A fuel cell could be mistaken as a cell, which contains fuel (most commonly found on any car or even motorcycle), but this is not to be mistaken for the device that Sir William Grove first invented in 1839 that converts the chemical energy from a fuel into electricity through a chemical reaction with oxygen or another oxidizing agent. Hydrogen is the most common fuel, but hydrocarbons such as natural gas and alcohols like methanol are sometimes used. Don’t mistake a battery and fuel cell to be the same as a fuel cell requires a constant source of fuel and oxygen to sustain their chemical reaction where a battery does not; however, fuel cells can produce electricity continually for as long as these inputs are supplied.

There are many different types of fuel cells but the thing they all have in common are an anode, a cathode and a electrolyte that allow charges to move between the two sides of the fuel cell. The most commonly used fuel cell is hydrogen (1) and can be found in passenger vehicles or as a source of fueling a hybrid automobile. BMW has started using this source of fuel cell to help their new 1 series hybrid car make its way down the streets. BMW and many other automobile makers have found that by using fuel cell technology they are able to drastically eliminate pollution compared to a gas powered car. (2) Moreover, Honda has found that by using fuel cell technology in their FCX concept car they were able to achieve a potential efficiency of up to 80% (coverts 80% of energy content into electrical energy).

While there are many pros to fuel cells such as its ability of using renewable fuels and its inability to be charged, it also has some cons such as the high cost of materials used (platinum) and its reliability on fuel. While Fuel Cell technology has lead to bus’, airplanes, boats and even buildings in remote or inaccessible areas relying on this source of power I believe it has lead us to a source of technology I would like to see be used more widely among the electrical grid or even in a more competitive race car.

Works Cited:

1) http://www.biblio.com/books/436308472.html

2) http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/alternative-fuels/fuel-cell1.htm

Geothermal energy is the means of taking back from the earth a heat source that is naturally occurring and can produce warmth for everything from a walking path to a household bath or even the ability to help make a loaf of bread. While geothermal energy is most dominantly active around volcanic sites (the two largest being in Chile and Argentina) Iceland is surprisingly enough the leading pioneer of Geothermal energy.

In Iceland 25% of the countries energy is produced by geothermal, and in 2011 roughly 84% of primary energy use came from indigenous renewable resources. Thereof 66% was from geothermal. (1) What this means is that Iceland has to have the infrastructure to extract this heat (energy) into electricity, which has lead Iceland to create three geothermal facilities. The first two being used (the Svarsengi & Nesjavellir) to create both electricity and hot water, while the third (the Krafla) only produces electricity (2). With the success of Iceland using geothermal energy it has also lead the United states to start and adapt the use of this renewable energy source.

South of Reno, Nevada lays the largest geothermal resource in the United States, The Steamboat Springs, and according to the Geothermal Energy Association the leading location for geothermal development. At these springs they have installed 385 megawatts of geothermal energy capacity and have also started construction or development stages of another 150 megawatts of geothermal energy. A major benefit that has been found by using this geothermal energy is that it is reliable and has no specific ties to the fluctuating cost of gasoline (2) Thus proving that not only is geothermal effective but it also gives the consumer a more secure form of power and heating resources.

Works Cited:

1) http://www.nea.is/geothermal/

2)http://iceland.vefur.is/iceland_nature/geology_of_iceland/geothermal_heat.htm

3) http://www.onlinenevada.org/articles/steamboat-springs-geothermal-field

When I personally hear the term ‘engine’ I think of the crisp tunes of a Ferrari motor rumbling down ocean drive in Miami, or the V-12 motor of an Aston martin. However, these lovely sounds did not just happen because someone had an ahh-haa moment. These high displacing motors are the sons, or grandsons of the steam engine and the stirling engine. The stirling engine being my personal favorite (not only because I was asked to blog about it for class), but because of its innovation and ability to literally take the steam out of steam engines and create a new way of powering everything from submarines, children toys, auxiliary power generators for yachts or even fans.

The Stirling engine is best described by G. Walker (1980), as a “heat engine operated by cyclic compression and expansion of air or other gas at different temperature levels such that there is a net conversion of heat energy to mechanical work”, the key principle for the stirling engine is that “a fixed amount of gas is sealed inside the engine”. (1) This leads to the stirling engine having the capacity of being more efficient than a gasoline or diesel engine. While this is impressive, the most impressive fact I have found about the stirling engine is that it is a renewable form of energy. The “stirling engine can run directly on just about any available heat source” (1). A major contributor to the stirling becoming a successful form of power is it took away a lot of danger that was involved with operating a steam engine, but it also was more efficient than its steam competitor. (2)

While each great invention has its day, the stirling engines ‘golden time’ was faded out by the late 1930s, and was largely forgotten and taken over by those largely popular electric and combustion motors. Moreover, the Stirling engine was a great stepping-stone for these new engines as it showed that creating a quite and functional motor was possibly. (3) The Stirling motor will not be an engine forgotten anytime soon, and when you think it is forgotten, look at the submarines taking the U.S Navy seals underwater, and you are sure to find one powering many different instruments on board.

Works Cited:

1)http://www.stirlingengine.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=514&start=60

2) http://www.howstuffworks.com/stirling-engine.htm

3) http://www.sesusa.org

While I was unable to attend the field trip to the MIT Nuclear Laboratory (MIT-NRL), I was able to take a lot of interesting knowledge away from reading students online blogs and reading MIUT blog online. While reading these different outlets I discovered that MIT-NRL is the second largest university research (fission) reactor in the United States and the only one where students are able to get a hands on experience with the development and implementation of nuclear engineering. Moreover, its fission reactor is the fourth oldest operating reactor in the country.

The primary responsibility of MIT-NRL is to produce neutrons for learning and experimental situations for research projects and students. For instance these neutrons have been used in research areas such as nuclear fission engineering, material science, radiation effects in biology and medicine, neutron physics, geochemistry, and environmental studies. One more specific example is the work they have done in the neutron activation analysis used for the study of autism. I personally find this genre interesting as I have a close family friend with autism. While MIT-NRL is mainly available for research studies within MIT it is also open to outside sources including high school students; allowing for positive knowledge to reach the younger generation, hopefully in turn, allowing Nuclear to get a cleaner image.

As I wish I was able to attend this trip, I was able to find an interesting fact on another webpage where the author was presented with the opportunity to look into this amazing fission reactor after the 10-ton lid was removed where they could see the core where highly enriched uranium fissions were expose releasing a bright blue color. This only happens every several months. Something I feel would have been extremely memorizing, and not to mention the 10-ton lid that protects these reactors. Just some food for thought, well that’s a wrap on Cambridge’s little nuke!

Solar energy: a source of clean and renewable energy that is being seen as a growing sector, not only by the common wealth of global citizens, but also by the help of government subsidies. The Global Solar Market is compressed of a lot of challenges, some being competitive pricing from china, and others being the lack of technology and knowledge on how to properly adapt this new form of energy. As I’ve previously mentioned in my Germany Green Energy Policy we know that Germany is ranked number one for solar energy and the United States is ranked fifth. Moreover, there are countries such as Spain, Italy and Japan rounding out the top five. Thus showing that the global solar market is something worth talking about, along with the global government subsidies to bring photovoltaic energy.

The global energy sector is a challenging one and I feel Sir David Kind says it best as he describes what it will take in order to make solar price competitive to fusel fuels, it will be:

 “a major scientific challenge. Requiring the same efforts as sending man to the moon.”

While it is a constant uphill battle to make the global market less and less reliant to non-carbon energy there has been hope as the Globally Solar energy will add about 36.7 gigawatts globally in 2013, and the solar capacity will rise about 20% from 2012 (1) and with the lower panel cost from china it is enticing other people to invest more into this technology.

While government subsides are helping the global market adapt to the new source of clean power, it is also dragging along a lot of negative attention from people who want our global market to stay reliant on fossel fuels (these are the people who have the most to loose ex. Sunoco, Chevron, Mobile). For instance, in 2011 global fossil fuel subsidies were $523 Billion while renewable energy subsides were $88 Billion in 2011. (2) Thus showing there is a huge difference in the commitment from governments regarding the aid given to each sector.

As we have discovered it will be a constant uphill battle for the solar and green energy sector, however, CEO of Enphase Energy, Paul Nahi makes it clear that:

“the best pathway to a stable renewable energy industry is to create self-sufficiency and independence from government financial assistance”

and I feel this couldn’t have been said any better, and goes to show that while this industry may not be getting as much aid as its competitors these global green energy companies are not going anywhere just because of a little fight in the marketplace. Really goes to show that there is hope for our global market to reach a more sustainable green energy view.

References:

1) http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-26/annual-solar-installs-to-beat-wind-for-first-time.html

2) http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/opinion/sunday/the-end-of-clean-energy-subsidies.html