Joy, It is interesting to consider that most cars do most of their polluting in the first 5-10 minutes of the drive. I think if you give people knowledge you can let them use it to make their choices. I think we can easily misrepresent things. "Fuel cells are worse because synthesizing the hydrogen consumes more energy than driving a regular car would." There appears to be several forms of fuel cell technology. My current understanding is that one uses gasoline as fuel and stips off hydrogen from the hydrocarbon chain. It does this at a relatively low temperature by using a catalysis. There is very little waste heat which means more of the fuel is used to produce force or movement. No burning occurs so there is no need for a radiator. Imagine that, a vanagon with a fuel cell, electric motor and no bleeding. Someone on the list will do this someday. Someone younger with imagination, regards gary Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 08:24:27 -0400 From: Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU> Subject: Re: emissions data :::-----Original Message----- :::From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf :::Of gary hradek :::Sent: Monday, August 30, 2004 12:26 AM :::To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM :::Subject: emissions data ::: :::Jon, ::: No numbers for you just concepts. Most fuel :::injection engines run about the same. It is the Cat :::that scrubs out the pollutants. The nuber of valves :::an engine has also helps clean thing up a bit. New :::engines have a new rating of low emission and ultra :::low emission largely do to the newer controls. :::None of this will change the amount of co2 emission. Actually, that's not quite right. CO2 emissions are a linear function of gasoline burned, so improving fuel efficiency reduces CO2 emissions. So diesels are better than regular engines - but they emit a lot more particulates and other pollutants. That's why hybrids - the SULEVs (super low emissions vehicles) - are looking good these days, pending concerns about life cycle impacts (battery disposal). Fuel cells are worse because synthesizing the hydrogen consumes more energy than driving a regular car would.
Joy
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