Integrated Rain Water Harvesting Project
September 8, 2010Build a Solar Food Dehydrator
September 9, 2010
Designed with numerous innovative technologies, the Cri-Cri boasts a lightweight composite structure that reduces the weight of the entire plane, allowing for the additional weight of the necessary batteries and the four brushless electric motors and counter-rotating propellers. All this leads to zero CO2 emissions and less noise compared to thermal propulsion that also utilizes higher-energy density lithium batteries.
With the batteries, the Cri-Cri is able to maintain 30 minutes of autonomous cruise flight at 110km/h or an alternative 15 minutes of autonomous aerobatics at speeds reaching up to 250 km/h. For the test flight, the plane remained airborne for 7 minutes before landing.
“The Cri-Cri is a low-cost test bed for system integration of electrical technologies in support of projects like our hybrid propulsion concept for helicopters,” stated Jean Botti, EADS’s Chief Technical Officer. “We hope to get a lot of useful information out of this project.”
The Cri-Cri is not the only ‘environmental form of air travel’ that EADS is researching. Currently the company is also experimenting with algae based biofuel and a helicopter hybrid propulsion system combining electrical power with piston engines. With such technologies being enhanced, could it only be a matter of time before air travel is no longer one of the largest polluters on the planet, but one of the cleanest?
Source: Inhabitat
Green technology such as electric airplanes is developing at a rapid pace. Successful commercial production as opposed to wonderful once-off prototypes is often linked to whether the companies have oil corporations as major investors. The oil corporations obviously have a vested interest in maintaining fossil fuels as the primary fuel source. Have you noticed that the ‘green divisions’ of these oil companies often develop amazing alternative fuel technology (such as advanced solar powered machines) but the prototypes hardly ever go into production? If they do, the products are usually outrageously expensive. This is not a conspiracy theory! Some careful research reveals the truth! Hopefully the Cri-Cri electric plane remains independent of the oil corporations.
Water Rhapsody and Yes Solar have combined to enable individuals and businesses in water scarce South Africa to conserve and harvest water as well as to obtain free energy from the sun- solar energy. Our water systems are designed to conserve water without the need for much conscious input. Our greywater irrigation systems irrigate the garden automatically and our grey water toilet flush system uses gray water instead of perfectly good drinking water. The Grand Opus rainwater harvesting system is integrated into your existing water supply (water stored in rain water tanks) so that you are never without water. See our product demo for examples of our WWF Award-winning water systems. As authorised JoJo Water Tank dealers we can supply and install the full range of JoJo water tanks and water tank stands. Our Yes Solar solar energy division markets high quality Solsquare solar water heaters (German-made) that qualify for the Eskom solar geyser rebate programme. Contact us for a free quote on a water system, water tank or Solsquare solar geyser.
