Crave

Umm...fill 'er up?

(Credit: Flicker/thisisbossi)

Scientists from Ohio University have come across a way to harvest large amounts of cheap hydrogen from a rather unlikely source: urine. Apparently, plucking hydrogen atoms from urine is much easier than getting it from water.

Gerardine Botte, one of the Ohio University professors actively developing this "pee power" technology, attributes this difference to urea, a cleaner of diesel emissions and major component of urine. A molecule of urea is composed of four hydrogen atoms and two nitrogen atoms. Applying an electric current using a special nickel electrode causes those hydrogen atoms to pop right off. The trick is that it requires about 97 percent less electricity to release the hydrogen from the urea molecules than from a water molecule--specifically 0.037 volt for urine versus 1.23 volts for water.

Imagine a future where fuel cell vehicles get 90 miles per gallon (of pee) and farms generate their own power from livestock waste. That future could be here sooner than you think. Botte currently has a working small-scale prototype that generates up to 500 milliwatts of power, and she plans to have large-scale examples up and running in about six months.

I imagine this will probably change the nature of stopping for a fill-up during a long road trip.

(Via Discovery News)

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET)

A lot of Web sites sell plans and devices purported to boost your car's fuel economy, but the best way to squeeze more miles from the gallon is to change your driving habits. The Fuel Efficiency Adviser won't actually tell you how to drive more economically, but it will give you information that can help change your driving style. Simply plug the Fuel Efficiency Adviser into your ODB II port, present on all cars from 1996 on, and it will show instant fuel economy, how much your current trip is costing, range to empty. It shows many other data points, getting as esoteric as throttle position and manifold pressure.

Read our full review of the Fuel Efficiency Adviser.

The Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell takes part in the Hydrogen Road Tour.

(Credit: GM)

Electric cars have been getting plenty of buzz lately, but the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is still going strong. The California Fuel Cell Partnership, along with Powertech Labs, National Hydrogen Association, and U.S. Fuel Cell Council, will seek to regain the spotlight with a road trip to demonstrate the practicality of these vehicles.

The road tour route runs up the West Coast, from Chula Vista to Vancouver.

(Credit: California Fuel Cell Partnership)

Twelve fuel cell cars from seven automakers will drive from Chula Vista, in Southern California, up to Vancouver, Canada, a trip of 1,700 miles. Vancouver was chosen for the destination because it will play host to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, where a fleet of fuel cell buses will provide transportation.

Fuel cell cars that will be making the trip include the Chevy Equinox Fuel Cell, Mercedes F-Cell, Honda FCX Clarity, Hyundai Tucson FCEV, Kia Borrego FCEV, Nissan X-Trail, Toyota FCHV-adv Highlander, and Volkswagen HyMotion. The cars, which have ranges of 200 to over 500 miles, will be relying on a mobile refueling station for their hydrogen needs.

The tour starts on May 26 in Chula Vista, and ends on June 3 in Vancouver. Stops have been scheduled along the route so the public can get a chance to see these cars. Check the Hydrogen Road Tour '09 Web site to see if there's an event near you.

MTI Micro, a subsidiary of Mechanical Technology Incoporated, unveiled a portable charger on Wednesday that uses replaceable fuel cartridges.

MTI Micro is not the first, and hopefully won't be the last, company to go to the fuel cell for portable convenient power. (People refer to these new tries as "fuel cell gadget chargers," though to me that seems like it refers to a charger for powering fuel cell gadgets.)

MTI Micro's Mobion prototype uses replacement fuel cell cartridges.

(Credit: MTI Micro)

Just this past September, Medis came out with the 24-7 Power pack, a charger powered by a liquid fuel cell, for only $40 with replacement packs for about $20.

The MTI Micro Mobion prototype works with cartridges of the liquid fuel methanol. Each cartridge offers about 25 hours of power. When it's depleted, users just pop it out of the charger and replace it with another one.

Sounds promising, but we're still waiting to hear back from MTI Micro on the pricing of the charger and those cartridges. The company says the MTI Micro Fuel Cell Charger will be available as a product toward the end of 2009.

So, what does 25 hours of fuel cell power get you?

According to MTI Micro, you could use it to fully recharge any cell phone 10 times. You could also use it to power an MP3 player to play 10,000 songs or watch 100 hours of video.

As a person who travels a lot and tires of carrying various adapters, this is definitely something I'd want to try. As I'm generally a carry-on only traveler, it's a good think this "liquid" gadget could be taken onboard.

Among the many other problems with the latest James Bond film Quantum of Solace, I was particularly struck with its seemingly careless stance on technology.

The latest Bond flick does get those bloody stares right. But what happened to the cutting-edge gadgets?

(Credit: Sony Pictures)

While I know they're just movies, the Bond franchise films--like Ian Fleming's novels--have always been geopolitical snapshots of the time in which they were made.

According to this movie, the British are pinning their hopes on skillful driving and fisticuffs to get the job done, while those dabbling in high-tech solutions to solve world problems are off-the-mark.

As in Casino Royale, there is no Q. Apparently, in this Bond's world, MI6 does not arm its agents with insight and tools from teams of high-tech experts. The few gadgets used are pitifully unimaginative. (CNET News readers wrote in better gadget ideas.)

In Quantum of Solace, Bond has a cell phone he can use to call MI6 and give the name of a potential villain he's met. MI6 can look up the name and send a photo of the guy to Bond's cell phone to confirm it's the same guy. Guess what? I, too, can call a friend, have them look up a name, background, and photo; and have the info sent to my cell phone. So can millions of teenagers.

We've all heard the recommendations by now.

Proper tire pressure, removing the roof rack, closing windows above 50 mph, and using a car's air flow system before going straight for the AC can all lead to lowering a car's overall fuel consumption.

But exactly how bad are drivers when it comes to abruptly starting and stopping? And are they really shifting their manual transmission car correctly for optimizing fuel?

Fiat's new optional Eco Drive software will let its drivers know, the company announced earlier this month at the 2008 Paris Motor Show.

All Fiat drivers need is a USB drive and Microsoft's Blue&Me system.

Blue&Me is an onboard computer system currently offered in some Fiats and Alfa Romeos, and possibly soon, in Ford cars, as well. It enables drivers to listen to their MP3 player, make calls on their cell phone, and have text messages read aloud to them. The system includes a USB port, which Fiat has announced could be the key to a 15 percent reduction in a car's CO2 emissions.

Drivers can download the free Eco Drive software from the Internet to their computer and plug in any normal USB drive. Drivers then plug the prepped USB drive into their car's Blue&Me system and it will automatically start collecting data on the car.

The program will measure a driver's fuel consumption, speed, braking style, and even how efficiently he or she shifts gears with their manual transmission. It seems very similar in functionality to the PLX Kiwi from PLX Devices that plugs in to a car's diagnostics port.

Upon plugging the USB drive back into the computer, the software does an analysis of driving habits and makes specific suggestions for improvement. Users can also opt to join an online community of drivers called Fiat ecoVille.

The new software ties in to a campaign Fiat already has in play giving tips on saving fuel. While the bias is toward the Fiat car, the tips are useful for any driver.

For those non-Fiat drivers interested in collecting this type of data, there's always the PLX Kiwi or the Scan Gauge II.

Correction at 6:20 a.m. PDT: The fuel efficiency figures were transposed and have been corrected. Also, the outcome of the FTC case has been corrected.

Temple University scientists claim to have found a simple way to reduce fuel consumption in cars and trucks.

CNET News obtained an advanced copy of the report, which will be published in the November 19 issue of the American Chemical Society's Energy and Fuels journal.

"....our fuel injection technology based on the new physics principle that proper application of electrorheology can reduce the viscosity of petroleum fuels. A small device is thus introduced just before the fuel injection for the engine, producing a strong electric field to reduce the fuel viscosity, resulting in much smaller fuel droplets in atomization. Because combustion starts at the droplet surface, smaller droplets lead to cleaner and more efficient combustion," says the report by Ronglia Tai, professor at the Department of Physics at Temple University, and head of the project.

The report goes on to say that Tai's group was able to increase the highway fuel efficiency of a Mercedes-Benz 300D with a diesel engine from 32 mpg to 38 mpg.

The scientists at Temple University are not the first to claim that manipulating a fuel's properties is the key to increasing efficiency.There have been many "fuel-saving" gadgets touting this same principle for years.

However, many people are skeptical about whether this method works.

One company--unrelated to Temple University--was even was sued by the Federal Trade Commission for making "deceptive product claims" related to a magnetic "fuel saver." The two parties eventually reached a settlement.

From responses on our boards and from e-mail feedback, it's clear we have a lot of readers knowledgeable in this area. Do you think electrorheology could have a significant impact on fuel efficiency in cars?

(Credit: Horizon)

Bought one too many duty-free vodkas from the airport and wonder just what to do with the stash? Well, eco-friendly company Horizon has the answer. Not quite in the league of the trash-to-fuel De Lorean in Back to the Future, the Horizon fuel cell Bio-Energy Kit is, after all, only $99.

But it will chug down any alcohol for fuel, albeit diluted first with water, and then distill this cocktail into pure electricity. The makers claim it's good enough to power small devices such as an iPod or a fan nonstop for days. Shipments begin September 5.

Drinkers may consider this a waste of good tipple, but hey, it could just save your liver, not to mention the environment. Bottoms up to that.

(Via Crave Asia)

Lotus Engineering, the automotive consultancy division of Lotus, is back in the news again, this time with a new engine concept called the Omnivore. Lotus announced that it would be collaborating with Queen's University Belfast and Jaguar Cars to develop the engine, which is said to maximize fuel efficiency when running on renewable fuels. Essentially, the Omnivore is an engine that can run on almost anything, from gasoline to alcohol.

The Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel's tech is related to the Omnivore project.

(Credit: Lotus Engineering)

This engine design is expected to significantly increase fuel efficiency for sustainable bio alcohol fuels (such as ethanol or methanol) by using a combination of direct injection and variable compression ratio. According to Lotus, the bio alcohol fuels have a much higher octane rating than regular gasoline, allowing for very high compression ratios and much more efficient operation. However, because the system has a variable compression ratio, the system can be scaled back to a lower compression to run regular gasoline or a blend of gasoline and bio alcohol.

The benefit is that the Omnivore engine will be able to gain the high mpg and sustainability of bio alcohol blends without losing the convenience of the established gasoline infrastructure. All of this is accomplished, according to Lotus, without the power and efficiency compromises of today's flex fuel vehicles, thanks to the Omnivore's ability to better optimize itself to any gasoline/alcohol blend.

The Omnivore program complements the recently unveiled Lotus Exige 270E Tri-fuel as part of Lotus' research into running mixtures of alcohol fuels and gasoline.

As fuel costs rise, consumers are demanding more economical cars, but their demand for performance hasn't tapered at all. In the future we can look forward to automakers trying even more unconventional ways to avoid putting fuel efficiency at odds with high performance.