Hello again,
I would hope that someone will want to comment on any of my posts, because I'm hoping to raise this subject in people's priorities. Please discuss the ideas I've raised, and/or raise other ideas, and let's discuss the pros and cons of all of them!
Some simple things that you can do to save energy:
Properly inflate your vehicles tires, and keep them that way. Look at the recommended range of inflation, and in general it is best to use a pressure near the top of this range. If all people did this, we could save up to 3% of all the petroleum we use.
Use compact fluorescent light bulbs where ever possible. This will save at least 75% of the electricity you use for lighting. If the fixture has a dimmer on it, you'll need to locate bulbs that work on dimmers -- they do exist. If you try to use a regular fluorescent bulb in a dimmable circuit, it is likely to flicker even if you have the dimmer up to full, unfortunately.
[Edit: Here's one place to buy dimmable compact fluorescent bulbs. To find others, you can Google for "dimmable fluorescent bulbs". Also, there are LED bulbs available that screw into our standard "Edison" fixtures:here. I have not tried these, but they certainly will come on immediately at full brightness.]
Replace your older refrigerator with one that is as efficient as you can find. Ask for the most efficient models, and call around to all the appliance sellers in your area -- this needs to be a top priority, and this should help them get the message.
Here's one that is a little more obscure, but very important none the less: compost all of the autumn leaves [and lawn clippings, weeds, vegetable parings, etc.], rather than throwing them out like garbage! If you use your lawn mower, or rent a leaf shreader, they will be a lot more compact, they won't blow around, and they will turn into wonderful, rich soil by the next year. This method can actually be faster, since the much smaller volume of the leaves makes them easier to move. Use the bag on the mower to collect the chopped leaves, and empty it onto a small tarp, and then drag the tarp by it's corner.
Then use this soil to fertilize your lawn and plants -- instead of using chemical fertilizers made from oil and natural gas! This is essentially free, since all it takes is a spot where you can put the leaves to let the natural process happen. If it doesn't rain on the pile soon after you make it, it also helps to use a little water from the hose to dampen things down -- the worms and the natural decomposition can get started faster.
Of course, by not using chemical fertilizers, you are saving all sorts of other bad effects downstream: the phosphorus and nitrogen runoff from these has literally killed just about all ponds and streams in all the suburbs I have seen. And the effects of these chemicals has huge affects all the way out to the ocean.
[I recently bought a Scott "Classic" reel lawn mower, and I find it no harder to push than the gasoline powered mower! And I can finish the mowing in less time, too. No fumes, and no oil changes...]
What else can you think of?
Sincerely, Neil
Greetings,
I've been ruminating on what a (much) more efficient automobile would look like, and here are some random thoughts:
We need to use a smaller motor, while still getting enough power out of it, so maybe 1.0-1.3L four cylinder (or maybe even smaller?), with a small turbo? It would also have variable valves, to maximize the low RPM torque (fewer valves with shorter duration, IIANM), and then more valves for longer duration, etc. at higher RPM's. This same mechanism could be used to shut down two of the four cylinders at idle, and in low-demand situations, and then all four cylinders could seamlessly be brought back into operation as more power is demanded. It would not be too hard to have the entire engine be shut off when sitting still.
The transmission would have 6 to 8 speeds; again to help utilize the available power. I would want a manual transmission, but the clutch would be used only in first (or second) gear for getting rolling. Thereafter, gearshifts should be handled like they are in an Formula 1 car: shift paddles under the steering wheel to shift up or down, with the ignition computer "blipping" the engine momentarily while the transmission shifts. In Formula 1 cars, this happens at a mere 19,000RPM, with a 7 speed transmission -- so I can't see why it couldn't be done at 2,000-6,000RPM?
This scheme would allow a direct drive situation with virtually no slippage once the car is rolling. Also, the throwout bearing in the clutch should be well lubricated for coasting. I think that a manual transmission has much better control, for driving in typical New England winter conditions, for example.
All the aerodynamics should be improved to a point where the drag is reasonably close to ideal, without becoming impractical. The underside should be included in this, and also low rolling resistance tires are also key. A while back, I remember seeing tweaks like partially recessed side mirrors, that reduced the aero drag -- this seems like a reasonable thing to do, too.
Here' are newer blog entries that I have written on this subject:
Cars to emulate and study
Aerodynamic modifications to save gasoline
More ways for auto makers to build more efficient vehicles
"Eyes forward" video mirrors on my Scion xA
Greetings,
A follow up on Stan Ovshinsky's method of storing hydrogen in solid metal -- it is metal in a powder form, and it is completely inert; which is obviously a good thing! The challenge is, that when the hydrogen is "charging" the metal, it generated a lot of heat, and currently they use a water jacket to cool it.
Here's what I suggested to them in an email: why not charge up some of the (nickel metal hydride?) metal powder in a machine where you can recover the heat and use it -- and then use a pneumatic vacuum system to evacuate the spent powder out of the car's tank, and then use the same system to fill it again with charged powder?
This would also avoid the greatest hazard of having to have the "user" working with the hydrogen gas, and you could gain efficiency by recovering the heat.
A little background: Stan Ovshinsky has retrofitted a Toyota Prius with a hydrogen tank, that because it uses the (NiMH?) metal powder to hold the hydrogen, like a sponge holds water -- the tank holds twice as much hydrogen as it could in the same volume under high pressure! The engine is converted to burn the hydrogen, and the exhaust is water!
The other piece of this idea is to produce the hydrogen right in the fueling station. Using electricity from the grid, at least; or better yet use PV, and/or wind generators, and/or a hydro-generator, and/or geothermal, etc. to generate electricity on the spot (to avoid all transmission losses!) and store the hydrogen in the solid metal; where it is safe and stable.
Sounds like a good business plan for a franchise, huh?
Sincerely, Neil
Greetings,
There are (at least) five or six things that automobile makers could do to improve the effiency of all cars/vehicles:
Using the variable valve technology that is already in many engines, to
not only improve the power band (less air flow at low RPM's for more
torque, and more air flow at higher RPM's for more horsepower) -- but
to also use it to shut off cylinders, when they are not needed. A few
V8 engines already do this, and transform themselves in to 4 cylinder
engines, when the extra power is not needed. So, why not turn a V6 into
a 3-cylinder, or a 4-cylinder into a 2-cylinder? Seems to make a lot of
sense to me!
- The Toyota Prius (2nd gen?) uses a vacuum-insulated tank (like a Thermos) to hold hot engine coolant overnight, to be pumped into the engine block to allow it to come up to a good operating temperature much more quickly. This could/should be done on all vehicles, and it would greatly reduce emmisions and fuel use at the start of every trip.
- Preheat the fuel right before injecting it into the cylinders -- this will vapourize the fuel (as opposed to simply making it into droplets). This will help increase the power and efficiency of any engine dramatically!
- Use a CVT (continuously variable transmission) instead of a automatic transmission with a torque converter. A CVT transmission provides nearly zero slippage, and it helps the engine operate at the RPM that is best for the situation, and the ratios are infinitely variable, and there is no lag time while you shift.
- Using a CVT transmission makes it possible to do something that the Honda Civic Hybrid (and others) does, and that is shut off
the engine when the vehicle is stopped. The instant the driver removes
their foot from the brake, the engine is started and it goes on it way,
without you even being aware that it was not running.
- Work on reducing both rolling resistant, and aerodynamic drag -- both the underpan of the vehicle and the body, too. Tandem with this, there should be an alarm for when the tire pressure drops below optimum.
Can you think of other improvements?
_________________
Sincerely, Neil
Greetings,
Here's some web pages that you should bookmark!
http://www.uni-solar.com/index.asp
http://www.uni-solar.com/interior.asp?id=111
http://www.uni-solar.com/interior.asp?id=102
They make durable, flexible, photovoltaic roofing products that make electricity from dawn to dusk, rain, clouds, or shine -- and they're making them now!
You folks in California should look into this ASAP, because you can actually buy these at the moment. The rest of us will have to wait (at least) a few months until they can make enough.
The person behind this is Stan Ovshinsky, who has also invented the material used in CD-RW's, nickel metal hydride rechargeable batteries, and a similar metal that acts as a *sponge* for hydrogen; storing it "inside" solid metal. There are several Scientific American Frontiers TV shows that include Mr. Ovshinsky's inventions.
Little did I know that there is a company right "next door" in Marlborough, MA called Evergreen Solar, that makes another innovative photovoltaic panel!
http://www.evergreensolar.com/index.html
Their system uses liquid (molten) silicon and forms ribbons, that use about half as much silicon as the wafer-based systems. My brother, Nathan has had them to his house for a consultation, and his little ranch house could have a 3.9KW system fit on the roof. With a little bit of conservation, that could meet the needs of the house. I'm waiting to get more details...
Let me throw something out there: it would be a great use of these photovoltaic roofs to at least power the building's A/C system! Think of it! The sun that is warming the building, could also cool it. Cool, wicked cool!
[see my comments below about reducing transmission losses]
My concerns with PV are that they do not last very long, apparently. The material simply gets used up, and they are fairly high tech, and require a fair bit of energy to make, and there may be chemical waste products that are not desirable.
Concentrated Solar does seem to be better on these two counts -- making parabolic mirrors and using oils to collect and store the heat is probably safer and easier than producing PV panels.
If you consider ALL the costs of nuclear, then it is actually very expensive. Mining uranium is dangerous. Refining uranium is expensive and very high tech (this is why the energy companies like it, maybe -- so they can still be the ones in control?), and the waste products are difficult to transport safely, and the storage of the spent fuel rods and plutonium is an "expense" that we can hardly begin to imagine!
Not only are we put at risk of terrorists getting hold of the radioactive material, but the stuff is extremely poisonous, and very radioactive -- and it will remain so for a period of time that is at least 5X the time of recorded human history!!
Gimme a break -- it is anything BUT cheap. Besides, do you know what a nuclear power plant is? It is simply a big tea kettle! That's right -- we boil water with the heat produced and then we generate electricity with the steam...sheesh.
Why not use concentrated solar to collect the heat of the sun? I'll bet that we can figure out a way to store the energy (as heat, or as pressure) so we could continue to generate electricity over night and through cloudy days? We humans are quite ingenious, and this seems to be a pretty simple sort of problem.
With a fraction of the effort and cost of making a nuclear bomb, or getting humans to the moon or Mars, or just a week's budget for the fiasco in Iraq, or the pipeline in Alaska, or drilling a 27,000 foot deep oil well, or extracting oil from the shale/sands in Canada -- we could make the solar equivalent of the Hoover dam to get out energy direct from the only safe nuclear fusion reactor I know about: the Sun!
Sincerely, Neil
Greetings,
I'm going to just dive in, and put something in here -- I'm not sure where this will go.
My main concerns relate to "the direction the world is headed" -- environmentally, politically, etc., and I may just ramble, if that's okay? :-)
I'm participating in a discussion over at Silent PC Review, and it is nudging me to collect my thoughts on this.
There are lots of ways to be more efficient: we lose an inordinately large amount of electrical power to transmission losses. Simply by producing the power close to where it is used, we could save a lot of power.
If we used photovoltaic, or wind, or concentrated solar right at
buildings, to power their own AC, this alone would be the single
largest savings we could muster!! 
Methane digesters in place of sewerage treatment would have two major benefits: the methane gas (which is the simplest hydrocarbon) could be used to generate electricity, and the carbon is "short cycled", which means it is not additional carbon being introduced into the environment. Or, the methane could be used to make plastics, or many other things that we current make from oil.
The second major benefit is the resulting slurry, after all the methane has been produced, is a high quality fertilizer. The nitrogen in it is not water soluable (like it is in most/all chemical fertilizers!), so unlike our current farming practices, this kind of fertilizer will actually IMPROVE the soil.
Another very promising energy, is methanol made from wood/plant fibers. This can be used in fuel cells to produce electricity, or it can be burned in today's internal combustion engines, and it is even better than gasoline. We can just GROW our fuel! The plants are perfect at concentrating solar power, and they add a lot of energy from water and carbon that they take in.
We can do simple and very cheap things: always inflate your vehicle's tires to an optimal pressure: this alone could save something like 3% of our fuel usage, which while small for individuals, the total is millions of barrels of oil.
Methane digesters completely "kill" the bad bugs. Now as to heavy metals, and other things that would survive the digestion process, I dunno. But the main point is, this would replace the oil and natural gas based fertilizers that we use now.
http://www.eco-farm.org/sa/sa_dairy_synopsis_digester.html
http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/MethaneDigesters/MDToC.html
http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/MethaneDigesters/MD4.html#8using
Google search results for "Methane Digesters"
I should add a point about methanol: I just heard about a study where they used a certain kind of fast growing willow trees, and in eight years the tree produces an optimal amount of ethanol.
Getting ethanol from corn is not smart -- corn itself is a very high energy crop. It requires a lot of fertilizer, and the yeild is not as good as other crops (as I understand it). Apparently, growing "switch grass" is much better: it requires no fertilizer or pesticides, it is a native plant, and it produces more ethanol per acre than corn, I think. I heard a news report that mentions up to 500 gallons per acre? Which is ~$1,500 per acre -- which is way more money than a farmer can earn with just about anything else!
Besides, the local electric company can lease land from the farmer for windmills -- and he can still farm most of the land, too...from what I hear, they can earn a lot by leasing space for windmills.
Composting waste is as "green" as it gets! In the past, the farmers removed the "night soil" -- and it indeed becomes soil. This is the natural process that is the basis of life as we know it.
The fact that we've messed things up by using chemicals that should not have been used, and given the fact that we introduced the heavy metals, drugs, etc., into the food stream is the problem.
Earth to earth...
There is a recent book that talks about the issues of food production, called "An Omnivore's Dilemma" that includes a discussion of the whole farming fiasco we have gotten ourselves into. I like the quote from Wendell Berry:
"Once plants and animals were raised together on the same farm - which therefore neither produced unmanageable surpluses of manure, to be wasted and to pollute the water supply, nor depended on such quantities of commercial fertilizer. The genius of America farm experts is very well demonstrated here: they can take a solution and divide it neatly into two problems."
Sincerely, Neil
