This is Roy_H's Typepad Profile.
Join Typepad and start following Roy_H's activity
Roy_H
Recent Activity
" And, as the global middle class continues to grow and exercise their buying power, the demand for oil will continue to grow alongside them."
Wrong, these new customers will buy EVs.
Today’s Stunted Oil Prices Could Cause Oil Price Shock In 2020
by Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com As oil prices remain unsteady and OPEC continues to make headlines every hour, the world is focused on oil’s immediate future. As Saudi Arabia announces plans to slash production and move their economy away from oil dependency, many industry insiders are pred...
Not sure if I understand enough, but since the pollution issues were discussed under the partial load section, can I safely assume that pollution is not an issue at full load? If so then it is a good candidate as a generator in a series hybrid car as is.
Delphi advancing Gasoline Direct-Injection Compression-Ignition engine concept; new two-stage supercharger/turbocharger boost system
Simulated fuel economy for 1.8L GDCI Engine and 2.4L GDi baseline engine. GDCI showed a predicted fuel economy improvement of 65%, 28%, and 28% for the FTP City, Highway, and US06 cycles, respectively, for a combined FE improvement of 50%. Source: Sellnau et al. Click to enlarge. At SAE Wor...
Are they good for billions of cycles like conventional capacitors? If not, then no market to replace supercaps, and much lower energy density than A123. Why wasn't the very important specification of cycle life given?
Univ. of Illinois team develops high-power Li-ion microbatteries that can out-power supercapacitors while retaining comparable energy density
Ragone plot showing the performance of the new microbattery cells (A-H) and conventional power technologies. The energy and power density of our microbattery cells (A–H) at low to high C rates, along with previous microbattery cells having 3D electrodes (MB1 through MB3). The plot also inclu...
Why are my posts deleted?
NSF to award up to $13M for fundamental work on sustainable production of electricity and transportation fuels
The US National Science Foundation (NSF) has issued a grants opportunity notice (PD-14-7644) for up to about $13 million in awards to fundamental research and education that will enable innovative processes for the sustainable production of electricity and transportation fuels. Processes for su...
HarveyD; The problem with hydro is that there just isn't much more water to dam up. All the logical sites for hydro power have already been built. Ontario is now looking at many smaller rivers to build small hydro for local use, but this is not going to make a major difference in available power.
NSF to award up to $13M for fundamental work on sustainable production of electricity and transportation fuels
The US National Science Foundation (NSF) has issued a grants opportunity notice (PD-14-7644) for up to about $13 million in awards to fundamental research and education that will enable innovative processes for the sustainable production of electricity and transportation fuels. Processes for su...
Massive extra bureaucracy, almost nothing to reduce climate change.
The single most effective change that can be made is to develop and implement the LFTR. Liquid Flouride Thorium Reactors were proven viable in the late 1960s at Oakridge National Labs. Promises to be MUCH cheaper than conventional nuclear power, in fact some argue cheaper than coal. No long term radio-active waste, inherently safe see: http://flibe-energy.com/attributes/
The BRC seems to be mostly concerned with nuclear waste disposal. LFTRs could burn this waste, turning it into electricity. There is $27B allocated to waste management, and this could fund the entire LFTR program.
PCAST suggests 6 key components for climate change strategy to President Obama; adaptation and mitigation
The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) released a letter to President Obama describing six key components the advisory group believes should be central to the Administration’s strategy for addressing climate change. The letter, responding to a request by the Presi...
I only agree with the battery development. Putting more money into FC, NatGas, and biofuels is a waste.
However it doesn't matter as the Republican controlled house will not pass it anyway.
President Obama calls on Congress to establish $2B Energy Security Trust for advanced transportation research, funded by oil and gas royalty revenues
Click to enlarge. In an speech at Argonne National Laboratory today, President Obama called on Congress to establish a new Energy Security Trust (EST) to invest in critical, breakthrough research focused on developing cost-effective transportation alternatives. The President had referenced ...
Seems dangerous to have a pure lithium cathode in an aqueous solution. If the coating was to crack in an accident, you would have a major fire on your hands.
New aqueous rechargeable lithium battery shows good safety, high reliability, high energy density and low cost; another post Li-ion alternative
Schematic illustration of the aqueous rechargeable lithium battery (ARLB) using the coated lithium metal as anode, LiMn2O4 as cathode and 0.5 mol l-1 Li2SO4 aqueous solution as electrolyte. Wang et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers from Fudan University in China and Technische Universität C...
Fortunately we will all get to see how successful this is in Germany before other countries commit to the hydrogen highway.
Best thing to do right now is wait. I predict that only a segment of the wealthy will embrace hydrogen fuel, and that market will become saturated in 5 years after full roll-out. The rest of us will choose BEVs, as being cheaper and more convenient with home charging. Only then will we have a good sense of how many sales/year, it will never be a major portion of the market.
Unfortunately, this will turn out to be a massive subsidy for the rich.
UKH2Mobility interim report finds potential for 1.6M hydrogen-powered vehicles on UK roads by 2030, with annual sales of 300K units
UK consumer demand for FCEVs increases as the cost premium diminishes and the network of hydrogen refueling stations (HRS) expands. Source: UKH2Mobility. Click to enlarge. More than 1.5 million hydrogen-powered vehicles could be on UK roads by 2030, according to interim Phase I findings of ...
Doesn't seem to be nearly as promising as this:
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2011/09/alginate-20110909.html?cid=6a00d8341c4fbe53ef015391772940970b
New spin-casting technique for high-performance silicon nanoparticle/graphene materials for Li-ion electrodes
A binder-free silicon nanoparticles/graphene electrode exhibits a high capacity, a superior rate capability, and strong cycle life. Credit Zhou et al. Click to enlarge. A team at the Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), Chinese Academy of Sciences reports a new metho...
I don't understand why they even consider such a thing. We should be building LFTRs. Low cost, pollution free, inherently safe, nuclear power that can run off the world's vast supply of thorium for tens of thousands of years. No radio-active waste concerns either, and can slowly burn the waste we already have. See http://flibe-energy.com/attributes/
Researchers contend that large-scale forest bioenergy is neither sustainable nor greenhouse-gas neutral (updated with link to full study)
Land management trade-off: maximizing productivity vs. carbon stocks. NPP= net primary production. Schulze et al. Click to enlarge. Large-scale bioenergy production from forest biomass is unsustainable and will increase greenhouse gas emissions, according to a group of international researc...
SJC: Having a closed system does not solve the chemical issues in making a battery. It is just one alternative to the issue of keeping moisture out. Your post implies that a partial solution is no good if it does not solve all the problems.
Dollard: Any high energy storage system has its dangers. Gasoline, natural gas, diesel fuel, hydrogen, and lithium are highly flammable. Even something as simple as compressed air is dangerous. Oxygen itself does not burn, but if mixed with other things will make burning more intense.
China team outlines 5 key areas of future research to realize Li-air batteries
In an open access paper published in the International Journal of Smart and Nano Materials, researchers from the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences review significant developments and remaining challenges of practical Li–air batteries and the current understan...
At first pass this is beginning to look pretty attractive. The whole system, oxygen tank and battery with electrolyte at a little more than 50 bar or 735 psi would do it. Not too onerous compared to hydrogen tanks which are 350 to 700 bar. 700 bar = 10,000 psi. I remember doing a rough calculation of the oxygen requirements a while back, and I think it was about 50 lbs for 300 miles.
China team outlines 5 key areas of future research to realize Li-air batteries
In an open access paper published in the International Journal of Smart and Nano Materials, researchers from the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences review significant developments and remaining challenges of practical Li–air batteries and the current understan...
Just thinking out loud here, one could avoid compression-decompression losses by running the whole system at high pressure, maybe even high enough that the oxygen is always in a liquid state. This would eliminate the requirement of a 3 phase solution.
China team outlines 5 key areas of future research to realize Li-air batteries
In an open access paper published in the International Journal of Smart and Nano Materials, researchers from the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences review significant developments and remaining challenges of practical Li–air batteries and the current understan...
I hadn't thought of a closed system. I suppose the advantage of no contamination may be worth the storage issues of O2, which I imagine would be compressed to a liquid.
China team outlines 5 key areas of future research to realize Li-air batteries
In an open access paper published in the International Journal of Smart and Nano Materials, researchers from the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences review significant developments and remaining challenges of practical Li–air batteries and the current understan...
Many years ago, GM-Delphi developed Magna-Quench magnets which GM has used in starter motors ever since. This does not use rare earths, although when Delphi went bankrupt the patents were bought by a Chinese company (can't remember the name now) and they now market Magna-Quench as being neodymium magnets. The original Magna-Quench sinstered iron magnets have near rare-earth capabilities.
Rare earths are not rare, it has just not been profitable to compete with China. Now that China has announced restricted exports, other rare earth mines around the world can be re-started profitably.
MIT study finds shift to green energy sources could mean crunch in supply of key rare earth elements
Comparison of demand projections for REE (total summed). Credit: ACS, Alonso et al. Click to enlarge. A large-scale shift from coal-fired electric power plants and gasoline-fueled cars to wind turbines and electric vehicles could increase demand for two already-scarce rare earth elements (R...
@Harvey
"5. Clean electricity is sustainable and plentiful."
Not yet. And the third requirement is cheap.
Liquid Flouride Thorium Reactors have amazing potential. They run on free thorium, are inherently safe, proven technology, produce no long-term radio-active waste and should be much cheaper to build than conventional nuclear reactors. See: http://flibe-energy.com/attributes/
This style of nuclear reactor also naturally follows the load curve and is easy to shut down and re-start. Thorium is free because it is a waste product of rare earth mines.
MIT study finds shift to green energy sources could mean crunch in supply of key rare earth elements
Comparison of demand projections for REE (total summed). Credit: ACS, Alonso et al. Click to enlarge. A large-scale shift from coal-fired electric power plants and gasoline-fueled cars to wind turbines and electric vehicles could increase demand for two already-scarce rare earth elements (R...
There are many high energy anode designs reported but almost no cathodes to go with them. This shows great promise.
Ultrathin transition metal silicate nanosheet cathode material for Li-ion batteries supports reversible two-lithium-ion capacity
Charge and discharge profile of first and second cycles of Li2MnSiO4 samples measured at 45 °C at 0.02C rate. Credit: ACS, Rangappa et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers from Tohoku University, Japan, have developed novel ultrathin Li2MnSiO4 nanosheets for use as a cathode material in lithiu...
I think all the aids for the driver are desirable, but I question giving over control of the vehicle in some situations. I am more comfortable with automatic braking, especially in reverse than I am with automatic steering. But as these techniques get better, I agree with HarveyD, the accident rate could be dramatically reduced.
2013 Cadillac XTS will feature first GM application of sensor fusion; milestone toward semi- and fully autonomous vehicles
Autonomous sensor systems for vehicle safety. Source: GM. Click to enlarge. The 2013 Cadillac XTS will feature GM’s first application of a Driver Assistance Package using sensor fusion, which combines the information of several, generally heterogeneous sensors and positioning technologies t...
Although the article says many times that this is cheaper than existing platinum catalytic, I had to look up how efficient platinum is. Turns out to be 50% to 80%, not bad at all. Still compared to a battery, the hydrogen cycle would by 80% (water to hydrogen) * 90% (compression/decompression) * 70% (fuel cell) = 50% vs about 90% for lithium battery. This means the fuel would be only about 80% more expensive. Much better than I expected.
Are drivers willing to pay a 1.8 times premium for fast hydrogen fill-up vs DC quick charge, and at the same time give up the low-cost convenience of charging at home?
I don't think so.
Researchers develop technique to create new tailored molecule with high density of active catalytic sites; potential low-cost alternative to platinum for splitting water
Using a molybdenite complex and the PY5Me2 ligand, Berkeley Lab researchers synthesized a molecule that mimics catalytically active triangular molybdenum disulfide edge-sites. The result is an entire layer of catalytically active material. Molybdenum atoms are shown as green, sulfur as yello...
Well, you are not including the anode, separator, casing, or any specialized support equipment. Also the standard Li-ion batteries can produce 1C to 10C output, that is about 1 amp/g, where as this is about 1/10, so you would need a battery 10 times larger than the Leaf battery to get the same acceleration.
This is an intriguing development, but hardly the holy grail.
U of Western Ontario researchers find nitrogen-doped graphene nanosheet cathodes significantly increase performance of Li-oxygen batteries; 11,660 mAh g-1 at 75 mA g-1
Voltage profiles of GNS and N-GNS electrodes at various current densities. Yi et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers at the University of Western Ontario (Canada) report that using nitrogen-doped graphene nanosheets as cathode materials significantly increases the performance of a non-aqueous...
EEStor was claiming 4000 to 6000 volt operation. There is no mention of voltage. Supercapacitors are typically very low voltage 2.5 volts to 4 volts. EVs operate at 350V to 650V.
Georgia Tech team develops high-capacity supercapacitor using cobalt oxide nanonets; design approach suited for other supercap and battery applications
Specific capacitances of CFP-supported Co3O4 nanonet (mass loading of 0.4, 0.7, and 1.4 mg/cm2) and nanocube electrodes (a mass loading of 0.7 mg/cm2) at different current densities. Credit: ACSA, Yang et al. Click to enlarge. A team at Georgia Tech has developed a high-capacity supercapaci...
So Renault Fluence is about Euro 21k and battery lease Euro 82/mth. Nissan LEAF Euro 30k. I guess this is a bargain as it would take 9 years of battery leasing to make the 9k difference in price. I wonder how they do it? Or am I not comparing properly with VAT and incentives not equivalent. It doesn't make sense to me that a battery would be effectively half price just because it is leased.
Pike Research survey finds strong fundamental US consumer interest in EVs; price remains a significant barrier
To assess consumer demand, preferences, and price sensitivity for plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) and electric vehicle charging infrastructure, Pike Research conducted a web-based survey of 1,051 US consumers in the fall of 2011 using a nationally representative and demographically balanced sa...
This is absolutely ridiculous! The laws are to prevent discrimination of local producers vs out of state producers. ARB is not trying to promote California produced ethanol vs out of state ethanol.
If this court decision is upheld, then there is no point to any state trying to reduce its pollution or control any product it decides is undesirable. It forces this to be only federal.
Federal Judge rules California Low Carbon Fuel Standard violates Commerce Clause of US Constitution
Federal District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill, Eastern District of California, ruled on Thursday that the State of California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) program is in violation of the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution and issued an injunction prohibiting its enforcement. (Earlier post....
There is a very obvious solution, which they specifically ignore for reasons beyond my understanding.
Liquid Flouride Thoroium Reactors are inherently safe, do not produce long term radio-active wastes, and run on cheap (as in free) and plentiful thorium. Theoretically, LFTRs should produce electricity cheaper than any other method including coal. See flibe-energy.com and energyfromthorium.com
A few years ago, you could say researchers in the energy field might be ignorant of this fantastic opportunity, but now with exposure on Popular Science, and Wired you would have to be blind and deaf not to be aware of the incredible promise of the LFTR. An LFTR based reactor was built in the late 1960s at Oakridge National Laboratory and was run for 4 years, so the technology is proven. However this research was abandoned because it was no good for building nuclear weapons.
MIT researchers conclude fundamental changes in the US energy-innovation system are needed to meet challenges of climate change and energy supply
A three-year study by a team of researchers based at MIT has concluded that fundamental changes are needed in the US energy-innovation system. Without systematic, transformative changes, the US is unlikely to succeed either in averting the worst economic and environmental consequences of climat...
More...
Subscribe to Roy_H’s Recent Activity