If you're new here at Alternative Energy HQ, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed for all the latest updates on energy news. Thanks for visiting!

Hybrid technology is the new buzz in the motor world today and Toyota has granted patent rights to other manufacturers to make Hybrid cars. Toyota is one of the leading manufacturers of Hybrid cars and has shared its innovations with other manufacturers generously.

More: continued here

A secretive Texas startup company may be on the verge of a major production breakthrough though it is hard to tell since they are not saying much. The car company that wants to build their technology into autos is talking and they are excited. Imagine a battery powered car that you could plug in for five minutes of charging and then go on a 500 mile trip without recharging or filling up with gas! That is what EEStor is hoping to make a reality in the not very distant future through their "technologies for replacement of electrochemical batteries," which they have gotten a patent from the US recently. Patent #7,033,406 could be the death knell for the combustion engines we have known and driven for the last 100 years.

Don't bother to Google the company as they are being so quiet about this technology that they do not have a site. They have put out a press release awhile back but aside from that they have not done much talking. Instead automaker Ian Clifford, chief executive of Toronto-based ZENN Motor Co. is doing most of the talking about the potential for this battery breakthrough.

"It's a paradigm shift," said Clifford, "The Achilles' heel to the electric car industry has been energy storage. By all rights, this would make internal combustion engines unnecessary." The deal with ZENN Motor and a $3 million investment by the venture capital group Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which made big-payoff early bets on companies like Google Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., hint that EEStor may be on the edge of a breakthrough technology, a "game changer" as Clifford put it.

Read more on what this is all about

Some are sceptical of the company's claims but they do have VC fudning from highly respected Kleiner Perkins and those guys would not throw bad money at technology. Trust me they do very due diligence on things before they invest.

Now I wouldn't mind being in line for one of ZENN Motor's first cars that feature this technology. How about you?

Energy Tags: biodiesel" rel="tag">biodiesel, wind power

First it was companies poking around and looking for places to stake their claim on the possible use of [tag-tec]ocean waves[/tag-tec] to create energy. Now it is a whole county in CA that wants to lock up its shoreline and ocean territory for miles out to sea in order to protect its right to develop wave energy technology.

Yes it seems that the technology must be coming to near term if it has come to this. The Sonoma County Water Agency (just north of SF) has plans this week to ask federal regulators for exclusive rights to study and develop wave-energy technology along the entire 41-mile county coastline, extending 12 miles out to sea, an expanse of about 490 square miles.

Now there are some interesting issues in this plan. Who has the final say over these ocean energies? What impact will it have on ocean ecology, can they even develop a technology capable of standing up to salt water, huge waves, and cold temps over many years?

"Most of the prospective areas for wave arrays are right in the middle of gray whale migratory pathways," said Richard Charter, a representative of the nonprofit Defenders of Wildlife.

Will these wave energy technologies get in the way of commercial and public fisheries, damage fish habitat, prevent cleanup in the case of a spill and so on. These are the questions being asked.

But the tantalizing question is can it work and how much energy can it supply? Is it another version of wind power, capable of helping out as an energy source but not yet a big player? Or is it much bigger than that?

Some of the wave science Wave power DOE on wave power

Energy Tags: energy, solar energy

I came across this today and thought to myself now there is a cool idea. Voltaic has created a backpack that is embedded with solar panels which you can use to charge up your gear on the go outdoors. Yeah that's right solar power on the go on your backpack.

Seems they have put enough solar charging juice into these backpacks that you can get your mobile electronics charged back up. (However they say it does not do laptops…) It comes with a wide variety of plugs to fit most mobile phones and devices. The solar backpack also comes with a lithium ion battery that can store excess energy for use later.

Integrating the solar panels into the back pocket of the bag is a key (patent pending) innovation of the Voltaic backpack. It means that unlike a typical solar charger:

There is no need to unpack and setup the panels

There is no need to stay in one place, and

All of your devices can stay securely inside the bag.

The panels are built into the back of the bag in a way that allows them to articulate, so the bag itself does not feel stiff or restrictive.

So you can carry your power generation on your back. Gives a whole new meaning to setting your bag in the sun. Now when you are out and about you can be using that solar energy to reboost your gear. I want one of these for my next trip.

check it out

Energy Tags: biodiesel" rel="tag">biodiesel, energy resources

I have found an ambitious company that is trying to deliver what look to be very forward thinking products to the marketplace of solar energy. Solaroad Technologies Group, LLC. plans to release their ElectraWallTM product in the next six months and they have even more revolutionary products on the rise for coming years in their SolarFilm, SolarBuilder, and SunStar Automotive.

Here is a snippet from their PR on the ElectraWall product:

The ElectraWall TM (Status: US Patent Pending) Autonomous Power System is a light harvesting electrical generator and accumulator providing on-demand power. The system is designed to demonstrate the methodology and application of a low cost, zero carbon footprint, renewable, green, Prime Energy Source.

The ElectraWallTM System is designed to provide a realistic hardware platform which makes use of pre-existing infrastructure. It is capable of revolutionizing the US power grid, enabling an Independent Power Producer (IPP) to generate electricity and rout the excess into the electric utility grid. The System is capable of collecting and storing energy from various outdoor locations, such as rooftops, highway infrastructures, light poles, decks, and fences. It can also be used as a back-up generator for institutions, business buildings, and residential communities.

The ElectraWallTM System allows our customers to reduce (watt shave) the electricity purchased from the utility company or completely remove their business/home, facility, etc. from the electrical grid, reducing carbon footprints while drastically reducing electric bills or selling electricity back to the utility company. In addition, ElectraWall customers will receive credit on their electric bills for returning energy to the grid.

The ElectraWallTM System is different than any other photovoltaic system available today. The patented cylindrical design of the system takes advantage of global sunlight and is not dependent on the sun’s angle of incidence and therefore does not require direct sunlight to function. ElectraWall devices will never have to be motorized to “follow the sun.”

Imagine if their technology works, power from cubicle to run computers and lights, power from the roads we drive on and the materials to create houses that generate energy from all the materials coating the outside of the house. Sounds dream like but it could come to be and then wouldn't we have a building revolution?

Energy Tags: solar energy, wind power