Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Ballard Power -world leader zero-emission PEM fuel cells -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill Jackson who wrote (1525)	12/22/1997 5:56:00 PM
From: Sleeperz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5827

Ceramic Pistons and cylinder liners have are currently being researched, actually for quite a long time. They are working on the resistance to cracking since ceramics are quite brittle and also the cost. But it works and will increase power and gas mileage and the higher temperatures will also improve the burn and reduce the emissions even more. >>>This will come with cars too, as the heating.cooling load is a major problem for minimalist cars. And when this is done you want a 20 year life on the car, so rustless tech(here now, but costly) will come with it for free.<<< cl

To: Bill Jackson who wrote (1525)	12/23/1997 11:47:00 AM
From: Michael Winkler	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5827

Bill: You made a mistake in your analogy of hybrid cars to super-insulated houses. In a house or other building very high levels of insulation(vacuum panels being the ultimate) can reduce energy needed for heating to very low levels. The limits are only heat loss needed for air exchange to keep the air healthy(although much of this can be recovered through an air-to-air heat exchanger) and heat loss through people entering and leaving a building. In a vehicle the efficiency of a heat engine is limited by the difference between the temperature of the heat source(in this case the flame temperature of gasoline) and the temperature of the heat sink(in this case the temperature of the outside air). In thermodynamics theory a heat engine follows what is called a Carnot cycle. For practical reasons the thermal effeciency of a piston internal combustion engine can probably never be higher than about 30%(conversion of energy in fuel into motion). A fuel cell is not a heat engine so it is not limited by Carnot cycle efficiency. Efficiency of existing fuel cells is already as high as 55%. Long term efficiency may be as high as 70%. Internal combustion, piston engine cars can be made much more efficient as hybrids, but their maximum efficiency will always be lower than fuel cells. The overall car(piston or fuel cell) can be made much more efficient in a variety of ways. The best description of this is the "hypercar" as envisioned by the Rocky Mountain institute rmi.org Michael Winkler