MeanGene Rants 6
October 2002
How Do They
Work? And Test Drive With Phil McKenna
Biodiesel Eats Your Gaskets!
Cool Stuff
·
Portable
solar power systems, backpacks, small panels with wheels. http://www.solar-dynamics.com
·
An
airplane to fly on batterty power. http://boston.com/dailyglobe2/257/metro/Electric_powered_airplane_is_model_of_efficiency+.shtml
·
Fuel
cells aren't just for your car. Here's one for your PDA. But will they allow it
on an airplane? http://www.idg.net/ic_933140_5056_1-2792.html
Eric
Ladner who is "fresh off a 4 year stint designing diesel engines in
Europe" says of Biodiesel ... "Don't forget to mention that it eats
up all the elastomers (gasket, seals, etc.) in the engine and fuel pump and
breaks down your oil so your your engine wears faster - along with a host of
other complications it can cause. That's not to say that elastomers and oils
can't be developed to deal with biodiesels. But that will take time."
Mean Gene replies ... how about running your
car on used vegetable oil? http://www.greasel.com/
This could turn McDonalds into the next ExxonMobileTexacoChevronThingy and
think of how many dogs would follow your car around.
A couple
months ago you (might have) read here that the US uses 2% of its electrical
power for office equipment including computers. That's 65,000,000,000,000 Watt
hours. One of two teams at Los Alamos who are developing new supercomputers
believes that lower power consumption is going to be more important than high
speed crunching. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/25/science/physical/25COMP.html
Apparently,
some in the market are thinking the same thing.
"Eric
Schmidt, the computer scientist who is chief executive of Google, told a
gathering of chip designers at Stanford last month that the computer world
might now be headed in a new direction. In his vision of the future, small and
inexpensive processors will act as Lego-style building blocks for a new class
of vast data centers, which will increasingly displace the old-style mainframe
and server computing of the 1980's and 90's."
"It
turns out, Dr. Schmidt told the audience, that what matters most to the
computer designers at Google is not speed but power - low power, because data
centers can consume as much electricity as a city."
So add
too much power consumption to the growing list of why no ones wants Intel's new
Itanium chips. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/29/technology/circuits/29CHIP.html
First
there were going to be Electric Vehicles which ran off batteries. Despite the
crazy guy trying to make the battery powered airplane above, and despite this
ridiculous battery powered car that has eight wheels and does 180 MPH
(http://web.sfc.keio.ac.jp/~hiros/kaz/) you can safely assume that battery
powered cars are dead. After $123 million, Ford has thrown in the towel on
their EV's. http://www.evworld.com/databases/shownews.cfm?pageid=news300802-07
We now
have hybrid gas-electric cars, many of which are sold at a loss, except, as
reported here previously, Toyota is making money on theirs and may start
selling them to other car manufacturers.
But of
course, the next big thing could be a really different thing. Fuel cell cars.
GM has
taken the opportunity to really rethink the car in light of fuel cells. Modular
car bodies on top of a standard platform that looks like a giant skateboard
with "by-wire" technology. Check it out. (And if anyone can explain
what by-wire technology is, that would be cool.) http://www.gm.com/company/gmability/environment/products/fuel_cells/hywire_081402.html
Normally
here at Mean Gene we like to tell you how things work. But this page has done
it so well and has such a cool animated graphic that we let it speak for us.
Animated chemistry! http://www.howstuffworks.com/fuel-cell2.htm.
(Be sure to click "close" in the second image, this may seem counter
intuitive but pressing "close" is how you get to see the animation.)
They also discuss the efficiency of fuel-cells versus gasoline. http://www.howstuffworks.com/fuel-cell4.htm
Instead,
guest columnist Phil (are we indulging in nepotism?) McKenna tells about the
day fuel cell cars came to Cal State University at Monterey Bay.
By Phil McKenna
As the
women's soccer team arrived at the Otter Soccer Complex for practice last
Wednesday they found their parking lot transformed into a fuel cell test drive
station.
"Fuel
cell, what's that?" asked one athlete as the prototypes drove by.
"Solar
cars" answered another.
"Oh,
that's great! If it's raining I guess you just stay home, huh?" They
snickered.
The
curiosity in, and misunderstanding of, hydrogen fuel cells, the latest in
zero-emissions automotive technology, is common. Such misunderstanding is
partly why California Fuel Cell Partnership recently hosted the CSUMB fuel cell
vehicle ride and drive.
On Sept.
4 at the soccer field parking lot CSUMB students test-drove the latest fuel
cell vehicle prototypes from eight international automobile manufacturers.
The
public ride and drive, the first such event for fuel cell cars in Monterey
County, was part of the 300-mile California Coast 2002 Road Rally from Monterey
to Santa Barbara. The event was organized by California Fuel Cell Partnership,
a consortium of automobile manufacturers, fuel providers, fuel cell technology
companies and government agencies.
The
shiny SUVs, minivans and sedans seen racing around the Wellness Activity Center
were hydrogen-powered electric fuel cell vehicles. A fuel cell is an electrochemical
device that produces electricity efficiently, silently and without combustion.
(Again, that cool url http://www.howstuffworks.com/fuel-cell2.htm)
Fuel
cells combine hydrogen with atmospheric oxygen to produce electrical energy.
Hydrogen fuel can be obtained from water, natural gas, methanol or other
petroleum products.
The
technology has been around for more than 100 years. In 1839 Sir William Grove,
British physicist, barrister, knight and "Father of the Fuel Cell,"
first generated electricity from hydrogen molecules found in a glass of water.
By the 1950s NASA was building compact fuel cell generators for use on space
missions.
Methods
of hydrogen conversion, however, have historically been too inefficient to make
fuel cell cars cost effective. "In reality we're still at that
stage," said Michael Coates, vice president of Green Car Marketing and
Communications. "In the last ten years," however "there have
been a lot of advances in bringing fuel cells into a more compact and commercially
viable form."
At the
CSUMB ride and drive representatives from Toyota, Honda, DaimlerChrysler, Ford,
Nissan, Hyundai, General Motors, and Volkswagen demoed their latest prototypes.
Students
and the general public could ride in any of the cars as the automaker representatives
drove a short circuit of hills and turns around campus. DaimlerChrysler and
Honda also offered test drives to anyone willing to stand in line long enough
for a chance to get behind the wheel.
Alex
Hofmann, co-founder of CSUMB's Sustainable Energy Club waited patiently to test
drive the Honda FCX. "I've been really interested in hydrogen fuel cells
for quite a while," Hofmann said.
The FCX
was brought to the United States from Japan last fall. It is Honda's
fourth-generation fuel cell vehicle. With a range of 220 miles and a maximum
speed of 93 mph, the FCX's performance rivals that of traditional gas-powered
vehicles.
"I
thought it was going to be really sloppy and slow," Hofmann said of the
FCX after his test drive. "It turned out to be a reasonable vehicle. It
was quite a bit more powerful than the first three Honda Accords I owned."
Gretchen
Castner, a third-year ESSP major, test-drove DaimlerChrysler's Necar.
"It's just like driving a regular car." Castner said of the leather
interior retrofitted Mercedes-Benz. "It rides real nice and is a lot
quieter [than gas-powered cars]," added Castner. Today's Necar wasn't the
first electric car Castner has test-driven. Her father used to work for
California Environmental Protection Agency's Air Resources Board and would
often bring electric vehicles home from the office.
"I
learned a lot about electric cars from my father. A lot of people don't realize
how important these vehicles are. It's really nice that they are actually out
here letting you drive," said Castner, who anxiously awaits the day she
can buy her own fuel cell vehicle.
It may
be a while, however, before Castner's wish is realized. While prototypes are
ready to test drive, the hydrogen fuel infrastructure to support these vehicles
is lagging. Hydrogen stations cost $450,000 per pump to install. Fuel providers
are reluctant to invest in a product with no existing market. For the drive to
Santa Barbara, the California Coast Road Rally will transport its own hydrogen
supply.
President
Bush seems to have jumped on the fuel cell bandwagon. He recently announced a
program called Freedom Cooperative Automotive Research, or FreedomCAR, which
includes $150 million in subsidies for fuel cell research.
"[the
FreedomCAR Program] gets a lot of media hype," said David Freedman,
engineer and senior analyst for the Union of Concerned Scientists, "but
the funding has yet to show itself as a true fuel cell program. There is some
money going towards infrastructure, but it is pretty small." Freedman and
the Union of Concerned Scientists call instead for a 10-year $5.5 billion
federal subsidy for fuel cell vehicles and infrastructure.
While
infrastructure lags, another roadblock for full-scale fuel cell production
comes from within the automotive industry.
As the
Fuel Cell Partnership prepared to drive its eco-friendly vehicles down Highway
1, partner members General Motors and DaimlerChrysler spent the summer fighting
for, and winning, a court injunction against California's
zero-emissions-vehicle mandate.
Without
subsidies, the federal government "sends a mixed message to the industry.
It really doesn't give them an incentive to move forward," said Freedman.
While
fuel cell vehicles may not enter full-scale production anytime soon, slow and
steady progress is being made. Hydrogen stations have opened in Sacramento and
Los Angeles. A third station will open this fall in the East Bay. Honda and
Toyota will lease the first fuel cell vehicles on the commercial market by the
end of the year.
As
soccer practice ended a lone cyclist rode past the parking lot. The bicyclist
ducked behind DaimlerChrysler's Necar as it wound through campus. Drafting
close behind the vehicle, he followed the minivan as it started to climb a
steep hill.
A plume
of exhaust spat from the minivan. The cyclist instinctively took a final gasp
of fresh air and prepared for the inevitable onslaught of toxic emissions that
would soon engulf him. Instead, a mist of clean water blew across his face.
The mist
across the bicyclist's face, like the day's ride and drive, offered a glimpse,
however ephemeral, of refreshing changes to come.