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 ...
Reductions in carbon intensity, C/E, the carbon emitted per unit of energy generated, reflect the degree to which societies decarbonize their energy sources. The long-term trend has been a shift from coal to oil to natural gas––hydrocarbons with decreasing C/H ratios emitting progressively less CO2 per joule. However, the increasing use of clean low-carbon fuels is not sustainable without somehow disposing of excess carbon because it opposes the trend in the abundance of fossil fuels, with coal resources being the most abundant followed by oil and gas. (more…)
The global cycling of carbon involves both biological and physical processes. Only the biological components are discussed here. Pl ...
The flux of carbon among terrestrial, aquatic, and atmospheric pools is at least partially controlled by photosynthetic process ...
It is of interest to examine potential sources of greenhouse gases sources or atmospheric CO2 by analysis of the global distrib ...
Climate change caused by the enhanced greenhouse effect is one of the most significant global environmental issues. Increased emiss ...
The global carbon cycle involves both biological and physical processes. Only the biological components are discussed here. Pla ...
Air-blown circulating fluidized bed gasifiers are of interest because they produce a good quality, low calorific value (LCV) gas (4–6 MJ/Nm 3 ) and possess a very high carbon conversion efficiency while allowing high capacity, good tolerance to variations in fuel quality, and reliable operation. The high and homogeneously distributed temperatures and the use of particular bed materials, such as dolomite, favor tar cracking. Successful tar cracking can also be achieved using secondary circulating fluidized bed reactors. Also, successful tests on catalytic tar cracking have been performed, for example, by introducing nickel compounds into the gasifier. Sulfur control is made easier because of the significant reduction that can be achieved by adding limestone or dolomite to the gasifier bed. (more…)
The moisture content of the feedstock affects the gas composition and the energy balance of the process since gasification is an en ...
Thermo chemical processing of biomass yields gaseous, liquid, and solid products and offers a means of producing useful gaseous ...
A combination of legislation and technology has helped clean up many of the world’s coal-burning plants. Both developed and develop ...
Biomass Storage Biomass storage is required to ensure the continuous operation of the facility. To limit the space required for ...
Gasification is a thermo chemical process that has been exploited for more than a century for converting solid feedstocks to ga ...
The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) has offered, and the European Commission (EC) has accepted, a voluntary commitment to reduce the CO2 emissions from new light-duty passenger vehicles, with firm fleetwide targets of 140 g CO2 /km (B41 mpg for gasoline) by 2008, measured under the new European test cycle (Directives 93/116/EC and 99/100/EC). This represents approximately a 25% reduction from the 1995 average of 187 g/km (B30 mpg) on this cycle. The European cycle is likely to produce lower fuel economy ratings than the U.S. combined urban/ highway cycle, so the ‘‘U.S. equivalent’’ miles per gallon ratings of the year 2008 European fleet will likely be higher than 41 mpg if the targets are met. (more…)
Although the automotive industry is a vigorous sponsor of research and development in vehicle efficiency technology—worldwide, ...
Addressing global warming, however, is a highly complex and daunting endeavor. Many climate experts have urged the world to stabili ...
We know of no studies that have examined vehicle taxation incentives programs elsewhere in the world, but it seems likely that ...
A variety of information programs exist in the major automobile markets to assist potential purchasers of new cars in comparing fue ...
There are various and somewhat complementary reasons to foster the growth of renewable energy sources in Europe. A major incent ...
The spark-ignition and compression-ignition engine and internal combustion engines technologies that are currently employed in motor vehicles were developed more than 100 years ago. These conventional vehicle technologies are fueled by petroleum-derived gasoline and diesel fuels (the socalled conventional fuels). Over the past 100 years, the conventional technologies have been dramatically improved, reducing cost and increasing performance. (more…)
ISO document 14040 identifies four areas for using life cycle analysis (LCA) results: (1) identifying opportunities to improve ...
The fuel cycle for a given transportation fuel includes the following processes: energy feedstock (or primary energy) product ...
There are different types of vehicle propulsion systems and the transportation fuels that have been studied for their potential ...
Because different studies have different system boundaries and parametric assumptions, the studies described in Section 7 resulted ...
For processes that produce multiple products, energy and emission burdens have to be allocated to individual products. ISO 14040 ad ...
Energy exists in many forms. Some of energy forms are simple to use and identify as energy. But other forms of energy can not be seen until the energy released. Some forms of energy like light and sound, they carry energy from one place to another. There are also vibrating objects that carry the kinetic energy that makes the sound. The energy passes through the wave where the wave was originated. The higher the wave, it gives more energy. Light is also one form of energy. A light beam or light ray brings out energy from where there was light. This energy is often referred to as radiation energy. (more…)
Electricity generation through nuclear power plant is an enormously complex technical feat. It takes the combined skills of geo ...
Like solar radiation, the ocean is another widely available and distributed energy source. The energy in the ocean is in part k ...
Heat has a enormous influence in our daily lives. Heat quantity exposed in our live has related to the foods we eat, the temper ...
Several molecular systems have been constructed that mimic various aspects of photosynthesis. Two of these utilize molecular system ...
The energy that people use every day comes from many different sources. The resources are divided into two main groups: renewa ...
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 ...
The fuel cycle for a given transportation fuel includes the following processes: energy feedstock (or primary energy) production; biomass feedstock transportation and storage; fuel production; fuel transportation, storage, and distribution; and vehicle operations that involve fuel combustion air or other chemical energy conversions. The processes that precede vehicle operations are often referred to as the well-to-pump (WTP) stage, the vehicle operations are referred to as the pump-to-wheels (PTW) stage, and the entire fuel cycle is referred to as the well-to-wheels (WTW) cycle. Various models have been developed that allow researchers to conduct fuel cycle analyses of vehicle/fuel systems. The GREET (greenhouse gases, regulated emissions, and energy transportation) model, developed by Argonne National Laboratory, is in the public domain and, so far, more than 1000 users worldwide have used the model to predict the energy use and emissions associated with alternative fuels vehicles. The GREET model and its documents are posted on the Internet at http:// greet.anl.gov. (more…)
The spark-ignition and compression-ignition engine and internal combustion engines technologies that are currently employed in ...
Because different studies have different system boundaries and parametric assumptions, the studies described in Section 7 resulted ...
ISO document 14040 identifies four areas for using life cycle analysis (LCA) results: (1) identifying opportunities to improve ...
It shows Well-to-Wheels Greenhouse Gas emissions of the 23 vehicle/fuel systems. For each system, the bottom bar represents CO2 ...
The combination of well-to-pump results and the energy use and emissions associated with vehicle operation (also called the pum ...
A variety of information programs exist in the major automobile markets to assist potential purchasers of new cars in comparing fuel economy characteristics (and other attributes) among competing vehicles. However, there is no evidence that the existence of such systems plays a significant role in consumer choice of vehicles. For example, in 1995, the light duty fleets in the two European countries with fuel economy labeling systems (Sweden and the United Kingdom) were the least efficient in Europe (according to International Energy Agency data). (more…)
A number of countries have vehicle tax incentives programs designed to reward purchasers and owners of alternative fuel-efficient v ...
Because different studies have different system boundaries and parametric assumptions, the studies described in Section 7 resulted ...
Throughout the British energy crisis there were some grounds evident that more drivers drove more slowly to conserve their vehi ...
We know of no studies that have examined vehicle taxation incentives programs elsewhere in the world, but it seems likely that ...
This latter form of new car taxes can actually serve as an impediment to higher fuel economy to the extent that increased energ ...
The age of industrialization came into full force through the modern exploration and use of fossil fuels. As one of its most striking phenomena, the rapid expansion of cities throughout the late 19th and the 20th centuries was a direct outcome of the fossil fuel energy economy as well. (more…)
The aim is to work with cities in advancing renewable energy technologies and systems and to help promote the renewable energy indu ...
The Solar City approach originally emerged from a new generation of International Energy Agency (IEA) energy research and developme ...
In the absence of useful and established patterns of practice, a search is under way for new means of reconciling local government’ ...
As a reaction to these historical perspectives, the building industry has witnessed a certain rise in design responses to regio ...
Climate change caused by the enhanced greenhouse effect is one of the most significant global environmental issues. Increased emiss ...