Combining the brilliance of nature with some top-notch engineering, these two scientists are on to something and getting the funding for it.

The researchers are breaking ground with this and looking to raise water monitoring to another level.

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Here’s one for the strange book: according to Automotive News (subs. req’d), the egg-shaped, tilt-wheel, 2-seat, Nissan electric car concept set to debut at the Tokyo Motor Show this week known as the Land Glider is apparently under serious consideration for actually being built. Not only that, reportedly the company also thinks it would work well as a luxury Infiniti.

I don’t really know what to say, except… maybe Nissan knows something about rich people that I don’t?

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Two Kenyan students have invented a device that allows bicycle riders to charge their phones as they pedal.

Deemed a “dynamo-powered smart charger”, the device should make it more economical for the 17.5 million Kenyans who use mobile phones to charge them. Even more impressive, the environmentally-friendly phone charger was originally built from scraps retrieved from a junkyard.

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With more than 60% of its population unable to access the power grid, Nigerian engineers are now racing to devise viable alternatives to deliver electricity to an additional 85 million people or more in less than 12 years.

An email sent to me by one Irene Faluyi-Smythe talked of an event that will rally Nigerian engineers in the Diaspora to return home and take part in engineering development that would deliver sustainable power, and I got interested.

Sponsored and hosted by the UK chapter of the Engineering Forum of Nigerians, the 14 June 2008 conference in London will be looking at means and ways of delivering sustainable power in the country.

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Recently, I visited such a solar testing lab — the Solar Power Research Lab at Chosun University in Gwangju, South Korea. I was greeted by Mr. Choi Jong-sik, an engineer and a graduate of the department.

Out front of this lab, a small field of solar panels soak up sunlight. The panel’s designs range from flat to arched and even rotating; some are varicolored polycrystalline, others are neatly lined monocrystalline. Rotating panels have tracking devices that follow the sun (pictured here). The panels can rotate 180° and swivel vertically 53°, following the sun’s path across the sky. The array and variety of panels is stunning.

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The book goes far beyond what a casual reader interested in solar power would need to know, but there is a wealth of good information inside, and it is likely to be useful for a wide range of readers who have more than just a casual interest in solar power. It is largely concentrated on electrical generation strategies with solar power, although the final chapter of the book deals with passive solar heating technologies.

This book is more than just an engineering technical manual. In addition to being a resource for engineers and architects, building managers, owners (and here I’m thinking more of commercial building manager and operators rather than the average homeowner), and other non-technical readers will find a wealth of information about current energy programs such as the California Solar Initiative Program and about the economics of solar power systems–aspects that play a major role in determining whether or not to install a solar power system.

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This is a multi-year program, which has already gone through two years of evaluations and awards. And, while the initial information I had about the program was that this was the conclusion of the challenge, I learned that there is going to be a fourth year to the program, which will focus on consumer acceptability issues.

The top three programs for this year's competition were Mississipi State (1st place), University of Wisconsin (2nd place), and Virginia Tech (3rd place). The vehicles went through a multi-day testing at GM's proving grounds, and were judged on numerous criteria. More information about the ChallengeX results can be found on GM's FYI blog.

I talked for a bit with Dr. Andrew Frank, the faculty adviser, and with Terrence Wiliams, the project team leader for the team from University of California at Davis, who call themselves Team Fate. Of the 17 teams in ChallengeX, only the team from UC-Davis had a plug-in hybrid vehicle. (Unfortunately, a broken clutch kept them from completing the competition, and their vehicle was not one that was availalbe to be driven.) To help demonstrate their vehicle's ability to travel without needing to use it's internal combustion engine, Team Fate had a demonstration trailer with a solar panel for charging their vehicle (though it wasn't able to be on display with the vehicle). Like the Volt, it was designed to be able to travel a reasonable range based on a charge collected from a plug in source (be it a solar PV array on a garage roof or just a grid-tied circuit) and avoid the use of the fuelled half of the system altogether.

Plug-in Hybrid EquinoxSeveral other ChalengeX vehicles were available to be driven (albeit just a trip around the block at GM's Renaissance Center headquarters in Detroit). Most of the teams (12 of the 17 competitors) used biodiesel (all were using a B20 blend) as their fuel. One team which went a bit farther with their entry, however, was the University of Waterloo's vehicle, which was powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, rather than some form of internal combustion engine. (I had the chance to drive that vehicle, and that will be covered in a forthcoming article.)

In addition to the announcement of the winners in this year's stage of the ChallengeX program, I also had an opportunity to meet with a couple of GM executives, who were discussing aspects of GM's forthcoming Volt program, which was the topic of everyone's interest.

Micky Bly, engineering director for GM's hybrid vehicle integration contols, spoke to several bloggers present as a special outreach. Much of the discussion dealt with the issue of batteries for the new Chevrolet Volt. When GM committed to the Volt, the question of where they were going to find the batteries with sufficient technology seemed to be one of the key obstacles to bringing a plug-in hybrid to the marketplace. The week before, GM had announced their selection of two suppliers to work with in moving toward the development of a suitable battery. This is a big step forward in bringing this car to the market, and there were many questions about the program.

The focus is on lithium-ion batteries, which are, esentially, a scaled up version of what you have in your cell phone or your laptop computer, in all likelihood. Lithium-ion batteries have the working charge range and the energy density to serve as the batteries for this vehicle. But, as has been seen in several recent cases, sometimes these batteries can overheat and cause fires, and those problems need to be solved if GM is going to be able to offer a 10 year/100,000 mile warranty on them (which, according to the discusions I had, is what GM is planning).

While no one would give us a release date for the Volt, there is strong enthusiasm for this program among all the people I spoke to. Both Larry Burns (GM's Vice President, Research & Development and Strategic Planning) and Micky Bly spoke about "displacing petroleum." Much of the focus with the new vehicle systems that GM is developing, as well as the ChallengeX entries, are working to reduce the amount of petroleum that is required for transportation.

Other blogs present:

Autoblog Green

Podtech.net

GM-volt.com

Other coverage:

After Gutenberg

Green Car Congress