Alternative Car Fuels UK

Vanner Incorporated recently announced that they will be using BOOSTCAP ultracapacitor modules produced by Maxwell Technologies. The leading company of electric power conversion systems said that the Maxwell product will be used to surge power to its engine starter system contracted to be used in the modification of Chicago transit buses.

Tescate Industries, Maxwell’s partner, will be providing Vanner Inc. with 460 of Maxwell’s 16-volt BMOD0500 modules. The saud modules are designed to give the power that Vanner’s starter system needed.

The modification of the Chicago Buses was approved early this year. The $1.3 million contract entitles Vanner to purchase and install the company’s StartSentry system into buses handled by the Chicago Transit Authority or CTA. Sources say that 460 CTA buses will undergo the said modification.

The project is a response to the operation difficulties that CTA often encounters during the winter season. Due to the freezing temperature in the cold months, CTA’s bus batteries loose needed voltage. The lost power forces CTA to use an external jump start to start the vehicles. The buses’ engine myst also be left running for an hour before hitting the roads.

More… »

The small British town of Hudderland was the focus of electric car technology in the UK as it fielded what could be the world’s first garbage truck collector running on fuel from trash.

The leccy vehicle is actually a modified 3.5 ton Smith Edison Ford Transit that has been handling trash collection for the municipality. The van can be completely charged in eight hours and can run for about 100 miles.

The electric van, running on 40 kWh lithium ion batteries, collects rubbish from around 25 split bins located in central Huddersfield. The garbage van has a top speed of 50 mph.

EIW’s or Energy from Waste Stations has been installed by the community to power up this vehicle. The EIWs convert trash into energy by burning and converting it to electricity. The stations can provide the energy needed by the van to go its route the following day.

More… »

From the Goethe University of Frankfurt, Professor Eckhard Boles and his team have modified, genetically, the Saccharomyces cerevisiaeyeast to be able to produce a newly formed enzyme that can make fermentation of xylose (a 5 chained sugar) as well as the 6-carbon sugar (like glucose). The research and evaluation are included on their journal Applied Environmental Microbiology.

When treated, cellulosic biomass can actually produce a mixture of pentose (5 chained carbon) and hexose (6 chained carbon) sugars, as well as glucose, galactose, D-xylose, mannose and L-arabinose. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is typical industrial yeast that offers high production, fast sugar consumption and ethanol tolerance. The only problem is, it cannot ferment pentose sugars.

The lack of helpful microorganisms that can convert the hexoses and pentoses effectively to ethanol is a major hindrance to the cost-efficient production of cellulosic ethanol through the process of fermentation.

More… »

Keeping an eye on the distress that is looming ahead of us, most car manufacturers are contemplating on using alternative fuel resources and energies to run their cars of the near future. The fuel resources of the plant are dwindling and might just last for a few decades more. Apart from this is the danger that is being caused on the plant due to harmful emissions by the natural fuels that we are using currently and which release a huge amount of dangerous CO2 gases. Solar Powered Cars are great!

Nature has gifted us with an abundance of sources like wind, water and sunshine, which can be easily harnessed to give us the power we need to drive our cars. While alternative fuels are already being tested and used, more and more car manufacturers are also looking towards solar energy as an alternative to drive cars. Such cars contain a panel of solar cells on their top that uses the light energy of the sun and converts that to electricity that is used to drive the cars.

More… »

At present the fuel needs of humanity is met mainly by the fossil fuel. Automobiles are run by petroleum products. Most of the electric power generation is done by petroleum derivatives. Everyday the demand on petroleum products is going up. One day the petroleum reserve will dry up. Moreover, the gases coming from burning them cause health hazards to mankind. An alternative is hydro-electric power generation. Even though this power is harmless and has renewable source, there is not sufficient water with required pressure head available. Wind energy is another source with no harmful side effects. But that too is limited.

Another source of energy experimented for sometime is burning of hydrogen. It produces only water and hydrogen can be regenerated from water. On the other hand the fossil fuel produces very harmful gases like carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. If this trial is successful we can have a never ending source of energy.

More… »

There are many people who are facing problems with the increase in cost of oil prices all over the world. They did not think when they had purchased their car that the prices of diesel would increase so much. There is an opportunity for such people and the bets way for them is to switch over to biodiesel car fuel. For those who are finding it hard to believe and have doubts whether this biodiesel car fuel will work with their car or not, here is good news.

Cars that have diesel engines and even trucks that run on diesel will also run on biodiesel car fuel. There are other alternatives too like converting you car so that it runs directly on vegetable oil.

More… »

The biggest query that people are asking nowadays is what type of vehicles we shall be going to drive in the future? If you are wondering, then you should be aware that this query has stimulated many human minds and their brains as the oil reserves of the world are declining to such a disturbing degree that people are asking questions about how long with the oil reserves of the world last us? These worries are not baseless since the earth has got a limited supply of fuel left and very soon the day will come when there will be no fuel left at all. How can we beat this scenario without causing discomfort to us? There is a simple solution and the answer is to go in for hybrid cars.

Mercedes A-Class Hybrid Car

The technology behind hybrid cars are that they are designed to run on alternative fuels like solar cells or hydrogen gas without emitting any toxic gases in the atmosphere. There are people who ask if these hybrid cars perform as well as their fuel counterparts? If one looks under the bonnet of a hybrid car, they will notice that it has two engines instead of one. One of them runs using electricity and the other uses diesel or petrol. Both these engines work in tandem and give you both better performance and higher mileage at a cheaper cost. You will never be stuck if the fuel finishes. The electric engine will ensure that you reach home.

Global warming, preservation of the planet, and alternative fuels seem to be buzzwords of the new millennium. Whether they are just phrases or actual causes moving to improve the condition of the world, there is no doubt that many organizations and people are trying to find fairer, cleaner ways to live. But what exactly is “alternative fuel” and why is finding alternative fuels so important to the world’s preservation? And does finding alternatives always go hand in hand with preservation?

To answer some of these questions, we must first define the meaning of “alternative fuels”. Simply put, it is the search for fuels other than gas, kerosene and diesel. And while the most altruistic reason for discovering or manufacturing new fuels is the reduction of pollution and smog, and cleaning up our environment, there are many other excellent reasons to change fuels. More… »