Author: valeriu

Tip o’ the Day: Wear Sunscreen, Not Chemicals

Temperatures are on the rise (for those of us in the northern hemisphere) and the sun can really pack a punch especially during the heat of the day. Make sure your SPF is doing its job without those pesky chemicals.

Many brands of sunblock contain chemicals with estrogenic properties – meaning they can be endocrine disruptors, which confuse the body's natural hormonal balance. Look for sunscreens that use titanium dioxide or zinc oxide. These are inert compounds that will reflect the sun and keep you protected from both UVB (the rays that can cause sunburn) and UVA (the rays that can cause long-term skin damage).

Have some fun in the sun with solar powered toys

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Do you remember the hydrogen fuel cell powered toy cars that we have shown you in the past? If you do, you might also remember the fact that they are extremely expensive, which is the problem with hydrogen powered products of any kind. If you like the idea of alternative power for you kids, but can’t quite afford the hydrogen version, consider going solar instead. Neat Solar Stuff offers a few vehicles and robots which are powered by solar energy. Some of their products will accept a small battery as well, which also brings up the idea of solar powered battery charging. Sometimes the best way to get your kids interested in cool new technologies like this is to make them fun!

As a side note, I find it interesting that these little vehicles are so much cheaper than hydrogen powered toys. The situation stays the same as the sizes increase, of course. This is why electric vehicles currently make a good deal more sense than hydrogen-powered vehicles, which are also electric.

[Source: Neat Solar Stuff via Hugg]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Auto Industry is sick and tired of State CO2 regulations

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They’re launching a counterattack, according to Automotive News (subs req’d). The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (consisting of the Big 2.5, Toyota and five others) submits that California regulators and those of the tagalong states have been misleading the public about the benefits of such regulations.

While under oath in a federal trial in Vermont, regulators contradicted themselves by saying that the rules they have been touting will have no effect on global climate change, and compliance with them will be almost impossible for the automakers. Even if the entire country adopted the regulations the State of California is attempting to implement under a waiver of the Clean Air Act, it would have no measurable impact on climate change.

The other grounds in favor of the Alliance is the fact that regulation of fuel economy – which all this legislation is supposedly about – is a responsibility entrusted exclusively to the federal government, not that of the state.

Aside from the statement that there would be no measurable improvement in the environment, it seems as if the Rebel Alliance has a pretty solid case, and I hope it goes well for them. It does seem that they are indeed putting forth a sincere, if belated, effort to build more efficient cars. It seems slow because gas prices are high now, not later. What the impatient and uneducated individual does not recognize is the fact that it takes years of development before a new car rolls off the line, and emissions regulations cannot change that. The automotive industry is a business, not a public service, and still runs on profit. Actions of the automakers must be well planned and thought out, and still elicit a return on the investment, despite our impatience. If you’ve paid your $155 for this year, read the Automotive News article here.

[Source: Automotive News – subscription required]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

A New VUE on Driving: Week Two

BusinessWeek.comSaturn VUE Hybrid: Image source: BusinessWeek.com

Last week, I gave you some of my initial impressions of the Saturn VUE hybrid that GM loaned me to test out for a few weeks. On Tuesday, I turned the keys back over to the company that handles press cars for GM. I enjoyed my time giving the vehicle a spin, and look forward to the release of the 2008 model, which will incorporate the "dual mode" hybrid system that GM created in partnership with DaimlerChrysler and BMW.

I mention the release of the new version because it occured to me this past week that the 2007 VUE Hybrid, while an impressive vehicle, is a "mild hybrid": the electric engine helps power the gasoline motor so it doesn't burn as much fuel, and keeps systems operating when the gas engine shuts down at a full stop. This is helpful in terms of achieving higher fuel efficiency than the standard model (and the VUE Hybrid does get the best highway gas mileage of any SUV); the dual mode system (which will also be available in the Chevy Tahoe and the GMC Yukon) will be much more similar to a full hybrid like the Toyota Prius. The dual mode system will include:

  • Engine off at idle
  • Low speed electric-only propulsion
  • Electric boosting during brisk acceleration, climbing steep grades or towing
  • Cutting off fuel to the engine during vehicle deceleration
  • Regenerative braking
  • Engine speed and load control

I bring all of this up to say that I think the '08 model will be worth waiting for. According to GM, these features will increase fuel efficiency by 45%, making the VUE competitive on gas mileage with many smaller cars. And, of course, GM has also promised a plug-in model in the near future (though the company has not specified a date for it).

UK scientists might have found the end of tire fires – recycling vulcanized rubber

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There are thousands of landfill sites around the world filled with hundreds of millions of tires. Unfortunately used tires have been notoriously hard to recycle until now. They have been ground up and used as an aggregate in road surfaces or for flooring but sixty-five percent of annual rubber production is used to make new tires. The vulcanizing process chemically changes the rubber and makes it unsuitable to reuse in new tires.

British researchers may have found a way to make the previously vulcanized rubber adhere to new rubber so that it can be reused. By grinding up old tires and then treating them in an ionized oxygen plasma chamber they have been able to get the carbon bonds to break and adhere to new rubber particles. Once that happens the rubber can be reprocessed in to new tires. Similar process have been tried before with chlorine or flourine but using oxygen is definitely less risky.

[Source: New Scientist Tech, thanks to Howard for the tip]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

GM VP Tom Stephens talks ethanol; how it can help prevent wars

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GM’s group vice president for Global Powertrain and Quality, Tom Stephens, spoke yesterday at the US BioEnergy ethanol plant in Woodbury, Michigan. Earlier, we brought you a video of some folks from US BioEnergy on how the plant and company operate. Now, here’s GM’s view on how to use all that ethanol. Stephens cites the two biggies – energy independence and less CO2 released into the air – as reasons GM is supporting ethanol so much (see, for example, this post and this one), but he makes it clear that hybrid/PHEVs and then EVs and hydrogen vehicles are the way of the future.

Give Tom a listen here.

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.