Green Options » open source

Open-Source Hydrogen Car Takes to the Road

The Guardian Environment Network — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:53:44 +0000

A new hydrogen-powered car, whose designs will be “open source” and posted for free use on the web, was unveiled today in London. The company behind the Riversimple urban car claim the new model proves hydrogen automotive technology is ready for roll-out now rather than in 10 years’ time.

The open-source approach means entrepreneurs around the world could download the designs and manufacture the two-seater prototype locally for free.

The car, which drove in to the launch event, is capable of a 50mph top speed, 0-30mph acceleration in 5.5 seconds, and has a 240 mile range. The car’s backers say it has greenhouse gas emissions of 30g/km CO2, less than a third of the latest hybrid petrol cars such as the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight.

The lightweight Smart car-size vehicle uses hydrogen in a modest 6kW fuel cell, and – in the case of this prototype – uses hydrogen converted from natural gas. Hydrogen can also be created from water using electrolysis and potentially even from bio-fuels.

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A New, Open Source Model of Car Design Emerges

Paul Smith — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:00:51 +0000

As the auto industry as we know it continues to crumble, a new model is emerging out of the Netherlands, known currently as c,mm,n. Open source design has proven itself successful in a number of arenas from software to restaurants. But a car? Yes, one where the design will be made available to the public, with the provision that their design be likewise made open to the public to do their own revisions and modifications on it.

With the focus being shifted to creating a vehicle that meets people’s needs in conjunction with other modes of transport, the experience of driving it enhanced by currently useful information, and the profit centered on the services rather than the product itself, this is a radical shift from tightly reigned intellectual property, proprietary after market parts, and a rather slow development curve when it comes to becoming a truly green car.

The thinking about and creation of the c,mm,n car is being done both online and in person, with the three c,mm,n garages happening so far. 800+ people are on their wiki, with 80 actively participating in conception and design at the moment.

What’s the actual car like?

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The Twelve Days of sustainablog: Urban Homesteading, Green Colleges, and Recycling by the Numbers

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 02:44:15 +0000

Dog days of August? Not at sustainablog!

While most people are wondering if the summer heat is ever going to end, we were hitting our stride here: many more posts, and much more variety. Perhaps it was the cool breeze created by fingers flying across the keyboard…

August 2008

Kelli Best-Oliver reported on a couple of bloggers documenting the American urban homesteading movement.
Low Impact Living discovered a much better investment than the stock market: green home improvements.
Lisa Kivirist showed us how to adopt a neighbor’s fruit tree.
Raz Godelnik of Eco-Libris wondered if free online open-source textbooks represented the future for college students.

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Easy-Peasy Freesie Burdastyle Patterns for Novice Sewers

Julie Finn — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:40:40 +0000

Who’s getting a sewing machine for Christmas? You are!!!

Maybe. As for me, I want a serger (You reading this, Matt?). But let’s say you’re getting a sewing machine for your holiday gift. Perhaps you’re new to sewing, or just need a little time to get up to speed on your awesome, new-to-you machine. Then pop on over to one of my favorite sewing hangouts, Burdastyle. You can browse the tutorials and forums of this open-source sewing enterprise at your leisure, but if you sign up (free!) you’ll also be able to print out their community-made open-source sewing patterns (free!), including these easy-peasy ones perfect for beginners:

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openWind: New Open-Source Wind Farm Design Software

Timothy B. Hurst — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:32:01 +0000

A New York software company has announced the scheduled release of its open-source wind farm design software. Albany-based AWS TrueWind designed the openWind software so that a range of end users, from individuals to wind energy developers, could apply and adapt the software their own particular set of data.

>>More on maps at CleanTechnica

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Eco-Libris: Open Source and Free Online Textbooks - Is this the Future of Textbooks?

Raz Godelnik — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:31:55 +0000

This post was originally published on Eco-Libris blog on August 22.

Last week we wrote here about our partner Chegg and their renting textbooks’ model. This is a great model and it’s an example of the innovative thinking that tries to find an alternative to the current expensive (average of USD 1,000 per year in the US), not environmental friendly and irritating textbook system.

And this search has generated another great idea which has a good chance to influence the future of the textbook industry: open source free online textbooks. This innovative concept comes from Flat World Knowledge (thanks to Springwise for the update!)

How does it work exactly? Flat World Knowledge explains on their website

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