This Hydrogen Combustion Engine Is The EV Alternative We’ve Been Waiting For – HotCars
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Hydrogen Central.
This must-read article is a reprint of an article in hotcars and it details the technology and thinking behind JCB’s new hydrogen engine.
As someone who believes, that hydrogen is the only way to go to power zero-emission vehicles in the future, I advise all hydrogen sceptics to read this article.
These two paragraphs, explain the thinking behind why JCB turned to hydrogen.
As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. JCB was struck with the problem of going zero emissions without sacrificing power and cost of purchase. In a previous Harry’s Garage episode, Lord Bamford, Chairman of JCB, mentioned that passenger cars, on average, run about 300 hours per year. In contrast, a regular heavy-duty backhoe would have running hours close to 10 times that amount. He adds that in countries like India, machines of this scale run for at least 5000 hours per year.
So, to have electricity run an industrial equipment for eight hours at the minimum requires significantly more batteries. Not only does it skyrocket the costs involved, but it will add a ton of complexity and increase the overall weight. Therefore, engineers had to think radically.
Many believe that Hydrogen engines will pump out loads of nitrogen oxides.
These two paragraphs outline JCB’s solution.
A known disadvantage of a hydrogen ICE is the production of Nitrogen oxides or NOX. The reason is high operating temperatures. JCB engineers, however, found a clever way to circumvent this by running the engine on a lean mixture of fuel. Hydrogen for a given mass has three times the energy density of its diesel equivalent.
This allowed the team to get the same torque figures without running the engine too rich. Another way to get rid of NOX is through selective catalytic reduction, a common practice in modern diesel engines.
It is my belief, that if a company or engineer solves the problem of making a small hydrogen internal combustion engine, they will make an absolute fortune, that will make Microsoft and Bill Gates look like paupers.
Engineering is the science of the possible, whereas politics is dreams of the impossible.
Welsh Government Greenlights Erebus Floating Offshore Wind Farm
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
The Welsh Government has granted consent for the country’s first floating offshore wind farm located 40 kilometres off the coast of Pembrokeshire
This is the first paragraph.
Project Erebus will feature seven next-generation 14 MW turbines on floating platforms, providing enough renewable energy to power 93,000 homes.
This near 100 MW project is the first in the Celtic Sea, where there 4 GW are to be installed in the next decade.
This is another paragraph.
Future phases of the development could realise an additional 20 GW of renewable energy, according to the Government.
Wales is not going to be short of energy!
The Anonymous Widower 