THE SOLAR TOWER

The Solar Flower Tower

October 20th, 2009 - On the odd chance that you were traveling through South Israel in late June, you may have had to do a double take thinking that your eyes had deceived you. In the distance, it may have appeared as though a giant flower had sprouted right out of the desert floor. That was no dessert mirage, but it was the future of solar power. The Solar Flower Tower is one of the latest inventions in our never ending search to make alternative energy sources more viable.

The Solar Flower Tower is a product of AORA Solar and was designed by a very forward thinking architect named Haim Dotan. Companies continue to look for ways to make solar energy more efficient and his Solar Flower Tower is the latest in innovative designs that maximizes the solar energy captured at a solar station. As the world continues its quest to integrate renewable energy into our daily energy usage, you can expect to see a lot more of these solar powered flower fields.

The Solar Flower Tower is currently placed in a field of 30 solar tracking mirrors and gathers the sunlight that is reflected directly off of them to the top of this 30 foot structure. What appears to be the bulb of the Solar Flower Tower is actually a solar receiver that has a 100kw gas turbine inside of it. As the suns energy is captured by the receiver, it raises the temperature of the internal air to over 1,000 degrees Celsius and powers the gas turbine. The turbine then generates electricity that is immediately transported to the local power grid for use.

While the Solar Flower Tower is colorful and unique, it is proving to be a huge step forward in making solar power readily available and cost efficient. This monstrous flower is constructed of recycled materials (green energy created from green materials) and can be constructed in just a few days. The idea is to expand the station and gradually add a variety of Solar Flower Towers that are different colors. Instead of having an eyesore in the middle of the dessert, we will have what will appear to be a colorful field of flowers from afar. Instead of pollen, these flowers are creating electricity!

AMERICAN EV MAKERS

The Next Tycoons

Innovation is what America is all about. Nearly every major invention of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was created by an American, an American company, or both. Great inventors and entrepreneurs are what made up this nation's economic history. From Henry Ford to Elon Musk, the automobile industry has been a focus of that American spirit.

Behind the innovation are the entrepreneurs that create it and in the new market of electric cars that's now emerging, there is no shortage of entrepreneurs and their startups. Although we all know about the Chevrolet Volt and the Toyota Prius, those companies are not the end-all or be-all of EV tech. There are many, many other innovators with electrics available now or soon to hit the streets.

The companies on our list all produce an electric or hybrid-electric car, truck, or other small transportation vehicle. They are highway-ready, DOE-recognized machines, not glorified golf carts and Razor scooters. None of them are the Big 3 in Detroit.

Aptera

One of the most easily recognizable new EVs to hit the market, the Aptera 2e has been featured on Jay Leno's Garage, is an entrant into the Progressive Automotive X Prize competition, and is an affordable, highway-capable battery or plug-in hybrid electric (depending on options). The ì3-wheeled airplaneî is unique in every way. It releases in 2010 and Aptera is taking pre-orders now. Aptera is based in Vista, California.

Coda Automotive

This company emerged on the scene in June of 2009 when Miles Rubin (of Miles Electric Vehicles) announced he was going to bring a highway-ready battery electric sedan to market in 2010. Teaming with now-CEO of Coda, Kevin Czinger, the C

The producers of the extremely recognizable Tango commuter, this company has been in the news for some time. The Tango is a very thin (motorcycle-width) single passenger vehicle meant for those who commute into or through the city daily. It has a top speed of 150mph. Commuter Cars Corp. is based in Spokane, Washington.

Electric City Motors

Boasting the honor of being the first all-electric, highway-ready car available for distribution/purchase in the United States, Electric City Motors has the battery electric Current. The Current is a 4-door hatchback that seats four and is capable of highway speeds with ranges from 45-300 miles per charge, depending on options. Other products for future production include a pickup, a small bus, and more. Electric City Motors is located in Parker, Colorado.

Electric Vehicles International

This company manufactures electric vehicles based on the chassis of existing models. Their small delivery vans and medium duty trucks are shipped from the manufacturer without a power train and EVI installs their own. The trucks are capable of 60mph, have a range of 50-115 miles per charge (depending on model) and are currently available. EVI is based in Stockton, California.

Phoenix Motorcars

This company introduced a concept model in 2008 and has since used the platform to produce production concepts for a four-door pickup truck (Sport Utility Truck or SUT) and an SUV. Both are battery-electric vehicles capable of highway speeds of a 100 mile range. Their promising beginnings have met with rocky roads, however, as the 2008 model has been pushed back several times with a current expected release in 2010. Phoenix Motorcars is located in Ontario, California.

Persu Mobility

Formerly known as Venture Vehicles, this company builds the extremely unique 3-wheel.The company expects to have the car available for purchase by 2012. Persu Mobility is based in er called the Persu Hybrid. Part car, part airplane, this vehicle does more than drive, it glides over the road.

Tesla Motors

Anyone at all familiar with alternative fueled vehicles knows what the Tesla Roadster is. Tesla Motors is the company founded by the ex-CEO and founder of PayPal, Elon Musk and visionary Martin Eberhard, who has since left the company. The Roadster is based on a Lotus Elise platform and the company plans an entirely in-house Model S sedan for 2011 production. Tesla Motors is based in San Carlos, California.

Wrightspeed

This company hit the news when their X1 prototype race concept car dazzled everyone with its extreme specs. It burns out the 0-60 in only 3.07 seconds, it gets the equivalent to 170mpg, and goes from 0-112 with only one gear. The company focuses on power train technology, but plans to take the X1 to production in 2011. Wrightspeed is based in Burlingame, California.

ZAP

Long known as a maker of neighborhood and low-speed electrics, Zero Air Pollution (ZAP) entered the highway-ready automotive market with the announcement and presentation of their Alias 3-wheeled car. The very strong design of this unique car grabbed immediate attention. The latest incarnation is the production prototype, which is competing in the Progressive Automotive X Prize. ZAP is based in Santa Rosa, California and is publicly traded on Nasdaq (ZAAP)

 

Fisker Automotive

Often compared to the Tesla Roadster, the Fisker Karma is very different. It is a plug-in electric hybrid or range-extended hybrid, not an all-electric vehicle. Created by the legendary automotive designer Henrik Fisker, the luxury sedan is set to change many things about the American market. Fisker promotes style, luxury, and price tags in reach of many. Fisker Automotive is based in Irvine,

Harvey Coachworks

This company makes the unique-looking BugE series of enclosed motorcycles. Both the SRT and XR models are capable of 45mph while the upcoming XRT model will be capable of 65mph. These vehicles have a range of 40-120 miles, depending on the model. Harvey is based in Knoxville, Maryland.

Myers Motors

This company debuted with the diminutive NMG model, which is a one-seat commuter vehicle. Their latest model, which will release in 2010, is the NMG2 (or NMG squared), which seats two and is highway-capable at under $30,000. The sportier redesign and more contemporary appearance of the 3-wheeler has turned heads. Myers Motors is based in Tallmadge, Ohio.

e-Roadsters (NORAM Concepts)

This company builds a kit car or finished solution based on a 3/ 4 scale model of a 1932 Ford HiBoy Roadster. The car is capable of 50+mph for about 45 miles on a charge and is built as a city cruiser or weekend driver. It's squarely aimed at the classic enthusiast market and is definitely unique. e-Roadsters is a division of NORAM Concepts and is based in Redondo Beach, California.

Detroit Electric

Reviving the name of an old, popular company, this startup is introducing electric vehicles through two models: the e46 and the e63. Both are battery electrics with over 100 miles range per charge. Although Detroit Electric is based in Washington, D.C., their vehicles are manufactured in Malaysia.

A salient point abvout al the above,is that all the thinking behind these technologies have been initiated by the private sector and the government. One good reason the government should stay out of manufacturing

NANO TECHNOLOGY TO THE RESCUE

Auto Maker CAFE Standards in the US; Nano Tech will Solve This Problem Regulation Bad - By Lance Winslow

By Lance Winslow

Often free market capitalists like myself just cringe when government tells us how they are going to save industry and save America by making more rules and regulations to save us from ourselves. To me, well that's just nonsense really. The new administration, along with congress are calling for higher "mile per gallon" rules by 2020, but isn't this just a grandstanding game?

How does that really help anyone? You see, people will buy more efficient cars to save money when it makes sense. Thus, the free-market system will provide customers what they desire based on that free-market principle. Besides new materials for automobiles are in the innovation pipeline and will be online in the future years by 2020 anyway, so why make rules?

It is our contention that with carbon-nano tubes, graphene, and buckypaper composites, that cars will weigh in at under 800 pounds and thus, automatically get 50 mpg, without doing anything else. Including SUVs and light trucks. So, I really do not even know why government is worrying about it. Just speed up the nanotech sector and figure out the safety issues in manufacturing things with tiny specs of dust size airborne particles while doing it.

The safety increases will save 10s of thousands of lives per year too. We are talking more fuel efficient aircraft, cars, trucks, ships, space craft, you name it. I get tired of listening to podium pushers that cannot see the forest for the trees and just keep making rules, regulations and laws, rather than solving the total problem, without doing stupid things leading to the law of unintended consequences.

THE GLOBAL WARMING HOAX

 

The Mathematics of Global Warming

By Peter Landesman

The forecasts of global warming are based on the mathematical solutions of equations in models of the weather.  But all of these solutions are inaccurate. Therefore no valid scientific conclusions can be made concerning global warming. The false claim for the effectiveness of mathematics is an unreported scandal at least as important as the recent climate data fraud. Why is the math important? And why don’t the climatologists use it correctly?

Mathematics has a fundamental role in the development of all physical sciences. First the researchers strive to understand the laws of nature determining the behavior of what they are studying. Then they build a model and express these laws in the mathematics of differential and difference equations. Next the mathematicians analyze the solutions to these equations to improve the understanding of the scientist. Often the mathematicians can describe the evolution through time of the scientist’s model.

The most famous successful use of mathematics in this way was Isaac Newton’s demonstration that the planets travel in elliptical paths around the sun.  He formulated the law of gravity (that the rate of change of the velocity between two masses is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them) and then developed the mathematics of differential calculus to demonstrate his result.

Every college physics student studies many of the simple models and their successful solutions that have been found over the 300 years after Newton.  Engineers constantly use models and mathematics to gain insight into the physics of their field.

However, for many situations of interest, the mathematics may become too difficult. The mathematicians are unable to answer the scientist’s important questions because a complete understanding of the differential equations is beyond human knowledge.  A famous longstanding such unsolved problem is the n-body problem:  if more than two planets are revolving around one another, according to the law of gravity, will the planets ram each other or will they drift out to infinity?

Fortunately, in the last fifty years computers have been able to help mathematicians solve complex models over short time periods. Numerical analysts have developed techniques to graph solutions to differential equations and thus to yield new information about the model under consideration.  All college calculus students use calculators to find solutions to simple differential equations called integrals.  Space-travel is possible because computers can solve the n-body problem for short times and small n.  The design of the stealth jet fighter could not have been accomplished without the computing speed of parallel processors.  These successes have unrealistically raised the expectations for the application of mathematics to scientific problems.

Unfortunately, even assuming the model of the physics is correct, computers and mathematicians cannot solve more difficult problems such as the weather equations for several reasons.  First, the solution may require more computations than computers can make.  Faster and faster computers push back the speed barrier every year.  Second, it may be too difficult to collect enough data to accurately determine the initial conditions of the model. Third, the equations of the model may be non-linear. This means that no simplification of the equations can accurately predict the properties of the solutions of the differential equations. The solutions are often unstable. That is a small variation in initial conditions lead to large variations some time later. This property makes it impossible to compute solutions over long time periods.

As an expert in the solutions of non-linear differential equations, I can attest to the fact that the more than two-dozen non-linear differential equations in the models of the weather are too difficult for humans to have any idea how to solve accurately.  No approximation over long time periods has any chance of accurately predicting global warming.  Yet approximation is exactly what the global warming advocates are doing.  Each of the more than 30 models being used around the world to predict the weather is just a different inaccurate approximation of the weather equations.  (Of course this is only an issue if the model of the weather is correct. It is probably not because the climatologists probably do not understand all of the physical processes determining the weather.)

Therefore, logically one cannot conclude that any of the predictions are correct. To base economic policy on the wishful thinking of these so-called scientists is just foolhardy from a mathematical point of view. The leaders of the mathematical community, ensconced in universities flush with global warming dollars, have not adequately explained to the public the above facts.

President Obama should appoint a Mathematics Czar to consult before he goes to Copenhagen.

AMERICANS LOVE A WINNER-GEN.GEORGE PATTON

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OBAMA- GET THE MESSAGE?

A U.S. Army cadet reads a book entitled "Kill Bin Laden" as he waits with other cadets for U.S. President Barack Obama to deliver an address on U.S. policy and the war in Afghanistan at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York December 1, 2009. Obama is expected to announce a plan to send 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan over six months in a bid to beat back the Taliban and bring a quicker end to a costly and unpopular eight-year war.

Obama! Get the message. You were in enemy territory according to MSLSD’s dope Chris Mathews.

THE BRITISH SCIENTISTS STEP DOWN

UK climate scientist to temporarily step down

Britain's University of East Anglia says the director of its prestigious Climatic Research Unit is stepping down pending an investigation into allegations that he overstated the case for man-made climate change.

The university says Phil Jones will relinquish his position until the completion of an independent review into allegations that he worked to alter the way in which global temperature data was presented.

The allegations were made after more than a decade of correspondence between leading British and U.S. scientists were posted to the Web following the security breach last month.

The e-mails were seized upon by some skeptics of man-made climate change as proof that scientists are manipulating the data about its extent.

This is a fiasco. It is time for Al Gore to step down too. This time, to oblivion. We do not wish to see you again.