[Peakoil] Ask an Expert; the End of Oil - part 2 (ABC)

[Keith Thomas]

I'm no engineer, but it looks to be as sound as the model that took Joh  
Bjelke Petersen in when he was premier.

With LPG-powered cars you have a tank filled with LPG under pressure  
(the compression of which itself takes energy). But the gas is, at  
least, a fuel. Compressed air is not a fuel, but a carrier of energy -  
the energy stored in it by the compression process. Unless I have the  
mechanical basis of the air car's engine all wrong, all the compressed  
air car does is to use the energy stored during the compression as it's  
released from the tank. Just like allowing a balloon to deflate.

So, how many calories (or whatever unit of energy) does it take to (a)  
compress 90 cubic metres of air to 300 bars? How many units of energy  
does it take to (b) drive an air car 200 km? Is (a) significantly less  
than (b)?

Isn't that the key question? The next question is: where does the  
energy come from to compress the air? It'll be coal-fired electricity  
in Australia until Johnny's nukes come on stream.

Incidentally, last month I came across a stat I have been seeking for  
the past couple of years. It's on page 8 of the eighth edition of New  
Solutions, available here:

http://www.communitysolution.org/pubs.html

The stat is that a litre of petrol contains 8190 calories. Compare that  
to a kilogram of fat: 3700 calories.
--------------------------------------------
Keith Thomas
www.evfit.com
--------------------------------------------
On 21/05/2006, at 11:02 AM, Leigh Kite wrote:

> Why the pessimism over compressed air cars?  These guys think they  
> have a solution.
>
> http://www.theaircar.com/thecar.html
>
> Those stats look pretty encouraging, and the cars seem to be at  
> production status.  Is there any reason for us to believe its all a  
> big hoax or something?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Leigh
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Keith Thomas" <keith at evfit.com>
> To: "'Peakoil Discussion'" <peakoil at act-peakoil.org>
> Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2006 9:30 PM
> Subject: [Peakoil] Ask an Expert; the End of Oil - part 2 (ABC)
>
>
>> ASK AN EXPERT: THE END OF OIL - PART 2
>> How do we deal with less oil in a growing world? In part 2 of the end  
>> of oil
>> we look at the alternatives and implications: Are there technologies  
>> that
>> can replace our dependence on oil? What about medicines and plastics?  
>> Are we
>> looking at a world catastrophe? Here are the answers from some of
>> Australia's top experts.
>> http://www.abc.net.au/science/expert/realexpert/endofoil/
>>
>> Not a bad collection. I'm pleased they put the boot into compressed  
>> air cars :-).
>> Sadly, the answers are about peak oil and related topics, but they  
>> don't touch on climate change, nor how the end of cheap oil will make  
>> it harder to deal with the impacts of climate change.
>> --------------------------------------------
>> Keith Thomas
>> www.evfit.com
>> --------------------------------------------
>>
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>