BMW i4 EV

BMW M, the German automaker’s motorsport division, has announced that it’s developing its first battery-electric car based on the upcoming i4 EV.

According to CarAdvice, BMW M CEO Markus Flasch has made the revelation during a press event for Australian media, where he also said that the car will be unveiled next year and will fall under the company’s “performance segment.” - Link

RE-LEAF

When a natural disaster strikes, one of the biggest challenges is getting power to the disaster site. 

Nissan may have a way to change that. 

The company has developed an all-electric emergency response vehicle concept. Dubbed the Re-Leaf, the prototype is based on the Nissan Leaf passenger car. In the event of an emergency, it’s able to provide a fully mobile power supply.

The Re-Leaf is fit with weatherproof plug sockets mounted on its exterior. Those can power 110- to 230-volt devices using the car’s lithium-ion battery. The EV could, for instance, power an electric jack hammer, ICU ventilator or LED flood light. Or, with a fully charged battery, the Re-Leaf could power the average UK household for roughly six days - Link

UAE VIRGIN HYPERBOLE

A high-speed transport network which aims to slash global commuting times is on track to bring its advanced technology to India.

UAE-backed Virgin Hyperloop will assess plans to develop a super-fast route from Kempegowda International Airport to Bengaluru - the country's sprawling tech hub.

The hi-tech system is comprised of pods which can transport passengers or cargo at speeds in excess of 1,000kph, roughly three times faster than conventional high-speed rail.

An agreement was signed between Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, chairman of Virgin Hyperloop, and TM Vijay Bhaskar, chairman of the board of directors at Bengaluru airport, to launch a pre-feasibility study for the project.

"Beyond just the transit of passengers, airports are crucial conduits for goods, especially time-sensitive deliveries," said Mr bin Sulaymen, also group chairman of DP World.

"A hyperloop-connected airport would dramatically improve the delivery of cargo and create an ultra-efficient supply chain."

The research will focus on technical, economical and route feasibility and is expected to take 12 months to complete.

Preliminary analysis found Hyperloop technology could transport thousands of passengers from the airport to the city centre in under 10 minutes - compared to more than 45 minutes by road - link - more like this - link

BEHYDRO

BeHydro joint venture claims its 1MW hydrogen-diesel motors can cut CO2 emissions by up to 85 per cent

A "revolutionary" hybrid ship engine powered by green hydrogen and diesel has been unveiled today in Belgium, with developers claiming the innovation could cut CO2 emissions from ships, trains and electricity generators by up to 85 per cent.

Over the past three years, engine specialist ABC has been working with shipping and logistics group CMB as part of a joint venture to develop, produce and test the dual-fuel BeHydro engine, which has a capacity of up to 1MW, the two Belgian firms announced today - Link

CHINESE HYDROGEN POWER CORRIDOR

BEIJING -- The city of Chongqing will apply together with Chengdu for a new Chinese government program offering incentives for developing core fuel cell technologies, local officials said Tuesday.

"We'll create a cleaner and smarter auto industry," Yang Liqiong, deputy director of the Chongqing Economic and Information Technology Commission, told reporters, adding that the city would "establish a hydrogen-power corridor with Chengdu" through the joint application.

Under the program announced Monday to replace the old system of sales incentives, the government will designate certain municipalities as "model cities" and provide them with funding for local developers of fuel cell vehicle technology. The shift in strategy aims to give China a boost in the global race toward commercialization - Link

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COVID CROP 2020

For safety reasons, these tomatoes may only be eaten indoors between 11.45 a.m. and 10.00 p.m. by two people at any one time within a group of six not including children under the age of nine whistling Billy don't be a hero by Paper Lace.

VIRUS INFECTIOUS AFTER 10

Here we go again; 

It would appear that the Government is of the belief that Coronavirus is most infectious after 10.00 p.m. so all pubs and restaurants are having to close - again. 

Apparently there's some logic to this decision?

THE BLADE FROM THE THAMES

NEW ZEALAND GEOTHERMAL

The Government of New Zealand and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission recently strengthened their collaboration on environmental sustainability to include the area of geothermal energy development.

New Zealand and the OECS Commission will partner to deliver a study on possible opportunities for the direct use of geothermal energy outside of electricity generation across OECS countries.

The study will provide a resource for OECS policy-makers on opportunities for development, to conceptualise pilot projects and identifying the resources required to advance them.

“…Since 2014, New Zealand has been working with Caribbean Governments to advance renewable energy projects. Geothermal is a particular area of expertise for us given our long history with this source of energy. We have used the energy harnessed for agricultural crop drying, industrial processing, and even for balneology uses such as bathing and swimming in our hot springs,” New Zealand High Commissioner His Excellency Anton Ojala said - link

SCOTTISH ZET PROJECT

The University of St Andrews has begun the process of appointing an industrial partner to participate in the Zero Emission Train Project, which will see a redundant Class 314 electric multiple-unit equipped with hydrogen fuel cells as a technology demonstrator.

The project is being led by Scottish Enterprise and Transport Scotland. Brodie Engineering and Arcola Energy have already completed concept designs under the first phase of the project. 

Phase 2 would see the EMU modified to use fuel cells under a 12-month contract worth an estimated £2·2m.

It is envisaged that the converted unit would be demonstrated on a non-Network Rail line such as a heritage railway, as part of the COP 26 climate change conference which is now expected to take place in Glasgow in November 2021. This would allow an assessment to ensure that the modifications do not present risks to the operational railway - Link - more like this - link

BP - MICROSOFT RENEWABLES FRAMEWORK

BP will supply renewable energy to Microsoft as part of a wider a strategic cooperation between the two companies.


The companies signed a framework agreement for renewable energy projects to ‎provide clean electricity to help power Microsoft’s data centres.

BP will supply renewable ‎energy to Microsoft across multiple countries and regions including the US, Europe and Latin ‎America.

The agreement will contribute to Microsoft’s 100% renewable energy goal by 2025. The two companies will collaborate as strategic partners to “further digital transformation” in energy systems and advance the net zero carbon goals of each partner.

This includes a collaborating on digital solutions, the continued use of Microsoft Azure as a cloud-based solution for BP infrastructure. BP regions, citie and solutions vice president William Lin said: “BP is determined to get to net zero and to help the world do the same.

“No one can do it alone – partnerships with leading companies like Microsoft, with aligned ambitions, are going to be key to achieving this - Link

URU-EU-WAU-WAU USING DRONES

The Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau are a tribe of less than 300 people in the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest who first came into contact with people outside their community in the early 1980s, according to the Povos Indigenas No Brasil. 

While they still maintain many of their tribal ways, they and other tribes have recently begun using modern drones to detect and fight illegal deforestation in their territory.

"Nature is everything to us," Awapy Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau told CNN. "It is our life, our lungs, our hearts. We don't want to see the jungle chopped down. If you chop it all down, it will definitely be hotter, and there won't be a river, or hunting, or pure air for us."

Awapy is a member of the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau tribe. Last December, he and other young leaders from six Indigenous communities learned how to operate drones to track deforestation, Interesting Engineering reported. The training was held by World Wildlife Federation (WWF) and the Kanindé Ethno-Environmental Defense Association, a local NGO dedicated since 1992 to protecting the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau and the environment in their home state of Rondônia, Brazil - link

OBB TRIALS HYDROGEN TRAIL

AUSTRIAN Federal Railways (ÖBB) launched a hydrogen train into passenger service for the first time on September 11 as it embarks on a 10-week trial with an Alstom Coradia iLint two-car multiple unit.

The trials will take place on the Aspang and Thermen railways from Vienna Neustadt to Aspang and Hartberg respectively, and on the Vienna Neustadt – Puchberg am Schneeberg – Gutenstein line. 

The full tests will start on September 12 and run until November 26 with six services set to operate on Mondays and Thursdays, 10 on Fridays and 12 on Saturdays.

Following tests of the vehicles on relatively flat terrain in the Netherlands and northern Germany, ÖBB says iLint will be put through its paces in the more challenging alpine routes in Lower Austria.

A mobile hydrogen filling station has been constructed at ÖBB’s facility in Wiener Neustadt, enabling the railway to trial the complete hydrogen infrastructure required to operate the trains - link - more like this - link

VATTENFALL - PEN Y CYMOEDD

Pen y Cymoedd is Vattenfall's flagship onshore wind farm, located in South Wales. Its 76 turbines can produce enough electricity to power 15% of Welsh homes annually. 

In addition to the production of fossil free electricity, a 22MW battery is co-located at the wind farm.

The battery is able to respond to the needs of the grid system in less than a second - supporting a stable supply of electricity to UK homes. Electric vehicle charging stations are also installed at the wind farm, as we get ready to take our entire fleet of vehicles electric in the next four years - Link

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HOLYGRAIL 2.0

HolyGrail 2.0: Major brands sign up to explore digital watermarks to improve packaging recycling

More than 80 major European brands, including P&G, PepsiCo and Mondi will collaborate to explore the feasibility of using "digital watermarks" to improve the sorting of recyclable packaging across the European Union (EU), as part of the HolyGrail 2.0 project spearheaded by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

In 2016, P&G’s sustainable packaging expert Gian deBelder helped develop and spearhead the HolyGrail collaboration in Europe, as part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy.

The HolyGrail project, which aims to place digital watermarks on packaging, so they can be identified by a range of key stakeholders, won edie’s Circular Economy Innovation of the Year Award for 2020.

In developing the project, more than 30 companies across the plastics packaging value chain, including manufacturers, waste managers and academics, worked together for more than a year to prove the sorting concept.

It aims to use “digital watermarks” the size of postage stamps on consumer goods package that can be detected and decoded by a standard high-resolution camera on the sorting lines when in a waste sorting facility. Once identified, the facility is able to sort packaging into different streams. It is hoped this will deliver more accurate sorting streams, which in turn would create a larger market for higher-quality recyclates.

The project had secured the backing of more than 50 organisations to launch HolyGrail 2.0 – the second phase of the project, bringing it to the mass market for the first time.

Now, AIM, the European Brands Association, has gathered more than 85 companies to join the HolyGrail 2.0 project to drive better sorting, and therefore recyclability of packaging across the EU - list - more like this - link

ENERGY SUPERHUB OXFORD

Vanadium redox flow battery provider Invinity is offering customers the opportunity to rent its technology for their projects.

Invinity formed Vanadium Electrolyte Rental Limited (VERL) with vanadium mining company Bushveld Minerals to give Invinity’s customers the option to rent the vanadium electrolyte.

The Vanadium electrolyte solution is a key component in these types of stationary storage systems.

Customers rent the electrolyte over the life of a project instead of purchasing it upfront, offsetting a “significant portion” of their initial capital outlay.

VERL also concluded its first rental contract with Pivot Power, part of EDF Renewables.

Under the agreement VERL will rent the electrolyte for 10 years to the five megawatt-hour flow battery being supplied by Invinity as part of the Energy Superhub Oxford (ESO) pilot in the UK - Link - more like this (Oxford Superhub) - link

L'OREAL GOES GREEN (ISH)

L'Oreal - the global cosmetics giant has launched a new consumer-facing campaign based on improving the recyclability and collection of its packaging. As part of this, the company’s Maybelline New York brand is launching a new recycling programme in the UK.

Additionally, L’Oreal has announced that Paris Elvive bottles will now be made out of 100% recycled plastic. The move will save 900 tonnes of plastics annually – equivalent to the weight of 38 million bottles.

L'Oreal Paris Elvive is donating 50p to the Recycle Now initiative to get more bathroom items recycled for each of the first 100,000 Elvive hair treatments sold in Boots.

“Across our network of brands in the UK, we are both changing our own products to make packaging more sustainable and making significant investments to enable and inspire consumers to recycle beauty products,” L’Oréal UK & Ireland’s country managing director Vismay Sharma said - link  

Is L'Oreal ethical?

Ethical Consumer's opinion: -

Our research highlights several ethical issues with L'Oreal and we have awarded them negative marks in a number of categories on our scoring system, including for: -

$ animal testing
$ climate change
$ poor environmental reporting
$ habitats & resources
$ pollutions and toxics
$ human rights
$ workers' rights
$ supply chain management
$ irresponsible marketing
$ anti-social finance
$ controversial technologies
$ political activities

Link to Ethical Consumer - here

SIEMENS MOBILITY

SIEMENS Mobility is currently developing a modular hydrogen fuel cell drive for its Mireo Plus H regional train platform, which will subsequently be integrated into other platforms.

The €12m project, in partnership with Canadian fuel cell producer Ballard Power Systems and the Rhine-Westphalian Technical University in Aachen (RWTH), plans to produce a usable fuel cell drive by 2021, with a planned range of 600km-900km in two or three-car trains.

The fuel cell trains should perform to the same level as electric trains, emitting no CO₂ and have low maintenance costs. The new hydrogen fuel cell has a triple service life, 50% higher power density and 5% better efficiency - Link - more like this - link

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The University of Reading has continued its commitment to reducing its carbon footprint by taking part in a trial of one of the first fully electric waste collection vehicles in the UK.

The University’s waste contractor, Select Environmental, took delivery of the fully electric truck for a two-day trial in late August, understood to be one of only two such vehicles in the UK.

The truck was trialed on the University’s Whiteknights campus over two days.

Philip Stone, Managing Director at Select Environmental, said: “The vehicle lived up to our expectations. "It worked well and performed to our requirements and importantly the drivers were extremely impressed in its abilities and ease of use.

"We definitely see this as an inevitable addition to our fleet and its initial adoption into the University of Reading’s service.” - link - more like this - link

CALIFORNIA H2 INVESTMENT

California Energy Commission regulators on Friday approved $39.1m of funding for 36 new hydrogen stations in the sunshine state, marking the largest California investment in hydrogen infrastructure since 2015.

Funds were awarded to FirstElement Fuel, Iwatani and Shell under the Assembly Bill 8, passed in 2013.

Another 87 stations were also recommended for funding to these same awardees in subsequent funding batches, meaning California could have 123 new hydrogen stations in total to expand its “early commercial light-duty hydrogen refuelling and fuel cell electric vehicle markets.”

With this latest funding announcement, California continues to lead the way in hydrogen infrastructure deployment in the US. The state currently has 42 hydrogen stations open - Link

VATTENFALL WIERINGERMEER

Nordex has successfully completed the first part of the Dutch 300 MW wind power project Wieringermeer for its customer Vattenfall: 

The last of 50 N117/3600 wind turbines were connected to the grid in August. The location of the project – not to mention the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic – posed particular challenges. 

Construction of the next phase, with another 32 N117/3600 wind turbines, is already under way.

Located 60 kilometres north of Amsterdam, the site boasts excellent wind conditions. However, Wieringermeer is a polder, i.e. a diked area of reclaimed land seven metres below sea level. Measuring 300 km2 in size, the area is crisscrossed by canals and also includes a protected forest, making it a particular challenge in terms of logistics and construction. As there wasn’t much in terms of suitable storage space available, the Nordex Group delivered the towers, nacelles, drive trains and hubs as and when they were required. The wind turbines came in seven different nacelle configurations. It was therefore also important to deliver the right wind turbine to the appropriate location - link

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LUCID MOTORS

Lucid Motors has been making a lot of bold claims in the lead-up to the September 9th unveiling of its first all-electric sedan, the Lucid Air: longest range, fastest charge, biggest battery. 

But today, the Newark, California-based company is truly laying its cards on the table with its claim to have built one of the quickest production cars ever made.

Not just one of the fastest-accelerating electric cars, mind you. One of the fastest-accelerating cars, period.

How fast? We already know that the Lucid Air can sprint from 0 to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds and will have a top speed of 200 mph. But thanks to Lucid’s 1,080 horsepower, dual-motor configuration, the company now claims the Air can run a quarter-mile in 9.9 seconds “on a consistent, repeatable basis.” - Link

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GRAVITRICITY

A new prototype gravity-based energy storage system is in the works, promising to store energy at half the price of current market-leading lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries — with tests beginning next spring, in Scotland, according to the company website.

Based in Edinburgh, Gravitricity's concept is to raise weights of roughly 13,227 tons (12,000 tonnes) up into a lattice tower, and then release them into a deep shaft — releasing and discharging potential energy according to how much is needed.

A Dutch winch specialist Huisman, along with a UK engineering firm Kelvin Power, is building the 250 kW version of the concept — as part of a $1.3-million (£1 million) project, reports Recharge News.

"Our demonstrator will use two 25-tonnes [27.55-U.S.-ton] weights suspended by steel cables. In one test we'll drop the weights together to generate full power and verify our speed of response. We calculate we can go from zero to full power in less than a second — which can be extremely valuable in the frequency response and back-up power markets," said Miles Franklin, lead engineer at Gravitricity, according to Recharge News - Link