The Alternative Energy Thread

Tuckerfan · Mar 13, 2022

Allis Chalmers built a fuel cell-powered tractor in 1958.

matthunter · Mar 14, 2022

Tuckerfan said: ↑

Allis Chalmers built a fuel cell-powered tractor in 1958.

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You could haul away a lot of tanks with that.

Tuckerfan · Mar 24, 2022

Tuckerfan · Mar 30, 2022

Thirty-eight percent of the energy generated last year was from green sources.

Vietnamese electric car company to build a factory in North Carolina.

Tuckerfan · Apr 18, 2022

Tuckerfan · Apr 18, 2022

Uncle Albert · Apr 18, 2022

Just end it with the wave of a wand.

Bailey · Apr 19, 2022

Uncle Albert said: ↑

Just end it with the wave of a wand.

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Not what the article says, but thanks for the contribution.

Tuckerfan · Apr 19, 2022

Lithium Sulfer batteries sound promising.

Breakthrough in Cathode Chemistry Clears Path for Lithium-Sulfur Batteries' Commercial Viability

America’s growing demand for electric vehicles (EVs) has shed light on the significant challenge of sustainably sourcing the battery technology necessary for the broad shift to renewable electric and away from fossil fuels. In hopes of making batteries that not only perform better than those currently used in EVs, but also are made from readily available materials, a group of Drexel University chemical engineers have found a way to introduce sulfur into lithium-ion batteries – with astounding results.

With global sales of EVs more than doubling in 2021, prices of battery materials like lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt surged and supply chains for these raw materials, most of which are sourced from other countries, became bottlenecked due to the pandemic. This also focused attention on the primary providers of the raw materials: countries like Congo and China; and raised questions about the human and environmental impact of extracting them from the earth.

Well before the EV surge and battery material shortage, developing a commercially viable sulfur battery has been the battery industry’s sustainable, high-performing white whale. This is because of sulfur’s natural abundance and chemical structure that would allow it to store more energy. A recent breakthrough by researchers in Drexel’s College of Engineering, published in the journal Communications Chemistry, provides a way to sidestep the obstacles that have subdued Li-S batteries in the past, finally pulling the sought-after technology within commercial reach.

Their discovery is a new way of producing and stabilizing a rare form of sulfur that functions in carbonate electrolyte — the energy-transport liquid used in commercial Li-ion batteries. This development would not only make sulfur batteries commercially viable, but they would have three times the capacity of Li-ion batteries and last more than 4,000 recharges – the equivalent of 10 years of use, which is also a substantial improvement.

“Sulfur has been highly desirable for use in batteries for a number of years because it is earth-abundant and can be collected in a way that is safe and environmentally friendly, and as we have now demonstrated, it also has the potential to improve the performance of batteries in electric vehicles and mobile devices in a commercially viable way,” said Drexel’s Vibha Kalra, PhD, George B. Francis Chair professor in the College’s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, who led the research.

The challenge of introducing sulfur into a lithium battery with commercially friendly carbonate electrolyte has been an irreversible chemical reaction between intermediate sulfur products, called polysulfides and the carbonate electrolyte. Because of this adverse reaction, previous attempts to use a sulfur cathode in a battery with a carbonate electrolyte solution resulted in nearly immediate shut down and a complete failure of the battery after just one cycle.

Li-S batteries have already demonstrated exceptional performance in experimental settings using an ether electrolyte — rather than carbonate — because ether does not react with polysulfides. But these batteries would not be commercially viable because the ether electrolyte is highly volatile and has components with a boiling point as low as 42 degrees Celsius, meaning any warming of the battery above room temperature could cause a failure or meltdown.

“In the past decade, the majority of Li-S field adopted ether electrolytes to avoid the adverse reactions with carbonate,” Kalra said. “Then over the years, the researchers deep-dived into enhancing performances in ether-based sulfur batteries by mitigating what is known as polysulfide shuttle/diffusion — but the field completely overlooked the fact that the ether electrolyte itself is a problem. In our work, the primary objective was to replace ether with carbonate, but in doing so we also eliminated polysulfides, which also meant no shuttling, so the battery could perform exceptionally well through thousands of cycles.”
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More at the link.

Tuckerfan · Apr 22, 2022

Hydrogen-powered ferry prepares to launch in San Francisco Bay

Aptly named Sea Change, the 70-foot (21-meter), 75-passenger ferry will service multiple stops along San Francisco's waterfront. It was built at All American Marine shipyard in Bellingham, Washington, and was undergoing tests with the U.S. Coast Guard in nearby Puget Sound.

"We're here in the water, under hydrogen fuel cell power and it's the first commercial vessel in the world that's got that propulsion system," said Pace Ralli, chief executive of Switch Maritime, standing on the bow of the ferry in Bellingham Bay.

Sea Change marks another industry exploring fuel cells as clean-energy cars, trucks, trains and pleasure boats are being developed.

Advocates assert hydrogen fuel cells are cleaner than other carbon-cutting methods as they only emit water and heat, but the high cost and bulky fuel cell systems have limited the use of the technology.
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More at the link.

Tuckerfan · Apr 26, 2022

The Hybrid 2023 Genesis G90 Will Get Worse Fuel Mileage Than The Non-Hybrid G90

Tuckerfan · May 4, 2022

Tuckerfan · May 19, 2022

California probably needs to start building a bunch of these very soon.

Floating solar farms could be worth $10 billion by 2030, but they have a dirty secret

Ever since the first solar power plant was built in the 1960s, solar arrays have become a familiar sight on mountains, in deserts, and even on rooftops. But in the past decade, a new breed of solar farms has been cropping up in large bodies of water.

Known as floating solar farms, these installations are about 10% to 15% more expensive than traditional farms, but they’re full of perks: They don’t use up any land; they’re up to 16% more efficient because the water helps keep them cool; and, when installed on hydroelectric dams, they help limit evaporation, saving more water for hydropower.

Still, they have a dirty secret: The panels sit on thousands of floating modules made of virgin plastic.
This isn’t the case with Alqueva, a new floating solar farm taking shape in southern Portugal. But let’s back up a little. Floating farms work just like land-based solar farms; however, instead of being mounted on metal racks, the panels are attached to hollow plastic buoys anchored to the bottom of a lake, dam, or water reservoir.

Typically, these buoys are made of virgin plastic, which requires natural gas or crude oil to produce. But in Alqueva, the panels sit on thousands of floaters made from recycled plastic and cork. The composite material was developed by Amorim, a cork-processing group that has used cork composites as a thermal isolator for NASA space shuttles. At Alqueva, it has reduced the farm’s carbon footprint by 30%.

In 2021, the global floating solar market was valued at $2.5 billion. It’s estimated to surpass $10 billion by 2030. In 2020 alone, there were more than 300 floating solar farms, all of which used virgin HDPE, the kind of plastic found in milk jugs, detergent, and shampoo bottles. HDPE is highly durable and lightweight, and doesn’t absorb moisture easily, all of which makes it a perfect contender for a material designed to float on water for decades. And yes, it can be recycled. But research shows that recycling won’t solve the problem of plastic pollution.

That’s where Alqueva comes in. The floating solar farm was developed by EDP, a Portuguese utility company that also built Portugal’s first floating wind farm. When Alqueva officially kicks into gear at the end of June, EDP estimates it will generate enough energy to supply 30% of the homes in the region, or about 1,500 families. With 12,000 panels covering the equivalent of four soccer fields, it’s set to become the biggest floating solar farm on a hydrodam in Europe.

All of those panels are sitting on a floating network of modules connected to one another like puzzle pieces. Like other floating farms, these modules were designed to last at least 30 years. But unlike other farms, when it’s time to replace them, no gas or oil will be used to produce the new set of modules (provided, of course, they’re replaced with another set made of cork and recycled plastic).
According to Miguel Patena, a group director at EDP who’s in charge of the solar farm, this is the first time the material is being used for this kind of application. The exact formula remains a secret for now.

Considering the U.S. has just set out to build the country’s biggest floating solar farm, in New Jersey, a more sustainable alternative to virgin plastic floaters couldn’t come any sooner.
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Tuckerfan · Jun 9, 2022

The term "battery" is a bit of a misnomer, I think.

The world's carbon dioxide battery is here and needs only steel and water

The island of Sardinia in Italy is known as a world-famous tourist destination. It will now also be known as the home of the world's first carbon-dioxide battery launched by a startup, Energy Dome, Electrek reported.

The role of carbon dioxide in heating up the planet is well acknowledged. While countries are making efforts to curb their carbon emissions, there is also the need to trap carbon dioxide that is currently being released to ensure that the planet's temperature increases remain under control.

To achieve this, many are looking to capture carbon directly from the atmosphere and store it. However, Energy Dome plans to use the gas for energy storage. The best part is that the method is highly scalable and uses off-the-shelf products, a company press release claims.

How does the technology work?
Energy Dome's energy storage solution isn't pretty to look at it, but the technology that makes it work is pretty fascinating. The company uses carbon dioxide gas since it can be condensed and stored as a liquid at room temperatures.

As the company's founder and CEO Claudio Spandicini explained to Bloomberg in an interview last month, carbon dioxide at normal temperature and pressure (stored in a massive dome) is compressed to convert it into its liquid form. The heat generated during this process is then stored. This is the charging process and can be used to store incoming energy from a renewable energy source such as wind or solar.

When power needs to be supplied, the stored heat is used to heat up the liquid carbon dioxide, which turns into a gas that is then pushed through a turbine to generate electricity.

The entire process is a closed-loop system, where no carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. What's even better, the technology does not use any rare-earth elements like lithium or cobalt but uses only steel and water. It can therefore be implemented anywhere and everywhere.

Rapid scaling possible
Energy Dome began operations in February of 2020 and, in a short time span, has managed to go from a concept to megawatt-scale testing. The company attributes its success to its team of experts that have a proven record in turbomachinery, process engineering, and energy, as well as a novel industrial process that integrates components efficiently, the press release said.

The company is confident that its technology can not only be deployed anywhere on the planet but also at less than half the cost associated with a lithium-ion battery storage facility of a similar capacity. The Sardinia battery is also a demonstration that CO2 batteries can be deployed using existing supply chains without any major bottlenecks.

While the press release does not reveal the storage capacity of the recently launched battery, it does mention that the company is now working on a 20-200 MWh full-scale plant that is expected to be operational by the end of 2023.
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Tuckerfan · Jul 1, 2022

Scientists make jet fuel from soil bacteria.

Freeing the global economy from its dependence on petroleum is necessary to slow the pace of climate change. Advances in agriculture and biotechnology have enabled large-scale production of ethanol and biodiesel, both of which are viable replacements for some fossil fuels. The biofuels available today, in combination with increasing electric vehicle adoption and a decarbonization of the electric grid, are central to reducing petroleum demand and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in light-duty transportation. By 2030, light-duty EVs will represent a projected 8%–14% of the global light vehicle fleet and 17%–33% of new vehicle sales.1 Despite these advances, replacing fossil fuels in applications that are more difficult to electrify such as long-haul terrestrial, maritime, and aerial cargo transport; heavy-duty machinery; transatlantic aviation; and rocketry is still challenging. These applications require high power and energy-to-weight ratios and, as a result, rely on energy-dense fuels.

The military and commercial aerospace sectors rely on petroleum distillates rich in cyclic and branched alkanes,2 such as Jet-A (aviation), RP1 (rocketry), and synthetic polymers with high energy density such as hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB, rocketry). Marine transport of cargo relies on bunker fuel, which comprise heavier fractions (residual) produced through the distillation of petroleum and emits substantial NOx, SOx, and particulate matter to the atmosphere when combusted.3

Shipping is responsible for 1 billion tons of CO2 and GHGs per year, accounting for around 3% of global emissions,4 whereas aviation accounted for 2% with 915 million tons of CO2 in 2019.5,6 As climate impacts of light-duty transportation and electricity decline, these difficult-to-decarbonize sectors will increase as a share of global emissions in the next three decades. No reliable data are available for rocketry, a largely unregulated sector whose impact is considered insignificant. However, the current growth of the sector, including an increase in space tourism and other private-sector activities, puts it on a trajectory of inevitable collision with the objectives of climate change policy.7 Given this outlook, new sustainable alternatives for high energy-demanding sectors are urgently needed.

In cyclic alkanes such as those used in aerospace applications, where the C–C bonds form angles other than 109.5°, the straining of the bonds causes an increase in the fuels’ net heat of combustion. Angle strain has been used for production of tactical fuels with high energy density such as the bioderived pinene dimers and the synthetic JP-10 and RJ-5, all of them bearing strained ring systems.8,9 The highest tension and heat of combustion possible is found in cyclopropanes (CPs), which have 60° bond angles. This property was exploited in Syntin, a synthetic fuel developed during the Soviet era for the 11D58M engine originally designed for kerosene/oxygen as fuel and oxidant, respectively. Syntin/oxygen was successfully used in the upper stages of the Soyuz and Proton rockets. Syntin allowed for a 3% increase in impulse equivalent to 200 kg in payload.10, 11, 12 However, organic synthesis of Syntin and polycyclopropanated (POP) compounds in general is challenging, costly, and involves toxic and hazardous intermediates derived from petroleum,13,14 making them a non-viable option for fuel production. Nevertheless, the performance of Syntin demonstrates that incorporation of multiple CP rings into hydrocarbon fuels can yield high energy density. In fact, recent work on catalytic cyclopropanation of bioderived terpenes has led to excellent candidates for high-performance jet fuel blend stocks or specialized rocket propellant.15

In this work, we designed POP molecules that can be used as high energy fuels. We explored the chemical diversity of microorganisms to identify and repurpose naturally occurring cyclopropanated molecules. To date, only two naturally occurring molecules are known to include multiple sequential CP rings (Figure 1), namely the antifungal FR-900848 also known as jawsamycin16 produced by Streptomyces roseoverticillatus and the cholesteryl transfer protein inhibitor U-106305, produced by Streptomyces U-11136.17 The biosynthetic pathway for jawsamycin has been elucidated18,19 and involves a highly unusual iterative polyketide synthase (iPKS) that forms an olefin in each catalytic cycle, which in turn can be modified by an S-adenosyl-methionine (SAM)-dependent cyclopropanase (CP) to form a CP ring, leading to a POP acyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) intermediate that is later tailored into the final product.
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More at the link.

Tuckerfan · Jul 26, 2022

50,000-year-old meteorite could revolutionize electronics and fast-charging

Tuckerfan · Aug 14, 2022

Steam car built in the '70s met 1999 emission standards.

Tuckerfan · Dec 8, 2022

Renewable Energy Set to Overtake Coal Power Globally by 2025

Tuckerfan · Dec 22, 2022

Porsche Filled a 911 With Gas Made from Water

Bickendan · Dec 23, 2022

"Mom, do I have to drink this soda water?"
"Sigh, no honey. Pour it in the gas tank."

We Are Borg · Dec 23, 2022

Tuckerfan said: ↑

Porsche Filled a 911 With Gas Made from Water
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I literally just finished reading Paradox Bound, a novel by Peter Clines that's about time travel. The car they use runs on water. Why? Because where are you going to find refined petrol in the 19th century?

BTW, good book.

Steal Your Face · Dec 23, 2022

Wasn’t there a guy in the 70s who claimed to have built an engine that ran on water?

tafkats · Dec 24, 2022

Tuckerfan said: ↑

Porsche Filled a 911 With Gas Made from Water
Click to expand...

Cue the oil company stooges coming up with memes and cartoons angrily insisting that anyone who uses this kind of gas instead of the other kind of gas is a wimp ...

Tuckerfan · Jan 6, 2023

Sony and Honda unveil AFEELA, their joint electric car brand at CES 2023

They should have gone with Utopian Turtletop.

Bickendan · Jan 7, 2023

Looks nicer than a Tesla at least

Tuckerfan · Feb 4, 2023

Nissan Claims It's on Track to Sell Solid-State Batteries in 2028

Tuckerfan · Feb 15, 2023

Potential Battery Issue Halts Ford F-150 Lightning Production

Tuckerfan · Feb 17, 2023

Spicy jet fuel!

Chinese Startup Turns Leftover Hot Pot Oil into Jet Fuel

Tuckerfan · Feb 25, 2023

Listen to the Electric Dodge Charger Daytona Banshee's New 'Exhaust' Sound

Tuckerfan · Feb 27, 2023

The states with the highest growth in green energy might surprise you.

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...nergy-wind-solar-power?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

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