Posts Tagged Electricity
The A2B Metro is now featured on Jay Leno’s Garage.
Posted by admin in General News on November 30th, 2009
Jay Leno has taken a great interest in our A2B Metro and has actually been riding it to the studio. For the green gearhead, Ultra Motor presents the A2B Electric Bicycle. Tired of pedaling? Touch the throttle and the 7-speed shifter will take you to a top speed of 20 mph. Perfect for the urban commuter!
What Is Better For The Environment Then The Electric Car? An Electric Motorcycle
Posted by admin in General News on November 24th, 2009
By Frank Strider
We are all aware of the fact that the earth is warming up and people all over this planet are trying their best to preserve some of the resources nature has given us. At the same time we are doing the best we can to reduce the damage we have done to the earth.
You do not have to be a believer in global warming or a scientist not even think of your own conspiracy to see that it’s important we don’t use up all of earths resource as if they would never dry out. Emitting Carbon dioxin causes damage to our ozone layer which can’t be repaired. This simple fact is one of the most used reason by people to choose a vehicle that is fuel-efficient the next time they by a new car. And there are people who know that you can get much more miles from a gallon of gasoline when you buy a motorcycle.
Although riding a motorcycle really does save a lot of gasoline and thus helps a lot in preserving the resources of this earth, there is an even better thing to do. Why not buy an electric motorcycle? That would be a fantastic choice if you want a method of transport that you can rely on, that saves you money and also saves the resources of this planet.
Advantages
Yes the initial costs of an electric motorcycle is often higher than a motorcycle that runs on gasoline but they have a lot of good things going for them that really makes it worth the initial investment. The longer you ride on one of them the more money you save, because fuel costs alone is far cheaper then with a gasoline motor, it is about one-tenth of cost.
They are also (almost) silent and extremely friendly for our environment because of the fact that no gas is emitted at all. No dust particles that get in to the air. And as they use electricity you will not be seeing a gas station again you just need to plug it in at home to charge the batteries. Read the rest of this entry »
Maui: Beautiful Beaches and an Electric Vehicle Infrastructure?
Posted by Jeffrey in General News, Green Cars on June 23rd, 2009
Image from BetterPlace.com
Hawaii is planning on converting Maui to an all electric vehicle island. The Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative hopes to decrease the state’s dependency on oil and focus more on renewable energy. According to the initiative currently 85% of the state’s energy comes from oil. Hawaii hopes to become more self sufficient by introducing electric vehicles to the island of Maui. According to this article the government hopes to have 3,000 electric cars on the road by 2010 and 50,400 electric by 2015.
Hawaii is a perfect place to introduce an electric vehicle network; people living in Hawaii pay some of the highest gas prices in the country, so driving an electric vehicle will likely be a much greater value than in other states. The geography is also conducive to an electric vehicle system since most of the islands are not that large.
To implement their electric vehicle system Hawaii has partnered with Better Place. Better Place will build up to 100,000 battery charging stations around the island of Maui by 2015. While you can still charge your vehicle at home, you have the option to subscribe to their battery swapping service, which sources their electricity from renewable energy resources. The cost is expected to be up to 8 cents per mile. Just last month Better Place unveiled their trial battery swapping station in Yokohama Japan. The article also includes a video demonstration on the process, which at one minute and fifteen seconds is quite impressive.
While no production vehicles are currently compatible with the battery-swapping stations, Better Place is working with auto manufacturers to ensure future electric vehicles will work with their system.
It will be interesting to see the effects the electric vehicles have on Hawaii’s economy once the network has been well established. Better Place is also working on implementing electric vehicle networks in San Francisco, Australia, Israel, and Denmark. To read more about Hawaii’s energy plan visit www.hawaii.gov/gov/energy.
Bad Appliance! - How to monitor electricty usage.
Posted by admin in Tools & Toys on May 3rd, 2009
It’s no secret that appliances around the house are constantly gobbling down electricity: that TV may be off, but it’s still plugged in, right? Is the refrigerator working overtime? How’s that old freezer in the garage doing? Being an appliance detective is easier than you think thanks to a number of tools readily available.
To really get a hold of your energy usage, your first stop should be your electricity bill. Here’s a sample bill, but depending on your electricity provider, it will look different. The key part is the bar graph. This will give you a good overview of what your power usage trends are. If you have electric heat, you would expect to see your power usage increase in the winter when you need to heat your home more.
However, just looking at your electric bill won’t tell you which appliances are using the most energy. There are several tools out there to help you approximate what is normal for an appliance (such as this one), but these tools are only simplified guesses.
If you want to really reign in misbehaving appliances, then co
nsider something like the Kill A Watt EZ, (which we sell at The Green Car Company).
There are several tools like this, and each varies in features and price. This particular model retails for $49.95 ($29.95 for it’s little brother, the Kill A Watt). They are very simple to use: plug them into an outlet, then plug the appliance into the device. It will keep track of how much electricity the appliance uses and provide cost forecasts. If you’re considering an electric vehicle, then this is definitely something you will want so you can keep track of how much money it is saving you in fuel costs!
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