Electric automobiles coming?
Nissan Motor Co, BMW's MINI, General Motors Corp and Volkswagen's Audi said at the Los Angeles auto show recently that they will bring electric cars to market in the next few years. The first green car that customers will be able to lease for US$850 ($1392) a month– launched at the show – is the Mini E, an all-electric Mini Cooper that will be available next year, initially in California and New York. It will go 156 miles (251 km) before it needs recharging.
Other carmakers are catching up. “As a responsible manufacturer we have to look at what the Audi interpretation of electric drive will be and you will see this in the near future,” said Peter Schwarzenbauer, a board member of Audi, which is also working on an electric car. “The car would be extremely good looking and you will have a lot of fun driving it … despite what's going on underneath.” Nissan and General Motors both have electric vehicles they plan to sell to consumers, beginning in 2010.
Sourced from www.EnvironmentalManagementNEWS.net
Heart without a pulse
As an alternative to the conventional heart, scientists are developing a system of two pumps working together to produce blood to the rest of the body. Eventually one screw-shaped pump could replace both valves said E. O. Frazier, a doctor at the Texas Heart Institute.
But before any constant flow pump replaces the human heart, years of studies are required to test its efficacy, says Timothy Baldwin of the National Institutes of Health.
"I see the potential for constant flow device as a total artificial heart replacement," said Baldwin. "The research going on right now is just the first step...but 50,000 to 100,000 people could benefit from good circulatory support if we had a device with no safety concerns."
Permanently eliminating one of the most fundamental signs of being alive is a big deal. Scientists aren't sure what the long-term effects of constant blood pressure might be. Both Baldwin and Frazier speculate that the heart's natural pulsing action might help inhibit arterial plaques or blood clots from forming, but aren't sure.
Patients who have had ventricular assist devices for years have done well, one reason why doctors are confident that completely replacing the entire heart will work well.
Removing a person's pulse is a serious matter, but some people are blasé enough to find humour in the situation. "Some teens play tricks on their friends with them," said Frazier, explaining a common gag among those with ventricular assist devices is to have a friend try and find their pulse.
A pulse-less patient will also require some changes to medicine, says Matthew Franchek, a biomechanical engineer at the University of Houston who is helping to design the device as a complete heart replacement.
"We used to say that the patient is alive and has a pulse," said Franchek, "Now we'll have to say that they are alive and have flow."
More from http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/10/27/artificial-heart-pulse.html
Miners may swap diesel for solar
Mining firms could switch to solar instead of diesel generated power, to reduce costs and meet the lower emissions demands of the emissions trading scheme, according to a news report. “The situation faced by miners in Australia is that diesel generation is already an extremely expensive component of their operating costs. They see diesel prices just ever increasing,” Steve Hollis, CEO of Sydney-based Lloyd Energy Storage, was quoted as saying by Reuters. “Coupled with a carbon tax on top that, they can see the costs of their energy burgeoning to some extent out of control.”
Hollis said six mining firms had approached his company over the past nine months and agreements for projects ranging from 8 MW to 50 MW were at various stages of discussion. Lloyd has begun building a 3 MW project in western NSW and is planning a 10 MW project in western Queensland in 2009, the report said.
Sourced from www.EnvironmentalManagementNEWS.net
Bank on Tyre bales
A new case study prepared by consultants Oakdene Hollins for WRAP (The Waste & Resources Action Programme) relates to the manufacture of tyre bales and their first use in house building in Great Britain; to secure an embankment for the construction of new houses in a residential area on the outskirts of Inverness. A 100 metre embankment utilised approximately 21,000 tyres weighing 160 tonnes.
For more on this story go to: http://www.wrap.org.uk/downloads/Tyre_bales_in_embankment_Summary.14f1fffd.6157.pdf
Story supplied by Resource Recovery forum www.resourcesnotwaste.org
Believe it or not? Use Snow for cooling in Summer!
By 2010, an airport in Japan could use stored snow from winter for about a third of cooling energy necessary in summer, according to plans by the Japanese transport ministry. The authorities said they collected snow at the New Chitose Airport last winter and found that some 45% of its’ cold be retained by covering it with insulating materials, according to a report in Japan Today.
The snow can be used to chill liquid used in the airport’s cooling system in warm weather – providing 30% of the cooling energy required – and “doing so would lead to a cut of some 1,900 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, according to the officials,” the site said.
www.EnvironmentalManagementNews.net
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