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Renewable Energy?

M

Maximum7

Fresh Blood
Joined
Sep 18, 2017
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Lately I’ve been thinking about renewable power sources to help the environment and since fusion is always conveniently 20 years away; I wonder what we could use in the interim. I have read about 8 promising methods but I can’t decide which one is best. Could someone help me pick the one humans should invest in? They are

• Jet stream power source

• Tidal power

• Ammonia

• Hydroelectric

•Ocean thermal conversion

• Solid state wind energy

• Biogas
 
It depends on the geography and economy of the country looking to adopt those technologies. Some of the methods you've listed may be much more practical in some counties than others. I'm not convinced one is 'best'. A mixed approach is probably necessary, and I really doubt one sole method would give the return required even with investment.
 
There is a company in Vancouver, Canada called AmmPower experimenting with ammonia as the fuel for the future.

Ammonia is cheap to make just water, air, and electricity and is fairly safe to store.

But ammonia’s molecule, one nitrogen to three hydrogen can produce tremendous energy more than gasoline and lithium.

AmmPower is developing ammonia engines.
 
charliebrown said:
There is a company in Vancouver, Canada called AmmPower experimenting with ammonia as the fuel for the future.

Ammonia is cheap to make just water, air, and electricity and is fairly safe to store.

But ammonia’s molecule, one nitrogen to three hydrogen can produce tremendous energy more than gasoline and lithium.

AmmPower is developing ammonia engines.
Click to expand...
Bit whiffy though?
 
Better than petrol as you can use it to clean your cooker as well
 
I tried to understand AmmPower’s engine, but not so much.

Maybe the engine splits the molecule and burns the free hydrogen produced ?
 
charliebrown said:
I tried to understand AmmPower’s engine, but not so much.
Maybe the engine splits the molecule and burns the free hydrogen produced ?
Click to expand...
Combustion of ammonia does involve "burning" (oxidizing) the hydrogen component, but that's not the only way ammonia might be used as a fuel an internal combustion engine.

Ammonia requires a higher compression and ignition temperature to ignite, and engines have to account for these and other issues.

There are 3 proposed ways to realistically use ammonia as a fuel. In order of foreseeably possible application (soonest first) they are:

- mix ammonia with petro-fuel to reduce carbon emissions;
- use ammonia as a "carrier" for hydrogen to burn in hydrogen fueled engines; and
- use ammonia as the sole fuel in dedicated ammonia-fuel engines.

For more on the issues involved see:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/er.6232
 
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