Sunlight to Petrol January 6, 2008
Posted by Cobus in Energy, Environment, Future, Science, Technology.add a comment
As the quest for finding alternative sources of energy and ways to combat global warming mounts, a research team from Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico is building a prototype device intended to chemically “reenergise” carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide using concentrated solar energy to reverse combustion.
The carbon monoxide could then be used to make hydrogen or serve as a building block to synthesise a liquid combustible fuel, such as methanol or even gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
The prototype device, called the Counter Rotating Ring Receiver Reactor Recuperator (CR5, for short), will break a carbon-oxygen bond in the carbon dioxide to form carbon monoxide and oxygen in two distinct steps. It is a major piece of an approach to converting carbon dioxide into fuel from sunlight.
The Sandia scientists calls this approach “Sunshine to Petrol” (S2P). “Liquid Solar Fuel” is the end product — the methanol, gasoline, or other liquid fuel made from water and the carbon monoxide produced using solar energy.
Laboratory experiments have proved that the process works, and they hope to finish the prototype by April. Although the ideas are not economically viable yet and 15 to 20 years from viability on an industrial scale, it is a project of great significance, contributory in the proactive sense, to major challenges facing life on our planet.
Sources:
(1) http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/01/S2P
(2) http://www.sandia.gov/news/resources/releases/2007/sunshine.html
Petrol price? What petrol price? December 14, 2007
Posted by Cobus in Energy, Technology.add a comment
Petrol price? What petrol price? Well if you drive a Tesla Roadster you could be that ignorant. Why? Because the Tesla Roadster doesn’t need fuel… it’s an electric vehicle!
Your fist thought might be: “Bah!, an electric car”… Electric cars have terrible range and embarrassing styling… They have been tried and failed.”
Well, Tesla’s manufacturers’ reply to that is:
Of course electric cars won‘t catch on if no one actually wants to drive them. We needed to change perceptions of electric vehicles in a big way. To make electric cars a viable alternative, we set out to build one that was gorgeous and thrilling to drive.
Their first car, the Tesla Roadster, isn‘t a pipedream or a plan; this car exists now. It‘s a no-compromise driver‘s car that does 0 to 100 km/h in 4 seconds and a top speed of 200km/h. With a range of about 390 km’s on a single charge, you can use it all day long and not worry you‘ll run out of juice. Just plug it in at night the same way you drop your cell phone into its charger, and sleep well.
However, to get your hands on one will require a big cheque book… the Tesla Roadster‘s sticker price is in a league with other high-performance sports cars with similar specs, and as such out of reach for a lot of people. Tesla Motors consciously chose to develop a high-end sports car as their first car in order to develop the “performance DNA” from which they could create other electric vehicles. their next model will leverage the Tesla Roadster‘s technology, resulting in a less expensive sports sedan that they can sell at higher volume.
Click on the image below to visit their website for the technology and specs.
