Transportation is another sector that has increased its relative share of primary energy use. This sector has serious concerns as it is a significant source of CO2 emissions and other airborne pollutants, and it is almost totally based on oil as its energy source. An important aspect of future changes in transportation depends on what happens to the available oil resources, production and prices. At present, 95% of all energy for transportation comes from oil. (more…)
Under both former President Bush and new President Obama, the U.S. government has vowed to reduce reliance on imported oil. The ...
Global energy consumption in the last half century has increased very rapidly and is expected to continue to grow over the next ...
From prehistory until the Industrial Revolution, most energy sources used by humans were localized (i.e., available within 5–10 mil ...
Do we have the resources? Rudolf Diesel developed the diesel engine which ran on biodiesel vegetable oil in the late 1800s. At the ...
One study that does address the peak-oil scenario directly is a 2005 report conducted for the National Energy Technology Labora ...
The product gas can be burned in boilers to generate heat and raise steam, in internal combustion engines to generate electricity and heat at small to medium scale (from a few kilowatts to a few megawatts), and in gas turbines to generate electricity (Brayton cycle) and heat at small to large scale. In large-scale systems using gas turbines, the exhaust gas from the gas turbine can be used to raise steam in a heat recovery steam generator to generate additional electricity using a steam turbine (Rankine cycle), resulting in combined cycle operation. (more…)
Gasification is a thermo chemical process that has been exploited for more than a century for converting solid feedstocks to ga ...
The moisture content of the feedstock affects the gas composition and the energy balance of the process since gasification is an en ...
Biomass Storage Biomass storage is required to ensure the continuous operation of the facility. To limit the space required for ...
Natural gas and oil are common source energy used to give electricity. How efficient is coal if we compare to these other source of ...
Many characteristics of traditional engines make them attractive for use in power generation and propulsion technology. They tend t ...
The United States depends heavily on imported oil to fuel its transportation infrastructure. The use of alternative fuel derived from plant oils was examined by researchers in the mid-1970s to determine if internal combustion engines could be fueled from sources other than petroleum. (more…)
Biodiesel is an ester that can be made from substances such as vegetable oils and animal fats. Biodiesel can either be used in ...
In 1998, several initiatives were implemented in Brazil, aiming to introduce biodiesel into the Brazilian energy matrix. The in ...
For every 100 units of biodiesel fuel produced using this method, there are 11 units of glycerin as a by-product. Glycerin is u ...
Two factors have contributed to an aggressive expansion of the European biodiesel industry. Reform of the Common Agricultural P ...
Researchers at the University of Cádiz (UCA) propose a technological change in the current process onhow to make biodiesel mo ...
Transport applications tend to demand rapid start-up and instant dynamic response from fuel cell systems, so a high-temperature fuel cell is unlikely to be competitive as the main engine in applications such as cars and buses. The prime candidate for these vehicle propulsion systems is the Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells, which exhibits both of the above characteristics while also having very high power density. This is important as it must also occupy a similar amount of space to an internal combustion engine. Of recent interest has been the development of auxiliary power units for vehicles, in which the fuel cell meets the onboard electric load of the vehicle. Both Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells and ITSOFCs are under development for this application. (more…)
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 ...
A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that combines hydrogen with oxygen to generate electricity, heat and water to produce. ...
Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells have high-power density, rapid startup, and low-temperature operation (around 80 to 120 C), and ...
The fuel cell can trace its roots back to the 1800s when a Welsh-born, Oxford-educated barrister, Sir William Robert Grove, realize ...
Gasification is a thermo chemical process that has been exploited for more than a century for converting solid feedstocks to gaseous energy carriers. The first gasifier patent was issued in England at the end of the 18th century and producer gas from coal gasification was mainly used as lighting fuel throughout the 19th century. At the turn of the 20th century, the main use of producer gas, obtained essentially from coal, switched to electricity generation and automotive applications via internal combustion engines. The use of producer gas was gradually supplanted by the use of higher energy density liquid fuels and as a result confined to areas with expensive or unreliable supplies of petroleum fuels. (more…)
The product gas can be burned in boilers to generate heat and raise steam, in internal combustion engines to generate electricity a ...
Thermo chemical processing of biomass yields gaseous, liquid, and solid products and offers a means of producing useful gaseous ...
Biomass Storage Biomass storage is required to ensure the continuous operation of the facility. To limit the space required for ...
Estimation of the future technical potential of biomass as an energy source is dependent on assumptions with respect to land av ...
The moisture content of the feedstock affects the gas composition and the energy balance of the process since gasification is an en ...
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 ...
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 ...
The development of the ‘‘new’’ wind and solar technologies is of great importance for the future contribution of RESs to energy supply. Although the present wind and solar technology contribution of 0.4% to total primary energy consumption per capita is still very small, the growth of these industries has been considerable in the past 6 to 8 years. Today they provide 10 times the energy of 10 years ago. Wind energy shows the most remarkable growth dynamics; its contribution is now reaching energetically relevant dimensions. (more…)
Although technology change (usually involving an improvement in energy efficiency) is not inherently a geographic process, it does ...
In Europe, modern renewable energy sources technologies were explored thoroughly for the first time after the oil embargo/ price cr ...
In 2001, there were 14,000 small wind turbines for home/domestic use in the United States. The market potential for national an ...
In 2006, total world wind generating electricity capacity was around 72,000 MW, producing some 160 terawatt-hours (TWh) per yea ...
Global energy consumption in the last half century has increased very rapidly and is expected to continue to grow over the next ...
The commercialization prospects for fuel cell vehicles depend not only on their performance and cost, but also on how well they can compete with other technology options that address similar market and policy needs. While market forces have not traditionally motivated design change for reasons of environmental performance, customer values and expectations can evolve and such characteristics could grow in importance. However, inherent market conservatism will favor less disruptive ways to address evolving needs, which might be met by improved gasoline and diesel vehicles, including hybrid-electric versions. Yet looking over the long run, particularly the need to substantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions, hydrogen fuel cells may well provide a solution that is superior to other alternatives. (more…)
The primary electric drivetrain components for fuel cell vehicles are the same as those for any electric vehicle: traction motors, ...
Most alternative fuel vehicles on the road today were originally designed for gasoline, but converted for use with an alternative f ...
A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that directly converts a fuel to electricity by means of reactions on the surfaces of ...
There are different types of vehicle propulsion systems and the transportation fuels that have been studied for their potential ...
The most commonly researched and most developed application of using hydrogen as a fuel source is in conjunction with a hydrogen fu ...
Many readers may be unfamiliar with the way economists typically view the process of technological change, thus it is useful to first establish this common understanding. Furthermore, to understand the potential for public policy to affect energy efficiency, it is also necessary to understand the process through which technology evolves: invention, innovation, energy diffusion, and product use. (more…)
Now it is possible to move back in the process of technological change from diffusion to innovation. In the energy efficiency area, ...
The aim of this broad sweep through the area of energy innovation, highlighting the main actors, activities, policies, institutions ...
Mixing is a process where two or more liquids or gas phase components are brought together and combined to form a uniform compositi ...
Beginning at the end of the technological change process, research has consistently shown that diffusion of new, economically ...
Energy efficiency is defined here to mean energy services provided per unit of energy input (for example, gallons of water hea ...