The feasibility of long range battery electric cars in New Zealand

New Zealand transport accounts for over 40% of the carbon emissions with private cars accounting for 25%. In the Ministry of Economic Development's recently released “New Zealand Energy Strategy to 2050”, it proposed the wide scale deployment of electric vehicles as a means of reducing carbon emissions from transport. However, New Zealand's lack of public transport infrastructure and its subsequent reliance on private car use for longer journeys could mean that many existing battery electric vehicles (BEVs) will not have the performance to replace conventionally fuelled cars. As such, this paper discusses the potential for BEVs in New Zealand, with particular reference to the development of the University of Waikato's long-range UltraCommuter BEV. It is shown that to achieve a long range at higher speeds, BEVs should be designed specifically rather than retrofitting existing vehicles to electric. Furthermore, the electrical energy supply for a mixed fleet of 2 million BEVs is discussed and conservatively calculated, along with the number of wind turbines to achieve this. The results show that approximately 1350 MW of wind turbines would be needed to supply the mixed fleet of 2 million BEVs, or 54% of the energy produced from NZ's planned and installed wind farms

The emergence of battery electric vehicles: A NZ manufacturing opportunity?

Personal passenger transport faces several challenges in the coming decades: depletion of cheap oil reserves, increasing congestion, localised pollution, the need for reduced carbon emissions and the long term goal of sustainability. One way of solving some of these problems could be to introduce comfortable, energy efficient, battery electric vehicles. Currently, hybrid vehicles have been presented as a means to reducing the transportation related oil demand. New developments in materials and technologies have made them, cleaner and safer as well as more fuel efficient. However, hybrids will only prolong the use of oil until alternatively fuelled vehicles are developed. One long term alternative is the battery electric vehicle (BEV). A BEV designed to be light, aerodynamic with high efficiency drive train and latest battery technology would have a performance comparable to a typical internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV). Recent developments in virtual engineering, rapid prototyping and advanced manufacturing might enable low-cost development of niche market BEV’s designed and built in New Zealand for export markets. This work examines the collaborative development of a twin seat BEV using new materials and latest technologies by the University of Waikato’s Engineering Department and a group of NZ and foreign companies. The car will be used to research the potential of BEVs and will also compete in the Commuter Class of the World Solar Challenge in 2007

Unintended Consequences: Effects of Psychiatric Medications on College Students

Of the population of college-aged Americans, 5.63 million are prescribed psychiatric medications. Two of the most commonly prescribed are benzodiazepines and stimulants, used to treat anxiety and ADHD, respectively. About 1.3 million Americans aged 18-24 are prescribed psychiatric stimulants, and about 1.5 million prescribed benzodiazepines (“Total Number of People,” 2018). Although the purpose of these is to relieve patients’ symptoms, some researchers investigated if the intended benefits outweigh the unintended risks. Previous research suggests that benzodiazepines are related to higher levels of aggression (Jones, Nielsen, Bruno, Frei, & Lubman, 2011). Counterintuitively, stimulants are related to lower levels of aggression but have been associated with higher levels of anxiety (McKernan et al., 2015). The current study explores the relationship between those who actively take prescription benzodiazepines or stimulants and anxiety and aggression levels

The Effects of Nutrition Package Claims, Nutrition Facts Panels, and Motivation to Process Nutrition Information on Consumer Product Evaluations

In a laboratory experiment using a between-subjects design, the authors examine the effects on nutrition and product evaluations of nutrition claims made (e.g., 99% fat free; low in calories ) on a product package, product nutrition value levels, and enduring motivation to process nutrition information. Enduring motivation is shown to moderate the effects of product nutrition value on consumer evaluations. Also, nutrition claims interact with product nutrition value in affecting consumer perceptions of manufacturer credibility. Given the availability of nutrient levels in the Nutrition Facts panel on the back of the mock package, nutrition claims on the front of the package generally did not affect positively consumers\u27 overall product and purchase intention evaluations. The authors discuss some implications of these findings, suggestions for further research, and study limitations

Noxious Weed Monitoring at the Rock Creek Confluence Site

Disturbances such as fire, flooding, and compaction are important in determining and maintaining the diversity and composition of plant assemblages in ecosystems. While they can have a stabilizing effect, they can also open niches that can be exploited by noxious fast growing weeds. Controlling the abundance and spread of noxious weeds is a top priority for land managers, but can be challenging with limited resources. Therefore it is essential to establish a baseline to determine levels of weed encroachment. We have partnered with Five Valleys Land Trust (FVLT) to establish this baseline at their Rock Creek Confluence Property by using point line intercept and dry weight density methods. On site volunteer days will be organized after to do targeted hand pulling and planting. This approach should create a closer connection between the larger community and the Rock Creek Confluence property, while creating a system to evaluate the effectiveness of volunteer efforts