Monday, January 21, 2008

Stirling Energy - our best bet on going Solar?

Stirling Energy Systems Inc. is taking on a challenge to build "Solar Farms" in California's Mojave Desert and in the Imperial Valley, over the next 7 years. Each solar farm will have about 10,000 dishes, that will apply the Stirling Engine principle to power generation.
The project is expected to cost close to 1 Billion dollars for each of the two planned farms and construction is expected to start in 2009.

So, could this be our best bet on utilizing the greatest powerhouse available to us (Solar Energy right now is the most expensive form of renewable energy sources and currently stands at less than 1% of the total US electricity generation)

Here is a YouTube video about this news article:

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Toyota Does a Honda Ridgeline?

Toyota just took the wraps of it's concept Hybrid Pick-up truck - The A-BAT . It almost looks like a compressed Honda Ridgeline.




Apart from being hybrid, the features I like are the fact that it will feature a "expandable" truck bed that can be increased from 4 feet to 6, by lowering the midgate or a full 8 feet when both the midgate and tailgate are lowered. It will apparently also have solar panels on the dashboard.


People have expressed mixed opinions about the design, but I, for one think it is cool or futuristic. Heck, I'll even go so far as to say, that this is one of my main choices for a pick-up, if I ever decide to get one!