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"Among the plethora of alternative fuels being put forth to replace oil, the most odd might seem simple: air. But MDI International, based in Luxembourg, showed off a car at the 2009 Geneva auto show that runs on just that. What motivates the little AirPod concept is the energy from compressed air stored in a tank at 5,000 pounds per square inch (PSI).
The AirPod vehicle is small, holding just three passengers, with a single seat facing front for the driver and a bench facing backwar for two more people. MDI claims a range of more than 112 miles in an urban setting, and less than two minutes to refill the 46-gallon air tank. But even though the AirPod can reach speeds of just less than 45 mph, the air-powered engine produces only 8 horsepower, suggesting slow acceleration.
Because of the low horsepower, the AirPod is designed to be exceptionally light, coming in at 485 pounds. Because the air tank and engine don't take up much room, most of the AirPod is devoted to passenger space. The car is a three-wheeler, and the driver uses a joystick to turn, rather than a conventional steering wheel.
Although air power means the AirPod drives emission-free, some energy is required to compress air into its tank. MDI puts the cost of a tank refill at just 1 euro.
MDI has announced deals with Air France and KLM to run a test fleet of the AirPod cars at Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris and Schipol airport in Amsterdam."
Via: cnet
]]>AirEfficient.com embraces wind innovations like the Febot because we realize that there must be a fundamental shift in how we think about producing and consuming energy.
Via: Yanko Design
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"The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a leading national nonprofit organization, has released an online map that identifies more than 1,200 companies in key manufacturing states that are poised to create new green jobs when Congress passes a cap on global warming pollution. Part of the revenue from the cap-and-trade limits, or carbon tax, will be used to develop alternative energy.
The interactive map, online at LessCarbonMoreJobs.org, was released at the first meeting of Vice President Joe Biden’s task force on middle class jobs in Philadelphia. The vice president hosted the event, which included EDF’s president Fred Krupp and other experts, to discuss new ways to increase renewable energy jobs and improve energy efficiency in the United States.
LessCarbonMoreJobs.org provides the locations, products, services, and contacts as well as select case studies and worker profiles for companies in 12 states: Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Hampshire, Arkansas, Tennessee, Colorado, Georgia, Missouri, Virginia and Florida. It allows users to search by state, Congressional district and media market to find companies manufacturing, shipping or installing components and products for clean energy technologies. These include companies that manufacture wind turbine components; ship solar panel equipment and install energy-efficient building materials."
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Now more than ever, individuals and businesses are seeking new ways to increase energy efficiency and incorporate renewable energy into their operations. The motivation often times is to save money, reduce waste and become less dependent of fossil fuels. But there is an additional motivation that's encouraging many to make the initial investment in becoming more sustainable: Government Incentive Programs
By creating the following web database, North Carolina State University has taken the guess work out of finding your state's incentives for renewables & energy efficiency.
Go ahead and see what your state is offering.
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There's a new online platform, called HowYouEco.com, that's bringing more green into our daily lives by granting us all-access to eco-friendly people, companies, news, videos and products. And we were fortunate enough to find it!
AirEfficient believes HowYouEco is a game-changing resource for all those who wish to remain connected to the sustainable movement. It's got us thinking that HowYouEco has the potential of becoming the 'green' version of facebook. Not convinced, see for yourself...
Here are just a few things that you can do on HowYouEco:
* Buy and sell green products and services
* Share how you eco & learn from others
* Recommend your favorites & find friends
* Share eco videos, news, certifications, programs, events and tools
* Join others in their pursuit to live safe, clean and green lives
Now to the highlight of this post...
AirEfficient.com is being featured on the homepage of HowYouEco right now. Check us out at: HowYouEco.com
Click on us, create a profile and then become a fan! Pass this message along to any friends whom you think might be interested in using the site.
One last thing... How do you eco?
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Okay, so we've all dried our hands with hot-air hand driers before, but how many of us have ever stopped to think about whether drying our hands with hot, unfiltered air is actually hygienic; my guess is probably not many of us. Fortunately, James Dyson saw this persistent problem and decided to do something about it. After three years of R&D and a capital investment of just over $20 million, the Dyson Airblade was born.
The Dyson Airblade tackles the hygiene issues created by conventional hot-air hand dryers in three ways:
1) The Airblade uses cool air, not hot air to dry hands. On the other hand, conventional hand driers heat up dirty, bacteria laden air and then blow it onto our freshly washed mitts. Why do they do this? Because they rely on the process of evaporation. Did any of you know that bacteria thrive and multiple when exposed to water and heat? This is a sanitation nightmare! Plus, it could cause harm to your health.
2) The Airblade features the world's first and only HEPA filtration system built into a hand dryer. This very important feature allows the Airblade to filter 99.9% of bacteria, mold and viruses before blowing onto a user's hands.
3) The Airblade dries hands in 12 seconds or less. Wondering how? Well, look no further than the Airblade's patented digital motor that spins at mind-boggling 88,000 RPM, as well as the airblade technology itself. These two systems working in tandem create a sheet of cool, purified air traveling at 400 MPH. Making it the only the only hand dryer to literally squeegee water from your hands.
It's no wonder why the Dyson Airblade became the only hand drying method to ever receive the highly coveted NSF International Certification.
To learn more about the Airblade's hygienic features click here
Clean Air + Clean Hands = Healthier You
Alright, now that you've been educated, let's watch the Dyson Smoke Box Test.
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Are you a HUGE fan of the Dyson Airblade? Have you ever wondered where in the world you can find one? If so, then the Facebook application called the Dyson Airblade Spotter is for you. Users can search for Airblade locations as well as add their very own Airblade sightings to the Interactive Google Map of the world.
The only downside that I can see is the current map doesn't come close to representing the actual number of Airblades out there. Oh well, that's all the more reason to start Spotting! FYI... AirEfficient plans to create our own map in the future. Until then, have fun with this one!
To get started... click the link below and then sign into your Facebook account.
Application: Dyson Airblade Spotter
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Written by Josh Davis
We all at AirEfficient like to keep things light around here, so in the spirit of having a little fun, we are posting this blog.
Many hand dryers claim to have similar performance to that of the Dyson Airblade, but is there one among them that dares to back up the trash talk. Well, that's exactly what the guys and girls over Gizmodo.com decided to find out when they arranged to test and battle the Dyson Airblade against the Mitsubishi Jet Towel.
Following the link below and then click play to watch the drama unfold...
via Gizmodo: The Ultimate Hand-Dryer Battlemodo
]]>"Like the paper-or-plastic debate, how to dry your hands in a public bathroom seems to be easy to discuss, but not terribly simple to do anything about. Many people dislike air dryers because they are slow, noisy and power-sucking. On the other hand, paper towels are an ongoing source of waste and tree killing. Frankly it's all too confusing. Will technology come to our rescue?
Dyson, makers of the noted vacuum cleaners, have a solution that may win a few more converts over to paperless, and provide a great energy savings compared to conventional air dryers.
The Dyson Airblade is 80% more efficient than conventional air dryers, using a fast (400 mph), thin (0.3mm, the width of an eyelash) sheet of air to dry hands in about 12 seconds (which, for me at least, equals or exceeds paper-towel speed). Dyson claims a 98% cost savings over paper towels. Since the air does not need to be heated with the Airblade, it does not need warm-up time, and will dry the hands more quickly. Rather than forcing evaporation (as a conventional dryer does), the Airblade uses high speed air to wipe water away. Dyson also claims to be the first and only hand dryer certified by NSF International."
Via EcoGeek.org
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"It was nearly a year ago when TreeHugger first reported on the Windbelt, an innovative new wind energy technology which eschews turbines altogether. The technology was a Popular Mechanics 2007 Breakthrough Award winner but we hadn't heard too much about it since then until now.
Shawne Frayne, president of Humdinger Wind Energy and the Windbelt's inventor, is one of five finalists for the Curry Stone Design Prize. He's up against some stiff competition-check out the other Curry Stone finalists- but if he comes out on top Frayne will claim a $100,000 prize. We'll find out on September 25th when the winner is announced at the IdeaFestival in Louisville, Kentucky.
For those who missed it the first time around, here's how the Windbelt works:
Aerostatic Flutter Generates Power Humdinger Wind on the problem and their solution:
For the past thousand years, wind power has centered around rotation. Rotating dutch wind mills for pounding grain, rotating sail designs for pumping water, and most recently rotating turbine-based generators for creating electricity. These approaches work fine for the macro-applications for which they were originally designed. However, on the small scale, rotating systems have big problems. Efficiency losses in gear boxes, decreased efficiency of miniaturized airfoils, the need for specialized bearings to reduce wear...all lead to system failure in hours, 1% efficiencies, and the need for hurricane speed winds.
Humdinger's core technology, the Windbelt generator, gets around these problems by putting aside rotation entirely. Instead, we have developed a method by which a taut, vibrating membrane, coupled with a no-contact, direct-drive electrical generator, can tap the energy of flowing air. The effect we capitalize on is known as aeroelastic flutter, most famously exhibited in the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapse."
Source: Treehugger.com
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