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Solar Powered Plane To Take Flight In Switzerland (Again)

[Technology] The Solar Impulse--a solar powered, single passenger airplane--is gearing up for a flight around the world. But first, baby steps. The plane will be making a series of three test flights in Switzerland, that will see it fly from Payerne to Geneva to Zurich to Payerne. The test flights won't actually begin until sometime around September of next year, when they will kick off at a military airbase in Payerne. And just a few years later--in 2013 or 2014--the team hopes to make a seemingly impossible trip all the way around the world in the solar plane. The 1,600 KG Solar Impulse is powered by a series of over 11,000 solar cells, which provide the power for its four electric motors. It has an average flying speed of 70 KM/H, and can reach an altitude of nearly 28,000 feet. Earlier this year the plane managed to complete its first all-night flight, which lasted more than 26 hours. Via Inhabitat. [GoodCleanTech]

Coca-Cola Reveals Lessons Learned from 3 Water Footprints

[Transport] The Nature Conservancy and Coca-Cola released a report today with the results from three product water footprints. A big takeway: The numbers associated with a water footprint aren't nearly as important as how its water use impacts local watersheds. [GreenBiz Transport]

World's Largest Solar Thermal Plant

[News] Ivanpah, California is the location for the world's largest solar thermal power generation plant complex and will produce up to 400MW of electrical power using the freely available sun when completed in 2012.  BrightSource plan is to build three solar thermal power generators beginning in 2010 that will cover 3,500 acres (5.5sq.miles, 14.2sq.kms) in the Mojave Desert. The total output is expected to be around 286,000 megawatt hours of power annually, providing enough power for 140,000 homes, and reducing CO2 emissions by 400,000 tons per year. [GreenMuze News]

Whiskey-Derived Fuel Patented in Scotland

[Transport] The hunt for a commercially viable biobutanol could finally be over thanks to an inspired, if ironic, bit of recycling by scientists working at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland. They’ve taken the two main waste products from the Scotch whisky production cycle and brought them together in a process which outputs biobutanol, long heralded as a next generation biofuel because it produces up to 30% more power than ethanol and can be used in existing combustion engine cars without modification. The process has now been patented by the University which has also set up a limited company to leverage the commercial possibilities of the invention. Professor Martin Tangney, Director of the Biofuel Research Centre at Edinburgh Napier University, believes the biofuel could be sold at garages alongside normal gas. He said, “I would expect to see this as a fuel in forecourts in years rather than decades”. Read more of this story » [Gas 2.0]

First-Ever Carbon Map Shows Global Warming in Peru's Amazon

[Technology] This image shows an area of road building and development adjacent to primary forest in red tones, and secondary forest regrowth in green tones. Credit: Carnegie Institution. You can see the effects of global warming in a new high-resolution map that shows carbon locked up in tropical forest vegetation and emitted by land-use practices in Peru's Amazon. The maps were created with satellite mapping, airborne-laser technology, and ground-based plot surveys. And the images may help pave the way for a new United Nations monitoring system to curb deforestation and forest degradation.... Read the full story on TreeHugger [TreeHugger Technology]

Diesels Cleaner Than Electrics Over Lifetime Says One Study

[Transport] I’m going to go out on a limb and assume most of our dear readers are fans of fuel efficient cars. I too, like my gas-sipping 4-cylinder Mustang, mostly because it saves me a lot of money compared with the rest of my gas-guzzling fleet. Other people are just trying to lessen their carbon footprint, and common sense suggests that an electric car would have a smaller footprint than any fossil fuel-powered car, right? Not according to one Swiss study. Compared to diesel-powered cars that get over 60 mpg, electric vehicles may have a larger environmental impact… especially if the electricity comes from non-renewable sources. Read more of this story » [Gas 2.0]

Volt Can Use California's HOV Lanes… In 2012

[Transport] I have survived Southern California’s horrendous traffic jams, though just barely. How anybody could stand to sit in traffic for hours on end, day in and day out, is beyond me. People do it though, and it seems to have bred a special kind of patience in the residents of Southern California. California also is a bastion of green living, and there are many advantages to owning a hybrid car in the state, like use of their HOV lanes. While California recently announced that the Nissan LEAF would have access to HOV lanes immediately, the Chevy Volt was shunned. That has changed though, as Governor Schwarzenegger signed a bill allowing the Volt to use HOV lanes… starting in mid-2012. Read more of this story » [Gas 2.0]

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