Carsten Beier from the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT in Oberhausen, Germany does not believe that “anyone would burn a 50-dollar bill just to keep warm. It’s obvious that it simply is too valuable for that.” But, in contrast to dollar bills, most energy carriers are all too frequently burned for less than they are worth. Take wood, for example. Beier and his colleagues have analyzed the efficiency of heat supply systems and he explains that “wood is a high-quality fuel that can be compared to natural gas. With adequate technologies we could utilize it for power generation. As a fuel, there’s a lot more in wood that we are taking advantage of at the moment.”

Beyond this, the researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology have come up with a model for comparing various systems and technologies in heat supply ranging from heating boilers for single-family dwellings right down to district heating networks for whole cities. They apply exergy as a criterion of analysis which is a thermodynamic parameter defined by the quantity and quality of an energy. In contrast to the CO2 balance sheet and primary energy consumption, the exergy analysis indicates whether we are sufficiently taking advantage of the potential lying dormant in the energies we use. Carsten Beier has come to the conclusion that “if we used fuels such as natural gas or wood for power generation and only use the waste heat for heating, we would be able to save large quantities of primary energy and avoid generating CO2 emissions.”

Cogeneration plants are taking advantage of these potentials. While large-scale power plants lose an average of 60 percent of the energy as waste heat through the cooling tower, cogeneration plants use this flow of heat for heating purposes, which means that they achieve overall efficiency of more than 80 percent. The researchers distinguished four categories of heat generation in their analyses: burning, cogeneration and using heat pumps or waste heat from industrial processes. Comparing these categories, using waste heat was particularly good in connection with heat networks. That said, it also became apparent that the way drinking water was heated was a key factor in exergy efficiency. Beier reveals that “even heating a room with waste heat has a poor overall exergy balance sheet if the service water for the household is electrically heated.”

Researchers derived one basic recommendation from their comparison of systems and technologies. Beier demands “we should take advantage of all sources of heat whose temperature level corresponds to our heating requirements.” And we could take advantage of the fact that there are a whole series of applications where heat is needed at different temperature levels. Beier explains how. “Any type of cascade is very efficient. For instance, if you use fuel for power generation first, then the waste heat for water heating and finally the remaining heat for space heating.” He confesses that there might be discussions on the economic efficiency of these scenarios, especially because the initial investments are rather high. “But, on the other hand, it is essential to restructure our energy system quickly and an exergy analysis is an excellent tool for identifying how power supply should be designed in future.”

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (2010, December 19). Which methods of heating are most efficient?. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 19, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2010/12/101213121706.htm

heating is such an interesting topic and there are so many different ways to look at it. If there are any other areas you are not sure about, please have a look at some of the other articles on our website - we do a lot of research to make sure we present our readers with everything there is to know.

The Original Post is Located Here: Which Methods of Heating Are Most Efficient?

Future of Electric Cars? Running Fuel Cells on Biodiesel

A smart diesel reformer and a tolerant fuel cell are the core components of a new type of electric power supply unit. Environmentally friendly and flexible, the unit could be a serious contender in the market for generators in electric vehicles and other applications.

The power supply unit can run on biodiesel as well as regular diesel.

This combination of two advanced technologies is now undergoing testing, thanks to funding under the Research Council’s RENERGI programme. In trials, a 200-W solid-acid fuel cell ran on both pure hydrogen and on hydrogen produced from diesel by the unit’s reformer — with only an insignificant difference in performance.

Low CO2 emissions

The reformer converts hydrocarbons into hydrogen, CO2 and heat. Due to the unit’s high efficiency, CO2 emissions are substantially lower than in conventional combustion engines, and no other demonstrable exhaust is discharged — meaning that diesel particulates, black carbon soot, nitrous oxide (NOx) and carbon monoxide (CO) are elimi¬nated. An added plus is that the reformer emits no smoke or odour.

The silent electric generator is being developed and produced by the Norwegian company Nordic Power Systems (NPS). The California firm SAFCell Inc. is developing and will deliver the new type of fuel cell. Also on the team is the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Dag Øvrebø, Technical Director of NPS, has many years’ experience with fuel cells and has been working closely with Caltech on this new technologyGerman conversion technology

It all began in Germany. In 2006 the NPS founders came across an interesting conversion technology developed at RWTH Aachen University in the late 1990s. NPS acquired the licensing rights, envisioning a clear market potential for an electric power supply unit based on a fuel cell that is not dependent on hydrogen filling stations, and that can run on regular, easily available fuel without surrendering the environmental benefits of fuel cells.

In 2009 NPS secured usage rights to the new US solid-acid technology for use with various fuel types such as diesel and biofuels.

Tor-Geir Engebretsen, Managing Director and co-founder of NPS, is very pleased with this summer’s tests. “Now we have demonstrated that the solid-acid technology works. The next step is to test a larger unit of 1 200 W.”

Armed Forces first user

Engebretsen points out that since the technology is scalable, it is well suited for future generators in electric vehicles. But NPS is taking the development in stages. The company’s first market is power supply for the defence industry; NPS has a technology development agreement with the Royal Norwegian Armed Forces. In addition, NPS has a product development agreement with Marshall Land Systems, of the UK, with the aim of supplying silent-running generators for the British Armed Forces.

If all goes according to plan, the unit being developed with Marshall will be ready for market launch by mid-2011, while the solid-acid fuel cell will be phased in somewhat later. An assembly plant in Høyanger, Norway, is scheduled to open in early 2012 with Industrial Development Corporation of Norway (SIVA) as contractor.

Nordic Power Systems (NPS)

NPS currently has seven employees in Norway, and six in the USA through a contract with SAFCell in California.

• So far NOK 50 million has been spent on development and market preparations.
• Financing has come from a score of private investors and from: o Research Council of Norway o Innovation Norway o Royal Norwegian Armed Forces o Høyanger Næringsutvikling AS

The project

• Name: Development of cutting-edge fuel cell technology, integration and testing of NPS’ proprietary fuel cell generator for industrialisation in Norway
• Project manager: Nordic Power Systems/Dag Øvrebø
• Partners: SAFCell, Caltech, Nordic Power Systems
• Overall budget: NOK 11.8 million. Funding under the RENERGI programme: NOK 5.9 million

The Research Council of Norway (2010, October 12). Future of electric cars? Running fuel cells on biodiesel. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 10, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2010/10/101011090143.htm

You can never have too much information about such an important issue. Do you agree? Are you feeling better informed about fuel cells? When all around you are scratching their heads, it’s a great feeling to have clear vision and know which direction you are heading.

The Original Post is Located Here: Future of Electric Cars? Running Fuel Cells on Biodiesel

Prof. Hans Werner Sinn, President of Ifo Institute for Economic Research, The DB Doran Lecture on Population, Resources and Development 4 May 2010 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Faculty of Social Sciences, Is it really a wise and ethically acceptable strategy to burn food rather than eat it? This is one the key questions addressed by Prof. Hans Werner Sinn, President of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research, who spoke at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on ‘Table or Tank: The Rivalry between Biofuels, Fossil Fuels and Nutrition’. Oil pressed from rapeseed can be used as diesel fuel, and maize or sugar beets can yield ethanol to replace gasoline. The UN and many countries officially share the view that bio-fuel is one option in fighting climate change. The Kyoto Protocol allows countries to meet their target reductions of CO2 emissions by substituting bio-fuels for fossil fuels. However, Prof. Sinn says, ”If we allow food to be used to produce bio-fuels, food prices will be linked to the oil price. Indeed, food prices are currently increasing in Europe, because more and more farmland is being used for bio-fuels instead of for food production. This is not sustainable” ”The problem is that advocates of reducing the greenhouse effect by promoting bio-fuels production have not made clear where the land will come from.” This, explains, Prof. Sinn, means that taking land for the production of bio-fuels from forests means speeding up global warming, because bio-fuel …

The Original Post is Located Here: Table or Tank: The Rivalry between Biofuels, Fossil Fuels and Nutrition

Hybrid vehicles that are even more efficient. (Credit: Image courtesy of Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya)

One of the controllable causes of global warming is carbon dioxide (CO2) emission from burning fossil fuels. This process is precisely what enables most cars to function by means of combustion engines. In recent years, some companies in the automobile sector have brought out models that combine a standard combustion engine with an electric one. These are known as hybrids, and they produce less pollution. In his final thesis, Toni Font, who recently graduated from the ETSEIB, proposed a way to make these vehicles more efficient.

The proposal is based on one of the problems of conventional vehicles: the loss of kinetic energy during braking. This waste of energy leads to very high fuel consumption and, consequently, to an increase in CO2 emissions. Under the supervision of Ramon Costa, lecturer at the Department of Automatic Control (ESAII), Toni Font has focused on solving this problem. According to Ramon Costa, “The project modifies the structure of conventional cars to introduce elements that help to recover lost energy and reinject it into the system. It is made up of two parts: one related to hardware components, and one to software components”.

The study proposes the installation of a supercapacitor battery and the creation of software to coordinate and manage the new elements. The supercapacitators facilitate the work of the battery, as they prevent current peaks that can diminish performance and transfer the remaining energy. The software envisages four operational modes for the vehicle, which depend on the propulsion system. As the most suitable motor is activated for the type of driving, this technology brings about energy savings and reduces CO2 emissions. In a standard driving cycle, the modifications lead to up to 67% less fuel consumption and up to 63% less energy consumption than a conventional vehicle of the same size with no hybrid components. In addition, it uses 55% less energy than a standard hybrid vehicle.

Energy and transport management
With respect to the applications of his work, Toni Font explained that, “It could be used in sectors related to energy generation and management that aim to work in the most sustainable and efficient way possible. It could also be applied to the areas of the transport sector that use petrol and diesel motors”.

As a result of this research, Toni Font has received one of the six research grants that Ferrari will award in 2009, in the category of CO2 emissions reduction. The ETSEIB student is the only Spaniard to participate in the programme, which is funded by the Maranello-based company.

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. “Hybrid Vehicles That Are Even More Efficient.” ScienceDaily

The Original Post is Located Here: Hybrid Vehicles That Are Even More Efficient