Used Cooking Oil for Cars?

Yes. Filipino ingenuity is at it again. After the LPG powered taxis and the E-Jeepneys or the electric powered vehicles, there is yet again another way of beating today’s rising cost of gasoline and fuels. This time, by using a cost-efficient biodiesel combined with cooking oil – no, make that used cooking oil.

The Makati branch of the Philippine National police will be spearheading this project. Senior Superintendent Gilbert Cruz said they will be converting their cars to run on 60 percent diesel and 40 percent used cooking oil. Giving them a hand in this noble cause is Mcdonald’s who is more than willing to donate their used cooking oil.

It will be hitting two-birds in one stone. Mcdonald’s used cooking oil will be recycled and the Makati Police is set to save $10,000 a year once this project is in full swing. Already, one unit has been converted and already patrolling the city of Makati.

If after the six-months testing phase and this project is proven to be effective, the biodiesel program will be recommended to be adapted by the entire police force of the country, according to Metro Manila Chief Geary Barias.

Globe to sell Apple's iPhone 3G locally starting at P41,899

Globe Telecom will offer Apple’s iPhone 3G prepaid kits in the country for more than P40,000 and with free “text” loads, the company said during its investors’ briefing Wednesday.

The prepaid kit of the 8-Gb version of the much-anticipated phone is priced at P41,899, while the 16-Gb version costs P48,899. Both units, to be sold locally beginning August 22, come with free short messaging service load of P200 for five months.

The iPhone 3G will also be sold under postpaid monthly plans from P1,599 to P4,999 inclusive of free wi-fi connectivity hours.

The Apple iPhone 3G, which operates on the third-generation (3G) mobile network, will also come with a built-in global positioning system (GPS) for location-based mobile services.

The iPhone 2.0 software includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, apart from hundreds of third-party applications built with the recently released iPhone software development kit.

Globe Telecom has more than 21 million mobile subscribers to date.

The Battery-Powered Plane Makes Its Debut

Take your everyday metal moni motoglider, trick it out with a custom battery pack and you've got the ElectraFlyer C, a small electric airplane that debuted at the AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, last week.



The plane, which received its airworthiness certificate in April, features a 5.6 kWh lithium battery with a projected life cycle (the number of times it can be depleted and recharged) of 1,000 cycles. The battery has a max weight of 78 pounds and can be custom-built to fit the available space in an airplane. It provides juice for a motor driving a 45-inch superlight PowerFin propeller made of a foam core surrounded by an outer shell of carbon fiber and glass fabric.


Once in the air, the ElectraFlyer C cruises at 70 miles per hour. Top speed is 90 mph and the stall speed is 45. The plane can fly for 90 to 120 minutes before the battery needs recharging. When the battery winds down, just plug it into a 110V outlet -- your house is full of them -- and you're good to go in just more than six hours. Bump the voltage to 220 and you're flying again in two hours.

The people at Electric Aircraft Corporation say the small plane carries some big benefits. The motor is nearly silent, which means no earplugs for pilots, and brings the potential for flying into new sites. And then there's the a dramatic improvement in what the company calls "neighbor relations" -- no droning engines to drive them nuts. Electric motors don't produce a lot of soot or pollution, and overhauls are a snap. And by combining this motor with the ElectraFlyer's slow turning propeller, you've got a flight that is practically vibration free.

But the most compelling sell is an economic one: The company estimates that "refueling" the plane with a full charge of the battery will cost, on average, a whopping sixty cents.