MIT has pioneered a Virus battery.

Researchers constructed a lithium-ion battery, similar to those used in millions of devices, but one which uses genetically engineered viruses to create the negatively charged anode and positively charged cathode.

The virus is a so-called common bacteriophage which infects bacteria and is harmless to humans.

Amazingly it is already marketed as something that can power cars, which says a lot about demand versus the auto industry. Who killed the electric car, indeed!

It also is nice to see viruses get a good name, given all the negative press that we usually see in technology. Go battery virus go.

I recently read a 58 page report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office from May 2008 related to the Tennessee Valley Authority that calls them vulnerable to disruption by cyber attack:

Until TVA fully implements security program activities, it risks a disruption of its operations as a result of a cyber incident…possibly resulting in loss of life, physical damage, or economic losses.

Apparently only one in four of their workers was given the required security training, while almost nine million people in the Tennessee Valley depend on the TVA for energy. You will often hear me bring up these details in presentations about the NERC Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) standards.

Meanwhile, I just noticed that the first action by President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson is on the TVA for a Coal Ash spill:

The December spill spurred increased attention to coal-waste issues around the country. The 1.1 billion gallons of slurry flooded more than 300 acres of land and damaged homes in the area surrounding the Tennessee Valley Authority pond, and clean-up could cost up to $825 million.

That is ten times the Exxon Valdez spill. What is most amazing about the new direction of the EPA is that it actually seems to be talking about these environmental issues in terms of National Security:

“Environmental disasters like the one last December in Kingston should never happen anywhere in this country,” said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson in a statement. “That is why we are announcing several actions to help us properly protect the families who live near these facilities and the places where they live, work, play and learn.”

After the TVA spill the New York Times ran a “Collapse of the Clean Coal Myth” story last January.

It was an accident waiting to happen and an alarm bell for Congress and federal regulators. Senator Barbara Boxer of California noted that coal combustion in this country produces 130 million tons of coal ash every year — enough to fill a train of boxcars stretching from Washington, D.C., to Australia. Amazingly, the task of regulating the more than 600 landfills and impoundments holding this ash is left to the states, which are more often lax than not.

Compare and contrast the GAO report with the coal ash issues and you start to see how security is really a process and a state of mind influencing behavior more than any particular technology or control. Let’s hope the GAO warnings on Cyber Security, along with the NERC compliance deadlines, give enough traction to TVA security management to prevent an even larger disaster.

CNET News has reported that a start-up is really taking off. March 6th saw the maiden voyage of a car that can actually fly:

Terrafugia describes its Transition vehicle as a “roadable aircraft” and is pitching it in part as giving private pilots an easy travel alternative when bad weather makes flying a bad idea, or simply to avoid having to take a separate car to the airport. Also, in the eyes of the Federal Aviation Administration, the vehicle falls into the light sport aircraft category.

Delivery could start as early as 2011. It will be interesting to see how regulators figure out the safety standards for these vehicles, since they seem to struggle over things like the number of doors and seats in conventional cars. Unfortunately it’s a gasoline engine, but otherwise seems like yet another reason to finish my pilot’s license this summer.

Here is a high-level overview of the 2009 VW Jetta TDI package, which sports the latest diesel technology:

In sum, it’s a 60mpg diesel vehicle that weighs 3000lb and has 236 ft/lb torque with low emissions. In fact the emissions are so low it won the green car award at the LA show, beating the most popular hybrids. The VW 4motion sport wagon will give the new Subaru diesels a run for the money.

RIP gasoline.

Or, in the words of the reviewer, this car is “Doggone awesome!”

This is what I was talking about when I said the assumptions in a Stanford energy study were askew.

…starts at just $19,075

Hmmm, looks very similar to a Passat TDI I bought in 2004.

Wonder if there will be an upgrade for the 2.0L engine, or at least a remap for the computer. I get 40mpg with a bigger vehicle, which isn’t bad. Ha, imagine the auto industry providing upgrades like replacing a CPU. No update on the Cadillac options I wrote about a while ago.