FIRST DOUBLEDECKER BUS WITH BAE HYBRID SYSTEM FOR LONDON
Published at 17.11.2008 in Alternatives, Public transport
A red London bus with a BAE Systems hybrid electric drive train has been delivered to Transport for London and Metrobus, one of the UK capital’s principal bus operators. The bus, a double-deck model built by Britain’s Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL), is among 17 hybrid units built by ADL and BAE Systems that will be evaluated in passenger service starting later this year.
STOCKHOLM EXPANDS USE OF BIOMETHANE BUSES
SL, the regional company responsible for bus, tram, subway and railway traffic in and around Stockholm, has announced that, by the end of 2008, it will have 80 buses running on biomethane. Over the next four years, the company says that number will increase to 500.
AIR-PURIFYING STONES ON TRIAL
The Dutch University of Twente (UT) are paving a test road section in the Dutch city of Hengelo with air-purifying stones. These concrete stones contain titanium dioxide, a photocatalytic material, which uses sunlight to convert the nitrogen oxides in the air into harmless nitrates. The rain then washes the streets clean.
WILL DIESEL BE COMING FROM FUNGII SOON?
Published at 11.11.2008 in Alternatives, Environment
Petroleum geologists normally look for oil underground. Gary Strobel made his strike by pruning a tree. In a recent issue of Science an article in the American journal Microbiology is quoted in which Strobel, a plant pathologist at Montana State University of Bozeman, and colleagues report that Gliocladium roseum - a novel fungus they discovered hidden within a stem from a scraggly tree in northern Patagonia - produces dozens of the same midlength hydrocarbons found in gasoline, diesel fuel, and jet fuel. The fungus may help companies convert the chemical energy stored in plants into liquid fuels capable of replacing fossil fuels.
NEW OPTARE RAPTA INTEGRAL DOUBLEDECKER WITH HYBRID DRIVE
Optare plc, the British bus manufacturer, has launched a new integral double-decker with MAN engine, that will later be offered in hybrid form with a system developed by the American company Enova.
