In this new century, there is considerable pressure on the top six automakers to reduce their environmental and ecological footprint calculation. The automaker that wins the race to build and sell the superior car will shape consumer preferences, thereby boosting sales and profits. The winning firm will fashion a corporate strategy that drives automobile emissions to near zero while simultaneously providing high levels of performance, safety, and comfort. (more…)
Corporate environmental strategy (CES) involves the tools, management programs, processes, and product development choices that all ...
In the pursuit of superior cars, electronic products, and computing, several leading multinational corporations began in the last q ...
Although it is significant that many of the above four imperatives are qualitative, not quantitative, such new efforts have begun t ...
This latter form of new car taxes can actually serve as an impediment to higher fuel economy to the extent that increased energ ...
There are several options that, ultimately, must be integrated when attempting to realize a change in corporate culture: the legal ...
Fuel cell vehicles are being developed because they promise to meet the requirements expected of automobiles in a market increasingly constrained by environmental and resource limitations. Air pollution and oil dependence have been persistent challenges for vehicles powered by petroleum fuels (gasoline and diesel). Global warming presents a new challenge in the need to limit carbon dioxide (CO) emissions from fossil fuel combustion. (more…)
There are different types of vehicle propulsion systems and the transportation fuels that have been studied for their potential ...
The internal combustion engine has dominated the car and light-truck market for over 100 years. Although remarkable improvement ...
The commercialization prospects for fuel cell vehicles depend not only on their performance and cost, but also on how well th ...
A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that directly converts a fuel to electricity by means of reactions on the surfaces of ...
The leading automotive brands are being focused to produce electric vehicles because they believe they represent a harmony to the e ...
High-speed maglev technology offers four main advantages: non-contact operation; low-mass vehicles (on a per seat basis, maglev vehicles weigh approximately one-third to three-quarters as much as high speed trains); high speed; and wayside system control and self-propelled vehicles (each car contains its own secondary part of a linear synchronous motors).
Non-contact operation means that vehicle traction does not depend on adhesion between contact surfaces, e.g., wheels and rails. (more…)
A propulsion alternative is to transfer power to the vehicle and then have a magnetic structure on the vehicle that can create ...
Electrodynamic Suspension (EDS) can be viewed as an array of magnets moving over a conducting sheet and being pushed upwards by ...
Designers in China have launched the first wind turbine levitating in the world of permanent magnetic levitation (Maglev) in the Wi ...
All electromagnetic suspension-based systems employ some type of feedback control mechanism to maintain stable levitation. (An inte ...
Electromagnetic Suspension (EMS) system in which an array of magnets is attracted upwards to a steel rail. It is possible to de ...
A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that directly converts a fuel to electricity by means of reactions on the surfaces of electrodes and transport of ions through an electrolyte. A fuel cell can be thought of as a chemical battery whose reactants are fed from external sources rather than packaged as part of the battery. A key feature of a fuel cell is transformation of the chemical potential energy of a fuel directly into electricity, a high-value form of energy that can be put to many uses from electricity conversion. The fuel cell’s direct energy unit conversion process occurs without an intermediate step of heat generation, as involved in combustion engines. (more…)
The primary electric drivetrain components for fuel cell vehicles are the same as those for any electric vehicle: traction motors, ...
Fuel cells are typically classified according to type of electrolyte. While many varieties of fuel cells have been demonstrated ...
Alkaline fuel cell, often known as the Bacon fuel cell following the British inventor’ name. It has become the most created fue ...
Transport applications tend to demand rapid start-up and instant dynamic response from fuel cell systems, so a high-temperature ...
The commercialization prospects for fuel cell vehicles depend not only on their performance and cost, but also on how well th ...
Do we have the resources? Rudolf Diesel developed the diesel engine which ran on biodiesel vegetable oil in the late 1800s. At the time, he speculated that his discovery seemed insignificant, but later could prove to be as important as mankind’s uncovering of future energy uses for petroleum and coal tar. Given the U.S.’ rapid expansion into biofuels, it would appear his vision was correct due to the drawbacks of biofuels. But widespread adoption of biomass-based fuels is not a foregone conclusion. Two questions haunt its progress. First, will it truly reduce U.S. reliance on fossil fuels? And second, is there enough farmland to accommodate widespread production, without jeopardizing food supplies? (more…)
Biofuels are made from living matter, plant or animal, and are strongly favored by agricultural interests because of the large ...
We had expressed our disagreement with Biofuels and tell them also that the European Union also wants to distance themselves from t ...
At present, in the United States and worldwide, motor vehicles are fueled almost exclusively by petroleum based gasoline (or re ...
One of the main benefits from future use of biofuels would be the reduction of greenhouse gases compared to the use of fossil f ...
Transportation is another sector that has increased its relative share of primary energy use. This sector has serious concerns ...
Many characteristics of traditional engines make them attractive for use in power generation and propulsion technology. They tend to be self-aspirating and rely on combustion, which at the macroscale is a very robust form of heat generation. Fuel is plentiful and inexpensive, with storage easily realized. The energy density of the fuel (or fuel plus container), when compared with electrochemical sources, is high. Along with these advantages come a number of drawbacks, especially where miniaturization is concerned. For example, an engine is thermodynamically restricted (by the Carnot efficiency) in its conversion of chemical energy to work due to the intermediate heat-generating step. (more…)
Heat-actuated heat pumps are cooling systems requiring no electricity for operation. Rather, a heat source is used, avoiding the ne ...
Hydrogen has many applications when it comes to fuel. It can be used both in internal combustion engines and hydrogen fuel cells. ...
Microtechnology-Based Energy and Chemical Systems will most likely employ combustion for driving processes such as vapor generation ...
The product gas can be burned in boilers to generate heat and raise steam, in internal combustion engines to generate electricity a ...
Micro technology can be employed to produce miniaturized refrigeration and cryocooling systems. Although process intensificat ...
Prior to the Clean Air Act of 1990, environmental issues regulations were aimed at reducing emissions as they left the exhaust system. The catalytic converter has been the primary means of attacking air pollution in this way. After 1990, regulations for the first time undertook to alter the composition of the fuel itself. Reformulated gasoline applies to gasoline that is sold in the nine metropolitan areas designated by the EPA with the highest level of ozone in air pollution problems. About 48 million people reside in areas where ozone concentrations exceed federal standards. (more…)
The development and blending of gasoline additives and petroleum additivies are undertaken for the most part by the petroleum r ...
Most alternative fuel vehicles on the road today were originally designed for gasoline, but converted for use with an alternative f ...
In recent years, there has been a greater understanding of the role of automotive emissions as environmental pollutants. Sulfur dio ...
At present, in the United States and worldwide, motor vehicles are fueled almost exclusively by petroleum based gasoline (or re ...
Gasoline is used mainly by cars, motorcycles, and light trucks; diesel is used mainly by heavier trucks, buses, and trains. Togethe ...
As a result of high and rising costs of fossil fuels and fossil fuels affect global environment concern , and by the reduction of greenhouse effect gases from burning causes (Kyoto Protocol), the heat recovery gain importance growing. A heat exchanger absorbs a significant portion of the heat energy of the gases generated during combustion of solid fuel, liquid and gas in the smelting process, heating, roasting, and drying. (more…)
In these regenerators the heat energy transfer between primary and secondary fluid is primarily by radiation and its installati ...
Heat has a enormous influence in our daily lives. Heat quantity exposed in our live has related to the foods we eat, the temper ...
The product gas can be burned in boilers to generate heat and raise steam, in internal combustion engines to generate electricity a ...
The leading automotive brands are being focused to produce electric vehicles because they believe they represent a harmony to the e ...
Drying is one of the most important post harvest steps. It enhances the storage life of the crop products, minimizes losses during ...
The entire concept of energy independence revolves around using the resources within a country. Simply put, it’s “Stay within your own means and stop taking help from outside”. In the United States of America, energy independence is a political agenda whereby the country would eventually, through shifts in its energy policy and technology development, approach self-sufficiency in its energy needs by producing close to the amount of energy that it consumes. If total energy possibilities are taken advantage of, presently the U.S. would be over 70% self-sufficient. (more…)
For years it was out of desperation that observers have advised and viewed of American energy policy and geopolitical risks regardi ...
Tanker transportation and oil transport functions as an important link to facilitate the flow of oil and products from their li ...
Geopolitical risk refers almost always to primary energy carriers (oil, gas, coal, uranium or renewable energy) since their loc ...
From prehistory until the Industrial Revolution, most energy sources used by humans were localized (i.e., available within 5–10 mil ...
The relationship of gross national product per capita to energy consumption per capita for most countries of the world correlat ...
The internal combustion engine has dominated the car and light-truck market for over 100 years. Although remarkable improvements have been made over the past 30 years to reduce air pollution problems to nearly zero and to almost double vehicle efficiency, increasing concerns about global warming and energy security are pushing vehicles toward even greater energy efficiency improvements. (more…)
Fuel cell vehicles are being developed because they promise to meet the requirements expected of automobiles in a market increa ...
The leading automotive brands are being focused to produce electric vehicles because they believe they represent a harmony to the e ...
The primary electric drivetrain components for fuel cell vehicles are the same as those for any electric vehicle: traction motors, ...
Mercedes-Benz presented at Geneva Style F800 Concept (the F stands for Mercedes: technology, design and art), a prototype that ...
A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that directly converts a fuel to electricity by means of reactions on the surfaces of ...