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Department of Energy lends Fisker $528.7 million for Karma and Project Nina
Well, it seems like that sex-on-wheels advert has done its job. Fisker's development of the oh so desirable Karma PHEV and its lower-cost sibling, now known as Project Nina (inspired by Christopher Columbus' escape from the Old World, no less), has been given a significant boost by the US government. Henrik Fisker himself has been quoted as saying that once the conditional loan is in, "it wouldn't take long to get the lower-cost plug-in hybrid on the road." If the company carries over the aggressive styling from the luxury model, it might have a real winner on its hands, though -- we know -- it's got to be cheap enough first. While waiting for that $528.7 million to work its magic, you can gawk at the solar paneled roof on the Karma, to be found after the break.
Tesla, Ford, Nissan all receive electric car development loans from US government
High five, Tesla fans -- everyone's favorite incredibly controversial electric car company has just been granted $465m in loans from the Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program. The bulk of the money will go towards that postponed Model S factory, while the remaining $100m will be used to fund an electric powertrain manufacturing facility that will sell parts like motors and battery packs to other carmakers. Tesla wasn't the DOE's only big winner: Nissan received $1.6b (billion!) to build batteries and EVs in Tennessee and Ford received an undisclosed amount to build two upcoming electric cars, but since those companies have largely drama-free upper management that isn't constantly involved in lawsuits, it feels a little more routine. Still, it's an exciting time -- let's hope all these tax dollars turn into affordable, convenient electric transportation sooner rather than later.Update: A "congressional source" has told the AP that Ford's getting $5.9 billion, so yeah, the Oval's still the big dog. Read - Tesla Read - Ford Read - Nissan
Researchers create nanotube memory that can store data for a billion years
Researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC Berkeley have developed an ultra-dense memory chip that is capable of storing data for up to a billion years (besting silicon chips by roughly... a billion years). Consisting of a crystalline iron nanoparticle shuttle encased within a multiwalled carbon nanotube, the device can be written to and read from using conventional voltages already available in digital electronics today. The research was led by Alex Zettl, who notes that current digital storage methods are capable of storing mass amounts of data, but last just decades, while, say, some books have managed to last nearly a thousand years, though the amount of data they contain is quite small. The new method, called shuttle memory, is based on the iron nanoparticle which can move back and forth within the hollow nanotu. Zettl believes that, while shuttle memory is years away from practical application, it could have a lot of archival applications in the future. There's a video after the break, hit the read link for more tiny details.[Via The Register]
Sprint nabs $7.3M grant for hydrogen fuel cells at cell sites
The US Department of Energy is feeling generous with some $41.9 million worth of cold, hard cash in a round of grants aimed at advancing fuel cell tech, and Sprint ended up scoring some $7.3 million of it -- the only carrier to do so. Carriers and hydrogen fuel cells don't seem like a natural fit at first, but it turns out that backup power at cell sites is kind of a big deal, and fuel cells are a perfect fit for a reliable, long-running, zero-emission solution. Interestingly, Sprint has been really into this for a while now -- it's their third awarded grant, and it turns out that they've had fuel cells deployed at sites since way back in 2005 (and they've even got 12 patents under their belt to prove it). Most current sites offer up to 15 hours of power in the event of an emergency using low-pressure hydrogen tanks, and the carrier says that it'll use the latest cash infusion to work with its partners to boost that up to 72 hours. Probably worse ways for the government to spend $7.3 million, when you think about it (say, on no-bid contracts for surplus eraser heads for Number 2 pencils, for instance).
US Department of Energy pours $30 million into plug-in hybrids
While some automakers are already promising to have plug-in hybrids on the road by 2010, the US Department of Energy is now pouring some cash into a slightly less ambitious joint effort with Ford, General Motors, and General Electric, which would see plug-ins capable of driving 40 miles on a single charge roll out by 2014. Under the new effort, General Motors will be tasked with improving lithium-Ion battery packs and charging systems, and integrating them into its own research with a test fleet by 2011, while Ford will be aiming to speed up the mass-production of plug-in hybrids, as well as improve its batteries and build prototype vehicles. Rounding things out, General Electric will be partnering with Chrysler to develop a dual-battery system, which promises to let vehicles travel 40 miles on a charge. All of that is still subject to appropriations by Congress, however, and the aforementioned companies would obviously be pouring in a good chunk of change themselves, as a mere $30 million isn't exactly quite enough to shake up the auto sector these days.
College teams compete for eco-dominance in the Solar Decathlon
This summer, teams of college students have amassed on their school campuses to create solar-only, off-the-grid, self-powered homes, which will eventually compete in Washington D.C. for the Department of Energy's 2007 Solar Decathlon. To build the houses, students are limited to currently available, off-the-shelf technologies, and must also focus on design, comfort, and market viability. The groups will move their eco-friendly homes to the National Mall in D.C., where the "solar village" of houses will be open for touring by the general public, and will be scored by judges for architecture, engineering, and energy balance, amongst others. The whole shebang is sponsored by heavy-hitters like Sprint and BP, but it's unclear whether the winning team receives prizes beyond the knowledge that their solar home crushed the others in head-to-head combat.[Via CNET]
IBM pushing vertical stacking in next wave of supercomputers
Next-generation cooling technology isn't the only thing IBM's R&D crew is spending time with, as the chip giant has recently made plans to hit up "vertical stacking technology" in order to make the next wave of supercomputers really crank. Supposedly, "laying chips vertically -- as opposed to side by side -- reduces the distance data has to travel by 1,000 times, making the chips faster and more efficient." The new format will place chips directly atop one another and connect them with "tungsten filled pipes etched through the silicon," which will subsequently eliminate the need for wires and increase the speed at which data can flow. The questionably-dubbed "3D chips" will reportedly operate around 40-percent more efficiently than existing renditions, and considering that Intel is purportedly cooking up a similar agenda in their own labs, that "end of 2007" release date is quite likely to be accurate.
Solar cell breakthrough: 40% efficiency achieved
If that silly Hummer O2 concept vehicle we just saw didn't sate your appetite for environmental friendliness, try this on for size: researchers at Boeing-Spectrolab have just succeeded in building a multi-junction solar cell that achieves an incredible 40.7% efficiency, or -- to the best of our knowledge -- about twice that of the reigning champ in this space. To put this Department of Energy-backed breakthrough in perspective, it was less than two months ago that Silicon Valley-based SunPower announced a 22% efficient cell, and even that model was claimed to produce 50% more power over a given space than previous iterations. In case you're unfamiliar with multi-junction cells -- no shame in that game -- they can best be described as being composed of several layers, with each slice capturing only a portion of the solar spectrum; this method of optical concentration is what has allowed cells to surpass the 12% to 18% efficiency barrier faced by most traditional modules. In conclusion, while this is certainly an encouraging development, we remain somewhat skeptical about its potential for real-world implementation: once Big Oil gets wind of this new tech, it will likely "disappear" just as quickly as that guy who invented a car that runs on water, man.[Via Slashdot]
