For this blog, I decided to reference the Silicon valley based company, Tesla. Since they have some of the most innovative approaches to this topic, and they’re company is starting to take off.

For all the energy required to propel a vehicle, not all of it makes it to the wheels. Some of it is lost to friction and heat. Vehicle inefficiency can be classified into two categories of losses: road-load and energy conversion. Road-load includes wind resistance, mechanical friction (bearings, hubs, driveshaft, etc.), and tire rolling resistance and affects affects all kinds of vehicles.  As a car speeds up, wind resistance increases. Therefore, road-load is greater at higher speeds and is dependent on the aerodynamics of the vehicle. Road-load can be minimized by designing brakes, bearings and other rotating components with less friction. It is also important to use tires that have low rolling resistance and make the vehicle as light as possible. Energy saved by decreasing road-load can have a significantly positive impact on range.

In an electric vehicle, chemical energy is stored in a battery. Tesla uses Lithium-ion batteries because of high energy density. Converting the chemical energy to free electrons (electrical energy) can be greater than 90% efficient – some energy is lost to heat in cells and other battery pack components such as current conductors and fuses. The remaining components of the Tesla powertrain – the drive inverter and motor – are also extremely efficient. Overall, drive efficiency of the Tesla Roadster is 88% – almost three times more efficient than an internal combustion powered vehicle.

Tesla leverages efficiency and an effective powertrain to create the most efficient sports car on the market today. Other companies should consider Tesla as a model of innovation and sustainability, by focusing on alternative sources of energy. I am curious to see how this company performs in the future and how others will follow.

http://www.teslamotors.com/

The exhibit on renewables had some great insight, and it was mostly about solar panels. We need energy for our everyday lives, and the sources we mainly rely on today are polluting the planet and will eventually run out. Our planet enjoys resources that replenish constanstly, like wind, solar, geothermal heat, and moving water. What I found very interesting was CSP. Concentrated solar power (CSP) focuses sunlight onto a small area and uses the resulting heat to make electricity. Mirrors or lenses concentrate the scattered light from the Sun into a focal point, heating up a fluid by hundreds of degrees. The heat is used to make steam, which moves a turbine and generates electrical power. Sunlight is so abundant, but dispersed, a CSP structure focuses the light using troughs, dishes, towers, and sunlight is used most effectively. These structures can take up a lot of space; however, if you place it in an open desert for example, you can collect a lot of light for a relatively low cost. Since light is intermittent, energy can only be retrieved at certain hours of the day. Some plants utilize molten salt to store heat for hours.

The exhibit on photovoltaics was pretty useful as well, however, it contained a bunch of information I could have found on the internet. I learned about the different ways you can implement solar panels on existing structures like building rooftops, walls, curtains,  or to make new ones like parking structure canopies. Currently, it is still pretty expensive to implement. I am curious to see how companies try to make this a cheaper source of energy, either by using new cheaper  materials or making the panel more efficient.