition to being a healthy way to power up your gadgets, the energy would be completely renewable too; as long as you keep riding your bike, that is.

[via Ecofriend]

The Solar-Breeze robot is the perfect companion to the Roomba, Scooba, and any other robot you have cleaning your house.

An intelligent swimming pool surface skimmer with an attached chlorine dispenser, this robot removes surface debris, including leaves, organic material, pollens, dust, and even suntan oils. As the name states, this robot runs on solar power. Just leave the robot in the pool and it will continuously swim around, cleaning, while the sun shines.

The internal Lithium Ion batteries are charged by the sun during the day, so it can run at night and cloudy days for several hours, as well.

The rear paddle wheel propels the robot through the water while the front paddle wheel scoops the surface debris and film into the collection tray, located underneath. Bumper wheels on the corners rotate the Solar Breeze to a new direction whenever it bumps into the wall. It is designed to stay near the edges of the pool where dirt and debris generally accummulate. It changes directions to get around obstacles or to get to the other end of the pool.

Removing the junk from the pool before it sinks to the pool means no bottom cleaning or filtering. That’s a savings because the pump doesn’t need to be run as much. It’s also a time-saver over the manual pool skimmer.

Tagged with a $500 price tag from Solar Pool Technologies, it’s a little pricey, but you don’t want to deny your cleaning robots a new friend, do you?

The finalists have been announced for the annual James Dyson Award, which honors the best inventions coming from the next generation of engineers. It’s kind of like that movie Revenge of the Nerds, but it has a £10,000 prize.

The Copenhagen Wheel is of the cooler finalists. Despite its name, it was created by a team at MIT’s SENSEable City Lab, which aims to use technology to foster modern, sustainable cities. The awards will be announced in early October, but as biker, geek, city-dweller, and American, I’m pulling for The Copenhagen Wheel.

The Wheel does a few different cool things. First, the Wheel is a sleek accessory that instantly turns a boring conventional bike into a hybrid electric power bike from the year 3000! The tech works much like a standard hybrid car does, by storing energy from breaking and pedaling which bicyclists can later use to climb hilly terrains with a built-in engine. 

Second, the Wheel does can sync with your smart phone to link in social media network built around biking. The Wheel includes location and environmental sensors that can be used to plot bike routes, achieve exercise goals, or share data with other linked-in bikers (traffic, pollution, road conditions, etc.)

The Copenhagen Wheel is a clean green technology that could end up bringing a lot more
urban-dwelling bikers into the fold. The Wheel is currently in production by Ducati Energia of Italy and will be available next year for $600 per wheel.

Video describing the whole shebang after the jump.