There are many people who are trying to break the land speed record for a two wheeler or a four wheeler, but it’s not very often that someone tries to set a land speed record for wind-powered vehicles. However, that’s exactly what Richard Jenkins and his team, have been looking for.

Greenbird, wind powered vehicle breaks speed record

With a uber-cool looking carrier dubbed the Greenbird (completely wind-powered and uses absolutely nothing else to speed it up), after a few unsuccessful attempts down under in Australia, Richard managed to achieve this rare feet at Ivenpah Lake in Nevada.

Dare to venture a guess on the mark he set? It’s a stunning 126.1 mph and yes that is all just wind power!

The Greenbird is much like a sail boat on land, but has totally different challenges to overcome. Powered by wind at such a high pace, the entire vehicle experiences a lift much like a flight on runway. And to counter this Richard used F1-styled wings to keep it firmly on ground!

While the new speed record gives a great ad for wind energy and illustrates its potential, Richard is looking forward to breaking his own record and setting a new land speed record for wind-powered vehicle, all over again. [BBC via Inhabitat]

If you're new here and you like our articles, how about subscribing free for our updates via RSS feed.

The nation that leads the world on energy will be the nation that will lead the world in the 21st century— or at least that’s the clear message emanating from the White House.

Investing in the technology and energy of the future, President Barrack Obama unveiled a $2.4 billion dollar boost for electric vehicle development in the US and urged the industry to help reduce the nation’s reliance on other nations for its energy needs in the form of oil imports. (And increase dependency on Japanese batteries, one asks?)

Innocent and so very green ...

Speeching at the unveiling of the green package, Obama talked about how the German’s were leading the world in solar power and Spain producing 30-percent of its energy from windmills.

The aim of the package is obviously to encourage more green vehicles on the road— there’s a target for a million eco-friendly vehicles on US roads by 2015. Not content in giving the green movement a thrust from the production side alone, President Obama also declared a $7,500 dollar tax credit to consumers willing to buy plug-in vehicles.

Split up into $1.5 billion to manufacturers who produce highly efficient batteries and $500 million for firms that produce other components, this is all about creating future roads with zero-emissions. And maybe some green jobs?

Image by simeon_barkas

The 2009 Detroit Auto Show just opened gates to press and there’s good stuff for eco-minded people. GM just officially unveiled their beautifully styled, sleek, and clearly aerodynamic Cadillac Converj.

It’s a two-door front-wheel-drive coupe extended range electric concept that uses E-Flex technology – now known as Voltec, that is expected to deliver a 40-mile range from a set of lithium ion batteries (16-kWh T-shaped battery that takes less than 3 hours at 240V/8 hours at 120V to charge) and a four-cylinder gasoline engine-generator.

As for how powerful it is, consider 120 kW and a 273 lb-ft torque. There’s no word on production yet, but our guess is it won’t hit the streets before 2012.

Hit the jump for a big gallery with the new Cadillac Converj, and the press release.

(more…)

I saw the 100 MPG Toyota Prius – Plug-in Hybrid Conversion in SF. What can I say? It’s a Toyota. It’s a Prius. It’s a hybrid. It goes a long long way on at tank of gas. Our local cheap gas stand is selling at $1.99/gal. One hundred miles for $2.00.

My first car was a 1960 VW Beetle. It got about 20 mpg or so and I paid about 30 cents for a gallon of gas. If my math is right, then my VW Bug in 1972 went about as far on $2 as this Toyota does 36 years later. And we wonder why Toyota is making money hand over fist while GM and Ford and Chrysler have their hands out.

I am a little slow sometimes. Okay, a lot slow. I spotted an eBox at the SF Auto Show. I thought to myself, “This car sure looks like something to me.” Duh…it’s a modified 5-speed Scion xB wagon.

The way it works is after buying a Scion for $15K “engineers will remove the internal combustion engine and related components, and install AC Propulsion’s electric drive and battery system composed of more than 5,000 small cells.” The cost of the conversion is $55K. At that price, we wonder why people aren’t knocking down the doors.

I wonder how much it’d cost to make the car from scratch? Why can’t we be Earth-friendly without breaking the bank?

They stuck the weird cars in a room off to the side . No matter, I found them – the cars that are meant to be Earth friendly, because I went looking just for them. Hanging out in a room with other cars with signs saying they’ll go 100 miles on a gallon of gas was a VW Jetta that runs on Biodiesel/VegOil Conversion.

I reckon I can buy a log at Safeway and stick it in the tank or stop by McDonald’s and ask for their left over vegetable oil. Sounds reasonable to me. Now as long as nobody uses gasoline to fry eggs we’re good to go.