JennKho_:blogs

A Fish Out Of Water?

JennKho — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 19:29:01 GMT

Lloyd Godson wants to prove people can live underwater. After winning the Australia Geographic “Live Your Dream” Wildest Adventure Competition for his plan in 2005, the marine biologist plans to dive to the bottom of a pond near Albury, Australia later today and stay there for two weeks (http://www.biosub.com.au/).

Of course, he’s taking plenty of technology with him. Rusty, his trusty airtight biosub made of scrap metal, has already made the trip “Down Under” and awaits him. He will live with a bioreactor-full of algae, which will breathe Mr. Godson’s carbon dioxide and provide him with oxygen. (He’ll also have a backup air compressor, just in case.) For drinkable water, he’ll rely on Air2Water’s technology to extract water from the air and reduce humidity at the same time. The M18 device has just been released, and Mr. Godson will be testing a new M18 Marine version—meant for boats—in the extra-humid environment. (He’s not bringing extra water with him.)

Among a number of other technologies he’ll use inside Rusty, Mr. Godson will use an EFOY fuel cell from Smart Fuel Cell, a solar-power system from Solarco Albury, a waterproof communication system from OTB Products, and a gas detector from Draeger Safety Pacific (to monitor the air inside Rusty). He also will be teaching virtual classes for the South Australian Department of Education and Children’s Services using distance-learning software from Saba.

Mr. Godson had hoped to be able to use technology from Like-A-Fish Technologies’ that would extract air from the surrounding water, and Fluorosolar Systems’ technology to pipe sunlight into the biosub, but the products weren’t ready on time, he says. Still, he says, the point of the experiment is to show that habitats don’t have to be as high-tech as NASA’s to survive underwater. “It’s just showing that someone can have a go at living underwater, and that it might be possible in the future, if you can show it can be done very cheaply and easily,” he said in an interview Friday. “I think it might happen sooner than people think.”

Does he think people will soon have to live underwater? Not really. “It’s more a dream of mine to have a go at living underwater,” Mr. Godman says. “The idea of it really is to share the whole process and take people on the journey from the start to the end.

Tesla Shifts Into Second

JennKho — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 20:48:58 GMT

Tesla Motors announced on Monday that it has built the first of its second-generation prototypes, and taken the electric sports car for its first test drive. That’s good news for the well-heeled drivers who have plunked down the $75,000 reservation fee for their 2008 model, although they’ll still have to cool their heels for months to satisfy their hankering for the hot, speedy electric car that goes 0 to 60 mph in four seconds.

While the company already sold it first two batches of cars, those 200 were first-generation engineering prototypes that were essentially hand-built. The second-generation cars, the so-called validation prototypes, look “pretty identical” to those, but actually have been newly engineered with an eye toward mass production, according to the blog of Malcolm Powell, Tesla's vice president of vehicle integration.

Tesla has changed nearly every part to ensure consistent quality in mass production and to make the car quieter and smoother, adding things like regenerative braking, better handling, and traction control, Mr. Powell writes.

The company says it will make 10 of these so-called validation prototypes by the end of spring. Four of the prototypes will be sacrificed in crash testing, with others slated for durability testing and marketing purposes. Mr. Powell warns that the validation prototypes still won’t be production vehicles, but says they are much closer to those final production vehicles.

Thilo Koslowski, senior automotive analyst with Gartner, said the second-generation prototype is an exciting evolution from the first. “It’s good to see Tesla is not a one-off type company,” he said. “This shows the company has the ambition to stick around and is committed to making this work. It will allow them to be a real manufacturer, not just an exotic car company.”

VLOG: Corn Prices Skyrocket. Is Ethanol to Blame?

JennKho — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 15:56:43 GMT

Find out more about the ethanol report in my story Tortilla Trouble Ahead at RedHerring.com.

Power Play

JennKho — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 16:30:00 GMT

As fans ready their fantasy leagues in anticipation of baseball season, the San Francisco Giant’s AT&T Park is preparing to sign on 590 solar panels.

The Giants and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) are scheduled to unveil plans for the 123-kilowatt solar-power system at the park at 11:45 a.m. Wednesday.

According to a media advisory, PG&E will install the panels in three areas of the park—particularly along the Port Walk on McCovey Cove—and will connect the panels to the electric grid to help San Francisco reach its goal of becoming the greenest city in the U.S.

Now if the Giants could only get another power hitter.

Want solar? Brace yourself for a hassle.

JennKho — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 19:50:56 GMT

You'd think two cleantech advocates--Bob Epstein, co-founder of Environmental Entrepreneurs (also known as E²), and William Reilly, senior advisor for the Texas Pacific Group and founding partner of Aqua International Partners--would be among the last to complain about solar power. It's not the cost, the appearance, or the "hippie factor" that bothers them. It's the sheer hassle.

At the Cleantech Venture Forum last week, Mr. Epstein said the length of time it takes to get solar installed is a big problem. Mr. Reilly, who said he's been working since October to get solar installed and isn't done yet, agreed. "Having installed solar, and I'm installing more, I risk getting overexcited by what you're saying," he said. "It is a hassle. This strikes me as a technology that's in its first generation."

They aren't the first to acknowledge the bumpy solar experience. One reader, Joseph Holmes, detailed the headaches in his quest for more energy independence, and a Topline Strategies and Sunlight Electric released a study about it last year (see Wanted: Solar Salesforce.com).

Of course, solar startups are quick to put forth a positive spin. Jon Hindar, CEO of NorSun, says solar is the most interesting business he's looked at exactly because it's still in its infancy and has a long way to grow. Others say they have just the business model to fix these problems (see Wells Fargo Finances Solar For Verde Energy, Three Huge Solar Trends, Solar Gets Simpler).

And solar certainly is growing. According to Michael Rogol, manager of Photon Consulting, total sales (including components) grew from $8.3 billion in 2004 to an estimated $19 billion in 2006 (see Solar's Silicon Shakeup).

But while Mr. Reilly said he still thinks the industry will do well, he added, "having personally experienced the travails, I'm less sanguine about that."

Next-Gen Road Rage?

JennKho — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 15:18:47 GMT

Ever thought the car horn was simply not expressive enough? On Wednesday, New Jersey-based Roadmaster USA announced something I've been wanting since my teenage years: scrolling message systems.

These let drivers display messages like "Slow down," "Help me," or "Your lights aren't working." Or, more probably in my case, "Get out of my way."

The messages (or in some cases, ads) scroll on cars' license plate holders or in their back windows and can be adjusted using a wireless remote. But the company warns that scrolling LED messages on moving cars may be restricted in some areas.

Still, at $69 each, these systems will surely bring new levels of rudeness--and of flirtation--to the driving experience. Watch out for drivers paying more attention to their messages than to the roads.

What Doesn't Interest AES

JennKho — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 18:15:47 GMT

At the Clean-Tech Investor Summit last week, Bob Hemphill, executive vice president of AES, one of the world's largest power companies, gave a list of "not so interesting" technologies. They included fuel cells ("not in my lifetime"), hydrogen ("not in my car"), and nuclear ("not in my neighborhood").

He also said wind technologies have modest room for improvement, and made fun of "beyond the meter" technologies that communicate with appliances and monitor energy use. ("The secret life of a toaster?" his PowerPoint slide asked.) "This allows people to talk to your refrigerator," he said. "OK, what are you going to say to your refrigerator? I believe with a very few exceptions, there's not much interest in beyond the meter."

Finally, he dismissed energy technologies using the Earth's magnetic flux. "I don't ever want to see any more technologies where we use the Earth's magnetic flux," he said. "I don't believe we can use it. I'm not going to read any more proposals involving the magnetic flux or any that start out 'You may think our technology violates the laws of physics.' I'm not going to read any more of those proposals, and I'm certainly not going to fund them."

By VC Logic, Richardson Should Win

JennKho — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 17:56:26 GMT

At the Clean-Tech Investor Summit last week, New Mexico Governor and U.S. presidential hopeful Bill Richardson said he knows he's an underdog. He said the polls showed him as having only 3 percent of the vote--up from 1 percent of the vote when he announced his candidacy three days before, on January 21.

But Ira Ehrenpreis, a general partner at VC firm Technology Partners, had encouraging words for Mr. Richardson. "You were 1 percent and you’re 3 percent today," he said. "We VCs spend a lot of time looking at growth rates, and by my math, we’ve just heard from the next president of the United States.”

Conference-goers greeted Mr. Ehrenpreis’ comment with laughter and applause.

Mr. Richardson peppered his speech with jokes at his own expense, and bragged that he exchanged his SUV with a Ford Hybrid. "I was criticized, as an energy state governor, for driving a big SUV--and I admit it was big," he said, adding that he's lost some weight and can now fit into the hybrid.

To read more of his comments, check out the story: Richardson Speaks Clean.