Thursday, March 31, 2016

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Proper waste management still a distant dream for Mumbai





Though Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar has announced that an integrated waste management system will be implemented in Mumbai, it will be long time before this becomes a reality. An integrated waste management system is a comprehensive programme that includes collection, recycling and disposal of waste.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) collects about 9,600 metric tonnes of waste every day and transports it to three dumping sites across the city. However, only 1,200 metric tonnes of this is segregated into wet and dry waste daily. This, according to waste management experts and officials from solid waste management department, is at the heart of the city’s waste management problems.
Currently, only 3,000 metric tonnes of waste is processed at Kanjurmarg. The BMC want to increase this by 1,000 metric tonnes but the dump’s expansion depends on Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) clearance.
Following the Wednesday’s meeting with officials from the ministry of environment and forests, the BMC said it will issue tenders for the closure of the Mulund dumping ground within 15 days. However, its complete closure, which involves processing existing waste, is likely to take five years after the contracts are awarded.
lso, the BMC is cannot shut down the Deonar landfill immediately and is thus treading slowly. The Deonar dump is the city’s largest – it holds holds 12 million tonnes of waste and subsumes an additional 3,000 metric tonnes of waste daily. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has been appointed to study the feasibility building a waste-to-energy plant at the yard. According to the current plan, waste-to-energy conversion will be conducted on 10 to 12 hectares of the 132-hectare dump and the rest of the landfill will be closed in stages.
“To make sure that the city doesn’t face pollution havoc from repeated fires at the dumping ground, we will have to segregate waste and reduce the amount of garbage transported to landfills. Only then can the problem be solved,” said a senior civic official, who did not wish to be named. BMC chief Ajoy Mehta had also said in a press conference last week that the only way to solve the problem is segregating waste at source. However, a status check on this paints a gloomy picture.
In 2012, the BMC had issued a circular stating that by July 2013, it would stop accepting mixed waste and issue legal notices to housing societies that failed to segregate their garbage.
The civic body had also planned long-term measures to ensure 100% segregation, the initial deadline for which was March 2015. A year later, however, the BMC is still discussing measures such as zero-garbage societies. At present, the city has 32 segregation centres and the BMC aims to add 35 more by the end of the year.
The BMC has also planned landfills at Taloja and Airoli. However the sites are already embroiled in controversy, with various political parties opposing the move. And even if all the clearances were in place now, the sites would be only operational by 2019
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Original Post: BMC Blog

BMW’s Hydrogen Car getting closer to becoming a reality



It’s no secret that BMW is fond of hydrogen fuel cells as an alternative to gasoline or pure battery electricity. The Bavarian brand’s fondness of hydrogen has been met with heavy criticism by proponents of pure BEVs (Battery Electric Vehicles) such as the Tesla Model Sand Chevrolet Bolt. However, those detractors have not yet, and probably will not, sway BMW’s opinion on Earth’s most abundant resource.
BMW has toyed with hydrogen fuel before, developing a hydrogen 7 Series a while back and, more recently, ahydrogen i8 prototype. Much of BMW’s continued interest in hydrogen fuel has to do with its connections with Japanese automaker, Toyota, who is also very fond of hydrogen and has been working with it for 23 years, longer than anyone else in the industry. Toyota is pushing for hydrogen hard and BMW is following suit. But it isn’t just the BMW/Toyota bromance that’s considering hydrogen as a serious long-term solution. Honda, Audi and General Motors are also working on hydrogen technology. So clearly, BMW is on to something.
The biggest problem with hydrogen fuel cell technology is one of the same problems that pure BEVs face — infrastructure. At the moment, there is not a large enough hydrogen refueling infrastructure to make mainstream hydrogen cars a viable option. However, that doesn’t mean there can’t be or shouldn’t be. According to Craig Scott, national advanced technology manager for Toyota, “We didn’t go from horse drawn buggies to Ferraris overnight, so let’s keep perspective in mind and know this is a transformation and it’s a phase change and we are not expecting results tomorrow, but in the next decade or two,”. And Toyota is putting its money where its mouth is and is working on building a network of hydrogen refueling stations across the East Coast, including New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Connecticut. If Toyota can get some help from BMW, as well as other automakers, and maybe even from local governments, such a hydrogen network can become quite vast and useful.
Now, many detractors will claim that building a hydrogen infrastructure is a waste of time, money and resources, as we could be spending those on building an EV charging infrastructure. And while there’s a valid point to that, Toyota, BMW and the other companies out there feel as ifthere’s room for both alternative fuel technologies in the future and they will both play a serious role so both are worth investing into. BMW’s head of fuel cell development, Merten Jung toldDigital Trends “We expect that battery-electric vehicles and fuel cell-electric vehicles will co-exist in the future, and plug-in hybrids are a simply a temporary solution until we get to that point.”
A lot of the reason for this need for both has to do with the “refuel” times and range of both technologies. Currently, it’s very difficult for automakers to create batteries that have a range of over 200 miles without stuffing the car with a million batteries that increase the weight to the point of just being inefficient. It’s why BMW is working on smaller, higher capacity batteries and lightweight cars, such as the i3. Then there’s the issue of recharging electric vehicles, as it takes far too long. Even on fast chargers, it can be a couple of hours to fully recharge a car’s batteries. That’s just far too long to be convenient on a large scale. But hydrogen cars typically have a range of around 300 miles and can be refueled in three to five minutes, hardly any longer than a gasoline car. So it would fit our current lifestyle far easier and be more usable for long-distance driving than an electric car.
BMW seems to be moving forward with hydrogen fuel cell technology and is very serious about it. It also seems that other automakers are following suit and that a hydrogen refueling infrastructure is closer than originally anticipated. If all of those other automakers are in on both hydrogen and BEV technology and feel that there’s a distinct and important place for both in our automotive world, there must be something to that. The day when we see a hydrogen car and pure BEV in BMW’s lineup doesn’t seem too far away anymore.




WTO solar dispute: India examining US protectionist programmes





The government is examining options to file a case against the US in the World Trade Organisation based on programmes run by American state governments which give protection to domestic manufacturers. 
This was stated by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal who was addressing an event organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry on Friday. 
Commenting on the WTO’s ruling on the mandatory domestic content stipulations in India’s solar power generation programme Goyal said, “There are at least nine US states which have similar programmes that give protection to domestic manufacturers. I am now examining them and after that we will file a case against the US.” 
The Minister added, “We will of course go and appeal against the WTO order. But we are ingenious enough in India to find an alternate mechanism to protect our manufacturers.” 
While the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission aims to add 100,000 MW of solar power by 2022, the local content requirement is only for 8,000 MW for rooftop and land-based projects where the government provides a subsidy.
India has been arguing that since the power generated through the JNNSM was bought by NTPC, a public sector agency, the transaction qualifies as government procurement and is not covered by WTO rules. 
This was rejected by the WTO which stated that the domestic content requirement was on power equipment and not on power that is bought by the government. 
Tarun Kapoor, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy said earlier in the week that the domestic manufacturers will be given protection by procurement through defence agencies and other such means. 
“It is very unfortunate that the US decided to pursue their case against India in the WTO. All India has done is protect the domestic manufacturers who have so far given 400 MW of equipment to the installed capacity of 6,000 MW,” said Goyal. 
He added, “When India scales up to a 100 GW all that the Indian manufacturers can produce is about 15-17,000 MW over the next seven years. This would still leave more than 80,000 MW of market for the world. The US took a very myopic view.” 
The Minister also warned that if Indian manufacturers manage to prove a case of dumping against the US manufacturers, solar power will become expensive forcing the government to abort the solar programme. 
“Our own domestic manufacturers had won a complaint against US manufacturers for dumping their products in India which would have resulted in high anti-dumping duties. I personally persuaded the Indian manufacturers and it was their magnanimity who withdrew their request. If Indian manufacturers go back to seeking anti-dumping duties, solar power will again become expensive and we may have to abort the programme,” said Goyal. 





Original Post: BT

Monday, March 28, 2016

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Record Renewable Energy Investment in 2015






Developing world investments in Renewable topped those of developed nations for the first time in 2015, according to the Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2016 report.
Additionally, coal and gas-fired electricity generation last year drew less than half the record investment made in solar, wind and other renewables.
 
The report, the tenth edition of the United Nations Environment Programme's annual report, launched by the Frankfurt School-UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate & Sustainable Energy Finance and Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), says the annual global investment in new renewables capacity, at $266 billion, was more than double the estimated $130 billion invested in coal and gas power stations in 2015.

Helped by further falls in generating costs per megawatt-hour, particularly in solar photovoltaics, renewables excluding large hydro made up 54 percent of added gigawatt (GW) capacity of all technologies last year. It marks the first time new installed renewables have topped the capacity added from all conventional technologies.
The 134 gigawatts of renewable power added worldwide in 2015 compares to 106GW in 2014 and 87GW in 2013. Were it not for renewables excluding large hydro, annual global CO2 emissions would have been an estimated 1.5 gigatons higher in 2015.
UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said, “Access to clean, modern energy is of enormous value for all societies, but especially so in regions where reliable energy can offer profound improvements in quality of life, economic development and environmental sustainability. Continued and increased investment in renewables is not only good for people and planet, but will be a key element in achieving international targets on climate change and sustainable development. 
“By adopting the Sustainable Development Goals last year, the world pledged to end poverty, promote sustainable development, and to ensure healthier lives and access to affordable, sustainable, clean energy for all. Continued and increased investment in renewables will be a significant part of delivering on that promise.”
Michael Liebreich, Chairman of the Advisory Board at BNEF said: “Global investment in renewables capacity hit a new record in 2015, far outpacing that in fossil fuel generating capacity despite falling oil, gas and coal prices. It has broadened out to a wider and wider array of developing countries, helped by sharply reduced costs and by the benefits of local power production over reliance on imported commodities.”
As in previous years, the report shows the 2015 renewable energy market was dominated by solar photovoltaics and wind, which together added 118GW in generating capacity, far above the previous record of 94GW set in 2014. Wind added 62GW and photovoltaics 56GW. More modest amounts were provided by biomass and waste-to-power, geothermal, solar thermal and small hydro.



Original post: Record Renew

Friday, March 25, 2016

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Green Energy: Make Your Story






Original Post: Devvrat

Solar Frontier Achieves World Record Thin-Film Solar Cell Efficiency



In joint research with the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan, Solar Frontier has achieved 22.3% conversion efficiency on a 0.5cm² cell using its CIS technology. 

This is an increase of 0.6 percentage points over the industry’s previous thin-film record of 21.7%. The Fraunhofer Institute, Europe’s largest organization for applied research, has independently verified this result according to Solar Frontier.

“This is a proud achievement for Solar Frontier and a significant advancement for our CIS technology. This is the first time that CIS has crossed the 22% efficiency boundary – a level not yet surpassed by any other thin-film or multi-crystalline silicon technology,” said Satoru Kuriyagawa, Chief Technology Officer of Solar Frontier. “This latest achievement brings us a step closer toward realizing Solar Frontier’s long-term goal of exceeding 30% efficiency using CIS.”
Solar Frontier has created the cell using the same sputtering-selenization process that it uses in mass production. This enables it to apply its latest advancements in all of its production plants in the future. For example, part of the technology used to achieve Solar Frontier’s previous record 20.9% cell, achieved in April 2014, is already being implemented at the upcoming Tohoku Plant in Miyagi, Japan. The new production plant will harness Solar Frontier’s most advanced lines to produce modules of 14.7% efficiency once it begins commercial production.
In addition to conversion efficiency, there are several factors that determine how much energy a solar module will ultimately generate in real-world conditions and, subsequently, its lifetime cost. Solar Frontier claims that their CIS modules generate more energy (kilowatt-hours per kilowatt-peak) compared to crystalline silicon in real-world conditions. 



Original Post: REF

Friday, March 18, 2016

India Could Be A Global Change Agent For Renewable Energy: US





India which has set an ambitious target of generating 175 gigawatts of clean energy, can be an agent of change for the world in the renewable sector, US has said.

"India could really be a change agent for the rest of the world in the renewable energy sector if they get it right. So we have a vested interest in helping them get that right," said Melanie Nakagawa, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Transformation in US.

And as India embarks on the project which is likely to cost USD 1 trillion to build its infrastructure from road to ports, she said it is a great opportunity for the world, "to showcase" India as a country that gets the sustainability future right.



"I think there's a story to be written there as they get closer to it but it's going to be tough. I mean it's going to take not just the political will, but it's going to take the reforms and the policies needed to actually see this possible future happen," she said.

Noting that Indian government needs USD 100 billion in investment including USD 70 billion of debt financing to meet their 175 gigawatt target by 2022, the US official said those numbers can't be met with public finance alone. And necessary reforms are needed to attract private investment.

"India's commitments on the 175 gigawatt renewable energy target by 2022, their commitments on solar, their commitments also in the finance infrastructure space, this all makes it a really impressive political will, signal and political will," Ms Nakagawa said.

India's target of generating 175 gigawatt of power by 2022 from renewable sources includes 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from biomass and 5 GW from small hydroelectric project.

India and the US are working closely together in this field. The US-India Clean Energy Finance Task Force which was established in September 2015 has had three meetings so far.

This is a government-to-government task force focused on clean energy investment and finance. It's complimented by a private sector led task force called a Clean Energy Finance Forum, the which is led by Uday Kemkha and SunEdison.




Original Post: PTI

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Akon’s Vision To Grow Solar Power Across Africa




Artist and R&B singer Akon took fans and the business industry by surprise in late 2015 when he announced his vision to bring solar power to millions of Africans living without electricity. Through his latest project, Akon Lighting Africa, now operating in 15 African countries, the Senegalese-born social entrepreneur aims to bring light to the nearly 600 million people living in the dark in sub-Saharan Africa.
Earlier this year, Akon and his partners announced the launch of the Solektra Solar Academy, an initiative establishing a pipeline for solar power to be engineered, installed and managed by locals. Courses are staged in different modules which include both theoretical and practical classes focusing on issues specific to the continent. Topics include the development of decentralized rural electrification systems, general dynamics of the solar market and more. By the end of the year, Solektra Solar Academy aims to train 200 people in Bamako, Mali.
We spoke with Akon about the academy, his future vision for being a resource to create programming in India and Latin America, and how he plans to scale the impact of lighting communities through training local people at all skill levels.

TriplePundit: The Solektra Solar Academy launch is a small part of a big initiative to train, employ and empower various African countries through solar generation. Why does the academy development matter to your initiative as a whole to bring light to Africa?

Akon: There is a collective awareness on the subject of the energy crisis that the African continent is currently going through. Solar solutions seem to be the answer that governments and local authorities are willing to develop all across the continent, but it was obvious to us that to achieve this objective a long-term strategy had to be adopted. Indeed, many projects in different sectors have failed because after few years people were not able to maintain the installations, and didn’t really feel like that they should take care of this equipment.
Our idea, with my partners Samba Bathily and Thione Niang, when we launched Solektra International as a company and the Akon Lighting Africa initiative, was to promote inclusive development by bringing light to Africa. Creating the first African institute entirely dedicated to solar technologies in Mali, and welcoming students coming from various countries around Africa, is a way to anticipate and accompany the solar revolution — now we will need more and more expertise and skill across the whole continent.
By providing latest simulations equipment to our trainees and making sure that they get the best practical training thanks to an experienced team, we will lay the foundation for a sustainable future. To us, trying to bring light to Africa without supporting youth empowerment and skills development could not be sustainable over the long term. The Solektra Solar Academy is the logical extension of our ambitions, and we hope to be able to identify amongst trainees future employees for Solektra International.

3p: Can you explain a bit more as to how you and your partners developed the concept for the academy?
Akon: If we work to develop sustainable solutions to face the energy crisis in Africa, we will for sure need people to deploy those solutions, to install and maintain them.
We realized that we have the opportunity to create jobs in the markets in which we operate but that we need to hire people with a background that meets our specific needs in the solar industry. We wanted to develop a sustainable business model with Solektra International following the idea that African youth can play a key role in developing renewable energy in Africa.
3p: What are the options for employment for people that complete their training at the academy?

Akon: In 2016 during the first academic year, all the tuition fees and related expenditures will be covered by Solektra International.The ultimate objective of the Solektra Solar Academy is to create a strong network of African skills workers, technicians and engineers capable of supporting the development of the solar industry across the continent by working for solar energy companies and also by becoming solar entrepreneurs setting up their own business. The solar academy training will fill a gap by addressing the needs for technical expertise. Our trainees will be in a good position to find jobs at Solektra International, in other companies, and within regional electrical agencies.

3p: In terms of scalability and the ambitious plans to bring the academy to other continents, what are your overall goals and potential timeline for achieving them?

Akon: For now, we focus on making the academy successful and fostering exchanges with other technical/energy institutes throughout Africa. It is true that we are currently exploring opportunities to develop our business model in other regions of the world, including Latin America, India, Asia … We might be in the position to open other academies outside Africa, but this is not our immediate objective.

3p: What lessons are you learning in this business about renewable energy and social entrepreneurship?

Akon: When you hear that 600 million Africans do not have access to electricity, you may think it may be too complicated to change that situation. However, we realize that this huge energy crisis could be solved quickly by adopting a long-term and 360-degree vision. Concrete solutions are there; they need to be financed and supported by public and private investors. African people need to believe in their own potential and future. As social entrepreneurs, we try to have a positive impact on climate change and on communities thanks to solar energy. We work to make people realize that their daily life can change for good without leaving Africa and their mother country.

3p: What do you believe will be the long-term impact of this project? (On citizens, communities, government, business, etc.)

Akon: By providing a qualified workforce in the sector of solar energy, this project will support the growth of the solar industry across the continent. We will give to our students a better access to the labor market and make sure that communities feel that every equipment belongs to them and participate in its maintenance. Promoting youth training in an expanding sector is also a way to concretely support government action regarding education.

3p: How can others support your work? Are you currently seeking out resources or references for partnerships, etc?

Akon: For the Solektra Solar Academy, we have already decided to partner with Lucas-Nülle — a German company specializing in the manufacture and marketing of high-quality, state-of-the-art training systems and education equipment for further and advanced technical, engineering and vocational education. Lucas-Nülle training systems are used all around the world; they are considered as a benchmark for quality, efficiency and technology. We are also working on setting up academic partnerships with international universities and some international organizations.
On the business front, for example, the Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has accepted to partner with the Akon Lighting Africa initiative through the installation of solar microgrids in rural areas of each member state, thus creating additional jobs.




Original Post: Sherrell Dorsey 

Monday, March 14, 2016

Sunday, March 13, 2016

The Giant Carbon Footprint






Original Post: Devvrat

Carbon makes up 60 per cent of the world’s Ecological Footprint




Global Footprint Network launches its 2016 edition of the National Footprint Accounts today, featuring a refined carbon Footprint calculation.
The updated calculation has revealed that the global carbon Footprint is 16 percent higher than previously calculated, with a consequent 8 percent increase in the global Ecological Footprint. The carbon Footprint makes up 60 percent of the world’s Ecological Footprint.
We are happy to make the National Footprint Accounts available in a free downloadable version for research, education and non-commercial purposes (scroll down for more details). An interactive map and country rankings based on the National Footprint Accounts 2016 are available atwww.footprintnetwork.org/maps. Watch a video explaining the National Footprint Accounts at If you are interested in attending a webinar on the Footprint Accounts.
The annual maintenance of the National Footprint Accounts involves incorporating the most recent data (2012) from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Comtrade database, the International Energy Agency (IEA), and other sources.
As mentioned above, we have made a number of improvements to the accounting methodology this year. The most influential is the new calculation of Average Forest Carbon Sequestration (AFCS) value — which is the long-term capacity for one hectare of world-average forest ecosystem to sequester carbon dioxide. By including new data sources and accounting for multiple forest categories, global wildfires, and forest ecosystem emissions from soil and harvested wood products, forests were found to provide less net-sequestration of carbon than previously calculated.
The Ecological Footprints of countries are impacted by the new methodology. The higher a country’s carbon Footprint as a percentage of its overall Ecological Footprint, the bigger the increase in its Footprint compared to last year’s edition.
For instance, Oman, whose carbon Footprint makes up a whopping 77 per cent of its Ecological Footprint, has jumped up over 20 places in the ranking of countries that demand more than their own ecosystems can renew. (Oman is now one of the top 15 countries by ecological deficit.) On the other hand, Ethiopia, whose carbon Footprint is a mere 7 per cent of its Ecological Footprint, fell 16 slots down the same ranking.
The robust carbon Footprint calculations are especially timely in light of the historic Paris Agreement signed in December 2015 by 195 nations and the European Union. The adopted goal of restricting average temperature increases to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-Industrial Revolution levels translates into a specific upper carbon budget for all future emissions of 800 gigatonnes CO2.
The Paris Agreement also shifts the focus to net emissions of countries, recognizing the importance of land-use choices for carbon sequestration. In this context, Ecological Footprint accounts — which measure both emissions on the demand side and the supply of sequestration on the biocapacity side — provide a natural framework to evaluate net emissions by countries and the interaction between competing demands on a country’s land.
Beyond carbon, looking at the world through the prism of the Ecological Footprint makes for interesting insights, revealing long-term trends and impacts regarding countries’ ecological wealth, economic health and population growth. Here are a few highlights.
·PIGS countries (Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain) have been registering a steady decline of their Ecological Footprint per capita since the mid-2000s. By contrast, strong European economies like Germany and France have seen a rebound of their Ecological Footprint per capita since the 2008 financial crisis. What would it take for the PIGS countries to strengthen their economy AND reduce their Ecological Footprint?
·Asian countries with rapid economic expansion, such as India, China, South Koreaand Vietnam, are displaying a strong increase of their Ecological Footprint per capita that is concomitant with their rising standards of living.
Note that Vietnam and Cambodia stand out among Asian countries for their successful efforts building up their biocapacity per person to support their growing Ecological Footprint.
·Low-income countries with surging population growth (fast-increasing demand)or violent turmoil (collapse of agricultural activity and output) — includingHonduras, Niger and Somalia— are hitting the threshold of their own ecosystems’ ability to support (biocapacity) their population’s demand (Ecological Footprint.)
Curious to explore more? Download our Public Data Package!
Global Footprint Network is offering a free downloadable version of its National Footprint Accounts for research, education and non-commercial purposes, at www.footprintnetwork.org/public. This Public Data Package includes the latest results for all countries, country graphics and the number of Earths required if the world’s population lived like the average citizen of each country. The free download also offers many new ways to sort data — by region, GDP, Human Development Index and other categories — and data quality scores for the results.

About the National Footprint Accounts

Global Footprint Network’s annual update of the National Footprint Accounts tracks the balance sheet of approximately 200 nations from year to year, based on nearly 200,000 data points per country per year from over 30 sources. The accounts add together a country’s annual demand for the natural resources and ecological services our planet’s lands and seas provide — fruits and vegetables, meat, fish, wood, cotton for clothing, timber and carbon dioxide absorption. This demand, the Ecological Footprint, then can be compared to the supply of these goods and services provided by that country’s ecosystems, called biocapacity.
In 1961, the first year for which consistent data sets are available, our planet was able to supply 37 percent more resources and services than humanity demanded. Since then, the global ecological deficit — the amount by which humanity’s demand has exceeded nature’s budget — has widened substantially. The 2016 edition of the National Footprint Accounts shows that the world population demands 64 percent more than what nature can regenerate in one year through overfishing, over-harvesting our forests and, primarily, emitting more carbon dioxide than our ecosystems can absorb. The effects include wildlife habitat loss and fragmentation, collapsing fisheries, and climate change.



Original Post: Essar

Thursday, March 10, 2016

GOODYEAR RELEASES ELECTRICITY-GENERATING TIRE CONCEPT



We’ve been getting a lot of positive news about electric cars recently. This week at the Geneva International Auto Show, Goodyear unveiled a new concept tire called the BH03. While we don’t know why it is called that, we do know that Goodyear’s new tire looks radical and could potentially generate electricity for electric cars by converting the friction heat of the tire on the road.



The tire will collect heat in multiple ways, primarily from the friction heat, but also the heat generated by tire flex. The most interesting thing about these tires is that they can still collect heat while not moving! Small patches on the tire’s thermo-piezoelectric layer can collect heat from the sun on a hot day.

While this is still just a concept, with no clear way to power the car and no release date, we are excited by the potential. What do you think? Do you think this technology is practical and could be available in electric cars soon?



Original Post:  Good Year

Wednesday, March 9, 2016