Today is Good News Tuesday. After weeks and weeks of political squabbling about our current energy crisis, regular Americans are showing why our country is great. American ingenuity and work ethic will drive our nation toward alternative energy sources and the goal of US energy independence, regardless of how hard the politicians try to get in the way.
The Spirit of DC is a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle that is currently travelling all around America. Called PHEV3A (PHEV All Around America), the goal of their country-wide tour is to show the nation that plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles are truly practical and are possible now, we do not need to wait for new technology to be developed. The converted 2005 Toyota Prius has a battery pack that was added to the rear of the vehicle, allowing it to be charged from a regular electrical outlet. This allows the Prius to run on all-electric power for a greater percentage of time, resulting in 100+ MPG.
Imagine what a fleet of PHEV’s getting 100+MPG would do to our dependence on foreign oil. Urge your elected officials to support tax credits for PHEV ownership, and ask them to help encourage our auto companies to quickly bring new PHEV’s to market. Ask them to spend some of the existing $35 Billion in taxes that ExxonMobile paid last quarter on supporting alternative energy sources. Toyota and Honda currently lead the field in electric hybrids, and if our auto industry truly does not want to become irrelevant, they need to quickly bring more hybrids and PHEVs into production immediately.
If you think you might be a potential sponsor you can contact PHEV3A’s Co-Chairs, Joseph Lado, at the virtual PHEV3A operations Center (Poc) by emailing joelado@yahoo.comand “on the Road” PHEV3A driver “EVJerry” Asher at EVisionA2Z@usa.net. You can keep up to date on their progress at their blog.
Also filed in Energy, Green
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Tagged 2005 toyota prius, alternative energy sources, american ingenuity, auto industry, dependence on foreign oil, electric hybrids, Energy, energy crisis, energy independence, ExxonMobile, honda, hybrid electric vehicle, Jerry Asher, Joseph Lado, PHEV, PHEVs, tax
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Many folks are calling for a Manhattan Project that can help kick-start our use of renewable energy alternatives. Wind, solar, wave and geothermal (with energy-storage technology) offer the highest opportunities energy for self-sufficiency, but they are not the only alternatives.
Recently scientists have discovered ways of using algae to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, and a start-up in California is developing microbes that excrete oil!
Join a group of like-minded individuals who are currently discussing new forms of renewable energy.
Higher fuel prices and increased carbon emissions have been giving nuclear energy a boost. So far this year, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received licensing requests for 19 new nuclear power plants. That number could increase exponentially, along with the number of suitable sites for a plant.
To further boost the number of license requests, Congress should immediately propose a tax credit to all electric utilities who apply within the next 18 months. This tax credit should be phased in over the life of the nuclear reactor. By encouraging utilties to start making investments now, we will see the supply of electricity increase over the next decade, reducing the demand for carbon based generation, and pumping much needed cash into the construction industry.
Xerocoat, a newcomer in the solar industry, has patented a system that will make solar panels better and more efficient. They made a coating for the solar panels so that when covered with it, they receive 3% more light at noon and as much as 6% during early morning and evening hours. So they increase sensibly the solar panels’ efficiency and decrease the cost/watt.
XeroCoat’s anti-reflective coating technology most cost-effectively increases the energy performance of solar systems without requiring modifications to existing cell or module manufacturing processes.
Photovoltaic modules suffer from reduced conversion efficiency even before the sun’s light reaches the solar cell. This is because the solar module’s protective glass cover reflects some of the incident sunlight. For typical glass panels, depending on the time of day 4% to 15+% of the incoming light is lost from reflections and thus, is not available to generate electricity. Applying an anti-reflective coating to the cover glass of the module will reduce these reflections and increase the module’s output power. Current commercial PV technologies convert 10%-20% of the incoming light to electricity. The same module with a suitable anti-reflective coating can deliver an additional 0.3%-0.6% power conversion. A product achieving higher conversion efficiency in a cost-effective manner can make solar modules more affordable.
Tom Hood, chief executive officer and president of XeroCoat, declares: “At XeroCoat, we’re strongly committed to making solar energy more affordable for all today [...] the XeroCoat antireflective coating offers a very simple and cost-effective way to get the most power out of the sun.”