Technology for Luddites
“The electric bicycle has become a very long way in recent years. However, the lack of luggage space and limited range of the battery makes the electric bike less suited to long distances. Solarwind, designed by architect Raf Van Hulle, offers a solution.
The trailer provides extra luggage space and is fitted with a solar panel to keep the electric bicycle’s battery charged.”
“Website Goals: To enable the user to answer two primary questions about most utilitarian bottles and jars produced in the United States and Canada between the early 1800s and 1950s, as follows:
1. What is the age of the bottle?
2. What type of bottle is it?
The above two questions also address what was succinctly articulated in the Intermountain Antiquities Computer System (IMACS) and the nominal purpose of this website, which is “…to provide archaeologists with a manual for a standard approach to arriving at historical artifact function and chronology”. This entire website is essentially a “key” – albeit a complex one – to the dating and typing (typology) of historic bottles.
In addition, this site also assists the user with these questions:
3. What technology, techniques, or processes were used to manufacture the bottle?
4. Where did the bottle come from, i.e., where was it made and/or used?
5. Where can I go for more information on historic bottles?”
“Resawing is the technique of ripping boards across their width to make thinner boards. It’s useful for making things like drawer sides, box dividers, custom veneers, or slices for bent wood laminations. This is the alternative to planing thicker stock down, which wastes a lot of wood.” Read more.
This collection of 21 building plans for 5 different types of Dutch industrial windmills was published in 1850. There is a saw mill, an oats mill, a flour mill, and two pumping mills. The book contains no text, only illustrations.
“Theoretisch en practisch molenboek: voor ingenieurs, aannemers, molenaars en andere bouwkundigen“, G. Krook, 1850.
(“Theoretical and practical windmill book; for engineers, contractors and millwrights”).
Instruction manual. Thanks to Berto Aussems.
“We develop and provide a transparent life cycle inventory of conventional and electric vehicles and apply our inventory to assess conventional and EVs over a range of impact categories. For all scenarios analyzed, the use phase is responsible for the majority of the global warming potential (GWP) impact, either directly through fuel combustion or indirectly during electricity production.”
Total emissions
“When powered by average European electricity, EVs are found to reduce GWP by 20% to 24% compared to gasoline ICEVs and by 10% to 14% relative to diesel internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) under the base case assumption of a 150,000 km vehicle lifetime. When powered by electricity from natural gas, we estimate EVs offer a reduction in GHG emissions of 12% compared to gasoline ICEVs, and break even with diesel ICEVs. EVs powered by coal electricity are expected to cause an increase in GWP of 17% to 27% compared with diesel and gasoline ICEVs. Wind power electricity would allow electric transportation with life cycle carbon footprints as low as 106 g CO2-eq/km.”
Vehicle production: Manufacturing one electric car takes as much energy as manufacturing two conventional automobiles
“In contrast with ICEVs, almost half of an EV’s life cycle GWP is associated with its production. We estimate the GWP from EV production to be 87 to 95 grams carbon dioxide equivalent per kilometer (g CO2-eq/km), which is roughly twice the 43 g CO2-eq/km associated with ICEV production. Battery production contributes 35% to 41% of the EV production phase GWP, whereas the electric engine contributes 7% to 8%. Other powertrain components, notably inverters and the passive battery cooling system with their high aluminum content, contribute 16% to 18% of the embodied GWP of EVs.”
“Comparative Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Conventional and Electric Vehicles“, Troy R. Hawkins, Bhawna Singh, Guillaume Majeau-Bettez, Anders Hammer Strømman, in “Journal of Industrial Ecology”, October 2012. Via the BBC and Treehugger. Picture: Trexa. Previously: The status quo of electric cars: better batteries, same range.
