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The Ammonia Truck

Right now, a uniquely modified pickup truck is making its way across the country from Detroit to San Francisco. The truck uses a special fuel, something widely available throughout the country, but until now, not really considered as an alternative fuel. The truck is carrying three tanks of ammonia in its bed. In addition to being an economical alternative to petroleum fuels, the ammonia-fueled vehicle has much cleaner emissions and emits far fewer greenhouse gases. The NH3car (NH3 is the chemical formula for ammonia) is a demonstration project of a University of Michigan graduate student in physics who is studying the use of ammonia as an alternative fuel. The test vehicle can be run either on 100% gasoline or on an 80% ammonia / 20% gasoline mixture, and can be switched from one to the other at any time. According to a news story, the test vehicle gets 27 miles per gallon whether it is running on gasoline or the gas/ammonia mix. Whenever gasoline is higher that $2.10/gallon, it becomes more economical to use the fuel mix. More importantly, however, the vehicle produces much cleaner emissions than a fossil fuel burning vehicle. Moving to an ammonia fuel system would drastically cut transportation CO2 emissions. Because there is no carbon in ammonia (molecularly, ammonia is one nitrogen atom and three hydrogen atoms), there is no carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide in the emissions from the ammonia combustion. According to the vehicle team, the only by-products are water vapor and nitrogen gas. "On the basis of either weight or volume, ammonia's the next best thing when liquid petroleum fuels can't be used,'' said Grannell, a University of Michigan doctoral student of applied physics. "I believe this is the only economically viable ... replacement for liquid petroleum fuels, especially for transportation use." Of course, there are drawbacks. Commercial ammonia needs to be manufactured. Unlike fossil fuels, it is not a resource that can simply be mined or pumped from the ground. And most commercial processes for manufacturing ammonia rely on natural gas as a feedstock. But ammonia fueled transportation may be a viable possibility. The NH3car team has also stated that the conversion from gasoline to ammonia could cost consumers less than $1,000. An important question would be whether or not the price of ammonia would remain stable if it began to be widely used as a fuel, or if its price would rise to make it uneconomical to use. Distribution of course, being another factor. Ammonia needs to be stored in pressurized tanks and at low temperatures in order to remain a liquid. Like liquid natural gas or hydrogen, a whole new range of storage and distribution equipment would be needed in order to have widespread use of ammonia as a fuel. But with all of the potential benefits it offers, it may yet be worth exploring. via: Ann Arbor News Cross-posted at Green Options.

Plug In America

Plug in America is a website devoted to promotion and activism of the electric vehicle. Included in the website is news and information related to e cars. of note are the 2009 year models from all the major manufacturers.
http://www.pluginamerica.com/

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Sterling Engine technology

A Stirling engine is commonly referred to as an "external combustion engine" in contrast to the "internal combustion engines" found in most vehicles. Combine a Stirling engine with solar as the source of heat, and you have a highly efficient means of converting solar power into usable energy.

How It Works

The Stirling dish technology converts thermal energy to electricity by using a mirror array to focus the sun’s rays on the receiver end of a Stirling engine. Each panel tracks azimuth and elevation to keep the sun’s rays focused at greatest intensity possible.

The internal side of the receiver then heats hydrogen gas which expands. The pressure created by the expanding gas drives a piston, crankshaft, and drive-shaft assembly much like those found in internal combustion engines but without igniting the gas. The drive shaft turns a small electricity generator. The entire energy-conversion process takes place within a canister the size of an oil barrel. The process requires no water and the engine is emission-free.

Comparison to Other Solar Technologies

Tests conducted by SCE and the Sandia National Laboratories have shown that the Stirling dish technology is almost twice as efficient as other solar technologies. These include parabolic troughs which use the sun’s heat to create steam that drives turbines similar to those found in conventional power plants, and photovoltaic cells which convert sunlight directly into electricity by means of semiconducting materials like those found in computer chips.

Additional Applications

While the number of potential applications for this technology is huge, in the near term Stirling Energy Systems will be keeping their focus on these utility installations.

Related Facts

SCE procured more than 13,000 gigawatt-hours* of renewable energy in 2004, more than any U.S. utility and enough to power almost two million homes for an entire year.
In 2004, more than 18% of the power SCE delivered to the 13 million Californians it serves came from renewable energy sources.
SCE’s current renewable portfolio can deliver 2,588 MW of electricity, including
- 1,021 MW from wind
- 892 MW from geothermal
- 354 MW from solar
- 226 MW from biomass
- 95 MW from small hydro.
Within the next several weeks, SCE will launch its ninth request for offers by independent power producers in the past three years and the third exclusively for proposals by renewable energy providers. These open, competitive solicitations have resulted in 12 new renewable contracts with a maximum potential capacity of 1,630 MW.

*A gigawatt equals one billion watts.