Vada Energy blog

Several researchers from the MIT succeeded in making a new kind of fuel cell. This one is a Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC), and it doesn’t need the prior extraction of hydrogen from methanol, but instead, as the name suggests, it extracts and uses it directly.

Hydrogen could play a role in replacing fossil fuels for transportation in the future, but researchers must develop a way to store and release large amounts of the highly flammable, odorless invisible gas economically and safely. There are materials that can trap relatively large amounts of hydrogen, at normal pressures, but by now they all [...]

MIT researchers discovered the solution to a problem put 100 years ago by Ludwig Prandtl. It refers to the situation when, for example, a car accelerates up and down a hill, then slows to follow a turn, and the airflow around it cannot keep up and separates from it. This aerodynamic phenomena creates an additional [...]

Have you ever wondered where does the energy that keeps your fixed phone alive and make it ring comes from? Well, you may already know it comes from the telephone company, particularly from a PABX machine.

What do you think a device named “XX25? is used for? Kindergarten operations? Or some fancy church bell, or an automatic makeup machine? No… the California-based company Ultracell designed this methanol fuel cell for the army. XX25 uses eight and a half ounces of methanol to supply power for a military laptop for eight hours. [...]

“Oh, yes! In 25 years we could take over the world” - says Dan Zaslavsky, professor at the Institute of Agriculture of Israel. He and his team devised an Energy Tower working on the principle of rising hot air and lowering the cold one. That is the simple idea. They work on the project since [...]

Wish you could just purchase a device that does not go obsolete after a while?

Konarka has successfully developed a range of organic thin-film solar cell modules which were made possible thanks to a roll-to-roll process, and the unprecedented flexibility of such prototypes allow them to be attached to a bag and used as a power source of an electronic paper. The energy conversion efficiency of these super thin solar [...]

The I-Slate device looks like some kind of touchscreen-capable digital photo frame, but in reality it is a stylus-controlled classroom aid that draws power from the sun thanks to the inclusion of solar panels.

When we often think about the topic of alternative energy, what comes to mind is a number of different ideas. These include: renewable energy sources (such as hydrogen, ethanol, wind, and solar), improvements in existing technologies (such as the gasoline powered automobile and obtaining better fuel efficiency with that particular model) and the creation of [...]

If this truly works (and I don’t see why it shouldn’t), it is the greatest home-produced energy discovery since the wheel has been founded. Lloyd Tanner uses an incredibly simple assembly of two 4×4 inch wood pieces, and an iron wheel spinning in between.The friction between the iron and the wood causes the first to [...]

A novel kind of transit system, in which cars are replaced by a network of automated electric vehicles, is about to get its first large-scale testing and deployment. Two of these Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) systems are being installed this year, one at Heathrow International Airport, near London, and one in the United Arab Emirates, [...]

Toyota is looking to a greener future - literally - with dreams of an ultralight, superefficient plug-in hybrid with a bioplastic body made of seaweed that could be in showrooms within 15 years.
The kelp car would build upon the already hypergreen 1/X plug-in hybrid concept, which weighs 926 pounds, by replacing its carbon-fiber body with [...]

One of the stranger-looking representatives of the electric car revolution is approaching its public debut. The Aptera 2e, an all-electric car that the company calls an “aerodynamic marvel,” has reached pre-production and is scheduled to start being manufactured in October of this year.

As always, MIT is coming with lots of interesting ideas that often represent really viable ways of improving our energy sources. This time, MIT has come up with a special type of battery never seen before.It is a liquid battery, since everything in it is liquid. It is composed of two molten metals, acting as [...]