Ethanol plays an important role in the American mindset about fuels of the future. And while President Bush supports Ethanol in his radio speeches and in his national agenda for energy safety and future fuels for the country, a new start-up in California is already thinking a few steps further.LS9 in California are researching bacterium mixed with the genes of other bacteria, animals and plants. The aim of the research is to create a new kind of bacterium that fulfills the chemical criteria which gas, kerosene and diesel have in common. LS9 believe that by working in this way with hydrocarbon a new sustainable and emission free gas will be created.
The LS9 founders, George Church, a Professor in genetics at Harvard University, and Chris Somerville, Professor in plant biology at Stanford University, agree that it will be successful. They have reported on their first real results, but there is no large scale conclusion yet. Other companies like Amyris also believe in an upcoming alternative fuel market and are competing with LS9, which the investors in LS9 find interesting.

Competition creates markets and even if LS9 hydrocarbon bacterium gas will share the market with other providers of alternative fuels in the future, the investors believe they can make enough profit. The LS9 founders emphasize that the new bacterium gas will need 65% less energy than ethanol.
So it would use less energy when produced AND keep the American gas industry independent of foreign energy sources.
Fotos: LS9 website

Clever stands for Compact Low Emission Vehicle for Urban Transportation. Behind this abbreviation we see a moving concept for the urban individual mobility of the future. Clever was developed at the Technical University of Berlin with subsidies of the European Union. The aims of the constructing engineers was to create a car with a gasoline consumption of 2,5l and a weight not more than 400kg which equals half the heaviness of an average compact car. Two people find space to sit.

The Technical University of Berlin, Institute for Land and Sea Transport has developed the Clever Project with the help of partners, amongst them the BMW Group. The trike runs on a 20hp natural-gas engine constructed by BMW. It needs seven seconds to accelerate from 0 to 40 mph. The limit speed is 65 mph.

50 g/km CO2 emissions the clever car will emit. Most of the ways people go today within the city with their "normal" car could be done with the Clever as well but with the consequence of far less pollution. Engineers of the University of Bath designed a hydraulic system that prevents the car from possible turn overs. The cabin is made of fiberglass, which keeps the passengers warm in winter and takes the heat from them in summer time.

The constructors of the TU clearly see a market there. Within the next four years Clever shall be ready for the market they say. The estimated cost will be $13 000. In times where more and more people move to the cities space for cars becomes rare. Solutions that buy into the future of individual mobility like Clever deserve as much public attention as possible.
Find Clever in the PressFotos are taken from the official website www.clever-project.net