Green Options » blimp

Solar Powered Zeppelin? Actually, It’s A Blimp

Christopher DeMorro — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:05:31 +0000

Call me crazy, but I think zeppelins have gotten a bad rap. Sure, the Hindenburg went up in flames rather spectacularly, and airplanes made slow-moving dirigibles all but obsolete after WWII. But I still love me some giant floating gas bags.

So this announcement that a team of French engineering and tech students have come up with solar-powered blimp that uses flexible solar cells gets me all giddy. Called Project Sol’R, the team hopes to cross the English Channel using their blimp, simply to prove that it can be done.

Peak Helium? We are Running Out of Helium

Jennifer Lance — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 20:45:43 +0000

No more squeaky voices from floating balloons. No more Goodyear blimps. We may have reached peak helium levels, as this inert gas is endangered.

According to Scientific Blogging, helium is not readily renewable and is made through from uranium and thorium decaying over billions of years:

Lee Sobotka, professor of chemistry and physics at Washington University in St. Louis, says it is being depleted so rapidly in the world’s largest reserve, outside of Amarillo, Tex., that supplies are expected to be gone there within the next eight years.

Image: Goodyear Blimp