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marcoreid

Diverging Diamond Interchange

By Posted on 10.31.2009 10 Comments
Want to avoid gridlock? Drive on the wrong side of the road. In July, traffic engineers in Springfield, Missouri, reconfigured the jammed I-44/Kansas Expressway interchange. The new design does away with risky left turns. The street approaching the highway now diverts to the left, and cars get uninterrupted access to the highway, which, experts say, can reduce clogging by as much as 60 percent. Think of it as a one-way street. Drivers who want to turn left onto the highway can do so without crossing oncoming traffic.

11.18.2009 at 11:45am - Comment by marcoreid

There is also currently a Diverging Diamond interchange under construction over I-15 in American Fork Utah, which will be finished in 2010. One cool thing about that job site is that they build the bridge segments nearby and then roll the entire assembled bridge into place, speeding construction and only requiring one night of road closures to put the whole span in place. www.udot.utah.gov/pioneer/
Cars

e-Wolf's e2 Next-Gen EV Supercar a Handsome Powerhouse

By Clay Dillow Posted on 10.6.2009 14 Comments
No sooner does Tesla announce that it's expanding its vision to include minivans and crossovers, e-Wolf unveils an EV supercar that’s so sporty we’ve forgotten what Tesla’s Roadster even looks like. With a top speed of 155 miles per hour and a 0-60 acceleration that clocks in under four seconds, it has the performance to (somewhat) match its Italian playboy good looks, and its all-wheel drive (each wheel is powered by an independent electric motor) should be able to keep all 2,000 pounds of it on the road.

10.3.2009 at 05:16pm - Comment by marcoreid

For those who want this body on regular cars, you are missing the whole point. Car bodies are made to conform with a car's main purpose. Look at this car body, and you'll notice that it is made to go fast, look cool, and that's about it. Look at the purpose of "regular" cars and you'll see that they are looking for maximum passenger and cargo space, comfort, durability, and cost effectiveness. Those who buy "regular" cars are not looking to have the coolest car in the world. They want a car they can afford, that has space for them and their friends/families, cargo space to haul stuff around, that is safe, that will last a long time, that is high enough that they can actually drive over speed bumps without high-centering the car, that doesn't cost $25,000 to fix after a small fender bender. No, the regular car buyers of the world would never buy a car that looks like this, simply because it would go against all their needs. Welcome back from your dreams and into the real world with real people who have real problems and look for real solutions.
Cars

GM Claims Chevy Volt Will Get 230 MPG--But How?

By Posted on 8.18.2009 55 Comments
[Update: The EPA issued a statement to the folks at Edmunds stepping back from GM's mileage claim: "The EPA has not tested a Chevy Volt and therefore cannot confirm the fuel economy values claimed by GM. EPA does applaud GM's commitment to designing and building the car of the future - an American-made car that will save families money, significantly reduce our dependence on foreign oil and create good-paying American jobs."] General Motors calls the Chevrolet Volt an extended-range electric vehicle. That's because the only motive force comes from the electric motor; the gas engine only charges the batteries. In a press conference earlier today, GM's CEO Fritz Henderson said the Volt will have a city mileage figure of 230 miles per gallon--almost five times more efficient than a Prius. But considering the uniqueness of the Volt's powertrain, how did the EPA get that figure?

8.13.2009 at 12:23pm - Comment by marcoreid

It is exceedingly difficult to compare the energy efficiency of any two cars who use even slightly different types of fuel. This will only get more difficult over time as we move to more electrics and other forms of power. The real solution to seeing how energy efficient a car is, in my opinion, is to use a universal unit that measures ENERGY used rather than a particular type of fuel. For example, using Joules, or, more appropriately, MegaJoules (MJ) or GigaJoules (GJ). We can argue all day about MPG vs MPKWH under different circumstances, but a MPGJ (miles per GigaJoule) for example will always be a relevant and comparable number. Then, below that number could be printed other equivalents for comparison, based only on the MPGJ conversion. For example let's use a gas vehicle that gets 30 MPG, noting that a gallon of gas contains 0.13 GJ of energy: Vehicle thus gets 230 MPGJ, equivalent by doing to math to 30 MPG, equivalent to about 280 KWH of electricity, which at a rate of 10 cents per KWH is $28 for 30 miles or about $0.93 per mile. Having a MPGJ number allows a straightforward comparison of efficiency, the rest of the info allows for easier comparison for a particular person's choices of which fuel to use and in which areas they live to purchase those fuels, etc.
Science

Car-Powered Supermarket Check Outs

By Dan Smith Posted on 6.15.2009 32 Comments
A supermarket in the UK is using a novel way of harnessing energy from their customers. Embedding their parking lot with weight-sensitive plates, cars impart kinetic energy as they pass through, which is then collected and used to power their cash registers. When a car drives by, plates are depressed and the motion is passed along hydraulics to a generator, which produces 30kw of energy an hour. If one parking lot can power cash registers, imagine packing roads with this technology and how much energy can be recollected from all the world’s drivers?

6.15.2009 at 06:20pm - Comment by marcoreid

This system actually probably USES more energy than just buying it from their utility. What they're basically doing is stealing a little bit of energy from every car that drives by. That energy is produced by a relatively inefficient engine. Then you have the inefficiency of transmitting that energy through the road and plates, and through the new generator, to then power the checkouts. I would think this actually wastes more energy overall than using a much more efficient utility to generate and transmit the power. What they're doing: Oil pumped -> oil transported -> oil refined -> gas transported -> gas burned in engine creates mechanical energy -> mechanical energy transmitted to generator -> generator converts back to electricity Even if the utility just burns oil to produce the power (which they don't because it is not as efficienty as other sources), they still skip the refining, tranportation, inefficient burn in a gas engine, and then again turning it from mechanical energy back to electricity. There's a whole lot fewer places to waste energy if you do it from the utility. Large scale is the most effecient way to generate power from fuels, and a power plant is much more efficient than a car a little generators. How about a REAL idea, because this just seems like a publicity stunt.
DIY

Converting an Old Bike Into An All-Electric Cruiser

By Dave Prochnow Posted on 5.21.2009 9 Comments
If you've ever wanted to strap yourself into one of those modern electric rides from Currie Technologies, now's your chance. A veritable smörgåsbord of surplus motors, gears, and controls is now available from All Electronics. Don't worry about this selection being a bunch of mismatched DIY surplus junk, either. All of these electric vehicle components are genuine Currie Technologies parts.

5.26.2009 at 12:43pm - Comment by marcoreid

Come on folks, let's look at the WHOLE system, not just one piece of it before we start decrying this as (gasp!) adding to a carbon footprint. You really should consider the alternatives. Right now if people want to make a 3-5 mile trip (say to get a few things or go see someone, for example), they are either going to ride their bikes or drive. Most will drive, pushing their big heavy cars around by burning gas (or even some other form of power, but in the end all power comes from the sun anyways). But if some of those same people had the desire to modify their bikes to have electric assist, they could have the option (and be more likely) to use the lower-power option. See, it is all relative and all tied together. Looking at just one piece and branding it as good or evil is a VERY dangerous practice, and all systems should be looked at as a whole. I mean, I could look at a guy pedaling a bike and consider that evil because he'll have to consume extra food, and that food is much more energy intensive than just burning gas, etc. But that would be a flawed analysis based on looking at just one piece of the whole system. In the end, if a person wants to go from point A to point B, the less energy used the better, and that means pushing the least amount of weight around as possible. If that means an electric bike over a car, you have an improvement.
Entertainment & Gaming

The Science of Star Trek

By Adam Weiner Posted on 12.17.2008 19 Comments
As a long-time aficionado of the original Star Trek series, it's always exciting for me when I hear that Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock are going to make a reappearance on the big screen. Although it'll be a bit strange without William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy running the show, what recourse is there? We've got the next generation playing the previous one. Anyway, in the trailer we get a glimpse of the juvenile origins of the future Captain Kirk's daredevil thrill-seeking persona, not to mention his incredible physical prowess. In the scene in question we see young James T. leap out of his classic convertible sports coupe moments before it projects itself off of a several-thousand-foot precipice. James saves himself by gripping the sandy ground and pulling himself to a stop just as he reaches the edge of the cliff.

12.17.2008 at 05:13pm - Comment by marcoreid

One important thing I'm not seeing is taking into account the friction of his body on the ground. It isn't all just his fingers doing the stopping, after all, since his whole body is dragging, you have all that friction applied, plus whatever force he seems to be imparting by trying to dig in with his feet. Taking all of that into account would decrease the required strength significantly.