Browsing: Technology

After last week’s hypermiling post, I decided to look into other ways of cutting down on the amount you spend (and burn) at the petrol pump. Hypermiling, after all, can get you a long way, but eventually you need to stop off for fuel, and in the vast majority of cases that means money, pollution and a continuation of the endless fuel consumption cycle which everyone is so concerned about right now. There is, however, an alternative, and it needn’t be as pricey as you think.

It may seem too good to be true, but it is perfectly feasible to give up your gas-guzzling car, and still get around town quickly, easily, and without resorting to stuffing your head into the unwashed armpit of a fellow commuter on the morning train. The number of electric vehicles in on the increase, and this is only set to continue as people realise the benefits that are to be gained by going electric. Until now, however, vehicles such as the Toyota Prius(approx. £13,000 and up) and the Vectrix scooter(around £7,000) could be seen to be a little out of most people’s price range. However, there is now an alternative which may just make going electric a much more appealing option.

The Ego StreetScoota, despite its ridiculous name, is a fully electric moped which rocks in at a frankly amazing £999.95… yes, you read that right – a fully functional scooter which will never need a visit to your local petrol station, all for about the same price as a years worth of travelling on the London Underground. If that’s not reason enough to get one, I don’t know what is.

According to the manufacturers, the Scoota can reach a top speed of 30mph, has a range of around 40miles, and costs a teeny, tiny, frankly measly 8p to charge fully… all with the added benefit of not having to pay road tax, getting cheap insurance (normally around £100-£200), and receiving free parking in most cities. I can’t actually think of a reason not to buy one.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-hiE_tz37s[/youtube]

Check out the Busycle!

Pretty awesome mode of transport.

Just think how much fun we’d have if we replaced all our public transport with these!

Perhaps Boris should replace his bendy buses with lots of Busycles! Cleaner, greener and the streets of London might be a lot less meaner too if everyone had to work together to get around!

http://www.busycle.com/

Hypermiling – the latest buzz word on the green motoring circuit – is not, as you might think, some crazy Star Trek inspired commuting technique, but it is, in fact a way to ensure that drivers get maximum fuel efficiency whilst driving, thereby lessening the effect on the wallet of rampant oil price increases, and helping save the planet at the same time.

The slighty controversial techniques are already gaining a huge following in the USA, and are now starting to creep into Europe, with many followers boasting of meeting and even exceeding the usually unattainable advertised miles per gallon of their vehicle of choice. Serious proponents of the art have gained almost unbelievable results, as is the case with Bill Kinney, who at Hybridfest 2007 gained an average of 168mpg from his Honda Insight Hybrid, which has an advertised fuel economy of 84mpg.

Find out how after the jump

Find out more about Trevor Baylis’ brand new Mini Eco Radio in an interview posted over at Ethical Superstore.

The  Eco Mini Radio is Trevor’s smallest ever wind up radio, but this time it’s augmented with a solar panel and the option to charge via USB.

Trevor also talks about his plans for the future, including the wind-up mobile phone, and a solar powered GPS!

Read the full Trevor Baylis interview here »

Just a quick follow up to last week’s post on the Green Computing Debate hosted online by The Register.

The debate brought up some excellent points, and thankfully managed to (by and large) avoid cliche. Survey results presented by Dale Vile of Freeform Dynamics showed that despite significant growth in eco-awareness, many businesses are still ignoring ecological concerns in their day to day work. Sadly, greenwashing is still prevalent in many workplaces, when a true greening of the business could be just as straightforward.

Representatives of both Dell and Intel showed what they are currently doing to ensure their product is the greenest of them all, and their future plans look very promising indeed, both concentrating on better power management systems. Albert Esser, of Dell, looked at why better power management systems are important, whilst Kevin O’Donovan of Intel explained how these systems might be implemented. All in all, they were two very promising presentations.

Tech kit gets old quick. We all know that. Louise Richards of Computer Aid International spent fifteen very interesting minutes looking at possible solutions to the endless cycle of buy-use-dump-replace. A highly recommended presentation.

The whole debate has been archived on The Register, so if you fancy taking a look, head over to The Register Green Computing Debate, and take in some of the presentations.

The traditionally incompatible worlds of computing and the green movement have, in recent years slowly started to sidle up to each other, and are set to become quite keen bedfellows. With everyone from IBM to Apple taking steps to green their organisation, and more and more people realising that those promoting the green cause may actually have a point, Green is clearly big business in the world of IT.

Against this backdrop of technological eco-awareness, The Register are running their first Green Computing Debate tonight (February 27th). It aims to “give you the chance to find out how the great Green rush is going to affect you”. You will have the opportunity to have your say about the movement, and find out what the options are for making your tech more eco-friendly.

The whole thing takes place online tonight at 6pm, and you can register for free here. Don’t worry if you can’t make it, we’ll be keeping an eye on the whole thing, and summarising the main findings tomorrow.

Find out more about the Trevor Baylis wind-up bike lights.

This product reminded me vividly of a creative writing assignment back in school. The title intrigued me and, for once, I couldn’t wait to get stuck into it! (Which as my parents would confirm was not far short of miraculous.) However having set the scene, and began weaving the fabric of a, if I do say so myself, devastating plot, for some reason which now escapes me I ran out of either momentum or time and abruptly ended the fledgling classic with the classic ‘then i woke up and it had all been a dream…’

I commute everyday by bike and have on more than one occasion been caught short with my lamp batteries giving up the fight before journeys end. So owning some lights which will always be ready to ride after a few minutes’ winding is definitely appealing. Using the lamps is dead simple. Unfold the light’s crank from underneath, and then wind it up vigorously. These lights claim to give 90 minutes’ light for one minute’s winding — but that’s 90 minutes of the power-saving one LED mode, which is just too dim for the road. For the full-power three LED mode, I dismounted and re-wound after 20 minutes – not that the lamp had totally disappeared but I wasn’t happy with the level of illumination provided. A 3 LED flashing mode is also an option.

Where this product falls into ‘it had all been a dream’ crummy territory is the mounts for the lights – these are awful! You have to wind them tight, which just doesn’t work well – I inadvertently snapped one of the mounts (front) and I was being pretty careful with it. The back bracket I had to resort to mounting on the angled part of the frame as I couldn’t get it around my seat post securely. Installation’s is a one-time thing , so if your blessed with patience and dexterity you might not find this an issue. It’s worth noting that the way the lights slide on and off their mounts is somewhat fiddly (well it is in the dark when you’ve removed them for an additional wind) but once in place they are pretty stable.

NB No mounting instructions were included in the packaging, which incidentally, I was disappointed to note didn’t mention Trevor Baylis anywhere, AND was a somewhat un-environmentally friendly looking plastic blister pack…

In the final analysis the lights themselves are simple and relatively effective (though unlikely to tempt moths to swarm you), and competitively priced – and would be a welcome addition to any frame as a secondary / emergency set. However, for me at least, the design and ‘quirky’ functionality of the mounts undermines this product. I really wanted to score this item higher but just can’t bring myself to.

Trevor Baylis bike lamps are available to buy from Ethical Superstore, but don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Trevor Baylis Bike Lights – Ethical Superstore

What we’re hoping for in version 2.0:

• Improved bracket design
• Rubberised design to absorb the knocks
• Brighter optics
• Optional wearable bracket so that you can mount the lamp onto a rucksack or jacket
• Instructions

Also available as a twin pack – includes front and rear torches with quick release clamps. Trevor Baylis Micro-Bike Torch Front & Rear Twin Pack.

Here’s a great invention, it’s a water bottle that filters dirty H20 to make lovely clean potable water.

Read the full story at the telegraph’s site. Includes fascinating facts about the size of a virus in nanometers.

I’ve been aware of this blog for a while now, and I’m surprised it’s not really been picked up by the regular media yet. Anyway, without further ado, introducing Mr. William Kamkwamba:

http://williamkamkwamba.typepad.com/williamkamkwamba/

He’s a student in Malawi. He’s also a bit of an engineer, and he’s built himself an enormous windmill to provide power for his family.

It’s a great blog about wind power in the developing world. It is also a fantastic example of sustainable technology and it’s a great story too.

I’ve already bought the film rights, and I’ll be releasing my movie, “William and the Windmill” in Summer 2008. So back off, Mr Peter Jackson.

Ethicalsuperstore are now taking pre-orders for the new solar powered Powermonkey eXplorer.

This is one seriously cool bit of kit. We had one in the office last week to have a play with for review purposes and it really is the bees knees.

I’ve ordered one already, so as soon as it’s in my grubby little paws we’ll have a three way face off between this summer’s festival essentials the Solio and the Freeloader and the new kid on the block eXplorer. For now, you’ll just have to console yourself with a few facts about the product after the jump.

Read the rest of Solar powered summer adventures »