I just stumbled upon this website, which is run by Nissan. It's quite a childlike introduction to some basic stuff about Electric vehicles, and other things related to it. It does seem to be a good visualisation of the ideas that Nissan have: I've been playing about with it for a while, it's quite fun!
http://the-planet-zero.com/
I've just started my masters at Warwick, and am hoping to plan time to keep updating the blog regularly, especially as it looks like I will have quite a bit of downtime waiting for calculations to run.
Enjoy the site!
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Monday, 2 May 2011
Macro- vs micro-generation
I was thinking the other day about how the electricity-generating landscape will be different in the future. There seem to be two sides to this: large power plants, generating a large amount of power for a large number of people (macro), or households and businesses generating their own electricity (micro).
There are many good arguments for both sides, and clearly as both exist as markets (there are both large offshore wind farms and small-scale solar systems being built, for example). However, I thought I would have a look at the arguments for both and see which I think is a more realistic option, if we had to pick just one.
I must apologise that this post may be lacking in numerical backup: I am writing this in a (rare) break from revision, and wish only to give an indication of the pros and cons for each, without concrete numerical evidence.
There are many good arguments for both sides, and clearly as both exist as markets (there are both large offshore wind farms and small-scale solar systems being built, for example). However, I thought I would have a look at the arguments for both and see which I think is a more realistic option, if we had to pick just one.
I must apologise that this post may be lacking in numerical backup: I am writing this in a (rare) break from revision, and wish only to give an indication of the pros and cons for each, without concrete numerical evidence.
Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Essay on Human-Powered Gym
What follows is another assignment: this time a 1,700 word discussion of the human-powered gym concept. It's basically a formal writeup of the two posts I made on this back in August. Enjoy!
Human powered gyms
As we increasingly look for alternative sources of energy, could there be an untapped potential power plant within each of us? David Pickup examines the possibility and economics of a human-powered gym.
Friday, 19 November 2010
25% Renewable Energy is Achievable
First, an apology. I have been ridiculously busy with uni work over the last month or so, so haven't done any posts- sorry for that.
I recently wrote a persuasive writing article for one of my modules on "25% Renewable Energy is Achievable" (I'm arguing that it is achievable) and so here it is, in all of its 1,500 word glory! Enjoy.
I recently wrote a persuasive writing article for one of my modules on "25% Renewable Energy is Achievable" (I'm arguing that it is achievable) and so here it is, in all of its 1,500 word glory! Enjoy.
Friday, 8 October 2010
Personal Transport: Different Types
I drove back from uni the other day, and on the way I thought about different types of transportation. On this trip, for example, I only took back a few bags, but on the trip up, I had a carful of stuff. I also saw many different sizes and shapes of 'cars'- vans, lorries, little hatchbacks (like mine), family saloons, campervans and big 4x4s. These varied vehicle designs are made to do different things: a small hatchback is not designed to carry the same volume of stuff as a big 4x4, for example, but it is more fuel-efficient (as the 4x4 engine is bigger to cart around a bigger car). Most cars built nowadays are multipurpose.
In this post I'm going to talk about the different needs of the varied vehicles on the road today. These needs include range, top speed, and acceleration. Obviously, a city runabout doesn't need to have the range or top speed of a long range cruiser.
The most important part of the 'car' is the engine: what makes it go. Pretty much all engines out there on the roads are internal combustion engines, which use petrol or diesel to explode a gaseous mixture of the oil fumes and air, pushing down a piston, turning a crankshank, which turns the wheels. I'm not going to go into detail into how these car engines work, but see here if you are interested. This is all very well, and has been working around the world for over 100 years. However, these engines are very inefficient, by modern standards: 20-30% (from wikipedia). Compare this to a electric engine, for example, which has an efficiency of around 90% from batteries (source- this excellent page by the Tesla Motors Company, which has a lot of other information about efficiency as well) or about 60% from a hydrogen fuel cell (source) [*]. Add this to the fact that the fossil fuels used in the internal combustion engine are both producing greenhouse gases (CO2) and are running out, and you can see why it's worth considering other options for our transport.
[*]- Note that both battery-powered and fuel cell-powered cars use electric motors, but different methods to store the electricity (in the battery or hydrogen).
So what different types of vehicle are there? What designs do we need to use, and which type of power would be best for each?
In this post I'm going to talk about the different needs of the varied vehicles on the road today. These needs include range, top speed, and acceleration. Obviously, a city runabout doesn't need to have the range or top speed of a long range cruiser.
The most important part of the 'car' is the engine: what makes it go. Pretty much all engines out there on the roads are internal combustion engines, which use petrol or diesel to explode a gaseous mixture of the oil fumes and air, pushing down a piston, turning a crankshank, which turns the wheels. I'm not going to go into detail into how these car engines work, but see here if you are interested. This is all very well, and has been working around the world for over 100 years. However, these engines are very inefficient, by modern standards: 20-30% (from wikipedia). Compare this to a electric engine, for example, which has an efficiency of around 90% from batteries (source- this excellent page by the Tesla Motors Company, which has a lot of other information about efficiency as well) or about 60% from a hydrogen fuel cell (source) [*]. Add this to the fact that the fossil fuels used in the internal combustion engine are both producing greenhouse gases (CO2) and are running out, and you can see why it's worth considering other options for our transport.
[*]- Note that both battery-powered and fuel cell-powered cars use electric motors, but different methods to store the electricity (in the battery or hydrogen).
So what different types of vehicle are there? What designs do we need to use, and which type of power would be best for each?
Saturday, 11 September 2010
Personal Transport: Examining My Trips
I think it would be interesting to examine the different trips I make in my car (which, I am ashamed to admit, I do quite a lot of), and see if I can change my habits to do less driving, saving money (hopefully) and using less petrol (good for the environment!). This is something anyone could do easily, so I encourage you to do the same after reading this post- you may be surprised at how easily you could save money and do a bit to help the environment.
The Trips
I'm going to take the last year as a typical year for me as a typical 20 year old student. I admit that this state of affairs is not the global average, but I do think that the system of commuting (to and from campus), with 6 long trips a year (uni to home and back) is one that can be very simply adapted to a professional lifestyle. The commuting trips are similar, and the long trips could be travelling somewhere for a holiday (going somewhere for christmas, for example). The main difference is the holidays, which means I'm not commuting to uni (work) 5 days a week for about 4 months in the year.
Let's now examine my different trips.
The Trips
I'm going to take the last year as a typical year for me as a typical 20 year old student. I admit that this state of affairs is not the global average, but I do think that the system of commuting (to and from campus), with 6 long trips a year (uni to home and back) is one that can be very simply adapted to a professional lifestyle. The commuting trips are similar, and the long trips could be travelling somewhere for a holiday (going somewhere for christmas, for example). The main difference is the holidays, which means I'm not commuting to uni (work) 5 days a week for about 4 months in the year.
Let's now examine my different trips.
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
Human Powered Gym- Part 2
In Part 1 we examined the use of cardio machines (specifically a exercise bike) to generate electricity to power various items in the gym.
The conclusion of Part 1 was that a normal gym goer could power the machine, charge his phone and maybe power a light or two. Alternatively, he could power the machine and the stereo system.
That's for one person. What about if we have loads of machines, with some being used by people at a certain time, and others not (i.e a gym)?
Let's take the gym I go to as an example. It's a relatively small gym, with 6 upright bikes, 2 recumbant bikes (which I will regard as equivalent for the energy-generating purpose), 8 treadmills, 6 cross-trainers and 4 rowing machines, along with various weights machines and free weights.
If all of the bikes are used at the same time (they never are, but let's assume) then the total power being produced will be 56 x 8 = 448W. [This 56W value comes from Part 1]
However, I reckon that on average only about half of the machines are used at any one time. This means that we have half the power (224W) to use.
This will be just about enough to power the 4 machines (80?W), light up some of the gym (assuming 4 20W fluorescent tubes, 80W), power the music system (which is probably more than 30W as there are quite a few speakers- 50W?) and charge any gadgets the users want to (maximum of 8W).
Hang on, I hear you cry- what about the other machines?
The conclusion of Part 1 was that a normal gym goer could power the machine, charge his phone and maybe power a light or two. Alternatively, he could power the machine and the stereo system.
That's for one person. What about if we have loads of machines, with some being used by people at a certain time, and others not (i.e a gym)?
Let's take the gym I go to as an example. It's a relatively small gym, with 6 upright bikes, 2 recumbant bikes (which I will regard as equivalent for the energy-generating purpose), 8 treadmills, 6 cross-trainers and 4 rowing machines, along with various weights machines and free weights.
If all of the bikes are used at the same time (they never are, but let's assume) then the total power being produced will be 56 x 8 = 448W. [This 56W value comes from Part 1]
However, I reckon that on average only about half of the machines are used at any one time. This means that we have half the power (224W) to use.
This will be just about enough to power the 4 machines (80?W), light up some of the gym (assuming 4 20W fluorescent tubes, 80W), power the music system (which is probably more than 30W as there are quite a few speakers- 50W?) and charge any gadgets the users want to (maximum of 8W).
Hang on, I hear you cry- what about the other machines?
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