Air Cars: Fuel For Free (Well Almost)
Jules Verne would be right at home with today’s emerging car technology. Although compressed air technology was used in pneumatic locomotives and trams in the late 1800s, widespread commercial use in cars was partially blocked by pressure from the oil industry by the 1930s. This is of course should not come as a surprise to the reader since new information about GM’s electric car of the 1980s has recently surfaced (but that’s another article). With the race on to find eco-friendly fuel alternatives, air cars rate up high on the efficiency vs. clean fuel alternative ratio. Although in the past people have bantered around the idea of an air car, the ultimate clean air car may be closer than you think.
How does it work?
An electric pump compresses air into a tank at high pressures and stores energy. As the air escapes, it pushes against the pistons, similar to a combustion engine. Compressed air is stored in large cylinders underneath the car, and the only emission into the environment is cold air. In fact, the tailpipe air emissions will be cleaner than the air going in since the air is run through carbon filters to remove dust, dirt and other impurities that could curb engine performance. This makes the car especially attractive to emissions activists, worried over global warming. Not only that, but the energy it does use is minimal compared to other future cars such as hybrids or bioethanol, which employ still controversial energy conversion techniques that can have an adverse effect on the environment and economy.
Zero Pollution Motors, the U.S. licensee of Luxembourg-based Motor Development International, has an air car scheduled for production in the U.S. in late 2009 or early 2010. To fill up, just stop by your local compressed air service station for a few minutes, or plug into an electrical outlet at home for four hours. At speeds over 35 mph this particular air car uses small amounts of fuel to heat air inside a heating chamber and allows the car to get to an estimated top speed of 96 mph.
Infrastructure.
No major infrastructure is necessary to support the air car, other than a high pressure recharger around 300 psi. This of course makes the Air Car very attractive since most of our stumbling blocks when it comes to finding an alternative to petroleum are infrastructure changes. Clearly, service stations could change system configurations to accommodate widespread needs for compressed air. While fossil fuels are still needed to generate electricity to recharge, there will still be a net energy savings and reduction in CO2 emissions and pollutants. Of course as wind and solar energy are used more and more as primary energy generators then the electricity used to run the car’s electric pump will also be from clean sources.
Air cars have a promising future and are one of the major hopes for an easier than expected transition into a new clean fuel era. It is going to be exciting to watch these early air car prototypes transform and grow into viable vehicles for the 21st Century.
Andrew Beckers
http://www.articlesbase.com/automotive-articles/air-cars-fuel-for-free-well-almost-536966.html
Posted in clean energy
Why Do We Need Cars At All?
Before WWII, very few Americans owned cars. Cities were dense, walkable, and well-connected with electric trolleys. MUCH less energy was spent on the simple act of getting around. Our national train system was the envy of the world, so people could travel to most destinations without a car and businesses could ship merchandise without the need for trucks. Once again, MUCH less energy was spent for travel and shipping.
We now live in a society where you almost HAVE to own a car to function. Car companies dumped the cost of road building and maintenance on us to keep this system running. Retailers have dumped the cost of shipping/delivery on us as consumers. We have to buy a car, maintain it, insure it and fuel it just to go to work, school, church and the grocery store. It makes no sense. We could do all of these things without cars, save ourselves the money, and enjoy better health and air quality.
Sprawling suburbs are directly correlated with growing rates of obesity, heart disease and diabetes. Kids can’t walk to school or any other civic function anymore. I’ve heard it said that corporations such as Wal-Mart require this living arrangement, calling it an "economy of scale". Well, cities can be scaled up as well as out, and logically, why should we foot the bill to keep Wal-Mart in business?
Why do we need cars? Why not highly-efficient mass-transit, biking and walking (like many international cities)? If you feel it’s because of "the market", please explain why most American cities have zoning laws that prevent walkable, car-free neighborhoods from being built. Please explain why car-free environments such as Disneyland or Venice are so popular. I want to know why we really NEED cars (not WANT them).
cars = easier transportation than say taking a bus
that’s like saying, WHY NEED A BUS? OR TAXI? WHEN YOU CAN WALK A FEW MILES TO THE GROCERY STORE
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Cars are essential. I don’t want to walk 10km everyday to school. Its personal transportation. Not everyone likes enjoying going on the bus etc.
If you don’t like cars, go back to 18th century.
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Got up on the wrong side of the bed today, EH????
Try concentrating your efforts on something you CAN change. THIS subject is a big waste of your/our time.
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You are in a small minority. The vast majority of people like being able to live where they please, to work where they please, to shop where they please, to vacation where they please. To do as they please when they please *requires* personal transportation — the automobile.
Please do not try to tell anyone that we should limit ourselves to what we NEED. We do not NEED you to continue living. If you wish to continue living, we NEED cars.
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we did the american dream/spread out and be independent/you talk like obama-just let the government do it/we can all live in town and in tenements and go to work in uniforms etc//
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I don’t know about you, but I need my car and you aren’t taking it away from me. I also need my SUV, my motorcycle and my boat.
Before WWII. the United States was in a depression and few people had jobs to be able to afford cars. After WWII, post-war prosperity made it possible for more people to afford automobiles.
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we need cars because its the 21st century and everyone has to get around somehow and a bus or any public transportation just isnt convenient enough.
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Yes, it’s very unfortunate how much we rely on cars in Western culture, but going back now wouldn’t be a practical option. There would be too much protest, and the infrastructure isn’t currently in place to support a car-free population.
I believe the answer is in increasing the efficiency of our cars (the current average efficiency is less than 1%), and improving new technologies such as electric and hydrogen cars.
I am totally opposed to building the "new" suburbs that are like those little groups of cookie-cutter houses, without any stores, services, or facilities within walking distance, no public transit, and not even any sidwalks, to discourage people from leaving their homes without their cars, it would seem!
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Because we allowed our cities to get car centric. The invention of the suburb mandated the use of cars. To get rid of cars now, we would have to tear down our cities and rebuilt them to be like Manhattan.
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Depends on where you live.
For some, mass transit doesn’t exist where they live-so they have no choice but to own a car.
If mass transit exists, it may stop running after certain hours-the need for a car; also some people just don’t like taking mass transit. They prefer, need and depend on their car.
After commuting on mass transit for years, with its’ delays, crowds, inconsiderate people sitting behind you who talk so loud on their cell you can’t hear your IPod/people who sneeze or cough behind you without covering up-I’d rather sit in traffic in my car than put up with that.
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