On 6 August 1882 this printing press produced copies of Le Chaleur Solaire (Solar Heat) by Augustin Mouchot, a newspaper that he created in the Tuileries Gardens, Paris, for the festival of L’Union Francaises de la Jeuenesse. It printed 500 copies an hour, using solar thermal technology.
Solar power and the electric car are not new. Designers and engineers, as early as 1870, were creating working prototypes from Cairo to Boston. Over 500 electric cars were registered in Boston in 1902. In Paris in 1870, a solar powered printing press printed over 500 newspapers an hour.
What stopped this innovation? At that time, new technology driven by oil and war. Large ships, planes, and tanks were developed to be powered by oil. According to author David Thorpe, “around 1900 there were three types of powered vehicles on the street, each with a third of the market: steam-powered, electric and gasoline.” In 1900, early champions of the electric car argued that it was safer (gasoline engines at the time risked explosion) cleaner, noiseless, and unlikely to cause environmental problems. Much has changed in the past 100 years, and this storyline has sustained.
1900 columbia electric omnibus
[ how sustainable transport lost 100 years ]
good solar power video that few have seen.
[source: solardude1]
Many of the most unpleasant aspects of urban life are caused by cars.
Large sweltering expanses of tarmac in cities contribute heavily to urban temperatures. Cars also become unbearably hot in summer sitting in these urban deserts.
Optimizing the heliostatic photovoltaic panels ultimately evolved into their leaflike shape. Though the concept did not intentionally look to mimic the form of a tree, the panels rotate to follow the path of the sun throughout the day – much like sunflowers – absorbing light whilst also providing optimal shading for cars. Although all parked cars can benefit from shading, electric vehicles can directly charge their batteries by plugging into the solar trees.
Solar Tree is unique among anti-auto pollution designs in that it empathizes with the automobile, but particularly with the electric car, providing a place for overworked, spent cars to regain their lost torque, to relax beneath the trees, to gain back their juice in an optimal stress-free environment.
Produce: solar tree
Designer: neville mars
[via] burb
We’ve already told you about solar-powered cargo ships, now Hong Kong has decided to combat the area’s pollution problems by deploying solar-powered ferries.
According to the makers of the vehicles, Solar Sailor Holdings Ltd., the ferries will operate using three-quarters solar energy and only one-quarter liquefied petroleum gas, potentially reducing carbon-dioxide output on the route by roughly half.
Purchased by the well-heeled Hong Kong Jockey Club for an undisclosed sum estimated to be in the millions, the green vehicles will go into operation in November. You can see video of the solar ferries in action here.
Producer: solar sailor ltd.
via bloomberg
The Peugeot Capsule concept is a single-seat off-road vehicle that was inspired by do-everything adventure touring motorcycles like the Kawasaki KLR 650.
Unlike a motorcycle the Capsule would provide weather protection, plus enough storage to allow for extended overnight adventures. Of interest, a single touch screen that would control vehicle functions and offer internet-enabled satellite connectivity.
Electric motors would provide propulsion to all four wheels, and a roof-mounted solar panel would help keep the batteries topped up on sunny days. Once stopped, a removable luggage rack would double as a stool or desk at the campsite.
Designer: Alp Germaner
Producer: Peugeot
{VIA]
Carboard boxes, aluminum foil, black paint. A $5 investment wins the FT Climate Change Challenge, which sought to find and publicize the most innovative and practical solution to climate change. via designobserver [PR]
1900 columbia electric omnibus