I will probably never figure out the original name for Go-Karts but here’s a really cool DIY electric go-kart someone has made and you might want to refer it if you want to make your own in the near future.

This year, the Summer Engineering Workshop team was interested in making an electric go-kart. (Some kind of obsession with things you can ride…) But to make things more interesting, we decided to add a 110F ultracapacitor into the mix. Capacitors store electrical potential energy; much less than a battery, but you can charge and discharge them more quickly. Research into automotive applications of capacitors (in hybrids, for example) has led to development of ultracapacitors with increasing energy density and decreasing price.

Research is research. We were also interested in having some fun. So, we wanted to see if we could very simply integrate an ultracapacitor into a stylish electric go-kart. One of the simplest ways to do so is to use it exclusively to store energy recaptured from the kart as it brakes. Then, put this energy at the driver’s fingertips in the form of a power “assist,” or, less formally, boost! While it’s likely not the best solution for full-size autos, we wanted to make a tangible demonstration that the technology is closer to reality than many might think.

The site is very informative and even provides free circuit schematics for the electricity parts, I highly suggest you to check this one out.

via make, DIY Page

Well, it took me all day to get all my sites running today, there’s was a massive DoS attack by some hackers I had to take care of.

With that cleared away, here’s how to make some inexpensive solar cell panels.

Mike Davis is an astronomer. To practice his hobby away from the light-pollution of cities, he bought some land in a remote part of Arizona. But there was a problem: No electricity…. But he’s a resourceful fellow. He built some home-made solar panels using inexpensive blemished and damaged solar cells from eBay!

via treehugger

Saving earth or being socially resposible isn’t probably high on the list of priorities for those who drink a lot of beer but here’s a kegerator that might just change how refrigerators are built with no compressor.

Instead of relying on gasses similar to Freon, a process which can only be performed with energy-intensive compressors and heating coils, the new kegerators will rely on something called magnetic field refrigeration. In magnetic field refrigeration, electricity is introduced to a polarpolymer, causing the usually disordered molecules of the polarpolymer to become highly ordered. As this happens, heat is dispersed and the material grows cold. When the electricity is switched off this process reverses itself. And this doesn’t just mean more fun for the college crowd: someday Zhang predicts this technology will be used in everything from self-cooling gear for firefighters to chilling your CPU.

via green blog

Engineers at Oxford University have come up with a new innovative concept for underwater turbines that use 60% less manufacturing and 40% less in maintenance costs.

This type of new underwater generator involves the THAWT device.  I believe these types of underwater turbines and ocean wind turbines combined will soon be everywhere in the ocean to generate over 90% of our electricity.

The THAWT is considered to be a “second generation” turbine as opposed to the first generation models that resembled windmills. It consists of a cylindrical rotor that rolls around its long axis with the flow of water, instead of turning at right angles. Promising to be more efficient and powerful than other underwater turbines, each THAWT is predicted to produce 12 megawatts of energy - enough to power 12,000 family homes and significantly more than other underwater turbines of today.

via inhabitat

Flare facade, is a living outer skin for any building.  Composed of individual 3-D triangulars, these things can individually controlled via a computer to create some really amazing animation effects without the use of LEDs and electricity. (Pic and Video after the jump)

Continue reading ‘Flare facade is living outer skin for any building!’

Sharp is working on solar LCD TVs for houses without electricity.

The only question I have is, if they don’t get electricity, will they get any TV reception at all?  (Maybe air reception is good… real good…)

LCD prototype which uses just a quarter of the power (or a third measured annually) of a conventional CRT with the same screen size. That’s low enough to be suitably powered by a Sharp, triple-junction thin-film solar cell module whose surface area is roughly equivalent to that of the LCD screen.

via engadget

Now is the time to add/replace your outdoor garden lights with something that’s solar.

Why?

Why are you spending money on electricity that you can get free?

Save earth and get some of these solar powered landscraping lights pleez.

You can get bunch of them over at Chinavasion here.

This is one of those gadgets, “why didn’t they think of this before?”.  The power tap device called CheckTap can be programmed via your PC through a USB cable to control and also schedule which and when your devices are on/off.

This gadget supposedly could save your home/office a whole lotta electricity, so long as you can “program” it.  I do assume that most people will be able to program this thing but do have my doubts that over 50% of population will probably be stuck trying to program it.  Maybe they can actually make a “smarter” device that you don’t have to program for the future and gadget-lovers like me.

via inhabitat

This one’s pretty much common sense but still a really good idea on how to make heat blocking curtains using insulated materials.

To save electricity with our super expensive A/C, I constructed reflective curtains to block sunlight from warming our house. Think auto windshield. This is super simple and kind of obvious, but it works well.

via instructables