I have district heating from a combined heat and power plant, which should be 80+% efficient. A solar air to water heat pump could be more efficient at 29% * usually 200% but sometimes 400% (For reference, traditional gas boilers only go up to 94%.) = 58% to 116%, the latter might require ground instead of air. CO2 is a relatively safe refrigerant.
According to ChatGPT: The efficiency of a typical modern steam turbine in a power plant is around 30-40%. Fuel cells can achieve efficiencies in the range of 40% to 60% or even higher for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Those and molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs) are used in combined heat and power systems.
In 2016, Organic Electronics reported 1.3 microns (about 1/100th the width of a human hair) being on par with glass cells, efficiency-wise. I think organic (carbon-based) material degrades faster, though. I guess it's several spray-on coats, bottom up:
- Insulating layer.
- Positive (p-type) layer with connections. Boron has vacant electron spaces.
- Negative (n-type) layer with connections. Solar radiation excites the electrons in the neutral part of the p-type layer enough to move to the n-type layer and via the connection back to the p-type layer, according to ACS. Seems to me putting the part to be exited first in the path of the photons would be better, but more electrons would soak up more photons.
- Insulating layer.
Excess potential between the connections could be used to split water into oxygen and hydrogen:
In acidic or neutral solutions, H+ cations move to the cathode:
Anode (positive, electron stealing oxidator) reaction: 2 H2O -> O2 + 4 H+ + 4 e-
Cathode (negative, electron adding reducer - Who came up with these names?) reaction: 4 H+ + 4 e- -> 2 H2
In less corrosive alkaline solutions, OH- anions move to the anode:
Anode reaction: 4 OH- -> 2 O2 + 2 H2O + 4 e-
Cathode reaction: 4 H2O + 4 e- -> 2 H2 + 4 OH-
You could also simply use the sun to cook (even in a Michigan winter), cool, burn with 600 W, or grow algae (up to 98% efficient) and bamboo (up to 87% efficient?).
Liquid fuel wise, according to this and this, algae gets 10,000 gal/acre/year, bamboo 3,200, corn 600, and hemp only 200, on par with Jatropha:
Seaweed is also interesting. 19.4 metric tonnes of dry weight per hectare. By comparison, about 11 metric tonnes of maize can be harvested per hectare in the highly productive fields of the United States.
Hydrogen at 0.07 MPa is bulkier than lithium batteries, but Toyota's Mirai uses 70 MPa (700 bar) tanks which are safe to shoot assuming no ignition. Placement and design help. 300 to 1500 kWh H2 energy storage + 36 or 20 kWh battery for sale in Germany. A Tesla Powerwall is only 13.5 kWh for $10,500 or $8,500 times two. A 20 kWh BlauHoff Powerwall is 8,676 euro with a delivery time of 1 to 2 weeks, and the hydrogen house system cost $500,000. Metal hydride is also safe to shoot, but probably too heavy as this knowledge is from the 1960s.
Despite their storage density, hydrocarbons are only half as efficient as electrons. Neatly summarized here:
Characteristics of selected energy storage systems (source: The World Energy Council)
| Max Power | Rating (MW) | Discharge time | Max cycles or lifetime | Energy density (watt-hour per liter) | MJ/l | Efficiency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pumped hydro | 3,000 | 4h – 16h | 30 – 60 years | 0.2 – 2 | 0.00072 - 0.0072 | 70 – 85% |
| Compressed air | 1,000 | 2h – 30h | 20 – 40 years | 2 – 6 | 0.0072 - 0.0216 | 40 – 70% |
| Molten salt (thermal) | 150 | hours | 30 years | 70 – 210 | 0.252 - 0.756 | 80 – 90% |
| Li-ion battery | 100 | 1 min – 8h | 1,000 – 10,000 | 200 – 400 | 0.72 - 1.44 | 85 – 95% |
| Lead-acid battery | 100 | 1 min – 8h | 6 – 40 years | 50 – 80 | 0.18 - 0.288 | 80 – 90% |
| Flow battery | 100 | hours | 12,000 – 14,000 | 20 – 70 | 0.072 - 0.252 | 60 – 85% |
| Hydrogen | 100 | mins – week | 5 – 30 years | 600 (at 200bar) | 2.16 (at 20 MPa) | 25 – 45% |
| Flywheel | 20 | secs - mins | 20,000 – 100,000 | 20 – 80 | 0.072 - 0.288 | 70 – 95% |
According to https://xkcd.com/1162/ uranium contains 76,000,000 MJ/kg, and coal 24 MJ/kg, so even using only 2% per fuel rod, fission is (0.02*76e6)/24= 63,333.33 times as efficient as coal. Fun fact: Coal ash contains more energy in the form of thorium than was gained by burning the coal. Some coal power plants pollute 100x more radioactive waste of fission power plants producing the same amount of energy, in addition to significant quantities of toxic arsenic, lead, thallium, mercury, uranium and thorium. That said, even on 100% coal power, EVs are cleaner than ICVs.
Solar is the cheapest source of energy right now, but car batteries still have a barrier to entry, so WW2 tech such as wood gas and NH3 is the most afforable short-term option to some, short of wind power, cycling, or walking:
For forward motion, we need energy. Regardless of the mode of transportation. Even on foot, a person weighing 70 kg has an energy consumption of around 0.075 kWh per kilometre. This makes walking the second-most efficient form of transport. Only cycling is a more energy-saving form of transport, with a peak value of 0.025 kWh. At the other end of the scale is the car (0.56 kWh), according to the Federal Environment Agency. According to the French energy and environmental agency ADEME, aeroplanes (0.52 kWh) and motorbikes (0.51 kWh) are similarly inefficient. The most energy-saving form of public transport is the tram or underground train, at just 0.05 and 0.08 kWh per kilometre travelled. - Efficiency Master – a Comparison of Different Modes of Transportation
Aptera is said to charge 100 Wh with 700 W solar power so 60 / (360000 / 700 / 60) = 7 miles per hour of sunshine, even while driving. 700W/250W/m2 = 2.8 m2 of solar panels, which appears accurate.
Remotes can run on solar or even piezo power.
Paris has a higher population density than all 8e9 people in the world would have in Texas. 180e15 Wh/y / 365.25 days / 24 hours = 2.0534e13 W. / 8e9 W = 2567 large power stations. / 4.2 km2 and square rooted that’s only 104x104 km (or 64x64 US miles) of land for uranium fission power production. (872 + 2884) / 2) kWh/y/m2 * 1000 / 365.25 / 24 = 214 W/m2, sqrt(2.0534e13 / 214) / 1000 or rather sqrt(180e15 / 1878e3) / 1000 = 310x310 km of solar PV using tech from 2015.
Waste can be collected using protein amyloid fibrils from oilseed meal.
Batteries can be recycled and replaced for about the same cost as a new engine.
Methane (CH4) holds more infrared than CO2, and more OH helps cool the planet by OH + CH4 => H2O + CH3, so the culprit of climate change caused by global warming might be excess warm-era H atoms, which also explains why H2O is a bigger blanket that fortunately falls faster. So instead of recent hydrogen, excess electricity could also be used to calculate new materials, of which there could be number of stable nuclides to the power of the number of them in your molecule/alloy/lattice: Over 251**3 = 15,813,251, and 251**4 is already 3,969,126,001. That's not even considering ratios, but CrCoNi sounds like 1:1:1.
Concerning alarmist AI videos about climate change: The consumption of water in Panama has risen continuously in the past decade. In 2021, the Central American country consumed approximately 115e9 gallons of water, up from approximately 90.2e9 gallons recorded in 2011. - Statista, where 1 billion = 1e9. 115e9 US gallon * 0.00378541 = 435,322,150 m3 per year, so /365.25 = 1,191,847 m3 per day. Already achievable by a single desalination plant like those in Saudi Arabia.
YouTube comments someone suggested i make a video about, but my reply to that stating text is more efficient to write/read/translate and i support numerous good EV channels with similar content already was lost somehow:
Cees Timmerman
1 month ago (edited)
Even on 100% coal, EVs are cleaner than ICVs. The stench and noise of old engines are proof of inefficiency and toxic, to boot.
Seas have plenty of space for 14 MW turbines.
Glass office buildings and cats kill way more birds than wind turbines do.
Turbines pay for themselves in 18 months. End-of-life the blades can be repurposed as bus stop roofs and playground equipment.
The entire world can be powered by solar PV with V2G balancing and backup in 50 years.
Solar is cheaper than coal, nuclear, and blood oil. It's also fusion power with wireless distribution. Local fusion is always 30 years away and possible cover for fusion bomb research.
1 kg of beef takes 99.48 kg of CO2 to produce according to Statista which should take into account the destruction of Earth's biodiversity to feed cows, which equates to 2.56 cruise kilometer given the weighted mean of 390 g per passenger-kilometer. Fortunately, cruise ship emissions make up only 0.2% of all global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production.
Hydrogen is a less efficient energy store than lithium. A gallon of diesel contains more hydrogen than a gallon of hydrogen, which is mostly produced from natural gas.
Net-zero is not impossible. Sonnenschiff has been net-positive for years.
I agree humanity should reduce, reuse, and recycle more. If regular plastic is too hard to recycle, use compostable plastic like PLA.
Cees Timmerman
16 uur geleden
@Serika Zero #NotAllCars Small Chinese ones (some by GM iirc) are cheap AF and even on 100% coal cleaner than combustion cars without industrial scrubbers.
Serika Zero
Serika Zero
1 uur geleden
@Cees Timmerman yes mate, but most people, and I mean most people look at car for 5 things:
transportation of humans
transportation of items
looks
longevity/reparability/viability
economy/budget
Unless you are willing to put like 10k euros over a current diesel/gasoline car, you ain't getting a comparable electric one. And most people, as well as companies, would invest that 10k in something else.
The "cheapest" new chinese electric car I found is "SAIC Baojun E100" and that's a toy car with 2 seats. Please tell me why would anyone buy that "car" over an electric scooter? Like, that's a joke, its not even a car.
For 12k euros, which is the price this apparently sells for, you can get a 10 year old bwm or toyota, and run it for 10 more years. With proper seats in that car, with space, with ability to actually transport some groceries more than just 1 bottle of water and 1 bread.... and you have many mechanics and many parts to repair it with. Available all over the world.
I can find decent 3 year old cars for that price in my country.... not many but there are.
Under that assumption, Renault has Renault Twizy. Does that COUNT as a car? (cheap electric cars)
When a 4 year old Renault Talisman is at triple the price of a Twizy, but has 5 seats and road presence and actually is a car?
Most of the "cheap electric" are just.... sad. There's rarely a point of going with one of those over some other type of transportation, again, I'd take an electric scooter any day over SAIC from china, or Twizy from Renault. Even if they are "cheap" from 7k to 12k euros. And if I have a 12k budget, I can get an actual car.
And most people will go for the actual car, that can comfortably transport 1-4 people, and some items with them.
Cees Timmerman
Cees Timmerman
1 seconde geleden
@Serika Zero Excellent point. I hope the new battery factories will create parity with gas cars, as even a new Dacia Logan looks full size and costs only €5,900; 2.5 times a good used gas car. A Ford F-150 Lightning starts at $39,947; $9,077 (29.4%) more than the regular F-150 starting at $30,870.