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CONVENIENT MYTHS
the
green revolution —
perceptions, politics, and
facts |
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by Klaus L.E. Kaiser, is the first clearly written, comprehensive
book looking at the green desires and expectations and juxtaposing
these with the physical and chemical facts and realities.
CONVENIENT MYTHS explains in common terms why many of these
green ideas will remain myths and dreams. The laws of nature cannot
be broken. No matter how much we may desire the opposite.
Keywords / Chapters:
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Climate change, global warming, IPCC, government, media, propaganda, deficit, inflation, earthquakes, volcanos,
pollution, ice ages, greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, sea ice, Arctic, polar bears, seals, whales,
energy, temperature, cod, salmon, El Nino, hurricanes, typhoons, earth, freshwater, deforestation, physics, chemistry, biology,
freshwater, aquifers, desalination, disinfection, fluoridation, air, ozone, smog, acid rain, crude oil, coal, natural gas, electric power,
electric cars, fossil fuels, natural gas, nuclear, geothermal, heat pump, wave power, osmosis, wind, solar energy, biofuels, ethanol, engine,
hybrid, hydrogen, light, food, organic, genetically modified, fish, contaminants, sun, radiation, light, X-rays,
weather, droughts, floods, diseases, longevity, cancer, Alzheimer's, malaria, progress |
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Book Excerpts
Engines
You may recall, about 10 years ago, hydrogen-fuelled cars were to solve all our driving needs. They were supposed to be in car dealers' showrooms by 2001,
ready "to drive away." Well, it did not happen, and lately, who has heard of hydrogen?
We are on to better things now, such as the "electric car." Or is this another futile concept?
There are many people who wholeheartedly believe statements like "Successful application of new technologies such as fuel cells or electric vehicles will be the
replacement of the current automotive fleets." This perception drives much of the current interest in hybrid and electric cars, both by manufacturers and consumers.
One of the reasons why we like to think that electric cars will be the future seems to be the underlying assumption that electricity "is free" (or at least nearly so).
And, with "free" renewable electricity from wind power or photovoltaic cells, our new "smart [electricity] meters" will allow us to recharge any electric car
battery "at the cost of a few pennies." Of course, at night winds are commonly diminished and the sun rarely shines.
Unfortunately, the energy required to move a car is simply orders of magnitude higher than what a typical household needs to run a few lights and small appliances,
roughly 1 kW during part of the day. Very roughly again, one kW is close to one horsepower. So, if you drive a 150 hp car, you may use the equivalent of a 100-plus
households' electricity needs.
Of course, to "fill up" your car with the equivalent of, say 50 L of gasoline, you would also need approximately 500 kWh of electricity. Even at an "off-peak hour"
rate of 3 c/kWh (proposed for Ontario), that is still $15, not just a few pennies.
Why else then does the electric car seem so appealing? In part, it seems to be the thought that it is cleaner, or "greener," i.e. has a smaller greenhouse gas (GHG),
i.e. carbon dioxide footprint. This is only true if the electricity to charge it is generated from sources other than fossil fuels (in North America presently about 50%).
In terms of CO2 emission, it makes no difference whether hydrocarbons are burned in an internal combustion engine, or in a (yet to be developed) fuel cell, or in a
fossil-fuel-powered electricity generation station, the end products are the same, namely identical amounts of carbon dioxide and water.
Storing the electricity in a car is the really steep hurdle. You can see it in the battery costs: for a laptop computer, the cost of the battery alone is about $100,
for a hybrid car $5,000, and for a full battery-powered car, such as the Tesla, close to $100,000. Such batteries also suffer from premature fatigue, loss of power
on storage, and barely work at temperatures below freezing. In contrast, a car's gasoline tank is about $200. Solely from an energy storage cost perspective, gasoline
is orders of magnitudes ahead.
The present (and foreseeable) storage capacity of even the best lithium ion batteries (0.5 MJ/kg) or the (yet to be commercially produced) super capacitors (1.2 MJ/kg)
are only about 1/40th of that of an equal weight of common gasoline (48 MJ/kg). In other words, you would need a capacitor weight of about 1600 kg to store the energy
of 50 L gasoline. Therefore, also from a weight perspective, gasoline wins handily. Altogether, between the energy density, cost of storage devices, ease of handling,
ability to use at low temperature, as well as other technical considerations, hydrocarbon-type fuels, such as gasoline, are simply the energy carrier of choice....
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| Copyright © 2010-2023, Klaus L.E. Kaiser. All Rights Reserved. |
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