Green Livin A Car That Runs on Air is Coming to India

Tata Motors, India largest automotive company, on Feb. 5, 2007 announced that it has signed an agreement with Moteur Development International (MDI) of France, inventors of the car, to develop a car that runs on compressed air, thus making it very economical to run and be almost totally pollution free. This article in Rediff India Abroad and the MDI website gives further details.

The air engine has 4 two-stage pistons, i.e. 8 compression and/or expansion chambers on one crankshaft. The pistons work in two stages: one motor stage and one intermediate stage of compression/expansion. They have two functions: to compress ambient air and refill the storage tanks; and to make successive expansions (reheating air with ambient thermal energy) thereby approaching isothermic expansion. It has injection similar to normal engines, but uses a special crankshaft and pistons, which remain at top dead center for about 70 degrees of the crankshaft's cycle; this allows more power to be developed in the engine. The engine is powered by compressed air, stored in a carbon-fiber tank containing 90 cubic meters (3178 cubic feet) of air at 30 MPa (4500 psi).

The expansion of this air pushes the pistons and creates movement. The atmospheric temperature is used to re-heat the engine and increase the range.

The cars have the following characteristics:

Are light weight vehicle that can reach speeds up to 220 kmph.

MDI's vehicle's have fiberglass bodies which makes them light, silent urban car.

The vehicles do not have normal speed gages. Instead, they will have a small computer screen.

Both ends of the seat belt are anchored to the vehicles floor for greater safety.

The vehicle's uses a patented electric system that makes the car 20 kilos lighter and considerably quieter.

There are no keys - just an access card that can be read by the car from your pocket.

In the single energy mode MDI cars consume around US$1.00 (Rs 45) every 60 miles (100 km).

There is no pollution from the car.

The vehicle's driving range is close to twice that of the most advanced electric cars (from 200 to 180 miles (300 km) or 8 hours of operation).

The recharging of the car will be done at gas stations in 2 to 3 minutes at a price of Rs 90, once the market is developed.

The car also has a small compressor that can be connected to an electrical network (220V or 380V) and will recharged the tanks completely in 3 or 4 hours.

The car's oil (a liter of vegetable) only needs to be changed every 50,000 km.
The temperature of the exhaust is between 0 and 15 degrees below zero and can be used for air conditioning of the car.

The car will be produced in both a single engine compressed air cars, the MiniCAT and CityCAT and a dual engine hybrid, a compressed air engine plus a multi-fuel internal combustion engine.

The hybrid has been conceived as much for the city as the open road and will be available in all MDI vehicles. The engines will work exclusively with compressed air while it is running under 50 km/h in urban areas. But when the car is running at speeds over 50 km/h, the engines will switch to fuel mode. The engine will be able to use gasoline, biodiesel, natural gas, LNG, alcohol, etc. It was not clear whether the air engine would also be used as an ICE or whether two engines would be employed in the hybrid.

Engines will be available with 2, 4 and 6 cylinders. When the air tanks are empty the driver will be able to switch to fuel mode.

The car -- MiniCAT -- could cost around US$8,000 (Rs 350,000) in India and would have a range of around 180 miles (300 km) between refuels. The cost of a refill would be about US$2.00 (Rs 90).

Specifications:

MiniCAT

The smallest and most innovative: three seats, minimal dimensions.

Airbag, air conditioning, ABS, 3 seats, 1.5 m3.
Dimensions: 2.65m, 1.62m, 1.64m
Weight: 750 kg
Maximum speed: 110 kmh
Mileage: 200 - 300 km
Maximum load: 270 Kg
Recharging time: 4 hours (Mains connector)
Recharge: 3 minutes (Air station)
CityCAT

A more spacious car with seats which can face different directions. The vehicle's design is based on the needs of a typical family.

Airbag, air conditioning, 6 seats.
Dimensions: 3.84m, 1.72m, 1.75m
Weight: 750 kg
Maximum speed: 110 kmh
Mileage: 200 - 300 km
Max load: 500 Kg
Recharge time: 4 hours (Mains connector)
Recharge time: 3 minutes (Air station)
Although there is no official word on when the car will be commercially manufactured for India, reports say that it will be sooner than later.

The MDI headquarters are located in Luxembourg while the prototype factory is in the south of France, where 60 people are employed. According to the MDI website "At the moment the construction of the first serial production factory is being completed, at the same location."

Currently licenses for manufacture and distribution have been sold to companies in Spain, Portugal, Brazil, South Africa, India, Great Briton, France and the United States. ZevCAT has the license in the US.

This technology competes with the electric car. The claimed advantage of compressed air over electric storage is that it is less expensive, has a faster recharge time and pressure vessels have a longer lifetime compared to batteries. Both technologies have hurdles to overcome, demonstrating that the air engine/compressed air system is as light, efficient and cheap as available electric motors/batteries. The main issues to me are that the air engine has not been proven to be dependable and advanced batteries are still too expensive. According to Gizmag the signing of the Tata agreement has made the prospects of very cost-effective mass production are now a distinct possibility. According to Wikepedia: as of March 2007 the Air car is not in production; they have been said to be going into production "soon" since at least 1998. In 2003 Wired had a fairly negative article on the company. An Australian rotary air engine, the Di Pietro Rotary Air Engine, appears to be further along in development and they have a small demonstration vehicle in use. In retrospect it appears that I should have written this piece about the DiPetro engine, but maybe a later post.

A discussion of the energy efficiencies of an air engine vehicle vs an electric vehicle would breakdown into the efficiency of the air compressor and air engine vs the efficiency of batteries and motors in the electric car, which I am sure the electric car would win. However because of the potentially low initial cost, low maintence cost and low operating cost compared to a fossil fueled vehicle the "air car" could find a niche market if it could be marketed before low cost batteries are available.

Green Livin Inconvenient Truths: Get Ready to Rethink What It Means to Be Green

The environmental movement has never been short on noble goals. Preserving wild spaces, cleaning up the oceans, protecting watersheds, neutralizing acid rain, saving endangered species — all laudable. But today, one ecological problem outweighs all others: global warming. Restoring the Everglades, protecting the Headwaters redwoods, or saving the Illinois mud turtle won't matter if climate change plunges the planet into chaos. It's high time for greens to unite around the urgent need to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.

Just one problem. Winning the war on global warming requires slaughtering some of environmentalism's sacred cows. We can afford to ignore neither the carbon-free electricity supplied by nuclear energy nor the transformational potential of genetic engineering. We need to take advantage of the energy efficiencies offered by urban density. We must accept that the world's fastest-growing economies won't forgo a higher standard of living in the name of climate science — and that, on the way up, countries like India and China might actually help devise the solutions the planet so desperately needs.

Some will reject this approach as dangerously single-minded: The environment is threatened on many fronts, and all of them need attention. So argues Alex Steffen. That may be true, but global warming threatens to overwhelm any progress made on other issues. The planet is already heating up, and the point of no return may be only decades away. So combating greenhouse gases must be our top priority, even if that means embracing the unthinkable. Here, then, are 10 tenets of the new environmental apostasy.

CLick Here for the 10 Green Heresies

Green Livin How Green Are You?

Looking for ways to make your marketing efforts more eco-friendly? Our green “audit” just might help.

It’s getting easier every day to convince your CEO and CFO of the marketing benefits, and ultimately the bottom-line impact, of creating sustainable business processes. So the next time you champion some green marketing initiatives, you’re far more likely to get buy-in from the C-level types as well as your board of directors.

But once you’ve got the higher-ups on board, how do you get started? Experts agree that the best way to start is by taking stock: Exactly how green are you right now? What follows is a checklist of some of the eco-minded efforts espoused by sources in our recent green marketing issue. It’s by no means comprehensive, but it should give you a good idea of where your company stands right now — and how far you need to go.

In recent memory, which of the following green efforts have occurred within your organization? (Check all that apply. Score one point for each “yes” response.)

1. Decreased the thickness of your paper stock
2. Reduced the trim size on a mailer or catalog
3. Used recycled or “groundwood” paper rather than virgin stock
4. Used chlorine-free paper
5. Used soy- or water-based inks
6. Used such alternate energy sources as solar- or wind-generated electricity
7. Donated money to green initiatives to offset the cost of environmentally harmful business practices
8. Cleaned your mailing lists of duplicated or non-active recipients
9. Asked customers to specify how frequently they’d like to hear from you
10. Opted for printing processes that produce less waste, such as rotogravure
11. Offered customers print-on-demand technology
12. Sent customers online for follow-up information
13. Sent out larger print pieces on CD
14. Printed marketing materials on both sides of the paper
15. Chose vendors based on their use of renewable energy
16. Provide encouragement, incentives or opportunities for customers to use renewable energy
17. Engaged a third-party organization to perform an audit of your environmental practices
18. Benchmarked your environmental efficiency against local and national standards
19. Communicated your green efforts to your customer base
20. Shared an environmental innovation with one or more of your competitors

IF YOU SCORED:
15 to 20 points: Congrats! You’re about as green as they come. But don’t stop there! Keep up the good work, and continue to spread the word to all of your stakeholders.

10 to 14 points: Yeah, you’re green, all right. You’ve done a lot of great stuff, but there’s a lot more you can do.

5 to 9 points: Kudos for making the effort, but you’ve got a bit of a way to go before you could truly be considered “green.”

0 to 4 points: So, uh, what’s the holdup, friend? Being green is no longer a luxury: It’s a price of doing business. It’s time to get the green ball rolling.

https://www.delivermagazine.com/columns/2007/09/06/how-green-are-you/

Green-Livin Keep Your Cool with Less AC

Rising temperatures are no joke: 225 Americans died in the 2006 heat wave, including 140 in New York City. Out West, the number of severe heat days in Los Angeles is expected to rise from the current 12 to between 44 and 100 over this century, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Ironically, the hotter it gets, the more greenhouse gases are released from power plants as they pump out energy for our cranked-up air conditioners. And cooling accounts for nearly half the energy used by the average home during the summer, reports the EPA's Energy Star program. Smart home design, rather than chilling the air, is the better way to escape the heat.

Build for Comfort

"We build our houses for curb appeal or for the view, not thinking that all that glazing facing south in the summer is going to cook the inside of the house," says Doron Amiran, development director of the non-profit Solar Living Institute. Passive design uses the windows, walls, floors and roof to reflect and distribute environmental heat.

"A lot of people are familiar with passive solar design in cold climates and think you can do the opposite in hot climates, but that's not true," explains Daniel Aiello, a principal of Janus II Environmental Architects & Planners who designs Southwestern desert homes that require little air-conditioning. Instead, Aiello helps home and building owners eliminate harsh extremes between inside and outside spaces by setting up lightly filtered areas, typically through plantings, which become more dense and provide more shade—and consequently more cool air—the closer they are to the building. That's important, because 35 percent of a building's heat gain stems from the direct action of solar rays striking the surface, Aiello says.

Aiello also recommends light-colored and textured exterior surfaces, inset windows, overhangs or awnings over south-facing windows to block hot sunlight and vertical shading from screens, shrubs or trellises over west- and east-facing windows.

"I get customers attuned to what's going on in the environment they're in," says Aiello, adding, "Each side of the building is going to look different."

Indoors, let in air by cross ventilating, and install vents that allow hot air to escape from high spaces and cool air to enter at low spaces. Seal and caulk walls and windows to prevent cold-air leaks, and add low-emittance (low-E) glazing to reduce heat transfer.

Pump Up the Cool

Conventional AC requires a lot of energy, which produces greenhouse gas emissions, and it contains fluorocarbon-based refrigerants, which damage the ozone layer while also contributing to global warming. The most efficient option is to use portable floor fans or install ceiling fans, which consume 90 percent less energy than air-conditioning and make rooms feel seven to ten degrees cooler.

While whole house fans blow hot air from throughout the house outside, they provide substantial relief only at night and only in low humidity. However, a simpler attic fan can save up to 10 percent on AC costs. Evaporative coolers draw air over wet pads, with the resulting evaporation cooling the air. Half the price of conventional AC and consuming 75 percent less energy, these coolers can reduce indoor temperature by almost 30 degrees in hot, arid conditions (because they raise humidity indoors, they only work in dry climates).

If you must have an electric air conditioner, look for an energy-efficient Energy Star-rated model, with an Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) above 10. The EER is the ratio of the cooling output divided by the unit's power consumption and is common on window units; look for the Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER) on whole-house units. Also, ask for a unit that will deal effectively with your local humidity levels. To improve indoor air quality, add a reusable electrostatic filter and wash it monthly to optimize your system's efficiency. Save energy by installing a programmable thermostat and set it to 78 degrees F.

PRODUCTS

Fans

EPA's Energy Star-rated ceiling fan/light combination units save $15 to $20 per year on utility bills: Westinghouse Silverdale ES ($199; http://www.westinghouseceilingfans.com/, 800-999-2226); Hunter Sonora ($132 and up; http://www.hunterfan.com/, 888-830-1326).

Room Air Conditioners

Consumer Reports recommends these Energy Star-rated models: Friedrich SS10L10-A ($700, EER: 12; http://www.friedrich.com/, 800-541-6645); GE AGM06LH ($180, EER: 10.7) and AGM08LH ($240, EER: 10.8; http://www.ge.com/, 800-626-2005); Frigidaire FAA067P7 ($150, EER: 10.7) and FAA087P7 ($180, EER: 10.8; http://www.frigidaire.com/, 800-374-4432).

Central Air

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy recommends the Lennox HSXA19 Series (SEER: 14.6 to 17.5; http://www.lennox.com/, 800-9-LENNOX), American Standard Allegiance 18 (SEER: 16.5 to 18.3; http://www.americanstandardair.com/) and Trane XL19i (SEER: 15.5 to 17; http://www.trane.com/Default.asp).

Unlike other evaporative coolers, the Coolerado doesn't add humidity to indoor air because the evaporative process happens behind a heat exchanger ($4,125 and up, EER: 40; http://www.coolerado.com/, 303-375-0878).

For more, see the Air Conditioner Product Report at http://www.thegreenguide.com/products/.