TTXGP North American Electric Motorcycle Racing Championship
Lightning strikes at VIR to win the TTXGP North America 2010 electric motorcycle racing championship on August 15th 2010
August 16th, 2010 10:38 am; By David Herron, Green Transportation Examiner
Michael Barnes on the Lightning wins. With speeds of up to 134mph. Ms. Zoe Rem of Team Agni came in 2nd and Thad Wolff on Team Electra came in 3rd. In truth, Michael Barnes of Lightning Motorcycles had already won the TTXGP North American championship ahead of this weekend’s final race.
In an exciting finish to the TTXGP North America season, Michael Barnes wraps up the TTXGP North America championship. The race got off to a clean start and for the first few laps, unlike previous races, most of the pack was close together. Barnes, on the Lightning Motorcycles bike (yellow) led from the start to the finish, as happened in the previous TTXGP races. Further down the pack real competition happened with the 2nd and 3rd and 4th and 5th place finishers trading places several times. It was an exciting race, with all the teams performed excellently.
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Wind and Solar Energy on the Rise
Former president Bush promotes renewable energy
UK on Course to Reap Massive Renewable Energy Harvest
8 States Offering Homeowners Solar Energy Rebates
Ohio and Oklahoma Lawmakers Approve Clean Energy Bills
Wind Energy Becoming More Competitive
Indiana Seeks Opportunities At Texas Wind Conference
Xcel Energy to Buy 250 Mw from Colorado Wind Farm
Kan. Could Have 30000 Green Jobs by 2012
Oklahoma House Approves Renewable Energy Target
Texas hits renewable energy targets 15 years early
Former president promotes renewable energy in Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Former President George W. Bush recently promoted the use of renewable energy at a convention in Dallas. As reported by the Dallas Morning News, Bush gave a speech at the Windpower 2010 Convention held Thursday at the Dallas Convention Center.
Bush is quoted in the report as stating of the use of tax incentives for businesses for investing in renewable energy technology, "If you're interested in developing industry, keep your taxes low."
Bush is further quoted as stating of Texas' efforts in promoting wind energy production, including the passage of legislation in 1999, "There's a big difference in the talkers and the doers…Here in Texas, we're the doers." Texas has reportedly produced 9,000 megawatts of wind energy over the course of the last decade.
Nissan Leaf available in December for $21,380 in Calif. with rebates.
Nissan Leaf, First Drive;
By Andrew Frankel, Edmunds Inside Line contributor, Apr 28, 2010
You're going to be stunned by the Leaf's smoothness and refinement. It should be renamed the "Leap", a word to describe its throttle response!
The 2011 Nissan Leaf is a brand-new, purpose-built, mass-produced, battery-powered family car and, as such, the very first of its kind in the world. And we've driven it.
This is a full five-seater with a conspicuously large trunk. You sit a little higher than you might expect because there are 48 lithium-ion battery modules under the floor, but that's no bad thing. The cabin is spacious, airy and promising. The electronic dashboard works particularly well, using state-of-the-art graphics to present almost certainly more information than you will ever need, a way to reassure you that the Leaf is not going to run out of electrons without giving fair warning first.
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BPL to Bring 100 Mbps Home Broadband Speed at $9.95 a Month
New Draft Broadband over Power Line Standard (BPL) Published
By Brendan B. Read; Senior Contributing Editor - Smart Grid; January 11, 2010
Previously:
"With connection speeds of over 100 mbps and an expected monthy cost of $9.95, BPL should lower the cost speed ratio for the average American by a factor of 10 in a very short period beginning by the end of 2008."
The dream of home connectivity, ... without risking aerial hacking and dead spots and without costly and time-consuming drilling additional holes and fishing more wires is becoming closer to reality.
Interoperable Broadband over Power Line technology, using power lines for home networking, has reportedly taken the next step with the announcement by the IEEE Standards Association that Draft 2.0 of the IEEE (News - Alert) P1901 BPL standard is now available for purchase. The IEEE P1901 is expected to become an approved standard before the end of 2010.
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Electric Racing Motorcycles
Roehr 96 bhp electric sports motorcycle
Gizmag : January 5, 2010
Roehr Motorcycles, producers of the American-built 180 bhp 1250sc sportbike, is to introduce two electric motorcycles before mid-year, topped by a 96 bhp motorcycle with race level performance, 210 lb/ft of torque, and premium suspension and brake components which it has dubbed the eSuperbike. Significantly, even a lower spec eSupersport model with 48 bhp, 105 lb/ft of torque will top 100 mph. No details have yet been announced on the range of the bikes, but viable electric sports motorcycles are clearly going to be available before the end of the year.
The new electric range will be known as eRoehr and the range-topping superbike will use a high energy discharge, 10 Kwh, lithium iron phosphate battery pack and form the basis of Roehr Motorcycles' entry into the upcoming 2010 US TTXGP series. Roehr Motorcycles will also be offering race prepared versions of the eSuperbike for teams or individuals competing in the upcoming TTXGP, and FIM e-Power racing series.
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Greenhouse gas emissions pose a threat to public health and welfare
Washington (CNN)
Greenhouse gas emissions pose a threat to public health and welfare, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said Monday. "The overwhelming amount of scientific studies show that the threat is real,"
The announcement stems from a Supreme Court ruling which ordered the agency to determine the impact of carbon emissions not only on the environment, but on public health.
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the entire Mercedes lineup will soon be hybrids
Mercedes S-Class Gets a Hybrid
The stunningly quiet 2010 Mercedes S400 hybrid produces 295 hp and gets 33 mpg on the highway.
By Wes Raynal of AutoWeek
Mercedes-Benz has been busy. Having just introduced a new E-class, it now presents the 2010 S-class. The lineup includes the S400 hybrid, and the first production Mercedes hybrid is aimed squarely at Lexus's LS 600h.
The S-class hybrid, based on the long-wheelbase S-class, was introduced at the Shanghai motor show. The car is powered by the 3.5-liter Mercedes V6 gasoline engine. The engine will be familiar to C-Class and E-class owners, though it's not exactly the same, because in the hybrid, the V6 has new cylinder heads, pistons and camshafts. Combined with the hybrid system, the engine produces 295 hp and 284 lb-ft of torque and is mated to the Mercedes seven-speed automatic transmission. The small lithium-ion battery-hybrid system is neatly integrated, and the battery - the first lithium-ion used in a production car - is guaranteed for the life of the car. The hybrid system adds 165 pounds.
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the world’s 10 largest oil fields are all in decline
UK E.R.C.: cheap oil is at an end
Warning over global oil decline
02:50 GMT, Thursday, 8 October 2009 03:50 UK, BBC News
There is a "significant risk" that global production of conventional oil could "peak" and decline by 2020, a report has warned.
The report's authors also state that
the 10 largest oil producing fields in the world are all in decline.
The UK Energy Research Council study says there is a general consensus that the era of cheap oil is at an end. But it warns that most governments, including the UK's, exhibit little concern about oil depletion.
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Arctic: Warmest in 2,000 years
Thursday, 3 September 2009,
By Richard Black, Environment correspondent, BBC News website
Arctic temperatures are now warmer than at any time in the last 2,000 years, research reveals.
Changes to the Earth's orbit drove centuries of cooling, but temperatures rose fast in the last 100 years as human greenhouse gas emissions rose.
The result is a "hockey stick"-like sudden 90 degree turn, in which the last decade - 1998-2008 - stands out as the warmest in the entire series.
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Current Climate Targets Will Kill Coral; The High Cost of fossil fuels!
Wednesday, 2 September 2009
By Richard Black, Environment correspondent, BBC News
Coral reefs do more than look pretty - they are nurseries for many fish
[Carnegie Institution`s Department of Global Ecology says that by 2050, 98 percent of today`s coral reefs will be in waters too acidic to support their growth.]
Current climate targets are not enough to save the world's coral reefs - and policymakers urgently need to consider the economic consequences.
Studies suggest that reefs are worth more than $100bn (£60bn) annually, but are already being damaged by rising temperatures and more acidic oceans.
TEEB's analysis suggests that between half a billion and one billion people depend on coral reefs for at least part of their food supply.Damage to the Great Barrier Reef could also have an impact on a tourism market worth A$5 billion a year, he added.
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Polar ice thickness has decreased dramatically
WWF's Dr. Neil Hamilton on Global Warming in the Arctic
the Director of the International Arctic Program
ice thickness has decreased dramatically since 2003:
It`s now about half as thick.
In its report "Smoke, Mirrors & Hot Air," the Union of Concerned Scientists slammed ExxonMobil for lying: "underwriting the most sophisticated disinformation campaign since the tobacco industry," as well as for "funneling about $16 million between 1998 and 2005 to a network of ideological and advocacy organizations that manufacture uncertainty on the issue."
One big-oil front group, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, has received $1.6 million from Exxon since 1998, using the funding to distort global warming research and attack any meaningful action to regulate carbon dioxide emissions.
400 richest Americans’ incomes doubled under Bush.
Another $5 billion giveaway by the Bush administration
By Ben Armbruster on Jan 30th, 2009
Bloomberg reports that, according to recently released IRS data, "the average tax rate paid by the richest 400 Americans fell by a third to 17.2 percent through the first six years of the Bush administration and their average income doubled to $263.3 million." Much of their income came from capital gains resulting from the Bush tax cuts:
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Toshiba SCiB Super Charge ion Battery
December 12, 2007
Toshiba Corporation has announced the commercial launch of the SCiB the Super Charge ion Battery a breakthrough rechargeable battery primarily targeting the industrial systems market that can recharge to 90% of full capacity in less than five minutes. The battery offers excellent safety and a long-life cycle of over 10 years, even under conditions of constant rapid charging. Toshiba aims to make this high potential battery a mainstay of its industrial systems and automotive products businesses, with global sales of 100 billion yen targeted for fiscal year 2015. The first SCiB will be shipped from March 2008.
With the SCiB Toshiba has progressed beyond the breakthrough in fast recharging lithium-ion technology that it announced in March 2005. In order to realize the outstanding characteristics of the SCiB, Toshiba adopted a new negative electrode material, new separators, a new electrolyte, and new manufacturing technology. The result is a highly reliable rechargeable battery with well-balanced performance, offering excellent safety, a long-life cycle and a rapid charge-discharge capability.
Magnetic ‘ropes’ connect Earth to Sun
December 11, 2007
NASA satellites have uncovered giant magnetic ropes linking the Earth's atmosphere to the Sun and channelling solar energy to create the spectacular northern and southern lights shows.
"The satellites have found evidence of magnetic ropes connecting Earth's upper atmosphere directly to the Sun," NASA scientist David Sibeck said.
"We believe that solar wind particles flow in along these ropes, providing energy for geomagnetic storms and auroras," he told the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU).
The discovery could also apply to the Southern Hemisphere's aurora australis as well as the North's aurora borealis.
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contact Obama! 