Resource World Magazine

58 www.resourceworld.com J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 1 6 alTERNaTivE ENERgy REviEW Developments in Alternative Energy by Jane Bratun rEsErvE your battEry-powErEd flying car Inventors have been trying to combine the ease and utility of driving with the free- dom of flying since the beginning of the 20th century. To that end, Terrafugia, based in Woburn, Massachusetts, intends to create a flying car industry. Their motto is, "Driven to Fly™." Their first product, the Transition®, is a two-place, fixed- wing, street legal airplane. Designed to fit in a single car garage, it can be safely driven on the highway, and be flown in and out of general aviation airports. It brings a new level of freedom, flexibility, and fun to personal aviation. The Transition ® is a proof of process project for Terrafugia's longer-term vision for the future of personal transporta- tion, the TF-X™: a four-place fixed wing aircraft with electrical assist for vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL). The TF-X will have a range of 500 miles with cruise speeds up to 200 mph and will be able to drive on roads and highways – providing door-to-door convenience and an automo- tive level of weather insensitivity. The TF-X is still in the early development stages, with a production date estimated in 8-12 years. The price will be consistent with high-end luxury cars. More specific pricing information will become available as the project nears completion. According to information on Terrafugia's website, operating the TF-X should be statistically safer than driving a modern automobile. The TF-X will be capable of automatically avoiding other air traffic, bad weather, and restricted and tower-controlled airspace. The TF-X will have a backup full-vehicle parachute system activated by the operator in an emergency, if the operator believes the TF-X to be incapable of auto-landing. If a TF-X operator declares an emergency (which will automatically notify authori- ties of the situation), the TF-X can be landed in non-approved landing zones. If the operator becomes unresponsive, the TF-X would automatically implement an emergency auto-land at the nearest airport. The company states that learning how to safely operate the TF-X will take sub- stantially less time than that required for learning to operate traditional aircraft. You can reserve yours at http://www.terrafu- gia.com/aircraft#sthash.hrgcN0t3.dpuf. blooMbErg rEcognizEs 2016 nEw EnErgy pionEErs Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) announced in a news release its selection of the 2016 New Energy Pioneers – game- changing innovators revolutionizing the energy sector. The diverse group (listed below) represents a range of industries, including advanced transportation, bio- energy, energy storage, solar, wind, and energy-smart technologies. By recognizing game-changing innova- tors, BNEF hopes to illustrate and accelerate the profound transition that is underway in today's energy system, towards new business models, technologies, market structures and commercial opportunities. Each candidate was assessed against three criteria: potential scale, innovation and momentum. Each New Energy Pioneer has demonstrated a combination of inno- vative technologies and business models, substantive progress in its activities, and the potential for global scale. Michael Wilshire, selection committee chair and head of analysis and transforma- tion at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said, "We were delighted to see the breadth of innovation that is happening in the industry and struck by the impact that those organizations could have on the energy system of the future." The 2016 New Energy Pioneers are: • 24M (USA) addresses the world's need for affordable energy storage with a new, more cost-effective approach – semi-solid lithium-ion technology. • AUTOGRID SYSTEMS (USA) is a lead- ing provider of intelligent and scalable software-as-a-service solutions that opti- mize supply and demand flexibility across a diverse portfolio of distributed energy resources. • EMERGYA WIND TEChNOLOGIES (The Netherlands) is revolutionizing wind energy by providing localized, distributed energy, at below grid power pricing, to a wide variety of customer segments. • FIRSTFUEL (USA) offers advanced data analytics and insights that help improve and optimize energy consumption in buildings. • MOBISOL (Germany), since 2012, has equipped more than 40,000 rural homes and businesses with solar home systems in Tanzania and Rwanda – making it one of Africa's largest and fastest growing provid- ers of off-grid solar systems to homes and

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