article thumbnail

A New Wildfire Watchdog

Cars That Think

Pause for a moment to look at the smoke detector in the room where you're sitting and think about the last time you changed its battery. A sensor network that could monitor an entire forest, or a gas pipeline, or any critical infrastructure, would need thousands or even millions of sensors—and batteries.

article thumbnail

Coming Soon – The Electric City

Revenge of the Electric Car

And at the headquarters of Pacific Gas and Electric, utility executives are preparing “heat maps” of neighborhoods that they fear may overload the power grid in their exuberance for electric cars.&#. Battery-powered motors are more efficient than gasoline engines. Nissan plans to build the Leaf in Tennessee eventually.).