Portable Electric Motor Turns Your Bike Into Electric-Driven In Seconds

Rubbee is an electric drive system which can be mounted on a bicycle in less than a minute. It is a friction drive module for most standard bicycles on the market. With 2 hours charge, Rubbee can take you up to 25km/h, with 25 km cycling range. Rubbee weights about 6.5kg and will sell at less than US$1,000.

New Solar Plane Can Remain In Flight For 5 Years

Titan Aerospace is developing a solar powered high-altitude plane that could remain in flight for 5 years. The plane consists 3,000 solar panels producing about 7 kW of electricity and scheduled for completion next year.

The goal of building this plane is to keep a payload in flight long-term, presumably in a manner similar to communications satellites. They could be used for surveillance applications such as environmental monitoring, fire monitoring and disaster response, among other things.

The advantages are:

(1) Can be safely brought back down to ground level, so old payloads can be offloaded, repaired, or a new one can be put in place.

(2) Unlike satellites which costs millions and millions of dollars to get them up to the desired altitude, and once damaged or break down they become space junk. Titan's solar plane can be safely brought back, repair and reuse.

(3) Launching satellites into space also produces rocket fuel emissions. These black-carbon particles are the only direct source of man-made pollutants in the atmosphere 20 km above ground, which possess a great potential in promoting climate change, according to U.S.A. Aerospace Research and Program  Development Office.

Source: http://cleantechnica.com/2013/08/29/huge-solar-plane-could-fly-for-five-years/

Update On My Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Calculation Android App

I have updated the Android app to estimate Malaysia solar photovoltaic output. I included two more parameters, including module orientation and tilt angle. Now you have the option to face the module to North, East, South or West direction. Also, can see the output of the system at 3 different tilt angles.

You can download the app from http://www.tfesb.com/download.html or install from Google Play Store searching for "Malaysia Solar Calculator.

World's First Wave Technology Delivering Both Clean Energy & Fresh Water

Carnegie Wave Energy, based on Perth, Australia, announces their new technology of wave-powered desalination plant. The plant will be the first in the world capable of delivering both clean energy and fresh water.

Named after a Greek sea goddess, CETO harnesses the enormous renewable energy present in the ocean's waves and converts it into two of the most valuable commodities underpinning the sustainable growth of the planet; zero-emission electricity and zero-emission desalinated water.

Unlike any other wave energy systems, CETO wave power converter is the first unit to be fully-submerged and to produce high pressure water from the power of waves. The system will be situated on the seabed 25-50 meters below water. This makes it safe from the extreme forces that can be present during storms and creates no visual impact.

Above picture depicts the design of CETO. The top "flying-saucer" like device will be floating up and down, with the base (the yellow color structure) secured in the seabed. The "up" and "down" motion will create a pumping mechanism which push the sea water up to the shore (as shown on the first picture).

By delivering high pressure water ashore, the technology allows either zero-emission electricity to be produced (similar to hydroelectricity) or zero-emission freshwater (utilising standard reverse osmosis desalination technology). The system can also be used for co-production of zero-emission electricity and freshwater.

Source: http://www.carnegiewave.com/index.php?url=/ceto/ceto-overview