EnviroGadget » Alternative Fuels

Elecscoot Electric Urban Scooters

Anita (EnviroGadget Writer) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 09:00:37 +0000

Elecscoot is a company who produce a range of eco-friendly scooters. The scooters are powered by electricity rather than petrol or diesel and are perfect for short journeys such as a trip to the shops.

The Elecscoot scooters offer a comfortable ride with plenty of storage, allowing you to get to the shops, to work or just out for a short drive in comfort. The scooters produce no emissions while you ride, they are also a substantial amount cheaper to run than their petrol equivalents. It is thought a full charge for these scooters should cost you around 8p. They are also exempt from road tax and the congestion charge in London. Each of the three scooters shown here have an intelligent Regen-braking design. This allows the scooters to store a small amount of charge back into the battery when you decelerate which helps to slow the scooter down automatically.

The Elecscoot 2 is the lower powered of the three, but is perfect for those who just need a ride for short journeys. The scooter has a 1500 W brushless motor and is able to reach a top speed of around 37 mph. It can travel around 40 miles on one charge of its silicon battery. It takes between 2 and 8 hours to charge fully from mains electricity. The Elecscoot 2 can carry a maximum of 150kg and has both under-seat storage and a rear rack for you to store your belongings on. This scooter costs £1,959 to purchase.

The Elecscoot 3 has a lift out lithium battery which makes it more convenient for those who live in high rise building, or work in one. The scooter has a 2000 W brushless motor and can achieve a top speed of 30 mph. The Elecscoot can travel up to 30 miles on one charge, it takes around 2 hours to fully charge this scooters battery. The Elecscoot 3 can also carry a maximum of 150kg and has storage similar to the Elecscoot 2. This scooter costs £2,597 to purchase.

The Elecscoot 4 is the more powerful of the three scooters. The scooter has a DC 4000 W hub motor which allows the scooter to reach speeds of up to 60 miles an hour. The light lithium battery is large enough to allow the scooter to travel up to 100 miles on a single charge. It takes between 2 – 4 hours for the battery to fully charge. This model features a full battery management system which allows you to take control of the minimum and maximum voltage, amps and temperature for each cell. The Elecscoot 4 has a maximum weight capacity of 170kg and has under-seat and rack storage. This scooter costs £4,595 to purchase.

These three Elecscoot electric scooters provide you with the ability to travel short distances without spending the high costs associated these days with petrol. The electricity needed to run these scooters and their short ranges are draw backs, however anyone with an eco-friendly electricity source like solar power or wind power would be able to use these in confidence of making a significant difference.

Want to buy this gadget? Check out the Elecscoot Electric Urban Scooters article on EnviroGadget to see the lowest prices for this gadget.

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NoPoPo Urine Powered Mini Lantern

Dan (EnviroGadget Writer) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:00:35 +0000

Recently, the NoPoPo Batteries where released. The NoPoPo batteries use urine to provide battery power. The battery is made from carbon and magnesium, and uses urine (as well as other liquids like beer, sake and cola) as an electrolyte to generate an electrical current. Well now the Japan Trend Shop is offering a NoPoPo Urine Powered Torch and Lantern gadget. The torch uses a bright white LED which can be used in lantern or flashlight mode.

Unfortunately, a NoPoPo battery can only be recharged four times, which means it has a pretty short lifespan. However, with a capacity of 500mAh, the batteries would be pretty effective in an emergency kit. The torch and batteries sell for $39 (about £24), so it’s a little pricey, but very novel!

Source: Oh! Gizmo

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Swap And Go Green LPG Cylinders

Dan (EnviroGadget Writer) — Fri, 15 May 2009 10:00:31 +0000

If you use natural gas or low power gas for camping for BBQ stoves, then these funky low-pressure gas (LPG) cylinders are a simple way to use natural gas without the hassle of using normal cylinders. Rather than having to wait to get your cylinder refilled or checked, you literally just grab a new bottle and hand your old one back.

The newest addition is the Swap-n-Go Green range which is 100% carbon neutral LPG, since the company purchases carbon credits from the Australian Government equivalent to the emissions associated with production, transportation and use of this LPG. The Australian Government then uses revenue from those credits to fund carbon reduction programmes.

The cylinders are also made using recyclable materials with a very light construction. The materials include brass, fibreglass, steel and recyclable plastic for the outer shell. Unfortunately the cylinders are only available in Australia at the moment, but its a great idea. I get the impression that gas cylinder technology hasn’t really been updated in the last 20 years!

Source: iGreenSpot and Swap’n'Go.

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Sunforce 12-Volt 400-Watt Wind Turbine Generator

Dan (EnviroGadget Writer) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 09:00:54 +0000

If you ever thought about putting up a wind turbine in your garden, you might have been put off by the cost of them. Decent wind turbines easily cost in the thousands in most currencies. If you fancy playing around with a wind turbine, but can’t afford the thousands for a powerful turbine, then perhaps consider this smaller 12-Volt 400-Watt Wind Turbine, which only costs $570!

Ok, sure, you’re not going to be able to run your whole home of this generator, but it’s powerful enough to run a few of your gadgets. You can get the best of the energy it generates by dumping the energy into a high capacity battery using specialised charge controllers. You could potentially use this turbine for camping, sheds and cabins, or just for experimentation.

The turbine is capable of generating 12 Volts at 400 Watts, which is when the turbine blades are spinning at 28MPH. The 46in diameter blades are rated at 110MPH, so it should still be fine in bad weather. The tower kit allows the turbine to be mounted at 30 feet, where the turbine itself measures 15 inches in width, 9 inches in height, and 27 inches in depth.

The Wind Turbine is great value and practical at just $570, allowing you to experiment without breaking the bank. I suggest you read the reviews too, as they give you some technical tips and tricks.

Want to buy this gadget? Check out the Sunforce 12-Volt 400-Watt Wind Turbine Generator article on EnviroGadget to see the lowest prices for this gadget.

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Chromasun Solar Powered Hybrid Air Conditioner

Dan (EnviroGadget Writer) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:00:38 +0000

If it’s a really hot summer, there’s no doubt that having an air conditioner will make the hot evenings a lot more bearable. However, air conditioners do use an incredible amount of electricity. A new company called Chromasun has announced their plan to release a highly efficient air conditioner unit.

The Chromasun air conditioner contains photovoltaic and solar thermal technology that harvest light and heat from the sun. Using a combination of mirrors, receivers and concentrators, the unit is able to offer 75% efficiency compared to the 23% efficiency of traditional solar cells. Chromasun’s device uses 95% less silicon than a conventional solar system with the same power rating, and this is mostly due to the Fresnel concentrator lens used as part of the thermal system.

The Chromasun air conditioner works in a similar way to natural gas double-effect chillers. A liquid in a sealed tube is heated to 220 degrees Celcius, which is used to warm a solution that contains a refrigerant. The refrigerant boils away. When the refrigerant and solution are re-combined, the reaction is endothermic, creating a cooling effect.

The reason why this air conditioning unit is such a cool gadget is because it combines a number of technologies to achieve the designed cooling effect. Nice to see a solution that doesn’t just assume that solar cells will solve all of our energy problems.

Source: Energy Matters

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Bicycle and Solar Energy Charger System

Dan (EnviroGadget Writer) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 10:00:45 +0000

The PedalPower+ is a solar charger eco gadget that will charge up your MP3, camera and phone devices in just a few hours. The PedalPower+ uses a dynamo to convert the rotational energy from cycling into energy usable to charge up your gadgets. The V2 and V3 PedalPower+ versions also feature a solar panel, allowing you to charge your gadgets using solar power.

The PedalPower+ device contains an internal battery, therefore it can be charged up and used to charge your gadgets even when you’re not cycling. The V4 model contains a much larger battery compared to the V2 and V3 models, which is enough to charge about 4 mobile phones from a flat battery. To avoid damaging your gadgets during their charging, the PedalPower+ contains some electronic wizardry to avoid surges and excess charging current.

A PedalPower+ gadget comes with enough connectors to connect the vast majority of your gadgets. Currently distribution is only in Austrailia, with the US and Europe still being set up.

Source: PedalPower

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Engineer Builds World’s Fastest Electric Go-Kart

Dan (EnviroGadget Writer) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 10:00:59 +0000

An engineer (read: big kid) has built an impressive go-kart that uses 6 Optima D34 (12V 55AH) batteries that allows the kart to reach speeds of up to 60 mph (100 kph). The kart is supposedly the fastest electric go-kart in the world, and therefore is a record-breaker. The batteries drive a S-33 motor and an Alltrax AXE-7234 controller, although the battery life is not mentioned.

What’s interesting (and dangerous?) is that the batteries are mounted on the edges of the kart. These are automotive-grade batteries, weighing an incredible 42.9lbs (20kg) each! I bet that 6th battery is used just to carry the weight of the other 5 batteries! However, if he uses some large solar panels to charge the batteries, then it’s a completely eco-friendly gokart! The rest of the kart is made from cheap car parts.

If you watch the video, he clocks the speed using a sat nav. Creative speed measurement!

Source: Eco-Friend

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Shake Control – Motion-Powered TV Remote Control

Dan (EnviroGadget Writer) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 10:00:03 +0000

A group of designers (Lee Sung Hoon, Kang Sooyeon, Cho Eun Bee, Lee Junehwa and Kim Jean) have come up with a novel re-design of the beloved TV remote control. Exploiting the energy generated by a moving magnet within a coil, the remote control is powered by simply shaking the remote control. There is no need for a battery.

In a novel twist, you can point and shake the remote in a specific direction to change the channel or change the volume. The remote uses a gesture to determine what you’re trying to do. When the remote control is shaken, electromagnetic induction generates a 20-30mA current, which is enough to send the infra-red signals needed to get the TV to do something.

To determine which direction the remote is pointing, you simply look at the magnet through the transparent case. The magnet is used to indicate the gadget’s orientation. The novelty of changing the channel or volume by shaking the unit might wear off after a week though. You’ll probably end up throwing the remote at the TV!

Source: DesignZen

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Flexible Solar Panels roll into green AA batteries

Dan (EnviroGadget Writer) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:00:47 +0000

A designer by the name of Wu Jian has come up with a concept for an eco-friendly battery gadget. The Soft Solar Battery is made of several layers of film, including a flexible battery and flexible solar panel. The battery is rolled out flat to charge up in the sun, the level of charge indicated by the small display on the panel.

When you wish to use the flexible battery, you simply roll up the film into a cylinder to use within conventional devices that need a battery. It’s an interesting concept, but I image the film will degrade/peel very quickly. Technical specifications have not been provided, so I get the impression this is merely a concept.

I think that high capacity rechargeable batteries are the (near-term) future, but simply using standardised charging devices as a power source. I don’t think that the Soft Solar Battery is a practical eco-friendly energy source.

Source: Red Dot

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EcoSmart Zeta – Environmentally Friendly Open Fireplace

Dan (EnviroGadget Writer) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:00:09 +0000

The EcoSmart Zeta fireplace is bizarre looking to say the least. Designed by John Dimopoulos, the director of a design and architects company in Sydney, the Zeta is named after the likeness of its shape and the Greek letter Zeta. Using stainless steel, wood and leather, the fire is completely portable and has no need for a conventional flue. A glass screen sits on either side of the fire to protect the flame (or apparently to enhance it according to the description).

Rather curiously, the fire is powered by denatured ethanol. As a snobby chemist, I think that “denatured” is actually the wrong word. “Mixed with non-drinkable chemicals” is more appropriate. Anyway, it uses what you might know as household ethanal or methylated spirits as a fuel source, cited as being an eco-friendly and sustainable fuel.

Assuming that the ethanol is produced using a form of fermentation or other eco-friendly process, it theoretically is an eco-friendly fuel. However, the combustion of ethanol does produce the common greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. It’s an interesting idea, however I’d question the amount of heat it actually provides in this form.

Want to buy this gadget? Check out the EcoSmart Zeta – Environmentally Friendly Open Fireplace article on EnviroGadget to see the lowest prices for this gadget.

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