Over the last few weeks there has been a lot of discussion in the mainstream media about the volume of waste humans produce. Part of the discussion centres around the fact that both India and China are now stopping imports of other countries waste products. To make it worse, humans are still consuming lots of products wrapped in plastic and have no desire to slow down that … [Read more...]
Jatropha Plants
I am one of those old fashioned people who believes that the internal combustion engine still has life in it, not necessarily with carbon-based fuels like petrol or diesel, but with bio-diesels from plants or waste products. In several news items over the past few years I have spoken about the possible use of Jatropha as a source of bio-diesel and is actually the name of a … [Read more...]
Battery Metals
Modern humans in the developed world today are used to using some form of rechargeable battery, whether it is in a mobile phone, a laptop or an electric vehicle. Most of us don’t think about the contents of the battery other than the amount of charge it holds! However, the internal guts of these batteries may well become the foundation of new wars as the need and therefore … [Read more...]
Stanley Meyer’s Fuel Cell
This is another story that keeps on doing the rounds - a claimed perpetual motion engine. The idea is simple: push an electric current through water to get two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen and then burn them to get water (with a power stroke). The idea is so simple that it cannot work effectively! However that hasn’t stopped the conspiracy theorists from thinking up some … [Read more...]
Fast Charging with Fast Food
Following on from the article last week about public charging stations to be installed across Greater London, another report popped up in the Motoring Weekly inbox. This is a similar project based in the Netherlands for a company called Nuon and McDonalds, the burger joint. The joint venture is part of McDonalds CSR - Corporate Social Responsibility - plan that aims to … [Read more...]