all hail hydrogen

the bmw hydrogen 7, the first hydrogen/gas hybrid in the clean energy series.

the fantasy:



the facts:



the hydrogen 7 is "the world's first hydrogen-powered luxury sedan." bmw has been developing this technology for a while according to their clean energy milestones. the first prototype was introduced in 1984. the first public liquid hydrogen refueling station was opened in munich in 1999.

seems like a great solution for global warming and pollution, considering the only by-product is water. but there's a catch, a catch-22 actually. the cars are still pretty expensive (current owners are mostly celebrities) and there are hardly any places where you can fill up your hydrogen tank. but, the industry isn't going to invest a bunch of money in hydrogen refueling stations until the demand for hydrogen cars increases.

it will be interesting to see how this dilemma develops over the next few years.



oh yea, the website is pretty cool too. if you navigate away from the page for too long, the website goes into 'energy-saving mode:'

dynamic design

initially, this looks really cool and reminds me of something out of a futuristic, sci-fi movie (especially the epic trailer). but is it really worth building?

dynamic architecture is the innovation of architect david fisher. the first rotating skyscraper will be comprised of offices, a luxury hotel, residential apartments and villas and is scheduled to go up in dubai, the avant-garde architecture capital of the world, by 2010. the second is scheduled to materialize in moscow.

so how can this possibly be good for the environment? the building is designed to generate its own electricity from wind turbines mounted horizontally between each of the building's 80 floors AND photovoltaic cells on the roofs create solar energy. according to this article, only four of turbines are needed to power the entire building. the surplus energy will go back into the city's power grid.

each floor rotates independently at different speeds, perpetually changing the facade of the structure. of course the floors won't rotate as rapidly as they do in the video. you'll still have to go ride the teacups at disney world for that kind of action.