Alternative Technologies

Alternative Technologies


Introduction:
The purpose of this assignment is to look at issues around global warming. I will look at the effects of global warming on our environment, Ways to reduce the effect of global warming and slow its effects such and electric and bio fuel vehicles, and hydrogen vehicles. I will also look at what the problems to the environment the internal combustion engine causes, and why the time of the internal combustion engine is limited.

Body:
Global Warming is the increase in the average temperature of earth, the warming of the earth is said the be melting the ice caps and raising the sea levels, sinking some of the lower lying countries and raising the temperate to critical levels elsewhere.

Temperature rise is because of man made gasses created in everyday works. Industrial practices create a large amount of carbon dioxide and other gasses that are affecting the environment. It is not only the industries, its every day activities, anyone driving around is adding a small proportion the the affects of these gasses on the environment.

Global Warming heats the earth by limiting the amount of heat that can be reflected back into outer space, the Ozone layer is supposed to limit the amount of heat entering and leaving, the chemicals in the air are preventing the amount of heat leaving our atmosphere, thus it heats up our environment.

Most of the current, and supposedly ageing engines are internal combustion engines that run on a basic 4 stroke cycle. The four stroke petrol engine works by performing controlled explosions in a very fast sequence to pump the pistons, there are 4 different stages in the cycle, the intake stroke, this is where the fuel and air is introduced into the cylinders, then the compression stroke, where the air and fuel is compressed together into a mixture of the two, then next the combustion stroke, the spark plugs ignite the fuel and air mixture and the piston is forced down, then the exhaust stroke where the gasses produced by the combustion is pushed out. This is the stroke that creates all the environmental issues around internal combustion engines. The Exhaust stroke creates gasses such as Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Monoxide and Nitrogen Oxide. catalytic converters are not there to lower carbon dioxide levels, in fact they raise it
We have to either limit the amount of fossil fuel we burn, or we have to find a new source of power.

An alternative to the internal combustion engine is the electric vehicle, the Electric vehicles can be good, it has the ability to gain maximum torque at standstill, for example this gives a electric car called the Tesla a 0-60mp/h of 3.9 seconds. The thing is that they require massive amounts of batteries to produce such power, but that adds lots of weight, which means more power is needed to move it. Although the electric car has a low number of moving parts, so its easier to maintain, and its cheaper to run compared to a petrol engine, This then means there must also be some more downsides to it, to recharge a car like the Tesla, which has 6831 batteries takes 16 hours from a standard 13 amp plug. They also have limited range and power available, so electrical accessories must be limited to avoid reducing power.

The next choice to an electric car is a hydrogen Electric car, in the long run its more economical than an electric car, because it is only pressurized hydrogen, and the only thing produced by the running car is water. The next upside the hydrogen car has over the electric car, is that is doesn't take 16 hours to start going again, its exactly like refueling an internal combustion engine,it only takes a few minutes. Now the only Hydrogen Electric car available is The Honda Clarity, Its a 4 Door Sedan its an average family car, it behaves exactly like an petrol family car, the acceleration, top speed and 0-60 acceleration is similar to a petrol car.

Conclusion
This assignment has looked at some of the causes for global warming, the effects of global warming on our environment and the subsequent consequences, The alternatives to the internal combustion engine such as electric and hydrogen electric and the upsides and some similarities to the internal combustion engines from the point of view of the electric and hydrogen vehicles, the engines that will eventually replace the internal combustion engine.