Sunday, April 5, 2009

Low cost wind power solutions

WindBlue is an excellent site for windmill parts and components. These are really low cost systems that can save you money. Of course if you aren't the mechanical type, you will need someone to install it, but the way the wind is blowing this may be worth while.

How much is your electric bill each month? What if that cost went away? Better yet, given our current political environment, think about the effects on your livelihood if your electric bill increases by a factor of ten. Kill the coal industry under the umbrella of global warming like these fanatics in congress want to do and the U.S. is going to get hit with major increases for power usage. So you can put this off and pay through the nose for power down the road or spends some money now and become self sufficient...maybe even make some money selling power back to the electric company.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Poll Results - Gas price changes

To the question:

"Do you believe that voting for one political party or the other will make any difference in the price of gas?"

33% voted: Yes
66% voted: No

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Boeing's Hydrogen Fuel Cell Aircraft

It's interesting to hear our politicians talk about what we can't do or what we shouldn't do because it will take to long. Remember all the hysteria about how long it was going to take to put out the oil field fires in IRAQ? The press loved to use the word "devastating"... it wasn't.

Now with gas prices going out of sight, we hear from one political party how we can't drill for more oil because it will take 10 years and won't bring the price of gas down anyway. At the same time the other party is shouting about how solar, wind, and fuel cells are impractical and the technology is so far out that you're a goof if you even think about these as a solutions for our energy problems.

Just the other day while flipping through radio channels heard a BIG radio personality talking fuel cells. The subject got into aviation and how fuel cells will NEVER be practical for airplanes. Being a pilot this subject caught my attention immediately. Now maybe they were talking about large aircraft, but the word "can't" just makes my blood boil. Aviation is taking a huge hit with the price of gas, especially general aviation. There is great need for solutions that will make general aviation more affordable at any level, so when I saw the video below I was thrilled to see what "CAN" be done.


Saturday, June 28, 2008

GM Volt vs the Tesla Roadster...what a joke!

At first glance the GM Volt is a real eye grabber. BUT it doesn't take much to see that this is only skin deep. At a 40 mile battery range...WHAT? Yes forty (40) miles, how pathetic is this. I really don't need to know anything more about the car, but it does have a gas engine that will recharge the batteries as you go. This translates into about 650 miles on a tank of gas. Yes there are different ways you can look at this in how people will use there cars, but what it comes down to is the gas engine and complexity remain in place. If this is the best these engineers can do, the whole development team should be fired. That is of course unless they came up with this poor performing design intentionally. I know, I know, the honorable automakers would never deliberately hold back technology. The mere suggestion that something doesn't add up is sign of a wacko conspiracy theory related to oil. Okay, too late. So while I'm questioning the status quo, what would happen to the incredible revenue stream automakers and dealers have repairing fuel pumps, plugs, oil pumps, radiators, complex emissions systems etc etc if the gas engines of today had a bit more real competition?

Enter the Tesla Motors Roadster. It's claimed that this 100% electric car can go 220 miles on a charge (okay catch that? 40 vs 220) and go from 0 to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds. All you need is $100,000 to get one. At that price this is not realistic for the average person either, but that's not the point. It's about can a car be made for around $20,000 that doesn't use gas. So you ask, maybe this is a hoax or prototype that will never hit the market, right? After all if GM can't do it...

Little math... 15,000 miles per year with a car that does about 23 mpg and gas at about $4.25 per gallon = about $2,700 per year. Now multiply that by how many cars you think are on the road...and follow the money. Here...I'll help, start with TAXES per gallon, then look at revenue for oil companies and keep thinking.

Do you ever feel like you're being squeezed for as much money as possible without receiving value?

Take a look at these videos and then go into the bathroom and wash off that big "S" on your forehead. That is unless you think the Tesla Roadster is just a fake.

GM Chevrolet Volt




Tesla Motors Roadster http://www.teslamotors.com




Friday, June 27, 2008

Hydrogen Fuel - Engine Fundamentals

Here is an interesting series of videos dedicated to understanding engines and running them on hydrogen. The speaker Steven Harris, supposedly, was a development engineer in the scientific labs of Chrysler / Daimler Chrysler.



Additional Videos
| Video #2 | Video #3 | Video #4 | Video #5 |
| Video #6 | Video #7 | Video #8 | Video #9 |
| Video #10 |

The little car that runs on air.

Yes I can see the eye's rolling already. While we sit back at let our government and media (yes I meant to say media) tell us alternatives to gas engines aren't practical, nobody wants them or of course it's a SCAM we couldn't possibly come up with something that's less expensive than the gas engine, others are getting it done.

I look at this car and my first reaction is, man it's ugly. But that's the easy part to fix. The point is, it run on compressed air! Add a small gas engine to keep the air tanks charged and you get some serious cross country mileage out of one of these.

Manufacturers in the United States appear to be coming up with a version of their own (more to follow), but we'll see if it actually makes it to market.

http://www.theaircar.com/acf/

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Fuel prices are effecting businesses and people's lives in a BIG way. So what can we do about it? Unfortunately that's not an easy question to answer, but for starters it's time to start questioning the standard information we are being served. We need to start thinking for ourselves and start doing for ourselves.

Call me a kook if you like, but if you're like me, you just don't buy that with all our technology and ingenuity we can't seem to figure out this fuel/energy thing.

Why not? Is the technology being held back?

Is it the government? ...follow the money.
Is it the oil companies? ...follow the money.
Is it the car companies? ...follow the money.

Oh and just in case you're wondering about bias...
Is it the environmentalists? ...you might just want to think about following the money before you buy into all that hype as well.