David Herron's Blog (8)

Yesterday a few electric motorcycles came to a gas bike race held over the weekend in San Jose, CA. There were two Zero S bikes, a conversion built by Richard Hatfield, and a totally home built bike made by Bob Schneeveiss. They were there as an exhibition event but they went on the same track as the gas bikes had gone. The event was a "flat track" race on a short oval.



Of special interest to me was Richard Hatfields bike. It's very powerful and is powered by an Agni motor.… Continue

When an empire strikes back it's likely with the expectation that it's swatting a fly. Sometimes the underdog is able to win even though the empire looks like an 8000 pound gorilla that can smash anything in its path. These tortured allusions to movies and wildlife don't do justice to the strange battle brewing in the nascent sport of electric motorcycle racing. As noted in earlier reporting the old simple story (TTXGP and FIM collaborating to create… Continue

Scientists have identified some geological feature in the Antarctic that, combined with already rising sea levels, will cause a sudden collapse sometime in the not-so-distant future. They've identified two specific glaciers in west antarctic that are way past their tipping point beyond which collapse is unavoidable. Their estimate is 50% collapse within the next 100 years.



Collapse of glaciers into the ocean causes sea level rise. The melting of sea ice does not cause sea level… Continue

I don't follow Feinstein very closely but I do understand her reputation is a bit mixed. Anyway I read an article about a bill she's introduced where the effect is to scuttle solar energy deployments in the Mojave in the name of wildlife protection.



I've got two links to blog posts below. The one about offshore drilling is from the Interior Dept hearing held in San Francisco in April. During that one Feinstein and other west coast political leaders gathered to say NO-WAY-NO-HOW to… Continue

Over the summer Vectrix went into bankruptcy announcing that their assets would be purchased by "New Vectrix". Vectrix made the first commercial highway speed electric motorcycle and delivered their first motorcycles in 2007. However they never had enough sales to keep the company going, ran out of money, and went into bankruptcy. It's now known that GP Batteries has bought New Vectrix and the Vectrix assets apparently with the intent to restart the company.…



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The International Energy Agency (IEA) has released their yearly World Energy Outlook report for 2009. This report is used by governments and corporations worldwide for planning energy policies and purchases. This years report is very sobering on several levels.



The primary purpose of the report is to show the state of the oil, natural gas and coal industries and give recommendations. This years report makes it clear that peak oil is a reality and that drastic steps are… Continue

This week at the SEMA trade show in Las Vegas, Mavizen unveiled the TTX02. It is an all electric superbike meant to jumpstart teams that want to compete in the TTXGP race series. 130 miles/hr and a range more than enough to make it around the Snaefell course on the Isle of Man. It's exciting.



See: Mavizen's all electric… Continue

TechnoSanity #30: Peak Oil and the UKERC Peak Oil report is about a report released in October from the UK Energy Research Center. The report is about peak oil and the need for increased action on switching away from a dependency on fossil fuels.



"Global Oil Depletion" a… Continue