Wind cubes

If you’re interested in ecology and power saving, you might be interested in this interesting concept called Wind Cubes that can power a household for a month with simple wind power. Wind Cubes look and work in a similar way as windmills and all that you have to do is to attach them to your wall and connect them to the battery that will store their power.

These Wind Cubes look perfect and array of 15 of these fans can easily power a household of four for a month. One of these fans can potentially generate 21.6 kilowatt-hours per and 15 of them can produce up to 324 kilowatt-hours per month so we have to admit that these Wind Cubes sound quite impressive. These Wind Cubes look amazing, and the best thing about them is that you can turn them off, or put them back in their case in case of a bad weather and pull them back out when the wind is appropriate.

SCiB Battery Technology

I really like the idea of electric cars. However, the current lack of support in the form of charging stations the poor performance in regards to range and recharge time is something that makes me wonder if the electric car is just a pipe dream in terms of usability. That is where Toshiba’s SCiB battery technology comes in to smash any predetermined doubts you had regarding the electric car being unfeasible as a means of transport. Traditionally, it took electric car batteries over thirty minutes to charge (give or take a few minutes). The SCiB battery can recharge to ninety percent capacity in five minutes.
The buck does not stop there. The battery is touted to last ten years. That is not how long a single charge lasts – but how long the battery itself lasts before it will need to be replaced. This is good news for people who are ecologically minded. A battery can contain all manner of nasty materials that can do some serious damage to the environment. This is likely to be the battery that will finally make electronic cars possible and help reduce our need for (overpriced) petrol. It may also help companies finally start investing in electronic charging stations for vehicles.
There is no word on when this is likely to become available to consumers. However, it seems like it is something that it will not take long for companies who manufacture electric vehicles to start using in their production lines. It is something that will ensure that electric cars get the research that then need in order to make the technology feasible for the masses. I had some trouble finding out how far a single charge will carry the vehicle – if it is similar to that of the current electric vehicles that have been released then it may just be a winner.

Terrafugia

Whilst it sounds like an exotic Japanese dish that consists of some amphibious fish – it isn’t. The Terrafugia is set to become the first roadworthy flying car available to consumers. Orders are already coming in and there is a backlog of over seventy orders that will ensure that the dream of the flying car is set to become a reality. The Terrafugia is more akin to an aircraft and it requires the driver to be a pilot in order to get the Terrafugia in the air. However, it is an aircraft that is legally allowed to be registered and driven on a road. The Terrafugia transforms from an aircraft into a car by folding its wings up so that the vehicle is car sized. It makes the Terrafugia easy to park in a standard car space and garage.
The transformation process takes approximately thirty seconds. While it may not any awards for being the most aesthetically pleasing vehicle – it’s essentially a flying car! The price is actually fairly reasonable for what is going to be the first flying car on the market (although it is out of reach for us normal wage earners). At around one hundred and ninety thousand dollars it is not cheap. It is a lot cheaper than I would have assumed it would be however.
It is not the fastest aircraft. If you consider what it is, that is not really an issue. It can travel at around two kilometres an hour while flying and can travel a distance of around eight hundred kilometres. It only has room for two people so it is not going to be a family oriented vehicle by any means. If you can afford it then it is probably going to be more about the thrill of owning it than having it for practical reasons