About Alternative Cars

Can electricity be drawn from thin air?  The idea has been around for more than a century as observers have noted lightning and its formation around clouds.  Nikola Tesla dreamed of harnessing this energy so that mankind could freely use electricity without regard to their mundane sources of energy and capital.

Tesla, of course, never really succeeded, but scientists presenting to the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society think that they might be on track to do what he couldn’t.  Study leader Fernando Galembeck, PhD, says that his group may not only unlock the mystery of where natural electricity comes from, but how to harness it and even prevent it from causing damage.

“Just as solar energy could free some households from paying electric bills, this promising new energy source could have a similar effect.”

Galembeck is leading a team of researchers into this potential energy source at the University of Campinas in Brazil.  Their research is based on new evidence that water particles in the air, once thought electrically-neutral, are actually often charged positively or negatively and it may be the interaction of these pre-charged particles that causes lightning and other natural electrical discharges.

Building small-scale water and dust experiments in the lab, and U of Campinas team has reproduced some natural lightning-like effects and has been able to do so consistently enough to believe they’re on to something big.

Galembeck envisions a future where solar panel-like devices gather naturally-occurring electricity, even that which happens on such a tiny scale that we don’t even notice it, and using that power to energize homes, electric vehicles, and more.

This alternative energy source could be the power that drives alternative cars, heating and air conditioning, and the appliances and gadgets that make up modern life into the future.  Galembeck is calling this energy “hygroelectricity.”

See the American Chemical Society for more information.

Hyundai has promised to deliver a production hydrogen fuel cell car (probably an SUV) by 2012, three years before Toyota, Honda, or any of the others.  They’ve also said they’ll match or beat Toyota’s planned $50,000 price tag for the HFC vehicle (no other automaker has talked price).

Those are big words, but Hyundai has been on a roll and it may be possible.

They plan to put 500-1,000 fuel cell vehicles on the road in 2012 and have production up to 10,000 units by 2015.  With that many units in production, prices could begin dropping quickly.  Especially with new fuel cell technologies that don’t require platinum in the catalyst.

However this works out, it’s great to see competition amongst not only the various car companies making hydrogen fuel cell cars, but between the competing technologies such as hybrids, battery electrics, hydrogen fuel cells, and fuel alternatives.

The future could not only be petroleum-free, but it could have a lot of alternative vehicles running on a variety of power sources to suit the need.  Diversity is where it’s at and has been missing from the automotive world since its earliest days.

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• How Hydrogen Fuel Cells Work (aboutalternativecars.com)
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Designed for one person, the 3-wheeled Buffalino is based on the Piaggio APE 50 3-wheeled delivery scooter.  It’s a design concept only, created by Cornelius Comanns, but the German industrial designer thinks it’s perfect for a certain niche market of campers and travelers.

Image from Designbloom. Click to see more.

The tiny package has everything you can expect from an enclosed camper.  The countertop has a simple sink, a propane stove, lighting, a small desk, and seating for two.  The bed replaces the chair, allowing space for a person to sleep.

The scooter otherwise operates normally, which means this RV won’t have much power or speed.  Although cramped, it may be a solution for many people who want to get away once in a while.  Especially those who live in crowded city conditions or other areas where large vehicles present a parking problem and cannot double as a normal daily get-about vehicle.

Whether it ever gets built or not, this alternative vehicle is an interesting concept showing the flexibility of some vehicles we might ordinarily consider to be mundane.  Piaggio scooters are popular as in-town delivery and people-moving vehicles in many parts of Europe.

It might seem unusual, but the idea of running a fuel cell from urea (the primary solid in urine) is not new.  It’s been around for a while, but has never been made commercially feasible.  Two scientists in the UK think they might have something to say about that.

Dr. Shanwen Tao and Dr. Ron Lang are a research team at Heriot-Watt University who have developed a proof of concept prototype of their Carbamide Power System and have now been awarded a grant to continue research into their Direct Urea Powered Fuel Cells using that system.

The immediate goal, if the concept can be done on a large scale economically, is to use it to help clean waste water at treatment plants where sewage is sent.  This would help in water purification with the byproduct of creating an energy source for the plant or other facilities.

Urea is also readily available in many other sources and is commonly used as a fertilizer in farming (industrial urea).  It also has the advantage of being non-toxic, non-combustible, and being an easily-transported solid.  This gives it real advantages over other common fuel cell fuels such as hydrogen or methane.

Eventually, this concept could become the next fuel alternative of choice for alternative vehicles.

Two researchers from the University of Wageningen, the Netherlands, say that with recent advances in systems biology, genetic engineering, and biorefining, microalgae could be produced on an industrial scale for fuel production within 10-15 years.

Rene H. Wijffels and Maria J. Barbosa penned a perspective in the August 13th issue of Science.

The current worldwide microalgal manufacturing infrastructure (producing the equivalent of ~5000 tons of dry algal biomass) is devoted to extraction of high-value products such as carotenoids and ?-3 fatty acids used for food and feed ingredients. The total market volume is 1.25 billion, implying an average market price for microalgae of 250/kg dry biomass. As an example for comparison with land-based oleaginous crops, the world production of palm oil is nearly 40 million tons, with a market value of ~0.50 /kg.

Production of microalgae for biofuels needs to take place on a much larger scale at much lower costs. If all transport fuels were to be replaced by biodiesel in Europe, there would be an annual need for nearly 0.4 billion m³. If this biodiesel were to be supplied through microalgae, 9.25 million ha (almost the surface area of Portugal) would be needed to supply the European market, assuming a productivity of 40,000 liters per ha per year. This productivity is based on a 3% solar energy conversion to biomass (theoretical maximum is 9%) and a biomass oil content of 50%, under the solar conditions of Portugal.

A leap in the development of microalgae technology is therefore required; on a practical level, the scale of production needs to increase at least 3 orders of magnitude, with a concomitant decrease in the cost of production by a factor of 10. In the past few years, there has been a rather polarized debate between researchers in the field over technology readiness and the prospects for productivity enhancement, with some parties pressing for scale-up and commercialization now, while others cautiously stress the need for additional research leading to more careful step-by-step development.

—Wijffels and Barbosa

Algae is one of the most promising of the biofuel sources for the future.  It stores chemical energy through the natural plant process of converting sunlight into carbon-rich plant oils.  These can be extracted, as with any other plant oil, and made into fuel.  Algae has the benefit of being easily bred and manipulated to increase yields and does not require displacement of food-bearing crops for its growth.

Currently, in the U.S., there are algae growers working on algal-based fuels in Texas, Arizona, California, Michigan, and others as well as at least two research efforts in Canada.

Algae can synthesize a number of different elements for fuel.  It can be used to release hydrogen, to make ethanol or butanol, to make diesel additives or replacements (biodiesel), aircraft fuels, and even crude oil replacements for plastics and lubrication.

It’s all a matter of finding the right strain, perfecting it, and then moving it to industrial scale production.