Recherche appliquée et société

GMC ne conçoit plus ses voitures complètement a Détroit depuis que l'Impala est maintenant devenue un remake de la Toyota Avalon (qui ressemble trop a une Citroen C5, mais tout le monde copie la C5 qui reprend la CX et ils font meme l'erreur initial de la CX : a savoir de ne pas fournir de hailllon).

Meme la Camaro vient d'un modele sport imagine par Opel. La Chevrolet Malibu (de loin la meilleure) vient de l'Opel Vectra, la Cruze vient de Suzuki, la Cobalt est une reprise largement inspirée de l'Opel Ascona mais en réduisant la qualité en enlevant la suspension independante (prétextant l'adapter au états-uniens), la Pontiac Vibe est une Toyota Matrix, les Cadillacs viennent presque toutes des produits Opel dont la Vectra, l'Omega et la Commodore sauf les plus grandes qui sont maintenant discontinuées avec raison.

Mais GMC a fait de graves erreurs avec Saab en y passant les produits inférieurs d'Opel dans le cas de la 9-3 qui n'est pas mieux qu'une Renault Laguna comme j'ai pu le tester en Grande-Bretagne. Au moins, GMC se sera gardé de compromettre Suzuki et Subaru mais en a quand même passé une comme Saab 9-2 (opération qui n'aurais jamais pu avoir de succès en Europe ou les gens sont beaucoup plus exigeants qu'en Amérique). Bref, après avoir vraiment fait un fiasco avec le rebranding de ses modèles, GMC est devenue la 3e fabricants de voitures derrière VW et Toyota et demande donc les bons allliés a la rescousse (Opel, Suzuki et Toyota).

Seuls les pick-ups et les SUVs restent réalisés a Détroit, mais il y a rien la de fameux, car seulement des camions utilisant une technologies datant des années 50s.

Même les fameuses min-vans sont d'inspiration européennes car la première fut la Renault Espace imaginée par des jeunes chez Matra et on s’empressera de l'imiter. Et finalement, la derniere City Express de Chevrolet est au fond un Renault Kangoo et oui meme Renault par le biais de la Nissan NV2500.

GEO presents CSA Astronaut, Jeremy Hansen

Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen is a modern-day explorer. On his path to the stars, he has taken part in geological expeditions in the High Arctic, explored alien caves and continues to regularly fly the CF-18 fighter jet. In Newfoundland to speak with future Canadian space explorers and scientists, he stops at the Johnson GEO CENTRE to share his journey.    

DATE: Wednesday, June 4th, 2014

TIME: 7:00pm to 8:00pm

LOCATION: Johnson GEO CENTRE, St-John's, Newfoundland, Canada

TICKET PRICE:

$12 – General Admission

$10 – GEO Members/MUN Students, Faculty & Staff

Major Jeremy Hansen, Canadian Space Agency Astronaut

Born and raised in Ontario, Jeremy joined the Air Cadet Program at the age of 12 and obtained both glider and private pilot licenses through this program by the age of 17. This experience led to his acceptance to the Military College where he earned a Bachelor in Space Science and a Master in Physics, and became a CF-18 fighter pilot.

Jeremy was selected by the Canadian Space Agency in May 2009 as one of two members of the third Canadian Astronaut selection. In 2011, he graduated from NASA’s Astronaut Candidate Training.

While waiting for a flight assignment, Jeremy works as Capcom at NASA’s Mission Control Center—the voice between the ground and the ISS—and is part of the Astronaut Training branch.

In addition to his day-to-day work, Jeremy takes training in spacewalk and robotics while continuing to learn Russian. He has taken part in geological expeditions in the High Arctic and participated in the European Space Agency’s CAVES program, during which he lived underground for six days. Major Hansen also continues to fly the CF‑18 fighter jet with the Canadian Air Force and had the privilege to inspire young Canadians by flying the historical Hawk One F‑86 Sabre jet. 

Courtesy the Canadian Space Agency

Taking into account that: 

- without the nationalization of Hydro-Quebec by Rene Levesque, Quebec citizens would never have accessed to all these major hydro powered projects which give now a cheap, constant and secure supply of energy,

- the pioneer modern airliner jets are the Boeing 707 and Sud-Aviation Caravelle which were copied by all jet airplanes we fly in today, we can see that the first stems out from American bombers and the second from a project led directly by the French government,

- all very high speed train lines were established by governments owned companies or even departments, 

- the GPS and internet were designed by the US army, 

- the most important technologies that shaped our lives were actually developed mostly with government monies (including national defense) if not during major war efforts, 

why can't we just accept that to bring new technology is actually better handled by public funding and this represents the best economic mechanism for having better lives ? 

Here is my list of the best car manufacturers: 
1. VAG (Bugatti, Bentley, Audi, Seat, VW, Skoda)
2. BMW and Rolls-Royce
3. PSA (Peugeot-Citroen)
4. Volvo
5. Fiat because of Alfa Romeo
6. Renault-Nissan-Dacia
7. Mercedes-benz
8. Subaru
9. Ford (they should have kept Mazda, Volvo and Aston Martin)
10. Toyota

Citroen has been winning the world’s rallyes for the last 8 years and their cars are incredible.

PSA making excellent cars with the best turbo-diesel engines providing them to Honda and Rover. They even design Toyotas small cars.

Renault has recovered and saved Nissan from bankrupcy and there was nothing like a Renault Vel Satis with the Nissan 3.5 bi-turbo engine for roominess and luxury.

Fiat has recovered Chrysler and is reamping its awful line-up of cars.

Alfa Romeo defines the pure-sang and is now making reliable cars which are more exciting to drive then Audis.  

My list puts VAG at the top for the quality of their cars (nothing like an Audi or Bentley for the best compromise of reliability and driving pleasure) and they are now number 2 in sales.

Then, I would put Volvo is still one of the best car makers.

The deception is BMW which would normally at the top of that list but their cars are getting more bourgeois and less sportive (same problem with Honda). The M5 is no longer the best of its class and starts to feel like a Lexus or Infinity. 

If we all start driving electric cars, will the power grid be able to take the extra demand?

The average home in the U.S. uses around 11,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year in electricity.  With the average residential energy cost being 0.12 cents a kWh that equals to about $1300 a year for electricity per home in the United States.

The typical gas-powered car uses the equivalent of 16,000 kWh in a year. If this power consumption were the same for electric vehicles they would more than double your current electricity bill, which would not be nice for anyone. The good news is that EV’s and plug-in hybrids consume far less energy than their wasteful fossil fuelled counterparts. Studies show that they will only raise your bill between 30-40 percent, adding something like $450-$520 a year. While this is a significant increase to your monthly bill, it is still much more affordable than paying for gas. Assuming you fill up your gas tank once a week costing $60 for every fill, this amounts to over $3,000 a year.

It is also possible to buy yourself a wind mill and/or solar panel which cope with that extra demand allowing to minimize the impact on power distribution.

One reason why some companies will wish you to update your house with local extra power units.