Grimsel Electric Car Sets New World Record
The Formula Student Team at the Academic Motorsports Club Zurich (AMZ) made history as their ‘Grimsel’ electric racing car broke the world record when it accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in just 1.785 seconds. The previous record of 2.134 seconds was held by an electric car by Delft University of Technology. The new record-breaking car was developed and built in less than a year by 30 students at ETH Zurich and Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts.
Halliburton Boss Expects Shale to Reverse Oil Price Blight
Halliburton Co. CEO Dave Lesar is at one with other oil executives in saying that they are not worried about falling oil prices, and expect them to improve next year. The downward pressure on prices is mostly caused by an oversupply and the CEO said that it will quickly prove self-correcting, especially when it comes to the shale boom. Unlike with conventional oil, shale wells dry out quickly and constantly needs new drillings to maintain production, which makes shale more responsive to price movements. Lower prices will discourage new drilling, thereby removing the glut, Lesar adds.
Energy-Generating Backpacks Developed
Lightning Packs LLC have developed an electricity-generating backpack that can provide renewable electricity for soldiers or disaster-relief workers operating in remote areas. Instead of using batteries, which can weigh up to 20 pounds, the new backpack generates power via the kinetic up and down movement of the cargo compartment. The whole system only weighs 10 pounds and its 7-watt power output is enough to run a GPS or a cellphone. But what’s great is that the more one carry, the more energy is created. In a test at Fort Benning, an improved model was able to generate up to 22 watts while walking and up to 40 watts while running.
Wiki-Solar Reports Global Utility-Scale PV Capacity Passed 30 GW
Figures released late October by solar PV deployment information group Wiki-Solar show that the global capacity of utility-scale PV has now reached 30.3 GW, a growth of 8.8 GW since the start of the year. This marks the fifth consecutive record year for the sector. The growth has been aided by emerging countries such as Chile, South Africa and Ukraine, which have all jumped into the top 15 countries for large-scale solar capacity. The top fifteen countries account for 94 percent of the world’s utility-scale solar.
