Cars on hot air
Following
the hype on hydrogen - meet the car on compressed air.
If we can believe the news, the zero-emission car has finally arrived. No more pollution, no more CO2. “Amazingly this car is powered by air”, said the BBC in a commentary: “It sounds too good to be true”. In fact, it is too good to be true.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Compressed air and hydrogen are energy carriers, not energy sources
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The car on
air is an exact reflection of the car on hydrogen – which was received with as
much enthusiasm in the media. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to generate energy
without a source of power. Air is not a source of power. Neither is water. Cars
can drive on hydrogen, but first you have to make hydrogen out of water. Cars
can drive on compressed air, but first you have to… compress air.
Cars on nuclear energy
Producing hydrogen, as well as producing compressed air, demands energy – lots of energy. And where does that energy come from? Coal plants, nuclear reactors and gas turbines. A car that “amazingly” runs on air, in reality just runs on fossil fuels - like any other car. Or on nuclear energy, but in that case it can also hardly be called “green”. Compressed air and hydrogen are energy carriers, not energy sources. They can be compared to electricity. What we need in the first place, are durable energy sources, not new energy carriers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What makes the car on air revolutionary is not that it runs on air but the fact that it’s very small, light and slow
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cars on hydrogen, compressed air or electricity are only eco-friendly if the energy carrier on which they drive, has been produced with renewable energy sources, like solar energy or wind power. Since the share of renewable power in the electricity mix is still negligible, cars that run on electricity, hydrogen or compressed air are of no use. The engine on compressed air is a very clever piece of technology, but French engineer Guy Negre is too much ahead of his time.
110 kilometres an hour
Update: the car will be introduced in the US
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More articles on Low-tech Magazine :
Cleantech from the 1940s : if we really want more energy efficient cars, the Citroën 2CV shows us that we need not more, but less technology
The electric car is a technology of the past, not from the future
Reinventing the wheel : the story of the motorized monowheel
Email in the 18th century : the surprising speed of the optical telegraph
A world
without trucks : underground freight networks
Heat
your house with car tyres and earth : build an earthship
Download, print, fold, paste : the best cut-outs on the internet
Wind up your laptop : human energy
Life before television : the stereoscope, the panorama, the magic lantern and the peepshow
Where is the second hand market for downloads?
The digital oubliette : chances are slim your children will be able to enjoy the digital photo album when they grow up
Planes on wheels : how eco-friendly is a high speed train?
The
right to 35 mobiles : the energy consumption of the mobile phone network
Satellite
navigation in the 18th century : who needs GPS?
The return of the sailing ship
Why bottled water is good for the environment
Main page / Subscribe to feed
or email
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
